Chapter 111: A Well-Deserved Pinch

Chen felt his legs turn to jelly, and he subconsciously shuffled half a step back.

It was over. There was no escape.

Dan Heng had already closed the distance, her tall, imposing figure stopping directly before him.

Those cold, piercing eyes were now staring down at him from what felt like a great height. Although his current form as Tingyun was roughly the same height as Dan Heng, her sheer presence seemed to shrink him, making him feel small and insignificant.

“Um… Teacher… Dan Heng?” Chen tried to squeeze out a flattering smile, a last-ditch effort from his fraying survival instincts.

The layers of black soot coating his face cracked, making the attempted smile look exceptionally tragic.

“Can we… talk this out? Look, I was just doing what I had to do to gather information. It was a last resort…?”

“A last resort?” Dan Heng repeated, her tone terrifyingly calm. “Disguising yourself as a Foxian, fabricating a tale of love at first sight, and spinning a sob story about being a hundred-and-fifty-year-old spinster to gain sympathy. Not to mention nearly killing the three of us with a runaway starskiff. All of that was your ‘last resort’?”

Chen swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. “M-my skiff piloting skills might be a little… rusty, but we didn’t crash, did we? And that was all thanks to your brilliant and divine spear strike…”

“So, I should be thanking you, then?” Dan Heng raised a single, elegant eyebrow.

“No, no, no! I should be the one thanking you!” Chen waved his hands frantically, his fluffy fox ears standing bolt upright in terror. “I will never forget you saving my life! How about… how about I go back and write you an eight-hundred-word thank-you letter? The kind with real, heartfelt emotion!”

Dan Heng didn’t speak. She just looked at him, her gaze unblinking.

Then, she suddenly reached out.

It was the same hand that had just wielded the Cloud-Piercer, the same hand that could effortlessly deflect an out-of-control starskiff.

That hand clamped down directly on Chen’s cheeks.

Chen: “…Eh?”

The pads of Dan Heng’s fingers were surprisingly warm, but her grip was anything but gentle. Using her thumb and index finger, she precisely pinched the soft flesh on both sides of his face.

Then, she squeezed. Hard.

Chen’s brain short-circuited. He was completely, utterly dumbfounded.

‘What kind of punishment is this?!’he thought, his mind reeling.’Is this a grade-school playground fight?!’

“W-wai! Eecher An Eng! Aff merthy! My fafe! My fafe ish oing o be eformed!” Chen protested, his words a muffled mess. His hands instinctively rose to pull hers away, but he didn’t dare use any real force. After all, he was entirely in the wrong.

Dan Heng didn’t let go. Instead, she seemed to apply more pressure, beginning to knead and rub his cheeks back and forth with a vindictive sort of focus.

Chen’s face, which was already covered in a fine layer of black ash, was now a disaster zone. Under the relentless assault of Dan Heng’s fingers, the soot was smeared everywhere. His originally delicate features were scrunched together, his lips forced into an involuntary pout, making him look both ridiculous and pitiful.

“Are you awake now?” Dan Heng asked mid-knead. Her tone was calm, but Chen swore he could detect a faint undercurrent of… amusement?

“I’m awake! I’m wide awake!” Chen quickly declared, his fox ears drooping pathetically and his magnificent tail curling up between his legs in a gesture of absolute surrender.

“Still love at first sight?”

“No more! No more! That was a mistake! A huge mistake!”

“Still divining marriages?”

“Never again! Feudal superstitions are bad for your health!”

“Still a hundred-and-fifty-year-old Foxian girl desperate to get married?”

“I was wrong! I’m eighteen this year! Eighteen forever!”

Dan Heng finally stopped the torturous kneading, though she didn’t release her grip. She stared at Chen’s face, which she had thoroughly rubbed into a messy patchwork of red blotches and black streaks, for several long seconds.

Then, she sighed softly.

It was a sigh that carried helplessness, exhaustion, and a clear note of satisfaction from having finally vented her frustration.

She let go.

Chen immediately slapped his hands over his burning cheeks, gasping for air.

