"..." Bai Can glared at her.
"Brother Bai, let me ask you, do you truly love her?"
"Of course!" Bai Can shouted, his face flushed.
"That child, don't you want him?"
"Of course!"
Yin Wuxiao nodded: "She is the woman you love, and she is carrying your child. What are you still hesitating about? Brother Bai, a man should always shoulder the responsibilities he should bear."
Bai Can looked at her with a solemn expression. "I'm afraid that neither she nor I can give that child a good life." He smiled bitterly. "How happy can the child of a thief and an assassin be?" His ideal was to get married, have children, and live like an ordinary person, but that was just an ideal. Now that his ideal was about to come true, he began to doubt whether he had the ability to maintain this beautiful ideal.
“Brother Bai,” Yin Wuxiao thought for a moment and said, “You and Sister Cui, you should retire from the martial world.”
Bai Can laughed out loud: "Little Wu'er, you are so naive. How can you be so naive?"
“I am naive,” Yin Wuxiao said calmly. “But if you weren’t naive, why would you give your child a complete family? Would you still want Sister Cui to work for a madman in a ruthless killer organization?”
Bai Can fell silent.
“Brother Bai, there’s always a way.” She patted Bai Can on the shoulder. “You are a very good man and you deserve to have a family.”
Bai Can stared blankly at Yin Wuxiao, who was speaking earnestly, and after a long while said, "Little Wu'er, it's been a long time since I, Bai Can, have made a friend like you in my life. It's all worth it."
Yin Wuxiao smiled. She felt that it was a great blessing to have such a straightforward friend as Bai Can in one's lifetime.
A muffled voice came from Bai Can's lowered head. "Actually, it's not that there's no way. Cui Cui told me that if she could do something for her master, her master might let her leave the martial world."
Yin Wuxiao was overjoyed: "If that's true, that's wonderful!"
She had been in a much better mood lately, and felt that the road ahead was not so bleak and dark. So she said to Bai Can, "When your little nephew is born, remember to bring him over and call me aunt!"
"Of course." Bai Can turned his head away, not daring to look at her.
"Ah, where's Baili Qingyi?" Yin Wuxiao got up and looked around, only then remembering how she had fallen asleep. "That guy actually pressed my sleeping acupoint! Is he crazy? I'm going to strangle him... I'm going to strangle him..." she muttered to herself.
When Yin Wuxiao saw Baili Qingyi and Xuan Hegu walking out from one of the several passageways in front of him, his expression changed.
"Baili Qingyi!" She rushed up to Baili Qingyi with a fierce aura.
Baili Qingyi's usually gentle and peaceful eyes were now cold and solemn.
“Miss Yin,” he said.
Yin Wuxiao was taken aback.
What did you call me?
Baili Qingyi repeated, "Miss Yin."
A strange sense of unease washed over Yin Wuxiao. She wasn't used to it; she wasn't used to Baili Qingyi calling her that. Baili Qingyi should have called her gently, helplessly, with a smile, and with tolerance: "Xiao'er."
“Miss Yin, you are aware that the imperial court has sent troops to besiege Baiwen Valley. For the sake of the entire Central Plains martial arts world, I now request that you persuade Qiao Fenglang, the leader of the Qiao Clan, to send reinforcements south to relieve the siege. Please agree. Baili Qingyi will forever be grateful for your kindness.”
Yin Wuxiao looked at him as if he had suddenly transformed from a man in white robes into a wooden fish.
"You..." Why are you talking to me like that... She pondered the meaning behind his words and the change in his tone, her mind a jumbled mess.
"Miss Yin, can you promise that if you leave this underground palace, you will do your best to persuade Chief Qiao to save Hundred Questions Manor and the Qiong Sect from their peril?"
"..." Yin Wuxiao felt like she couldn't breathe. She should sort everything out, understand why Baili Qingyi suddenly treated her this way, why she suddenly asked her to make such a promise, and what that promise meant. But before her mind could process it all, her emotions had already made the promise for her.
"I promise you."
So Baili Qingyi gently curled the corners of her lips. It was a subtle smile, but Yin Wuxiao thought it was the most beautiful smile she had ever seen.
Then, amidst that smile, she fell into a coma again.
Bai Can cried out in alarm, then muttered incessantly, "She will definitely kill you, she will definitely kill you."
Having been treated so brutally twice, given Yin Wuxiao's personality, he would definitely kill someone upon waking up.
Baili Qingyi smiled bitterly: "We don't have time."
He didn't have time to persuade her to accept treatment, nor was he confident he could. Using this simple and direct method was the quickest way.
Even if she might hate him.
"You did this without asking her opinion, is that alright?" Bai Can looked at the unconscious Yin Wuxiao. This woman usually seemed to be extremely greedy for small gains, but in fact she was the least willing to accept favors from others, let alone such a heavy favor as Baili Qingyi's.
Baili Qingyi calmly looked back at him: "It's better for her this way."
Bai Can gave an awkward smile. What could he do after the person involved had said that?
"After I finish my training, I will need your help to take her to the Qiao Gang."
