When the Villain is Bound to the Female Lead System

Yu Yi called Crane Senior Brother to wake him up and carried Xue Chenjing back to their room, placing him on the bed. Under the bright candlelight, his tear-swollen eyes were even more noticeable, with his eyelids still slightly puffy.

This guy must have cried countless times behind her back.

Yu Yi sat on the edge of the bed, leaning over Xue Chenjing, and called out, "System, come out."

System: "..." Don't call me, I'm out and haven't returned yet. I really am not here.

Yu Yi didn't get a response but wasn't in a hurry. She spoke slowly, "System, you know the 037 System, right? In my previous life, when I committed suicide, it tried to save me, which is how I discovered your presence. After all, systems are also energy entities. When the frequency matches yours, you can detect their existence, and I happen to know that frequency."

The system was intimidated and immediately responded, "I'm here, I'm here."

Yu Yi smiled in satisfaction, "So you really are here? Why are you still here?"

For so long without hearing the system's voice from Xue Chenjing, she thought it had already left. To her surprise, it was still there. The system's presence meant there was still an unfinished task, which was likely the reason for Xue Chenjing's strange behavior lately.

System: "..." Good question.

"Your goal, to complete Heaven's Gate and restore the Demon Path, has been achieved. The world has returned to normal as you wished. Isn't the mission already over? Why are you still here?"

The system remained silent for a long time before finally replying, "Sorry, I cannot answer questions that go against the host's will."

It was painful for the system to refuse Yu Yi, but it knew that its host, Xue Chenjing, didn't want Yu Yi to know about the final reward.

Although it was mistakenly bound to Xue Chenjing, and despite this host often intimidating it, the system prided itself on its high professional ethics and wouldn't betray him easily.

"I see," Yu Yi said, her fingers brushing Xue Chenjing's cheek and gently twisting a strand of hair by his temple. She pondered, "Which question went against his will?"

Based on the information the main control system had once revealed to her, her arrival in this world and the system's assignment to this realm were all for that one purpose. With the goal achieved, the mission must have ended.

That left the latter question.

The reason the system remained here, troubling Xue Chenjing, must be related to her. Something that caused him to cry secretly behind her back multiple times.

Yu Yi couldn't extract any useful information from the system bound to Xue Chenjing, so she didn't waste more time. She sat by the bed for a while, then got up, left the room, and headed out of the Bamboo Grove Secret Realm with her green bamboo sword.

As the moon set and the sun rose, morning light filtered through the bamboo window, casting soft rays onto Xue Chenjing's thin eyelids through the thin white gauze. He suddenly woke up, rubbing his aching temples, and glanced at the empty room.

The bedding was neatly pressed beside him, with no trace of anyone having slept there.

His memory from the previous night stopped after he drank the apricot wine. After that, he had no recollection of what happened.

"Yi?" Xue Chenjing suddenly realized something, his eyes filled with extreme panic. He quickly sat up, jumped out of bed barefoot, and rushed outside. His fear was like a beast's claws, gripping his heart tightly. He was so flustered that he almost tumbled down the stairs.

Last night's thunderstorm had brought heavy rain, which seeped into the Bamboo Grove Secret Realm, making the weather even colder. New bamboo shoots had sprouted in the bamboo forest.

Yu Yi carried a bamboo basket as she walked in from outside, surrounded by a thin mist. Seeing him, she smiled and said, "You're up. Look, Crane Senior Brother and I went to dig up some bamboo shoots early this morning. We can make bamboo shoot stir-fry with preserved meat today."

Xue Chenjing's heart slightly eased, but without actually touching her, he couldn't fully calm down.

"Why aren't you wearing shoes..." Yu Yi didn't finish her sentence before the young man's figure rushed to her like a gust of wind, knocking over the bamboo basket in her hands and pulling her into a tight embrace.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Xue Chenjing wrapped one arm around her waist and the other hand urgently caressed her back and hair, as if confirming that the person in his arms was real. "Yi, Yi."

"I'm here," Yu Yi replied, wrapping her arms around him. Her gaze fell on the swaying grass in the courtyard. The flowers on the little grass had already withered, and the long leaves were dotted with dew droplets, which sparkled as Xue Chenjing's robe brushed past them.

The body holding her was so tall and strong, his arms tightening to the point of pain, yet he trembled so delicately, like the grass swaying in the courtyard.

Yu Yi gently stroked his back, soothingly saying, "Ah Qiu, I'm here. What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"

Xue Chenjing held her, breathing in her familiar scent, gradually calming down. He murmured, "Yes, I had a terrible nightmare. I dreamt you left me, never to return."

"No, I won't leave you," Yu Yi reassured him.

Xue Chenjing loosened his arms, gripping her shoulders and looking down at her. His eyes sparkled like the morning sun, breaking through the clouds, full of hope as he gazed at her. "Really? You'll stay with me forever, never leaving me?"

Yu Yi gently touched his damp eyes. "If that's what you wish."

