“Shiniang?! Bah! Gong Shangyu, have you no shame!”
Gu Qingying exploded the moment she heard Gong Shangyu’s words.
Her violet eyes seemed to spew fire.
She didn’t care about her image at all, and just like a raging Hagen Kimi, she bared her teeth and claws, furiously huffing at Gong Shangyu, lunging to snatch the marriage contract from Gong Shangyu’s hand.
“Ahhh… Gong Lao’er, hand it over! You despicable Yuxing Cat who betrays your master and ancestors! I’m going to tear it apart!*”
Gong Shangyu was already prepared for this.
With a giggle, she took advantage of her height and long legs, easily holding the hand with the marriage contract high up in the air.
Gu Qingying jumped up several times, but she couldn’t even touch the edge of the contract.
Frustrated, she could only wave her short little arms in vain and huff at Gong Shangyu.
“Alala…..”
Gong Shangyu shook her fan with her free, pale hand, looking down at the flustered Gu Qingying in front of her, her tone dripping with mockery.
“Hehe~ Little Junior Sister, you’re just wasting your energy~”
“With that short stature of yours, even if you try your hardest to jump, you can’t even reach my knee, and you still want to snatch things from me?”
“You… Who are you calling short?!”
Gu Qingying hated it when others mentioned her height, so upon hearing Gong Shangyu’s words, she got even angrier, stomping her feet, yet utterly helpless against Gong Shangyu.
After all, she couldn’t win in a snatch, and fighting… she totally stood no chance.
Just then, as if struck by inspiration, Gu Qingying’s eyes spun.
She suddenly stopped her futile attempt to snatch the contract, placed her hands on her hips, and decisively struck a “don’t-mess-with-me” pose at Gong Shangyu.
But her puffed cheeks and the slightly red rims of her eyes made her look completely unthreatening.
Instead, she looked more like a little hamster putting on a brave front.
“Hmph!”
Gu Qingying snorted coldly, trying to make her voice sound more intimidating.
“Gong Lao’er! You—give me a copy of that marriage contract too! Otherwise… otherwise, I’ll tell Master the truth! We’ll both go down together, nobody gets off easy!”
Though Gu Qingying’s words were tough, her confidence was clearly lacking.
Her gaze wavered; even she knew that if she actually spilled the truth, she wouldn’t end up any better.
She just wanted to scare Gong Shangyu, not really go down together with her.
As a Senior Sister, Gong Shangyu knew her all too well.
Seeing her little act of bravado, she couldn’t help but burst out laughing, her peach blossom eyes curving into crescents.
“Oh~ Little Qingying~ Are you jealous~?”
Gong Shangyu deliberately dragged out her words, leaned closer, and gently tapped Gu Qingying’s forehead with her fan.
“Hehe… If you want it, just say so. Why play tricks with your Senior Sister?”
Exposed, Gu Qingying’s pretty face turned red.
She stubbornly insisted, “Who… who’s jealous! I caught you red-handed and I’m blackmailing you! Get it?”
“Mmm… Alright, alright~ It’s blackmail, sure~”
Gong Shangyu agreed readily, her tone full of indulgence, as if she were coaxing a sulky child.
Then she shook her head helplessly, flipped her wrist, and instantly produced an identical blank contract, along with some Special Ink and a Brush:
“Hehe… Come, come, Senior Sister will make you a copy~ Can’t have some little shorty sulking herself sick~”
“Who are you calling a little shorty!”
Gu Qingying stomped her feet in anger, but Gong Shangyu paid her no mind.
She skillfully used the invisible ink to write a marriage contract, then wrote a master-disciple pledge on top of it with Squid Ink.
Then she grinned teasingly at Gu Qingying.
“Hehe~ Here you go, Junior Sister~ Take it to Master and have him sign it~”
Gu Qingying took the pledge, still half-believing, half-doubting as she glanced at her Senior Sister:
“You… are you really being so nice?”
Gong Shangyu laughed, “Of course~ As Master’s Da Lao, it’s only right that I help him take a Na Qie, and help keep the Hou Gong peaceful~”
“Nonsense! I’m Master’s Da Laopo!”
Just as Gu Qingying was about to erupt, Gong Shangyu swiftly snatched back the marriage contract she had just written.
