328 To Have the Artist’s Audacity

The alcohol was really fueling her audacity. She loved it.

Han Shiche, at her words, paused. He seemed to have realized that things were not looking the best to him. At the very least, he still had that basic common sense.

Swallowing whatever other words he wanted to say, he stiffly turned around. It seemed like he wanted to leave the matter at that. Without meeting their gazes, he and his friends started walking away. As they passed by, Rong Yuan, who had his arms crossed, tried to stop them, but after a brief second of thought, he decided to let them pass as well.

At their silent and shameful departure, Yujia raised her brows. Yufeng dusted off her hands.

"I didn't tell you before," Yufeng leaned in, saying, "but that was simply perfect when you kneed him."

"Not as perfect as how you almost broke his fingers." Yujia replied with a gleeful smile. "You got to teach me that trick sometime."

"Well, you have a lot to learn," Yufeng responded.

"Thanks, Yufeng." Yujia saluted, then faced Rong Yuan. "I have to thank you too."

"No problem, Junior Sister," he told her with a grin as wide as ever.

At this, she seemed to remember something. Yujia narrowed her eyes for a second. "Wait." She tapped her chin. "How old are you again?" 

Rong Yuan's eyes lit up, seemingly delighted that finally, after so long, she started to pay attention to him and the kind of person he was. "Me? I'm eighteen."

"Oh!" Yujia tilted her head. So that sudden thought of hers was on the right track. "We've been addressing each other incorrectly all this time. You're my Junior Brother."

"Eh?" Rong Yuan's eyes widened in disbelief. "You're my… Senior Sister?"

"I'm older than you by a year." She nodded thoughtfully.

It wasn't that big of a deal, but Rong Yuan's expression of shock reminded Yujia of her business partner, Bo Zhizhong. Come to think of it, both Zhizhong and Rong Yuan were eighteen as well. They also shared a few noticeable traits, but Zhizhong was more tolerable than Rong Yuan. He was studious, worked hard, and kept his brains on him. Rong Yuan, on the other hand…

Yujia still shuddered at the thought of all the annoying ways Rong Yuan had pestered her in the past. There was also the fact that Rong Yuan attempted hiring Zixu to dig up information on her, which was likely the creepiest thing he did.

Regardless, he seemed somewhat decent right now.

Slightly puzzled at this question, Yujia told him in a simplistic manner, "Just back to my room?" 

"Since Senior Sister doesn't have plans, I was wondering if you wanted to spend the night with me in my—" 

Yujia's disappointment skyrocketed at an unprecedented rate upon hearing this. What thoughts about Rong Yuan being decent? Why did those even exist in her mind for the briefest of seconds? She should not have considered them.

Before Rong Yuan could even finish his sentence, Yujia held up her hands. "Junior Brother, we don't have that kind of relationship, alright? And we never will. You saw what happened to that Han Shiche. Do you want to end up like that?"

Although he was cut off, Rong Yuan didn't show any signs of discontent. He let out a hyena-like laugh, waving his hand. "I was just joking. I'm shameless, but I'm a proper gentleman."

Thinking of every non-gentlemanly thing Rong Yuan had done in the past, along with his reputation of being quite the flirtatious man with so many other ladies, Yujia could only give him a forced wince-like smile. 

"Sure, sure." She bowed, adding on, "Have a good evening, Junior Brother."

He replied with the same greetings, and that was about the end of that conversation.

Though Yujia wasn't quite sure what to make of that entire encounter, she knew for sure that there was quite a lot that she wanted to tell Zixu that evening, and quite a small limit she had for a word count. 

At least she had Yufeng as a companion. That night, before sleeping, the two had a long, long chat, laughing about everything that happened that evening.

…

The next morning, after Yujia took a bath— other than the hot springs, the lodging offered excellent options for hygiene as well— and got dressed in her Lingxin robes, she stepped out of her room to see someone unexpected.

"You—" she began, shocked by the person in front of her.

The same young man who was harassing her last night, Han Shiche, was kneeling on the wooden floor and bowing, his head nearly touching the floor.

Yujia took a step back. How was she supposed to react in a situation like this? She admitted that there were not many cases in her life where nobles were kowtowing to her.

Seeing that she opened the door, Han Shiche exclaimed, "On behalf of my name and school, I would like to apologize for what I did last evening. I had a few drinks and was not in the right state of mind. My actions are unforgivable, but I felt the need to apologize."

Blinking a few times, Yujia said with lots of hesitation, "Well, alright." 

She honestly didn't expect this apology from him, and she had to admit, he had to let down a lot of his pride by doing this. However, recalling their conversation last night, where they essentially competed with their family and backings, she couldn't help but feel suspicion. There was a decent chance that he was simply apologizing because of what she said last night, regarding how much shame he would bring to his family and reputation if a matter like this leaked out. Except, then again, if he actually cared about his reputation, that must mean that his harassment towards her was not something that regularly happened. If it were regular, he would be like Rong Yuan, far too shameless to care…

After all of this consideration, she ended up saying, "Last evening, it was because of what I did that brings you here to apologize right now. If I had not stood up for myself, or if I were just a defenseless worker, you could have easily taken advantage of me. Being drunk is not an excuse for your actions. If you truly feel sorry for what you have done, then this apology towards me does not mean much. What matters is that in the future, something like this does not happen again, whether to me or some other poor girl that you stumble upon. It should not be the victim's responsibility to defend themselves."

He bowed a little more. "I will keep these words firmly in mind."

"Good." Yujia paused, staring at how he was still bowing. "If you truly repent, you can get up now."

Slowly, Han Shiche rose from his kneeling position, dusting off his knees. "Thank you," he whispered.

Yujia nodded her head. She then waved her hand. "If that's all, I'll be going."

"Wait, Miss—" Han Shiche called out, "I also wanted to talk about something else."

She looked over her shoulder. "And that is?"

"I remember what you said last night about preferring a competition of skill. I know this is preposterous for me to request, and you have every right to reject. However, since we are two schools at one mountain, at the same time, as a representative of Guozijian School, I was wondering if Lingxin would be up for a friendly competition?"