I Just Wanted to Live, but I Somehow Became Better Than the Main Character

The assessment was now over. Ye Yong felt that the assessment was extremely boring, especially since he didn’t have to participate in the very first assessment of going up the mountain. In the , the male lead had been chased by villains, and reading about how he had avoided traps while fighting against the villains was quite interesting.

However, even if Ye Yong was allowed to participate in that assessment, nothing interesting would happen to him and he would move on without any problems.

“Sigh.” Ye Yong sometimes felt that being a villain with a comfortable lifestyle was way too boring and that maybe targeting the male lead was the only way out- as if! Ye Yong had Wu Xue to tease and flirt with, so why would he go and target the male lead? He would gladly sever their relationship and never have any contact with the male lead if he could. He was just about to call over Wu Xue to squeeze her face when Qin Shi Meng came over.

Although she was wearing a veil, Qin Shi Meng’s beautiful figure and bright eyes still emphasized her charm. The veil covering her face “due to her shyness”¹ made her seem like a goddess to the rogue cultivators.

Qin Shi Meng had long gotten accustomed to being the center of attention, so naturally, she had learned to ignore all the gazes directed toward her. At this moment, she only had eyes for Ye Yong- out of curiosity, that is. “You really hid it well.”

“It’s just luck. Sorry for showing such a joke,” Ye Yong smiled lightly, without showing any intention to show off.

‘Favorability +2.’

Qin Shi Meng felt that she was unable to see through Ye Yong anymore. She was continuously discovering his excellence while becoming increasingly curious about him. “We are friends, right?”

Qin Shi Meng didn’t have any friends because she was so beautiful. The maids and servants didn’t count, and the young ladies of the other cultivation families didn’t want to be associated with her at all. As for the young masters of the cultivation families, well, they always tried to become her friend with impure motives, so she had always been alone.

While she really hated the past Ye Yong, the current Ye Yong made her feel very comfortable. He wouldn’t look at her lustfully or domineeringly, and he didn’t try to speak in a way to flatter her. Everything was natural.²

“A regret to not having met earlier; who said that departure is easy? It’s not because there were no feelings, just that fate is hard to understand.³” Back when Ye Yong had been in line waiting for his turn, he had been looking through the system shop for a full collection of poetry and songs from Earth and had found it.

However, since it was culture from another world, the price was almost equivalent to a 10-year immortal herb- costing Ye Yong a total of 5,000 transcend points. But in order to show off and to more easily increase Qin Shi Meng’s favorability rating, he didn’t hesitate at all to buy the collection. Besides, Qin Shi Meng wasn’t the only heroine who liked poetry and songs, so he wouldn’t be making a loss either way.

Ye Yong continued to show off. “Although you and I had a bad history, sometimes, the end is a new beginning. You asked if we are friends, but in fact, when you asked that question, you and I both had the answer in our hearts.”

“A regret to not having met earlier; who said that departure is easy?… You and I both have the answer in our hearts.” Qin Shi Meng repeated Ye Yong’s words as if she was reminiscing about something. “Is this also a poem by your friend?”

“Yes.” There was no way Ye Yong would call himself a literati now. Besides, even though he had a collection of all the poems and songs on Earth, he still had to pay attention to the scenery. Otherwise, if he just spouted something like “Spring sleep knows no dawn”⁴ right now, Qin Shi Meng would think that he was an idiot.

Besides, Ye Yong believed that as long as they kept talking to each other, Qin Shi Meng would eventually realize that the friend that he was talking about was himself, and she might even think that he was modest and her favorability rating could increase even more.

See that? Qin Shi Meng’s favorability had increased by 3 again because he had said the right words at the right time.

Previously, her favorability rating had increased by 1 or 2 points every time she broke through, and it had now reached a total of 36 points, with her attitude towards Ye Yong being [Maybe Could Be Close Friends].

This was a huge improvement considering how her favorability rating towards Ye Yong was -87 when they first met. This was a point that the “Ye Yong” in the could never even hope to reach.

“That friend of yours is very talented… I hope I can meet him some time to record his poems and put them into a collection.”

“I’ll help you ask him to write a collection later.”

“Didn’t you say that he likes to travel and has never published a poetry collection?”

“Uh… People can change,” Ye Yong said, laughing.

Qin Shi Meng narrowed her eyes, seemingly smiling. “Since so, you should also stop calling me Lady Qin and call…”

“Shi Meng?” Ye Yong blurted.

