"I'll wait for Susu to wake up."
Qiu Su's eyelashes trembled. "I'm awake now. Bodhisattva, Jade Emperor, Kitchen God, whatever deity you are, take me away."
Pei Yuan picked up Qiu Su and got up. "We'll go back to our room first. Oh, you shouldn't sleep in the small building. We can't hold you like a son, and the bed isn't big enough. Su Su was complaining today that the small couch was uncomfortable."
The small fire that He Zhuo had just forcibly extinguished reignited. There are a few things a man can't accept: being treated like a stranger by a love rival, being seen as insignificant despite his strong will, and having his tender feelings taken as a joke. He's a man of passion, okay? Except for his age, he's got it all! But Pei Yuan's expression clearly treated him like a little kid. He's already a seventeen-year-old adult, is he showing off his height? He'll grow taller too!
He Zhuo rubbed his hands together, eager to fight Pei Yuan's retreating figure. Just as Pei Yuan disappeared behind a tree, he threw a wine cup at him, grimaced, shook his arm, and then sat back down in frustration, gazing sadly at the night sky.
As soon as Pei Yuan turned into another path, Qiu Su suddenly opened her eyes, broke free of her arms, jumped to the ground, and stared blankly to the side, muttering, "Where is the Mountain Lord?"
Seeing the two stop, the mountain lord squatted down and tilted his head to look at Qiu Su. Qiu Su glanced around, put her hands behind her back, and said, "Mountain lord, go back to your room and sleep." With that, she turned around without changing her expression and walked away with her hands behind her back.
The mountain lord turned to look at Pei Yuan, who suppressed a laugh and quickly followed, taking her hand and saying, "How about we discuss something?"
Qiu Su initially wanted to say, "Oh, I'm asleep. Please wait until I wake up if you need anything." But then she felt it was unlikely she was having a fit of hysteria, so she coughed, turned her head, and said, "Hey, why did you come downstairs?"
Well, it seems like he's still having a hysterical episode.
Pei Yuan's lips twitched, and he smiled, "The cut is long, but the injury isn't serious. Just be careful and you'll be fine."
"Oh." Qiu Su looked down at her hand that was being held, then looked up with a puzzled expression.
"Qingfeng Village is lacking a male head of household. How about I take on the role?"
Qiu Su blinked, looked up at the night sky, and said, "The moonlight is nice tonight. Eh? How did I end up here?"
"Yeah, didn't you go visiting relatives? You came back pretty quickly."
Pei Yuan smiled and looked up, just in time to see a cloud obscuring the moon, and the surroundings instantly darkened.
"Oh, it looks like it's going to rain," Qiu Su explained kindly.
"Susu." Pei Yuan raised his hand and grasped her shoulder, a smile playing on his lips. "Stop pretending, I'm serious."
There are plenty of things to be serious about, but for someone who won't even reveal their identity to talk about being serious is as ridiculous as her claiming to be repaying a debt of gratitude when she saved those creatures. Back then, she saved a snake, and she was serious about it too, but the snake still repaid kindness with enmity, biting her horse and running away. Back then, she saved a rabbit, and she was serious about it too, but the rabbit still ate her carrot and ran away. Back then, she saved a dog, and that dog…
"Susu?"
"Hmm?" Qiu Su came back to her senses, and frowned slightly with a rather mature air, saying, "It's hard to say about taking this seriously."
Pei Yuan led her back by the hand, but Qiu Su struggled. He simply put his arm around her waist. Qiu Su coughed and offered her hand, saying, "Um, let's keep holding hands."
Pei Yuan chuckled and took the other's hand.
"If I hadn't been abducted to the mountain, or if it had been another man who was abducted instead, would Susu have really become the bandit's husband?"
"Well, that's the plan. If they agree."
"Is Susu in such a hurry to get married?"
"It's not about getting married, it's about taking a husband."
Whether she married or took a husband, it made no difference to her. She had been orphaned since childhood and grew up on Qingyuan Mountain. The He Xu couple and the Zhou Tong couple were among the closest to her, raising her as their own child, yet treating her as their mistress when matters arose, leaving the decision to her. But on this matter of choosing a husband, the four of them didn't give her a chance to object. Ever since she came of age, they had been constantly reminding her that it was time to get married. Their old master's greatest wish before his death was simply to see her find a good home and to hold her grandson soon.
She had no memory of her parents, having lost them at a young age and never lacking in love. Knowing they were no longer alive, she figured knowing more would only cause her distress and inevitably unravel a series of complicated and troubling matters, so she wasn't particularly interested in investigating. Although she hadn't asked, from their vague mentions, she roughly knew that her father was a great general, but why he died young, and why she was the only one left living on Qingyuan Mountain, remained a mystery.
The four were direct and concise enough, putting "a good home" second instead of first in their wills, their eyes blatantly fixed on "grandson." This is why Zhou Tong would carry a man up the mountain every month or so, wash him clean, and throw him onto Qiu Su's bed.
But marrying this man in front of me? That seems a bit troublesome.
"What is Susu thinking about?"
I'm thinking... as Buddha said, it cannot be spoken.
Qiu Su spoke tactfully, "I don't know your background..."
"I've never hidden anything from you, have I?"
Well, that's true, but the eldest son of Prime Minister Pei in the capital doesn't seem like the kind of person who could marry into a mountain stronghold and become a bandit chief.
"Shouldn't you be coming down the mountain?"
"Is Susu trying to get rid of me?"
I was subtly expressing my doubt: when did we become so familiar? Qiu Su looked down at the large, well-defined hand that held her soft little hand, raised an eyebrow, and thought to herself, "What do you mean?"
"Susu." Pei Yuan stopped in his tracks. "When will the wedding be held?"
Qiu Su frowned slightly, about to speak, when Pei Yuan pressed a finger to her lips and said ambiguously, "Don't refuse, it's no use refusing. Since you've touched, hugged, and pressed down on me, how can you not take responsibility? My innocence is something most people can't afford to lose."
Qiu Su's forehead twitched violently as she avoided his gaze and said, "It seems that it's already quite late."
"Yes, my wife, let's go back to our room."
A thunderbolt struck her mind, and Qiu Su stumbled.
"My wife, are you tired? Would you like me to carry you?"
"Well, it is indeed late. Uh, I'll just use my legs."
"I'm glad my wife is happy."
"Ahem, just call me Qiu Su or Su Su."
"The other wives say it's fine, but this one thing is not good at all."
"Hmm, a tongue twister?" Qiu Su glanced at the mountain lord, who was walking without looking where he was going but whose eyes were darting around watching them. She rolled her eyes helplessly, so she didn't warn him when a tree appeared in front of him. Unexpectedly, the mountain lord stopped when he was still an inch away from the tree stump, strained his ears to listen to his surroundings, took a step back, barked twice into the darkness, and even let out a threatening "woof woof."