Chapter 67: Chapter 67: The People Around Her, One More Unpleasant Than the Last

Qin Muye’s pupils contracted, and his heart skipped a beat.

He looked up at the girl, who was barely an arm’s length away.

Morning light streamed down. Jiang Qingli was chatting with her friends. She must have heard something amusing, because she laughed aloud, her eyes curving into crescents like the new moon on a spring night.

His gaze traveled past her delicate nose and landed on her slightly upturned lips.

Qin Muye didn’t know anything about lipstick shades; all he knew was that her lips were the color of crushed raspberries.

’They definitely wouldn’t taste any worse than raspberries...’

Qin Muye’s head was already spinning.

The unfinished dream from that night flashed through his mind again and again: her looking down on him from above, the disdain in her upturned eyes, the way she’d stroked his head and said, "Good boy," and how she’d lifted his chin, leaning down for a kiss that never came...

His Adam’s apple bobbed. Qin Muye’s breathing quickened involuntarily.

He stared intently at Jiang Qingli, discreetly inching closer to her.

Under the table, his fingers fumbled forward.

The girls’ conversation continued.

"...I was throwing up so much the other day that my parents thought I was pregnant. They ran out to buy a test, and my grandpa, who was on vacation in the Three Districts, called to say he was praying to the Beast God for a girl. Turns out, my big brother’s cooking is just that bad..."

After complaining about her Beast Husband, the gray-haired girl looked at Jiang Qingli curiously. "Miss Jiang, do your Beast Husbands know how to cook?"

"You don’t have to call me Miss Jiang. Qingli is fine," Jiang Qingli said with a small smile.

She thought for a moment. "One of my Beast Husbands is a great cook. His food is delicious." 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

The other girls had been a little worried that talking to her would be awkward, especially since Jiang Qingli used to be so arrogant and domineering.

But seeing how gentle and unassuming she was now, they all felt she had turned over a new leaf. They relaxed, growing a bit bolder.

"Is it Professor Ye?" the girl who had asked the question blinked. "Don’t tell me he’s a cold-faced househusband?"

"Him? I... don’t think so?" Jiang Qingli tried to picture Ye Linyuan cooking with a sullen look on his face. The image was incredibly bizarre.

’Then again,’ she thought, ’Ye Linyuan’s snake tail is so dexterous. Maybe it could help him grab spices?’

"Speaking of which, the ’stoic older guy who grows on you’ type is really popular lately," one of the girls said, pushing up her glasses. "Would you say Professor Ye fits that mold?"

"Actually, Yuan Shiyao from the student council is the cool and aloof type, right? And Senior Brother Chen from the next-door academy, oh, and also..."

Before Jiang Qingli had time to think, she froze.

Her eyes widened. Under the guise of taking a sip of water, she shot a glare at Qin Muye beside her.

Qin Muye was even more rigid than she was, his face flushed red and his eyes fixed, not daring to move an inch—

Under the long, spacious table, the young man’s long, veiny fingers had closed around the girl’s slender, pale, straight leg, right through the fabric of her pleated skirt.

The snow leopard young man’s body temperature was slightly high, and Jiang Qingli felt her leg going numb.

"What are you doing?" Jiang Qingli hissed under her breath.

Afraid of being discovered, her hand shot out under the table and viciously pinched the back of Qin Muye’s hand.

A red mark quickly appeared on his pale skin.

Qin Muye slowly pulled his hand back, his face even redder than before.

He wanted to explain, but Jiang Qingli refused to even look at him, turning her head away in a pointed dismissal.

The perpetually arrogant Prince touched the tip of his nose, experiencing the rare emotion known as "embarrassment."

Qin Muye swore he hadn’t meant to grab her leg...

He had only wanted to secretly hold Jiang Qingli’s fingers.

But Jiang Qingli had lifted her hand at just that moment, and he was so nervous that he’d grabbed the wrong thing entirely.

Ruffling his hair, Qin Muye tried to think of a way to explain himself to Jiang Qingli, but before he could come up with an opening line, the class bell rang.

And Jiang Qingli... moved three seats away from him!

Normally, Qin Muye wouldn’t have cared about class; he would have just walked over and explained.

But Jiang Qingli was paying attention, and he had just promised her he would do the same, so he had no choice but to stare at the professor at the front of the room.

The professor, who had just been about to hand out materials, felt a prickling on his back. He turned his head and saw the Prince glaring at him with a dark expression, looking like he was about to rush over and devour him whole.

