"I don't dare to look for him," Xuezhi choked out. "If I find him, he will also be... I, I don't dare."
“Your second uncle has always been known for his good fortune and long life since he debuted, so it’s impossible for him to get into trouble.”
"But the world is so big, where can I find him?"
"We'll discuss that later. What you need to do now is to obediently follow Brother Tou to Suzhou, and then go to the Weapon Ranking Conference. Don't bother your Uncle Xuetian, understand?" Shangguan Tou said, brushing the snowflakes off her head and touching her bangs.
Xuezhi brushed his hand away: "Don't talk to me like I'm a child! And stop calling yourself 'Brother Tou,' it's disgusting!"
"Okay, you can call me Brother Shangguan."
"Tohru, that's it."
"Alright, it's up to you. But you're still my sister. From now on, my parents are your parents, and my siblings are your siblings. Don't be so formal with our family, okay?"
"I really don't understand, why are you being so nice to me for no reason?"
Shangguan Tou smiled and said, "Actually, I'm the youngest in my family. I have older sisters and older brothers, and I've always wanted a younger sister, but I haven't been able to have one. So I thought I'd find a younger sister outside the family, but unfortunately, so far, the only one I feel like a younger sister is you."
"What about the others?"
"Shall I take you back now?"
"What about the other girls?"
Shangguan Tou thought for a moment, then smiled and patted Xuezhi's head: "Brother Tou is still young and in good health, so he will do some things that normal men would do..."
Xuezhi looked at him intently and nodded seriously.
"So you're my sister."
"I don't understand."
You'll understand later.
Xuezhi still didn't understand.
Two years later, she understood. On a dark and stormy night, she grabbed a dog by the neck and shook it violently, yelling, "Back then, you just wanted to tell me I wasn't feminine, didn't you? That you couldn't even have a basic male response? You wanted to die! You wanted to die!!" After shaking it for a while, she finally threw the poor dog aside, wiped her sweat, and stood up, feeling incredibly relieved. Turning around, she saw someone smiling at her from behind and immediately took a step back: "Stay away from me, don't come any closer! I didn't say anything!" The person walked over, gently blew a breath into her earlobe, and said softly, "Back then you were too young to understand, but now it's different. Just thinking about you makes my blood boil—" Before the words were finished, Xuezhi covered her flushed face, and a shocking potsticker appeared.
Early morning of the seventh day of the first lunar month.
Shangguan Tou went directly to Zitang Manor to find someone. Just as someone had finished packing Xuezhi's belongings, Situ Xuetian said to the people next to him, "Go and call Miss Chong."
A maidservant beside him acknowledged and withdrew.
Shangguan Tou asked, "Isn't she ready yet?"
"She's been practicing swordsmanship too late these past two days, getting up after noon."
"Then how about I come back this afternoon?"
"No, we'll be too late to leave then." Situ Xuetian handed the package to Shangguan Tou. "Don't spoil her too much. Let her get some experience. There won't be any problems."
"Aren't girls meant to be pampered? It's alright."
Situ Xuetian gave a forced smile: "I see you 'dote' on other girls too."
Shangguan Tou tapped his palm with the handle of his fan with a smile: "It's just a man's responsibility. It's what I should do, it's what I should do."
"If you dare to 'spoof' Zhi'er like this, one day word might get out and her father might suddenly appear out of nowhere. I've known Lin Yuhuang since we were ten years old, and I know his personality better than anyone. If he really wanted to harm someone, most people would choose to die themselves. Don't think that just because you're a first-rate expert he won't dare to make a move. Things in the martial world are unpredictable."
“Uncle Situ, even you are threatening me—don’t worry, I truly have the heart of a brother to Xuezhi.”
"Actually, I know there's a reason why Suzhou attracts you. But you should restrain yourself a bit in front of Zhi'er; she's still young. Also, don't let your friends scare her."
"I will know my limits."
Xuezhi's voice came from behind: "What kind of sense do you have?"
Situ Xuetian and Shangguan Tou said in unison, "It's nothing."
Xuezhi yawned and grabbed the package from Shangguan Tou's hand. Shangguan Tou said, "I'll take it."
"What can I do if Sister Zhaojun likes to take it?"
Situ Xuetian chuckled, then realized she had lost her composure and quickly coughed twice to cover it up. Shangguan Tou held back for a while before saying, "Let's go."
So, after saying goodbye to Situ Xuetian, the two of them each led a horse on their way, carrying with them the two stacks of New Year's money that Situ Xuetian had given them.
