Chapter 41: You’re not pure enough!

Zhuge Yu curled up into an angry little feathered ball.

She sat on the long bench downstairs from the apartment building, clutching a paper bag, her unhappy little expression plain as day on her face.

When she spotted a certain annoying man entering her field of vision, her face froze for a second.

Then she gave a soft huff, turned her head away, and refused to look at him.

Fang Wei sat down beside her.

She immediately scooted her body to the side.

Fang Wei shamelessly scooted closer again until he had forced Zhuge Yu right up against the edge of the bench.

Only then did Zhuge Yu finally turn and glare at him with cold eyes.

But after stewing for a long while, she suddenly felt that bluntly asking about his feelings would be too abrupt.

So she could only bite her pink lip and let out a soft, aggrieved:

“You’re such a bad guy…”

Little General Feather, the way you insult people sounds more like flirting.

Fang Wei still had his doubts.

They lived one floor apart—why insist on meeting downstairs instead of just going to my place or yours?

Look at us sitting together like this.

Even that old man over there dry-humping a tree is giving us an auntie smile.

How easily people get the wrong idea.

Fang Wei put on an exaggerated act of confusion.

“How exactly am I a bad guy?”

“You lied to me…”

“Lied about what?”

Zhuge Yu pouted and fell silent.

Fang Wei shifted a little to the side, leaving an empty person’s worth of space between them to give her some breathing room.

Zhuge Yu’s eyes darted away.

She huffed angrily.

“I thought you wanted me to help you chase after Little Grass. Isn’t that just lying to me?”

“How about we flip back a few chapters and check?”

Fang Wei pointed up at the sky.

“Flip what?”

“Oh, I just mean let’s recall together—did I ever once say I wanted you to help me pursue Qi Qiancao? Right?”

“…”

“And I never said I wasn’t dating Qi Qiancao either. You never asked, did you?”

“…”

This—this guy is completely twisting words!

Ask yourself: if a man pretends to be single while getting close to his girlfriend’s best friend, what kind of person is that?

Carrying passengers while flying with the empty sign on—what else is that but a scumbag!

Scumbag.

Bad guy.

I hate you…

Zhuge Yu mentally unloaded the most vicious insults she could think of at Fang Wei.

Her cheeks grew faintly hot, and it felt like steam was about to pour out of her nose.

After using the Dream Nail once, Fang Wei suddenly found this little tsundere pretty interesting.

He remembered how viciously Zhuge Yu flamed people online—she’d curse out their parents and all eighteen generations of their ancestors.

Yet when it came to him, the harshest thing she could manage was this.

Still, he didn’t dare tease an angry feathered ball right now, so he scooted back again to put a bit more distance between them.

“Hm?”

Zhuge Yu shot him a sideways glare, looking extremely displeased.

She braced one hand on the bench and scooted her small body right back, closing the gap again.

Now they were pressed together once more.

But this time Fang Wei slid outward again, increasing the distance.

Zhuge Yu looked slightly surprised, then became embarrassed and angry.

She chased after him until she had him pinned against the far end of the bench.

Afraid this unreasonable guy might run away, she secretly pinched the corner of his shirt.

“N-not talking about that anymore. You’re a bad guy anyway.”

Zhuge Yu pettily skipped over the topic and poked him in the waist a few times to vent her frustration.

After venting, she shoved the paper bag she’d prepared long ago onto his lap.

“Here, this is… a return gift for the clothes. Steak isn’t happening tonight because I have to go see Mom and Dad…”

“Fine by me. I won’t stand on ceremony then.”

Fang Wei opened the bag.

Inside was a scarf woven in overlapping shades of blue and black.

It felt warm to the touch.

The appearance wasn’t particularly impressive, but the craftsmanship was surprisingly meticulous.

“This… I stayed up late working overtime to make it. You’re not allowed to say it’s ugly! If you do, I’m taking it back!”

Zhuge Yu snatched the scarf back and hugged it to her chest.

She fidgeted, pressing the scarf against her face while sneaking peeks at Fang Wei with her eyes.

The weather had big temperature swings lately—cold in the morning, hot at noon, cold again at night.

Compared to layering thick clothes, a scarf was indeed much more convenient.

Fang Wei hadn’t expected this… uniquely flavored scarf to be hand-knitted by Zhuge Yu herself.

Imagine it: this little girl holed up in her room at night, pouting angrily every time she thought of him, yet still knitting a scarf for him.

Maybe she even cursed him out loud when her temper flared.

He already knew she was a hardcore tsundere, but he hadn’t realized she could be *this* tsun.

Naturally he was happy to receive a gift—especially since he was particularly weak to Zhuge Yu’s brand of attitude.

“Stick your big dog head over here…”

Zhuge Yu’s voice was as tiny as a mosquito.

When Fang Wei didn’t catch it, she simply grabbed his collar and yanked him down.

Then she held the scarf, looped it around his neck, folded it over twice, and tied it.

Because of their height difference, Fang Wei had to lower his head.

He could clearly feel the heat of the girl’s heavy breathing against his chin, along with the faint, clean fragrance coming from the scarf.

Now that she was a bit more familiar with him, she seemed less shy and reserved and more openly displeased—as if he owed her eight million.

Yet even though her small face was puffed up in anger, the way she tied the scarf was slow and careful.

She didn’t dare meet his eyes the whole time.

When her fingertips brushed his chin, she flinched and pulled back.

“O-okay, done. If it’s too tight, loosen it yourself.”

She still felt the need to sternly remind him, “Don’t take it off! You have to look nice when you meet my parents.”

Fang Wei thought to himself: I’m not meeting your parents by riding in on a flaming motorcycle yelling, “Hey hey! Old folks, I’m kidnapping your daughter now!”

