I’m An All Stars System - Chapter 17 2.2 Star Painter

For the sake of her future meals, she’ll endure her hunger for now. Putting on a serene expression, she followed the other servants towards the dining hall where her half-brother is having his meal. The servants that noticed her only glanced at her for a second before resuming their walking speed, she couldn’t help herself from staring at the covered-up plates of foods that they were holding, the smell was too tantalizing for a hungry Princess.

Noticing that her speed was dropping, she steeled herself to forget about the food for now and swallowed the drool that was about to come out and increased her speed to match the servants beside her.

Finally, she saw them enter a huge building that had its wide dark brown doors opened to it’s sides, a sign at the center top of the doors read, ‘Wang’s Main Dining Hall’, at the bottom of it were two horizontal stone steps that acted as stairs to help one mount the hall. In addition, besides the servants that rushed in to place the plates of food on a huge round dark wooden table at the center of the hall, there were also four guards stationed outside on the left and right sides of the doors. She stood on the left side of the door, leaning against it as she peeked into the hall to locate her half-brother.

Surprisingly, there were guests seated on the table. Through a dark brown beaded curtain, she saw a well-kept middle-aged man and woman, and a young woman around her age sit across from a perfectly dressed young man. Their voices weren’t loud, so she couldn’t tell what they were saying but judging by how the middle-aged man’s and woman’s fake smiles was trying to please the young man, they were probably here to ask something from him.

The young woman sitting at the table wasn’t talking but Tian He could still catch the furtive glances now and then she was giving to the young man that sat across from her. She looked at the young man, his mannerisms were flawless, even though she could tell he wasn’t interested in what the middle-aged man and woman were saying because he was only nodding his head and saying only one syllable words, he never stopped his cordial smile and attention on them.

Woah, not offending them, but also managing to maintain the appropriate politeness towards them. As expected of this ‘competent’ half-brother of hers, he’s going to be hard to fool, judging by his actions just now, he must have a lot of experience in dealing with people who have ulterior intentions.

By now, all the servants had finished placing all the foods on the table and retreated outside, some of them went back on the road she took to come here, and the others remained standing by the tableside, probably to help serve the food.

Finally, she saw the middle-aged man and woman stop talking once her half-brother gestured ‘politely’ towards the food on the table. Seeing this, the middle-aged man and woman showed an unwillingly expression for a second before they quickly reacted and also gestured towards the food, the young man nodded slightly and started to eat, not wanting to appear impolite, the middle-aged couple and the young woman also began to eat.

She stared at the delicious food going into their mouths, unconsciously, her mouth mimicked the movements of her chewing food and she swallowed a huge gulp of her saliva.

Her eyes glinted with determination, they’re finally eating!

She thanked the heavens, if they continued their ‘important’ conversation, she wouldn’t know how long she would have lasted before her stomach started growling out loud, if that happened, there isn’t a hole anywhere she could crawl into to avoid embarrassment.

Bracing herself, she bravely stepped forward slowly, she didn’t forget to keep in character and hung her head down slightly to appear like she was afraid of ‘intruding’ into their meal to meet with her half-brother.

Noticing her presence, the people seated at the table stopped their movements and looked at her. The middle-aged couple looked questioningly at the person who ‘interrupted’ their mealtime but didn’t voice out their complaints since they noticed she wasn’t wearing a servant attire, so she had to be a Young Miss from somewhere and judging by how the young man was not having her dragged out, he knows this Young Miss.

It appears that the young woman also knows who she is, although she masked it quickly, Tian He still managed to catch the hint of jealousy from the corner of her eyes. The original owner does not know this young woman but since she has such unfriendly eyes, she’s not going to associate herself with her.

Wang Cheng Da saw his younger half-sister walk in, as usual she always had her head down and walked with weak steps, he rarely saw this younger sister of his but that weak and gloomy impression of hers never changed. He also knew that she was afraid him, but he didn’t bother rectifying that because he was only responsible for providing her with food and living quarters. Nevertheless, the same young sister who’s supposed to be scared of him actually had the courage to seek for him, this is new. Curious, he gave her his undivided attention and waited for her to speak.