“Dan Heng…” he mumbled, his words still slightly slurred. His fox ears drooped dejectedly. “I was just joking… your grip is way too strong…”

The faint hint of a smile on Dan Heng’s face had completely vanished, her expression reverting to its usual cool mask. She glanced at Chen indifferently. “The joke went too far.”

“Yes, yes, yes, my fault, my fault,” Chen quickly conceded, rubbing his sore face as he shrank back.

Beside them, Li Sushang had been watching the entire exchange with wide-eyed astonishment. It took her a long moment to find her voice. “M-Miss Dan Heng, you… although Sister Tingyun’s words were a bit reckless, you didn’t have to…”

“I did,” Dan Heng interrupted, her tone leaving no room for argument. “Her behavior might have been a simple joke on any other day. But right now, the situation on the Luofu is unclear and fraught with danger. Any action that draws unnecessary attention or causes needless complications is a risk to everyone’s safety.”

As she spoke, her sharp gaze swept over to Chen again. “What do you think, Miss Tingyun?”

Chen shuddered under that look and nodded his head so vigorously it was a blur. “Miss Dan Heng is right to scold me! This little lady won’t dare do it again!”

That’s what he said, but his inner monologue was a different story. ‘Damn, Teacher Dan Heng’s acting is top-notch. Even though she knows it’s me, she can still deliver a lecture with such a straight face…’

Luocha, who had been observing with a gentle smile, chuckled softly. “Miss Dan Heng is correct. However—” She shifted her gaze, her eyes twinkling as she looked at Chen. “Miss Tingyun’s remarks about love at first sight, though a joke, sounded somewhat sincere. Could it be…”

“There is no ‘could it be’!” Chen cut in hastily, shaking his head. “It was really just a joke! Purely a joke! I just saw how skilled this lady is and wanted to get closer to her so we could look out for each other on the way…”

As he spoke, he risked a peek at Dan Heng. Seeing her expression remained neutral, he felt a bit more at ease and pressed on. “And wasn’t I… just through a life-and-death situation? My head was a little muddled. Look at my face; it’s still covered in soot.”

Hearing this, Li Sushang took a closer look at Chen’s face, now a work of abstract art in red and black thanks to Dan Heng’s handiwork, and couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “Pfft—Sister Tingyun, you look… you look quite pathetic like this.”

Chen managed a couple of awkward laughs and raised a hand to wipe his face, but his hand was also covered in ash, which only succeeded in smearing the mess even further.

Dan Heng watched his clumsy attempts, and the barest flicker of a smile touched her eyes before it was quickly hidden. She turned away. “This is no place to linger. Let’s find somewhere to rest first.”

“Right, right, right, let’s get out of here!” Chen felt as if he’d been granted a presidential pardon and hurriedly scurried to follow.

The four of them continued along the passage beneath the collapsed corridor bridge. Chen was significantly more well-behaved now, trotting obediently behind Dan Heng. He would occasionally steal a glance at her back, already plotting how he might restore his tattered image.

‘Actually,’he mused,’when Teacher Dan Heng pinched my face just now… besides the pain, there was something else.’

How to describe it? Teacher Dan Heng’s grip was really, really strong. But the force was perfectly controlled—it made him grimace in pain without causing any actual injury.

And when she was pinching him, that “I finally caught you, you little gremlin” expression on her face was actually a little… cute?

Chen was startled by his own thought and quickly shook his head to clear it.

‘No, no, what is this, some kind of masochistic tendency?! I must have been pinched stupid!’

While he was lost in his own chaotic thoughts, Luocha’s soft voice sounded beside him. “Miss Tingyun seems to care a great deal about Miss Dan Heng, doesn’t she?”

Chen’s heart skipped a beat, but he managed to feign a relaxed expression. “Do I? I just think she’s amazing and want to latch onto a strong protector.”

“Is that so?” Luocha smiled, a gentle, knowing curve of her lips. She didn’t press the matter, but her gaze made it perfectly clear that she didn’t believe a word of it.

[Elysian’s Note:

Having a good time with the story?

Every single bit helps immensely:

Thanks a ton for making this journey possible!]