Chapter 71: Tear Off the Gentle Mask, Little Witch Ning Rongrong!
About half an hour later—
Creak—
The door of the small wooden cabin was gently pushed open.
Zhu Zhuqing was the first to step out.
Her pace was hurried, her head slightly lowered.
Although her expression tried hard to maintain its usual cool composure,
The bright red tips of her ears and her slightly rapid breathing still betrayed the turbulence in her heart.
She didn't even greet Xiao Wu, who was waiting outside.
She only cast a glance before striding toward the girls' dormitory like a startled deer.
There was a clear sense of fleeing in panic.
Immediately afterward—
Lin Qingmo also walked out.
In his hand was the sheet of paper densely filled with data and notes.
His face carried the satisfied expression of a researcher who had reaped a fruitful harvest.
He shouted toward Zhu Zhuqing's almost disappearing back, "The data is mostly complete. Wait for me to organize and calculate it, and I'll give you the customized training schedule in a couple of days. Remember to come for training on time!"
Zhu Zhuqing's receding figure seemed to pause slightly, but she didn't look back, only quickening her pace as she disappeared around the corner.
Watching Zhu Zhuqing's almost "escaping" back, Xiao Wu blinked her large eyes, a hint of conflict appearing on her face.
She scooted over beside Lin Qingmo.
After hesitating for quite a while, she finally tugged lightly at his arm.
"Ah Qing…,"
Xiao Wu's voice was soft, carrying a hint of barely concealed nervousness.
"Do you... Do you especially like... um... girls with particularly large chests?"
As she spoke, she couldn't help but glance down at the cute curve of her own chest—
Then recall Zhu Zhuqing's breathtaking figure from earlier.
A faint sense of loss and comparison welled up in her heart.
Did Ah Qing prefer the mature, voluptuous type?
Hearing this, Lin Qingmo raised an eyebrow and nodded quite frankly.
"Mm. To be honest, I do find that type appealing. That's just human nature, isn't it?"
He admitted it without any attempt at concealment.
"Oh… I see…"
Xiao Wu's shoulders visibly drooped.
Her long eyelashes lowered, and the light in her eyes seemed to dim.
She looked like a little sprout wilted by the sun.
Seeing her disappointed yet forced little appearance,
Lin Qingmo couldn't help but let out a soft laugh.
He reached out and ruffled Xiao Wu's smooth, long hair, messing it up slightly.
"Hey, silly girl—what are you thinking?"
His voice softened unconsciously, filled with obvious fondness.
"Liking a type and liking a person are two completely different things, got it?"
"For me, as long as it's someone I genuinely like, I like her no matter what she's like—tall or short, chubby or slim, full-figured or petite."
Lin Qingmo bent down, leaning in to meet Xiao Wu's slightly reddened eyes.
"What's wrong with being petite? It's adorable. Lively and cute—easy to hug and comfortable to hold. That's great too."
"R-really?"
Xiao Wu suddenly lifted her head.
"Of course it's real. Do you think I'd lie to you?"
Lin Qingmo reached out and gently pinched her soft cheek.
The moment she heard that, all the gloom on Xiao Wu's face vanished instantly.
Like clear skies after a storm, she broke into an exceptionally bright smile.
"Hehe! I knew Ah Qing was the best!"
She lunged forward happily, hugging Lin Qingmo's arm and leaning her little head affectionately against his shoulder.
Her face was filled with pure, unclouded happiness.
---
Time slipped by quietly. Training came to an end.
As the sun set in the west, golden afterglow draped itself over Shrek Academy like a gentle veil.
The training grounds, buildings, and trees were all dyed in warm shades of orange and red.
Having finished the day's "hell training," Lin Qingmo and Xiao Wu walked side by side along the path back to the dorms.
Both still carried a light sheen of sweat from exercise, but their expressions were relaxed as they chatted casually.
"What's going on over there?"
From afar, they could see several people gathered in the small open space in front of the dormitory.
Voices drifted over faintly—sounded like an argument?
The atmosphere felt off.
They exchanged a glance and quickened their pace.
Sure enough, they recognized everyone as they drew closer.
Ning Rongrong stood with her hands on her hips, her pretty face flushed red, her chest rising and falling with agitation.
She was glaring at Dai Mubai across from her, the two locked in a fierce standoff, neither giving an inch.
Oscar stood off to the side with a conflicted look, rubbing his hands—
wanting to intervene, yet not daring to.
Ma Hongjun, meanwhile, was squatting on the steps by the dorm entrance some distance away, fully in spectator mode.
His round face wore an excited, gossip-loving expression, small eyes darting around.
"Ning Rongrong, you're asking for death!"
"Heh. I am asking for death—do you dare kill me?"
Ning Rongrong's crisp voice rang out, thick with anger.
What happened now?
Lin Qingmo pulled Xiao Wu to a stop a short distance away.
His gaze swept over the people facing off, and his heart immediately cleared.
"Oh ho, the classic plot has begun."
He muttered to himself.
Isn't this the famous scene from the original work where Miss Ning Rongrong was caught slacking during training, then her spoiled-princess temper exploded, and she happened to run into Dai Mubai, whose mood was at rock bottom and ready to explode?
Although the details of the event were quite different from the original work, it was more or less as he had guessed.
Who was Ning Rongrong?
The cherished little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, born with a silver spoon in her mouth!
From childhood to now, everyone around her either treated her with reverence or fawned over her.
Let alone running twenty laps around the academy—
she probably didn't even walk a few extra steps outside without someone offering to carry her.
Today, Flender's "mere" twenty laps were sheer torture to her.
So, naturally, she slacked off.
She felt tired after just a few laps.
So she secretly found some shade to enjoy some leisure time.
In her heart, she felt this broken academy had too many rules and didn't know how to cherish beauty at all.
And the result?
She was caught red-handed by the elusive Dean Flender.
Flender's serious face and his merciless criticism of her.
What she found most unacceptable was that Flender actually compared her to Oscar, who only knew how to make sausages all day!
Saying things like, "Even Oscar could persevere."
She, a Soul Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, instead couldn't do it.
He even said that Oscar was a more talented support-type Soul Master than her, and in the future, he might even replace the status of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul!
These words made Ning Rongrong furious.
At this moment, she was bottling up a raging fire with nowhere to vent.
Meanwhile, Dai Mubai was in an even worse state—his mood had completely bottomed out.
After being scared away from the training ground by Xiao Wu's "secret,"
The more he thought about it, the more unwilling he became, and the more panicked he felt.
Unable to restrain himself, he went to look for Zhu Zhuqing again after she left the wooden cabin.
He tried to explain.
Tried to salvage things.
Even attempted to bring up their flimsy engagement from the past.
But Zhu Zhuqing looked at him with nothing but utter coldness and disgust—
her gaze like knives stabbing into his heart.
Especially when Zhu Zhuqing said pointedly in her cold voice, "You are already an Eunuch, why do you still think so much?"
Dai Mubai only felt his head go "buzz" as the world spun around him.
She knew!
She really knew!
The last sliver of hope was ruthlessly crushed.
All the pride and dignity he'd carried for years as a Star Luo prince, as the Evil-Eyed White Tiger, shattered into dust in that instant.
Boundless humiliation.
Raging fury.
And a bone-deep sense of unwillingness.
It felt as though magma was boiling inside his chest, ready to burn him to ashes.
He desperately needed an outlet, an object to vent on.
And as luck would have it,
On the way back to the dormitory, he ran into Ning Rongrong, who was also holding back a belly full of fire and looking terrible.
—
End of Chapter