Villainous Junior Chapter 26
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 26: Eating Eggs
Xue Lang seemed to still be immersed in his previous thoughts, his mind wandering as Meng Chen led him along. Meng Chen glanced at him and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
Xue Lang snapped out of his reverie and instinctively answered, "I was thinking about how fierce you were just now."
This was the first time he had seen Meng Chen reprimand someone so mercilessly. That icy, majestic demeanor and aura had caused Xue Lang to watch nervously from the sidelines, his heart trembling slightly. No wonder those few disciples had been so frightened, turning into quails.
Meng Chen turned to look at him. "Was I?"
The coldness on the young man's face had now disappeared, replaced by a sincere innocence. Those beautiful eyes blinked slowly, filled with a hint of confusion and bewilderment, making Xue Lang involuntarily liken him to a small animal that had emerged from the deep forest, aimlessly searching for a way out.
Was this really the same Meng Chen?!
Xue Lang's heart was pounding as he looked at him, suddenly realizing that Meng Chen had always been aloof towards others, but only in front of him would he show unusual patience, gentleness, and a lively, vivid side.
This realization made his chest feel warm, and his throat a little itchy. It was then that he slowly noticed Meng Chen was still holding his right hand.
That hand was fair and slender, the temperature between their fingers slightly cool, loosely encompassing his fingers, the skin of their hands pressed together. Staring at their intertwined fingers, he momentarily forgot everything else, his mind going blank.
Meng Chen followed Xue Lang's fixed gaze and also realized he was still holding his hand, so he gently released his fingers.
Xue Lang unconsciously reached out to catch the cooling sensation as it left, pausing briefly in the air, then casually wiped the palm of his hand on his lapel.
He asked, "Where are we going next?"
Meng Chen thought for a moment, and to Xue Lang's surprise, a hint of mystery and excitement appeared on his face. "Follow me."
Xue Lang followed him, expecting to go on some adventure or treasure hunt, but Meng Chen led him on a winding path until they reached a small, grassy hillside. Scattered across the slope were delicate pink and yellow wildflowers, and at the hilltop stood an ancient banyan tree, its broad, deep green canopy providing dense shade.
Xue Lang looked around, seeing that this place was tranquil and peaceful, without any colored markers indicating a secret realm checkpoint. He saw Meng Chen had already climbed up the hillside to the base of the large banyan tree, gently bending down and carefully searching for something.
Xue Lang followed him, thinking there might be a hidden mechanism on the tree, and mimicked Meng Chen's posture, staring at the tree trunk for a while, but found nothing. Puzzled, he asked, "What are you looking for?"
"Looking for..." Meng Chen's gaze focused, a hint of delight appearing on his face as he lightly tapped a spot on the tree bark, saying, "Found it."
Xue Lang immediately looked, and saw a faint mark on the bark. Before he could ask, Meng Chen explained, "This mark was left by me the last time I entered the secret realm."
Xue Lang was taken aback. "The last time?"
The Taixuan Secret Realm only opened once every ten years, so the last time Meng Chen came, he was…
"Thirteen years old," Meng Chen said with a slight smile, gently tapping the mark. "I was this tall back then."
Xue Lang understood, immediately going to look at the mark, realizing it barely reached his waist.
So the Meng Chen from thirteen years ago was just that small?
Meng Chen's gaze grew distant. When he first joined the Taixuan Sect at thirteen, he had cultivated to the Qi Condensation stage just in time for the secret realm to open. Back then, he often felt lonely, as Senior Brother Pei Yuzhe was unapproachable, and Immortal Lord Zhongli Jing's whereabouts were uncertain. Tianji Peak and the other peaks were far apart, and he rarely had a chance to get to know the other disciples. During the secret realm opening, everyone went in groups of three or five, but he was alone, with only a sword by his side.
"When I carved this mark, I was thinking, what will I become in ten years? How much taller and stronger will I be?" Meng Chen looked at the mark, reminiscing about the childish, yet hopeful mindset he had back then. "Most importantly, in ten years, will I have someone by my side to explore the secret realm with me?"
He turned to look at Xue Lang, his eyes filled with a clear smile. "Now I know the answer."
Xue Lang stared at him, picturing a thin, small figure carefully carving the mark, full of anticipation, and felt a strange tightness in his eyes as he said, "Not just now."
Meng Chen: "What?"
"Not just now," Xue Lang repeated. "In ten years, I'll still be by your side."
Meng Chen's fingertips trembled slightly as he looked at the young man's unusually earnest expression, a surge of indescribable emotion welling up in his heart. But before he could ponder it further, a loud boom echoed from the distance, followed by the frantic shouts of many people rapidly approaching.
