Chapter 73

Her voice was clear and soft, like a ball of cotton rubbing against his eardrums. Pei Ji pressed his thin lips even tighter, seeming a bit impatient and unwilling to answer this question.

“Oh—”

Ning Ning stretched out the lingering tone, lowering her voice, unable to help but show a hint of a smile. “So you made them yourself.”

Wow, how many surprises does the male lead have that she doesn’t know about?

Not only was he an extremely innocent little eggshell, but he also seemed to be proficient in fighting, cooking, and handicrafts. Look at the wings flapping up and down on that little butterfly—

Maybe Pei Ji also has a girlish heart!

Pei Ji turned his head to the other side, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “I learned it in my spare time when I was young.”

“Stupid Pei Xiao Ji!”

Cheng Ying started another round of incessant love teaching: “How could you admit that you made it yourself! Have you ever seen a master swordsman making grass butterflies to play with?”

Pei Ji was a little impatient, still carrying a bit of youthful arrogance: “If the predecessors didn’t do it, why can’t I be the first?”

Cheng Ying was momentarily choked, then spoke faster: “You don’t understand this. To win a girl’s heart, you have to learn to weave stories—like one day you’re walking down the street and you see a girl selling grass toys being bullied by robbers. Just in time, you rush forward and behead the robber with one swift stroke. The girl, to thank you, gives you these two little trinkets as a gift.”

It was convinced by its own train of thought: “Rescuing beauties, punishing evil, and promoting good—it’s so commemorative!”

“Since it’s so commemorative, why did you give away someone else’s gift?”

Pei Ji sneered inwardly and then thought of something, a faint hint of coldness appearing between his brows: “Besides, I don’t want to win anyone’s favor.”

Cheng Ying chuckled. “Back then, after eating the candy Ning Ning bought in Jialan City, when he returned to the sect, I don’t know which swordsman with water in his head sneaked out of bed in the middle of the night, lit by the moonlight, and made some little things by hand, even getting a few cuts on his hands. Sigh, I remember his injuries from Jialan City weren’t healed yet; that was quite a determined person.”

It sighed, sounding pitiful: “”It’s a pity that he didn’t give it the next day—was it just because he saw Senior He giving her a long-lost sword technique manual?”

Pei Ji suppressed his anger, gently massaging his temples: “I just felt those toys were not worth mentioning; giving them to Senior Sister wouldn’t make her happy; it has nothing to do with Senior He.”

The voice of the middle-aged man’s uncle in his mind suddenly sounded amused: “So you say you don’t want to win her favor! You’re showing your hand, Pei Xiao Ji!”

Pei Ji couldn’t be bothered to explain the difference between “trying to please” and “showing gratitude” to it.

He never liked owing others. Back when Ning Ning had gone to great lengths to send candy, he had also thought of giving a gift in return.

Pei Ji had never intentionally given gifts to others since he could remember. After much thought, he always felt that rouge and powder were too vulgar, and he didn’t possess any inherited sword techniques or divine weapons. So, he simply made some little trinkets by hand to give to her.

That night, Cheng Ying had lectured him tirelessly, saying that the phrase “a small gift means a lot” was outdated and that he would end up being a bachelor all his life if he continued like this.

Pei Ji scoffed at these words, engaging in a whole night of debate with Cheng Ying, neither convincing the other.

In the end, the next day, he happened to see He Zhizhou giving Ning Ning a rare sword technique manual. In his own words, he was “almost forced to sell himself to buy it, compromising his innocence.”

Pei Ji glanced at the two figures chatting and laughing not far away.

Then he glanced at his butterfly, frog, and duck, said nothing, endured his wounds, and returned to his room without a word.

Cheng Ying didn’t speak for a long time that day. Finally, half hesitatingly, it said, “Actually, I think your butterfly, frog, and duck are quite cute. I really like them.”

So this matter was dropped.

Pei Ji never said it, and Ning Ning would never know from beginning to end that he had earnestly prepared a small gift for her on a quiet moonlit night, enduring the wounds he received in the battle in Jialan City.

His thoughts were so pure that it was inconceivable, even a bit silly, but his obstinacy and stubbornness remained unchanged, like a pillar made of stone—

Pei Ji didn’t even want to look at those little trinkets; he had never taken them out of his storage bag, and after returning to his room, he spent the whole day and night reading the sword manual.