Free Web NovelChapter 177: Chapter 159: Don’t Tell Anyone
Hearing his words, an expression of shame and annoyance appeared on Wu You’s face. She hesitated, but finally spoke up. "That thing with my clothes... from behind. Why didn’t you remind me? Do you know how embarrassed I was on the rescue vehicle after taking off the Active Metal Mecha Battle Armor!"
Li Qian’s memory was instantly jogged. Without thinking, he blurted out, "How was I supposed to bring something like that up?"
At his words, Wu You’s expression instantly shifted from embarrassed to furious. She shot Li Qian a vicious glare that made him panic a little.
It was only then that Li Qian finally understood. ’So this woman was just testing me.’
’I let my guard down for a second and just blabbed the truth.’
’This is bad,’ he thought. The next moment, the Wing Race woman before him went on the attack. Pointing a finger at Li Qian’s nose, she demanded, "Aha! So you *did* see everything! And you still deliberately lied to me."
Li Qian retorted without hesitation, refusing to take the blame. "Miss Wu, you really can’t blame me for this."
"Not blame you? Am I supposed to blame myself, then?" the Wing Race woman asked, laughing in fury as she pointed at her own nose.
At this, Li Qian nodded with mock seriousness, affirming her words. "If we’re really getting to the root of the problem, then yes, you do have only yourself to blame."
Seeing Wu You seething with rage, looking like she was about to erupt, Li Qian didn’t dare drag it out any longer. He explained with a wronged expression, "You’re a whole person, and you suddenly dropped out of the sky—SPLAT—and landed right in front of me."
"And you landed face-down, completely prone. I was just going over to check on you. There was no way to avoid seeing it."
He finished with a shrug, putting on an expression of utter innocence.
And in fact, he was telling the truth.
Li Qian genuinely didn’t believe he was at fault in this matter.
’Compared to rescuing Wu You, getting a quick look at her butt was a minor detail. No need to get so hung up on it.’
Of course, that was just his opinion.
And it was an opinion that definitely could not be voiced aloud.
Seeing that Wu You still wasn’t letting it go and was still glaring at him, Li Qian quickly continued his defense. "To be honest, I didn’t want to look. But, well, it was just... right there in front of me."
"So what you’re saying is, by seeing my... you were the one at a disadvantage?" Wu You retorted coldly, listening to his excuses.
’In truth, she didn’t know how to respond at this point. To be fair, Li Qian hadn’t really done anything wrong.’
’Blaming him for it really was unfair.’
’And strictly speaking, he had saved her life.’
’But no matter how she tried to reason with herself, she just couldn’t accept that her butt had been seen so plainly by a strange man.’
’It was one of a girl’s most private areas.’
’In her entire life, that was something only to be seen by the one she loved...’
’So she was furious. But she didn’t know who to be furious *with*. Getting angry at herself was pointless. Getting angry at Li Qian felt like repaying kindness with ingratitude.’
"Alright, alright, don’t overthink it. We’re both Beast Masters. According to the old sayings on our Ancestral Star, that basically makes us wandering heroes. We don’t have to worry about so many pointless formalities," Li Qian said, trying to comfort Wu You with a chuckle.
He even tried to use his own childhood as an example. "Sister Youyou, in my heart, you’re like my own sister, a real brother even! When I was a kid, my brothers and I would run around naked and pee together..."
Li Qian trailed off, realizing midway through his sentence that something was wrong. He immediately shut his mouth and glanced to the side. As expected, he found Wu You’s expression had turned icy.
’Damn it, I got carried away and couldn’t keep my mouth shut. This should be a taboo subject, so why did I keep bringing it up?’
’Wasn’t that just rubbing salt in her wound?’
’Besides, a brother is a brother and a woman is a woman. They’re not the same thing.’
’I got cocky. Way too cocky!’
Li Qian silently admonished himself.
"You have to promise me that you will never, ever tell anyone about this," Wu You said, finally letting out a long breath after staring intently at Li Qian for a good while.
Li Qian immediately held up three fingers and swore, "Sister Youyou, I swear, I will absolutely not tell anyone about seeing your..."
He had been about to say the word "butt," but he immediately changed his wording upon receiving Wu You’s hostile glare.
"You saw what of Youyou’s?" A familiar voice rang out the very instant Li Qian’s words left his mouth.
Li Qian looked toward the voice and soon spotted a familiar figure on a small stone path not far from the little white building.
The newcomer was none other than Lu Xiaoli, with her distinctively doll-like face.
Seeing that Lu Xiaoli had overheard him, Li Qian panicked. Fortunately, he hadn’t said the keyword, so he could still try to bluff his way through this.
He looked at Lu Xiaoli and chuckled. "Sister Xiaoli, as for what I saw of Youyou’s... I’m sure you can guess, can’t you?"
Li Qian had said this deliberately to lead Lu Xiaoli toward thinking about Wu You’s identity.
Sure enough, his misdirection worked. After hearing his words, Lu Xiaoli froze for a second before it dawned on her.
Her gaze instantly grew wary. She gave Li Qian a suspicious look and said in a grave tone, "Li Qian, being from the Wing Race is no small matter. If the wrong people found out, it would put Youyou in grave danger."
"So, I hope you’ll treat this with the caution it deserves. Don’t tell anyone."
Lu Xiaoli’s mind was already racing, filling in the blanks. She recalled Wu You mentioning the ambush and figured this was how her identity had been exposed.
Impressively, her assumptions were quite accurate; she had more or less guessed the truth. Li Qian nodded repeatedly at her warning, but inwardly he heaved a long sigh of relief.
Wu You also let out a sigh of relief. The matter was, at last, behind them.
She wasn’t too concerned about her identity being completely exposed.
After all, both Li Qian and Lu Xiaoli already knew she was one of the Wing Race People, so there was no point in hiding it.
After placating Lu Xiaoli, Li Qian changed the subject. "By the way, Sister Xiaoli, what brings you here?"
"Dinner’s ready. Youyou said she was coming to get you, but then I didn’t hear anything for a while, so I came to see what was going on," Lu Xiaoli explained.
Hearing this, Li Qian dramatically rubbed his stomach. "Oh man, if you hadn’t mentioned it, Sister Xiaoli, I would’ve forgotten! My stomach really is growling now."