Arriving just a few steps away from the round dining table, Tian He curtsied politely and started speaking in a soft voice.

“Xiu Ying greets elder brother.” She looked up for a second to glance at him before hanging her head down again, she needed to appear afraid yet ‘forced’ to speak.

However, that second-long glance was all she needed to capture the man’s facial features. She saw that half of his black hair was secured to the back of his head and hung loosely down his shoulders. His sharp dark brown eyes and lightly tanned roman-shaped nose did well to enhance his masculine features. The strong jaw below his semi-full pale red lips and the small beauty mark beneath his right eye added charm and balance to his other strong features. In one glance, she knew that this man was not to be trifled with, he was handsome but dangerous. Too bad he had that small beauty mark underneath his right eye, her impression of him couldn’t help but dim dramatically since she felt nothing but annoyed when looking at something that reminded her of that shameless 2nd Prince from her last mission world.

Looking at this timid Young Miss in front of them, the middle-aged couple unconsciously felt empathetic for her, who wasn’t afraid of the cold and stone-like young man who successfully ruled and controlled one of the major territories, especially the rumors about his cold-heartedness towards the opposite sex. Most of the woman that liked him were all too afraid to try to melt that icy heart of his.

As soon as the Young Miss spoke, the young woman sitting at the table watched her attentively, wondering what her purpose here is. If she had never coincidentally saw this young miss greet the exalted Wang clan’s young leader as her elder brother one time at her Arts college, she would have never known that such a timid and gloomy person was actually Xiu Ying, the adopted daughter of the Wang clan. Although her paintings were skillful, she was nowhere near this seemingly timid woman’s level, and add to the fact that she had the Wang clan to back her up, she became irritated at her presence.

When Cheng Da heard his younger sister speak, he thought her voice sounded a bit pleasant, he unconsciously relaxed a bit and caught her one-second glance at him. He felt that she looked like a small timid dear that was using all its courage and strength just to take a curious glance at him, even though she lowered her head quickly, his soul strength was strong enough to capture every detail of it. His lips couldn’t help but curve a bit upwards, this younger sister of his is a bit amusing today.

“Younger sister, what brings you here today?” His voice sounded half-curious and half-amused.

Even though her head was lowered, she still managed to catch the amusement in his low masculine voice. Damn it! If she didn’t require his help and couldn’t go out of character, she would have long ditched this annoying Mansion to raise money herself with her painting skills for her self-care needs.

Catching the quick wrinkle of her brows, Cheng Da’s mouth curved even upper and his eyes lighten up a bit, her second-long angry face was even more amusing; although her control over her emotions were impeccable, his soul strength’s perceptiveness was stronger, catching small details like that was easy. Looking at her face, he wanted to see more of her amusing expressions.

“Seeing how elder brother is rarely home today, Xiu Ying wondered if it was alright for me to join you in your meal?” She quickly glanced at him again before bringing her down again.

Cheng Da didn’t miss the hopeful yet timid dear like eyes directed at him, except this time, he managed to catch a glimpse of the clear brightness contained within them; there was a slight pleasant feeling in his heart, but when she looked down again, he couldn’t see them anymore and the pleasant feeling disappeared. A bit irritated she hid them so quickly, he nonchalantly replied.

“Well now, how unexpected for younger sister to request me of this, pray tell, what specific reason changed your mind today to eat with me?”

She was starving, but he was questioning her reasons?! It’s obvious that she’s f*cking hungry and wanted to eat his delicious food, once that’s done, she can ‘casually’ mention how she was being neglected by that nanny of hers, or else why would a ‘timid’ girl like her even meet with the one person she’s super afraid of, he even sounded a bit irritated, why?! She should be the one that’s irritated okay!

Calming herself, she wondered what exactly does he want? Since his earlier speech was so nonchalant, he didn’t care at all for her reasons for coming here, but she couldn’t figure out what he wanted. Since she couldn’t guess it, she’ll just drag this out until his face cracks, then he’ll have no choice but to let her eat here.

