Chapter 195: Yu Yao—No, No, no, it’s our Yu Ling Long!
Yu Yao looked up at Bai Feng, her face all puzzled like she just saw a ghost. “What did you just say?”
“I am Teacher Chun Qiu,” Bai Feng repeated, then casually pulled out a pencil. “If you don’t believe me, I can draw you a picture right now.”
“…Are you really Teacher Chun Qiu?”
Yu Yao’s mouth gaped like a fish out of water. Flashbacks of her previous ridiculous antics in front of Bai Feng made her brain tremble in horror.
She had sort of suspected that Bai Feng was Chun Qiu, given how close the two were—like, Chun Qiu Teacher entrusted everything to Bai Feng, and Bai Feng often whipped out Chun Qiu’s original drafts like they were no big deal.
But hey, that guess was totally out there and way too convenient to poke holes in. So she just shrugged it off, thinking, “Meh, probably not…”
“Oh, by the way, I’ve only told you this. Don’t go blabbing to others, okay?”
Bai Feng leaned in conspiratorially. His reasons for exposing his secret identity were simple: One, their relationship had taken a step further (because nothing screams ‘secret’ like sharing memes). Two, Chun Qiu’s name carried heat, but he’s just a modest little fanart artist. If he kept the Chun Qiu fame, he might hurt his clothing sales or something. Better to team up with Yu Yao directly and ditch the Chun Qiu name altogether—more cash, less headache.
Suddenly, Yu Yao’s hand shot out and grabbed Bai Feng’s shoulder, a smile on her face like she just won the lottery. “Little junior-bro, are you always this mean, watching my hilarious face?”
“Cough… No! And I even brought a gift to apologize,” Bai Feng said, avoiding eye contact as he brushed past her.
Before Yu Yao could blow up again, Bai Feng quickly changed the subject. “Oh, right! Sister, keep reading ahead. Behind that page, there’s a surprise!”
“Little junior, your distraction game is weak,” Yu Yao snorted, but she still grabbed her book and started flipping pages. “If there’s no surprise, then how about you be my model and wear different clothes all day?”
She flipped page after page — mostly hilarious memories with Bai Feng: like striking a noble pose at the auction house, or fighting with him over sticky rice balls at the City Lord’s Manor. Even her photos wearing Bai Feng’s clothes made it into the sketches.
Seeing those photos, she suddenly remembered the moment, her face flushing red.
She looked up at Bai Feng, eyes narrowing. “Don’t tell me that’s the surprise?”
Bai Feng shook his head. “More still to come.”
But Yu Yao wasn’t in a hurry to flip another page. Instead, she subtly peeked at a corner of the next page, lowered her head to peek inside, then quickly shut it.
“What, no more?” Bai Feng asked with a chuckle.
“Did you draw that too?!” Yu Yao clenched her tiny fist and lightly punched Bai Feng. “If you say that’s the surprise, I totally deny it!”
“While I think that drawing itself is a genuine surprise, if you’re not convinced, keep flipping. There’s more,” Bai Feng said.
Hearing that, Yu Yao simply pinched two pages and skipped the middle one altogether. She peeked into the gap between them, making sure there was nothing red-faced or embarrassing before opening it fully.
It was a picture of her in a white dress, ruffled at the hem, only covering half her thighs. A huge bow sat at her waist, with ribbons hanging from both sides of her neck, looking—well, a bit like a fancy dress.
She was certain she’d never worn such an outfit—hell, she’d never even seen it!
She turned the pages further—more pictures of her wearing clothes she’d never seen before.
“So?” Bai Feng whispered, watching her.
“Little junior,” Yu Yao finally closed the book after the last page, turning to look at Bai Feng. Suddenly, she pounced and hugged him tight. “I love this gift! I forgive you! Do you want any other gift? Sister here can satisfy all your wishes!”
“…I’d like you to get off me first,” Bai Feng said, awkwardly pushing her away.
“Come on, what’s the big deal? We’ve kissed already, and didn’t you just act a little bold earlier? Now you’re blushing?” she teased.
Oh no—she’d accidentally activated her silly, crazy side again.
“Wait a sec, Sister, I have something serious to talk about,” Bai Feng said, holding her head back gently. “I plan to switch identities to design clothes—separate from Chun Qiu’s name.”
“Little junior, you mean…” Yu Yao paused immediately, understanding his meaning in an instant.
Yes, this was the headache she’d been obsessing over. While Chun Qiu—no, Bai Feng’s clothes were awesome, Chun Qiu’s name had become a burden. When people heard that name, they just… left. It was hard to advertise or sell.
But if they split Chun Qiu from Bai Feng, all those problems would vanish, and they’d make more money!
“So, Sister, what do you think?” Bai Feng asked.
“Why not give it a try?” Yu Yao nodded. “And do we need a new name?”
“Just borrow Yu Ling Long’s name,” Bai Feng said casually. “Anyway, Sister, you won’t mind sharing the profits, right?”
She gently shook her head. “Correction: It’s our Yu Ling Long!”
Bai Feng was stunned for a second before bursting into laughter. “Right, it’s our Yu Ling Long.”
—
After temporarily sorting out the logistics of training the caravan guards, Bai Feng resumed building the array.
After days of effort with Su Lan Qian, today was finally the first chance for a test run.
“Junior Sister Shui, over here!” Bai Feng waved.
Since a test was necessary, of course he needed his new assistant—Water Miao Miao.
Water Miao Miao trotted over, standing at the entrance of the Simulation Secret Realm with curiosity. She looked inside. “Is this the Simulation Secret Realm Bai Shuixiong mentioned?”
The portal seemed to lead directly into the mountain’s interior, with faint flames flickering inside the passage—kinda creepy.
She suddenly seemed to recall something and hurriedly asked Bai Feng, “By the way, Bai Shuixiong, I just finished my Golden Core stage—am I still okay to test?”
After the strange phenomena in Tian Luo City, she’d successfully advanced from late Golden Core to perfect Golden Core. Her spiritual energy was bursting, and she was just a hair’s breadth from breaking into Yuan Ying.
Bai Feng waved her off. “No problem. You go ahead. Others might not be able to pass, and I’m not planning to let everyone clear it at once.”
“By the way, take this,” he took out a small array disk from his storage pouch. “It can teleport you out if your puppet beats you. And if you want to leave midway, just activate it.”
