CHAPTER 277: CHAPTER 206: XU RUYAN’S LITTLE SECRET_2

Xu Ruyan raised her head, her eyes, filled with anger, fixed on him. But Chu Tian remained unmoved. In the end, Xu Ruyan relented.

"Fine, but you can’t laugh at me..."

As she spoke, she slowly began to remove the mask from her face.

Laugh? Why would I laugh? How could something as serious as an injury be laughable...

Chu Tian’s thoughts hadn’t even finished when Xu Ruyan removed her mask, and he almost burst out laughing.

"We agreed, no laughing!"

"PFFT... Mm, I know, I definitely won’t laugh~"

Chu Tian tightly controlled the expression on his face, but his voice cracked.

It wasn’t his fault at all. After all, he had professional training. No matter how funny something was, he would not laugh—unless he couldn’t help it.

Looking at Xu Ruyan’s delicate little face, even covered in scars, its lovely features couldn’t be hidden. The crystal-clear, fair skin paired with delicate features made it no exaggeration to say that Nuwa had clearly shown favoritism.

Just this face alone was a sight to behold. None of its features stood out individually, but together they were particularly harmonious and well-blended.

A bit more or a bit less would break this strange balance, as if fate had cycled through thousands of iterations to select this perfect answer.

This face... he seemed to see the shadow of the Fairy Sister from his past life.

It wasn’t that they looked alike; the two faces were completely different, but the ethereal and refined aura was identical.

Yes, it was the aura! That ethereal, elusive, captivating yet desirable aura, something that would catch one’s eye at a glance.

But now, this little face looked rather pitiful.

Chu Tian stared at the large panda eye over her left eye socket and the red, somewhat scratched left side of her face, complemented by those despondent little eyes.

It gave her an air of having been bullied, a sort of dazed cuteness that was also somewhat comical.

The more he looked, the harder it was to hold back his laughter.

The scene before him felt oddly familiar. It reminded him of his favorite panda, Huahua, munching on bamboo only to be slapped out of nowhere and have her bamboo snatched away.

In the end, after being hit and losing her meal, she would sit on the ground, dazed and aggrieved, her face full of confusion and distress.

"Your... face... what... PFFT—AHEM, AHEM—what on earth happened... AHEM..."

Chu Tian desperately tried to hold it in, but it was like trying to suppress a laughing fit—he just couldn’t manage.

"You..." Xu Ruyan’s face turned red with anger. She wanted to say something, but in the end, she couldn’t utter a word. Finally, her eyes welled up. Seeing Chu Tian desperately stifling his laughter, she angrily put her mask back on and said, "Forget it. Laugh if you want. I’m used to it!"

"Sor-sorry... AHEM..." It took a while, but Chu Tian finally caught his breath. He looked up to see Xu Ruyan standing there silently crying, and he suddenly panicked.

I clearly came to help her solve her problems, but look what happened. The problem isn’t solved, and I’ve made her cry.

I knew Xu Ruyan had been bullied, and yet I still laughed. I’m really not a good person!

Silently chastising himself, Chu Tian couldn’t bring himself to laugh anymore. He guiltily reached out a hand to comfort her.

But Xu Ruyan slapped his hand away.

He could only retract his hand sheepishly and said, standing beside her, "AHEM, well... Sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed just now..."

"Alright then, start talking. What exactly happened? Your sister is worried sick. Can you tell me what’s going on? At least to put her mind at ease."

"I told you there’s no need for you two to bother! It’s really nothing!"

"Come on, just tell me. Didn’t you call me brother-in-law? We’re all family here, what can’t you share?"

"Nonsense! You’re so shameless. My sister is a huge star; she’d never fall for you. ’Brother-in-law,’ indeed..."

Am I... being disdained?

Hey, how am I the shameless one? This little sister-in-law is too... what is it... judgmental, isn’t she? Looking down on people like that.

"Okay, let’s not talk about the brother-in-law thing. Let’s talk about your issue. What happened? If you don’t tell me, I can’t go back, and you can’t leave either. Right?"

"I can’t leave? If I want to go, can you actually stop me? That’d be kidnapping! I warn you, don’t you dare defy the law!"

"Heh, kidnapping? Not entirely out of the question... Why don’t you call the police?"

"You..."

Xu Ruyan was out of options. Seeing that Chu Tian really didn’t seem inclined to let her off the hook, an idea sparked in her mind.

"Your name is Chu Tian, right? You like my sister?"

"Huh? What’s that got to do with anything? We’re talking about your problem right now, aren’t we?"

"Hmph~ Why, can’t I ask? Just answer, do you or do you not?"

"So what if I do, and so what if I don’t? It has nothing to do with this. We’re talking about what’s wrong with you, not me. Are you trying to change the subject to avoid telling me?"

"I can tell you, but on one condition."

"What condition? Let’s hear it."

This little sister-in-law certainly has a lot of schemes. It’s just about how she got hurt; is it really that difficult to say?

At first, Chu Tian really thought she had been bullied, but looking at her now, it was more likely they had overthought things.

With Xu Ruyan’s current demeanor and personality, could she really be bullied? Doesn’t seem like it at all.

In that case, he was curious to see what schemes she was plotting, being so secretive about the cause of her injuries.

"The condition is simple. I can tell you how I got injured, but you have to help me keep it a secret. You can’t tell my sister."

Hmm? Why can’t her sister, Xu Qingqiu, know? Why keep it a secret?