Hey Author, Could You Stop Fooling Around?

Pu Lingyun was seething with anger, as if smoke were coming out of her mouth, ears and nose. She was itching to chase after that peacock-resembling fellow at once, before dragging him back and pummelling him to the ground.

Xu Yunzhan, who just arrived after having passed his assessment, hurried to seize her arm and sighed, “Don’t be so impetuous! If you catch up with him now, we would have to join in and protect you. If by any chance we caused a big enough commotion, the House of Jade would take back Feidi’s qualification to participate in the selection. Then how would he escape from the Evil Sect’s clutches? Although there is a possibility that Su Yang will pass the selection, his petal retainer is still waiting outside the mountain gate!”

When Pu Lingyun heard this, she calmed down and kicked a poor pebble beside her feet begrudgingly. She pouted. “Fine! I will bear with it until Xiao Shixiong passes the selection!”

Without joining their conversation, Gu Feidi’s gaze went from the mountain path stairway to the two shadows that were gradually receding further away. There was no anger or hatred in his eyes. Instead, they were brimming over with a refusal to accept defeat and pure determination. 

Xu Yunzhan was two years older than Gu Feidi, seeing that Gu Feidi’s competitive nature had been aroused, he smacked the younger man’s forehead helplessly and exhorted, “Gu Feidi, don’t take what happened to heart, Su Yang is, after all, one year older than you. Not to mention he practices the way of the Evil Sect. The people in the Evil Sect, in the early stages, their internal energy is stronger, but later they end up falling behind. You better not compete with him, you might end up…”

“I know.” Gu Feidi returned his gaze and said calmly, “I will not rush. As for my training, I will continue to follow at my own pace to make steady progress steadily. You don’t have to worry.”

Relieved, Xu Yunzhan clapped Gu Feidi on the shoulder and smiled. “Let’s continue up the mountain then.”

The first assessment of the House of Jade was not officially over until the sun sank completely into the horizon and the stars gradually lit up in the vast sky.

Due to the unfathomable strength of the woman in white, no one dared to cause trouble again. Even if they were judged and disqualified, they could only complain under their breath before turning around to depart. 

At this very moment, the candidates who passed the first assessment early, had reached a farmhouse in the mountain along the mountain path stairway.

A wooden sign stood outside the farmhouse, stating that all contenders participating in the selection must stay in the homestead for one night, then someone from the House of Jade would come and take them to the next assessment. 

Next to the wooden sign, was an old man sitting on an outdoor rocking chair. The old man swayed in his chair, relaxing with his eyes closed. No matter what the young contenders asked, the old man stayed silent. 

Observing this scene, Su Yang felt at ease.

The farmhouse and the old man were exactly what he encountered for the first assessment in the drama. Although the woman in white inserted herself in the storyline, it seemed that the follow-up plot was still holding on, nothing along the way had collapsed.

This homestead wasn’t small, with five yellow-thatched mud cottages built around the courtyard. The doors and windows were made from simple wooden boards. The rooms were not large, other than the old man’s master room, only one of the side rooms had a proper, large daybedThe author was actually inconsistent with 床榻 and 床鋪. The first one is a couch-table that has a removable table—furniture that could be used for rest and for entertaining guests (like being used on a couch, gosh get your mind out of the gutter). The second one is an actual bed. Just imagine this daybed is big enough for two I guess., which had been claimed by the earliest candidates to have arrived.

Now all Su Yang had to do was to take the room by force on the authority of following the script and using his identity as the Young Master of the Evil Sect.

Furthermore, he must make sure that Gu Feidi witnessed the entire process, forcing him to step in and fight.

He was familiar with this scene’s lines. The ones he couldn’t remember clearly were lines outside of any interaction with Gu Feidi, which he didn’t care much for.

Estimating the time of the day as indicated by the colour of the sky, Su Yang kicked open the door to the central building and leaned on the door frame, deriding the young contender inside from head to toe, and displayed the Young Master’s completely unreasonable temper vividly and realistically.

