bookbashuk Chapter 1356 Ying's Strange Behavior
Chapter 1356 Ying's Strange Behavior
Just as Shao Yun was about to turn around and find Ineff to inquire about winter's arrival, his wrist was suddenly grabbed by Kong.
Kong gestured towards the study, his eyes clearly indicating that he wanted his brother-in-law to tell Ying about it.
"Shouldn't we tell my sister?" Kong said cautiously. "And also see what she's been working on in the study all afternoon."
Shao Yun followed his gaze to the door of the study, where the words "No Trespassing" were displayed.
He raised an eyebrow, a mischievous expression on his face, deliberately teasing his brother-in-law, and said, "Why don't you, as the older brother, go and tell him yourself?"
Mentioning this made Kong's expression uneasy. He seemed to recall some painful experience, his lips twitched, and he said as if he had a toothache:
“I’m afraid of getting beaten up… My younger sister hits people really hard when she gets angry. Do you remember the last time we were in Aru Village in Sumeru? She slapped me across the face and pulled my hair. It really hurt for days.”
As he spoke, he solemnly raised his hand and touched his cheek, as if the invisible handprint was still there, looking both aggrieved and amused.
Seeing her brother-in-law's terrified expression after being beaten by his sister, Shao Yun suppressed a laugh, patted him on the shoulder with a serious expression, and said with great "sympathy":
"You've really had a hard time, brother-in-law. You have to suffer this kind of injustice as an older brother."
Joking aside, Shao Yun knew he really should tell Ying about this.
He rubbed his neck, bracing himself for a glare from Ying or even a beating, and nodded, saying, "Alright, I'll go talk to her. She should also see Falgar's letter, since it mentions her and Paimon."
After saying that, Shao Yun held the letter in his hand, walked to the door of the study, and gently knocked on the door.
Before Ying could respond from inside, he took advantage of being her husband, shamelessly pushed open the door, poked his head in, and called out.
"Wife?"
……
The light in the study was soft; the midday sun shone through the window, casting warm shadows on the floor.
Ying was sitting behind a large desk, holding a pen in her hand, with a thick stack of used draft paper piled in front of her.
The handwriting on the paper was crooked and messy, with many strange symbols and lines drawn on it. The layers of scribbles were intertwined, making it difficult for anyone to decipher what she was writing.
With a soft creak, the door hinges clicked open, and Shao Yun's voice suddenly came in.
Ying was so startled that her pen fell to the table with a "clatter," and her usually composed face turned pale instantly.
Almost instinctively, she raised her arm and swept it hard across the table.
With a clatter, she swept all the scraps of paper and half-finished drafts piled on the table onto the floor.
After doing all this, Ying hurriedly squatted down and frantically stuffed the scattered papers under the desk, wishing she could dig a hole and hide them all inside.
When she stood up again, her cheeks were incredibly hot, as red as apples.
She looked at Shao Yun, who stood bewildered at the door, and frowned, trying to appear calm, but her face betrayed her guilty displeasure. She complained, "Hey! Honey, why didn't you knock before coming in? Is something wrong?"
Shao Yun watched her flustered movements and saw her face so red it looked like it was about to bleed, feeling utterly bewildered.
He walked into the house, his gaze sweeping over the "trash" on the floor that Ying hadn't cleaned up, before returning to Ying's face.
"What are you doing? You've made a complete mess of this study..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shao Yun's eyes suddenly darted around, as if he had thought of something, and a mischievous glint flashed in his eyes.
He deliberately licked his lips and teased, "You're not secretly 'entertaining yourself,' are you? When did you get this addiction, honey?"
He took two steps forward, raised an eyebrow, stared at Lina's house which was flushed red, and deliberately lowered his voice to tease her:
"Could it be that just because I didn't play 'land boat' with you a few nights ago, you took matters into your own hands?"
At this point, Shao Yun mischievously raised his chin, as if enjoying the drama, and said:
"If you want to play, let's go upstairs now. You can wash yourself clean, and Paimon will be fast asleep, so no one will disturb us. Don't cry and scream in pain later."
Hearing Shao Yun's nonsensical teasing, Ying's earlier panic vanished instantly, replaced by a deep sense of shame and indignation!
Her cheeks were already burning hot, but now they were so red they looked like they were about to bleed, and her breathing became rapid.
She jumped up from the floor behind the table, spat at Shao Yun several times, and angrily defended herself:
"Pah! What kind of nonsense are you thinking? What is all that rubbish? I... I was just trying to read a novel! Just killing time..."
But as she said this, she didn't dare to look Shao Yun in the eye, and instead glanced away in a flustered manner.
Shao Yun wasn't really bothered by what she was doing; as long as she was alright, that was all that mattered.
But seeing her embarrassed appearance, he didn't stop teasing her.
