Chapter 88
At first, everything still seemed relatively normal. Xuan Yuan Qingya chatted briefly with Shang Chan and Zhao Mengmeng, then the two left.
Up until then, there hadn’t really been any problems.
At worst, it just looked like Xuan Yuan Qingya’s character setting had collapsed a bit, doing things that didn’t really match her personality.
But what happened afterward… that was when things started to feel off.
Xuan Yuan Qingya insisted Lin Tian call her by her name.
When Lin Tian asked why she was paying so much attention to him, her prideful and domineering attitude flared up, and Lin Tian, irritated, couldn’t hold himself back and snapped at her!
Of course, he hadn’t actually cursed her out—he just spoke harshly, his tone sharp and impolite.
At first, Lin Tian thought Xuan Yuan Qingya would be enraged, maybe even throw him straight out of the castle…
If the Xuan Yuan family were being more domineering, they could’ve just killed him outright—it wouldn’t have been impossible. After all, great clans like these had never taken the law too seriously.
At that moment, Lin Tian had even started thinking about escaping.
Yet, after being scolded by him, Xuan Yuan Qingya didn’t just refrain from getting angry—she actually looked… happy?
Stripping away her identity and her established character setting, the vibe she gave off at that instant was clear: excitement, thrill, satisfaction.
He yelled at her, and she actually enjoyed it…
What kind of twisted plot development was this supposed to be?!
If it weren’t Xuan Yuan Qingya standing before him, Lin Tian would’ve honestly suspected she had a masochistic streak!
And that should’ve been the end of it. No big deal—Lin Tian just needed to keep his distance. As long as he guarded himself and pulled away, with Xuan Yuan Qingya’s personality, it was impossible she’d shamelessly cling to him, right?
Except…
The old butler showed up!
And with him, bad news for Xuan Yuan Qingya: her fourth uncle had fallen ill and collapsed.
Then, for some utterly inexplicable reason, Xuan Yuan Qingya suddenly turned to him for help!
Thinking back on it now, Lin Tian truly couldn’t figure it out—he didn’t have the slightest trace of a “medical” skill!
Forget treating others—he couldn’t even wrap gauze properly…
He really couldn’t understand what the hell Xuan Yuan Qingya had eaten wrong to make her think of him as a savior for her fourth uncle.
If he actually had that kind of ability, then wouldn’t he be the protagonist of this world? What would the so-called Medical Saint’s successor, Jiang Yifeng, even be needed for?
But after Lin Tian refused, this woman still wouldn’t give up. She actually leaned in and whispered by his ear:
“As long as you can save my fourth uncle, I’ll be your woman…”
Even if Xuan Yuan Qingya truly respected and cared deeply for her fourth uncle, Lin Tian still felt the whole thing was just too damn absurd.
This was Xuan Yuan Qingya!
In her character setting, she was the kind of woman who never once lowered her pride—even in front of her own mother.
In the original storyline, even after she was taken into Jiang Yifeng’s harem later on, she still kept herself apart from the inner whirlpool, stubbornly choosing to silently support Jiang Yifeng from the sidelines.
Why? Because her pride would never allow her to share a man with other women.
And now, such a woman had actually said something like that to him?
In that moment, Lin Tian felt like his worldview was crumbling apart…
The Xuan Yuan Qingya he remembered—how could she possibly have said those words?
But that wasn’t even the most outrageous part.
The most outrageous thing was—just a few seconds later, Xuan Yuan Qingya suddenly kissed him!
A kiss!
A stolen kiss!
Xuan Yuan Qingya actually took the initiative and stole a kiss from him!
The hell—!
Lin Tian was now seriously starting to doubt whether the world he had transmigrated into was really the same old cliché novel he remembered.
Could this actually be some kind of fanfiction world spun off from that white-lotus story?
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Lin Tian clutched his head, feeling like his whole mind was in chaos.
Meanwhile, Xuan Yuan Qingya herself was also frozen, caught in a state of dazed confusion.
Most of all—this had been her first kiss…
In the past, Xuan Yuan Qingya hadn’t just avoided any intimate contact with men—even in her four-story villa, aside from Uncle Zhong, the old butler who had loyally served the Xuan Yuan family for decades, no other man was ever allowed upstairs.
And yet just now—she had actually gone and kissed him…
Xuan Yuan Qingya could still feel the lingering warmth on her lips, her lashes trembling uncontrollably.
She felt as though she must have gone insane!
What made her feel even more panicked and shy was that—even after kissing Lin Tian—deep down inside, she didn’t feel the slightest trace of rejection.
It was as if… she had willingly given away her very first kiss.
But the truth was, she had only offered it up as a bargaining chip—just to save her Fourth Uncle!
The clash between that rational awareness and the emotions in her heart left Xuan Yuan Qingya completely at a loss for words. One moment, she told herself that this had only been a sacrifice for her uncle’s sake; the next, her heart refuted her, whispering that she hadn’t felt any disgust from that kiss at all…
And if a girl took the initiative to kiss a boy—without feeling even the slightest dislike—what exactly did that mean?
Xuan Yuan Qingya instinctively dared not pursue that thought any further.
Right now, what was holding Xuan Yuan Qingya together was the thought that she had only made this sacrifice for her Fourth Uncle, in hopes that Lin Tian would help save him.
But if she were to dig deep into her own heart, and truly discover that she actually liked the man before her… then what was she supposed to do?
Xuan Yuan Qingya didn’t know. So, subconsciously, she chose to shrink back like an ostrich hiding its head.
After a long silence, she finally gathered the courage to inch closer to Lin Tian. Stretching out her pale, slender hand, she tugged lightly at his sleeve.
“Lin Tian, this… this thank you, are you satisfied with it?”
The corner of Lin Tian’s mouth twitched. Sister, could you please not bring that up again?
Satisfied or not—how the hell was he supposed to answer that?
This wasn’t even about satisfaction in the first place! When had he ever agreed that this sort of thing was acceptable as a form of gratitude?
He had already been planning to go check on her Fourth Uncle with her, but before he could even say it, she just went and kissed him…
Where the hell was the logic in that?!
Although being stolen a kiss by such a stunning beauty was something that could make any man secretly thrilled—Lin Tian was no exception—this incident had suddenly thrown countless complications into his plan of “keep a clean distance from Xuan Yuan Qingya.”
After all, when a girl secretly kissed you, could you really just walk away as if nothing had happened?
It wasn’t that he couldn’t do it… it was just that Lin Tian couldn’t get past the hurdle in his own heart.
He let out a heavy sigh, the whole matter striking him as utterly absurd.
“Xuan Yuan Qingya, you… what were you thinking? Did something go wrong in your head?”
At last, unable to hold it in any longer, Lin Tian suddenly lifted his head. Suppressing the jumble of emotions inside, he shouted in a low but forceful voice.
He didn’t dare raise his volume too much—for fear that the old butler outside might misunderstand what was happening in here…
Even though, to be fair, some damn ridiculous things had already happened!
Xuan Yuan Qingya pursed her lips, looking exactly like a wronged little girl.
“Lin Tian… I… I’m sorry.”
The corner of Lin Tian’s mouth twitched.
What the hell was wrong with this woman?!