Seeing her brows wrinkle even deeper but this time in anger, he widely smiled. He was no longer irritated but amused again, and his curiosity was peaked, let’s see if he can see more of her interesting expressions.

Incidentally catching the quick smile on Cheng Da’s face, the young woman grew even more irritated at Xiu Ying, she actually managed to make the cold-faced young leader smile?! He had never genuinely smiled at her, even after all her advances towards him, why her?!

Her heart couldn’t help but feel jealous, she couldn’t stand further interactions between them, she needs to stop this from continuing.

“Clan Leader Wang, your younger sister looks familiar to me, I wonder if you could introduce us?” Looking at his face slightly with her eyes, she is a bit afraid but more so determined to claim this man as hers.

A bit angry at this young woman’s interruption, Cheng Da didn’t want to reply to her, but the Shi Clan Leader and his wife is present, he stoned his expression and replied in a hurry.

“This is my younger sister, Xiu Ying.” He slightly smiled while pronouncing her name in a lighter tone than his usual.

Tian He was irritated that the young woman interrupted her before she could speak, she glanced in her direction a bit before looking back down. This young woman wasn’t looking at her at all, she’s only pretending to make small talk in order to grab away her half-brother’s attention. Hmph, if she thinks it’s working against her purpose, then she couldn’t be anymore wrong. She would never skip out on the chance to avoid the hard to work with half-brother of hers, getting these people to invite her to sit and eat is going to be easy.

She kept her head down and softly spoke. “Hello, Xiu Ying greets elder brother’s guests. I hope I’m not interrupting for wanting to join in.”

Since Clan Leader Wang already introduced her, the middle-aged man and woman couldn’t be impolite. They hurried to reply to her.

“Of course not, Young Miss Xiu Ying does not need to be polite to us in your own home.” The middle-aged man was slightly curious about this adopted daughter of the Wang clan.

“Yes, I agree. Young Miss Xiu Ying, please sit.” This adopted daughter of the Wang clan is too timid, nothing compared to her daughter.

Haha, checkmate. I finally get to sit down and eat, her lips and eyes couldn’t help but smile in delight.

Shi Zhang Li heard her parent’s words and couldn’t say anything else, she glared a bit at Xiu Ying before quickly looking away, since she couldn’t stop her from staying, she’ll make sure to keep her from talking to Cheng Da later.

Cheng Da watched in curiosity and with a bit of admiration at how his younger sister ‘easily’ maneuvered herself a seat at the table with just a few simple words. When he wanted to say something to stop her actions, he caught how her eyes lit up in a smile and the words that were about to escape his throat stopped midway. He felt that the combination of the brightness in her eyes and her pleasant looking smile made her look so much more alive. For some reason, his heart liked seeing this due to the incredibly pleasant feeling that it was giving him.

Tian He was ecstatic that she could finally move from her position, she swore that if she stood any longer, her weak legs would freeze and become stiff. She didn’t know how much longer her weak body could stand without any energy. When she moved her right leg forward to walk towards the seat in front of her, she suddenly felt an intense wave of dizziness hit her, her body couldn’t help itself from quickly losing its balance. She felt her right leg rose in a bit in the air then immediately afterwards, she lost feeling in both of her legs and a free-falling feeling appeared as her eyes suddenly could only see the ceiling.

She was confused. What’s happening?

It didn’t take long for her to realize that she was falling, and her heart started to throb in panic, she tried to control her body to stop it, but it felt like her body was foreign to her, she couldn’t feel anything from it. She was scared of the pain that will follow right after her head hits the ground, she reflexively shut her eyes and prayed that her head wouldn’t be too badly injured .

Chen Da’s eyes abruptly open wide in shock and panic when he spots the sudden scene in front of him, his fast pounding heart quickly signals his legs to launch all its strength and stretch out his arms to catch the falling figure.

“Thump.” When Tian He was already imagining the worst, she suddenly felt her body land on something soft. It took her a moment before she realizes that she didn’t hit the ground and was actually saved, she instantly relaxes the breath she’d been holding, and calm downs her frighten nerves.

