Chapter 24: Taking Advantage of You with a Straight Face

The Imperial Mentor System launched into a righteous and passionate speech, listing Su Chen’s numerous past and present misdeeds in great detail, trying its best to make him feel ashamed and reflect on his wrongdoings.

Unfortunately, no matter how loudly the Imperial Mentor System shouted, Su Chen remained completely unmoved.

With a skin as thick as a city wall, how could he possibly care about being scolded by the system?

At this moment, Su Chen was already making his second move.

His shameless hand once again reached out toward Ruo Ximeng’s soft, pink cheeks.

“Ah!”

Ruo Ximeng’s cheeks instantly turned red, and a strange look flashed in her beautiful eyes.

She wondered to herself, ‘What is Master doing now?’

The first time Su Chen touched her face, she had assumed it was an accident.

But this time… it really seemed like he had done it on purpose…

‘Could it be that Master enjoys pinching my cheeks?’

Suspicion flickered in Ruo Ximeng’s eyes as her cheeks turned a rosy pink, making her look irresistibly charming.

“Ahem…”

Su Chen’s eyes twitched.

It really was a bit inappropriate to be so blatantly handsy this time.

Although Ruo Ximeng was a little slow on the uptake, it seemed she had started to catch on to his intentions.

‘Heaven above, Earth below, let them bear witness! I, Su Chen, absolutely do not have any weird hobbies! It’s just that Ximeng is too adorable—I couldn’t help myself…’

Su Chen shamelessly and confidently justified himself in his heart.

“Ximeng, it looked like you had a grain of rice on your face just now. I was helping you clean it off,” Su Chen said solemnly, trying to play it off.

“Ohhh, I see!”

Ruo Ximeng nodded her little head in confusion.

***

A moment later, she tilted her head and asked innocently, “But Master… I only drank soup here at Qiu Yue Tower. I didn’t eat any rice…”

Her voice was soft and uncertain.

There was a bowl of rice on the table, but neither of them had touched it yet.

“Ahem… cough cough cough…”

Su Chen’s expression changed immediately.

As expected—’if you walk by the river long enough, you’ll eventually get your shoes wet.’

This time, he had let his guard down.

‘No! It was that he hadn’t come up with a good enough excuse!’

‘Wait a minute… This isn’t right. Ximeng isn’t supposed to be this clever…’

Su Chen thought this with utter conviction.

And sure enough, a second later, Ruo Ximeng had already forgotten what just happened.

She was puffing out her cheeks and cutely sipping her soup again.

A smile crept onto Su Chen’s face.

Just as he thought—this adorable little disciple wasn’t supposed to be clever in the first place.

What just happened must’ve been a fluke—nothing serious.

Once Ruo Ximeng resumed drinking her soup, Su Chen couldn’t resist and reached out to pinch her soft cheeks once more.

After the pinch, Ruo Ximeng’s beautiful eyes were full of shyness and confusion.

“Master… what are you doing?”

At this moment, Ximeng asked hesitantly, a little embarrassed.

“Ximeng, let me tell you,” Su Chen said solemnly.

“When the face is stimulated while drinking soup, the taste buds become more sensitive. That’s when the soup tastes even better. Don’t you think so?”

Su Chen spoke with utmost seriousness.

As he reached out with his devilish claws again, he had already come up with this flawless and very ‘reasonable’ explanation.

[Ahem ahem! Host, this system admits defeat. You really are the master of spouting nonsense with a straight face!]

[It’s just drinking soup! Who comes up with so many ridiculous theories?!]

The Imperial Mentor System was full of disdain as it complained.

It was truly impressed by how shameless Su Chen could be.

Clearly, this shameless scoundrel was just trying to touch Ximeng’s face.

Yet somehow, he had managed to cook up such a wild excuse.

What made it worse was that Ximeng didn’t doubt him at all—she completely believed it!

Now, while Ximeng sipped her soup, Su Chen casually pinched her soft, rosy cheeks, looking utterly content.

Actually, at that very moment, a mischievous thought popped into Su Chen’s mind.

‘If the War Goddess Yanhuang were to drink soup, and I pinched her cheeks too… what would happen?’

If Su Chen didn’t possess such heaven-defying strength, he would definitely be called a walking death wish.

Unfortunately, Su Chen didn’t want to be this strong either—’but what could he do?’

As he continued thinking deviously, a familiar figure entered Autumn Moon Pavilion—Yanhuang.

***

“Uh… looks like I came at a bad time…” Yanhuang said after catching sight of Su Chen and Ximeng acting all lovey-dovey.

Privately, she clicked her tongue in disapproval.

Ximeng was still such a pure and innocent girl.

How could Su Chen lay a hand on her?

Even if Su Chen was having some kind of lustful episode, surely he wouldn’t go so far as to make a move on Princess Ximeng…

If all else failed, couldn’t Su Chen just talk things over with her instead? With his peerless strength, it wasn’t like… she couldn’t consider it.

“Ah! Sister Yanhuang, you came at the perfect time! The Autumn Moon Ginseng and Pigeon Soup here is delicious!”

“When you drink it, I’ll help pinch your cheeks. When the face is stimulated during soup drinking, the taste buds become even more sensitive, and the soup tastes much better!”

Ximeng, completely sincere, repeated Su Chen’s earlier explanation word for word.

Yanhuang shuddered slightly.

‘Was that true?’

‘Could there really be so much knowledge behind drinking soup?’

‘Had she just misunderstood Su Chen?’

‘It couldn’t be, right?’

But looking at Ximeng’s serious expression, it didn’t seem wrong.

Yanhuang then turned to Su Chen and found him nodding with an equally serious look on his face.

Left with no choice, she sat down, half skeptical and half convinced.

***

As Yanhuang took her seat, Ximeng excitedly served her a bowl of soup.

Under Ximeng’s expectant gaze, Yanhuang picked up the bowl, her expression growing more puzzled by the second.

Right then, Ximeng reached out and gently pinched Yanhuang’s cheek.

“Hiss—”

Su Chen watched as Yanhuang’s skin—fair, smooth, and seemingly ready to burst with youthfulness—bounced slightly under Ximeng’s fingers.

The elasticity was jaw-dropping.

He couldn’t help but take a sharp breath.

‘This is enough to kill a man…’

“Ahem…”

Clearing his throat, Su Chen also reached out and pinched Yanhuang’s cheek.

Cough!

As soon as he did, Yanhuang choked on her soup.

When Ximeng pinched her, she had still been wondering why the soup didn’t seem to taste any different.

But when Su Chen pinched her flawless, porcelain face, Yanhuang couldn’t help but give him a sharp glance.

They had known each other for some time now, but this… this was too sudden!

Yet Su Chen wore such a serious expression—he didn’t look like he was taking advantage of her at all.

That made Yanhuang start to doubt herself.

‘Could it really be that the soup tastes better when someone pinches your face while you drink it…?’

Still, where on earth had Su Chen and Ximeng learned such an odd “secret technique” for drinking soup?

Su Chen saw the confused look on Yanhuang’s face, and it nearly broke his composure.

Yanhuang—usually so clever and perceptive—had actually been tricked!