The one who claimed the room dared not cause conflict with Su Yang and could only carry his belongings and flee out the room with his tail between his legs.

At the same time, Gu Feidi accompanied by Pu Lingyun and Xu Yunzhan appeared in the courtyard, matching the time exactly in the script.

“Young Hero Gu!” At once, one man came forward to complain. “Please take a look at this demon spawn. Acting all arrogant and domineering as he forcibly seized the room already claimed by one who arrived first at the farmhouse!”

“Young Hero Gu! You must demand the room be returned in the name of the righteous way!”

“Young Hero Gu! This Evil Sect abomination is too repulsive, you can’t let him do as he pleases!”

“Young Hero Gu, that side room should belong to you! But now that the Evil Sect nuisance has stolen it…” 

Su Yang handed the lightweight small bundle wrapped in cloth in his hand to Fan Xi and let him tidy up the room first.

When Fan Xi left, Su Yang remained cool, calm, and collected as he crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe, smirking toward Gu Feidi.

According to the setting of the script, Gu Feidi couldn't stand seeing him kicking others around, and would definitely step forward to squabble. After being pestered endlessly by Su Yang, Gu Feidi would pick a fight, unable to bear his anger, and be injured not long after. However, the following morning, Gu Feidi, who was extremely diligent, would still rise early at dawn and carry on his training despite his injuries, and hence was seen by the old man at the door. 

The homestead assessment focused on whether the candidates were being diligent, which Gu Feidi was, and naturally he was greatly praised and immediately passed the assessment.

Su Yang rested against the door, resisting the urge to bite his nails. Outside, not one hair was out of place on his Young Master persona, as he internally  repeatedly recited the lines that would be used next.

This scene with him being the annoying troublemaker—he must choke Gu Feidi up with stress, and make the protagonist unable to come back with follow-up. That meant this scene’s lines had a high standard, and he must make all preparations. Mistakes were unacceptable. 

Gu Feidi coldly glanced at Su Yang, turned to the angry mobs, and declared, “If he wants the side room, just give it to him.”

Su Yang: “?!?”

Gu Feidi continued, “We, as trainees of the martial arts, should not be coveting the pleasures of life. We should practice with diligence and work hard in the righteous way. Besides, we are here to participate in the House of Jade’s selection. It doesn’t matter whether or not we have a bed, since we are only staying for one night. Furthermore, the selection has already begun, no one knows whether the House of Jade is observing us from behind the scenes or not. Everyone better be vigilant.” 

With that said, he glanced toward Su Yang and added, “Young Hero Su is used to a life of luxury, what harm is there to allow him to stay in the most ideal place?”

Su Yang: “...”

This protagonist! Stop thinking for yourself and act accordingly! Think of the script?!

He saw that Gu Feidi was not willing to deal with him, as the younger man turned around, ready to retire in the room next door. In a moment of panic, Su Yang’s subconscious mind immediately unleashed the provocative lines in the script, “Young Hero Gu is an outstanding dragon among mortal men. You are actually qualified to share this room with me. Why don’t we share a bed? Half will be yours, and I will sleep on the other half?” 

He won’t accept that this wolf cub wouldn’t be enraged from hearing this line!

As expected, his question had an immediate effect.

Gu Feidi stopped, his face flushed with rage.

He twisted his head back, glared at Su Yang viciously, and said, gnashing his teeth, “Young Hero Su, please conduct yourself with dignity.”

Behind Gu Feidi, Xu Yunzhan covered Pu Lingyun’s mouth tightly and firmly caged her within his arms, preventing her from rushing forward. 

Xu Yunzhan raised his head and laughed grimly, saying, “Young Hero Su, I see that the second young master of Qinglian Sect is more suitable to share a daybed with you. Feidi has an honorable nature, it is better to not involve him!”

