Chapter 407 - 403: Let Me Lead the Charge for You

Chapter 407: Chapter 403: Let Me Lead the Charge for You

"Huh? Don’t tell me you taught the Internal Cultivation Methods to someone else?"

"The four of them have all learned it. Next, I plan to hand it over."

"Since when did you become so open-minded and selfless? Don’t tell me you’re thinking of contributing this storage ring next," Gu Nuan Nuan said, glancing at him sideways with surprise.

"How could I?" Luo Hongyi looked at Gu Nuan Nuan and chuckled. "Do I look that stupid and unreliable? This storage ring is no small matter. If word of it got out, I’m not sure even the me from a dozen years in the future could keep you completely safe." His expression turned exceptionally serious. "I would never consider doing anything that could harm you. In fact, my reason for handing over the Internal Cultivation Methods isn’t that I’ve suddenly become so open-minded and selfless. It’s because—"

"Because of what?" Gu Nuan Nuan’s heart couldn’t help but skip another beat, and she reflexively pressed for an answer. Then she bit her lip in frustration and glared at him. ’This man... he’s changed so much in this life, always pulling things like this. Heaven knows, getting him to say sweet nothings in the past was like asking him to hang himself. But now, he looks for any opportunity to flirt with me, as if he’d be uncomfortable if he didn’t say something nice.’

"It was actually for selfish reasons," Luo Hongyi said with immense seriousness. "In our last life, after you were gone, I missed you so terribly. I spent all my time reflecting on myself. In the end, I began to wonder... Was it because I was too selfish before? Because I held onto something I shouldn’t have, hiding it away? Is that why heaven punished me by cruelly taking away the most important person in my life?"

"That thought plagued me for a long time, which is why I ultimately decided to hand over these Internal Cultivation Methods. I know that if your spirit is out there somewhere, you would have wanted me to do this. After all, handing it over could help so many people, whether they’re like me or not. It would give a bit more strength to those who are fighting for the peace and stability of our Alliance, both in the open and in the shadows. It would give them a better chance of coming home after a dangerous mission."

He couldn’t remember how many times he had gazed at her with such a scorching intensity today. He only felt that if it were possible, he could look at her like this for a lifetime and never grow tired, completely content. "You know," he said, "after I was reborn, my very first feeling upon realizing it was that I had truly done the right thing. I wondered if it was because I gave it away that Heaven took pity on me and compensated me with another chance to start over with you."

Gu Nuan Nuan’s heart ached. To make a man who had always been a staunch atheist accept something he had utterly scoffed at and never believed in his entire life... Her eyes quietly welled with tears, and she turned her head away. "You’re overthinking it."

She composed herself for a moment before continuing, "Don’t think that just because you’re sweet-talking me, a few nice words will make me so overwhelmingly moved that I’ll fall for your trick... Hmph. You have zero credibility with me anymore. What if you go back to your parents and siblings, they whisper a few things in your ear, and you revert to your old ways? Wouldn’t that be a huge slap in the face?"

Gu Nuan Nuan huffed, her tone carrying a hint of coyness she herself didn’t notice. "Hmph. Anyway, I won’t be fooled so easily again. This time, I won’t be afraid even if you act like your old self. No matter what tricks you try to use to move me, I won’t be polite to them for your sake anymore. If they don’t bother me, we can all live in peace. At most, I just won’t give them money or things, and you’re not allowed to help them privately either. But if they provoke me, then don’t blame me for what happens. They all care so much about face, don’t they? I have plenty of ways to make them lose it in public."

She looked at Luo Hongyi, her voice exceptionally firm. "You can still regret this. Look, it’s already fated that I can’t coexist peacefully with them. I’m not the same naive fool I was in my past life. I won’t go easy on anyone who provokes me. And given their personalities, getting them not to provoke me would be like asking the sun to rise in the west. So, we’re destined to be like fire and water. By then, it will be a feud spanning two lifetimes, and I won’t hold back. When that happens, don’t you dare feel caught in the middle, conflicted and full of regret again."

"You haven’t changed at all. You’re still the same sensitive, easily moved, and kind person who can’t help but be good to others." After listening, Luo Hongyi just kept smiling, looking as though he wasn’t taking Gu Nuan Nuan’s warning to heart at all.

Gu Nuan Nuan pursed her lips and scoffed, "Thanks so much for the compliment, but that trick won’t work on me anymore." ’Trying to praise me, then let bygones be bygones with a smile? Heh, so naive...’

Luo Hongyi smiled, reached out, and took her hand in his. "I said you haven’t changed, but you have. In this life, your kindness has a sharper edge. You’ve learned to say no to those who don’t deserve it. But you..." ’Your core nature is still the same. You don’t really understand strategy. Brute force is not the way. In a confrontation, clashing head-on will only injure the enemy by a thousand while you lose eight hundred. It’s not worth the cost.’

The words rolled around on the tip of his tongue, but fearing that Gu Nuan Nuan would jump up in anger and embarrassment, he stopped himself and changed the subject.

"You just need to know that I’ll love you no matter what you become. I’ll accept all of you, the good and the bad. From now on, whatever you want to do, don’t confront them yourself. Let me be the one to charge into battle for you, alright? After all, I’m the one who has an obligation to them, not you. If you’re the one to personally refuse them, I’m afraid they won’t take it seriously or give up. In the end, they’ll just cause a scene and come to me anyway. Plus, people will start gossiping about you, saying I don’t cherish you. How about this: from now on, whatever they say, you just smile. Don’t agree, but don’t refuse either. Keep doing things however you want. Just throw everything to me. Wouldn’t it be better for me to refuse them directly?"

"You’ll step in? You’re being that kind?" Gu Nuan Nuan eyed him suspiciously. "Heh, you’re not trying to teach me to feign compliance while you secretly do the same and help them out, are you? Are you trying to deceive both sides and please everyone?"

"Nuannuan, how can you think of me like that? Don’t I know that trying to please both sides only works on certain people? It’s effective on those who are easily satisfied. But,"

Luo Hongyi sighed. "I hate to admit it, but my family is a bottomless pit. No matter how much you give them, they’ll probably never be satisfied. So for people like them, trying to please everyone is like trying to stand on two boats at once. In the end, you end up pleasing no one, right?"

Gu Nuan Nuan looked at him askance and smiled. "I’m so glad you’ve come to this realization. Heh, you’ve finally grown a brain when it comes to those people."

"I was blinded before because I simply couldn’t imagine they would be like that. Who would want to imagine their own parents and siblings in such a terrible light, if they could help it?" Luo Hongyi laughed along with her, but his smile was cold, bitter, and held a hint of ruthlessness that was difficult to perceive.