Baili Qingyi took in the expressions of Xuan Hegu and the others, and said calmly, "My fiancée broke her leg a few days ago and is unable to walk properly. Please forgive her, Divine Doctor."
Xuan He suppressed his doubts: "But only patients are allowed to enter Baiwen Manor."
"Divine Doctor, the situation is special, please make an exception." Baili Qingyi insisted, his eyes glancing at Xuan Hegu, who cast a questioning look at the swollen-faced girl behind him. The girl nodded slightly.
“In that case, please come in, but everyone else must stay,” Xuan Hegu emphasized.
"Big brother!" Baili Hanyi questioned.
"Second brother, lead the men back to the inn and wait for my message." Baili Qingyi left the order without turning his head.
Chapter Thirteen: Sharing a Bed to Sleep Facing the Mountain (Part Two)
"Why did you..." Yin Wuxiao murmured, but only managed to utter three words.
Baili Qingyi carefully placed her on the bed. At this moment, there were only the two of them in the room.
Looking at her confused, struggling face, unsure of where to begin, Baili Qingyi chuckled:
"What do you want to ask? Why did I bring you here for medical treatment? Why did I say you were my fiancée? Why didn't I ask for your consent beforehand?"
Yin Wuxiao opened her mouth, then glared at him angrily. He had already asked her everything she could ask, and she had nothing left to say.
Baili Qingyi sat down beside her.
"A dignified young man in blue robes acting as a henchman, can't he even win a smile from a beautiful woman?" He frowned seriously.
Realizing he was deliberately trying to make her laugh, Yin Wuxiao couldn't resist granting his wish.
"Pretending!" she scolded lightly, her curved eyes betraying her thoughts.
"I brought you here, not because of your leg injury." Seeing her smile, he felt a little relieved.
Yin Wuxiao felt a chill run down his spine.
She knew he was referring to the "unfulfilled desires" within her.
"You should rest well. There are many mysteries in this Hundred Questions Manor. I may not be able to be by your side all the time. In case of any special circumstances, your safety is the most important thing."
“You mean…” she thought for a moment, “that the Qiong Sect didn’t show up today.”
Baili Qingyi nodded approvingly.
"Knowing there was danger, why did you come in alone?"
"Isn't it great that you're here with me?" He patted her head and smiled.
Yin Wuxiao lowered her head and remained silent. Seeing her like this, Baili Qingyi's heart softened.
"Have you considered your wet nurse's tragic past?"
Yin Wuxiao nodded, especially since the person who caused Aunt Nan's tragic fate had just been face to face with her.
"Want to find out the truth?"
Yin Wuxiao was taken aback, then smiled: "How could someone like Xuan Hegu be willing to reveal such a private matter?"
Baili Qingyi raised an eyebrow: "It's precisely because he refuses to talk that we need to investigate." He sat down next to Yin Wuxiao. "You call yourself a talented woman, how can you have such a lack of curiosity?"
Yin Wuxiao glared at him; she didn't actually want to trouble him.
Baili Qingyi knew exactly what she was thinking, so he reached out and took her hand, saying slowly and deliberately, "It's settled then. Let's investigate this thoroughly together!"
Yin Wuxiao blushed slightly, feeling a warmth like summer ivy gently creeping into her heart.
It was the next morning when I met Xuan He in the courtyard.
Apart from Xuan Hegu and the swollen-faced girl he had seen yesterday, the entire Hundred Questions Manor was deserted. Yin Wuxiao went to great lengths to find an excuse to send Baili Qingyi away, and then dragged his injured leg, trembling, to the outhouse.
After leaving the outhouse and passing through a corridor, I saw Xuan Hegu had set up a reclining chair in the courtyard on the other side of the corridor. He was leaning back on it, basking in the sun, and reading a medical book with great interest. He was twirling his gray beard with his hand, crossing his legs, and swaying back and forth, looking very content.
Yin Wuxiao felt a chill run down his spine.
Her Aunt Nan also loved to read in the morning sun, even though she knew it was a bad habit, she just couldn't break it. She even had a reclining chair specially made for Aunt Nan to use when reading in the morning.