"What?" Bai Can exclaimed. "I always thought you were just joking to scare her. You really want her, a weak woman, to go and get help for you?"
Baili Qingyi gently traced Yin Wuxiao's smooth and delicate cheek with her fingertips: "She is Qiao Fenglang's cousin. Even if we can't get reinforcements, Qiao Fenglang will protect her."
"Hmph, can't you protect her?" Bai Can said dismissively. If it were his Cui Cui, he wouldn't bear to leave her to another man to protect. He would rather die than leave her with him.
"Before today, I could." But after losing half of his power, he was not even sure if he could escape unscathed when facing the master of "Traceless".
"So what about you? Are you planning to stay here?"
“Of course I will stay here.” Baili Qingyi said solemnly to Bai Can, “Please make sure she is safely delivered to Qiao Fenglang.”
Bai Can nodded, knowing that this was Baili Qingyi's entrustment, which valued her life above all else.
"Don't worry, even if it's not for you, I would protect her with my life. She's a very good friend."
The young man in blue, who always smiled and murmured like a spring breeze, stared intently at the woman in his arms. His face was devoid of any smile, but the tenderness in his eyes was enough to drown a woman from the martial world.
Chapter Fourteen: Laughing at the Past, Drunk and Lying in the Mortal World (Part 1)
Chapter Fourteen: Laughing at the Past, Drunk and Lying in the Mortal World
"Xiao'er," he called softly, as if afraid that a loud voice would shatter her.
Yin Wuxiao looked at him. The man before her had sharply defined features, and an expression that was both icy and fiery. This face, this person, was both familiar and dear to her.
“Brother Fenglang,” she said slowly.
Upon hearing those three words, Qiao Fenglang's pupils turned slightly red. "Xiao'er, you're back! You're finally back," he murmured, unable to utter another word.
“Brother Fenglang,” Yin Wuxiao said again.
Qiao Fenglang was finally moved to tears.
Yin Wuxiao tried to move her body; it felt sore and numb, but she could still move her limbs. A warm current seemed to surge in her dantian, soothing her internal organs.
"Why am I here?" she finally asked.
"Xiao'er, where have you been for the past three years?" Qiao Fenglang asked excitedly.
Yin Wuxiao frowned.
"Why am I here?" she asked again.
If she remembered correctly, before losing consciousness, she was in the underground palace of Baiwen Manor, intending to launch into a long tirade against Baili Qingyi, and then…
Then what did that bastard do to her?
Qiao Fenglang reluctantly replied, "It was a man in white. He said his surname was Bai."
It must be that coward Bai Can.
She remained silent for a long time.
"Did he leave any message?" She dared not even imagine that the guy would stay at the Qiao Gang waiting for her to wake up.
He said that the poison in your body has been completely removed.
Yin Wuxiao's face changed color instantly.
Has the poison in her body been completely removed?
Why did these words sound like such a beautiful lie? For a moment, she couldn't accept it. The "unrequited love" that had accompanied her for three years was just resolved so easily? This was something she had never dared to imagine. She thought she would live her life like this, a living corpse, and never dared to truly hope for the possibility of returning to those spirited days of the past.
Is it possible? She's back to being the arrogant and flamboyant Yin Wuxiao, the ambitious Yin Wuxiao! If she wants, she can protect those around her, take revenge on those she hates, eat apples if she wants, read novels if she wants, see Mansi if she wants, and love someone if she wants.
She... just like that, she's back to normal?
He packed up all the pain and sorrow, along with those three years of begging, and left them behind at the foot of the cliff.
The strange attitude of Baili Qingyi before she fell into a coma came to mind, and she instantly became much clearer-headed.
It's not surprising that Xuan knew how to cure "unfulfilled desires," but she believed that such a rare poison as "unfulfilled desires" could not be cured by just one or two pills.
That bastard Baili Qingyi!
Did he think that she should be grateful for curing her poison?
She suddenly felt that she had been abandoned, thrown back like a burden.
What is she to Baili Qingyi?
Yin Wuxiao trembled and instinctively pressed his hand to his chest.
She suddenly felt something was wrong. She touched her neck and found it empty.
The exquisite blood-red jade pendant has disappeared.
"Xiao'er, you must have suffered a lot of grievances in the past three years. Brother Fenglang promises you that he will never let anyone hurt a single hair on your head again."
"Xiao'er, who is the person who brought you here?"
"Xiao'er, he said the poison in your body has been cured. What kind of poison were you poisoned with?"
"Xiao'er, what do you want to eat? What do you want to drink? Tell me. You must take good care of yourself."
"Xiao'er..."
“Brother Fenglang!” Yin Wuxiao interrupted him, “The person who brought me here, besides saying that the poison in my body has been cured, did he leave any other words?”
"Yes, he also said he wanted to apologize to you on his behalf. He said he didn't do it for himself, but because it was a responsibility he had to fulfill."
Yin Wuxiao clenched his fists, his whole body feeling ice-cold.
Bai Can's words echoed in her mind:
Actually, there is a way. Cui Cui told me that if she could do something for her master, her master might let her leave the martial arts world.