Offering Salted Fish to Master - C14
1- Where Am I?
2- An Excess of Beauties
3- The One Hundred
4- Clueless
5- Meeting The Ancestor
6- Sleep Schedule and Relax
7- Stairs, stairs and more Stairs
8- The red Lotus Fire
9- New Moon
10- Slim Waist
11- Cramped Hammock
12- Gengchen Immortal Mansion
13- The Youduan flowers of the Sun and Moon
14- Two Lumps of Flesh
15- White Deer Cliff
Chapter 14
Two Lumps of Flesh
Liao Tingyan slept until dusk, missing the entire day. Outside, scheming, hatred, and complications were of no concern to her. What truly occupied her mind was that Ancestral Master, Sima Jiao, killed people as easily as cracking peanut shells.
Liao Tingyan felt much more relaxed now that he was no longer in her hammock. As she had said, a good nap had solved all her problems—everything was fine now.
She got up and felt the abundant spiritual energy within her, experiencing a wonderful sense of vitality. The salted fish had soaked in water and swelled slightly. The Three Sacred Mountains now had an ethereal quality. Although many areas had fallen into ruins, they strangely emitted a sense of decayed beauty, likely due to the spiritual mist that cast a hazy veil over everything.
As she regained her senses from those tragic memories, Liao Tingyan suddenly realized her current predicament and felt even worse. At that moment, she was lying in a dark rectangular box.
Eek! Have I been buried?! Couldn’t they have tried to save me even though I wasn’t dead? Which bastard buried me?!” she shouted.
She felt utterly weak, with an aching back, cramping legs, and a heavy, stifling sensation in her chest. She didn’t even have the strength to push open the coffin lid and crawl out.
“Someone help… save me… I’m not dead yet… I was dead… now I’m alive again…”
“Ancestor? Snake? Little Flame? Answer me…”
“I worked hard for the company; I bled for the boss…”
After shouting a stream of nonsensical words inside the coffin, Liao Tingyan finally mustered some strength. She lifted her foot and kicked upward with force, creating a small gap in the coffin lid. Thankfully, the nails hadn’t been hammered in; otherwise, she might have had to stay there permanently.
She reached up to feel the gap and used all her might to push it aside gradually. After much effort, she finally saw daylight… and the Ancestor.
That ink-black, pale-faced ancestor was standing beside the coffin, leaning against it and watching her. He said, “You’re awake,” and casually flicked the coffin lid away with one finger.
Damn it, where were you just now? Is it fun to watch someone struggle with a coffin lid? Liao Tingyan felt an urge to curse at him at that moment. However, recalling the memories she had seen—of the infant being strangled by his mother like a small vegetable—her rage evaporated like water in the sun. Forget it; she didn’t want to curse at him anymore.
Sima Jiao noticed her expression and asked, “Were you thinking of cursing at me?”
Truth buff activated!
Liao Tingyan answered involuntarily, “Yes.”
Sima Jiao’s expression was unreadable, and his eyes looked somewhat deranged. He said, “Let me hear you curse.”
“You stupid bastard! Asshole! Motherfucker! Piss off! Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, FUUUCK!!” Liao Tingyan felt somewhat alive, but her eyes were dead. She sensed that the coffin lid she had struggled to push open might close again, and this time she might truly rest in peace.
However, she could never understand the workings of a disturbed mind. The ancestor she had just cursed suddenly burst into laughter—not the kind of laugh that meant “I’ll kill you after I finish laughing,” but a genuine laugh that said, “This is so damn funny.” He leaned against the coffin, his laughter so hearty that the entire coffin shook.
Liao Tingyan asked silently, Are you okay? Did you go crazy, brother?
As she lay there motionless, Sima Jiao, having finished laughing, raised his hand and lifted her out. The spot where she had been lying was indeed a coffin—an exceptionally ornate one. They still appeared to be in the central tower, though she couldn’t tell which floor. Dragon-shaped candles with strange designs burned brightly around them, with the heavy coffin at the centre. She also saw a carving of Fuxi and Nüwa on the wall ahead.
Sima Jiao carried her out with large strides, the flowing sleeves of his robe creating a wind that made the candles along their path flicker.
Liao Tingyan thought she had only slept for a day, but in reality, she had been lying there for half a month. When she exited the central tower's door, she realized the ruins outside had vanished, leaving only an endless flat terrain. The once maze-like structure had completely disappeared, with only a half-collapsed central tower remaining.
