When he saw that girl’s impish grin, Ye Zichen’s mind buzzed.
Wasn’t this Xue Honghong’s little sister, Xue Beibei?
Xue Beibei gleefully waved her little hand, but her eyes flashed with crafty light. She already knew Ye Zichen was here, which is why she wasn’t at all surprised to see him.
“Ye Zichen, what are you doing? My little sister just greeted you!” Xue Mo patted him on the shoulder.
Ye Zichen arched his brows. “Did you just say she’s your little sister?”
“That’s right, what of it? She’s Xue Beibei, my youngest sister. I’m the middle sister. We have an older sister too.”
“Your biological sister?”
“Of course. What, are you saying we don’t look alike?” Xue Mo pulled Xue Beibei into her arms and batted her eyes.
“No, you do….” Ye Zichen, seemingly a bit out of sorts.
Ye Zichen had always known that Xue Mo’s family background was exceptional, and meeting Xue Yang had confirmed his assumption.
But he’d never thought Xue Mo was from the Sea of Innocence. Didn’t that mean Xue Yang was the Great Emperor in charge of the Sea of Innocence?
Then didn’t that mean Xue Honghong was Xue Mo’s big sister?
I was only then that Ye Zichen realized it: when Emperor Hades teased him and said he was Xue Yang’s future son-in-law, he wasn’t suggesting he’d get together with Xue Mo at all.
Didn’t that mean Emperor Hades knew about his relationship with Xue Honghong….
Emperor Hades was just a bit too terrifying!
“Hey, what exactly are you doing? Why are you getting so distracted? This afternoon, the school’s splitting us into groups for the ranking competition, and the competition itself is tomorrow. You’re our main fighting force; you can’t act like this.”
Now that he knew Xue Mo’s identity, Ye Zichen didn’t quite know what to do.
This….
Was his sister-in-law!
“The ranking competition tomorrow will be absolutely no problem, but there’s something I’d like to ask you…. Your real name is Xue Momo, isn’t it?” asked Ye Zichen.
“You’re awfully smart, aren’t you?” she nodded. “That’s right, it’s ‘Xue Momo.’ All three of us sisters have repeated characters for given names. However, I didn’t want others to know that I was the second young miss of the Sea of the Innocence, so I cut off the final ‘Mo.”
Ye Zichen really wanted to call out, “Little Sister-in-law,” but he managed to restrain the impulse.
I was best not to push the boundaries of their relationship. Otherwise, how would they maintain their relationship as “good bros?”
“The Second Young Miss of the Sea of Innocence. Tch Tch, I never would have guessed. It looks like I’ve inadvertently found myself a mighty backer.” Ye Zichen teased her.
Xue Mo chimed in, looking somewhat displeased, “I’m the third young miss of the Sea of Innocence, but when I talked to you, you ignored me! Jeez, you’re every bit as rude as you were when we first met.”
“Little Sister, what are you saying? ‘When you first met?’ Have you seen Ye Zichen before?” asked Xue Mo, looking rather flabbergasted.
Ye Zichen’s face froze up. Fortunately, Xue Beibei hurriedly backtracked and said, “Second Sister, you misheard me. How could I possibly have met him before? The family keeps me on such a short leash. Do you think I’m as free as Big Sister?”
In the end, they managed to bypass the subject. Xue Beibei continued, “He seems rather pleasing to the eye. Not bad!”
Xue Beibei gave her evaluation like a little adult. When Xue Mo heard that, she laughed bitterly and explained to Ye Zichen, “My little sister is still just a kid. Don’t take it to heart.”
“It’s fine.” Ye Zichen waved away her concerns, then arched his brows. “But did you just say she’s the assistant you invited to help with the ranking battles? Are you sure?”
“What are you trying to say? Are you looking down on me? Let me tell you, I’m strong! Not even that cowardly bear guy and mysterious sword dude Jiang Wei are necessarily a match for me! You’d best be careful; if you don’t learn your place, I’ll teach you a lesson!” Xue Beibei puffed up her cheeks irritably and clenched her tiny fists.
