Playing the Sweet Innocent Act, Scheming Desperately to Keep Him Overnight
Playing the Sweet Innocent Act, Scheming Desperately to Keep Him Overnight
The night was quiet, with faint moonlight spilling down, making the courtyard especially serene and still.
Not far away, several stalks of emerald bamboo rustled, wreathed in clear radiance—truly extraordinary.
Xiao Ruoyin wore a long white dress, a light dusting of powder on her face, her jade-like countenance flawless, adorned with delicate makeup that made her skin seem all the more luminous, snow-white and fine, exuding a beauty beyond compare.
“This is something Ruoyin just learned recently...”
“Young Master Gu, please have a taste.”
She blinked her eyes and poured a cup of tea for Gu Changge.
After dismissing everyone from the Skyward Schloss, the courtyard was very quiet.
Gu Changge looked at the curling tea mist rising from the stone table, chuckled softly, raised the cup to his lips, and praised, “Not bad.”
Hearing Gu Changge’s praise, joy flashed through Xiao Ruoyin’s eyes, and she said, “As long as Young Master Gu likes it.”
Then, she spoke again in a low voice,
“Young Master Gu coming to see me in the middle of the night truly leaves Ruoyin overwhelmed by the honor. You really only needed to say the word, and Ruoyin would have come to see you—there was no need to trouble yourself to come in person.”
Given Gu Changge’s status and position, if he wished to see anyone, he need only give the order—who would dare refuse to come pay their respects?
Xiao Ruoyin was naturally no exception.
If not for her status making it improper for her to visit Gu Changge, she would have wanted to find every opportunity to appear before him, fearing he might forget about her.
That Gu Changge would suddenly come to see her tonight had indeed shocked and moved her greatly.
Even now, Xiao Ruoyin still felt her heart unable to calm down.
“It’s a trivial matter, no need to dwell on it.”
Gu Changge gently blew on the tea mist, seemingly oblivious to Xiao Ruoyin’s expression, and said casually with a smile, “I just suddenly heard news about you, and thinking I happened to have time, and that it’s been a while since I asked how you’ve been doing lately, I came to take a look. It’s nothing major, you needn’t worry.”
His words served as an explanation of sorts.
But hearing that Gu Changge actually cared so much about her feelings, waves of emotion still inevitably rose in Xiao Ruoyin’s heart.
“Young Master Gu, you not only helped me escape my predicament, gave me resources to aid my cultivation, let me join the Skyward Schloss with a Sacred King Realm master, but you also care about me so much...”
“That I am where I am today is entirely thanks to you.”
“I truly have no way to repay you—I don’t know how I could ever repay your kindness.”
Xiao Ruoyin’s voice carried sincerity, though toward the end it trembled slightly.
When she spoke of repaying his kindness, a faint blush couldn’t help but spread across her face.
What was her status, and what was Gu Changge’s? The difference could truly be described as that between heaven and earth.
In her view, this feeling was like an emperor remembering a common girl from among the people, and even taking the initiative to show concern for her.
It even gave her a feeling of being overwhelmed by unexpected favor.
Xiao Ruoyin also understood that this was because she had already adapted to this world’s strict, cold, pyramid-like hierarchy, and had developed a fear of it.
After all, Gu Changge stood at the very peak of that pyramid, looking down upon the billions upon billions of living beings in the Beyond.
If this had been when she first arrived, she probably wouldn’t have felt this way.
Back then, she had been a newborn calf unafraid of tigers, even daring to talk with Gu Changge through the night, as if conversing with a friend.
“Do you think I helped you because I wanted your repayment?” Gu Changge wore an amused expression.
“No... that’s not what I meant.” Xiao Ruoyin shook her head, then a few traces of resolve appeared on her face as she said,
“But... Young Master Gu, helping me like this truly leaves me feeling guilty. I have nothing to repay you with—I can’t even manage to brew you a cup of tea by your side. After all, the heavenly proud daughters who wish to brew tea for you are probably countless beyond measure—how would it ever be my turn?”
