Chapter 53: A Difficult Choice

Yang Rui pulled his head in and shrank into the corner of the sofa, repeatedly begging for mercy. The blows landing on his body felt like nothing more than a gentle tickle, but he had to play the part convincingly.

Seeing that she had no intention of stopping, Yang Rui reached out to grab her wrist to make her stop. To his surprise, using a bit too much force, Yan Lan lost her balance and let out a startled cry as she fell right into his arms!

In a fraction of a second, Yang Rui instinctively changed his grip from a block to an embrace, wrapping his arms around her waist to steady them both. Yan Lan also instinctively hooked her arms around his neck.

A wave of warmth, carrying a faint and delicate fragrance, instantly enveloped Yang Rui. Immediately following that, a soft and full-figured body tumbled solidly into his embrace. In the heated room, Yan Lan was only wearing a thin jacket, and her prominent breasts pressed tightly against Yang Rui's chest right through the fabric! The two of them froze instantly, forgetting to separate. Yang Rui even tightened his arms involuntarily.

Clearly sensing this as well, Yan Lan let out a soft moan from the back of her throat, a shimmering moisture in her beautiful eyes—whether from anger or shyness, it was exceptionally alluring. Her already flushed cheeks turned even redder, almost dripping with blood. Yang Rui stared, dumbstruck once again.

"You little brat... haven't you hugged enough?" Yan Lan's voice was as soft as a mosquito's, tinged with feigned anger.

Awakening as if from a dream, Yang Rui hurriedly released his grip. Yan Lan immediately stood up straight, cast a fierce glare at him, and lowered her head to tidy her slightly disheveled collar and hair.

"Sister Lan, I really didn't mean to! I..." Yang Rui stammered incoherently.

"Little troublemaker!" Seeing his flustered and helpless look, Yan Lan couldn't help but chuckle and scold him.

"Sister Lan, you're not mad anymore, are you?" Seeing that she wasn't truly angry, Yang Rui breathed a sigh of relief and tried to placate her carefully.

"As if I wouldn't be mad!" Yan Lan gave him a sideways glance. "Tell me! Were you having improper thoughts just now?"

"I wasn't..." Yang Rui quickly sat with his legs together, feeling awkward enough to crawl into a crack in the ground.

"Pfft!" Yan Lan was amused by his awkwardness. "You really get more mischievous the older you get! How come I never saw through you before?"

Sitting on pins and needles, Yang Rui just wanted to escape this ambiguous vortex immediately. "Sister Lan... I'll head back first!" he muttered softly.

"Xiaoyang," Yan Lan called out to him, her voice dropping lower, "that question from just now... was it really that important? Do I... really have to answer?"

This question instantly reined in Yang Rui's wandering reason. He nodded heavily, his expression turning incomparably solemn: "Extremely important! It's a matter of life and death! You must answer!"

Yan Lan's face paled, and then she said plaintively, "Then you're still in such a rush to leave... Don't you want to know the answer? Or do you not want to help Sister Lan anymore?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Yang Rui waved his hands frantically. "I just felt that... asking this right now really isn't appropriate..." Catching a glimpse of the hesitation in Yan Lan's expression, he braced himself, sat back down, and motioned for her to continue, though his own face stubbornly flushed red once again.

"Tell me... what on earth have you noticed? Please?" Yan Lan pleaded in a soft voice.

Yang Rui was in a difficult position; heavenly secrets could not be fully divulged. "I'm only speculating! First, tell me about Brother Cao's condition so I can determine if my judgment is correct!"

Yan Lan bit her lip and whispered, "I married your Brother Cao when I was twenty-four. Three years later, the old family estate was demolished for redevelopment, and two years after that, we moved here. That was when you first came to rent a room..."

"Get to the point!" Yang Rui urged softly, his mind entirely focused on saving a life.

Yan Lan shot him a reproachful look, lowered her head, and spoke in a thread-thin voice: "We... well... have always been very... harmonious, and I've been... very satisfied." She cast a stealthy glance at Yang Rui and, seeing his expression entirely concentrated and grave with zero lasciviousness, she paused slightly before continuing: "But recently... he seems especially... exceptionally energetic, wanting it every single night... sometimes even several times a night... I... I can hardly bear it anymore..." With that, she covered her burning cheeks with both hands.

