The Fake Childhood Friend

"The two opened their eyes in confusion and saw a masked swordsman kneeling amid the raging flames. He looked to be around twenty, tall and slender, with handsome, refined features.

Chu Zhan stared in astonishment. Rouyuan cried excitedly, 'It's you?'

'It's me.'

As he spoke, the young swordsman held out his hand to them. 'Come on.'

The End, "

What do you mean, "It's you"? Who are you? You haven't appeared at all in the previous two hundred chapters! Liu Pinyun grumbled furiously at the words she'd copied out herself.

The reason she was so furious with a tragic romance was that she'd transmigrated into it as a disposable extra, a righteous passerby type: the heroine's personal maid.

If nothing changed, five years later she'd have to take the runaway heroine's place and marry the second male lead, who would then arrange for her to "die suddenly" out of spite.

She wouldn't live long enough to see the ending ten years later.

If she could, Liu Pinyun really wanted to ask that swordsman who appeared out of nowhere how he managed to make it to the final chapter when the main cast's relationships were such a tangled mess of people pairing off with whoever they pleased...

It must be because he was skilled at martial arts, right?

"Skilled at martial arts?"

The person who asked was Qiu Shan, only nine years old. She was obedient and good at keeping secrets, and, like Liu Pinyun, she was currently a little maid.

Liu Pinyun gave a noncommittal answer. "Mm, skilled at martial arts. I admire people who are good at martial arts."

"How skilled do you have to be?" Little Qiu Shan pressed.

Liu Pinyun replied offhand, "At least they'd need a Golden Bell Shield and an Iron Shirt, and..."

She rattled off all the martial arts techniques she could remember from novels, but noticed that the more she said, the more solemn little Qiu Shan's expression became.

Liu Pinyun was a little confused. "What's wrong?"

Several years later, Qiu Shan asked her, "So what are the Golden Bell Shield and the Iron Shirt? I've searched for years, but I've never found these martial arts techniques." She sighed. "I'm still not as amazing as you said, Yun'er."

Liu Pinyun silently broke into a cold sweat. "...Well, not exactly. Basically... don't take my nonsense seriously..."

[Before you read]

1. Half household life, half martial arts world, but there's no family infighting.

2. Although the title makes it sound that way, the two characters didn't actually grow up together. This useless author couldn't think of a better title. (.

Theme: Strive to be self-reliant even in adversity.