Chapter 133 - What To Do if You’re the Villain and the Heroine Likes You

He Yunxiao knew that when Fan Ziruo said "it's not good to make decisions on my own," she meant to discuss it with her father, Fan Changsu. In fact, this was a polite way of refusal. Fan Ziruo was conservative and steady, and with her goodwill at only 76, she didn't directly agree to the proposal of marriage, which He Yunxiao could very well understand. However, He Yunxiao was now puzzled by why inadvertently mentioning himself as her betrothed could increase her goodwill slightly the first time, yet failed to do so the second time with a similar implication. Unable to figure it out for the moment, He Yunxiao decided to let it go for the time being. The good news was that he finally had the same 76 goodwill as Chu Fan with Ziruo. With this 76 goodwill, he could now begin to try to lower Ziruo's favor towards Chu Fan. Once Ziruo's favor towards Chu Fan was lowered, he could help her break free from Chu Xiaoxiao's clutches, just like he did for Du Meimei before! But it wasn't the time to think about these things now; he should be thinking about how to bring out the reasons for Ziruo's emotional knots while teaching her to write the plot. He Yunxiao looked at Ziruo's blushing pretty face and couldn't help but feel that a dignified beauty in a shy expression had its own charm. To probe the emotional knots while outlining the plot, He Yunxiao had to ruin the beautiful image of "the shy beauty." "Ziruo." Before the flush on Fan Ziruo's face had faded, she answered hastily as soon as she heard He Yunxiao call her, "Yes." "Shouldn't we be discussing the novel?" When she heard about the novel, Fan Ziruo became serious. "Yes, you just mentioned summarizing our story in one sentence." After she finished speaking, she thoughtfully handed the paper with the story over to He Yunxiao. Looking at the paper, He Yunxiao patiently explained, "Now we have a relatively clear story outline, but it's not enough. We still need an outline to expand on this structure." "Do you know what an outline is?" He asked. Fan Ziruo naturally knew. "An outline is the essence of the story." He Yunxiao continued, "Exactly! It's the essence. After breaking down these key points, it can still be further divided into setting outlines, plot outlines, emotional outlines, and character outlines." Pointing at the first sentence of the story on Fan Ziruo's paper "Fan Zi admires her senior brother He Xiao," he said, "The so-called setting outlines are the summary of various settings in the story. For example, here, Fan Zi is He Xiao's junior in their sect. What martial arts do they practice? What are the various martial arts sects in their world?..." Fan Ziruo nodded in understanding. He Yunxiao then introduced the "plot outline," "emotional outline," and "character outline," emphasizing, "In a romance novel, it's not about setting, but about the plot and emotions. The plot needs to have ups and downs in the ordinary, and emotions must be naturally developed. Without the former, it will be dull, and without the latter, it will feel forced." Fan Ziruo nodded again, indicating her understanding. Although Fan Ziruo was indeed a genius, He Yunxiao didn't believe that with just one listen, she could grasp how to write a novel, especially since she hadn't written much. So he asked her to write a plot outline for the segment "Fan Zi admires her senior brother He Xiao, and tries repeatedly but fails to 'give herself' to him," so he could take a look. Fan Ziruo agreed skillfully and took out her pen and paper, delving into writing. Seeing her demeanor, He Yunxiao felt uneasy. Could she really write it after just one listen? Was a genius really so indifferent to reason? He Yunxiao strolled behind her, observing her handwriting on the paper. After only reading two segments, He Yunxiao couldn't help but exclaim. Fan Ziruo had to convey three key points in the plot: "Fan Zi admires He Xiao," "wants to 'give herself' to him," and "fails repeatedly." The first plot she wrote on the paper was about "senior brother and junior sister going on a mission, and He Xiao heroically rescuing her." Although the plot was cliche, if the emotional description was accurate, it provided more than enough explanation for "Fan Zi admires He Xiao." The second plot was about "He Xiao being popular among the disciples in the sect." This plot was quite cunning, directly deepening Fan Zi's fondness for He Xiao and setting the stage for her desire to "give herself" to him. After reading these two plots, He Yunxiao no longer wanted to read more. He knew Fan Ziruo would have no problem with the plot design. Geniuses! Was there any fairness? Any justice? He Yunxiao was about to rebuke the unfairness of heaven when he realized that Ziruo was his wife and their future children would inherit her intelligence. He silently praised heaven. Seemingly prepared, Fan Ziruo wrote quickly and soon finished the first segment of the plot, handing the paper to He Yunxiao without a word. From the standpoint of the plot, Fan Ziruo's plot had no particularly outstanding aspects, but every segment was reasonable. This was already enough. In a romance novel, what's involved is not the plot but the development of characters and emotions between them. Fan Ziruo's plot met all the criteria. He wanted to say, "Ziruo, you've written it well." But he couldn't. He had other goals; he had to pretend to discuss the outline with Fan Ziruo, to probe into her emotional knots. Taking advantage of looking at the plot outline, He Yunxiao thought about the case where Ziruo's goodwill had increased slightly. At that time, inadvertently playing her betrothed and letting her increase her goodwill slightly. Later, trying the same, it didn't work. Why did it increase the first time and not the second time? Was it possible that the reason for the increase in goodwill was actually his attitude as her betrothed, not the sweet words he said to her? If his attitude as her betrothed could only appear once and sweet words could be said many times, then after she knew his attitude, he couldn't reproduce this incident, so the goodwill could only increase once. It didn't work the second time he tried because she wouldn't be surprised by it. But why did she increase her goodwill because of his attitude as her betrothed? Did she presume that he wouldn't marry her before? Why did she think that? He Yunxiao couldn't figure it out, so he refocused on Fan Ziruo's plot outline. In the plot outline, there was a segment where "He Xiao rejects the advances of Fan Zi, because he feels she's no more than just a junior sister to him." He Yunxiao couldn't quite understand, so he asked Fan Ziruo, "Ziruo, why does He Xiao reject Fan Zi here?" Fan Ziruo looked at the paper and explained, "Because although Fan Zi is his junior sister, her father and He Xiao are old friends." He Yunxiao understood. The reason He Xiao rejected Fan Zi was ethical. In simple terms, Fan Zi was like He Xiao's niece, so how could he make a move on her? The more He Yunxiao thought about it, the more something felt wrong. Since He Xiao didn't accept Fan Zi due to ethics, as the author, did Fan Ziruo having such thoughts mean she might not accept him due to ethics? Totally possible! It's no wonder she increased her goodwill after learning about his betrothal attitude, and it never increased before, no matter how he tried to increase it. She had never considered the "teacher-student" aspect before, so she was hesitant to think about it. Fan Ziruo attached great importance to these things. She was both his teacher and student, and it was natural for her to be cautious about this complicated relationship. Thinking back to when he first met Fan Ziruo, he tried to destroy their teacher-student relationship, to be her teacher, to prevent the current situation. Unfortunately, it happened. But now that he knew the reason for her emotional knots, it would be much easier to finally resolve them. *Tl: Soothsayer.io