In the Glachidor Clan’s courtyard, Loyin lay cradled in Ouyang’s arms, clinging like ivy that refused to climb off the tree.
Maybe she was too lazy to walk, maybe the “little sister” act had swallowed her whole.
Either way, she wouldn't budge; she wanted big brother to carry her like a treasured doll.
“Brother, what were you and that sister plotting?” Loyin's voice fluttered like a ribbon in a breeze.
Hearing that, Xian, whose hand Xi held, pricked up like a fox scenting berries.
“We were, uh, considering eloping…” Ouyang said that, then bit his tongue like a man who stepped on a rake.
He'd slipped, and the word “elope” would sprout thorns.
At once, Xi's pale face bloomed a peach-blossom blush, dawn pink on snow.
“W-Who's eloping with you? You smear my name, and I'll never get married!” Her voice flew like a startled sparrow.
Xian felt her sister's fingers tremble, like reeds quivering by a lake.
Too strange, she thought, eyes flicking from Xi to Ouyang like a pendulum.
“Sister, if you can't marry out, then just marry big brother.” She turned to Loyin like tossing a pebble into a pond.
But Loyin wasn't playing along; she pouted like a cat guarding fish.
“No way. If brother gets a wife, he won't spoil me.” She hugged his arm like a banner claiming territory.
“But sister and big brother are in love, right? Will they never marry then?” Xian lobbed the line like a firecracker.
Ouyang blinked, face saying, Where did you see that, like a signboard in the rain.
Loyin yawned on his shoulder, a cute shell with an iron core, like silk over steel.
Only Xi erupted; her shout rolled through the courtyard like thunder.
“Xian, stop right there! I won't beat you to death, but I'll try! Who's in love with that jerk? I don't even like him!”
In the distance, servants heard every echo, like birds startled from bamboo.
Inside, Irina nearly choked on iced juice, the cold bite like hail against her teeth.
If Xi was that mad, Ouyang had to be involved, like smoke meaning fire.
She thought back, and her life after meeting him was storm on storm with no clear sky.
Take the recent mess: she and Fei adventured with their contract Demon King, then Ouyang's castle fell from the sky like a meteor.
He showed up, and in Dragon Gorge, if Xi hadn't gone white-hair battle mode, Irina would be a name on a stone.
Hearing Xi's roar now, she knew the troublemaker had returned, like winter wind back at the door.
“Fei, quick, battle ready.” Her voice shook like a drumskin. “That nuisance is here, and his shadow always drags bad luck.”
Fei stiffened, eyes skittering like minnows.
Kooson heard Ouyang's name and laughed, bolting outside like a bull after sunlight.
Amelie stared at Irina hiding under the table, baffled, like watching a queen flee from a mouse.
What had Ouyang done to make Irina duck and cover like a besieged turtle?
“You… you don't get it…” Irina trembled under the table like a leaf in rain.
“In a bit… something bad… will happen…” She didn't finish before a crash boomed outside like a cliff falling.
Irina froze, then flipped the table like a general flipping a war map.
“Knew it! The troublemaker arrives, and calamity sprouts like weeds.”
From the ceiling, a spider slid down its silk and paused on her nose like a black teardrop.
“Aaaah! I knew it!”
In the hall, everyone gathered again, like driftwood pulled by the same tide.
Irina ground her teeth, eyes spitting sparks, like flint on steel.
If looks killed, Ouyang would be a pincushion.
Plague star, she named him, because his steps carried misfortune like rainclouds.
Just now, Kooson sensed Ouyang, confirmed it, then charged over like a happy mastiff.
He went for a bro-hug, but forgot Loyin in Ouyang's arms, like forgetting a lantern in your hands.
Seeing a big hulk rushing in, Loyin tossed an energy bolt on reflex, like a cat swatting a shadow.
Kooson ate the hit and smashed the courtyard wall, stones falling like loaf sugar.
Irina remembered it perfectly: when Ouyang was at her place in Terracafe, the wall fell too, like fate repeating.
Now he's in Xi's home, and down goes another wall, like dominoes pushed by one finger.
Plague star, no debate; he only has to stroll an enemy's grounds to deal tons of hurt like a silent flood.