Yin Wuxiao didn't realize that his eyes were slightly moist.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Xuan He didn't turn around and said, "Brew a pot of tea."
Yin Wuxiao asked softly, "Do you want the Sparrow's Tongue tea before the rain?"
Xuan He kept his body still and slowly turned around.
"How come it's you?" He immediately reverted to the arrogant and somewhat malicious expression he had when they first met. "The fiancée of the young master in blue, since you have a leg injury, you shouldn't be wandering around. Otherwise, your leg injury won't heal properly, and I won't be responsible for that."
Yin Wuxiao smiled coldly. This so-called miracle doctor actually didn't care about the lives of others at all.
"Please rest assured, Doctor Xuan, if my leg is crippled, I will never blame it on you."
Xuan He heard the sarcasm in her words and snorted.
Yin Wuxiao suddenly felt a surge of disgust towards him. This man was arrogant, rude, and narrow-minded; more importantly, he had caused a bright and cheerful woman to live a life of loneliness and misery. She turned and slowly walked back, each step aggravating her wounds and causing her unbearable pain, but she gritted her teeth and showed no sign of suffering.
Xuan He seemed oblivious to her difficult steps. After she had walked a short distance, he suddenly said calmly:
How did you know I'm used to drinking Sparrow Tongue tea before the rain?
"Just a guess. It's said that sparrow tongue can relieve the poison of 'flowing fire'."
Xuan He suddenly sat up, staring at her in shock.
He recalled a petite and charming woman who, with a sweet smile, held a cup of Sparrow Tongue tea in the morning sunlight and said to him, "It is said that Sparrow Tongue tea can relieve the poison of raging fire."
Xuan He opened his mouth, but said nothing.
He saw a person standing in front of Yin Wuxiao, the swollen-faced girl who had been following him all along.
He said somewhat flusteredly, "I read here every day. This girl came here on her own and disturbed my peace and quiet."
Yin Wuxiao was taken aback. Why was Xuan He explaining all this to that swollen-faced girl?
Xuan He glanced at the cold, swollen face of the girl, thought for a moment, and then said, "Please take this girl back to her room for me; she has trouble walking."
Yin Wuxiao looked back at Xuan Hegu with some surprise, only to see him abruptly turn his eyes away.
The swollen-faced girl glanced coldly at Yin Wuxiao, then reached out to help her up without saying a word.
Yin Wuxiao was slightly taken aback when she smelled a faint medicinal scent emanating from the girl.
Back in her room, she saw Baili Qingyi carefully holding a bowl of hot porridge, standing at the door, her posture rather comical. The swollen-faced girl helped her into the room and sat her down, then turned and left without even glancing at her. Yin Wuxiao thanked her behind her back, but she didn't react at all.
Yin Wuxiao felt that both people from Baiwen Manor were strange. He was frowning in thought when he met the gaze of Baili Qingyi, who was sitting upright at the table. He was scooping up some porridge with a spoon and gently blowing on it, but the spoon was too full and the porridge spilled out when he blew on it.
Yin Wuxiao found it amusing and said, "Is this the first time you've done something like serving someone?"
Baili Qingyi chuckled: "That's true. When I was a child and sick, my mother would always blow on the porridge before letting me eat it. I never imagined that there was such a thing as a way to cool down a mouthful of porridge."
Yin Wuxiao took the spoon from his hand: "It's not like my hands are useless. Do you expect me to feed you?"
Baili Qingyi shrugged, not insisting, and watched as she scooped up some porridge and put it in her mouth.
Seeing him like this, Yin Wuxiao smiled and brushed aside the skin on the surface of the porridge, scooped up a mouthful of hot porridge, and, imitating him, brought it to his lips, gently blew on it to cool it down, and then brought it to his lips.
Baili Qingyi was slightly taken aback.
The spoon stopped at his lips, and Yin Wuxiao was slightly taken aback.
She awkwardly withdrew the spoon and put it back in her mouth.
"The porridge at Baiwen Manor is really bad," she said with a bitter face.
"Then you can cook it for me next time," Baili Qingyi said.
