Idle flowers and shadows

Chapter 3

"Could it be... that the one who just shouted that she should have backbone after being dumped... was actually the Black Wind Stronghold's leader, 'Green Butterfly'?" The voice was lowered, as if she was about to burst into tears.

“‘Qingdie’ is a woman, and the voice just now also belonged to a woman. It must be her.”

"..."

"Are you going or not? If you're not going, let's go down the mountain..."

"Go! What a joke! If I don't go, I, Uncle Miao, will have to pawn my underwear to pay off my gambling debts!"

So the two uninvited guests crouched low, used their lightness skills to slowly walk along the grassy slope, until they saw a man in blue lying sprawled under a crabapple tree, the strong smell of alcohol wafting on the wind.

The man on the left covered his nose and frowned: "What the hell? How can a woman drink like this?"

The man on the right smiled slightly and sighed leisurely, "Good wine! Fifty-year-old Heyuan wine, it sells for one hundred taels of silver a jar in the city."

The man on the left groaned, "So much money spent on a jar of wine? Are you out of your mind? You might as well use that money to play dominoes."

The man on the right reminded him, "Miaomiao, if you catch 'Green Butterfly' and hand it over to the government, you'll get a thousand taels of silver."

Miao Miao scratched her head: "But...but she's drunk, and she's a young woman. Two of my three rules for navigating the martial world are not to bully women and not to bully those who can't fight back. This seems a bit inappropriate..."

The man on the right repeated, "If you don't go, we'll go down the mountain..."

"Wait! Xiao Zhong, let me think about it some more, and consider it further..."

The two's hushed conversation finally caught Su Xianhua's attention. She immediately woke up from her half-asleep state, sat up abruptly, and demanded, "Who goes there?"

Moonlight filtered through the flowers and leaves, casting a hazy glow.

She saw two unfamiliar men emerge from behind the tree. The one on the left had thick eyebrows and large eyes, and was very handsome and upright. He also had his shirt half-open, revealing his muscular, bronze chest. The one on the right was dressed in a long robe and turban, with elegant features and flowing robes, looking like a scholar.

Although her consciousness was hazy, she was at least certain that these two people had definitely trespassed into Black Wind Stronghold!

Since the county government of Luoyu County posted a wanted notice for the six leaders of Black Wind Stronghold a while ago, the mountain has become very lively, with people coming up from time to time to give the bandits a break from their monotonous lives.

If a male knight-errant goes up the mountain, he will either be driven away by Hao Laosan and Huai Laosi, or be made to cry for his parents by Qi Xiaowu and Mei Xiaoliu's traps and poisons; if a female knight-errant goes up the mountain, the bandits will treat her with gentle care, their actions are outrageous, and their ultimate goal is to abduct the girl to the mountain to be their wife.

For example, Qi Xiaowu, who was known as the "Jade-Faced Poison Lord," won over his fiancée using this method.

Although Su Xianhua believed that the female knight-errant was mostly attracted to Qi Xiaowu because of his menacing appearance, it was true that her brothers had kept those self-proclaimed heroes who were only after the bounty outside the stronghold's camp, preventing her from fighting monsters.

Youthful days are as wonderful as a knife (5)

"I'm in a bad mood today, you all deserve it!" Su Xianhua thought to herself.

She narrowed her eyes slightly and asked in a very imposing manner, "Who goes there?"

The man with his chest exposed stepped forward, coughed, and said, "I'm not changing my name or surname. My name is Miao Ruotan, and I'm here today to take you down, you bandit who rules this mountain!"

Su Xianhua chuckled: "You want to take me to the government office to exchange for a reward?"

Miao Ruotan was about to speak when the young master beside her stopped her with a gesture. He had a faint smile on his face and spoke in a gentle voice.

“Miao Miao has had bad luck and lost three hundred taels of silver at the gambling den. He promised to pay it back tomorrow, but he doesn’t have that much money. Right now, there’s no faster way than capturing ‘Qing Die’ to exchange for the money.” He paused, “‘Qing Die’, with your skills, even the government jail can’t hold you. Please help me out in this emergency, okay?”

Very frank.

Su Xianhua was taken aback, then looked up into a pair of deep, smiling black eyes, and her anger immediately subsided by three points. She glared at him: "And who are you?"

"My surname is Zhong, and my given name is Zhan."

She scratched her head: "Never heard of it."

“We are nobodies, so of course Miss Qingdie has never heard of us.” Zhong Zhan said quietly with a slight smile. “What do you think of our suggestion just now? As long as we get the reward money, we will definitely escort you back to the village unharmed. We will split the one thousand taels of reward money in half as our brothers’ thanks to you.”

Su Xianhua fell silent. She was always the type to rise to the challenge when faced with a strong opponent, but she couldn't handle someone who tried to reason with her. Besides, this person was quite different from those self-proclaimed heroes, and she couldn't bring herself to dislike him.

She lowered her head for a while, then suddenly raised a palm print with each hand and slapped it at the chests of the two people opposite her.

Because this was a sneak attack, she only used half her strength, just to test the skills of those two men. Anyone who could climb up the bare cliff behind the mountain must have excellent lightness skills; she just didn't know about their other martial arts.