A violent shock struck Yang Rui's heart! This completely confirmed the symptoms of "when water is full, it overflows"! This couple was most likely afflicted with the rare astrological combination of "ultimate yin and ultimate yang fates"!

A massive dilemma instantly seized him: Advise them to divorce? Cao Wanli would surely split him in two with a cleaver! Forcefully alter their fates? Going against the heavens carried unpredictable risks. Besides, the will of heaven bringing them together in marriage inherently implied that neither could easily escape this trial. Forcibly tear them apart? That wouldn't work either! After years of symbiosis, their bodies had long since become mutually dependent; a sudden separation would only accelerate Yan Lan's decline, and Cao Wanli would also suffer devastating trauma!

"Damn it!" Utterly exasperated, Yang Rui couldn't help cursing under his breath.

"What's wrong?" Yan Lan looked up in panic.

"Nothing!" Yang Rui stood up, walked over to Yan Lan, squatted down, pressed both hands onto her shoulders, and stared straight into her eyes with an unyielding, ironclad tone: "Sister Lan! Trust me, and listen carefully! Starting tonight, absolutely, positively do not share a bed with Brother Cao! Remember, not even once! Otherwise, even immortals won't be able to save you! Also, bring me your and Brother Cao's birth dates and times tomorrow!" Seeing her face filled with terror, he softened his tone to comfort her: "Don't be afraid! There is still a way! I just need to carefully figure out a comprehensive solution. Your mind is a mess right now; go back and rest, and make sure you do as I say!" Pressing firmly on her shoulders, he stood up and strode out, leaving Yan Lan sitting alone in a daze, her heart in utter turmoil.

Stepping out of the living room, the winter night wind whipped across his face like a knife, but he was completely oblivious to it. His mind churned with Yan Lan's life-and-death tribulation, occasionally interspersed with the lingering, breathtaking softness of the touch on the sofa just moments ago. A wave of heat surged from the bottom of his heart, and the faint fragrance of her body seemed to still linger around the tip of his nose.

If just now... he had gone with the flow and pushed her down... what would it have tasted like? Yang Rui couldn't help sketching a seductive picture in his mind. Imagining how he had nearly given Cao Wanli a green hat, the corners of his mouth twitched into a mischievous, wicked grin.

After chuckling a few times, he felt that he was an absolute scumbag. People were going through such a crisis, and here he was indulging in erotic fantasies—utterly vile! He despised himself for a full second, and then fell into deep puzzlement: What was wrong with him today? Harboring wicked thoughts toward a married woman was simply shameless and despicable! Could that long-dormant urge... be... ?

Sigh, winter was coming to an end, all things were stirring with life, and even a man's thoughts were becoming restless along with it? Yang Rui could only attribute this to the damn season.

Lying in bed, Yan Lan's problem weighed on his mind like a boulder. Forcibly break up this couple? That was too devoid of basic morality! Putting aside their seven or eight years of affection, the old adage "Rather tear down ten temples than ruin a single marriage" alone made it impossible for him to take such a step.

Yet if he didn't break them apart, one of them was bound to face a fatal tribulation. Judging by the appearance of her "departing spirit," nine times out of ten it would be Yan Lan.

If he saved Yan Lan, what would happen to Cao Wanli? Although that fellow wasn't particularly likable, he wasn't fundamentally an evil person. To strike knowingly knowing the consequences—accumulating bad karma and cutting short his own lifespan—was something Yang Rui simply couldn't bring himself to do.

The more he thought about it, the more his head ached, so he simply crossed his legs and sat in meditation.

Ever since Gu Yufei left, insomnia had become his old friend. In the dead of night, that bone-deep solitude and the emptiness of having no one who cared would always gnaw at his heart until it fluttered with panic. In front of others, he put on an air of complete indifference, but who could truly understand the inner persistence of a young man obsessed with esoteric arts? In the eyes of the mortal world, he was nothing more than a charlatan playing the part of a divine fortune-teller!

The agony of his initial insomnia had nearly broken him. Later, while rummaging through a basket of old books, he accidentally stumbled upon a handwritten manuscript of the *Supreme Lord's Heart-Calming Incantation*, and decided to practice it with the mindset of treating a dead horse like a live one. Over the years, the effect wasn't massive, but at least it allowed him to sleep soundly. Every time he finished the cultivation, he felt full of energy, brimming with inexhaustible strength.