He wished, of course, he wished it.

If merely wishing could make it come true, he wouldn't be in such agony.

Xue Chenjing held her hand, his uneasy kiss landing on her fingertips, his figure enveloping her as they disappeared from the courtyard, leaving only an overturned bamboo basket and a ground full of fresh bamboo shoots.

Crane Senior Brother waddled back with a large pile of bamboo shoots, shaking them off its wings and circling the pile in confusion. Where had those two gone now?

Inside the bamboo hut, the barrier sealed out all external sounds. Yu Yi indulged Xue Chenjing's seemingly insatiable demands. She understood the emotions clogging his heart, and deep down, she was enduring the same torment.

Yu Yi wasn't an emotionally expressive person. Compared to Xue Chenjing, she was usually more restrained and passive. But now, she realized she needed to release her emotions too. She couldn't bear to part with her family, nor could she bear to leave him. She was greedy, wanting both.

"Ah Qiu, it's enough," Yu Yi said, stroking his hair and lifting his head. Her face flushed like dawn as she opened her arms to him. "Come here."

Xue Chenjing straightened up, his lips moist, and leaned in to kiss her.

They embraced tightly, their bodies and spirits intertwined. Everything around them seemed to fade, the morning light disappearing as layers of sheer fabric fell, enveloping them in the small world of the bed, just the two of them.

Crane Senior Brother waited in the courtyard from morning till night, and from moonrise till moonset. The day and night alternated quietly in the Bamboo Grove Secret Realm, and the fresh bamboo shoots scattered on the ground had shriveled, nearly turning into dried bamboo shoots.

It charged into the bamboo hut, only to be repelled by the barrier. Frustrated, it started digging holes in the courtyard, burying the bamboo shoots. It angrily thought, when the bamboo shoots grow into a bamboo forest, they'll have to come out!

Crane Senior Brother's saliva flowed like a waterfall, and it waited anxiously, looking emaciated. Where was the promised bamboo shoot stir-fry with preserved meat? When would it finally get to eat?

When Xue Chenjing regained control of himself, the room was in complete disarray. The mucus was everywhere, the torn curtains hanging on the floor, and the air filled with a sweet, cloying scent.

He looked at the mottled marks on the person in his arms, panicked, and patted her cheeks. "Yi, Yi, wake up. Are you alright?"

Yu Yi lazily stirred, letting out a soft sound from her nose.

Xue Chenjing brushed away the damp hair from her temple, kissed her forehead gently, and sighed in relief. "Why didn't you stop me? Why did you indulge me like this? I could have hurt you."

"You really can cry," Yu Yi said, touching his face and smiling. "Because I wanted to, too. I wanted to hold you, kiss you, be with you."

Xue Chenjing cried like a fool because of her words, causing Yu Yi to have to comfort him all over again.

Crane Senior Brother was disappointed that the bamboo shoots in the courtyard hadn't grown into a bamboo forest before the people in the bamboo house came out. Only Xue Chenjing emerged.

He came downstairs, went into the kitchen to boil a bucket of hot water, and carried it upstairs. After a long while, he came down alone, carrying the water. Crane Senior Brother thought he was finally going to make bamboo shoot stir-fry with cured meat, so he hurriedly dug up the bamboo shoots from the ground with his beak and feet.

However, after coming down, Xue Chenjing wandered out of the courtyard like a ghost and into the bamboo forest.

Crane Senior Brother, holding a bamboo shoot in his beak, waddled after him. Seeing him enter the forest, he sat alone in front of the bamboo with carvings, staring silently at the inscriptions without saying a word or paying any attention to them.

Frustrated, Crane Senior Brother smashed the bamboo shoot and, unable to bear it any longer, flapped his wings and left home.

Xue Chenjing stared at the carvings on the bamboo and asked, "System, are you still here?"

The system came online in response, "Yes, Master, I am here."

Xue Chenjing wasn't sure whether to relax or to feel anxious again. The system's presence meant that the mission hadn't ended, and the final reward that required his choice was still there.

"What happened that night when I got drunk? How did I end up that way? Did Yi come looking for you?"

The system proudly replied, "Yes, but please rest assured, Master, I didn't reveal any information about the reward to her without your permission."

Xue Chenjing let out a heavy sigh. So that was it. No wonder she was still there when he woke up.

The system continued, "Since the Master has been unable to decide whether to keep or abandon the final reward, dragging this on is futile. The main control system has issued me a new directive. Master, I have good news to share with you."

Xue Chenjing asked indifferently, "What is it?"

"Because Yi's world is a higher-level reality, the system cannot send you there," the system explained. "However, the system can reserve an opportunity for Yi. After she returns and passes away in that world, if she still wishes to come back, the system can send her back to this world once more."

Xue Chenjing's eyes lit up with surprise. "She can come back?"

"Yes, but only if she still wants to return," the system said. "But I must also remind the Master that the flow of time in the reality world is different from this world. One year in the reality world is equivalent to ten years here."