9 I Have No Beef With You

As his gaze instinctively ignored the buff Zhao Donghan, Luo Hong saw a beautiful figure in a yellow dress.

At first glance, a poem popped up in Luo Hong's mind: 'As the lotus emerged from the crystal clear water, its natural beauty needs no other decoration'.

The girl was like a deity from a painting. Her skin was as fair as jade, and it seemed to even be still a little steamy as she had just come out from the shower. Her face was slightly flushed and her hair was still dripping. The water droplets that trickled down her beautiful face made her look even more astonishing.

"T-this...is this Little Douhua?!" Luo Hong's jaw dropped as he was stunned by her beauty.

He thought that he had brought back an ugly and disheveled woman whose face had been covered in soot and dirt. How did she transform into such a beauty after a simple clean up?

'Is she even the same person? Are they testing my ability to recognize someone?'

If Yao Jing had not looked and behaved as timidly as before, Luo Hong would have thought that Zhao Donghan had swapped her for someone else.

Luo Hong fell into silence. He finally knew why that scholar, Jia Sidao, had harassed her in broad daylight. A girl as gentle as Little Douhua was probably the best target to harass.

Ever since Yao Jing entered the study, she had been carefully taking peeks at Luo Hong. When she realized he was stunned by her looks, she felt a little happy. She took pride in her looks, but after feeling proud and happy, what followed was worries that gushed into her heart like the rising tide.

'My mother said a woman having good looks isn't a good thing. She told me to not simply show my face to anyone, but now…' Yao Jing was nervous as she was at a loss about what to do. 

Before she could even respond, Luo Hong had already brought her back to the Luo Residence despite knowing that he was doing so to save her. 

She heard from Zhao Donghan that the young lord had to shoulder tremendous pressure for saving her because the scholar who had harassed her earlier had connections with the magistrate and the county office.

Saving her would put Luo Hong directly under the county office's crosshairs. Nevertheless, she still felt like she was at a loss. She did not know what to do with her life from here on. If Luo Hong had other intentions for her after seeing her true appearance, what should she do?

Should she resist or should she comply?

Yao Jing felt scared. She realized that she was still too inexperienced for this world, and she had been brought into the Luo Residence by Luo Hong under vague circumstances. Since she was already under his roof, her hands were tied.

As the young lord of the house, if Luo Hong really wanted to do something to her, she could not even fight back.

"You look better when you've cleaned up," Luo Hong's charming voice rang out in the quiet study. "No wonder you cover yourself in soot and dirt. A girl must know how to protect herself in society, not bad." 

Although he sounded caring and soft, when his words entered Yao Jing's ears, she looked even more terrified.

'D-don't be so kind to me. I'm not ready!'

Luo Hong did not care about Yao Jing's beautiful transformation. Then, he simply gave her an order, "As the cooking maiden of the Luo Residence, you can go prepare dinner for now. After you are done, let's have dinner together." 

Little Douhua was no longer valuable to Luo Hong anymore despite being an easy-to-bully target. After all, he could barely get any Sin Level from her anymore.

'After saving her from Jia Sidao's evil clutches, I must be a hero to Little Douhua. I must be the charming prince in her heart.' Luo Hong shook his head as he thought about it.

Therefore, if he really wanted to do something to her, Little Douhua would never resist. She might even take the initiative and play along.

That was also the reason why Luo Hong could no longer get any Sin Level from her. If the diary thought that he was taking care of a homeless girl and carrying out a kind act, Luo Hong would have probably cried a river.

After being played by the manual, he was much more cautious.

He treated her as the new cooking maiden that he had hired with two silver taels. Her looks did not matter because he simply liked the taste of soybean pudding.

"N-no thanks…" Yao Jing was terrified after hearing what Luo Hong said.

'Have dinner together? No, my lord, just treat me as a cooking maiden!'

Luo Hong frowned at Yao Jing's reluctance to join him for dinner. He slammed his hand on the arm of the chair and bellowed, "You will have dinner together when I tell you so!"

The atmosphere in the study immediately turned tense and heavy.

Yao Jing's face turned pale. "D-don't be so loud…"

Luo Hong was not moved even though Little Douhua almost cried. His eyes gleamed as an idea popped up in his head.

'Wait a minute. I think I might have found a way to get a higher Sin Level. I can scold her everyday, and it will be only a matter of time before I can swim in Sin Levels! Even though it might be less, it's still something!'

Satisfied, Luo Hong waved and sent the two out of the room.

On the other hand, Zhao Donghan was shocked that Yao Jing had transformed from an ugly duckling into a beautiful young lady. His admiration for his young lord, Luo Hong, was over the top. 

However, when Luo Hong bellowed at Yao Jing, it also shocked Zhao Donghan.

'Maybe my lord saw through her cover from the start. Or maybe this is what they say "if you do well, all will end well". The beautiful Ms. Yao is destined to be my lord's lady. Ms. Yao is so beautiful that even I take pity on her, yet the young lord just bellowed at her. He doesn't even take pity on her. How could he be duller than me?'

After some pondering, Zhao Donghan remembered that Luo Hong was well-known for his easy-going and humble nature. He would never simply bellow at a beautiful girl without a reason. He must have his own reason for raising his volume.

He ruminated for a long while and finally understood his young lord's motivation.

"Women have always fallen for the brave since ancient times. The young lord took on the entire county office to save Ms. Yao and his valiant act could easily win her heart, but...our young lord is a righteous man who's easy-going and humble. He's the embodiment of justice! If Ms. Yao falls for him now, people might assume that he took advantage of her!"

The scar on Zhao Donghan's face was twitching as excitement filled his heart.

'This must be it! The young lord doesn't want to take advantage of her! He's still a gentleman! He is such a gentleman that it makes me feel pity for him!'

When he saw exhaustion showing from Luo Hong's brows as he waved, Zhao Donghan sighed deeply. "My lord, I understand. I will do my best to share your burden," he said solemnly. He then signaled Yao Jing and brought her out of the study.

Luo Hong was stunned as he watched the tall and buff Zhao Donghan walk out of the study with a determined gaze.

'Wait, what? What did you understand again, you nitwit?! Stop! Don't simply assume that you understand me! I have no beef with you!'

With a sigh, he ignored Zhao Donghan and shifted his attention back to the human skin manual. When he saw the negative Sin Level on the character statistics page, his heart started to pound again.

He gave his best effort and planned meticulously to start doing bad things, yet he failed and it turned into doing a good deed.

'Am I doing it wrong? Is it my posture?'

Some people were born evil. They were known as villains. However, it seemed like he, Luo Hong, might not be a villain.

With the manual in his fingers, he fell into deep thought. Maybe he should change his mindset and restart this from the beginning.

He might not be able to do bad things, but he could learn, and if learning did not work, he could just get a natural-born bad guy, hire him and tell him to do his bidding.

Telling a bad guy to do something bad and give him the credit might just work. 

Then, he would be the man behind the bad guy!

Or he could find an evil organization, join them, and do bad things with them.

It was easy for a person to change, so how difficult could it be for a person to turn evil?

Luo Hong's eyes shone. 'I'm really smart! No matter which plan I go with, I can get a good amount of Sin Level! As for finding an evil organization, I have to plan it carefully since it won't be easy to get one. I can start by finding a bad guy to do some bad things first.'

Luo Hong squinted his eyes as he filtered the candidates in his heart.

Some thoughts later, his mind came up with the perfect candidate: his sister, Luo Xiaoxiao!

The little girl claimed that she beat up the servants because they told her the same story everyday. She was rotten to the core! 

She might be the perfect bad guy that he had been searching for, and it would not hurt for him to approach her either.