Great, now we are dead!

The key is the attack range!

The troll's reach and weapon are superior to Ye Shou's, so if Ye Shou tries to keep his distance, he'll be on the defensive. Close combat with that monster might seem terrifying, but it actually limits its mobility.

roll!

Simply dodging won't work; each time you must escape diagonally, going against the trajectory of the troll's weapon swings.

It is not agile in turning around, and the inertia of the iron rod makes it difficult to change moves in time. The more powerful the attack, the more likely it is to create an opening.

puff!

The troll's left calf was cut open along the muscle, and blood once again stained the snow red.

The painful yet furious battle cry sent snow flying, a breathtaking sight, but the boy's eyes remained unwavering; he was so focused that he had forgotten himself.

If it were a game, it wouldn't matter which part you attack, as long as you keep reducing his HP. But for him, this was a battle, and all the preparations were for the final, decisive blow.

call!

The iron rod suddenly accelerated, and the troll's blood surged, as if it had stirred up a red whirlwind, enveloping Ye Shou with lightning speed.

Bang!

The shield shattered instantly, splinters flew everywhere, and the iron bar swept past unstoppably.

The next moment——

With his legs tucked in, Ye Shou leaped two meters, feeling the gust of wind whistling past him like a knife. The muscles in his back acted like chains, driving his waist and shoulders, and in the instant his entire body became one, his hands moved with the speed of a broken bowstring.

Zheng!

With a swing of his longsword in the troll's astonished crimson eyes, a thin line of blood flew from the troll's throat, stretching endlessly in the swirling snow, as if splitting the vast, unified white world apart...

[Winner!]

……

In the infirmary of Shuchiin High School, Ye Shou lay on the hospital bed wearing a helmet. His school uniform shirt was folded and placed to the side, and several rubber-like sensors were put over his white shirt, making it look like a sci-fi version of leather armor.

Liuli sat on the edge of the bed. With just a turn of her head, she could see the small server and vital signs monitor. She would occasionally take out her phone, but she spent most of her time reading.

Despite her elegant and composed demeanor on the outside, the job actually has a very high barrier to entry. After all, it's difficult for ordinary people to keep up with the pace of their master (Ye Shou), and she can't relax at any time.

Genius, prodigy, monster... This person has so many titles like these. If you want to become his right-hand man and stay by the side of such a genius, Liuli must also show "passing" talent and ability.

Otherwise, she would no longer be an assistant, but a lover or a pet—at least that's how it would appear to outsiders.

Keeping up with Ye Shou's pace is difficult, because this guy has too many interests and is capable of doing everything.

From a young age, he displayed a level of "activity" far exceeding that of his peers, as well as an enthusiasm that cooled down too quickly. He seemed to be interested in and passionate about everything in the world, from sports to art, from literature, history, geography to natural science, from games and anime to movies and novels, and he often demonstrated extraordinary talent in these areas.

Baseball, piano, swimming, French, painting... all can be mastered in just one month!

He will inevitably develop new interests after a month, and only a very few things can keep him going, such as shooting and kendo—his skills are already aiming for world rankings.

Indeed, he will never lack professional-level teachers to impart his skills, and can even use his connections to invite those outstanding national champions, possessing the best educational resources. But even so, his progress... or rather, the speed of his evolution, still astounds countless people.

Liuli initially wanted to follow in his footsteps and was quite confident, after all, she had also worked hard under an extremely high-intensity elite education. However, she gave up this naive idea not long after arriving at the Jiu family.

Unfortunately, her intelligence and competence are only relative to ordinary people, but what about Ye Shou?

Ye Shou is not human!

When the gap between people is too large, it can lead to longing or jealousy, even between fathers and sons and relatives. But when the gap becomes so large that it exceeds common sense, people can actually calm down.

That's how Liuli is now. She no longer wants to compare herself with Ye Shou and just focuses on doing her own thing.

The purpose of her work is to allow her master to devote himself wholeheartedly to his favorite career. This is not a burden for Liuli; on the contrary, it makes her feel extremely fulfilled and even happy.

It all started on that day, the day Ye Shou "bought" her...

"Ugh"

Closing the book, Liuli quietly gazed at Ye Shou's sleeping face, doing nothing, lost in thought for a long time as if admiring an artist's work.