"Reading a novel can make your face turn as red as a ripe apple? I bet you're not reading anything serious."
Ying was speechless after being rebuked by him; she was truly like a mute eating bitter melon, unable to express her suffering.
She decided to give up and stop explaining.
Anyway, she and Shao Yun were practically an old married couple, so it wasn't a big deal for him to make a few dirty jokes from her now and then...
Thinking of this, Ying secretly swallowed, forcibly suppressing the embarrassment in her heart, and pretended to be serious to change the subject.
"Let's not talk about this nonsense... Honey, what's the matter that you suddenly barged in like this?"
When Shao Yun saw that she was asking about serious matters, he put away his joking thoughts, handed her the letter in his hand, and said, "It's a letter from Falga, take a look."
Ying reached out and took the letter. Upon hearing the name "Falga," she paused for a moment, then muttered to herself:
“Falgar? Oh, I’ve heard Grand Master Jean mention him. He’s the Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius… Why would he suddenly send us a letter?”
She muttered to herself as she read intently.
While Ying was reading the letter, Shao Yun crossed his arms and added in a sarcastic tone.
"What else could it be? They're just telling us that Nordkal is doomed, and the whole of Teyvat is in grave danger. They hope we'll step in and be the guinea pigs to save the world once again."
Upon hearing Shao Yun's words, Ying's hand holding the letter trembled violently, and the edges of the letter became wrinkled from being squeezed.
A look of tension crept onto her face. She quickly glanced at the contents of the letter about the Wild Hunt disaster, then immediately looked away from the letter and stared directly at Shao Yun's face.
"So, Teyvat is really in trouble?"
Seeing that she had actually been fooled by the contents of the letter and believed the nonsense that "we can't do without them," Shao Yun couldn't help but gently tap her head and complained irritably:
"You actually believe that? I suspect he's exaggerating. Over the years, we've traveled to so many places and experienced so much, haven't you noticed?"
“Even without us, those people could have solved the problem themselves.”
As he spoke, Shao Yun simply pulled up a chair and sat down, then began to recount his experiences of being taken advantage of over the past three or four years in detail, counting on his fingers as if they were his own treasures.
“Take Mondstadt for example, that lazy, drunken human trafficker ‘Barbatos,’ he has plenty of ways to wake up the insane Dvalin, there’s no need for us to meddle.”
"Look at Liyue. When Zhongli faked his death, a group of people were outwitting each other while fighting against thin air. In the end, didn't they successfully complete the handover of governance between humans and immortals? Liyue is just as peaceful without us."
"Not to mention Inazuma, if it weren't for those two bastards Morax and Barbatos!"
“That cunning fox ‘Yae no Miko’ has been strategizing from beginning to end, and with Ayaka Kamisato and Sangokami as backup, even if we didn’t go, Inazuma wouldn’t have been in such a mess, much less turned out like this!”
"If we don't go to Sumeru, Elhesen's most powerful brain in Sumeru can easily make a fool of that gravity-defying 'Hazar'."
"To be honest, in the end, it was actually easier for us not to go, and we avoided causing trouble."
"Fontaine is even more outrageous. It was Fukaros's brilliant plan to save the world by smashing the throne. We went there purely for a vacation, and it has been proven that the Teyvats would be better off without us."
"As for Nata, Mavica and so many Nata heroes are inherently full of martial virtue, have a meticulous plan to fight against the Abyss, and even have the Death Ruler as a safety net, making them safer than other countries."
Finally, Shao Yun shrugged as if summarizing, and concluded with a firm tone.
"So no matter how dangerous Nordkare is, they can find a way to solve it themselves. If we go there, we will not only cause trouble, but we will most likely be used as pawns."
"Instead of wasting time on unnecessary fuss, it would be more comfortable to bask in the sun in the yard and play with my daughter for a while."
After listening to Shao Yun's long and well-organized explanation, Ying raised her hand to her forehead, gently pressing her fingertips against her brow, and muttered uncertainly:
"But...maybe it's for real this time? I just glanced at the contents of the letter, and Falga wrote very earnestly, it doesn't seem like he's lying..."
After all, the letter mentioned a "crisis sweeping across the entire Teyvat," which concerns the safety of everyone.
Looking at Ying's expression of preferring to believe it rather than not, Shao Yun could understand her desire to prepare for the future.
After all, she was originally a "warm-hearted" girl, and she wouldn't have stood up for herself at that time if Barbatos hadn't broken off relations with her.
But past experiences have long told Shao Yun that without them, the people of Teyvat can still support themselves. The so-called "crisis" is mostly just an excuse to force them to take action in exchange for an easier situation.
If you want to take a shortcut, then you have to bear the risks of taking a shortcut. If you succeed, all the best; if you fail, don't complain. You chose this path, so you have to finish it even if you have tears in your eyes.