Liao Tingyan muttered, “Wake up from a nap and find the world turned upside down.”
The big black snake was waiting outside. Seeing them emerge, it slithered over with its massive body. Sima Jiao stepped on its tail and climbed onto it. “Let’s go,” he said.
Liao Tingyan asked, “Wait, where are we going? I can’t keep up with your train of thought anymore.”
She didn’t mind being carried by Sima Jiao and turned to look at the central tower and the circle of flickering moonlight phantom flowers below. “Ancestral Master, where are we going?”
Sima Jiao was in a good mood. “Out of here, of course. We’ve stayed here long enough.”
As he carried the limp Liao Tingyan, he added, “What are you afraid of? If I wanted to kill you, you’d die anywhere. If I didn’t want to kill you, even if you died, I would bring you back to life. Oh, by the way, the poison from that flower has been neutralized for you.”
Liao Tingyan exclaimed, “That was a poisonous flower?!”
Sima Jiao replied, “Otherwise, why would you have been lying there for half a month?”
Liao Tingyan didn’t quite believe it — not that she had lain there for so long, but that the flower was poisonous. According to what Sima Jiao had said, evil people grow poisonous flowers, and good people grow spiritual ones. The one she had picked seemed to have come from the bone pearl of Sima Jiao’s mother, who couldn’t be considered an evil person since she hadn’t killed anyone and had been kind to others.
“Was it a poisonous flower? Didn’t you say only evil people grow poisonous flowers?” Liao Tingyan asked, confused.
Sima Jiao snorted with laughter. “I lied to you. How can a person be purely black or white? How can a mere flower determine good and evil?”
Liao Tingyan felt he seemed quite approachable and couldn’t help asking, “Then how does it work?”
Sima Jiao explained, “If someone dies with a calm and joyful heart, the bone pearl forms a spiritual flower. If someone dies with hatred and suffering, it forms a poisonous flower.”
Liao Tingyan thought of Sima E, who had been in that blood-filled pool, completely covered in blood and at death’s door, being consumed by flames. She fell silent. The pain of that death had affected her deeply, leaving her with a headache.
“What’s wrong? From your tone, it sounds like you saw who the flower’s original owner was,” Sima Jiao asked casually.
He didn’t seem to realize that the flower had grown from his mother’s bone pearl. Liao Tingyan pondered for a moment. The patch of flowers where he had been standing was where a girl had once tried to pick flowers and had her head cut off by him. He stood there, oblivious to the fact that she might think he knew his mother’s bone pearl had bloomed there.
Since he didn’t ask, Liao Tingyan decided not to tell him, instead avoiding the subject by saying, “Wasn’t it said that poisonous flowers have no cure?”
“Aren’t there flowers that can cure any poison?” Sima Jiao replied matter-of-factly.
Liao Tingyan thought to herself that it wasn't a conflict of contradictions, but rather a match-three game[1].
When Sima Jiao first saw Liao Tingyan collapse, he crouched beside her, pondering for a moment before deciding to help. He plucked a flower nearby and tested it himself. He wasn’t afraid of these flowers because they didn’t affect the Sima clan. While others couldn’t tell medicine from poison, he had the Sacred Mountain Fire; tasting the flower revealed its nature—bitter ones were spiritual medicines, while sweet ones were poisons. His aim was to find a bitter one and give it to her. He hadn't expected her to sleep for half a month.
During that time, more people had come to the Three Sacred Mountains. Sima Jiao had fought with them, reducing all the buildings to dust and ashes. Not wanting to leave her lying in the open, he placed her in a coffin at the bottom of the central tower, a place where he had slept for several hundred years and stored his belongings.
Although Liao Tingyan didn’t know what Sima Jiao had done, she felt somewhat grateful that he had saved her this time. Wait, why should I feel grateful? Wasn’t he the one who had poisoned her in the first place? Ugh, this jerk!
As she stroked her chest, she realized something was different. Why did her chest seem two sizes larger than before? This heavy feeling was quite fulfilling—no wonder she had felt oppressed while lying down.
She did not speak for a long time, her expression sombre. Sima Jiao’s expression darkened too, showing some irritation. “What are you thinking about?”
Liao Tingyan said, “My chest seems to have suddenly grown larger.” She noticed her legs felt longer, and the skin on her hands appeared more translucent and radiant, as if a beauty filter had been applied.