Chen Da’s throbbing heart was pounding so loud that it was threatening to escape his chest, his semi-shaking arms held the warm figure in front of him, even now his fear isn’t diminished. Looking at her with her eyes closed, new fear was about to erupt, almost sending his increase pounding heart out of his chest, but thankfully a millisecond later, he noticed that her eyelids started fluttering open.

Tian He opens her eyes slowly in curiosity to see who saved her but ends up shocked frozen by the scene in front of her. Her half-brother actually saved her but before she could contemplate why, she noticed that he kept staring right at her. Incidentally, her direct line of sight fell onto those eyes that were currently looking intensely at her, she thought that his eyes were beautiful, like a small galaxy that told many stories. A sudden curiosity sprouted from her and she wondered what experiences he had to have such mysterious looking eyes.

Unfortunately, her curiosity was doused when she caught the slight desire in his heated gaze, the longer she looked, the more scared she became, she instinctively moved her hands to push him away.

When Chen Da looked into her eyes, his fast beating heart finally relaxed, and a slight smile started to form but quickly disappears when he felt her try to push him away, annoyed by her movements, he tightens his arms around her and lifts her up from the ground.

When she was about to say something to him to let her go, she felt his arms squeeze her body and suddenly, she’s off the ground.

She panicked, what is this half-brother of hers trying to do?!

Her eyes were wide open in disbelief and nervousness, she instinctively wanted to get away, pushing against his firm chest and moving her daggling legs on his strong arms was all she could do because his grip on her was too tight and she barely had any space to move, basically her arms were trapped between his chest and herself.

“Be good.” A bit irritated, did this younger sister of his want to fall?

His arm furthers tightens his hold on her to make sure her extra movements don’t shake her out of his grasp.

Feeling the extra strength used to hold her, she couldn’t help but curse, this body is way too weak, just a little squeeze and her muscles are already in pain. Her head was almost buried inside his embrace and her arms was so squished that they didn’t even have the strength to move. Does he want to squeeze her to death? Can’t he tell that this body of hers is fragile? And he has the audacity to tell her to be good, I’ll tell you to be good, I’ll tell your whole family to be good!

Damn it! Calm, I need to remain calm. Breathing deeply, in and out, she slowly relaxes a bit. Even if she wanted to punch him in the face and kick him in his stomach, she couldn’t do that now since this body of hers didn’t even have the strength to escape his hold.

Fine, since I can’t get physical with you, I’ll just use my other strengths.

“Elder brother, you’re squeezing me too hard, it hurts.” She flutters her eyelashes while her moist eyes look up at him. This Princess has already mastered acting long ago, let’s see how long you can continue to hold me now that I’m ‘crying’.

Hearing her voice and seeing her almost tearful eyes gaze at him, Chen Da’s heart couldn’t help but beat a bit faster, this time it is wasn’t in panic, but in excitement; her bright eyes looked up at him were moist and pleasant, her wavy eyelashes that glisten from the residue tears were unconsciously tickling his heart with each flutter. Feeling pity for her tears, he relaxed his hold on her a bit but didn’t remove his gaze from hers. The longer he looked, the faster his heartbeat became; her soft but nice voice combined with those eyes that gazed back at him did nothing but amplify that effect, a sudden feeling of fullness and comfortable pleasure began to quickly overwhelm him. Suddenly, a temptation to touch those lovely clear bright eyes of hers appeared inside of him, however; it was reluctantly pressed down since he didn’t want to lose his hold on her, for some reason, he felt that if he were to let go, his heart might go with it.

His gaze that remained on those eyes for a moment started to linger on her other facial features, studying it, he realizes that her pale white skin was so translucent that it looked like the sun rays had never touched it, just like a fragile porcelain doll. His eyes made their way down from her delicate thin nose and lands on her small light red lips, he suddenly wonders if they felt as soft as they looked. His curiosity pushes his head to lean in closer to her face, suddenly, he caught a whiff of her scent, it smelled of sweet honey, it incidentally added onto the comfort of his heart the more he inhaled.

He grew intoxicated with this scent. More, he wanted to smell more of it.

