Chapter 40 040 Junior Sister Lu, if you're scared, hold me tight.

As soon as he finished speaking, Duan Lansheng saw the other person cast two strange, confused and surprised glances at him.

Feeling a little uncomfortable under his gaze, Duan Lansheng turned her face away, half of her beautiful, fair face disappearing into the shadows not reached by the setting sun: "Is that not allowed?"

He couldn't explain the source of his turbulent emotions. But when he heard she was going to abandon him for her new friend, he instinctively felt he had to go with her. A phrase completely unrelated to the current situation also inexplicably flashed through his mind—defending territory.

“…It’s not impossible. But is it really your own choice to go?” Lu Yuanyuan hesitated for a moment, then looked at him with her almond-shaped eyes and said sincerely, “You really don’t need to force yourself. Don’t worry, even if you reject me, I won’t be angry with you.”

Hearing her repeatedly trying to persuade him not to go, Duan Lansheng frowned, turned his face back, and pursed his lips slightly: "I didn't force you."

Lu Yuanyuan: "..."

This guy must have lost his mind, suddenly becoming a social butterfly. It's as unbelievable as Superman no longer wearing his underwear on the outside.

More importantly, this is different from the original text. Duan Lansheng accepted the invitation, isn't that out of character?!

No, that's not right either. In the original text, she invited Duan Lansheng to spend some time alone with her as a sycophant. Given all the lewd things she did that bordered on obscene and shameless behavior, Duan Lansheng avoided her like the plague, taking a detour whenever he saw her. How could he possibly agree to go out with her?

Now, she has successfully squeezed into Duan Lansheng's circle of friends, and Duan Lansheng's wariness and dislike towards her have decreased significantly. Moreover, tonight is the outer sect disciples' team-building activity. It's understandable that Duan Lansheng suddenly felt like participating.

Lu Yuanyuan touched her nose and gave in: "Alright then, let's go."

There's no way around it; she personally invited him, so there's no reason for her to go back on her word after he agreed. Hopefully, things will go smoothly with Zhou Que.

The group agreed to meet at the outer disciples' dormitory outside the mountain gate at around 5 PM.

As the sun set in the west, the evening glow, like splashed paint, dyed the sky crimson, lingering on the horizon. Even from a distance, six or seven outer disciples could be seen standing there, mostly young men and women, including Zhou Que and Cen Fei.

With the festival approaching, everyone changed out of their usual formal and serious clan robes, put all their weapons into their storage bags, and wore casual clothes. The girls dressed up especially carefully, drawing their eyebrows and applying their lips, wearing the most beautiful dresses in their wardrobes, looking as if they were wearing flowing robes, with ribbons fluttering in the wind, their postures graceful and elegant.

Zhou Que jumped up and waved excitedly at her: "Lu Yuanyuan! Hurry up! We've been waiting for you—"

However, as Lu Yuanyuan approached, everyone noticed an uninvited guest following behind her, and they stopped talking and laughing, exchanging bewildered glances.

After leaving the Spirit Treasure Secret Realm, Cen Fei, who considered himself to have some semblance of acquaintance with Duan Lansheng, stepped forward and asked, "Junior Brother Duan, is there something urgent that you've come to see us?"

The person next to him whispered, "Who is he looking for among us?"

It's no wonder everyone misunderstood at first. After all, Duan Lansheng never attended disciple gatherings on a regular basis.

Seeing the reactions of the people opposite him, even if Duan Lansheng was slow to realize, he had not consulted with Lu Yuanyuan about her new friends before inviting him to spend the winter solstice together.

Why?

Was she so sure he would refuse that she never intended to bring him along from the beginning?

Just then, his wrist was grabbed.

Lu Yuanyuan took a step closer to him, her eyes crinkling as she said, “Everyone has misunderstood. He’s not here to see you. Let me formally introduce you. This is my good friend, Duan Lansheng. You may all know him, but you’ve probably never spoken to him. I was thinking that since it’s the Winter Solstice today and he’s all alone, I wanted to invite him to join us for hot pot and maybe we can make some friends along the way.”

Hearing the term "good friend," a term brimming with trust and affirmation, fall upon him once more, Duan Lansheng lowered his head and looked directly at her, the gloom in his eyes dissipating slightly.

Upon hearing Lu Yuanyuan's words, everyone showed expressions of surprise.

In fact, they had all heard about Duan Lansheng's battle with the lustful ghost some time ago. During this Spirit Treasure Secret Realm expedition, Duan Lansheng not only killed a three-hundred-year-old Thunderfire Beast in Floating Pagoda Valley, but also performed remarkably well while accompanying his sect, surprising everyone. He even rescued a group of outer sect disciples trapped within the barrier. This led to people from neighboring sects coming to inquire about them.

To put it somewhat inappropriately, a bad person can become a saint overnight by doing one good deed. That's how people's minds work—Duan Lansheng used to be seen as a plague god by them. But once prejudice is broken, the previous bad impression will crumble on its own. Now, when they see Duan Lansheng, they no longer feel nothing but rejection, fear, and disgust; instead, they are more curious.