The sheep Beastman professor trembled inexplicably, needing a moment to compose himself before he could continue the lesson...

During the group discussion, Qin Muye was unfortunately not assigned to Jiang Qingli’s group. Instead, he was stuck with a few people he didn’t recognize.

Qin Muye rarely bothered to remember faces. As the others introduced themselves to him one by one, he propped his chin on his hand and responded with bored grunts.

His gaze wandered aimlessly around Jiang Qingli, but then he unexpectedly spotted a young man in a white and gold uniform standing outside the window.

Yuan Shiyao’s expression was cool and detached, but his emerald eyes were fixed unblinkingly on Jiang Qingli.

’Why is this side piece here again?’

Qin Muye clicked his tongue in annoyance, glaring viciously out the window.

Perhaps sensing the hostility from one of his own kind, Yuan Shiyao lifted his gaze and looked in Qin Muye’s direction.

Their eyes met. Qin Muye bared his teeth in a blatantly provocative and savage display.

As the target of the provocation, Yuan Shiyao remained impassive. He simply gave Qin Muye a nod before moving out of his line of sight.

As he turned away, however, a sarcastic smile touched Yuan Shiyao’s lips.

’I thought a few days in confinement might have taught this arrogant Prince something.’

’But he’s still just as combustible, treating any male he sees as a potential rival.’

’He shouldn’t be a leopard Beastman; he should be a white-phosphorus-type male.’

Yuan Shiyao had a very good reason for seeking out Jiang Qingli this time.

When the student council president learned that Jiang Qingli’s superpower was A Level or higher, his attitude changed instantly.

After the meeting just now, the president had clapped him on the shoulder and said earnestly, "Shiyao, you know as well as I do that only fifteen percent of females awaken an A Level superpower. Qin Shu already snatched several good ones from us last year... and Jiang Qingli is the only daughter of the Jiang Family, Jiang Youchen’s sister... You have to find a way to recruit her!"

"If you succeed, you won’t have to wait until next semester. I’ll give you a special promotion to vice president of the student council right away!"

The president didn’t say what would happen if he failed, but having been in the student council for two years, Yuan Shiyao knew. The president wouldn’t expel him, but he would find someone else to poach Jiang Qingli.

The student council was full of single males, and there were even some S-levels among them.

If they all swarmed her, using every trick in the book to flatter and entice her...

The mere thought of Jiang Qingli potentially falling for some other male’s seduction was enough to make Yuan Shiyao’s blood boil.

By the time he came to his senses, Yuan Shiyao realized he was already standing at the classroom door.

Yuan Shiyao lowered his gaze, looking at the sunlight pooling at his feet, but the image that filled his mind was of Jiang Qingli laughing and talking with the others.

For the first time, Yuan Shiyao felt that Jiang Qingli was a little *too* popular.

And the people around her were, one after another, an eyesore.

-

The bell rang, signaling the end of class.

The girls had enjoyed their chat with Jiang Qingli. Before leaving, they linked arms with her and invited her to hang out again sometime.

Jiang Qingli agreed and waved goodbye to her new friends. When she turned around, she found Qin Muye trailing after her like a little tail.

But he was being deliberately awkward about it, looking left and right—anywhere but at her.

Jiang Qingli stopped and looked up at him. "Is there something you need?"

Qin Muye froze. "I—"

He was so inept at communicating that the simple words got stuck in his throat. He just stood there saying "I" for a long time, unable to get the rest out, his eyes darting to the flow of people around them.

This time, however, Jiang Qingli was surprisingly patient.

She grabbed the corner of Qin Muye’s shirt and pulled him into an empty classroom.

Most people had already left by now, so none of the departing students noticed them.

But Yuan Shiyao, standing not far away, abruptly straightened up.

He frowned, his mind flashing back to the image of Jiang Qingli rushing out of a classroom a while ago.

’Could it be that she was with Qin Muye in a classroom back then, too—?!’

’A savage male like Qin Muye would never bother to ask for anyone’s opinion.’

’A delicate, beautiful young female, pinned in his arms, her lips being bitten, unable to break free. She could only let out soft whimpers, her struggles futile as she was forced to tilt her face up, her breath stolen from her...’

Yuan Shiyao’s brow furrowed tightly as he started walking toward the classroom.

His thin lips were pressed into a grim line.

’I’m a member of the student council,’ he told himself. ’I can’t just let this happen.’

Reaching the classroom door, he saw Qin Muye’s tall figure leaning down, enveloping the female’s slender frame as he lowered his head—