The two palms, one on the left and one on the right, struck out, but both disappeared without a trace, as if they had been thrown into the sea.

Su Xianhua could see clearly that the two had different ways of dealing with the situation: Miao Ruotan seemed rough but was actually meticulous. After receiving the attack, she realized that she had no hostility, so she immediately restrained all her strength. Her ability to control her strength was very superb. Zhong Zhan, on the other hand, just slightly turned his body and just barely dodged the palm strike. If he hadn't guessed that she was just testing him, then his martial arts skills were so high that he was completely unfazed.

Since he's an expert and not annoying, she'd be willing to make his acquaintance.

She withdrew her hand and spoke before Miao Ruotan could question her, her voice still thick with drunkenness and her words somewhat unclear: "You said the government offered a thousand taels to arrest me?"

Miao Ruotan raised an eyebrow: "Not bad!"

"You desperately need money?"

"good!"

"Since that's the case... then I, the chieftain, will pay double the silver to buy you for one night. Shall we make the deal?"

"What...what did you say? All night?" Miao Ruotan jumped up and screamed after hearing this, pulling her clothes tighter with her hands and pointing at her, her voice trembling, "You...you...you lecherous woman, how dare you make a move on me!"

"Who's trying to take advantage of you?"

The female bandit leader of Black Wind Stronghold glanced at Miao Ruotan with her phoenix eyes, her gaze carrying seven parts drunkenness and three parts evil as it landed on Miao Ruotan's hand, which was clutching her clothes. This immediately made the tall and strong Miao Ruotan tremble.

"Master Miao's appearance... well, not to my liking. This chieftain already has someone he loves."

After carefully examining Miao Ruotan, Su Xianhua made a serious conclusion, which immediately made Miao Ruotan, who was already extremely ashamed and indignant, even more so. She angrily said, "There are girls who want to marry me for miles around, and you, a female bandit, dare to look down on me..."

Su Xianhua, still confused, didn't quite hear what he said. She simply waved her hand dismissively, hiccuping as she said, "I was thinking... uh... to keep you here to drink with me... consider the two thousand taels of silver a loan from me. How... how about it? Is it okay? Just one word. If not, I'll go get the Hundred-Refined Dragon Scale Blade right now, and we... we'll have a proper contest. If you're so capable, take it and exchange it for silver!"

Youthful days are as wonderful as a knife (6)

These words left Miao Ruotan speechless. Just as she was hesitating, Zhong Zhan's gentle and smiling voice came over: "Okay, it's decided then."

"Little Zhong!"

“Miaomiao, after you get the money from ‘Qingdie’ girl, go down the mountain first and pay off the debts at the gambling den; you promised Aunt Wang in the north of the city a few days ago that you would help her grandson attend a private school, you can do that at the same time; more than ten households in Temple Street were flooded and their houses are leaking, you can go and help repair them, and also…” He looked at Miao Ruotan with a smile and said slowly, “I heard you say a few days ago that you wanted to redeem Yingniang from Bailuoju, I wonder if you have enough money left?”

Miao Ruotan's heart skipped a beat with every sentence she heard, and when she heard the last sentence, her face turned a deep purplish-red. She said with dissatisfaction, "How come you remember everything I said? I don't even remember myself."

“You should do good deeds; that's accumulating merit. How could I forget?” Zhong Zhan smiled gently, then turned to Su Xianhua and said, “Miss Qingdie, what do you think?”

Su Xianhua was taken aback: "If you all leave, who will drink with me?"

"I'm not leaving, I'll keep the girl company while she drinks."

"You?" She sized him up. Although he was handsome and dashing, drinking had nothing to do with looks or martial arts skills. For example, Qin Shao, a young talent who usually seemed invincible, would pass out after just one drink. Could this person in front of her handle it?

Zhong Zhan seemed to understand her question and said, "Miss, you can rest assured. Although this fifty-year-old Heyuan wine is mellow, it is not the strong liquor from the north. I can still handle a few cups."

"You actually know this is fifty-year-old Heyuan Brew?" Upon hearing this, Su Xianhua's eyes lit up, and all her previous doubts vanished. She turned and walked towards the Black Wind Cave, saying as she went, "Wait for me a moment, I'm going to get the silver... uh... and the wine!"

Only two people remained on the hillside. Miao Ruotan let out a long sigh and said, "There are actually women like this in the world... Such behavior might be acceptable if it were a man, but when it comes to a woman..." She then shook her head repeatedly, "No, no, women should be more demure. No wonder others don't want her. If I were that man, I wouldn't either..."

“But I think she’s nice,” Zhong Zhan interrupted him, still smiling.

Miao Ruotan glanced at him: "Are you really going to drink with her? Be careful..."

"You don't trust my drinking capacity?"

“Your drinking capacity is unmatched, of course I trust you. I don’t trust that female bandit. What if she pretends to be drunk and puts a sleeping potion or aphrodisiac in your drink, and then forces herself on you…” Miao Ruotan said slyly, with a “you’re so unlucky” look on her face.

