A man as gentle as jade looked dotingly at a handsome young man, saying, "The reason I'm like this is all to wait for you."
What a romantic thing that was.
After all, in her previous life before the apocalypse, when she had free time, she also loved danmei novels.
"Mimi, are you alright?"
Zheng Wei was startled by Shen Xiaoyan's coughing and didn't care what Yi Zhixie was saying. He immediately squatted beside Shen Xiaoyan, asking her with concern how she was.
"I'm fine..." Shen Xiaoyan waved her hand, suppressing her cough.
She had indeed gone a bit overboard with Dan Ying. She couldn't let these people have such thoughts. Even if they wouldn't understand much, it was better to be cautious.
"I'm really fine, I just accidentally choked on some saliva," Shen Xiaoyan whispered to Zheng Wei.
"It's good that you're fine, just be careful."
Seeing the flush on Shen Xiaoyan's face gradually fading after coughing, Zheng Wei's heart finally relaxed.
"Tell me, what exactly is going on?" Zheng Wei said with some displeasure.
"You still haven't answered me, do you want to be my disciple?" Yi Zhixie looked at Zheng Wei with bewildered, seeking eyes.
"The answer is no, don't look."
Yi Zhixie froze for a second, then slapped the table. Upon receiving resentful looks from everyone at the table, he changed to patting his own chest.
He looked like a complete resentment maniac.
"Why? Why don't you want to? Are you thinking I'm not good enough? Or do you think I'm too young and don't meet your standards for a master?"
After saying this, Yi Zhixie's eyes lit up, "I know, it must be for this reason. Oh, if you had said so earlier, it would have been fine. For a disciple like you, what's the harm in sacrificing this face?"
Na Muzhong, who was anxiously hopping on the side, was about to stand up and cover Yi Zhixie's mouth upon hearing his words.
Unfortunately, her action was still a step too late.
Just as her hand reached Yi Zhixie's face, she saw his lips move a few times. However, the sound was too faint to make out what was said.
Originally, this would have been the end of it, and Shen Xiaoyan and the others wouldn't have thought much of not hearing a sentence.
But what happened the next second shocked them all.
Yi Zhixie's smooth skin instantly wrinkled like a dried loofah, with one fold after another.
His once dark and shiny eyes became dim and listless, with the corners drooping downwards, which was an unsettling sight.
If one day, you could witness a handsome man in front of you transform into an aged elder in mere seconds, you might understand how Shen Xiaoyan and the others felt.
Especially since this was intentional, not normal aging, nor caused by external factors.
The feeling could only be described as "WTF."
Shen Xiaoyan and the others were stunned, not knowing what to say. Yi Zhixie, however, was ecstatic.
"How is it? How is it? Zheng Wei, is this suitable for your criteria for a master? I look like a model of virtue, don't I?"
Yi Zhixie stood up, touching the layers of wrinkles on his face, his tone filled with excitement.
Shen Xiaoyan then realized that although Yi Zhixie's face had become extremely aged, everything else—his neck, hair, hands, and even his voice—had not changed at all.
This meant that Yi Zhixie now resembled a young man wearing an old man's mask.
All that talk about prestige and being a role model was nonsense.
Yi Zhixie now only gave off a comical impression.
For a very long time to come, this incident would be something Yi Zhixie least wanted to recall. According to him, it was an indelible stain on his life.
For Shen Xiaoyan and the others, it was a source of amusement for a lifetime.
But that's another story, not to be discussed for now.
At this moment, seeing everyone stunned, Yi Zhixie assumed they were all awestruck by his appearance.
Thus, he laughed with immense pride and arrogance.
His crisp laughter, coupled with his face that bloomed like a chrysanthemum with every smile, was truly infinitely humorous.
Finally, seeing this scene, Shen Xiaoyan couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Following Shen Xiaoyan's laughter, Lu Taobao, Sima Han, and the others also erupted in laughter.
Yue Qingxin was so amused that even while trying to hold back her laughter, she said, "Why did we used to call him Grand Tutor? I truly respected him before, but now I feel like I've been fooled by him all along. I'm like..."
"Like what?" Shen Xiaoyan cooperated.
"A joke, what else?"
After Yue Qingxin said this, she couldn't hold back anymore and buried her head on the table, laughing heartily.
Seeing Yue Qingxin's head buried on the table, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably, if not for hearing her laughter, everyone would have thought she was in pain.
"What are you laughing at..." Yi Zhixie looked at everyone innocently. What was so funny about this?
Na Muzhong helplessly covered her forehead. As expected, the scene she least wanted to see had happened.
Although she didn't want to laugh, she couldn't help it; Yi Zhixie was just too amusing.
"Were you sent by a monkey?" Shen Xiaoyan asked, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, her voice trembling.
"Sent by a monkey? Which monkey has the ability to command me?"
As Yi Zhixie said this, he exuded an aura of confusion, as if he thought Shen Xiaoyan's question was foolish.
But he didn't know that Zheng Wei, who understood the meaning of Shen Xiaoyan's question, was now laughing so hard he almost lost his teeth.
When Huofen and the Qu and Zhu families carried their trays to the door, they heard the laughter. Upon entering, they saw Shen Xiaoyan and the others laughing hysterically and didn't understand what had happened.
Since Yi Zhixie was sitting with his back to the door, Huofen didn't look up when serving food, so she naturally couldn't see Yi Zhixie's face.
She just thought it was strange why Yi Zhixie was standing there.
Until she finished serving the food and began to ladle porridge for everyone.
When she placed the porridge in front of Yi Zhixie, she instinctively looked up at him and said, "If Lord, please sit down and have your..."
Before she could finish the word "meal," Huofen's face turned to stone, and the unfinished words got stuck in her throat, unable to be spoken.
"Huofen, you may go. Don't say anything unnecessary. This is Lord Ruo making us laugh, deliberately dressing up like this," Shen Xiaoyan quickly said.
She didn't want to scare the little girl, or have her go out and spread rumors.
"Understood. It's just that, Lord Ruo's disguise is quite convincing, except for..."
"Except for what?" Yi Zhixie heard Huofen say his disguise was convincing and felt happy; at least someone recognized his skill.
However, he was also curious about what Huofen hadn't finished saying, so he pressed for more.
"If the hair, neck, hands, and voice could also change, it would be even more convincing," Huofen said sincerely.
Although these words from a servant were somewhat presumptuous, Shen Xiaoyan and the others were usually not too concerned about such things.
As long as it wasn't disrespectful or a major mistake, a harmless remark or two could be tolerated.
"Alright, Lord Ruo understands, and he will certainly accept your suggestion humbly. You may go and eat now," Shen Xiaoyan said with a smile to Huofen, glancing at Yi Zhixie, who was frozen on the spot.
Initially, after Huofen spoke and saw Yi Zhixie's lack of reaction, she thought he was angry.
Feeling uneasy, she relaxed upon hearing Shen Xiaoyan's words, bowed, and quickly withdrew.
"Could it be that only my face has changed?" Yi Zhixie finally said after a long while.
"Don't you know?" Shen Xiaoyan acted even more surprised, as she thought this was intentional on Yi Zhixie's part.
"I didn't know, I thought the whole person..."
Yi Zhixie felt like he was going crazy, no, he was already crazy.
"Muzhong, why didn't you stop me?"
After a long period of stunned silence, Yi Zhixie finally turned his head and looked at Na Muzhong with heartbreak, demanding why she hadn't told him about this.
Na Muzhong, however, felt quite innocent.
"I wanted to stop you, but your actions were too fast..."