Zhou Que reacted the fastest and readily said, "Sure, one more person just means one more pair of chopsticks, let's all join in."

Cen Fei chimed in second: "That's right, let's do it together. It's the Winter Solstice, it's good to have some fun."

Seeing this, the others also expressed their welcome.

Having successfully forced the people to come, Lu Yuanyuan breathed a sigh of relief, a slight sense of emotion welling up inside her.

In "The Enchanting Fairy Tale", when the female protagonist meets Duan Lansheng, the latter is already a disciple of the Shushan Sword Sect, a cold and aloof flower.

In this world, beauty and strength alone are not enough for a man; beauty, strength, and tragedy are what truly matter. The author understands this well, yet she doesn't spend much time depicting Duan Lansheng's rise from the depths of despair. She only briefly describes how bleak his life was as an outer disciple before suddenly shifting the focus to his domineering and powerful aura. This stark contrast not only evokes pity from the female protagonist (and the reader) but also perfectly captures the satisfying appeal of the male-centric, overpowered genius progression genre.

It's a bit cliché, but the reason something becomes cliché and ubiquitous is precisely because everyone loves to watch it.

Of course, this is a world within a book, where time flows in days. There's no way to directly drag the progress bar to the point where Duan Lansheng is incredibly powerful. Every step Duan Lansheng takes from his lowest point to his peak is broken down into the dawns and dusks of the changing seasons.

Now, she can clearly feel the positive influence the original work has on Duan Lansheng, and people are much more accepting of him.

It's a pity that such a powerful buff can't be shared even a little bit with the cannon fodder.

Lu Yuanyuan cleared her mind of all distractions and smiled, "There's no time to lose, we should head to Spring Mountain City."

The crowd nodded, formed a hand seal with two fingers, and summoned their swords.

It takes less than half an hour to get to Spring Mountain City from here by sword.

Of everyone, only Lu Yuanyuan lacked a golden core and needed someone to give her a ride.

Duan Lansheng lightly and nimbly stepped onto the sword, his robes fluttering, preparing to pull Lu Yuanyuan up. Unexpectedly, a disciple named Fu Xinguang was faster than him, shouting at Lu Yuanyuan, "Junior Sister Lu, come quickly, we're about to set off."

Duan Lansheng paused, looking up. He saw Lu Yuanyuan give a crisp reply, then obediently run towards the unfamiliar boy, grab his hand, step onto his sword, and stand in front of him.

Since the travel party had been decided in advance, and among all the people, Fu Xinguang's sword was the widest and longest, making it more stable to fly, it was already arranged for him to carry Lu Yuanyuan.

Having lived two lives, Lu Yuanyuan could easily tell from Fu Xinguang's sword that Duan Lansheng's sword control was much more stable and faster.

Comparisons are odious; this skill really requires talent. Everyone can fly on a sword, but the results will differ, sometimes as drastically as the difference between Usain Bolt and a track and field coach.

However, her plan to travel on a single sword with Fu Xinguang had already been decided, so they decided to stick to the original plan. There was no rush anyway.

Besides, Duan Lansheng doesn't like physical contact with people. She'd better not make a fool of herself.

To avoid falling from mid-air, the two had to stay very close. Fu Xinguang supported Lu Yuanyuan's back and said with a simple smile, "Junior Sister Lu, don't be afraid later. I'll be very steady. If you're scared, just hold me tight."

Lu Yuanyuan nodded, smiled slightly, and grabbed the boy's arm: "Then I'll trouble Senior Brother Fu to give me a ride."

Fu Xinguang's cheeks flushed slightly, and he stammered, "No, no trouble at all."

As Fu Xinguang was speaking, he suddenly felt a thorn in his side. He paused, then turned his head in bewilderment. All he could see was Duan Lansheng.

The other person was looking ahead, their profile as cold and indifferent as frost and snow, clearly not looking at them.

Is it just my imagination?

Fu Xinguang was somewhat suspicious, unable to discern anything, so he turned back and began to activate his sword technique.

.

As darkness fell completely, the group arrived safely in Spring Mountain City and took their seats in a restaurant.

The restaurant's signboard bears three large, elegant characters—"Moon Spring Between"—a rather refined name.

Two hot pots sat on the round table. The one on the left was a spicy, savory broth, its aroma filling the air and making one's mouth water. The one on the right was a specialty of Yuequan, a floral hot pot, with flower petals sprinkled into the clear broth, giving the cooked meat a unique and fragrant flavor. Surrounding them was a table laden with vegetables and meats. Tofu was neatly arranged in blocks. Sliced ​​venison, pheasant, fresh fish, and pink meatballs were arranged in separate dishes. Bean sprouts and lettuce were washed and drained in a bowl.

Seating was arranged according to kinship, and Lu Yuanyuan naturally sat next to Duan Lansheng. The table was full of young people, enjoying hot pot together, it felt like stepping back into modern life. Lu Yuanyuan was very relaxed and quite lively at the table, chatting away.

