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Capítulo 88

At this moment, Xue Xing came downstairs. "I didn't expect that Xue Beifan and that woman were really lovers. What is her identity? It seems like Xue Beifan took the initiative."

"That girl certainly has the looks to make men take the initiative," Fang Tongli said, swaying as he walked down to Qin Ke's side. He deliberately made sarcastic remarks. "She's pretty, has a great figure, is young, has top-notch martial arts skills, and is a clever girl. She has everything you could want. Junior sister, don't you think?"

Qin Ke glared at him fiercely.

"By the way, what's her identity?" Xue Xing looked up and asked a person standing in the shadows around the corner upstairs, "Doesn't Brother Wang know her?"

Standing upstairs with a dark expression was Wang Bibo.

His handsome face was filled with unprecedented displeasure. Standing in the shadows, looking out at the bright sunlight, Xue Beifan quickly caught up with Yan Xiaodao and reached out to grab her braid.

Xiao Dao kicked him twice, and Xue Beifan smiled and bowed to her to admit his mistake, shamelessly sticking to her.

Xiao Dao turned her face away from him, so he bought a large pile of steamed buns and pancakes and followed her around. They walked until they reached a tofu pudding shop in the distance. Xiao Dao seemed to hesitate for a moment, but Xue Beifan forcibly pulled her inside.

After sitting down, Xiao Dao still had a sour face. It wasn't until Xue Beifan brought her a whole pot of tofu pudding and placed it in front of her, and said a few words of coaxing, that Xiao Dao pursed her lips and raised her hand to hit him.

Xue Beifan served her a bowl of tender tofu pudding and ordered steamed buns, being extremely attentive. Xiao Dao squinted as she drank the tofu pudding, her previous annoyance long gone.

Even a blind man could see that these were lovers having a tiff and playfully bickering.

"Brother Wang?"

Xue Xing called out to him.

Wang Bibo snapped out of her daze, feeling that the window frame in her hand seemed to have shattered. Looking down, she saw that the wooden frame was indeed warped from being crushed. Wang Bibo looked at her hand in disbelief, a strange feeling welling up inside her—Xiao Dao had never liked her. She disliked men like him who were rich, powerful, and influential, always acting superior and arrogant. She had said this a long time ago. He had pursued her for so long, but she hadn't been moved, hadn't even given him a second glance, and had always firmly rejected him… But she just couldn't accept it.

Indeed, Lanzhi was still at home, which made him somewhat worried. When Lanzhi asked him to leave, he felt a slight pang in his heart, which made him uncomfortable, so he ran away.

But now, Wang Bibo felt that his heart was not just twisted, but torn open, and the intense resentment he felt was something he had never experienced before.

Seeing Xue Beifan's smug expression made him very unhappy. He looked up and saw Xue Beifan, who had been eating tofu pudding with his head down, suddenly look up in his direction and give him a smile... full of provocation.

Wang Bibo's face darkened, and the resentment in his chest flowed into his bloodstream. He roared like a ferocious beast, "Xue Beifan...you're courting death!"

"Brother Wang?"

Wang Bibo quickly turned around, withdrew his hand, gently brushed away the wood shavings, lowered his head to hide the gloom and resentment that a noble young man shouldn't have, and said in a low voice, "Her... she's no small figure."

Xue Xing and the others looked at Wang Bibo and felt that his tone of voice had turned colder, and he seemed quite different from yesterday.

"She's just a young girl, what kind of background could she have?" Xue Xing asked tentatively.

Wang Bibo slightly raised the corners of her mouth, feeling that the last trace of hesitation in her heart had been overwhelmed by a strong sense of unwillingness. She looked up and said calmly, "She is Yan Ruyu's daughter, Yan Xiaodao."

48

sticking out

[Standing out from the crowd]

When Yan Xiaodao and Xue Beifan returned to the inn, Hao Jinfeng and the others were already preparing to set off for the martial arts competition.

Xiao Dao relayed the information he had gathered from the Ghost City Palace to everyone, and they decided to proceed according to the original plan.

Because it was the preliminary round, the arena was packed with people, and it felt like a chaotic free-for-all.

"So many people?" Xiao Dao frowned. "Isn't this a group fight? If ten people get hurt out of this many, when will this ever end?"

Xue Beifan crossed his arms and reached out to shield her forehead.

Xiao Dao didn't pay attention at first, but then slapped his hand and said, "What?!"

Xue Beifan leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Ever since I ate tofu pudding, my right eyelid has been twitching a lot."

"So what?" Xiao Dao asked, puzzled. "A twitching left eye means good fortune, while a twitching right eye means bad luck. Be careful what you do, both above and below you."

Xue Beifan chuckled, "Where do you say that a twitching left eye means good fortune and a twitching right eye means bad luck? Where I'm from, we say it's left for men and right for women."

Xiao Dao didn't quite understand, "Men on the left, women on the right?"

"Hmm!" Xue Beifan grinned. "When a man's right eyelid twitches, it means the woman will have bad luck; when a woman's left eyelid twitches, it means the man will have bad luck. When a man's left eyelid twitches, it means the man will have good luck; when a woman's right eyelid twitches, it means the woman will have good luck."

Xiao Dao was a little confused after his roundabout way of speaking. "Whose left eyelid is it, and whose right eyelid is it?"

Xue Beifan reached out and tapped her nose. "Just before I left, Chonghua told me that you looked unwell today, which might mean disaster. I'm here to protect you."

"Go away, stop talking nonsense." Xiao Dao reached into his pouch at his waist and pulled out a palm-sized eight-treasure mirror. He looked at himself, "Is there any black on my forehead?"

She looked at herself for a while, then grabbed Xue Beifan's hand and held it up to her eyes, asking him to hold the mirror for her. She then took out a brocade box.

Xue Beifan looked on curiously and saw that when the exquisite lid of the brocade box was opened, there was a milky white pink egg inside. He asked with a grin, "Goose egg pink? What flavor is it?"

"It's made from pearl, gardenia, and osmanthus powder." Xiao Dao scraped some onto his hand, rubbed it, and smeared some on his forehead. "It's wonderful! My mother sifted it bit by bit with fine paper; even the empresses in the palace couldn't buy it!"

Xue Beifan laughed, "Is the dark discoloration on your forehead covered with powder?"

Xiao Dao applied the powder all over her face, then put away the powder box, scooped up some more powder in the mirror, and squinted as she asked Xue Beifan, "Is it bright enough now?"

"It's so bright!" Xue Beifan said, both amused and exasperated. "It's as bright as a peeled hard-boiled egg."

Xiao Dao rolled his eyes at him. Just then, the announcer said it was Hao Jinfeng's turn to appear.

No one knew who was on the stage, but Hao Jinfeng went up and knocked the person down with a few punches and kicks. The person in charge told him that the second round had begun and the competition would resume in half an hour.

"What a mess!" Xiao Dao saw that there were arenas all around, and the skill levels of the people participating in the preliminary competition varied greatly. Some were martial arts masters, while others might be butchers. Some won easily, while others had blood all over their heads.

She looked around curiously and finally saw a fighting ring not far away, where Wang Bibo was about to take the stage.