FID – Chapter 999

Chapter 999 — Little girl, are you messing with me?

The girl refused to give up and reached out again to tug at his face. Smack—her hand was slapped away once more.

“Stop hitting me—look, it’s all red!” Qian Yi held up her reddened hand in front of the man, her eyes glistening with pain. “You can’t blame me for being curious. Your face changes too fast! Suddenly you’re one way, then the next. Anyone else would’ve been scared off. It’d be strange not to be scared off by you.”

Xue Qinglian’s eyes darkened. “Scared off?”

“It’s actually not that serious. Look—I didn’t get scared off.”

Thinking he was restraining himself because he felt upset, Qian Yi hurried to comfort him. She even generously patted his shoulder. “Don’t be sad. I know you’re not crazy. You talk and act clearly and logically. Your temper is just a bit bad, that’s all.”

“No. You’re wrong. I am crazy.” He brushed her hand away, speaking with complete seriousness. “My illness has another name. It’s called being a lunatic. It acts up unpredictably, and when it does, I change my expression. So do me a favor and stay away from me. I’m afraid when I ‘change face’ I might strangle you.”

“……”

Ignoring the dumbstruck look on the girl’s face, Xue Qinglian turned and walked back along the path.

Damn it. His emotional fluctuations were too intense—he actually changed face right then and there.

Now another person in this world knew his secret. Should he kill her or not?

Staring at the fork ahead with multiple paths, Xue Qinglian wiped his face and turned back. “I’m getting the hell out of this cursed place and going back to Nanling. How do I get out?”

The girl, who had been following cautiously, immediately bounced forward, smug. “I knew you’d need me.”

“Lead the way.”

“This way, this way!”

“You said earlier that Miaojiang is gone. What did you mean? Do you know this place?” Following the direction the girl pointed, Xue Qinglian asked casually.

To the outside world, Miaojiang was extremely mysterious. Few even knew its exact location. Yet this girl seemed unusually familiar with it. He didn’t quite believe her.

If Miaojiang had truly disappeared long ago, then hadn’t his whole trip been for nothing?

He has wasted so much time on something inexplicable. He might as well have stayed back at the Liu courtyard and waited to die. At least before dying he could eat a few more meals made by the old lady, tease the old man who was terrible at chess, bicker every day with Zhiqiu, and occasionally bully Qian Wanjin, that idiot.

And there were Nannan’s two little babies—he hadn’t even properly held them yet. He needed to hear the two kids call him ‘Godfather,’ see Feng Qingbai’s face turn dark with anger, and then he could die without regrets.

Suddenly he missed the Liu family courtyard. Missed the elders and youngsters of Xinghua Village. He even missed that group of rascals from Xiapo Village, missed that sinister, shameless, but fiercely loyal Elder An.

From the man, Qian Yi suddenly sensed a faint trace of sadness—so faint it disappeared instantly.

She almost thought she was mistaken. But there really was something soft flowing in his eyes—light, fleeting, the kind of expression one would have only when missing a certain someone or a certain place.

She had seen that look on someone else before. Every time she asked about it, that person would immediately change expression, eyes filled with hatred. Eventually, she no longer dared ask.

“Answer when you’re asked.”

“Oh.” Qian Yi snapped back to attention and hurried to reply. “Miaojiang really did disappear long ago. Everyone in Xiliang knows. I heard that many, many years ago, Miaojiang was right along the border of our Xiliang. Then something happened. No one knows what, but their people started fleeing everywhere. Later, Miaojiang became a dead land. As for the Miaojiang tribe, no one has been able to find any trace of them since.”

Seeing that the man had no reaction, his eyes dark and unreadable as if deep in thought, Qian Yi asked, “Why are you looking for Miaojiang? You don’t look very old. Don’t tell me you’re one of their descendants?”

“Did I give you permission to ask questions?”

“…” Staring at the man’s back, Qian Yi once again raised her claws to ‘beat him up.’ She thought since he’d been chatty for a moment, maybe his temper had softened just a little—but no!

Not at all!

He was just as terrible as when he had that ice-block face! And after being kissed, he even acted like he was the one who suffered a huge loss.

As if she wasn’t a virtuous maiden too!

The setting sun cast a slanted light; without the dense trees for cover, their shadows on the ground were perfectly clear.

Xue Qinglian glanced at the tiny shadow behind him, busy making fierce little punching motions for self-comfort. His mouth twitched. “Are you trying to hit me?”

“No! Absolutely not!” the girl answered instantly—fast, frantic.

A guilty conscience exposed.

Xue Qinglian let out a light snort, too lazy to expose her—such a tiny coward.

“Hey, I already told Ice-Block Face my name earlier, but in case you didn’t hear it, I’ll say it again. My name is Qian Yi. What’s your name?”

“At the very least, we’ve gone through life-and-death situations together. Can’t we exchange names? And you call yourself a grown man. Look at you, you’re not even as straightforward as a weak little woman like me. All shy and stingy—”

“Xue Qinglian,” the man replied casually, voice lazy and indifferent.

Letting a woman call him shy and petty… if money-grubber Qian Wanjin and the others heard that, they’d laugh themselves to death.

“Xue Qinglian? Qinglian… ‘pure lotus emerging unstained’—that’s beautiful!”

He glanced at her unexpectedly. “You know poetry?”

“I know lots of things. I just don’t like showing off.”

For some reason, Xue Qinglian suddenly saw a faint shadow of Qian Wanjin on this woman—both cowardly and narcissistic.

Thinking of Qian Wanjin acting timid, then looking at the girl in front of him, amusement flickered across his eyes before he could stop it.

“You just laughed!”

“I’m human, and humans laugh. Is it strange?”

“But the version of you earlier never smiled.”

“He is him. I am me.”

“You’re obviously the same person, yet you insist on separating ‘him’ and ‘me’. What a weirdo… No no no—you heard wrong—I said you’re a very interesting person, hahaha!”

From sunset until the moon rose high in the sky, the road was filled with the girl’s endless chatter.

Surprisingly, Xue Qinglian didn’t find it annoying. He had been alone for so long that having someone by his side making a bit of noise actually felt… not bad.

But when he finally saw the scene before him, his expression completely darkened.

Before them was a massive village. Standing on the slope at the entrance and looking down, one could see a sea of bright lights.

Tall and short bamboo houses were scattered throughout, creating a place full of distinctive charm.

But Xue Qinglian could swear on his medical ethics—there was absolutely no road here that led back toward the Nanling border.

“Let me ask you something, little girl, are you messing with me?”

Qian Yi blinked her innocent cat-like eyes and shook her head. “No. If you want to return to Nanling, you have to pass through here. This is the only route you can use to sneak out. If you want to leave openly through the border checkpoint, that’s impossible. First, you don’t have a Xiliang household record; second, you don’t have a border pass. If you walk the official route, you’ll be arrested and thrown in prison. You’ll be interrogated, maybe tortured, and might even lose your life.”

“So what you’re saying is, in order to ‘help’ me, you purposely brought me along some shady, crooked road?”

“We’re friends, right? If I don’t help you, who will?” Qian Yi puffed out her tiny chest proudly, straightened her waist, and waved her little hand. “Come on, I’ll take you to my house first. That hidden path is usually guarded too. We have to wait until the guards leave before we can sneak off. I’ve got experience!”

Xue Qinglian stared at her small figure, smiling warmly. “Little girl, I forgot to tell you: the endings of those who dare to deceive me are always terrible.”

“We’re friends! How could I deceive you? You really underestimate me!”