Duan Lansheng remained a primary listener, as always. But unlike before, this time everyone turned their attention to him, occasionally throwing out topics to him. As they chatted, they discovered that although Duan Lansheng was taciturn, he always got to the point quickly and concisely, and his voice was so pleasant to listen to that it was a true pleasure.

"Junior Brother Duan, how did you kill that Thunderfire Beast later? Tell us about it."

Lu Yuanyuan had been regretting that she hadn't entered the Spirit Treasure Secret Realm last time. She listened with great interest to everyone talking about what they had seen and heard inside. When she saw the soup in the red pot boiling, she was delighted, stood up, and took a spoon to scoop it out.

Just then, a phrase in bold suddenly popped into her mind—

The restaurant was bustling with noise and brightly lit. Despite having so many people sitting around her, Lu Yuanyuan couldn't help but feel a wicked thought creeping into her mind as she looked at Duan Lansheng, who had red lips and white teeth.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, she secretly reached out her evil hand to Duan Lansheng under the cover of the pot.

After realizing what she was doing, Duan Lansheng stared at her incredulously, seemingly surprised by her shamelessness.

Lu Yuanyuan gave a wicked smile, her hands still moving: "What are you looking at me for? You've never tried this before, have you?"

“…That’s enough.” Duan Lansheng gritted his teeth, coldly uttering these words before disgustedly pulling away from her hand.

System: "Ding! Please fill in the plot within 5 minutes, or you will be punished."

Lu Yuanyuan: "..."

She stiffly maintained the motion of holding the spoon, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead.

When did Duan Lansheng eat hot pot with her in the original text? Was this another paragraph added by the system to flesh out the character?

What the hell is this? Using the boiler as a cover, reaching out towards Duan Lansheng, and moving around... Is this what she thinks it means?

That's impossible! If I were to actually write this, the chapter would be locked and censored in no time!

Lu Yuanyuan calmed herself down and quickly glanced around. She was sitting to Duan Lansheng's left, his right hand holding chopsticks, and closest to her was his slender, white left hand holding the bowl. The pot was conveniently blocking their view.

If she understood correctly, did this mean she had to touch Duan Lansheng's hand?

Lu Yuanyuan: "..." To ask her to grope Duan Lansheng in public is just too disgusting!

Fortunately, at this moment, Fu Xinguang, who was sitting opposite Lu Yuanyuan, saw through the mist that she seemed to be staring blankly at the red soup, and asked with concern, "Junior Sister Lu, why aren't you getting them yet? If you don't eat them soon, the vegetables will get overcooked."

Lu Yuanyuan: "...!"

Her gaze fell on the pot of boiling red oil, and suddenly, a brilliant idea struck her.

Lu Yuanyuan flipped her wrist and scooped out a handful of green vegetable leaves from the spicy red oil. The leaves were still covered with peppercorns and star anise, and she put them into Duan Lansheng's bowl.

She remembered that Duan Lansheng couldn't eat any spicy food at all.

Sure enough, when Duan Lansheng saw a large handful of vegetables dripping with chili oil suddenly placed into his clean bowl, his eyes widened slightly as he looked at her.

Meeting his gaze, Lu Yuanyuan braced herself, raised one corner of her mouth, and said, "Why are you looking at me? You've never tried this before, have you?"

While talking, she kept putting food on his plate, immediately adding a meatball, three pieces of duck meat, and four pieces of radish to his plate... as if she was afraid he wouldn't have enough to eat and would go hungry.

The spicy food piled up in the bowl, like a small mountain, with chili oil overflowing the bottom. Lu Yuanyuan hoped that Duan Lansheng would lose his patience and say "Enough." But to her surprise, he glanced at her, hesitated for a moment, and then lowered his head to eat a bite of vegetables.

As a result, less than half a second after the chili pepper entered his mouth, Duan Lansheng's expression changed drastically. He was choked by the chili pepper, his fair face flushed red, and he quickly turned his head away, covered his mouth, and coughed painfully.

Seeing that it was working, Lu Yuanyuan decided to stop while she was ahead and quickly sat down, patting his back: "I don't think you can handle spicy food very well, so I won't put any more in your bowl. This should be enough, right?"

Duan Lansheng coughed for a long time before finally stopping. His eyes became misty, and he wiped his reddened lips with a handkerchief. His voice was completely hoarse: "That's enough."

System: "Ding! Original plot details completed, character completion rate increased."

It was a close call, but she managed to fool us again.

This time, the reason they didn't die was entirely thanks to the inspiration provided by Fu Xinguang, who was sitting opposite them. Lu Yuanyuan was a grateful person. After resting for a while, she stood up again, picked up the ladle from the soup pot, scooped out a large piece of fish, put it in Fu Xinguang's bowl, and said with a smile, "Senior Brother Fu, you should eat more too!"

Duan Lansheng was taken aback. He took a sip of cold tea to ease the discomfort in his throat, then poked the tip of his chopsticks into the green vegetable leaves at the bottom of the bowl, his face expressionless.