Chapter 292: You Don’t Want Others to Know About Your… Interests, Right?
“Senior Brother Bai, how do you think my swordsmanship is? I haven’t been slacking off, right?”
Just then, the Image Retainer buzzed with Shui Miao Miao’s cheerful and somewhat smug voice.
Bai Feng quickly lowered his gaze from the tiny forbidden books he was secretly inspecting. Playing it cool, he nodded as if he hadn’t seen a thing: “Not bad, actually exceeded my expectations. I thought most of the time you’d just be idling and fooling around!”
The reason he chose not to call her out was simple—no need to be cruel. After all, put yourself in her shoes: if her revered senior sister (just saying, not Yu Yao) found out about her secret stash of forbidden books, she’d definitely swap locations—no, swap worlds—and start anew. So better to keep Shui Miao Miao happy, give her some face.
Hearing the compliment, Shui Miao Miao’s face lit up with a faint happiness. She bit her lip to suppress a grin, trying not to look too proud: “Well, you know, Eastern Continent’s been pretty dangerous lately. I just know to prioritize wisely.”
“Are you planning to ask about swordsmanship today too?”
“Yep yep! I want to ask about this part…”
……
After Bai Feng finished explaining sword techniques, Shui Miao Miao chitchatted with him about daily life for a bit before finally hanging up.
She stared at the darkening Image Retainer, leaned her body back, and flopped onto her bed.
“When will this chaos in the Eastern Continent end?”
She sighed, longing to go visit Senior Brother Bai and have fun…
But her little sister told her that the Black Dragon Chancellor was scheming something shady. Apart from preparing for the two princes’ counterattack, she’d also have to watch out for the Black Dragon Chancellor’s shady hands.
“Ugh…” Shui Miao Miao heaved a sigh. “Forget it, enough of this. I’ll just pick up a book and relax.”
She reached out automatically, grabbing a book from the bedside shelf. As she turned a page, an idea suddenly struck her.
Wait—didn’t I forget to put these books away?
Her eyes widened in horror. She scrambled to sit up, trembling as she looked at the books beside her pillow. Her eyes kept flickering.
D*mn it!!
How could I forget such an important thing?
Especially since she specifically placed the Image Retainer on the wardrobe, which meant—did Bai Brother see these books?
She hugged her head in distress. She clearly remembered seeing those books when she changed clothes earlier, planning to hide them after changing. But then Bai Feng casually mentioned that the Image Retainer was all-around—360 degrees, no dead angles—and she got distracted rushing to change clothes, totally forgetting about hiding the books!
“What if Bai Brother finds out?”
She buried her face into her hands and lay on the bed helplessly. She really wanted to run away, to a place where nobody knew her.
Wait!
Suddenly, another thought struck her. Bai Feng seemed normal—no teasing or anything. Could it be that Bai Brother didn’t see the books beside her pillow?
Knowing his personality, if he did see those books, he’d definitely tease her about it. Bai Feng’s personality was actually quite mischievous, after all. But he hadn’t. That meant—probably—he hadn’t seen the books at all.
After analyzing wildly, Shui Miao Miao almost convinced herself.
But her heart wouldn’t settle. Just thinking about the books on her bedside, the fact that she was happily showing her sword technique to Bai Brother—that made her face flush red. She wished she could slap her past self.
She reached out and grabbed the Image Retainer, tapping on Bai Feng’s name. She desperately wanted to confirm if Bai Brother saw the books by her pillow. But asking directly felt like revealing her hand. What if Bai Feng really hadn’t seen?
In the end, she lacked the courage to ask. She quietly closed the Image Retainer, laid back on the bed, and picked up a book to read.
But this time, she couldn’t focus at all. Her mind kept imagining what would happen if Bai Feng really discovered her secret stash.
Just then, a mischievous voice echoed in her mind:
“You sneaky princess, you don’t want others to find out you’ve been secretly reading forbidden books, right?”
Bai Feng’s voice approached slowly, his hand pinching her chin, while the other was…
“Wait—I’m not ready yet… Okay, what?”
Shui Miao Miao’s eyes snapped open. The book she was holding dropped onto her face.
She gazed at her dimly lit room, scratching her messy hair in embarrassment.
It was… just a dream…
Why did I wake up now?
She threw the book aside, tugged the thin blanket over herself, and mumbled, “Back to sleep!”
……
“Meow~~”
Bai Feng opened his eyes to see Xiao Xue lying on him. When she noticed he was awake, she gently rubbed her face against his.
“Xiao Xue…”
He reached out and ruffled her head. Ever since he sometimes slept on Xiao Jiu’s tail, Xiao Xue had started sneaking into his room to sleep more often.
Such charming rivalry.
Bai Feng yawned without getting out of bed, scooped Xiao Xue into the covers, leaving only his head visible: “It’s still early, let me sleep a bit longer.”
“Meow~”
Xiao Xue nodded softly and lay quietly by his side, resting.
But her mind was anything but peaceful. She could still smell that faint foxish aroma on the bed—obvious proof that That Stinky Fox had slept there.
Thinking of that irritating fox using its tail to seduce her master and getting all the favoritism made her feel annoyed.
For a while now, she’d been thinking about how to beat that stinky fox. Recently, she finally found a promising strategy.
She’d occasionally see her masters Bai Feng and Yu Yao sleeping together, with Bai Feng often cuddling Yu Yao. That gave her an idea.
Although she didn’t have as many tails as the fox, she believed that if she broke through to Yuan Ying stage and successfully transformed, she could defeat the fox.
The fox could also transform, but it was strongly opposed to that—an obvious weakness for her. Her breakthrough opportunity.
She believed that once she transformed, her owner’s first pet heart belonged to her—that everything would be fine.
Lately, she’d been diligently cultivating, even eating extra cat food—to ensure she could reach Yuan Ying ASAP.
Meanwhile, Bai Feng didn’t realize what Xiǎo Xue was thinking. He buried his face in her soft fur, enjoying the morning nap.
Xiao Xue paused her musings. She looked at Bai Feng who had buried his face in her ‘bosom,’ and silently committed this scene to memory—her owner seemed to really like burying his head in her chest every morning.
Then, carefully checking that Bai Feng was asleep, she poked him with her soft little paw, mimicking how Bai Feng was fluffing her head, and gently patted his scalp.