The afternoon sun was warm and comforting. You could faintly hear the sounds of the track and field club training on the playground, and the occasional chirping of birds perched in the trees. This small infirmary felt like it was isolated from the world, with only its own heartbeat and the low hum of the server.

Suddenly, a gentle breeze blew in, and the white bed curtains fluttered playfully.

Liuli blinked, looking at Ye Shou's quiet appearance, her eyes shimmering like water.

The rounded curves outlined by the school uniform skirt gently lifted her from her seat. The girl bent down, tucked her hair behind her ear, and carefully lowered her head to prevent the strands from scratching her cheek.

Her eyes were even more misty, and the blush under her skin proved her shyness at this moment, but she did not close her eyes.

She didn't want to close her eyes.

Her lips were slightly upturned, and through the small gap between them, she exhaled a few breaths of hot air. The muscles at the tip of her lips twitched slightly, as if they were no longer under her control.

...The wind stopped, the bed curtains fell, and sunlight shone on them, casting two shadows of people whose heads overlapped.

"call……"

She stood up, and with a loving gaze, gently and carefully wiped away the water stains and traces of clear lipstick from the boy's lips with a handkerchief.

She stared at the handkerchief for a moment, then carefully folded it and put it in her pocket.

It was as if time had resumed its flow, and now she could hear the sounds coming from the server and outside again.

Even though no one was around, she coughed lightly, picked up her book again, and time slowly passed...

Suddenly, the girl's eyes flickered. She covered the lower half of her face with her book and cautiously looked at Ye Shou on the bed—there was no indication that she was about to wake up.

So she bent down and pressed herself against him again—

Swish!

"Kou, you're hiding away to play games again, aren't you? How sneaky! I want to too... Ruri-chan, what are you doing?"

Remaining still, Ruri turned her head and saw Fujiwara Chika walking in excitedly. Her face flushed, and she lost her composure for once.

Chapter 8 We'll be best friends for life!

A year ago, a girl named "Ruri Kohakugawa" happily decided to die.

In truth, she didn't have a compelling reason to die:

She had neither debts nor terminal illness; on the contrary, she possessed a comfortable material life.

As the illegitimate daughter of the Kohaku River family, she was not only taken into the family, but was even adopted by the kind lady. She never lacked food, clothing and daily necessities, so there was really nothing to complain about.

Even to outsiders, she could be considered very lucky, because the Kohaku River family was a genuine old and prestigious family, and this halo alone made others envious.

But there are some things that outsiders cannot understand: although she was officially adopted as a daughter, she never truly became a member of that family.

The father, who was a son-in-law living with his wife's family, had an affair to vent his frustrations. The child was an accidental birth, and he never publicly acknowledged her until she was ten years old when he brought her back home.

The lady only tolerated Qing's daughter staying at home to project an image of tolerance and magnanimity to the outside world, and subjected Liuli to "strict education" as if deliberately retaliating against her husband.

Her siblings either ignored her or treated her like a servant. Their pranks, disguised as playful antics, were like grains of sand in rice, causing her pain unexpectedly.

If a student's grades are better than their siblings', they will attract jealousy and malice; if their grades are poor, they will be severely disciplined by their "mother".

If I had to say, she hadn't suffered any horrific abuse; she simply couldn't see the joy of life, nor the value and dignity of being human.

But she was a very smart girl; she knew how to protect herself and that she needed enough patience to escape despair—it was simply a matter of waiting.

However, when she finally found her biological mother using the money she had secretly saved, the mother explicitly refused to live with her.

"If only I hadn't given birth to you," said the respectable lady.

That's understandable, considering she was quite young at the time, and it was only due to a bit of frivolity and bad luck that she got pregnant. Worse still, her plan to use the child to blackmail the man failed, and she had no chance of becoming his legal wife.

Wanting to get rid of this burden while also wanting enough compensation to start a new life, she dragged her feet and the child grew up. The former fashionista wasted her life and became a single mother, and in her opinion, she was the one who lost the most.

So when the Kohaku River family came knocking on her door, she didn't hesitate at all!

The man who abandoned her finally had a change of heart and took back the child, also receiving a large sum of compensation. That day was like a rebirth anniversary for her.

Now that things have come to this, my daughter, whom I haven't seen for several years, suddenly shows up at my door, saying that she has worked hard for a long time and that we can finally live together... Are you kidding me?