Sima Jiao asked, “Chest?” This was the first time he looked at her chest.
Liao Tingyan bowed her head, staring at her chest, itching to touch it. But since she was being carried by a man, she felt too shy to reach out. As she held back, she saw Sima Jiao, with an utterly indifferent expression, reach over and very naturally squeeze it.
Liao Tingyan exclaimed, “What the heck!! What is your hand doing? Where are you touching?”
Sima Jiao replied, “It’s just two lumps of flesh. What’s the use of them growing so large?”
Seeing his disdainful and indifferent expression, Liao Tingyan forced a smile. “Please put your hand down before you say that.”
Liao Tingyan possessed a strong survival instinct and was highly sensitive to danger. Whenever she encountered Ancestral Master Sima Jiao, she acted timidly, spoke as little as possible, treated him with the utmost respect, and carefully chose her words. However, at that moment, when this ancestor was weighing her chest as if testing pork at the market, her rational thoughts went completely offline. A surge of boldness overcame her, and she reached down to squeeze Sima Jiao’s buttocks.
Sima Jiao: “…”
In that moment, the saying "You can’t touch a tiger’s rear" flashed through Liao Tingyan's mind as she observed his expression. Gradually, she released her hand, feeling her fading survival instinct returning. Her emotional state shifted from anger to calmness and then to confusion, with a tinge of timidity. She leaned against Sima Jiao’s chest, obediently holding her misbehaving left hand, and turned her gaze to the rolling clouds on the horizon.
I’m looking at the sky. I’m looking at the Earth. I’m looking anywhere but at you.
Liao Tingyan was bracing herself for this ill-tempered ancestor to throw her off the moving snake vehicle, even considering what she should keep in mind before jumping from such a vehicle. She waited for quite a while, but nothing happened. Finally, she stole a sideways glance at Sima Jiao and saw his cold, chilling eyes staring back at her. His gaze was so piercing that it made her head ache. This man was frightening when he was gloomy and irritable, terrifying when he laughed maniacally, and equally daunting when he was expressionless, as he was now.
Liao Tingyan thought, Oh my, why couldn’t I control my hand.
Sima Jiao grasped the hand that had squeezed his buttocks. Her wrist was slender and fair, seeming as though it would shatter with a single twist in his excessively pale hand. His grip was intimate, his large palm enveloping her hand, while his slender fingers leisurely caressed her wrist, applying slight pressure.
Liao Tingyan swore on her newly elongated legs that this ancestor was about to snap her wrist as a warning. In this critical moment, her reactions outpaced her thoughts. Instinctively, she followed his movement, grabbing his hand and firmly pressing it against her chest. “Calm down; please feel free to touch my chest as much as you like.”
She had guessed correctly; Sima Jiao's mood could change instantly. When someone merely brushed his finger, he was inclined to kill them, so how would he respond to being squeezed on the buttocks? At first, he was utterly stunned—while some dared to kill him, none had ever dared to squeeze his buttocks. Once he understood what had happened, his main goal was to teach her a lesson, this only because he did not feel disgusted by her and found her somewhat interesting. The death penalty might be avoided, but punishment was unavoidable.
However, he hadn’t expected her bold move. His hand, ready to apply force, was suddenly pressed against something soft, completely losing the intended pressure.
Liao Tingyan pressed his hand closer, her expression earnest, resembling a persuasive salesperson. "Try it; it feels especially good." After all, who wouldn't appreciate a fragrant, soft, and busty young lady? Men and women alike would be drawn to it. Even cats, those proud creatures, enjoy kneading. Surely, a mere murderous maniac shouldn't pose a problem at all.
Sima Jiao acted purely on impulse. Perhaps it was because his blood relatives were all eccentric; he had inherited their tendency toward irritability and bloodthirst. Whenever he felt displeased, he instinctively sought an outlet, often resorting to violence. If someone made him unhappy, his first instinct was to kill.
However, the person before him was different. She had survived his wrath multiple times, managing to evoke a sense of restraint in him that no one else could. While most would perish at the moment he felt the urge to kill, she somehow consistently quelled his irritation and murderous intent. Just like now, the impulse to crush her wrist had vanished.
With the urge subsided, he regained his composure.
Phew. Liao Tingyan was drenched in cold sweat. Realizing she was still pressing down on the ancestor's cold hand, she hastily began to withdraw. But halfway through, Sima Jiao grabbed her hand.
