Chapter 35: If You’re Going to Confess, Why Are You Taking Your Clothes Off?

Ye Fan walked over to the table and opened the chest.

"Ye Fan, if you're there, please write back. I’m not going anywhere today!"

Seeing Li Yaoyao’s elegant handwriting, the gloom in Ye Fan’s heart began to dissipate, as if dark clouds had parted to let the sunlight grace the earth once more.

"I’m back! Let’s video call!"

He threw open the lid of the chest, grabbed his phone, and initiated a video call request. Moments later, Li Yaoyao’s beautiful face appeared on the screen.

"Ye Fan, you!"

Li Yaoyao’s smiling face froze the moment she saw him.

"What’s wrong?"

Ye Fan touched his face, realized he was still wearing his gold-rimmed glasses, and hurriedly took them off.

"You... how come you look different?"

"Oh? Do I?" He had just gotten a haircut today, and the barber had even thoughtfully deep-cleaned his pores and treated him to some kind of facial SPA restoration. Regardless, his current appearance was indeed quite handsome.

Ye Fan looked at his reflection on the screen with satisfaction, smoothed his hair, and pretended not to know what Li Yaoyao was talking about.

"Oh, you’re just teasing me!"

Li Yaoyao saw through his act and pouted playfully.

Ye Fan chuckled and explained, "I found a new job, got a haircut today, and I’m getting ready to start work!"

"Really?" Li Yaoyao was happy because Ye Fan was happy. "Tell me all about it!"

"You remember Sister Chen, right? I’m working at her company now. She took me to buy clothes today and helped me get this new hairstyle..."

Ye Fan felt there was no need to hide these things. Aside from the awkward incident with Chen Shuting at the hotel, he briefly recounted the events of the day.

As Li Yaoyao listened, however, she began to feel less happy.

She could sense that this Chen Shuting was very kind to Ye Fan, and she even let him stay in her villa!

Although she trusted Ye Fan’s character, and even though this Sister Chen was in her thirties and married, they could still spend every day together, while she could only gaze at him from afar through a screen...

What did she have to compare with her?

At this thought, Li Yaoyao felt a sharp, agonizing pain in her chest. It was the helplessness of being a world apart despite the connection of the chest; it was the sorrow of being in love yet unable to be together.

"By the way, how is your illness? You look much better!"

In a daze, Li Yaoyao heard Ye Fan’s concerned voice.

"I... I’m okay..." Li Yaoyao replied, sounding dispirited.

"Did you have a fever again? You seemed fine just a moment ago."

Ye Fan watched helplessly as the light faded from Li Yaoyao’s eyes, and he felt immensely anxious. His beloved girl was sick, yet he could do nothing but watch through a screen. At that moment, he felt as if a massive boulder were pressing down on his chest, leaving him unable to breathe.

He recalled the harassment Li Yaoyao faced while selling noodles in town, her helplessness when attacked by Wang Dahua after returning to the village, and the danger when the thug Pi Liu came for revenge. He suddenly hated himself—hated why he hadn't anticipated the dilemmas she might face, hated why he couldn't be by her side to protect her, and hated his own poverty, powerlessness, and hesitation!

He wished he could crawl right through the chest to be by her side!

"Yaoyao!" Ye Fan roared, "I will uncover the secrets of this chest and go to you! I swear!"

His vow was like a lightning bolt, piercing through Li Yaoyao’s confused heart. Her unfocused gaze gradually sharpened as she looked at Ye Fan.

On the phone screen, the young man’s lips were pressed tightly together, and his determined eyes held a flicker of ruthlessness—even madness...

He still cares about me!

Li Yaoyao trembled. As their eyes met, they read each other’s hearts.

"Ye Fan..." Her voice trembled, and her nose twitched. "Am I in..."

She couldn't bring herself to finish the words "love with you."

But Ye Fan gripped his phone tightly, the words coming out from his clenched teeth, one by one: "I. Like. You!"

It was as if a spring thunderclap had shattered the winter, sunlight had melted the ice, a black-and-white album had suddenly found its color, and a rainbow had arched across a gloomy sky.

Li Yaoyao smiled, but tears fell like pearls, splashing onto the phone screen.

"You said you like me?"

"Yes, I like you!"

"I like you too!"

Overjoyed, Li Yaoyao sobbed and frantically fumbled with the buttons on her chest.

Ye Fan was stunned. Even though his heart felt warm and moved, a sense of inexplicable absurdity arose.

"Did I confess?" He asked himself. "Yes, I did!"

"Did it succeed?" "Yes, it did!"

"Then why is she taking her clothes off?" "I don't know!"

"Is she trying to express something?" "A new way to experience video calls?"

"What kind of nonsense is that!" "Then you tell me, why is she taking her clothes off?!"

Ye Fan felt as if there were two little people in his head, arguing back and forth, leaving him completely baffled. He stared blankly as she unbuttoned her outer coat, then her inner garment, revealing the layers beneath...

"Is this a custom of that world? Do you show yourself once a confession succeeds?"

Just as Ye Fan felt his brain was about to crash, Li Yaoyao carefully pulled a small booklet from her chest...

She blushed, threw the booklet into the chest, and then hurriedly began buttoning her clothes back up.

The booklet soon reached Ye Fan. He picked up the manual, which still held her warmth and fragrance, and looked at the cover. Elegant penmanship meticulously outlined four characters: *Three Yang Profound Needles*.

Ye Fan: ???

Wait, brother, this is the modern world! What the hell is *Three Yang Profound Needles*? The genre is all wrong!

Ye Fan looked at Li Yaoyao in confusion, only to see her finally smoothing out her clothes, her face still flushed.

"Ye Fan!" she called out, sounding delicate and sweet.

"Ah? Yes!"

"This is my dowry!"

"W-what?"

"My family's ancestral secret manual! My dowry! I’m giving it to you today! I don't regret it!"

Li Yaoyao almost shouted these words before shyly ending the video call.

"Wait..."

Ye Fan stared at the disconnected call, stunned. He knew the world on the other side was different from his, but they wore modern clothes, spoke modern language, drove modern cars, and had modern police! How could there be secret martial arts manuals?

Was the other side a martial arts world that had somehow developed technology?

What kind of cyber-martial arts is this?!

Fortunately, even after Li Yaoyao cut the call, she didn't stop communicating. Soon, a message appeared on his screen.

"This is my family's ancestral cultivation method and my dowry. Today, you confessed your feelings to me. Regardless of whether we can ever truly meet, I have decided to pass this on to you. I don't regret it!"

Ye Fan scratched his head, still struggling to understand. Martial arts manuals? Those only exist in novels, right?

To him, it might seem outlandish, but for Li Yaoyao, perhaps it was just an ordinary part of life?

Thinking of this, Ye Fan quickly typed: "We don't have any martial arts manuals on this side. This manual... is it authentic?"

"It's authentic!"

Li Yaoyao had seen the strange look on Ye Fan’s face earlier and feared he had mistaken her for a loose woman, so she hurried to explain before shyly cutting the video again.

Today, after she finished copying the manual, she had hidden it in several places but couldn't feel at ease; after all, it was her family heirloom, and if it were stolen, she would be a sinner. After much thought, she decided to keep it tucked against her person. When Ye Fan confessed to her, she had been so overwhelmed with emotion that she forgot about the boundaries between men and women, and in her excitement, she had unbuttoned her shirt right in front of him. Now, thinking back, she wanted to slap herself in embarrassment!

"Oh well! I’ve already decided I won't marry anyone else anyway, so let him see!"

Li Yaoyao was happy at heart, eventually forgiving herself, and began to patiently explain the origins of the manual.