Zhong Zhan remained unmoved, his smile unchanged: "Miaomiao, are you still holding a grudge about 'Qingdie' looking down on you earlier? You can't be so petty."

Upon hearing this, Miao Ruotan's smug smile immediately froze.

The moon was high in the sky, and all around was quiet except for one or two chirps of insects and the occasional crisp sound of wine jars clinking together.

Su Xianhua had probably drunk too much; she had been clamoring to play drinking games just moments before, but now she had quieted down. Holding the wine jar, she gazed at the shadows of the trees, then tilted her head back and gulped down several mouthfuls, her carefree manner something even men would envy.

In contrast, Zhong Zhan was much more refined. He drank quite a bit, but every sip was as if he were slowly sipping wine in a grand hall, exuding an indescribable sense of leisure.

Su Xianhua turned her head to look at his handsome and elegant face, and suddenly felt a pang of pain in her heart. She hurriedly covered her face with her sleeve, leaned back, and lay down under the tree.

Zhong Zhan turned to look at her and said softly, "A gentle breeze and bright moon, accompanied by fine wine, are enough to soothe the soul. Miss, please feel free to speak your mind."

Su Xianhua remained silent for a long time.

“You…you’re a bit like him…” she hesitated before uttering the first sentence, then, as if flipped by a mysterious switch, she began to speak incessantly, “He was always so refined, his smile was beautiful, he never yelled, and even when he was hurt, he would never cry…I’ve known since I was little that he’s completely different from me. I was presumptuous to insist on following him; I didn’t want it to be like this…” (txt ebook sharing platform: S)

Youthful days are as wonderful as a knife (7)

Su Xianhua wasn't one to keep her feelings to herself; at this moment, all she wanted was to confide in someone. And with the bright moon, gentle breeze, fine wine, and beautiful woman before her, how could she possibly care that the person beside her was a stranger?

"Nianchen says he only feels truly relaxed when he's with me..."

Zhong Zhan listened quietly, his lips, which usually held a slight smile, slowly tightening.

The usually carefree female bandit leader of Black Wind Village became particularly sentimental after drinking. She didn't give the listeners a chance to speak, rambling on and on incoherently for a long time, and finally slammed her hand on the table to give a summary.

There's a saying, "May we find a soulmate and stay together until our hair turns white." In my opinion, such a "soulmate" is priceless, even rarer than a ten-thousand-year-old turtle in the South China Sea!

Zhong Zhan's previously tense lips curved slightly at those words. He rested his chin on his hand and looked at her with gentle eyes, a smile on his face, looking very content, even his tone of voice carried a hint of laziness and leisure.

"Even though ancient tortoises are rare, they still exist."

"What did you say?"

"It's nothing. I just meant, we're almost out of wine, should I go get some?"

"Gone so quickly?" She glanced at the pile of empty wine jars and chuckled sheepishly. "I didn't expect someone as frail as you to have such a good capacity for alcohol. Don't bother getting the wine, I'll handle it. You're a man, you can't just barge into someone's room like that..."

She calls this robber's den "boudoir"? Zhong Zhan smiled and shook his head, but when he saw the woman, who was seven or eight parts drunk, swaying as she stood up, her steps unsteady, almost bumping into a tree, he hesitated for a moment before reaching out to help her.

Although Su Xianhua had a good alcohol tolerance, she was in a bad mood and drank quite a bit late at night. At this moment, as the wind blew, she vaguely felt a pair of warm and steady hands supporting her back. She couldn't help but feel a moment of dizziness, and the handsome face in front of her turned into thousands of images, all of which were Bai Nianchen's affectionate and smiling face.

A surge of warmth welled up within her, and the alcohol made her instincts kick in. She grabbed the person next to her by the neck and pressed her lips to theirs, kissing their pale, thin lips.

My first kiss with Bai Nianchen... soft, warm, and so comforting...

When Su Xianhua opened her eyes, it was already broad daylight.

Her head was throbbing so badly it felt like it was going to split open! She couldn't help but reach up and rub her temples hard, only to suddenly realize that her arms were completely naked, her skin glowing with a faint honey-colored sheen in the sunlight, and there were suspicious red marks on her elbows...

She shuddered, instantly snapping back to reality, vaguely recalling the two "petty thieves" she'd encountered the previous night. On a whim, she'd given them a lot of silver notes and then offered to drink and chat with them in return…

As for the details that followed, her memory was hazy. She could only vaguely recall seeing Bai Nianchen, whom she had longed for day and night, his lips warm and soft… Ah—wait, how could Bai Nianchen be here? He clearly didn't want her anymore, his words were so resolute, she wouldn't forget a single word. How could he come back now? Even if he did, how could he be with her… They had been together for so many years, and the most intimate thing they had ever done was hold hands. There was no reason for him to suddenly…

Thinking of this, half of her face flushed red.

Beneath the neatly arranged bedding, Su Xianhua's shapely figure was outlined by her close-fitting strapless top. The dark red silk satin was a material she had personally selected, but now the clothes were covered in wine stains, making it impossible to see the original color. They were also wrinkled, creating a scene reminiscent of "a blood-red silk skirt stained with wine."

She instinctively covered her chest with the blanket and gasped for breath.