Now, Liao Tingyan found herself leaning into Sima Jiao’s embrace, one of his arms encircling her, while the other held her hand. The posture was decidedly undignified, resembling a couple displaying their affection in broad daylight. Although Liao Tingyan considered herself merely an accessory to this interaction, others did not.
Liao Tingyan felt much more relaxed now that he was no longer in her hammock. As she had said, a good nap had solved all her problems—everything was fine now.
She got up and felt the abundant spiritual energy within her, experiencing a wonderful sense of vitality. The salted fish had soaked in water and swelled slightly. The Three Sacred Mountains now had an ethereal quality. Although many areas had fallen into ruins, they strangely emitted a sense of decayed beauty, likely due to the spiritual mist that cast a hazy veil over everything.
As she regained her senses from those tragic memories, Liao Tingyan suddenly realized her current predicament and felt even worse. At that moment, she was lying in a dark rectangular box.
Eek! Have I been buried?! Couldn’t they have tried to save me even though I wasn’t dead? Which bastard buried me?!” she shouted.
She felt utterly weak, with an aching back, cramping legs, and a heavy, stifling sensation in her chest. She didn’t even have the strength to push open the coffin lid and crawl out.
“Someone help… save me… I’m not dead yet… I was dead… now I’m alive again…”
“Ancestor? Snake? Little Flame? Answer me…”
“I worked hard for the company; I bled for the boss…”
After shouting a stream of nonsensical words inside the coffin, Liao Tingyan finally mustered some strength. She lifted her foot and kicked upward with force, creating a small gap in the coffin lid. Thankfully, the nails hadn’t been hammered in; otherwise, she might have had to stay there permanently.
She reached up to feel the gap and used all her might to push it aside gradually. After much effort, she finally saw daylight… and the Ancestor.
That ink-black, pale-faced ancestor was standing beside the coffin, leaning against it and watching her. He said, “You’re awake,” and casually flicked the coffin lid away with one finger.
Damn it, where were you just now? Is it fun to watch someone struggle with a coffin lid? Liao Tingyan felt an urge to curse at him at that moment. However, recalling the memories she had seen—of the infant being strangled by his mother like a small vegetable—her rage evaporated like water in the sun. Forget it; she didn’t want to curse at him anymore.
Sima Jiao noticed her expression and asked, “Were you thinking of cursing at me?”
Truth buff activated!
Liao Tingyan answered involuntarily, “Yes.”
Sima Jiao’s expression was unreadable, and his eyes looked somewhat deranged. He said, “Let me hear you curse.”
“You stupid bastard! Asshole! Motherfucker! Piss off! Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, FUUUCK!!” Liao Tingyan felt somewhat alive, but her eyes were dead. She sensed that the coffin lid she had struggled to push open might close again, and this time she might truly rest in peace.
However, she could never understand the workings of a disturbed mind. The ancestor she had just cursed suddenly burst into laughter—not the kind of laugh that meant “I’ll kill you after I finish laughing,” but a genuine laugh that said, “This is so damn funny.” He leaned against the coffin, his laughter so hearty that the entire coffin shook.
Liao Tingyan asked silently, Are you okay? Did you go crazy, brother?
As she lay there motionless, Sima Jiao, having finished laughing, raised his hand and lifted her out. The spot where she had been lying was indeed a coffin—an exceptionally ornate one. They still appeared to be in the central tower, though she couldn’t tell which floor. Dragon-shaped candles with strange designs burned brightly around them, with the heavy coffin at the centre. She also saw a carving of Fuxi and Nüwa on the wall ahead.
Sima Jiao carried her out with large strides, the flowing sleeves of his robe creating a wind that made the candles along their path flicker.
Liao Tingyan thought she had only slept for a day, but in reality, she had been lying there for half a month. When she exited the central tower's door, she realized the ruins outside had vanished, leaving only an endless flat terrain. The once maze-like structure had completely disappeared, with only a half-collapsed central tower remaining.
Liao Tingyan muttered, “Wake up from a nap and find the world turned upside down.”
The big black snake was waiting outside. Seeing them emerge, it slithered over with its massive body. Sima Jiao stepped on its tail and climbed onto it. “Let’s go,” he said.
Liao Tingyan asked, “Wait, where are we going? I can’t keep up with your train of thought anymore.”
She didn’t mind being carried by Sima Jiao and turned to look at the central tower and the circle of flickering moonlight phantom flowers below. “Ancestral Master, where are we going?”
