The Young master's fake bride and her lucky system

He pushed his wheelchair even closer and took her right hand, holding it tightly between his two hands.

Alix inhaled shakily, unsure of what was going on. There was a large part of her mind screaming there was no way he meant what he had just said. Another part, a smaller one that was being shoved down forcefully kept trying to rise up and fill her mind with unrealistic expectations.

He smiled, opened his mouth and said, "You are the best, our Alix. You are truly the best sister hulk. You aced the game like a pro and you are the most beautiful woman in school."

Her mouth fell open and she responded in shock, "Huh!"

The words he was using sounded a lot like the ones she had been shouting out to Wu Wei.

So it's not a confession of love, she realized.

"Are you making a joke?" she blurted out.

He smiled mischievously and shrugged. His hands went up and he said, "I am..."

"You are terrible at it." she cut him off rather quickly and told him. "Very terrible." She emphasized.

That was a dangerous joke to make because it was the kind which stirred emotions the wrong way. It could cause misunderstandings, disappointments and heartbreaks.

She turned on her heel and walked away from him, heading for the kitchen to get herself something to eat. She didn't plan on being angry with him for long because she was convinced it was too soon to expect him to love her.

"But do you love him?" the system asked her.

"Mmmm." she responded.

It said, "You are so focused on whether he loves you or not and what timeline is appropriate for him to actually fall in love with you but what about you, do you love him?"

She stopped at the kitchen counter and looked down at it with apprehensive eyes. She spent a lot more time convincing herself not to make the mistake of falling in love with him than she did allowing herself to fall for him.

After a few heartbreaks, she had learned never to mistake a man's smooth tongue, his kisses and caresses or gifts for love. Those things could be given with zero emotions.

The perfect example of a man like that was Du Fuzi who treated his three month girlfriends like royalty without offering emotional attachments.

The question posed by the system was quite heavy for her. Something that needed unpacking, layer by layer until the center was reached. She was not willing to face it, not now anyway.

"You are not my therapist, shut up." she replied defensively.

"Ouuuuh....." It chuckled.

Alix ignored it, bent down and pulled out a bottle of wine from the rack below. She checked one of the cabinets, got a glass and poured wine inside, filling it completely.

"Woah!" a voice said.

She looked to the entrance of the kitchen and noticed Caishen. He had chosen to follow her after she walked away from him.

"I hope that i am not the reason why you want to drown yourself in alcohol." he said.

His wheelchair approached her slowly and she stood still, eyes unwavering from his face as she waited for him to reach her. Her right hand was on the wine glass which was still untouched.

"I am sorry." he apologized as soon as he found himself within touching distance of her. "I should not have made a joke like that. I was trying to cheer you on like you had done for Wu Wei and i was hoping that you would laugh.

Her eyes moved from him to the wine glass. She wondered if she was making a mountain out of a mole hill. It was a harmless joke, there was no need to over react.

She told him that she liked him all the time so it was kind of the same situation.

"Mmm, i don't think so." her system chimed in. "If he makes that kind of joke often, it will be the same as playing with your heart. Being told constantly that he loves you when he doesn't mean that kind of love will mess with your head eventually. Just be honest and say it. The sooner you both wade through the mud the sooner you will get to clear water."

The system liked visualizing everything that it said so it created an animated image of them both swimming in muddy water, attempting to get to clear blue water.

Alix pushed the wine glass away. For a minute there, she was about to gulp it down without the helpful patch. She would have ended up stupid drunk.

"Alix," Caishen called her name softly. He raised one of his hands to touch her arm but had second thoughts and his hand fell back to his side.

He even clenched both of his hands to stop himself from reaching for her. Caishen was feeling unsure in this moment, unaware of what else to do to return them to where they were just before the words i love you slipped out of his mouth.

He should have known better than to say something to his wife that had many insecurities in relation to being loved. At this point, he had a feeling that even if he said he meant it, she would not believe him.

When that thought crossed his mind, he asked himself if there a part of him that meant it.

Had he really blurted it out simply as a joke. If so, then why did he pause and study her face before adding other statements to it?

He gulped and looked at the wine glass which was sitting untouched on the kitchen counter. Perhaps, he needed a drink as well, he thought.

His eyes were still on the wine glass when he heard her say slowly.

"Don't joke around like that next time."

He looked up at her and met her eyes directly. She was looking at him with a plethora of emotions hidden in her eyes. Even in that moment, his heart fluttered but Caishen was not sure why. Was it nerves?

"Such words can be misleading, they....." she stopped and took a deep breath.

She shook her head and said softly, "Some things should not be said so easily, especially in a relationship like ours. They should not be said if one doesn't mean them."

Laughter broke from her throat and she added, "It doesn't matter if it's just a joke."

Caishen said nothing. She wanted him to say something, anything at all.

She looked away from him and her eyes returned to the kitchen counter. She looked at it intensely as if she could somehow end this weird moment if she just kept looking at it. She took a few nervous breaths as she waited for him to go away.

"What if i am not joking?" he asked, softly.

Her head popped up very quickly and her shocked eyes darted to his face.

"What?" she asked in a whisper.

The words barely came out of her mouth. She was convinced that she had heard the wrong thing. That she had imagined it, and she had heard what she wanted to hear perhaps.

"What if i actually do like you?" he asked.