Yin Wuxiao was inexplicably captivated by that gentle and tender smile, and subconsciously said, "Okay."
After eating a few mouthfuls of porridge, the doubts she had had in the courtyard resurfaced in her mind, so she recounted what she had just seen and heard to Baili Qingyi.
In her opinion, the girl didn't seem to be Xuan Hegu's servant, but rather more like a jailer monitoring Xuan Hegu.
The two exchanged a glance, their eyes lighting up.
"Qiong Sect".
"Bai Li Qingyi, if you were to leave the valley now to fetch reinforcements, could you fight the Qiong Sect to a standstill?"
Leaving the valley to fetch reinforcements sounds easy, but the labyrinthine formations of Hundred Questions Valley remain a formidable obstacle for most. Baili Qingyi pondered for a long while before saying, "I'm not confident I can defeat Mu Wanfeng, but I can try my luck. Right now, my concern isn't just about the Qiong Sect. All along our southward journey, a small group has been closely following me, but when I turn around to look for them, I can't find a trace of them. These are the people I'm most worried about. They don't seem to intend to fight us; instead, they seem to be confirming whether everything is proceeding according to their plan."
Yin Wuxiao's fingertips felt cold.
It could be someone from the Qiao Gang, someone from the Yuwen Mansion, or someone from the Nine Manors and Eighteen Societies. There are too many forces in the martial arts world, and anyone could get involved at this time.
However, Yin Wuxiao knew that this small group of people were the "Traceless" people.
The Five Evil Stars are members of "Wuhen" (无痕), Yin Bitong is a member of "Wuhen," and the most beautiful courtesan of the Luoyang Beauty Pavilion is also a member of "Wuhen." "Wuhen" first appeared in the martial arts world ten years ago, but it only truly rose to prominence and became a major threat to the righteous martial arts community in just three or four years. Now, "Wuhen" seems to have become a vast and insidious organization, like a giant anthill lurking beneath the surface of the entire martial arts world. Who knows which patch of earth has been disturbed, revealing a swarm of man-eating ants beneath?
If Cui Shenghan and Fang Yanzui joined "Wuhen" because of their fear of "Wuhen's" master, and Yin Zhangzhang joined "Wuhen" because "Wuhen" and she shared the same perverse interests, then why would people like Wu Xiexing and Yin Bitong, who are used to being free and fearless, also faithfully serve "Wuhen's" master?
Baili Qingyi falsely claimed that Lady Yun had awakened, attracting the "Traceless" assassins. The one who ordered Fangyan to kill Xu Dade, the richest man in Luoyang, in order to obtain another piece of the Blood Jade Linglong, was the master of "Traceless." Everything pointed to "Traceless."
A deep resentment settled in Yin Wuxiao's chest. Was the murderer in the Yin family massacre years ago... also sent by Wuhen?
Was that person also a "traceless" assassin? A sudden pang of pain shot through her heart.
Did that person kill all her relatives just for a piece of blood jade pendant?
She wanted to believe that was the case, but she knew in her heart that it wasn't.
"Xiao'er?" Baili Qingyi interrupted her meditation.
"Xiao'er, listen to me, if anything unexpected happens next, you must be careful to protect yourself, understand?"
Yin Wuxiao asked in surprise, "You just said a few days ago that you would protect me. What, are you going back on your word now and leaving me to fend for myself?"
Baili Qingyi glared at her, both amused and exasperated: "Stop being cheeky. What I mean is, if something unexpected happens, I might not be able to protect you, but I can at least hold you off for a while and let you leave first."
Yin Wuxiao frowned and pointed to his injured leg: "Look at me like this, how can I leave? I'll be killed before I can take two steps."
"..." Baili Qingyi's brows furrowed, and he stared at Yin Wuxiao with a solemn expression, as if she might disappear at any moment. After a while, his expression softened, and he touched the hair on Yin Wuxiao's cheek: "Alright, then you can stay and live and die with me."
"Don't leave me behind, just run away first." Yin Wuxiao curled his nose.
Chapter Thirteen: Sharing a Bed to Sleep Facing the Mountains (Part Three)