Twice My Love - Chapter 2

The one-good-deed-a-day plan went well at first.

The system judged good deeds by a very rigid standard: if both the helper and the person being helped were happy about it, the deed counted.

That was exactly what I taught Shen Yanbai.

That night, when I saw a lump under my quilt, I thought my eyes were failing me.

“You little brat! Who said you could climb in?”

“Master…”

He rolled over, eyes misty with what looked like exhaustion. Still, he slowly made room for me, tucking himself into the cold side of the bed.

“I’ve warmed it up, Master. Come and sleep.”

[Host, the villain’s happiness has gone up. All we need now is yours. Well? Are you happy?]

I climbed under the quilt through gritted teeth, happy enough to cry.

For the red flowers, I would endure.

I tossed and turned that night, unable to sleep. Finally, I sat up in a frenzy.

[Seriously, whose disciple does good deeds by warming his master’s bed?! I feel like a pervert…]

“Master…”

The little villain draped an arm around my neck.

Scarcely daring to breathe, I slid quietly back under the quilt and made myself a solemn promise.

Tomorrow night, I absolutely would not let him in!

The next day, while I was out washing up, Shen Yanbai folded the bedding.

Before I’d recovered from my shock, he slipped into the little kitchen and shut the door, refusing to let me inside.

By the time I’d circulated spiritual energy through my body once, four dishes and a bowl of congee stood on the pearwood table.

The fragrant spirit-rice fish soup melted in my mouth. My eyes lit up despite myself.

“Master, are you happy?”

“Mm… happy!” I answered between bites.

[Red flowers +1.]

The voice in my head jolted me awake.

Wait. Why did this kid keep farming points off me?!

After repeated orders from me, Shen Yanbai finally agreed to help people other than his master.

One day he pruned a martial sister’s spirit plants. The next he copied scriptures for a senior martial uncle. The day after that, he trimmed the spirit beasts’ claws…

I was deeply relieved. With that worry settled, I turned my full attention to the threat posed by the Sixth Elder.

Unless that rot was cut out, disaster would strike the sect again sooner or later.

I’d already written to my own master, trying to summon him home from his endless wanderings.

He was the Sect Master, for heaven’s sake. After roaming around for so long, he ought to return and take charge!

While waiting for him, I sneaked into the Sixth Elder’s residence and collected plenty of evidence.

The more I uncovered, the more horrified I became.

Unable to watch those children suffer, I secretly intervened several times.

Eventually, the Sixth Elder caught me.

He exploited my soft heart to trap me inside a strange formation. As it stripped away my spiritual energy, pain drenched me in cold sweat.

“Master!”

Somehow, Shen Yanbai burst in.

He was carrying a heavy sword absurdly out of proportion to his tiny body.

“What a fine haul today. A grown one delivered herself to me, and now I get a little one too.”

With the last of my spiritual energy, I cast an illusion.

“Run!”

Shen Yanbai didn’t listen.

The Sixth Elder had barely brushed aside the spiritual mist when the heavy sword pierced his chest.

My own heart gave a painful jolt at the sight.

Wasn’t that how I’d died?!

The Sixth Elder was ridiculously hard to kill. His heart was on the right side.

Surviving wasn’t much of a blessing, though.

Harming fellow sect members. Molesting dozens of young children. Secretly practicing forbidden arts.

With charge after charge piled against him, he was dragged into the Discipline Hall like a dead pig.

For the next month, his howls echoed through the roaring wind every night.

I couldn’t sleep for the noise.

As I lay there fuming, something rustled beside my bed.

A little puppy wriggled beneath my quilt.

He pressed his hands over my ears and murmured, “Master, A-Yan will cover them for you. Then you won’t hear anything.”

I pulled his hands away, rolled over, and refused to look at him.

“First, explain where that sword came from.”

My chest was still aching.

Snow Sacrifice was the sword he’d obtained as an adult from the Blood Abyss in the demon realm.

Why had it appeared now?!

“Master, I’m sorry…”

Little Shen Yanbai pressed his warm face against my cold back and explained helplessly, “It came to me on its own. I threw it away, but it kept coming back.”

I poked the system, which was busy watching a revolutionary drama.

It offered an offhand guess. [Maybe there’s a bug in the world timeline, and Snow Sacrifice came looking for its owner?]

I refused to believe it. Only after taking Shen Yanbai out to discard the sword several more times did I accept reality.

In the biting wind, I cupped his face and spoke earnestly.

“Listen, little brat. Since we can’t get rid of it, use it properly. Don’t let it control you. If your sword heart is steady and your sword path is righteous, there’s nothing to fear.”

I was reassuring myself as much as him.

Shen Yanbai was no longer the inhuman monster from my previous life.

Don’t be afraid, Ji Ning.

He’s your disciple. You can’t be afraid of him.