Once on the road, Xuezhi realized how incredibly painful it was to travel with Shangguan Tou. From Chang'an to Luoyang, they encountered people Shangguan Tou knew along the way. Xuezhi began to doubt whether they lived in the same world; their only point of intersection was Situ Xuetian. Moreover, Shangguan Tou wouldn't let her be idle. Whenever she was around, he would introduce her to others as his sister, his biological sister at that. People stared at them repeatedly, genuinely believing the Imperial Preceptor and his wife had conceived a child, insisting they looked like gods.
33
Suzhou was still frozen in the snow. Ancient trees and lake rocks, suburban gardens and pavilions, even the rooftops of small bridges and the strings of red lanterns hanging from them were covered with a thick layer of white frost.
As dawn broke, the sky was still faintly tinged with a bluish-gray. Xuezhi and Shangguan Tou entered Suzhou City together, boarded a small boat, and headed towards the residence in the east of the city. Xuezhi leaned against the shed for a short rest, and Shangguan Tou came in from the bow of the boat, saying, "Zhi'er, we're almost there. Wake up, or you'll easily catch a cold."
As soon as he finished speaking, the boat rocked slightly. Shangguan Tou paused in his act of lifting the curtain: "Wait inside for a moment." Just then, a large red lantern, as tall as a person, descended from the sky, rolled around the bow, and crashed into them. Shangguan Tou grabbed the carved wooden railing with one hand, deftly flipped himself up, and disappeared. The entire boat continued to rock and sway, the boatman staring dumbfounded at the deck. Xuezhi, now slightly more composed, put on her coat and went outside.
The large red lantern, which had been hanging in the center of the boat's roof, was now blocking Shangguan Tou's view as he fought the person behind it, bare-handed. Unfortunately, the lantern was too large, completely obscuring the person. Shangguan Tou dodged left and right with agile movements. But the person on the other side was relentless, each move vicious. Before long, a jade flute suddenly burst through the lantern, aiming for Shangguan Tou's face. Shangguan Tou leaned back, then stood up, grabbed the flute, and with a twist of his wrist, it slipped from the person's grasp. Holding the flute, Shangguan Tou continued fighting while simultaneously poking hundreds of holes in the red lantern, then tossed it down: "Zhi'er, catch!"
Only then did Xuezhi get a clear look at the person she was fighting. The man looked to be about the same age as Shangguan Tou, with loose hair, wispy bangs, a long, curved bun on his head, and a black ribbon wrapped around his forehead. He wore a deep red silk robe. His attire was quite eye-catching, and his expression was rather serious, making him seem rather difficult to deal with.
At this moment, Shangguan Tou gripped the jade flute and thrust it forward. After the opponent dodged, he flipped his hand and released it. The jade flute spun once in the air, struck the opponent's abdomen, and then returned to his hand.
The other party clutched his stomach: "You actually used a first-grade Divine Moon Staff! You're cheating!"
Shangguan Tou continued what he was doing and laughed, "This is only the first level."
The man threw a punch: "We agreed not to use that move!"
Shangguan Tou then asked, "With such a bad temper, did you get rejected again?"
The man became even angrier and kicked out, shouting, "When have I ever been rejected!"
Shangguan Tou quickly kicked back twice: "You can't even catch a woman, and you still dare to call yourself my brother."
The man took a step back to dodge: "Baldy, don't be so sure of yourself now. Wait until you meet a woman you can't win over, then I'll make you laugh to death!"
"If I can't win a woman over a month, I'll just give up." Shangguan Tou threw the jade flute down, and after it hit the boat awning, he engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the man. "It's just a pity that I've never met a woman I couldn't win over within seven days."
"Baldy, are you tired of living? You actually stuck my flute there, it's full of mud!" The man suddenly stopped hitting, squatted down, pulled out the jade flute, and wiped it on the corner of his clothes. "I'm going to blow it with my mouth, do you want me to eat mud?"
"You're not afraid to eat blood, but you're afraid to eat mud." Shangguan Tou sneered and said to the bow of the boat, "Zhi'er, raise the lantern for a moment."
Xuezhi raised the lantern, completely bewildered.
Unexpectedly, upon seeing the lantern, the man became enraged and rushed over to attack Shangguan Tou again. Shangguan Tou calmly replied, "Wolf Fang's strength is astonishing, but he always suffers from agility. I could hear you landing on the ship's roof from below."
"You and that damned woman Hongxiu only know how to mock my lightness skill!"
Xuezhi turned the lantern over and saw a smiley face pattern made up of hundreds of small holes on top, and several words made up of small holes below:
I am Wolf Fang.
No one noticed that the boat had already moored below the small building. The boatman, however, was too frightened by the two men on top to utter a sound. Then a soft, gentle voice drifted down from the small building:
"To curse someone to die so early in the morning, Young Master Zhong has quite the leisure."
