I Really Didn’t Want to Increase My Favorability!

“What’s wrong, cousin?”

“Nothing, nothing. Let me calculate something for you…”

She squinted her eyes, picked up a piece of paper, and began calculating. Minutes of silence followed. Eventually, she bit her lip—hard, as if she might draw blood.

“Huh… Why is this?”

“Cousin, is something wrong?”

“I’m not sure if it’s because my skills aren’t good enough or if it’s something about you. The divination shows your future love life will be very stable, but the lines are chaotic.”

“What does that mean?”

“I can’t say for sure. The reading indicates harmony and happiness in your relationships. But when I try to pinpoint the specific girl, the result is scattered—there’s no fixed direction.

“To put it simply, the stability suggests the girl is easy to identify, but my reading shows scattered signs, without a clear position.”

Hearing this, Xu Lin immediately understood the reason. Stability referred to the future, but for now, if she tried to find his destined one, wouldn’t she end up with 10 candidates? Scattered signs made perfect sense.

No, wait. Maybe it was 12. After all, he hadn’t encountered girls with the Dragon and Monkey zodiac signs yet.

“It seems I can’t figure it out. Next time, let’s visit my master on the mountain and have him calculate it for you.”

“Alright.” Actually, cousin, you’re already impressive, but I can’t say that aloud.

“By the way, tell me about the kind of girl you like. What’s she like?”

“Cousin, you’re too nosy. Besides, aren’t you forbidden from dating?”

“We Zhengyi Daoists can marry and have kids.”

“Really? Then I’ll tell you. She’s actually my classmate.”

In the end, Xu Lin decided to use Ji Yun as a template—it was too tricky to describe anyone else. After all, a loli, a martial arts prodigy heiress, and a kind-hearted but aloof superstar like Chu Qingchan would seem too over-the-top.

“Ah, starting with that fresh and youthful vibe, I see.”

“She isn’t stunningly beautiful, but she has incredibly beautiful eyes—bright like the starry sky.”

Xu Lin initially wanted to say Ji Yun was very pretty, but compared to someone like Chu Qingchan, “stunning” didn’t quite apply.

“She’s also very gentle. She’s kind to everyone and everything. But she’s not a pushover—she has her own thoughts. She’s also smart, and her manner with people makes everyone feel at ease. No one dislikes her. You could say she has great charisma?”

“You’re giving her a high evaluation.”

Li Muxue commented. Xu Lin nodded. After all, she was his “white moonlight,” the goddess who saved his life. Of course, his evaluation was high.

“Have you confessed?”

“I did, but she didn’t accept.”

“I see… Keep at it.”

Though Cousin comfortingly patted his arm, why did she seem a little happy?

After chatting for a while, it was already half-past midnight. Xu Lin yawned again, and Li Muxue stood up.

“I won’t disturb you anymore. Get some rest.”

“Alright, Cousin.”

Waving her off, Xu Lin slid down from the wall onto his bed, closed his eyes, and quickly fell asleep.

Outside Xu Lin’s room, Li Muxue took out the paper she had been calculating on earlier, frowning deeply.

“How could it be like this? Did Master make a mistake? But Master has never been wrong…”

“Xiaoxue?”

“Auntie, did I disturb Cousin’s rest just now?”

“No, he usually stays up late anyway. I’ve got your blanket ready. Tomorrow, I’ll take the day off and go shopping with you.”

“No, no, you all carry on as usual. Tomorrow, I’ll go out for a walk.”

“A walk? You’ll need someone with you.”

“No, for me, walking alone is enough. Auntie, don’t worry.”

Seeing the resolute expression on Li Muxue’s face, Li Yuan couldn’t help but smile. The once-crybaby girl had now grown into an independent young woman. �

“Alright, go ahead. But be sure to stay safe. If you get lost, ask for directions. It’s easy to find your way around here; we’re near the city center.”

“Got it.”

Xu Lin woke up groggy and disoriented, with nothing clear in his mind. The continuation of his Ji Yun dream he’d been hoping for hadn’t happened. In fact, he hadn’t even had an ordinary dream. He stared at the dim light coming through the window, checked his phone, and saw it was only past 4 a.m.

“Maybe I should get some work done…”

But as soon as he started to sit up, his inner laziness kicked in again. Flopping back down, he thought, Everyone tells me to balance work and rest. I should stick to that and just browse my phone for a while.

Just as he was about to open Bilibili, he noticed a few WeChat messages. There were “Goodnight” texts from Liu Qin’nuan and the others, as well as one from Jiang Zimeng.

Wasn’t she asleep? Did she wake up again?

He opened the message and saw it had just been sent:

“I woke up early. Did I fall asleep on someone’s couch?”

Then another:

“Maybe you’re not awake yet, but when you have time around noon, send me the video files. I’ll help you edit them.”

Xu Lin didn’t reply right away. Since she had just woken up, maybe she could still get some more rest if he didn’t disturb her.

He scrolled on his phone for another hour, and by 5 a.m., he decided to get up and move around.

As he opened the door and headed toward the bathroom, he saw his cousin stepping out, dripping wet, wearing nothing but a plain white pair of panties.

Xu Lin immediately grabbed a towel from the sofa and threw it over to her, turning away in one swift motion.

“Cousin, take the towel back in with you!”

“I forgot. I thought no one else would be up at this hour. By the way, you’re up pretty early, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Xu Lin nodded, listening to her still-cheerful voice. She didn’t seem to care at all that he’d seen her like that.

“Hey, grab my clothes for me.”

“Alright.”

He handed over her sweatshirt and thermal top. The only thing left on the sofa was a thick camouflage coat—no underwear in sight.

“Cousin… where’s your underclothes?”

“Not wearing anything is bad for your health.”

“Okay, I’ll head back to my room. You should get dressed first.”

“I’m done now. You can use the bathroom. Are you taking a shower?”

“No, no, just washing my face. Then I’m heading out to exercise.”

“Perfect! Take me with you. I need to stay in shape, too. Haven’t done morning exercises in a while.”

“You just showered. Sweating right after will feel gross.”

“It’s fine! Let’s go, let’s go!”

“Alright.”

Xu Lin nodded, went into the bathroom, washed his face, and brushed his teeth.

When he came out, his cousin was already dressed, her hair still damp. She was lounging on the sofa, flipping through a book she had apparently taken from his room.

“Sorry, I grabbed one of your books to read.”

“It’s just a light novel. You probably don’t read those much.”

“I do! I’ve even watched a lot of anime.”

“I didn’t expect you to be into anime. I’ve got plenty of recommendations for you—way more than movies.”

“But I saw your notebook titled Comprehensive Movie List. I didn’t open it, but I figured you really liked movies.”

“Ahem… I like movies too. Let’s go.”

“Sure. By the way, is there a large open area nearby?”

“Yeah, there’s a small sports field not far from here.”

“Can we head there? I need to practice some basics in the morning.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’ll teach you a thing or two while we’re at it. A guy should know how to protect himself when he’s out and about.”

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