Clan Building System: I'm not the Protagonist?!-Chapter 74: Lin Zhaoyue [2]

Lin Zhaoyue leaned in, eyes sparkling with mischief.

"So, husband~ where are we going next?"

Fang Yuan stopped in his tracks, a twitch running down his cheek.

"What husband? Who is your husband? And I’m going deeper into the forest."

His voice was flat, but his brow arched slightly, as if testing her resolve.

"You dare follow me inside?" he asked, tone edged with challenge.

She simply giggled, utterly unfazed.

"You know, in my clan, we have a saying for married couples: Through thick and thin, together always."

Without hesitation, she slipped her arm around his, her smile practically glowing.

"So of course I’m coming with you."

Fang Yuan flinched, instinctively jerking his arm away.

"What are you doing?!"

He took a step back, shaking his head.

"No. We just met, and I don’t trust you enough to have you follow me around. Go your way, and I’ll go mine."

Her smile didn’t falter. If anything, it softened into something gentler... deeper.

Without a word, she reached up to her hair bun.

Her fingers found the slender hairpin, the same one she had used earlier with such terrifying ease.

With a smooth pull, she slid it free.

As she did, the delicate flower tucked behind it slipped loose, drifting silently to the forest floor.

She didn’t spare it a glance.

She didn’t look at it.

Not even for a second.

To her, nothing in this forest held more beauty, more meaning, than the man standing before her.

Then she reached to her ring finger and drew the spatial ring itself from her finger.

The faint runes along its surface pulsed once, like a heartbeat.

She stepped forward and offered it to him in both palms, her spatial ring, her everything.

"Here," she whispered, eyes steady. "Take it. If that’s what it takes for you to trust me... I’m giving you everything."

She looked up at him, her voice softer now, less teasing.

"Is that enough to earn your trust... yet?"

Fang Yuan stared down at the hairpin in his palm, then at the girl standing before him with wide, earnest eyes.

For the first time since she had shown up, he had no words.

Completely, utterly speechless.

Fang Yuan grabbed both and kept walking, but his mind was already drifting.

Trust? He scoffed inwardly. As if.

He wasn’t quick to hand that out. Especially not in this situation.

Especially not to someone claiming to be Lin Feng, someone he hadn’t seen since he was seven years old!

Seven.

It felt like a lifetime ago.

And maybe it was.

He wasn’t exactly a normal child back then, already a transmigrator, already burdened with two lifetimes’ worth of memories and thoughts.

At seven, he had the mind of a grown man.

A tired, jaded man who already understood far too well how the world worked.

And he remember that, during that time the Lin family had visited Coldwind City for some business with the Wu Clan.

Back in those days, the Fang family still held a spot in the Five Great Families, though barely.

They were the weakest of the five, but still carried enough weight for their name to matter.

That week had been unusually lively, visits, gifts, ceremonies, pomp.

He remembered the Lin entourage arriving. Refined, proud, arrogant.

The kind of clan that looked down their nose even when smiling.

And then... There was the child. The Lin family’s only child.

He remembered seeing him for the first time.

They had no formal introduction.

Just a blur of motion, panic, and chaos.

A pack of spirit wolves was chasing the boy.

A whole pack.

When he saw that, he hadn’t thought. He just acted.

He rushed over and then grabbed the boy’s arm and bolted, dragging him through the forest, aiming straight for the cliffs.

Why the cliff?

Because the nearest human settlement was too far, and he had a small hideout carved into the rock face.

A place he had found and reinforced himself, tucked away behind a vine-covered ledge—one of the few places he felt safe in those days.

He remembered looking back at the kid when they reached the edge.

Back then, he thought Lin Feng was a boy.

Scrawny, stubborn, wild-eyed.

He’d said, "You have to trust me. I’ll jump first. When I call out to you, then you jump. Got it?"

And that kid...

With the most carefree, insane grin said,

"Let’s hold hands and jump together."

Even now, the memory gave him chills.

Who says something like that at a time like that? 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Especially who would expect something like that from a seven year old?! Wanna die so soon? Already?

He’d refused, of course. "No. I jump first. Then you follow when I shout ’Jumo’. Understand?"

The boy had nodded, still grinning. "Got it. I’m Lin Feng."

He’d nodded back, "Fang Yuan," and leapt.

He remembered grabbing the vine, swinging around the rocky edge, reaching the little ledge that served as his shelter.

He was still catching his breath when he turned to shout, ready to jump back out with the vine and catch the kid mid-air.

Only...

The boy had already jumped.

Without waiting.

Just... launched off the cliff with a laugh.

Fang Yuan hadn’t even had time to swear.

He dove after him, swinging wide with the vine, catching the boy mid-fall and the two of them plummeted straight into the river below.

Cold. Sharp.

And yet, somehow they survived.

He remembered surfacing, coughing up water, dragging the kid to shore.

They’d gotten caught in one of the local fishermen’s traps, tangled in nets.

The fisherman had pulled them both up and offered shelter.

Fang Yuan, so relieved that they were alive, had even promised a reward.

He carried the kid back to Coldwind—drenched, cold, but alive.

And that’s when it all fell apart.

The moment they stepped foot into the city, a group of uniformed cultivators, Lin family guards had spotted them.

They didn’t wait for his explanations. There was no exchange of greetings. Nor did the guards made any inquiry.

Just "Kidnapper!" and a flurry of attacks.

He’d been too shocked to respond properly, barely escaped, and never saw Lin Feng again after that.

And now...

He glanced over his shoulder.

That girl, Lin Zhaoyue or whatever she called herself now was happily skipping after him like this was a stroll in the countryside.

She caught his gaze, waved, and smiled brightly.

Fang Yuan turned back around with a sigh.

Is she mental? he muttered under his breath.