Sima Jiao was in a good mood. “Out of here, of course. We’ve stayed here long enough.”
As he carried the limp Liao Tingyan, he added, “What are you afraid of? If I wanted to kill you, you’d die anywhere. If I didn’t want to kill you, even if you died, I would bring you back to life. Oh, by the way, the poison from that flower has been neutralized for you.”
Liao Tingyan exclaimed, “That was a poisonous flower?!”
Sima Jiao replied, “Otherwise, why would you have been lying there for half a month?”
Liao Tingyan didn’t quite believe it — not that she had lain there for so long, but that the flower was poisonous. According to what Sima Jiao had said, evil people grow poisonous flowers, and good people grow spiritual ones. The one she had picked seemed to have come from the bone pearl of Sima Jiao’s mother, who couldn’t be considered an evil person since she hadn’t killed anyone and had been kind to others.
“Was it a poisonous flower? Didn’t you say only evil people grow poisonous flowers?” Liao Tingyan asked, confused.
Sima Jiao snorted with laughter. “I lied to you. How can a person be purely black or white? How can a mere flower determine good and evil?”
Liao Tingyan felt he seemed quite approachable and couldn’t help asking, “Then how does it work?”
Sima Jiao explained, “If someone dies with a calm and joyful heart, the bone pearl forms a spiritual flower. If someone dies with hatred and suffering, it forms a poisonous flower.”
Liao Tingyan thought of Sima E, who had been in that blood-filled pool, completely covered in blood and at death’s door, being consumed by flames. She fell silent. The pain of that death had affected her deeply, leaving her with a headache.
“What’s wrong? From your tone, it sounds like you saw who the flower’s original owner was,” Sima Jiao asked casually.
He didn’t seem to realize that the flower had grown from his mother’s bone pearl. Liao Tingyan pondered for a moment. The patch of flowers where he had been standing was where a girl had once tried to pick flowers and had her head cut off by him. He stood there, oblivious to the fact that she might think he knew his mother’s bone pearl had bloomed there.
Since he didn’t ask, Liao Tingyan decided not to tell him, instead avoiding the subject by saying, “Wasn’t it said that poisonous flowers have no cure?”
“Aren’t there flowers that can cure any poison?” Sima Jiao replied matter-of-factly.
Liao Tingyan thought to herself that it wasn't a conflict of contradictions, but rather a match-three game[1].
When Sima Jiao first saw Liao Tingyan collapse, he crouched beside her, pondering for a moment before deciding to help. He plucked a flower nearby and tested it himself. He wasn’t afraid of these flowers because they didn’t affect the Sima clan. While others couldn’t tell medicine from poison, he had the Sacred Mountain Fire; tasting the flower revealed its nature—bitter ones were spiritual medicines, while sweet ones were poisons. His aim was to find a bitter one and give it to her. He hadn't expected her to sleep for half a month.
During that time, more people had come to the Three Sacred Mountains. Sima Jiao had fought with them, reducing all the buildings to dust and ashes. Not wanting to leave her lying in the open, he placed her in a coffin at the bottom of the central tower, a place where he had slept for several hundred years and stored his belongings.
Although Liao Tingyan didn’t know what Sima Jiao had done, she felt somewhat grateful that he had saved her this time. Wait, why should I feel grateful? Wasn’t he the one who had poisoned her in the first place? Ugh, this jerk!
As she stroked her chest, she realized something was different. Why did her chest seem two sizes larger than before? This heavy feeling was quite fulfilling—no wonder she had felt oppressed while lying down.
She did not speak for a long time, her expression sombre. Sima Jiao’s expression darkened too, showing some irritation. “What are you thinking about?”
Liao Tingyan said, “My chest seems to have suddenly grown larger.” She noticed her legs felt longer, and the skin on her hands appeared more translucent and radiant, as if a beauty filter had been applied.
Sima Jiao asked, “Chest?” This was the first time he looked at her chest.
Liao Tingyan bowed her head, staring at her chest, itching to touch it. But since she was being carried by a man, she felt too shy to reach out. As she held back, she saw Sima Jiao, with an utterly indifferent expression, reach over and very naturally squeeze it.
Liao Tingyan exclaimed, “What the heck!! What is your hand doing? Where are you touching?”
Sima Jiao replied, “It’s just two lumps of flesh. What’s the use of them growing so large?”
