The girl remained silent.
Baili Qingyi sensed something was wrong, so she leaned over to examine her expression and discovered that she was sobbing softly.
"Hey, why are you crying?"
The girl glared at him fiercely with tear-filled eyes: "You were the one who spied on me while I was bathing first, and instead of blaming you, I kindly saved you, treated your wounds, and found you something to eat. I never expected that you would repay kindness with enmity! You...you are the real lecher!"
"Uh..." Baili Qingyi was speechless. Every word the girl said made sense, and it seemed that he was in the wrong first. He looked at her red and swollen eyes, and a pang of pain shot through his heart.
"I...I was just trying to joke with you...and you actually...you actually hit me..." The girl felt even more aggrieved.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized he was in the wrong. Baili Qingyi knew she was just putting on a pitiful act to trick him into releasing her pressure points, but inexplicably, he couldn't bear to see her shed tears so pitifully.
“Miss, you are right. It is all my fault.” Baili Qingyi lowered her head and admitted her mistake. “I have ruined your reputation. Although it was unintentional, I cannot shirk my responsibility.”
The girl sniffed, her face showing complete agreement.
“Miss, may I ask your name? Once I recover from my injuries, I will personally visit your home to apologize and also propose marriage to your parents. I will never let you suffer the slightest grievance.”
"Huh?" The situation took a sudden turn for the worse, and the girl was completely petrified, both physically and mentally. Two streams of tears hung down her cheeks as she looked at Baili Qingyi as if she were a monster.
"A marriage proposal... is that unnecessary?" The girl seemed to have lost her tongue.
"That's for sure. May I ask which noble family you are from?" Baili Qingyi asked seriously.
"I... am not a member of the martial arts world."
Baili Qingyi was somewhat surprised, as he thought only people from the martial arts world could raise such an unconventional daughter.
"Then, young lady, please tell me where you live."
"You...you release the pressure points first." The girl struggled for a moment.
Baili Qingyi obediently released her pressure points. "Oh, by the way, my surname is Baili, my given name is Qingyi, I'm from Jiangnan, I'm twenty-one years old, and I still have an elderly father and three younger brothers." He paused, as if thinking of adding something.
"Why are you explaining this so clearly?" The girl blushed.
"I think that if we are going to spend our lives together, I should let the girl get to know me first."
Baili Qingyi, that name sounds so familiar. Where have I heard it before? The girl bit her lip, racking her brains. Unable to find an answer, she pouted and snorted at Baili Qingyi, "Too late, I'm already betrothed!"
These words struck Baili Qingyi like a thunderbolt, making his already heavy mind even more dizzy. She's engaged? She's engaged? Ah, he was so focused on taking responsibility for her that he hadn't considered that she was already engaged?
He should be thankful, but right now, he feels inexplicably melancholy.
With a loud "bang," an even louder thunderclap exploded in his temple. The girl, holding a stone, smiled triumphantly; the scene gradually turned pink, then disappeared into the vast darkness like a bubble.
"It's not certain who will tattoo whom!" he vaguely heard someone say in his ear while he was unconscious.
Yin Wuxiao inserted the specially made hairpin back into her hair and wiped her masterpiece with clean water. She snorted at the beautiful naked man who had fainted by the Truffle Pool, then turned and left.
Where exactly did she hear the name Baili Qingyi?
"Farewell, Baili Qingyi!"
Side Story: The Green-Eyed Boy
The boy had a pair of green eyes.
Although it was only a light green, it was enough to make his life turbulent.
He had just sold his three-year-old sister and used the money to buy steamed buns. After eating and drinking his fill, he subconsciously felt that he couldn't just sit around and do nothing, so he sat on the street and began to beg.
To be honest, selling his sister didn't make him feel guilty or remorseful. It was obvious that his sister had a much brighter future than him. If she were willing to work hard, she might even become a courtesan or something.
Besides, he had only known this younger sister for three years. In his mind, she was no different from a pink pig. If it weren't for the fact that the girl cried so loudly when their parents died, he wouldn't have picked her up and reluctantly tried to comfort her. As a result, she became attached to him.
Fortunately, the brothel madam's toothpick was enough to bewitch her, and she was easily pulled off her body, enjoying a rare moment of ease.
The boy sat by the roadside, his clothes tattered, his face dark, but his expression eerily somber. Before long, he realized his business was truly bleak; most of the morning had passed and he hadn't earned a single penny.
He was considering whether to switch to another profession when he suddenly met a pair of bright, cunning eyes.
A young girl with her hair styled in two round buns looked him over with a mature air. The boy returned her gaze indifferently; he could tell that the girl was well-dressed and must come from a wealthy family.
The little girl smiled and picked up the broken bowl in front of him, shook it, and clicked her tongue in disapproval.
"You won't make money doing this."
The boy was somewhat stunned: "Then how can I get it?"
The girl said, "People give alms and do good deeds simply to satisfy their own petty, sordid desires. If you keep quiet like this, who will pay attention to you? You need to be able to make up stories."
"Make up a story?" the boy repeated subconsciously.
