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Capítulo 66

Xiao Dao was slightly taken aback, looked at the umbrella, and said, "Oh dear! You people from the Beihai Sect know each other? Oh no, your older brother was holding the umbrella when he ran away."

Upon hearing this, Xue Beifan's face darkened—could his elder brother have even considered this? Xiao Dao entered the Beihai Sect to see the red umbrella, and his elder brother happened to be carrying the red umbrella when he escaped…The red umbrella was the best symbol for the Beihai Sect to identify Xiao Dao.

"Don't wander off alone these next few days. Call me wherever you go," Xue Beifan instructed Xiaodao. "Put the red umbrella away for now."

"Do you think the monsters of the Beihai Sect want to deal with me?" Xiao Dao scratched his chin. "I'm not afraid. My mother said that one should not be timid when traveling the world."

"With your pathetic skills... Ouch." Before Xue Beifan could finish speaking, Xiao Dao pinched his ear.

"Hey, don't pinch my ear! You can't touch that!"

"Just pinch him!"

"If you pinch me again, I'll go berserk!"

The knife continued to twist, "I'm afraid you... Ah!"

Xiao Dao suddenly noticed Xue Beifan reaching out and groping around, and angrily raised her hand to give him a flick on the forehead. Xue Beifan grinned and turned to look at her, "Why are you so fierce? Didn't your mother tell you that a woman needs to be gentle and virtuous to get married?"

Xiao Dao raised an eyebrow and retorted, "My mother only taught me that a kind person is bullied, and a good horse is ridden. A woman who is good at both social graces and domestic skills is useless. She has to teach men to be good drivers and punching bags!"

Xue Beifan grinned, "Then that's exactly me! My mother-in-law's foresight... hiss."

"Who's your mother-in-law? I'll beat you to death!" Xiao Dao ripped at his face.

The two returned to their inn after playfully bickering. As soon as they entered, they saw a group of people gathered around a table, seemingly vying to see something.

Xue Beifan carefully placed the knife on the ground. Her skirt was still snow-white, without a single speck of mud on it, which pleased him greatly.

From time to time, whispers arose from the crowd gathered together.

"How shameless!"

"This is utterly disgraceful!"

Xiao Dao scratched his head... "What are you looking at?"

The innkeeper, who was fiddling with his abacus, immediately nodded obsequiously upon seeing Xue Beifan and his group return. Previously, Chonghua had been very generous, booking most of the inn, so the innkeeper considered this group his patrons.

Xue Beifan leaned against the table and asked, "Shopkeeper, what are they doing?"

"Oh, admiring the Queen's portraits?" The shopkeeper chuckled. "This year, the Queen seems particularly proactive in her matchmaking, saying she hopes to choose someone on the first try, so she's distributed a large number of portraits."

Xiao Dao was curious to see what the legendary, stunningly beautiful queen looked like, but there were too many people, and she couldn't squeeze in. Xue Beifan calmly handed a silver ingot to the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper smiled knowingly and slipped a picture to Xue Beifan. Xue Beifan casually tucked it into his sleeve and pulled Xiao Dao, who was still bouncing around and peering into the crowd, towards the backyard.

"Here you are."

Once they reached the deserted backyard, Xue Beifan shoved the portrait into Xiao Dao's hand.

Xiao Dao patted him on the shoulder casually, "Xue Er, you're capable!"

"In person?!"

"Pooh!"

Xiao Dao pushed aside the once-serious Xue Beifan and opened the portrait. He only glanced at it before his face turned bright red.

"You're back?" At that moment, Xiaoyue came in carrying a washbasin, followed by Chonghua and Hao Jinfeng carrying several bamboo poles. Chonghua had been engrossed in watching Xiaoyue wash clothes when it started to rain. Xiaoyue was worried that the rain would stop and start, and the clothes wouldn't dry.

Chonghua was a young nobleman and had no idea how to hang clothes out to dry. Fortunately, Hao Jinfeng was used to doing manual labor and took a bamboo pole, saying that he would set up a clothes rack in the corridor so that it wouldn't be affected by wind or rain.

Xiao Dao blushed upon seeing the portrait, crumpled it up, and tossed it back to Xue Beifan.

"Why did you rub it?" Xue Beifan looked bewildered, then reached out and smoothed it out. "I bought it for one tael of silver."

"What is it?" Hao Jinfeng asked curiously.

"Portrait of the Queen."

Upon hearing this, Chonghua and Hao Jinfeng both ran over to see.

Xiaoyue, holding a washbasin, asked Xiaodao, "Does the Queen look good?"

Xiao Dao curled his lip, "A monster!"

"Wow!"

Just then, Xue Beifan and the other two men exclaimed in unison.

Xiaoyue was even more puzzled.

"To draw this, the Queen is really daring!"

"Isn't the local culture in this ghost town a bit too open?"

"Yeah, that figure...tsk tsk."

Xiaoyue, unable to contain her curiosity, handed the basin of clothes to Xiaodao and leaned closer to look. She then realized that the picture was indeed a bit too much. Whether the ghost town was considered open-minded or not, the queen was certainly dressed inappropriately. The picture looked like it was drawn while she was wearing underwear, and the clothes were thin gauze. Combined with the queen's seductive pose, it resembled an erotic painting. It was far removed from the legendary beauty, wisdom, and dignity of the queen. Perhaps a Persian dancer would be a more accurate description…

"Xiaoyue, I don't like watching this kind of thing!" Chonghua, who was originally as surprised as Xue Beifan and Hao Jinfeng, quickly waved his hand when he saw Xiaoyue suddenly appear beside him. "Ahem, this is too uncivilized. Take it away, take it away."

Xiaoyue, however, seemed unconcerned, simply pointing at the portrait of the Queen and asking, "Has this woman ever given birth? Why are her breasts and buttocks so big? How can she stand up like that?"

"Uh... well..." Xue Beifan and the others were so focused on their surprise that Xiaoyue's comment made it seem like the proportions were a bit off.

"Women in the Western Regions are said to have this kind of figure," Hao Jinfeng said casually. "I've heard my father mention it."