Meng Chen and Xue Lang turned in unison to see a group of people running towards them in disarray, each clutching their heads and bottoms as they fled. Trailing behind them in the sky was a massive, furious hawk, its wings spanning over a dozen meters. With each flap, it whipped up small whirlwinds, blowing the fleeing people off balance, and it occasionally opened its beak to spit out fireballs that crashed into the ground, leaving deep craters.
Xue Lang's sharp eyes identified some of the fleeing group as his fellow disciples, along with some unfamiliar faces that must be disciples from other peaks. The people noticed the two on the hillside, but in their desperate escape, they only frantically waved and shouted, "Brothers, run!!"
The hawk's attacking power was extremely strong, equivalent to a Nascent Soul cultivator. All of them together would be no match, so they had no choice but to run for their lives, trying to shake off the pursuing hawk.
Seeing the two innocent fellow disciples ahead were about to be dragged into this, the fleeing group shouted a warning. But to their surprise, the two on the hill remained motionless, and the one in black even drew his sword, leaping forward to meet the threat.
Damn !
Which brother is so stubborn as to go head-to-head with that Nascent Soul level bird?!
They were panicked, desperately trying to make the others retreat, when suddenly a frigid aura descended, and a fierce sword qi whistled down from above, striking the giant hawk. The hawk was blasted back over a dozen meters, tumbling and screeching in the air, shedding a rain of feathers.
The fleeing crowd all screeched to a halt, staring dumbfoundedly at the injured hawk flapping its wings and fleeing.
Only then did they finally see who had struck the blow.
"Senior Brother Meng!"
Liu Xuanxuan exclaimed joyfully, gripping Wan Qiu's hand and shaking it vigorously. "It was Senior Brother Meng!"
Wan Qiu, also greatly relieved to have escaped the peril, was somewhat surprised as well. She had seen Meng Chen once before, remembering him in the sect's azure uniform, shining like the moon, pure as snow. But now he was dressed in black, and she had almost failed to recognize him.
Liu Xuanxuan was also seeing Meng Chen in black for the first time, and while surprised, she thought, "As expected of our handsome Senior Brother Meng, he can pull off any color and still look so good!"
Xiao Guan also breathed a sigh of relief, smoothing his singed hair ends and smiling as he approached Meng Chen. "It's a good thing we ran into you, or who knows how long we would have had to keep running."
Zhao Jingchen cupped his hands and gratefully said to Meng Chen, "Thank you for your help, Senior Brother Meng!"
Looking around, there were quite a few people gathered here - Xiao Guan and Zhao Jingchen, along with disciples from the Wuzhao and Yuhua Peaks they led, several junior sisters from Cuixia Peak, and some new disciples this year, totaling around twenty to thirty people.
Meng Chen sheathed his sword. "Were you all exploring the Chaotic Bird Valley?"
"Yes," Xiao Guan said. "We thought our Golden Core realm would be enough, but unexpectedly a Nascent Soul level bird showed up and almost burned us to death with its fire. What a blunder."
"Although the Chaotic Bird Valley is perilous, there are also many treasures," Meng Chen comforted. "Judging by how fiercely that giant hawk pursued you, it seems you must have taken something valuable?"
At this, the group chuckled mischievously, and Xiao Guan shook his storage ring, extracting a giant egg nearly as tall as a person.
Meng Chen: "...?"
"The giant hawk's egg!" Xiao Guan proudly patted the egg. "I heard they're supposed to be delicious!!"
Zhao Jingchen standing nearby vigorously nodded in agreement.
Meng Chen paused, then asked with some difficulty, "So you braved the Chaotic Bird Valley just for this egg?"
"We originally went for the treasures," Liu Xuanxuan explained. "But then we happened to see a giant hawk's egg in its nest, and Brother Xiao said the eggs of fierce beasts are really delicious, so we changed our target to the egg."
Meng Chen: "......"
The Taixuan disciples indeed had strong personalities.
"We ran so much we're exhausted. Since it's peaceful here, let's all come have some egg!" Xiao Guan enthusiastically invited, slapping Meng Chen's shoulder and leading the disciples up the hillside. "Oh, Xue Lang is here too! You two are always together, inseparable!"
Xue Lang greeted the others, and he and Meng Chen were in no hurry, so they sat down with the group under the banyan tree. The junior disciples went about setting up a simple spit stand to roast the bird's egg, igniting a few flame talismans to start the fire.
The flame talismans were ferocious, quickly filling the air with the tantalizing aroma of the roasting egg. Xiao Guan drew his sword, skillfully slicing the egg into even pieces as the eager disciples watched, then nodded in self-praise, "Nice sword technique!"
