Chapter 89 | I Accidentally Became the Training Target

"I... I can't pull it apart..."

Her fingers, usually steady enough to hold a sword or administer needles and medicine with composure, fumbled clumsily with the small frog buttons on her collar, unable to undo them.

She did not even dare to look down, feeling a fierce heat burning across her face and neck, yet she stubbornly maintained that same indifferent expression on the surface.

Watching her like this, Fang Xuan felt a persistent itch in his heart.

He finally understood that while his senior sister seemed cold, aloof, and distant, her emotional life was actually a complete blank.

Whenever she encountered something like this, she instantly turned into a flustered, helpless little muddlehead.

Moreover, she was naturally a woman of few expressions with a cold voice.

The more panicked and shy she became, the more serious and upright her face remained, creating a massive sense of contrast.

Furthermore, her body... seemed to be exceptionally... sensitive.

......

The obstructive garments were eventually removed.

The sashes of the plain white robes loosened completely, sliding down her rounded shoulders...

"I've... I've taken them off."

"Wait, there are still pills..."

Fang Xuan interrupted her: "Don't use them."

If she added pills into the mix, he was afraid they really wouldn't be able to leave this place today.

Ning Xian let out a blurred "Mhm" in agreement, unable to focus her mind on such trivial matters any longer.

......

The sky turned from bright to a twilight yellow.

Finally, it faded into a hazy darkness.

Silence had long since returned to the hall, with only the sound of slightly rapid breathing gradually settling down...

With her back to Fang Xuan, Ning Xian quickly tidied her disheveled clothes.

Her movements were as efficient as always, though her fingers trembled slightly on occasion, betraying a state of mind that was anything but calm.

The plain white robes wrapped around her body once more, hiding all the lingering traces of their encounter, leaving only a hint of crimson at her neckline that had yet to fade.

Fang Xuan walked up behind her and naturally took her small, slightly cool hand in his.

"Let's go, senior sister. Let's go home."

Ning Xian's fingers twitched within his palm, but she did not pull away, allowing him to lead her as she followed half a step behind with her head bowed.

Every time... after they finished, his senior sister would be in a daze, as if she hadn't fully woken up.

He always had to pick her up and take her home.

......

The night was deep.

The path back to their residence was quiet, filled only with the soft sound of their footsteps.

Ning Xian kept her eyes downcast, staring at the blurred stone path beneath her feet as various thoughts churned in her mind.

Truly... shameless.

How could she... how could she do that to her junior brother again...

And in a place like that...

She hardly dared to think deeply about it; this was completely inconsistent with her usual principles and far removed from her identity as a serious senior sister.

She peeked up, glancing at Fang Xuan, who was leading her with a composed gait.

Forget it, things had already reached this point.

She knew that her junior brother... surely had feelings for her as well.

His actions and his words were not faked.

It was just that he was so young, which always left her with a sense of guilt...

She still needed to... be more patient, so she definitely couldn't let things get out of hand next time.

It would be better to wait until he was a bit older...

......

"Senior sister, what are you thinking about?"

Fang Xuan's voice suddenly echoed through the quiet night.

Ning Xian was startled and immediately tightened her expression, looking straight ahead as she spoke in a flat tone: "Nothing."

What could she possibly be thinking about? Was she supposed to say she was thinking about how "he is still young" and that she should "wait until he grows up"? She absolutely could not say that.

Fang Xuan seemed to let out a low chuckle and didn't press her further, only tightening his grip on her hand.

He raised his other hand and naturally rubbed the top of her head.

Ning Xian abruptly turned her head, her cold eyes glaring at him.

"You... you aren't allowed to just rub your senior sister's head whenever you want."

"Mhm, alright..."

Fang Xuan lowered his hand, answering simply.

This excessively obedient response caught Ning Xian slightly off guard.

She pursed her lips and couldn't help but ask in a low voice: "Why... do you always say alright?"

Fang Xuan tilted his head to look at her, answering as if it were a matter of course: "Because I don't want senior sister to be sad."

Such a simple sentence made Ning Xian feel the temperature that had just dropped on her face begin to rise again.

She quickly looked away: "Always... talking nonsense."

Fang Xuan's tone was serious: "I'm being sincere."

Ning Xian's heart rate picked up a few beats.

She stared at the ground, hesitating again and again.

The words that had been circling in her heart for a long time finally slipped past her lips: "Mhm... I... I like Junior Brother."

The voice was so soft that it almost instantly dissipated into the night wind.

"What?" Fang Xuan leaned in closer.

Ning Xian's face turned completely red, and even her earlobes were not spared this time.

How could she just say it... she was being far too forward.

"Noth... nothing." She tried to brush it off.

Fang Xuan wouldn't let her go, however, and stopped in his tracks.

He turned to face her, leaning down slightly to bring his face close to her ear and lowering his voice: "What did senior sister just say? I didn't hear clearly... say it again."

Warm breath brushed against her ear, making Ning Xian's entire body stiffen slightly.

She pressed her hand lightly against his shoulder to keep him from getting any closer, but she couldn't escape the urging falling beside her ear.

Forget it... she had already said it.

Throwing caution to the wind, she repeated herself in a voice slightly louder than before, but still as faint as a mosquito's hum: "I... I like Junior Brother."

After saying it, she tightly pursed her lips, as if that could lock back the escaping voice and her bashfulness.

Fang Xuan suppressed the impulse in his heart and followed her lead, whispering into her ear: "I like senior sister too."

Ning Xian felt like her ears were probably about to catch fire.

She nodded haphazardly: "Oh... okay... good..."

After speaking, she felt secretly annoyed with herself.

How could she be so childish, like a silly girl experiencing the first awakening of love, only able to say "good"...

Yet the tiny bit of lingering loss in her heart was gently smoothed over by the warmth of his response.

It seemed she had been overthinking things.

Her junior brother wasn't completely oblivious.

She took a deep breath of the cool night air, trying her best to suppress the heat rising from her face as she sought to reclaim her usual cold and self-possessed demeanor.

However, the corners of her mouth wouldn't listen to her commands, secretly curving upward into a slight arc...

Realizing she was smiling, she quickly pursed her lips and put on a stern face, trying to look serious.

But within two seconds, that smile was like a little bird escaping its cage, lightly landing back in her eyes and on her brow...

Never mind.

She quietly relaxed her tense lips, allowing that faint but real smile to bloom silently under the starlight of the night.

Only a moment later, she thought of something else, and her face turned slightly red as she pursed her lips again...

Fang Xuan held her hand, taking in all of these small movements.

This version of his senior sister really... felt amazing.

So, to my poor heart, you might as well just give up now...

......

Truthfully, in his eyes...

His senior sister was still just a young girl in her early twenties.