The Transmigrated Male Lead Confessed to Me - Chapter 16 (Part 2)

Before she could continue, Xiao Yu suddenly asked, “What were you about to say with that ‘since’? Since what?”

Su Zhen hadn’t expected him to fixate on this and felt momentarily at a loss for words.

What she had meant to say was, “Since you wouldn’t act like my master, constantly saying unpleasant things, one day asking me if I could give my sword to my junior sister, the next day telling me to protect her during the Immortal Alliance Trials, and the day after that expressing disappointment in me, saying if he’d known this, he’d have had me apprentice under the Sect Leader instead.”

But why would she say such things?

Maybe it was because Xiao Yu was too easygoing, or because she had almost never interacted with anyone in such a relaxed manner before. Their conversations allowed her to let go of her usual overthinking.

That’s why, from time to time, she would blurt out inappropriate remarks and then wish she could take them back.

Su Zhen opened her mouth. “Because you’re different from my master.”

Xiao Yu’s gaze shifted slightly, staring intensely at her. His usually calm blue eyes suddenly rippled like a lake disturbed by the wind.

His whole demeanor changed, and a surge of sharp, invisible force exploded from him, briefly filling the air with palpable pressure.

It wasn’t until a second later that Su Zhen realized it wasn’t his spiritual energy, but a pure mental force.

Had he wanted, this energy could have manifested as sword intent, flattening the entire Weiyun Peak, or even the whole Tianyuan Mountain, if not the entire Eastern Region.

Su Zhen frowned. “Senior, why are you angry? Is it because I compared you to my master?”

“No.”

Xiao Yu lowered his gaze and shook his head. “I just suddenly thought of something infuriating.”

Su Zhen blinked. “Were you reading my thoughts?”

“No, I’m not a charm cultivator, and you know mental techniques. If I were to read your mind, you’d sense it.”

Xiao Yu shook his head again. “But if I told you I understand you and can roughly guess what you’re thinking, would you believe me?”

Su Zhen’s expression grew strange.

He might know about her past, but unless he knew she had been reincarnated, there was no way he could guess what she was thinking.

After all, much of it had happened later.

“And I wouldn’t read your mind, for the same reason I wouldn’t randomly transmit to you.”

Xiao Yu blinked. “Okay, if I’m being honest, I got angry because earlier, you looked sad.”

Su Zhen was stunned for a moment before realizing his first statement meant he wouldn’t read her mind for the same reason he wouldn’t send her a mental transmission.

“Given what you just said, I can infer that Xu Ling is the reason for your sadness. Just thinking about him annoys me.”

Xiao Yu sighed. “That kid is really…”

Su Zhen suddenly remembered that her master had been called “kid” by him in his younger years, and she couldn’t help but find it amusing. “Senior, it seems you really don’t like him, which is why you got so angry earlier?”

Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow. “You may have the cause and effect reversed, but never mind. Let’s not talk about him anymore. Also, don’t bring up the payment—it’s hard to calculate.”

Su Zhen looked at him questioningly.

Xiao Yu: “…The price depends on the quality and when it was harvested. Your plant was undoubtedly the highest grade, but more importantly, it was nourished by your spiritual energy. How can I measure that with spirit stones?”

“What?”

Su Zhen was speechless. “Other people’s herbs are also cultivated with spiritual energy, and they still sell for money, don’t they?”

Xiao Yu shook his head.

He rested his hand on his face, intently gazing at her.

The dappled sunlight filtered through the tree branches, falling on the extraordinarily handsome Immortal Venerable’s face. His gaze gleamed, and the golden light shimmered across his long lashes, making his eyes appear translucent with a faint hint of blue.

Xiao Yu smiled slightly. “…Your spiritual energy is priceless.”

Su Zhen: “?”

This guy is saying it with a straight face, as if completely unaware of how nonsensical it sounded.

Su Zhen tried to detect even the slightest hint of him joking, but couldn’t find any trace of it.

Su Zhen: “Senior, you used spiritual energy when you made that box of pastries.”

Xiao Yu immediately replied, “But you just said your Thorn-Heart Flowers was nourished by your spiritual energy, unique in all the Nine Realms.”

Su Zhen slammed the table. “You gave me three layers of pastries! I only gave you two types, including the Cuiyu Crystal Grass—now we’re even!”

Xiao Yu was stunned.

After a moment, he raised a finger. “Wait, give me a second to think of how to refute you.”

Su Zhen: “……”

Su Zhen shook her head, feeling both absurd and amused, her emotions mixed. “Senior, stop thinking about it. You can’t refute me, which probably proves you’re the one in the wrong.”

“Who says?”

Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I’m just bad at expressing myself.”

Su Zhen thought, Your thick skin is definitely real. “Senior, you must be joking. If you’re clumsy with words, then everyone else might as well be mute.”

Xiao Yu chuckled. “See? I’m once again at a loss for words.”