At this moment, the man called Wolf Fang suddenly stopped moving, looked up, and stood ramrod straight: "I didn't!"
The sky had brightened slightly, but it remained a pale bluish-gray, as if pieced together from countless chrysanthemum stones, its reflection in the water appearing gentle and ethereal. On the bank stood an exquisitely built restaurant, its upper floor adorned with large red four-cornered lanterns, their diamond-shaped signs swaying gently. The signs bore four large characters: "Immortal Mountain Yingzhou."
A woman leaned against the window on the second floor. She wore a light red silk dress, her black hair was like a cloud, and her hair bun was adorned with white down. To be precise, she was not a woman with particularly exquisite features, but no man could help but look at her.
Even standing on the boat, Xuezhi's undulating body was impossible to ignore.
Author's Note: I communicated with the administrator about the issue with the yellow box below. Although I don't want to question my IQ, I genuinely didn't understand what he posted. So, I just want to tell everyone: please don't add points, don't leave blanks, and don't use punctuation throughout the entire post. If you see someone artificially inflating their score without my knowledge, please report them. Otherwise, a yellow card will cost you 1/3 of your points, and three yellow cards will permanently disqualify you from the rankings. If you find leaving comments troublesome, then please just leave it to me—saying this made my body tremble and my heart skip a beat, it hurts! Where can you find such a considerate and responsible author? Cherish me, or you'll miss out! V_V
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34
Shangguan Tou looked up at the window and smiled, "Hongxiu, it's been several days. I wonder if you've razed Suzhou to the ground yet?"
Hongxiu, with one hand on her hip and her head slightly tilted, replied with a smile, "Most of the things women want are things men can't afford; but what men want, women can always provide. If I wanted to, Suzhou would have been pacified long ago. But before Young Master Shangguan razes Chang'an, how could Hongxiu dare to pacify Suzhou?"
Xuezhi's eyes seemed to say, "I'm an idiot, I don't know anything," as she stared at Hongxiu's chest with sparkling eyes: "Wow, it's so big..."
She simply couldn't imagine how men would see her, given that she had breasts that even women found astounding.
Shangguan Tou almost burst out laughing. Fortunately, only he heard it. He immediately flew to the shore and stepped onto the bow of the boat: "Zhi'er, come down."
Xuezhi glanced at him, a smug smile on her face, and lightly leaped to the shore.
"Who is that little girl?" Hongxiu shook her finger. "You can't treat your man like that, even though he's Shangguan Tou, who has the thickest skin in the world."
Shangguan Tou said, "Her name is Chong Xuezhi, and she is my younger sister."
Wolf Fang landed heavily on the shore: "When did you change your surname to Chong?"
Hongxiu said, "I was wondering why your tastes had changed so much after just one tasting. So this is the legendary girl you've been talking about, which means she's our girl too."
"Oh right, I forgot to introduce him." Shangguan Tou pointed to Langya and said, "Zhi'er, this is Zhong Tao, but we all call him Langya."
"Zhong Tao?" Xue Zhi exclaimed with delight, "Is that the legendary Luoyang hero Zhong Tao, who is said to have the strongest arms in the world?"
Zhong Tao said, "I am unworthy of the title of 'Hero,' as I only earned it by following Baldy."
Shangguan Tou added in a low voice, "He has had a crush on Hongxiu for many years."
Zhong Tao said, "Hey, bald guy, shut up."
“Unrequited love doesn’t exist, but open love does,” Hongxiu chimed in from the second floor. Xuezhi was marveling at her excellent hearing when Hongxiu added dismissively, “He openly loves my breasts.”
The boatman, who was sitting on the shore drinking water, immediately spat it out violently. Xuezhi was also dumbfounded.
Shangguan Tou said, "The one upstairs is called Qiu Hongxiu. You should have heard of her. She's always been sharp-tongued and outspoken, but quite a few men have fallen for her."
The boatman coughed for a long time, wiped his mouth, and took another sip.
Xuezhi thought for a moment before saying, "So she's Qiu Hongxiu? Of course I've heard of her! 'Above is heaven, below are Suzhou and Hangzhou; the beauties of Suzhou and Hangzhou are hard to find.'"
"Girl, who taught you this?"
"My uncle is Situ Xuetian."
"He lied to you," Qiu Hongxiu said, covering her mouth with a laugh. "The original line should be, 'Heaven has paradise above, and Suzhou and Hangzhou exist on earth; in Suzhou and Hangzhou, there are beautiful women, with heavenly bosoms on their bodies.'"
The boatman once again gushed water from his mouth.