His desire was ignited and the feeling in his heart besides comfort became fascination and excitement, with each whiff, he felt it pound faster and stronger; his gaze that never left her soft lips suddenly deepens and his head leans in even closer. Then, his mouth unconsciously opens a bit bigger to get ready to bite onto those enticing lips in front of him, he felt that his mouth and throat was dry, like something was burning it; his intense craving to quench it was eating at him. Her sweet honey scent and delectable lips were pestering his heart continuously for a taste, obeying his passionate beating heart, he reflexively opens his mouth bigger to finally relieve his hunger.

Tian He felt his grip on both her back and legs get tighter as his face got closer to hers. She tried to push him away, but her trapped arms were too weak to stop the speed of his approaching face, she saw his mouth open bigger and instantly knew what he wanted to do.

“Gulu..gulu.” Chen Da’s lips halted just inches above Tian He’s after hearing the growling sounds of her stomach, waking him up from his thoughts, he saw her nervous and panicking eyes stare back at him and felt her hands pushing against his chest. He cursed inwardly for his sudden actions, seeing how scared she was of him, his heart couldn’t help but feel distressed.

Hearing the sounds of her loud stomach growling, Tian He was so relieved but also didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, she wanted to thank the Heavens that her stomach took this opportunity to break the awkward silence between her and her half-brother. His mouth just then was so close that she could feel his warm breath on her cheeks, his never-ending heated gaze and grasp on her had caused her heart to throb uncontrollably in fright and a nervousness.

“Shall we eat now?” Chen Da’s voice was still a bit husky from his earlier desire.

Tian He couldn’t be any happier to hear these words, she nodded her head feverously as if afraid that he’ll change his mind. Thank god! She can finally eat.

The Shi family couple and their daughter, Zhang Li, who was sitting at the table were too shocked by the sudden series of events that conspired in front of them. They could understand Clan Leader Wang’s quick actions of wanting to catch his falling younger sister, but what they couldn’t comprehend was why his face suddenly dip downwards as if he wanted to kiss her. Their minds and heart shook in shock at his ambiguous behavior towards his own sister, even if she was adopted, this is still absurd.

Zhang Li clenched her teeth in anger, she had already suspected that this talented Xiu Ying would seduce her man, seeing it up close only made her more infuriated and annoyed at this Xiu Ying’s existence. It was enough that she was stealing her thunder at Arts college but trying to steal her man on top of it all was making her insane. Everyone at Arts college already knows that she had long liked this young clan leader, this Xiu Ying is actually despicable enough to mock her when she’s right in front of her.

She tried to control her clenching hands from wanting to pull her away from him by clutching at her skirt instead. Glaring at the her who was nonchalantly eating across from her, Wang Xiu Ying! I’ll get you back for this humiliation!

Tian He was happily digging into her food and ignored the surroundings, she was just too hungry to think about anything else. When she bit into a fried chicken, she tasted the crispiness of its skin and juiciness of its soft meat, this combination of flavors that instantly erupted in her mouth was beyond mouth-watering, it was the best fried chicken she had ever tasted.

Suddenly, a slightly tanned large hand came into her vision and a new piece of fried chicken was placed on her plate.

Her heart felt awkward and a bit afraid of this half-brother of hers, before she met him she was just planning on building a superficial relationship with him to get her task completed but now looking at him, it was obvious that it was impossible. His gaze was too intense and heated, she felt like he was a beast that wanted to eat her, she really didn’t want to get involved with him in that area.

Elder brother oh elder brother, if you’re horny, there are plenty of young woman who would sleep with you with your status, this body is off-limits.

Not letting her annoyed expression show, she turned and nodded her head in thanks before returning her attention to her food. However, she didn’t get to enjoy it further because she felt a piercing gaze directed at her from the seat beside hers, it was so intense that she felt like it could drill a hole into her. It started making her body tense up and it couldn’t help but freeze. Whenever she tried to move, the gaze directed at her would increase in intensity, it felt like his eyes were burning her, she didn’t know if this was the effect of someone with a strong ‘soul strength’ but at least she knew that it was getting in the way of her eating her food.

Since she was only half-full, she needed to say something or else she won’t be able to eat anymore.
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