Su Zhen sighed. “Then give up on refuting me. Isn’t accepting it easier?”

“True.”

Xiao Yu thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement. “You’re right. We’re even now, neither of us owes the other anything.”

Su Zhen sighed in relief. “Last time I asked what you liked to eat, you didn’t say I couldn’t repay you. You never mentioned that you’d already taken something of mine.”

Xiao Yu feigned confusion. “But last time you only asked what I liked to eat, not about repaying me.”

Su Zhen narrowed her eyes.

“Alright, let me be honest.”

Xiao Yu spread his hands, “At that time, I thought, no matter what you were thinking, I had already come up with quite a few recipes. After I finish yours, I’ll make another batch for you, and I guarantee it won’t be the same as last time. So I can feel justified waiting for you to feed me again.”

Su Zhen looked at him in disbelief. “I never—”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean you had to feed me. I mean—uh, what I’m trying to say is, whether you buy it or make it, if you give it to me, it counts as feeding me.”

Xiao Yu quickly explained, “Actually, I don’t care about this exchange of favors. I only gave you the pastries because I wanted to make you a little happier. Every time I see you, you’re burdened with worries. If it can ease your mind even a little, I’ll be satisfied. It wasn’t about getting something in return.”

Su Zhen fell silent.

“Of course, if you do give me a return gift, I’ll gladly accept it. But if it causes you trouble or wastes your time, then there’s no need.”

Xiao Yu spoke calmly. “I didn’t do it for the sake of trading favors, nor to receive anything from you… Or should I say, I did it to make you happy?”

Before Su Zhen could respond, he placed a hand on his forehead. “That sounds weird and kind of cheesy. Wait, let me rethink the wording.”

Su Zhen couldn’t help but laugh. “No need to rethink it, Senior. I get what you mean. I know you weren’t doing it to get something from me.”

She paused for a moment. “It’s just my habit. Whenever I receive something, I feel the need to return the favor. Otherwise, I can’t feel at ease.”

“I know.”

Xiao Yu didn’t seem surprised at all. “So—”

He stopped mid-sentence.

Su Zhen waited for him to continue.

Xiao Yu seemed ready to speak but then closed his mouth again, repeating this a few times without saying anything.

Su Zhen was confused. “Senior, if you have something to say, feel free to say it.”

“I’m trying to figure out how to say it without bringing up something that might upset you.”

Xiao Yu shook his head. “Then I realized that no matter how I say it, I can’t avoid that.”

Su Zhen suddenly had a vague understanding. “…It’s alright.”

They locked eyes for a moment.

Xiao Yu blinked. “I’m guessing you don’t treat close friends like this—constantly keeping track of every little favor. So, I can only blame myself for not being close enough to you.”

Su Zhen couldn’t deny it.

She inevitably thought of her master and other people she could consider familiar.

Su Zhen: “We’ve only known each other for about a month.”

How close could they be?

Su Zhen: “I’ve never been as—”

Intimate?

That didn’t seem right either.

Su Zhen wasn’t sure how to describe their relationship. She hesitated, trying to find the right words, then looked up to see the man across the table staring at her.

Xiao Yu rested his chin on one hand, his expression full of anticipation, not hiding the excitement in his eyes at all.

Su Zhen: “…Talkative?”

Xiao Yu looked momentarily surprised, then thought for a moment before his face brightened again. “Is that so?”

“Of course. Like the cultivators on Weiyun Peak—some of them have known me for six or seven decades, and we’ve exchanged fewer than a hundred words.”

Su Zhen spoke honestly. “If we’re being serious, I’m closest to my master and have spoken the most with him, but even in the first year I knew him, I only said a few sentences.”

Xiao Yu wasn’t surprised. “That makes sense. You’ve been training at home, so in a way, you were a disciple bringing skills to the master. And you’re smart, so there aren’t too many questions to ask.”

Su Zhen remained silent.

That was true. She did have a few cultivation questions, but not many.

Besides, she always mentally rehearsed her questions before asking her master, trimming them down to the bare essentials—never more than twenty words if possible—just to avoid wasting his time and incurring his displeasure.

After a few years, when Zhou Ziheng joined the sect, Su Zhen realized that her master was patient in teaching and wouldn’t get upset easily, even when disciples were a bit slow or verbose.

Not to mention, when Liu Yunyao later became a disciple, her master seemed to have endless patience.

“Look.”

Xiao Yu sighed. “You’re making that expression again. This time, I really did cause it.”

Su Zhen snapped back to attention. “What expression?”

Xiao Yu seemed to try imitating her, but couldn’t quite capture it. Regretfully, he said, “I don’t know how to describe it. It’s something like three parts sadness, three parts sarcasm, three parts indifference, and one part nonchalance.”

Su Zhen: “?”

Su Zhen: “…Senior, you’re really precise.”