Xue Mo still looked apologetic, and her expression seemed to ask Ye Zichen for his patience.
She needn’t have worried. How could Ye Zichen possibly get angry at Xue Beibei? Besides, he rather liked those insults she’d just thrown around.
Cowardly bear guy?
What a perfect nickname for Pang Zheng!
Later, Ye Zichen learned that the ranking batles required teams of five, plus a sixth member as a substitute.
Anti-Upheaval’s line-up naturally was Luo Zi, Li Hu, Chen Guangfa, Xue Mo, and Ye Zichen. That was a perfect team of five. They’d only invited Xue Beibei in case someone got hurt and they didn’t have enough regular members left to continue.
According to Xue Mo’s explanation, Xue Bei Bei was actually a student too, it was just that she spent all her time cultivating inside the Sea of Innocence. That was why she could bring Xue Beibei to the ranking competition.
Otherwise, if she could just casually recruit outside reinforcements, everyone would do it, and then the student society ranking battle would be meaningless.
That afternoon.
The arena was long since full of people. The academy’s ranking battle was always the biggest, most spectacular event they held. Everyone, no matter which student society they belonged to, wanted to know who their society’s team would be up against. It helped them determine just far their team would make it up the ranks.
“Hah? Isn’t that the former top-ranked society, Anti-Upheaval? I didn’t think they’d dare compete!” When Ye Zichen and his companions entered the venue, they heard a detestable cry from afar.
When they looked into the distance, they saw Pan Zheng and his Grizzly Bear Society members walking right towards them. The one who’d shouted was none other than Chen Yinian.
There were six of them, too, five main members plus a substitute. They were Pang Zheng and five of his platoon leaders.
When he heard someone mock them, Li Hu curled his lips and snorted, “I wondered why it smelled so bad in here. Looks like it was because of you, Chen Yellowteeth. Back when I was still in the Grizzly Bears, I told you to brush your teeth! Why didn’t you listen?”
“You’re nothing but filthy dogs who betrayed your masters for glory,” said Chen Yinian disdainfully.
“Who exactly are you referring to?” Li Hu glared at him.
Chen Yinian grinned back, showing his large, yellow teeth. “You!”
“You fuc-….” Li Hu was just about to step forward when Ye Zichen grabbed him and dragged him back.
Then he and Xue Mo took a step forward. “Call back your dog. Don’t let it bite people.” These words were obviously directed at Pang Zheng, who couldn’t help but laugh. “I didn’t keep a close handle on him. My apologies! But I really do admire your courage. I’m shocked you actually showed up!”
“Why wouldn’t we? What, are you going to eat us or something?”
Pang Zheng narrowed his eyes and laughed. “How could I do that? I’m talking about the ranking batles. It’s just a friendly competition is all. If we really do draw Anti-Upheaval as our opponents, I’ll have my subordinates… whale on you a little harder.”
With that, his expression darkened.
Ye Zichen clenched his fists. Their eyes met.
In truth, there was no deep hatred between Ye Zichen and Pang Zheng.
Their entire conflict was based on how Ye Zichen had lured away members of the Grizzly Bear Society. That meant that the Grizzly Bear Society hadn’t performed as well in this year’s recruitment as they’d expected.
Also, there was all the resources Pang Zheng had spent buying his little cousin’s freedom from her bet. That was quite a loss…
But there shouldn’t be anything more than that!
Ye Zichen thought it wasn’t much, but if Pang Zhang knew how little Ye Zichen thought of their grudge, he might have coughed up blood.
All those resources had dealt a devastating blow to Pang Zheng’s financial health.
In any event, those were just details to Ye Zichen. He didn’t really care that much.
But he could still teach Pang Zheng a lesson, if for no other reason than that he’d disliked Pang Zheng’s imperious attitude ever since meeting him at the school’s opening ceremony.
Quite frankly, a guy like this was in need of “re-educating.” Teach him a lesson, and he’ll surely get his act together!