He was an upright citizen who opposed school bullying.

He was only going to receive thanks.

With how righteous he was, what did it matter what he wore?

But looking at the way Zhuge Yu’s eyes kept dodging…

Wait.

No way?

The “Research Qi Qiancao Alliance” between Little General Feather and Big Sergeant Wei that they’d only just formed—was it already going bad this fast?

Fang Wei raised an eyebrow but didn’t call her out.

He already had two troublesome girls on his hands.

As the third one worth ten million, she could wait a little longer.

Mainly because Zhuge Yu’s current state was healthier than Qi Qiancao’s or Xia Yuanhua’s.

As the easiest one to mine in the quarry, of course she should be saved for last.

You—I’ll develop you last!

Choosing to ignore the subtle atmosphere, Zhuge Yu explained that her parents were in nearby Lühai City.

After receiving the message, they handled things at home and took the high-speed train over this morning.

There was no direct high-speed line from Nantong City to Lühai City, so they had to transfer by bus midway.

That meant their parents’ stop was still quite a distance away.

That distance would require the two of them to meet each other halfway—not too far, just a subway ride.

“About this scarf… don’t you have anything to say?”

Zhuge Yu muttered softly.

She had stayed up several all-nighters to finish it.

Sometimes she’d fall asleep mid-knit and wake up to find herself hugging the scarf.

After it was done, she even tried it on that very ugly bear plushie she called “Big Sergeant Wei.”

Worried it might not be warm enough, she wrapped it around her own neck first, buried her little nose and cheeks inside, and spent a long time feeling it.

After all, this was a return gift.

It was repayment.

She couldn’t be careless.

Even though this man was very annoying, a few days ago when it was cold and she only had a hoodie, she really had worn the clothes he bought her.

She’d felt guilty about it ever since.

This scarf probably didn’t mean much to him, right?

He’d bought her so many clothes—how long would it take to repay that?

One scarf a year?

That was thinking too far ahead.

Maybe she should just pay him back in cash.

But what if he misunderstood?

Zhuge Yu always believed that a handmade scarf couldn’t possibly make up for even the tiniest bit of what she owed him.

Even though it had taken several nights of her effort, to Fang Wei it surely wasn’t worth much.

Fang Wei, meanwhile, wasn’t overthinking it like she was.

When a cold gust blew over, he pulled the scarf up over his mouth.

Mm, why does it smell so nice?

“Y-you! Don’t sniff it! And don’t do anything weird!”

Even though she was the one who gave it to him, Zhuge Yu yanked the scarf—and Fang Wei along with it—toward herself as if protecting food.

She buried her own neck and mouth in the scarf.

Her voice came out muffled and sticky.

“I only gave it to you… I didn’t say you could smell it…”

She lifted her head.

Being a petite loli type, she was two heads shorter than Fang Wei.

Pressed together like this, she even had to tilt her head back to look at him.

“Then I won’t smell it.”

Fang Wei put on the act of a proper gentleman, only to immediately feel something jabbing his waist.

He looked down.

Zhuge Yu’s cheeks were bright red as she poked him repeatedly with her little pink fist.

“So what if you’re taller… hammer you, hammer you, hammer you…”

Her face was full of displeasure.

She grabbed the scarf tightly and tried to pull him down a little.

Because the only thing between them was the scarf, he could also feel her heart racing faster from the exertion—like war drums: thump! thump! thump! nonstop.

Zhuge Yu could hear it too.

Realizing she’d wrinkled the scarf, she carefully smoothed it out again for him.

Only then did she resume her puffed-up, adorable little pout.

“Y-you’re not allowed to listen!”

She said it in a spoiled whine.

Honestly, Lao Wei really was weak to this.

His resistance to tsundere behavior was practically zero—maybe because he came from ten years ago, when the most popular anime heroines all had a bit of tsundere in them.

Come on, his favorite was literally Shana.

He instinctively wanted to rub this tsundere little creature’s head.

He could also see her small hands nervously tugging at his clothes.

But before Fang Wei could say anything, a pair of big red eyes suddenly appeared in the tree the old man was dry-humping in the distance.

At first he didn’t see clearly.

Only when he focused did he realize.

Holy crap, is that a begging-for-seals yellow-skinned rat?

The gray-furred weasel with red pupils gave the tree-humping old man a disgusted glance, then hopped to a branch on another tree.

The petite girl pressed against him seemed to tremble slightly.

Fang Wei immediately understood—this thing was apparently the magical girl’s contract spirit, communicating with Zhuge Yu through telepathy or something like Ultraman-level psychic power.

[Corruption Value: 0%]

Surprisingly normal-looking, though those red eyes reminded him of some bad things.

Do you have a relative named Kyubey?

Never mind that—he directly threw out the Dream Nail and peeked at their conversation.

[Little Feather, there seem to be traces of a magical beast. It’s time to set out and save the world.]

[Let’s go, time is of the essence!]

[Little Feather? Little Feather? Strange Creature Slaughter Machine? Magical Beast Butcher?]

Sure enough, the classic: the spirit spots the villain, and the magical girl heads out to fight.

But the strange part was that Zhuge Yu completely ignored the ferret.

[I hate you, hate you, hate you, hate you, hate you…]

[I’m only watching you for Little Grass’s sake…]

[Don’t sniff the scarf right in front of me… at least wait until you go back… mm…]

Hm?

Fang Wei’s eyes widened.

Wait, why are you thinking about me?

Pay attention to that poor, lonely, single spirit!

Shouldn’t a magical girl pause whatever she’s doing the moment something happens, make an excuse, leave, transform, and go fight evil?

Damn it, magical girl—why aren’t you saving the world!

As a general, you’re just not pure enough.