Peaceful Jianghu - Chapter 65
Xue Beifan shook his head, humbly indicating to Xiaodao for clarification.
Xiao Dao chuckled, "Because there are two bottomless pits, if you want to fill one pit with soil, you have to gradually hollow out your own."
Xue Beifan remained silent.
“Some gave up halfway and sank lower and lower, while others worked together and dug through the ground, eventually coming together.” Xiao Dao raised a finger and gently waved it. “There’s also a situation where one of them works particularly hard, completely emptying themselves and filling another pit. The person who took over on the other side comes out, either jumping down to join them or leaving on their own, leaving the other one alone waiting at the bottom of the dark cave.”
Xue Beifan noticed that the pedestrians on the street seemed to be walking faster, and there was a chill in the wind. He looked down at Xiao Dao and asked, "You mean, the Queen wants to find someone who is willing to empty himself?"
"It's just one possibility." Xiao Dao took out the red paper umbrella. "Or perhaps, the Queen has already emptied the pit once before, and there's no soil left in it. We can only wait for someone to risk their life to jump in and save us."
As soon as she finished speaking, she raised her hand and gently opened the red umbrella.
Xue Beifan looked up, the bright red of his face obscuring the gloomy sky above. He looked down, and Xiao Dao, smiling, took a step closer… Suddenly, the rain poured down.
40
[Nameless Fire]
"Speaking of which," Xue Beifan looked at the water droplets rolling on the ground and asked Xiaodao with a puzzled expression, "how do you always know when it's going to rain?"
Xiao Dao said with a hint of smugness, "It's a secret."
"Sigh." Seeing Xiaodao turn to leave, Xue Beifan quickly grabbed her. "Such a white dress, aren't you afraid of getting mud all over it?"
Xiao Dao looked down and immediately pouted—this Northwest region isn't like the Jiangnan region with its bluestone paved roads; here, it's all dirt roads. Water droplets don't even clump together after they fall; they just roll around. If you step on one, your skirt will definitely be ruined.
What a blunder! Xiao Dao was filled with regret; that dress was so expensive!
"I'll carry you?" Xue Beifan was quite eager. "Anyway, this outfit belongs to Chonghua."
"How shameless of you!" Xiao Dao said with a look of disdain. "Chonghua lent you his clothes and you still rolled around in the mud all over him?"
“Then you don’t understand.” Xue Beifan laughed even harder. “Chonghua would love for every piece of clothing to be covered in mud.”
Xiao Dao paused for a moment, then immediately understood, "Oh... you want Xiao Yue to wash him, huh? You men's little schemes."
"Want to come?" Xue Beifan asked her with a smile. Xiao Dao considered it for a moment. Being carried by him didn't seem like a bad deal. She glanced at her snow-white skirt again, "Hmm..."
"Hurry up, or the rain will stop."
"ah?"
"No, otherwise the rain would get even heavier," Xue Beifan quickly corrected.
Seeing Xue Beifan turn away with a grin, Xiao Dao still put her arm around his shoulder and jumped up, using Xue Beifan as a rickshaw driver while she held the umbrella for him.
Xue Beifan reached out to help, but Xiao Dao quickly slapped his hand away, saying, "Don't touch me like that!"
"Oh..." Xue Beifan took two steps forward. Xiao Dao wrapped one arm around his neck and held an umbrella in the other, still wondering, "So slow."
Xue Beifan's face turned bright red, and he finally managed to turn around, "Girl... let go of my hand, you're strangling me!"
Xiao Dao quickly let go, and Xue Beifan helped her up. Xiao Dao blushed and said to him, "Let's go back. We won't find out anything in this heavy rain."
"Yes, ma'am." Xue Beifan grinned and carried her back.
Meanwhile, several people were standing at the second-floor window of an inn not far away.
Standing at the very front was Qin Ke. She could see Xue Beifan running back with a small knife on his back clearly. She was digging her fingers into the wooden window frame, tearing off a lot of wood shavings, looking very unhappy.
"Junior sister," Fang Tongli said sourly, "what do you see in Xue Beifan? He's just a stray dog. Being good-looking can't put food on the table. The Beihai Sect has long since excluded him. You should look up to someone better."
Qin Ke turned around and glared at him, then went back to the table and sat down. After a long while, she asked angrily, "Who exactly is that woman?"
Xue Xing was also somewhat interested. "Why is Xue Beifan so close to a girl? If she really is his lover, then he wouldn't have come to Ghost City to find a wife. What is he doing coming all the way to the Western Regions?"
"Huh?" Qin Ke suddenly asked, "Didn't they say that Xue Fu brought a pretty maid into the house that day, and then she disappeared? Could it be her?"
“She was indeed carrying a red paper umbrella.” Fang Tongli had thought the umbrella looked familiar. He had glanced at it when he ambushed Xue Beihai that night, and at the time he thought it was just an ordinary red umbrella. But now that he thought about it, the bright red color was quite rare.
"She took the Dragon Bone Five Maps?" Qin Ke stood up. "Then why do we need the Demon Mother Queen? Why not just make her hand over the Dragon Bones?!"
Fang Tongli frowned, "But Master also said before that the Five Dragon Bone Diagrams are not in the Beihai Sect."
"How can we believe Xue Beihai's words?" Xue Xing sneered. "His body hasn't been found yet, so he might not even be dead... We don't know what he's plotting. In any case, we should keep a close eye on that girl for now."
...
The rain in the Western Regions came on strong but stopped quickly. Xiao Dao shook the water droplets off the red umbrella and patted Xue Beifan on the shoulder, "Xue Er, the rain has stopped, I can walk by myself."
"The rain has stopped, but the ground is still wet." Xue Beifan clearly didn't want Xiaodao to get down.
Aren't you tired?
"You only weigh a few ounces."
"It would be too embarrassing for me to walk by myself."
"It's only natural for a man to carry a woman on his back; it's shameful for a woman to carry a man," Xue Beifan said dismissively, then noticed the red umbrella Xiao Dao was holding and frowned slightly...
"I feel hungry, Xue Er, what should we eat tonight?" Xiao Dao began to look around for a restaurant worth going to.
"See if you have a cloth bag or a scarf or something."
"What are you doing?" Xiao Dao thought he was trying to cover his face because of the sandstorm, so she reached out and pinched his cheeks, pulling them apart. "You're thick-skinned, don't be afraid!"
Xue Beifan said irritably, "If you want to shield yourself, grab a bright red umbrella!"