With that, he dragged Pu Lingyun in one hand and pushed Gu Feidi in the other, and the three entered another room together.

After all, Gu Feidi was a young, teenaged man, and a little hot-tempered no matter how calm he acted. But at present, the fragrance from the pill that was hindering him was their top priority that needed to be solved. He dared not cause trouble in the House of Jade, nor clash with Su Yang. They could only slam the door with a wave and shake off a layer of wood shavings.

Su Yang sighed helplessly as he watched the door shut.  

Where did the plot start to go wrong? This shouldn’t have happened...

Fan Xi came forward and whispered, “Young Master, since you already fed him the Rejuvenating Pill of Fragrant Sorrow. Why are you in such a hurry? No one knows the criteria for the House of Jade’s selection clearly. Young Master, the loss would outweigh the gain if by any chance you rush in irrationally, and be disqualified. Why don’t you set your plan in motion once you are selected.”

After a pause, he added, “Even if the House of Jade has a long list of strict rules, making it inconvenient for you to act...As long as he is carrying that sweet scent, I expect he won’t be able to escape from you once we complete our training in the House of Jade.”

Su Yang replied in a daze, “Eh?” 

Fan Xi was even more at a loss. “...Huh? What’s wrong?”

“How do you know I gave him the pill?” Su Yang inquired.

Fan Xi blinked slowly, and questioned in surprise, “...Young Master, you, could it be, do you not know the after effects of consuming the pill?”

Su Yang replied, “Doesn’t it have the effect of bringing someone from the blink of death?” This doesn’t count if the person is dead as a doornail. 

Fan Xi: “...”

Fan Xi quickly scanned through the crowd of contenders in the farmhouse courtyard, all unable to voice their resentful objections. He reached out and pulled on Su Yang’s sleeve and dragged him into the room. He closed the door, feeling a slight headache starting at the back of his head.

“Young Master.” He murmured, “Could it be that you don’t know the fragrance caused by this divine pill, could be used to pursue a target, with a butterfly that can track the scent from the pill?”

Su Yang’s thoughts: ...I don’t even know why the heck a butterfly has a part in this! Screenwriter, ah wrong person, author, could you stop fooling around?!

Fan Xi continued, “It seems that the reason you accomplished so much is that you have been so engrossed in your training and never been concerned about this common knowledge…”

Su Yang: “...”

Fine! You came up with your own assumption, saved me some trouble.

After grieving over the Young Master’s dull childhood, Fan Xi explained to Su Yang everything about the Evil Sect’s Rejuvenated Pill of Fragrant Sorrow, not leaving even the smallest detail out.

Once he finished, he asked in a puzzle, “If the Young Master didn’t know the effect of the pill, why did you feed it to Gu Feidi?”

Inside of Su Yang’s mind, he cussed at the weirdo author who had a head full of holes and the screenwriter who randomly edited out important story setting details, but on the outside, his expression was perfectly flawless, not a single bit of his internal struggle showed.

He flung his hair leisurely and said calmly, “He was seriously injured at that moment, and I just couldn’t bear to see him die like that. If he died, then I wouldn’t...” He interrupted himself with a cough. “Things would be too boring.”

Fan Xi showed an understanding smile, bumped Su Yang’s arm, and cheered, “This brother understands completely! He he he…But Young Master, please don’t overdo it right now. After all, we don’t know if anyone would record our behaviour during the selection. If you were disqualified for such a trivial matter, the gains would not make up for the loss.”

Su Yang only nodded unconcernedly and without replying.

In his head, he carefully ran over the previous plot points that he found odd, trying to determine what kind of influence his negligence would have on the follow-up plot. 

Thinking of Gu Feidi at the mountain gate, he suddenly realised the other’s furious expression, and he had an epiphany—

—Could it be that Gu Feidi thought he had intentionally left this sweet tracking scent on him so that he could pursue him to the end of the earth?!

He sucked in a cold breath. This misunderstanding is too big!