So she rejected Liuli very seriously, and you could even say she looked completely bewildered, as if she were dealing with a stranger instead of her own daughter.

It was only then that the girl realized that she had never received her mother's love when she was a child, and those warm memories were just illusions created by her subconscious to deceive herself into persevering.

When she was taken away, her mother didn't look at her with sadness and reluctance... In fact, her eyes were on the check, not her daughter.

For the girl, the truth is that her birth is not welcomed by anyone, her existence is an unnecessary burden to everyone, and she will most likely be used as a scrap in a political marriage in the future.

...What else is there to say?

Liuli was in the literature club in junior high school. She read so many famous Chinese works and was deeply inspired. Considering her own situation, she felt that there was no need to force herself to live anymore. Instead, she should study ways to die.

She's a girl too, and she wants to look beautiful in the end no matter what.

She had already prepared everything:

To avoid causing trouble for others and to spare her "family" too much pain, she chose the traditional method of suicide by burning charcoal. She also managed to obtain a sufficient dose of sleeping pills so that everyone could leave peacefully in their sleep—after all, she was a kind girl.

I don't remember which writer said it, but people who commit suicide by burning charcoal look like they are asleep, with skin as pink and tender as cherry blossoms.

However, the plan was not successfully implemented that day.

Because her family business was not doing well, she invited several social celebrities to the banquet, which was also an attempt to attract investment. Coincidentally, a man with amazing insight was also among them. After only a few meetings, he saw through all her painstaking arrangements.

Then, the boy who was surrounded by admirers not only didn't expose her, but instead said the following to the Amber River family:

This girl is more valuable than all your assets combined.

So on that day she was "sold" and became this man's property.

"Ruri-chan Tsubaki," the maid nicknamed Ruri-chan, was born.

—Let's turn back time to the present.

Once again, and for the first time in a long time, Liuli had the thought of "wanting to die".

Maids are not allowed to fall in love with their masters!

You can be forced, threatened, and then helplessly, half-heartedly, submit to someone, but it is absolutely unacceptable to "actively" fall in love with your Master.

Because a certain arrogant and delusional girl, when she entered the Kuse family, once said something like, "You can have my body but not my heart."

Then Ye Shou very gentlemanly complied with her and made good use of this beautiful young girl's body... in all sorts of work and missions.

Liuli belatedly realized that what someone had meant by "her value" might have been "surplus value".

...I really want to travel back in time and slap my younger self who was infatuated with me!

"This is by no means a vulgar act."

Liuli's mouth was like a wound-up toy: "Although it might violate Article 11 of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act (prohibition of sexual harassment), the so-called improper conduct refers to bullying and coercion of female employees, which only broadly includes men. In actual judgments, cases of men being harassed are almost non-existent. Employers have an obligation to take preventative measures in the workplace and explicitly prohibit gender-based improper conduct. But ultimately, this isn't the workplace, and I'm not the employer; I have no responsibility or obligation—"

As she spoke, Liuli covered her face, her sculpted shoulders trembling slightly.

"That's not it... I just... it's not what you see!"

Qianhua's mouth was slightly open, looking completely bewildered, her brain temporarily shut down.

However, upon seeing Liuli's predicament, the clever little devil immediately came over, placed his hand on the maid's shoulder, and comforted her in a "loving" tone.

"It's okay, I won't reveal anything."

"Really, really?"

With her face flushed, Ruri raised her head and looked at Chika through the gap between her hands.

"Yes! We're good friends, so this little thing is no problem at all."

Chika chuckled and said, "Actually, I've wanted to do this for a long time, but I've never had the chance."

"..."

Ok?

Liuli subconsciously narrowed her eyes, and her voice lowered: "Does Miss Qianhua have the same idea?"

"Because I just couldn't resist."

Chika swayed shyly, "Who can blame her? It's Xiao Shou. Anyone would be tempted and want to mess him up!"

Doesn't this woman have any self-respect?!

—Liuli clearly had some feelings for her before.

On the topic of "spouse," Ruri had recommended Chika before, but now that the person in question is actually interested, she's become unhappy... That's probably just how women are.

"It's truly heartening that you have this idea, but ultimately, it depends on whether Lord Ye Shou likes it or not—"