“Oh! Is that so? Looks like you, little shorty, don’t want this marriage contract after all!”
Gu Qingying couldn’t even bother to argue anymore.
All her attention was focused on the marriage contract that had been snatched away by Gong Shangyu.
“Gong Shangyu! Give me back the marriage contract!”
Gu Qingying was getting anxious.
The more flustered she got, the more triumphant Gong Shangyu’s smile became.
Sigh… Junior Sister’s personality is really easy to read~
Gong Shangyu, thinking this, playfully tapped Gu Qingying’s cheek with the contract in her hand.
“Junior Sister~ Want the marriage contract~? No problem~ Just admit I’m Master’s Da Laopo. Nod your head, and I’ll give you the contract~”
Gu Qingying wanted to flare up, but seeing the contract in Gong Shangyu’s hand, her anger died down at once.
Staring at the marriage contract between her and her Master, her violet eyes sparkled brilliantly, and her previously puffed-up expression vanished instantly, replaced by little stars in her eyes.
Seeing this, Gong Shangyu’s smile became even more joyful.
She began teasingly waving the marriage contract in front of her Junior Sister’s face, and Gu Qingying’s gaze followed the contract up and down.
Even the little ahoge on her head, which always stuck up, began to wag happily atop her head like a puppy who’d spotted its favorite bone, her pure and simple thoughts making Gong Shangyu almost laugh out loud.
Looking at her Junior Sister’s dramatically contrasting cute expression, the smile in Gong Shangyu’s eyes deepened.
“Alala~ Junior Sister~”
Gong Shangyu dragged out the words, her tone full of playfulness, “Looks like a certain little shorty doesn’t want this marriage contract after all? Then I’ll just put it away?”
“Gong Shangyu! You dare!”
Gu Qingying, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, almost pounced again.
But seeing Gong Shangyu’s confident gaze and the way she looked ready to stash away the contract, she chickened out again.
She stared fixedly at the hand behind Gong Shangyu, her eyes full of struggle and reluctance, her cheeks flushed red.
Admit Gong Shangyu is Da Lao?
That was almost worse than death!
But… she really wanted that marriage contract!
In the end, her longing for the contract outweighed her pitiful pride.
Gu Qingying stomped her foot, almost gritting her back teeth, and muttered quickly in a barely audible, mosquito-like voice.
“Ah! Fine, fine! You… you’re the Da Laopo! Give me the marriage contract already!”
“Oh? What did you say? I didn’t hear~?”
Gong Shangyu pretended to turn her ear, her smile growing even brighter, “Junior Sister, speak up, Senior Sister’s ears aren’t so good~”
Gu Qingying trembled all over with anger, but for the sake of the marriage contract, she went all out!
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and yelled, “I said! You’re Master’s Da Laopo! Satisfied?! Now give me the contract!”
After shouting, Gu Qingying felt her face was so hot it could fry an egg.
She wanted nothing more than to find a hole to crawl into.
Gong Shangyu was finally satisfied, letting out a string of silvery, triumphant laughter:
“Now that’s more like it~ Good Junior Sister~ If you’d been this honest from the start, wouldn’t it have been easier?”
With that, she stopped teasing Gu Qingying and cheerfully handed over the still-wet “master-disciple pledge”.
Gu Qingying snatched up the pledge, and immediately hugged it to her chest like a little animal guarding its food, as if afraid Gong Shangyu would snatch it back again.
At the same time, her face flushed with embarrassment was instantly replaced by an irrepressible excitement and anticipation.
Those violet eyes sparkled astonishingly, as if filled with stars.
She couldn’t bother to bicker with Gong Shangyu anymore, or even care about her flushed face.
She spun around and dashed straight toward Lu Li’s direction, shouting impatiently as she ran.
“Master… Master! Please, could you sign this master-disciple pledge for me too!”
Gu Qingying’s cheerful, lively figure looked just like a puppy who had finally gotten its favorite toy and couldn’t wait to show it off to its owner.
Gong Shangyu shook her fan as she watched Gu Qingying’s silhouette vanish in an instant, helplessly shaking her head, and muttered softly with a chuckle.
“Sigh~ This little fool~ So easy to trick and coax. If Senior Sister ever seriously made things difficult for you~ with your brains, how would you ever compete with me~”