“Even if I wished to offer myself to you, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be qualified, and you wouldn’t think much of me.”
Toward the end, a trace of bitterness appeared at the corners of her mouth, as if she were mocking herself.
A perfectly measured look of surprise appeared on Gu Changge’s face, as if he hadn’t expected Xiao Ruoyin to say such things to him.
“Why must Miss Ruoyin belittle herself so? In my eyes, you are different from other women, after all.”
“Why do you think I would help you like this?”
Then, he shook his head gently, asking with apparent earnestness.
“I don’t know... I always thought Young Master Gu pitied me.”
Xiao Ruoyin was taken aback, put on a look of serious contemplation, then shook her head in apparent distress.
Although she knew the answer perfectly well in her heart, at a moment like this, saying it outright would make her seem far too calculating.
Xiao Ruoyin was clever—she naturally knew what to say.
Gu Changge glanced at her, then chuckled softly, “Not at all. I simply feel that you’re different from other women.”
“In my eyes, you are different from other women after all—you needn’t overthink it.”
“I don’t need you to repay me in any way.”
Although Xiao Ruoyin had long guessed Gu Changge would say this, hearing it still couldn’t help but stir waves of emotion in her heart.
“But Young Master Gu, saying such things only makes me feel even more unable to repay you.”
“It fills me with a deep sense of guilt—I can’t just take your kindness for granted like this.”
She lowered her head, her voice very soft.
Xiao Ruoyin only wanted to maintain this pure and straightforward persona before Gu Changge; she didn’t want him to know her thoughts were impure.
So after saying this, a rosy glow surfaced on her face, her voice grew even softer, carrying a slight tremble, faint as a mosquito’s hum, as if she were deeply bashful.
“Young Master Gu, tonight... could you... stay...”
“Ruoyin also knows her own willow-frail looks cannot compare to the peerless beauties by your side. Ruoyin has no other improper thoughts or extravagant hopes.”
“If you find me distasteful, Ruoyin can understand that too.”
She had already spelled it out to this extent—Xiao Ruoyin refused to believe that, in this moment and setting, Gu Changge would still be heartless enough to cruelly reject her.
“The way you put it, if I refused, wouldn’t it feel like I’d be spurning your heartfelt sentiments?”
Seeing this scene, Gu Changge shook his head with a laugh, looking at Xiao Ruoyin, his tone seemingly rather helpless.
All that Xiao Ruoyin had said—wasn’t it just her scheming desperately to get him to stay the night?
What reason did Gu Changge have to refuse?
It’s not like he’d be the one losing out, right?
Since Xiao Ruoyin wanted to play the sweet innocent act with him, Gu Changge would simply play along—it was that simple.
“Really? That’s wonderful...” Although Xiao Ruoyin had anticipated Gu Changge wouldn’t refuse, she still couldn’t hide her delighted expression, letting out a long breath of relief.
The great stone weighing on her heart finally dropped.
She believed that by the next day, news of Gu Changge staying overnight at her place would quickly spread among the disciples and elders of the Skyward Schloss.
From then on, when people spoke of her identity, the first thing that would come to many minds would be that she was Gu Changge’s woman.
In the Beyond of today, as long as that layer of identity was revealed, who would dare slight or offend her?
The night passed without words; within the courtyard, spring warmth and tender charm bloomed, passion rising and falling.
Xiao Ruoyin was, after all, a cultivator of modest accomplishment, so although it was her first experience, it didn’t affect her much.
Hearing Gu Changge mention the Divine Rock Conference a few days later, a realization dawned on her.
“The Divine Rock Conference? So it’s about that.”
“I don’t know that mysterious Divine Source Master, but if Young Master Gu wishes to recruit him, perhaps I can be of help to you,” Xiao Ruoyin said after thinking for a moment.
Although rumors all said that this Divine Source Master had an eccentric temperament and refused to see anyone, with many powers and orthodoxies extending olive branches only to be turned away at the door,
she felt that if she went to visit him herself, that person might just grant her a meeting.