This Is Definitely Not a Proper Journey to the West!

[Temporarily changed to an ancient academy version. My personal setting is that immortals will descend to the mortal realm to undergo tribulations. I'll revise it further before writing.]

Gao Cuilan knew from childhood that he had a fiancee from the demon clan.

He had met her.

She lived in the countryside, was clever and cute-looking but rather simple and honest, ate a lot, and habitually called him Big Brother.

A few simple details made up his entire impression of her.

He couldn't say exactly what he felt for her. He only knew that although his family looked down on her origins, he didn't seem to mind marrying her and spending his life with her, even if it meant a dull, utterly ordinary life.

Then she came to stay at his home so she could attend the academy more easily, and his peaceful, orderly life gradually began to change in subtle ways.

At first, unfamiliar people started appearing at his home more and more often. Some of them had looked down on her before and now came to apologize.

Then he kept seeing different people go home with her, eat with her, or head out on missions with her.

And when he came down with a minor illness and missed one day at the academy, countless people came asking after him, politely inquiring whether his condition had worsened and when he was going to die.

He had never been able to make sense of it, until one day he happened to come across a fellow disciple tutoring her.

The young man had white hair and red eyes. He had a nasty personality and liked causing trouble at the academy.

Now, however, his clothes were disheveled, and he sat slumped in a chair, his eyes reddened.

And her hand was pressed against his chest.

"Bao'e," Gao Cuilan said, doing his best to keep his voice calm. "What are you doing?"

She looked honest and simple as she stared blankly at him without a word.

He asked again.

Only then did she slowly answer, without moving her hand at all. "Big Brother, don't worry. He kept saying he was hot and cold, then took off his clothes and asked me to check whether anything was wrong with his body. I was only trying to help."

*

He used to think she called him Big Brother out of politeness. Later, he discovered she had countless "big brothers."

Theme: Courage is the best companion for exploring the world.