Meng Chen: "......"
Ah, so the Taixuan Sect's sword arts were used for cracking eggs.
"Here, the first piece is for you!" Xiao Guan handed the steaming, fragrant egg slice to Meng Chen. "If we hadn't run into you, we might not have gotten to eat this meal!"
Meng Chen was somewhat amused and touched. "Thank you."
The other disciples eagerly divided up the remaining egg, eating happily and laughing as they mocked each other's earlier panicked flight. Xiao Guan sat next to Meng Chen, taking a bite of the soft, custard-like yolk, then looked at Meng Chen and sighed, "I suddenly feel like you've become more approachable."
Meng Chen swallowed a mouthful of egg, looking at him questioningly.
"Don't get mad, I'm being honest," Xiao Guan chuckled. "Before, although I greatly admired you, I felt you weren't very... down-to-earth. Whenever we'd run into each other, you'd just nod, and if I tried to befriend you, your cold demeanor would scare me off."
Meng Chen reflected on this. It was true that when he first joined the sect, he had been solely focused on cultivating at Tianji Peak, with little opportunity to interact with disciples from other peaks. Later, as he grew closer to Pei Yuzhe and Yin Chi, he became even more distant from the other disciples. Occasionally when he met a compatible fellow, Yin Chi would cling to him, complaining of being neglected, and Meng Chen, indulging Yin Chi, would inadvertently distance himself from those potential friends.
Thinking about it now, he realized how silly that was.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to."
"Ah, I didn't mean to blame you!" Xiao Guan quickly waved his hand and said with a smile, "It's just that I never imagined I'd be sitting side by side with you, drinking.... cough, holding eggs and having fun, I feel quite happy in my heart."
Meng Chen heard his altered words and couldn't help but chuckle lightly.
Xue Lang sat on the other side of Meng Chen, watching the cheerful young people converse. Although he felt a little neglected, he was mostly just happy.
That person should go out and meet interesting people, experience interesting things, and feel sincere emotions, so that they could become more carefree and happy than before.
As long as he was happy.
Liu Xuanxuan and Wan Qiu had been busy for a while, and they brought a clean handkerchief over. "Senior Brother Meng, these are crisp jujubes we picked up on the way and washed clean. Please have a taste!"
The jujubes were round, fresh red, plump and well-formed, lying obediently on the plain handkerchief, looking especially delicious. Xiao Guan teased, "You little rascal, giving them only to Senior Brother Meng? Don't you see your Senior Brother Xiao is here too?"
Liu Xuanxuan wasn't afraid of him. "You eat yours. That big mouth of yours can't be filled even by an egg!"
Meng Chen looked at the girl's clear and kind eyes, took the handkerchief with both hands, and said softly, "Thank you, junior sisters. And the sewing kit you lent me last time."
"Oh, it's nothing!" Liu Xuanxuan quickly waved her hand and said with a smile, "It's my honor to be able to help Senior Brother!"
The two young ladies hurried back, and Xiao Guan directly took a jujube from the handkerchief and stuffed it into his mouth, mumbling indistinctly, "We're brothers who have been through hard times together, so we should share the good things too!"
Meng Chen let him eat, and he also took a red jujube to taste. It was indeed very sweet.
He picked up another one and glanced to the side, only to see Xue Lang cupping the eggshell with both hands, nibbling the egg white while staring at him with puppy-like eyes - lonely, aggrieved, and pitiful.
Meng Chen's heart softened at that gaze, and he directly fed the jujube in his hand to Xue Lang's lips.
Xue Lang seemed to have no reaction at first, his gaze slowly moving down to the jujube, then slowly back up to Meng Chen's face.
"Open your mouth," Meng Chen said gently, "It's very sweet, give it a try."
Xue Lang's gaze shifted back to the pale fingers by his lips, his handsome face flushing slightly, and he silently opened his mouth to eat the jujube.
"Is it sweet?"
Xue Lang didn't quite dare to look at him, averting his gaze as he softly answered, "Sweet."
Meng Chen chuckled and, seeing the young man was holding the eggshell with both hands, naturally took another jujube and fed it to him again.
Xiao Guan watched from the side, and for some reason, the jujube in his hand didn't taste sweet anymore, and the egg wasn't fragrant either.
Could it be that without the earth-shattering brotherly love that Meng Chen had, even eating had become tasteless for him!?
Thinking of this, he picked up a red jujube and without further ado, stuffed it into the mouth of the sitting Zhao Jingchen next to him. "Here, Junior Brother Zhao, let Senior Brother feed you a jujube!"
The suddenly jujube-filled Zhao Jingchen: "...?"