‘Ye Yong’ had previously always called Qin Shi Meng that, and Qin Shi Meng only felt repulsed and disgusted back then. But currently, when these words came out of Ye Yong’s mouth, she didn’t feel that way at all- in fact, she felt much more comfortable than when Ye Yong addressed her as Lady Qin, and this made her feel close to him.

Even though Qin Shi Meng didn’t say anything, Ye Yong could basically guess what she meant. However, he wanted to tease her a bit, so he said, “Sorry for being so presumptuous. I’ll call you Lady Shi Meng.”

“No,” Qin Shi Meng whispered. “Shi, Shi Meng is fine.”

If Ye Yong didn’t have the favorability rating system, he would definitely have thought that Qin Shi Meng liked him when she revealed such a shy side of her. According to psychological research on Earth, once a man thinks that a woman likes him, the man makes many confident but confusing actions and remarks. Even if the woman actually likes the man a little, such actions and remarks would make her hate him instead.

Ye Yong thought that the favorability rating should at least be 80 for Qin Shi Meng to actually like him, just like Wu Xue did.

“Shi Meng, you want to ask me when I have a 7-color foundation when I used to have a 5-color foundation, right?” Ye Yong knew that Qin Shi Meng was curious because becoming stronger was her wish.

“No, I don’t want to ruin our friendship over something like this.”

“Oh, but I was going to tell you anyways even if you didn’t ask me.” This was a no-brainer. Qin Shi Meng was the future Immortal Empress, and it was only because the story was just starting that her fortuitous opportunities had yet to come to her. When she does encounter them and her cultivation and strength rocket upwards, there would be nothing for Ye Yong to do. As such, it was best for him to take advantage of the fact that Qin Shi Meng was still weak and make an effort to help her to make her feel indebted to him.

“Is, is that really okay?” Because she was now sure that Ye Yong also considered her to be a friend, Qin Shi Meng wanted to maintain their friendship and didn’t want to make Ye Yong feel that she was only approaching him to use him to make herself stronger.

Getting stronger was indeed important to her, but having a true, close friend was also important to her. Qin Shi Meng hadn’t tried to make a friend before- Ye Yong was her first time- he was her first friend.

“Why wouldn’t it be okay?” Ye Yong whispered, attracting the attention of the people around them. One person was an extremely handsome guy, and the other person was a fairy. The two would be extremely conspicuous even by themselves, let alone being together.

The male cultivators’ eyes were wide open when they saw Ye Yong’s mouth next to Qin Shi Meng’s ear. Don’t get close to my goddess! Bastard!

Some male cultivators also wanted to become Ye Yong’s mouth- they could die without any regrets if they could so much as touch Qin Shi Meng.

The female cultivators, on the other hand, were furiously in their hearts. Don’t seduce my god! Bitch!

As someone with a 7-colored foundation, an extreme rank wind-type spiritual root, and a cultivation at the 10th layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm at the age of 18, Ye Yong was a perfect Dao Companion.

This was Qin Shi Meng’s first time being so close to a man. She could feel Ye Yong’s breath on her ear, causing them to rapidly turn red.

‘Favorability +2.’

Ye Yong suddenly felt that Qin Shi Meng’s favorability rating wasn’t that difficult to increase. Sure, it increased slower than Wu Xue, but in the end, no matter how “cold” she was, the current Qin Shi Meng was still just a 17-year-old girl, so it was still pretty easy to create ripples in her heart.

Translator’s Notes:

¹ 犹抱琵琶半遮面. Translated literally, it means “cover half of the face with a pipa”. The story goes that a woman needed a lot of persuasion to simply show her face, and even then, she would cover half of her face with her pipa. So it became used to say that a woman is shy.

² I’m not sure what the author is describing as natural here. It could be referring to their relationship naturally becoming better or that Ye Yong’s speech sounded natural and not fake in any way.

³ 相逢恨晚，人谁道早有轻离轻折。不是无情，都只为离合因缘难测. From the poem 相逢恨晚 (Regret not Having Met Earlier) by 吴儆 (Wu Jing). These lines mean: people might regret having not met each other earlier (they might have similar interests or just enjoy being with each other). Someone once said that people will always eventually drift apart, but it’s not because they were heartless, but rather because fate is hard to predict and no one knows when people will meet or drift apart.

⁴ 春眠不觉晓. From the poem 春晓 (Spring Dawn) by 孟浩然 (Meng Hao Ran). Line meaning: in spring, one sleeps all the way until dawn without even realizing it.

Someone save me from this poetry hell.