The little girl nodded, then plopped down next to him. "Uncles, aunts, neighbors, please have pity on me! My father died when I was so young, and my mother was forcibly married into the county magistrate's household. I've come all this way to the capital to seek refuge with relatives, but they've turned their backs on me... Waaah! Kind people, please have pity on me and give me some food..."
The boy was speechless when he saw the girl crying and sniffling.
The girl's confident and relaxed demeanor left him speechless. She wiped her face and then smiled at him, saying, "You try."
"..." The boy wiped his eyes; they were dry.
The girl sighed, "Study hard, study hard, that's what you should be doing." She took out a silver ingot from her bosom and stuffed it into his hand, "Don't starve to death. I'll come and check how well you've learned next time." She tossed her head and strode away.
The green-eyed boy held the silver ingot in his hand and felt as if crows were flying by.
After a long while, he found himself standing in front of the brothel.
“I want to redeem my sister,” he heard himself say clearly.
The pimp who had just signed the indenture with him at the door was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "How can you sell someone just like that, and redeem them just like that?"
“I want to redeem my sister,” he repeated stubbornly.
The pimp's smiling face vanished: "Kid, get out of here!"
"I have money." The boy took out the loose silver coins from his pocket along with the silver ingots the girl had given him earlier.
The pimp weighed the silver in his hand and sneered, "Just for this little bit of silver?" "I sold it for ten taels," the boy interrupted him.
“Selling is selling. Can selling and redeeming be the same thing?” The pimp snorted and slapped the boy several feet away.
The boy got up from several feet away, spat out a mouthful of blood, covered his cheek, and slowly walked over, his gaze still cold.
How much money do you want?
The pimp felt a sudden shiver run down his spine. He gestured with both hands: "One hundred taels."
The boy lowered his head: "I don't have that much money."
The pimp sized up the boy, reached out and touched his chin, and said with a wicked smile, "You're not bad looking, kid. If you sold yourself, maybe..."
The boy tilted his head: "I'm not selling."
The pimp crossed his arms: "Then there's nothing we can do."
"What will it take for you to give my sister back?" the boy knelt down.
The pimp's small eyes darted around the boy's face again, a hungry look appearing in his pupils. He swallowed hard, pulled the boy aside, and whispered in his ear, "Come to my room tonight... and I'll give your sister back to you."
The boy stared at the pimp's wrinkled hands, which were gently stroking his arm. A deep sense of disgust welled up inside him.
The pimp patted his arm: "Tonight."
The boy looked up and finally nodded slowly.
Three days later, at Caishikou in the capital.
A young girl with her hair in two buns led a middle-aged man by the hand as they walked through Caishikou Street. They were greeted by a body wearing shackles, hanging high on a wooden frame.
"Green-eyed monster! Murderer!" some people shouted, but most walked by indifferently.
What haven't the people of Beijing seen?
The middle-aged man immediately covered the little girl's eyes: "Miss, don't look."
The little girl struggled to pry the fingers off her eyes, then suddenly pointed at the shackled body and screamed, "Ah! I know him!"
The middle-aged man was startled: "How does Miss know him?"
The little girl tugged at the middle-aged man's sleeve: "Uncle Qi, why is he being shackled here and displayed to the public?"
Uncle Qi frowned and walked away, returning shortly afterward.
“Miss…” Uncle Qi looked troubled.
"Uncle Qi, tell me quickly!" the girl stamped her foot.
"I heard that this child took a knife and sneaked into Yichun Hospital three days ago, where he killed someone."
"Who did you kill?"
“Miss…” Uncle Qi was in a difficult position. He couldn’t very well tell his young lady that it was because a pimp died after he failed to rape her…
The girl thought for a moment, then shook Uncle Qi's hand again: "Uncle Qi, doesn't the law say that crimes committed by those under the age of fifteen can be redeemed?"
Uncle Qi sighed, "Miss, look at him like that, how could any relatives come to redeem him?"
The girl bit her lip, as if she had made an important decision in her heart.
The boy, barely breathing, was hanging on a wooden frame when his eyes suddenly caught sight of a bright spot in the crowd below.
It's her.
The boy realized she was looking at him too. A wave of shame and indignation washed over him, making him wish he could die immediately.
Three nights ago, the man's small eyes kept replaying in his mind. The man smiled smugly: "You insist on redeeming her? Sigh, what's the point? You're just making things easy for me."
He gripped the dagger he had prepared beforehand and plunged it fiercely into the man's heart. Blood splattered all over him, but a strange mix of anxiety and joy rose within him.
At this moment, the fate of this scoundrel is in his own hands.
So he plunged the needle in even deeper.
Only the cold hilt of the knife made the boy's heart tremble.
Why did he want to redeem his sister?
When my little sister grows up someday, she might be just as interesting as that little girl with her hair in double buns.
The next day, the boy was taken down from the wooden frame, and even his three-year-old sister returned to his arms.
He didn't understand why the punishment had been stopped; all he knew was that his mind was filled with those unusually bright eyes. He held his sister, feeling like she was a little pig wriggling in his arms, crying and fussing at the drop of a hat, utterly unpleasant. So, disgusted, he carried her on his back, not understanding why he had gone to such lengths to bring her back to his side.