And Lin Ji'an... Lin Ji'an was a menace.
A smooth, incredibly arrogant, charismatic rogue who knew exactly how to dismantle a man's defenses.
Ji'an had done it to him in the herb garden; he had pinned him, smirked at him, and completely ruined his Dao heart.
The horrific, soap-opera deduction slammed into Jianheng's brain with the force of a falling anvil.
'He really is a flower thief,' Jianheng realized, his eyes widening in absolute, righteous horror.
In the orthodox world, a "flower thief" was a classic, despised archetype: a smooth-talking, dangerously attractive rogue who preyed upon the innocent and the vulnerable, stealing hearts and ruining virtues before moving on to the next conquest.