Seeing his disdainful and indifferent expression, Liao Tingyan forced a smile. “Please put your hand down before you say that.”
Liao Tingyan possessed a strong survival instinct and was highly sensitive to danger. Whenever she encountered Ancestral Master Sima Jiao, she acted timidly, spoke as little as possible, treated him with the utmost respect, and carefully chose her words. However, at that moment, when this ancestor was weighing her chest as if testing pork at the market, her rational thoughts went completely offline. A surge of boldness overcame her, and she reached down to squeeze Sima Jiao’s buttocks.
Sima Jiao: “…”
In that moment, the saying "You can’t touch a tiger’s rear" flashed through Liao Tingyan's mind as she observed his expression. Gradually, she released her hand, feeling her fading survival instinct returning. Her emotional state shifted from anger to calmness and then to confusion, with a tinge of timidity. She leaned against Sima Jiao’s chest, obediently holding her misbehaving left hand, and turned her gaze to the rolling clouds on the horizon.
I’m looking at the sky. I’m looking at the Earth. I’m looking anywhere but at you.
Liao Tingyan was bracing herself for this ill-tempered ancestor to throw her off the moving snake vehicle, even considering what she should keep in mind before jumping from such a vehicle. She waited for quite a while, but nothing happened. Finally, she stole a sideways glance at Sima Jiao and saw his cold, chilling eyes staring back at her. His gaze was so piercing that it made her head ache. This man was frightening when he was gloomy and irritable, terrifying when he laughed maniacally, and equally daunting when he was expressionless, as he was now.
Liao Tingyan thought, Oh my, why couldn’t I control my hand.
Sima Jiao grasped the hand that had squeezed his buttocks. Her wrist was slender and fair, seeming as though it would shatter with a single twist in his excessively pale hand. His grip was intimate, his large palm enveloping her hand, while his slender fingers leisurely caressed her wrist, applying slight pressure.
Liao Tingyan swore on her newly elongated legs that this ancestor was about to snap her wrist as a warning. In this critical moment, her reactions outpaced her thoughts. Instinctively, she followed his movement, grabbing his hand and firmly pressing it against her chest. “Calm down; please feel free to touch my chest as much as you like.”
She had guessed correctly; Sima Jiao's mood could change instantly. When someone merely brushed his finger, he was inclined to kill them, so how would he respond to being squeezed on the buttocks? At first, he was utterly stunned—while some dared to kill him, none had ever dared to squeeze his buttocks. Once he understood what had happened, his main goal was to teach her a lesson, this only because he did not feel disgusted by her and found her somewhat interesting. The death penalty might be avoided, but punishment was unavoidable.
However, he hadn’t expected her bold move. His hand, ready to apply force, was suddenly pressed against something soft, completely losing the intended pressure.
Liao Tingyan pressed his hand closer, her expression earnest, resembling a persuasive salesperson. "Try it; it feels especially good." After all, who wouldn't appreciate a fragrant, soft, and busty young lady? Men and women alike would be drawn to it. Even cats, those proud creatures, enjoy kneading. Surely, a mere murderous maniac shouldn't pose a problem at all.
Sima Jiao acted purely on impulse. Perhaps it was because his blood relatives were all eccentric; he had inherited their tendency toward irritability and bloodthirst. Whenever he felt displeased, he instinctively sought an outlet, often resorting to violence. If someone made him unhappy, his first instinct was to kill.
However, the person before him was different. She had survived his wrath multiple times, managing to evoke a sense of restraint in him that no one else could. While most would perish at the moment he felt the urge to kill, she somehow consistently quelled his irritation and murderous intent. Just like now, the impulse to crush her wrist had vanished.
With the urge subsided, he regained his composure.
Phew. Liao Tingyan was drenched in cold sweat. Realizing she was still pressing down on the ancestor's cold hand, she hastily began to withdraw. But halfway through, Sima Jiao grabbed her hand.
Now, Liao Tingyan found herself leaning into Sima Jiao’s embrace, one of his arms encircling her, while the other held her hand. The posture was decidedly undignified, resembling a couple displaying their affection in broad daylight. Although Liao Tingyan considered herself merely an accessory to this interaction, others did not.
[1] Match-3 games are a popular type of puzzle video game where players manipulate items on a grid to make them disappear by lining up three or more identical ones. The goal is to clear the board by swapping adjacent items, which then fall into new places to create more matches.
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