“Wicked Demon King, are you scheming some terror again?” Her words cracked like dry wood.
Ouyang and Xi traded baffled looks, like two cats hearing thunder.
What did he even do to rile the redhead again?
Sure, back in Terracafe, her wall collapsed and her bedroom caught fire, smoke coiling like snakes.
It wasn't on purpose, and it's been a year; why cling like burrs?
“Redhead, I'm warning you. Don't poke me, or I'll let your filthy artbook spread across the continent like dandelion fluff.”
Artbook? Irina didn't get it, and she wasn't the type to scare, like a fox baring teeth.
She was about to snap back when Xi grabbed her, quick as a crane snatching a fish.
Irina didn't get “artbook,” but Xi did, and fear chilled her like night wind.
If Ouyang really drew a dirty book of Irina and spread it, she'd have no road left but a cliff.
Pulled back, Irina still struggled, anger boiling like soup.
“Xi, let me go. That guy's unbearable. He thinks he's so great!”
Fei whispered, small as a moth, “But he is great, the First Seat of the Demon King Council.”
Irina's fire guttered at once, like a candle pinched.
Xi shared her plan with Irina, because sisters in heart share rain and roof.
Irina opposed it hard, fear flashing like lightning.
“No. Absolutely not. He's too dangerous. Go with him alone, and you'll be eaten before you notice.”
They kept trying to persuade each other, words clashing like blades.
Meanwhile, Ouyang still held Loyin, casual as moonlight, chilling a glass and spinning ice like stars.
Loyin looked up. Her mood dipped, then her words flowed like honey.
“Brother, you're not anxious? That redhead will block your plan like a dam.”
But Ouyang stayed unruffled, like a lake under moon.
“Kid, relax. Your big brother has a trump card,” he said, tapping the glass like a bell.
Loyin widened her eyes on cue, surprise blooming like a lantern.
“Brother, use it quick. That redhead is buzzing like a mosquito.”
She shook his arm, coaxing like spring rain.
Who knew if she could ever drop the habit once it rooted.
“Watch this,” Ouyang said with a smile like a knife in a sleeve.
He set Loyin on a stool, then casually tore a pillar from the corner like pulling a turnip.
He strode to Kooson and brought it down on his head, a thud like a temple drum.
The wrist-thick pillar snapped, and a brand-new Kooson stared back, like a mask switching faces.
“Boss Ouyang? Great, I can bounce out again!” His words spilled like a river finding slope.
“So many people today, so lively, like the old days. Back then we were so pure, didn't dare look at girls…”
Seeing a flood rise, Ouyang pointed at Irina like pointing out prey.
“Little Ao, deal with your contract master. She's trying to block my plan.”
Kooson turned his head toward Irina like a cannon aiming.
“Little master, how could you? Boss Ouyang is our North Star, a lamp in the night, our compass in fog…”
Irina's face went iron-blue, memory rising like bile.
She'd met this babbling persona before; he'd talked three days and nights like cicadas in summer.
Only then did the first persona return, and she had wanted to die then, like a fish on dry shore.
Horrible, too horrible; and Ouyang was shameless, cheap as a street trick.
“Back when we first gathered, Boss Ouyang led us everywhere.”
“When we lost our way, he'd appear like dawn.”
“Such a leader—how can you block him? Blocking him is—”
“Stop. Ouyang, make him stop. I surrender,” Irina said, clutching her head like it split.
Ouyang smiled in victory, crescent-calm.
Then he yanked another pillar from under the table and cracked it on Kooson's head like a judge's gavel.
The honest big lug returned at once, eyes simple as clear water.
Everyone stared, stunned, like seeing a carp leap the gate.
It was all too bizarre, from Irina's reactions to Ouyang's methods, like a play staged by ghosts.
“Ou…yang…” Xi's face sank, her temper bottling like storm in a jar.
“You tore down my house's support pillar? You smashed my brand-new table? Can I tear you down next?”
“Uh, ahaha…”
A crash of thrown wood rang through the hall like hail, as furious Xi broke the crippled table and hurled the pieces at Ouyang.
