FID – Chapter 1015

Chapter 1015 – Looks Too Stupid

Qian Yi was so angry that smoke seemed to puff from her nostrils.

How could there be a person like this!

“Xue Honglian, your mouth is so vicious, I really wonder how you survived out in the world! You probably made too many enemies with that mouth of yours and got forced to the northwest border just to escape, right?”

“Come on, tell me, how many enemies did you make? Ten? Fifty? A hundred?” Qian Yi snorted, snapping back with words, clicking her tongue. “Luckily you had the fortune to run into me and enter our Saintess Village. Even if those people want revenge, they can’t get in. Stay here peacefully from now on, try to fix that horrible temper of yours, and maybe I’ll consider looking out for you.”

Xue Honglian didn’t even bother to glance back. ‘Looking out for him?’ What a bold claim.

“Oh, why are you walking so fast? A man should have the poise of a man. Getting angry and leaving someone behind like that is unmanly.”

Seeing him get irritated made Qian Yi happy. That little bit of anger she had just now vanished instantly, and she scampered after him. “Hey, we’re at least partners, been through life and death together. Even though I keep calling you ‘Honglian, Honglian,’ that’s not your real name, right? Why don’t you tell me your real name? So that if we meet on the street later, I won’t embarrass myself by calling you Honglian.”

Seeing the girl’s persistence, a flash of malice crossed Xue Honglian’s eyes. He said each word deliberately: “My real name is Xue Honglian.”

“Hahaha! You’re joking with me. That name obviously belongs to your beloved! There’s no way it’s yours. Who’d call themselves by their own name when facing death? Stop teasing, just tell me!”

The man stopped in his tracks and stared steadily at the laughing girl.

His calm, unshaken gaze made Qian Yi’s laughter grow increasingly awkward, until she couldn’t laugh at all. Moreover, she saw seriousness in his eyes.

He wasn’t joking.

“…” Qian Yi heard the sound of her own jaw hitting the floor. “But you told me before that your name was Xue Qinglian…”

“Qinglian is Qinglian, Honglian is Honglian.” The man glanced at her once and walked away.

It wasn’t until he disappeared from her sight that she finally said the words she had been holding back: “Aren’t they the same person?”

What’s with Qinglian and Honglian? Aren’t they both ‘Lian’?

No matter how much he refused to admit it, they were the same person—an unchangeable fact.

And yet he had to make it seem like they were two different people. Seriously, what’s wrong with him?

Also, calling out his name when they fell off the cliff was unheard of. At the moment of life and death, besides her, there was no one else he missed the most?

Or had he lived all these years with no one else in his life?

…So pitiful.

From jaw-dropping shock at first to deep sympathy for him, Qian Yi switched emotions with astonishing ease.

She wasn’t an ordinary person herself, so she could understand the world of a madman quite well.

Back in her courtyard, a package was immediately tossed down from upstairs. It contained the Xijiang snakes that Qian Yi had been longing for.

“Within two days, extract the venom from these.”

“No problem!” Qian Yi exclaimed with joy, hugging the snakes as if they were priceless treasures.

Seeing that he wasn’t completely inhumane, she forgave his sharp tongue.

Early the next morning, Qian Yu arrived at the courtyard and took the two of them out of the village, heading toward the main city: Mo City.

The so-called main city was actually a border town between Xiliang and Nanling.

Because of Xiliang’s special nature, it was extremely hostile to outsiders, so the border town was filled almost entirely with Xiliang citizens; foreigners were almost never seen.

Even if there were some, they were rare; merchants who had managed to obtain imperial clearance documents were an exception.

The Saintess Village was a little over twenty li from the main city, about a quarter-hour by carriage, which was not far.

Once they exited the village gate, Xue Honglian realized what the girl had meant the night before that once he entered the village, no one could come after him for revenge.

At the village gate, there was a watchtower with guards in uniform on duty. With his years of experience as an assassin, he could tell these people were no ordinary villagers.

Definitely not ordinary villagers.

And along the road from the gate, there were posts almost every few steps—guards every three steps, sentries every five.

Hidden in the forests lining the mountain path, eagle-eyed watchers were lurking as well.

This tight defensive network indicated, at every turn, that the village was far from ordinary.

Qian Yu and Qian Yi covered their faces with veils as soon as the carriage left the village.

Noticing the man’s puzzled look, Qian Yi cleared her throat and explained, “In our village, the women cannot show their faces to outsiders. When going out, we must cover ourselves with a veil. It’s the rule.”

Xue Honglian slightly raised an eyebrow. When he first met the girl, her face had been completely uncovered.

Understanding the meaning behind his raised eyebrow, Qian Yi secretly winked at him. Since Qian Yu was right beside her, she couldn’t explain openly, and planned to clarify later.

Fortunately, Qian Yu didn’t notice—or pretended not to. Xue Honglian, however, looked away faintly, clearly unable to watch her antics.

She looked too silly.

Glancing around, seeing that neither of the two beside her were paying attention, Qian Yi secretly relaxed.

If the elders found out she hadn’t covered her face that day, they would have torn her apart.

She hadn’t meant to reveal her face deliberately. It was just that wearing the veil made it far too easy for those people to identify her…

The main road leading out of the village was a bit bumpy, so the carriage couldn’t travel too fast. It took nearly half an hour to reach the gates of the main city.

From a distance, the clamor of the city could already be heard.

Qian Yu took out a token and showed it to the city gate guards. They immediately let them pass, without the strict inspection usually given to outsiders.

Once inside the city, they stopped the carriage by the side of a street. Qian Yu helped the two of them down.

“I’ll go check on things at the border city inn. You two don’t need to come. The elders instructed that you handle purchasing the items needed for the engagement yourselves. Once that’s done, meet under the willow tree at the city gate.”

With that, the carriage drove off, leaving the two behind.

Qian Yi knew this was the elders and Qian Yu trying to avoid her appearing in front of the envoy, and she gave a quick nod.

Grabbing the man’s sleeve, Qian Yi hurried toward the street shops. “Let’s go see what we need to buy. Even though we won’t actually have the engagement, we need to make it look convincing. Otherwise, the elders will suspect something.”

Xue Honglian instinctively tried to shake off her hand, but the girl seemed to anticipate his reaction. She held on tight; if he tried to pull away, he’d have to fling her entirely.

Seeing her almost stubbornly mischievous smile, Xue Honglian closed his eyes and endured.

“Although I’ve never had an engagement, I’ve attended many ceremonies for older brothers and sisters in the village. I know exactly what to buy. Just follow me!” Patting her small chest, Qian Yi dragged him from shop to shop along the street.

Cloth shops, pastry stores, jewelry stores… anything that was red or festive-looking, she insisted on getting it.