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The man raised his eyebrows again, and I quickly said, "I stay at Guhong Tower. You can ask the innkeeper if I just checked in."

The man nodded: "Alright, then let's go together." He helped the boy up, and the three of them headed towards the Lonely Goose Tower. The crowd dispersed with a bang.

Since I knew that the boy was in cahoots with the thief, I wasn't in a hurry. With the boy around, I was sure I could find the thief.

The innkeeper of Guhonglou said, "This young lady is staying at the inn today." He hesitated for a moment and then added, "However, it's not uncommon for locals to stay at the inn. I also remember this young man; he came to the inn not long after this young lady arrived, but then I don't know where he went."

This seemed to confirm that the boy had followed me into the shop and then informed the victim. The boy and the man looked at me. I knew that the only way to break through was with the boy, so I didn't bother arguing anymore. I grabbed the boy, pressed two pressure points, and sped off in the northwest. When I arrived, I saw a grove of trees there, which was a good opportunity to ask him more questions.

I walked for a while before I heard the man's voice behind me: "Stop! Where are you going?" There was a slight rustling of clothes behind me, so I guessed he had caught up with me. But I was confident in my light-footed skills and didn't take it seriously.

Upon reaching the woods, I tossed the boy under a tall poplar tree and stared at him coldly. At first, he remained calm and even called out, "Sister." I said, "It's just the two of us now, what are you pretending for? I'll ask, you answer. If I'm satisfied, I might spare your life; otherwise, given your excellent acting skills, I know a brothel that would be perfect for you."

A flicker of panic crossed his eyes, and he was about to speak when footsteps suddenly sounded from outside the woods. He cried out, "Sister, please spare me! Help!"

Enraged, I swung my hands down the vines growing on the tree, quickly bound him, and hung him on a branch of a poplar tree.

The person had arrived not far behind me, and a slightly angry voice said, "You've gone too far, treating your brother like this."

I turned around, and sure enough, it was the man in purple from before; he'd arrived quite quickly. I was annoyed that he didn't distinguish right from wrong, so I said, "My brother? Fine, what business is it of yours what's it to you if it's a family matter between my siblings?"

He said, "You're not following the right path and you're abusing your younger brother, how can I not discipline you?"

I sighed. How annoying! I have to deal with unrelated people just to ask a question.

I said, "I'm going to whip him dozens of times later, what are you going to do about it?"

His face was rather grim. He said, "Beautiful as a flower, but with a heart of a serpent. I'll just have to teach you a lesson." With that, he lunged at my shoulder.

No one has ever given me such an evaluation before. I was so angry that I laughed, but I also dodged his palm strike by stepping aside.

Now I know that you can't always trust the words of a father who dotes on his daughter; they always think their daughter is the best in the world. Even the fathers of the former Four Young Masters of the Martial World, Kun and Meiren, are no exception. My first real opponent after descending the mountain has already given me a hard time. I don't know if it's because my skills are not good enough or the man's skills are too good. But from exchanging palm strikes to him using his sword and me using the Swift Shadow technique, we've been fighting for more than half an hour, and neither of us has gained an advantage.

My advantage lies in my agility, but I know that if this goes on for too long, I will run out of energy and may not be his match.

As the fight progressed, surprise flickered in his eyes, and his movements slowed. Suddenly, I stumbled and rammed into his chest. Startled, he slightly shifted his body, and his sword struck my Jianjing acupoint. In an instant, he froze, the sword tip unable to advance any further. My swift movements had abruptly dispersed, and two thin strands of cloth gently pressed against his Xuanji acupoint.

I jumped back, pulling away from Jiying, and said, "I don't want to hurt you. I just need some time to ask him some things."

I looked at the boy in the tree who was watching our fight in a daze: "Now tell me honestly, what's your name, and how old are you?"

Chapter Twelve Joining Hands

At first, he was stubborn and said, "Sis, are you deliberately asking me my name?"

I sneered, "Aren't you going to introduce yourself to this chivalrous hero who's been helping you all along?"

He said, "Thank you, hero. My name is Yu Qiang. I'm fourteen years old."

I said, "Oh, you're still my brother? I'm thirteen this year. Where do you live?"

He looked at me suspiciously: "You're only thirteen? You don't seem like it."

He shut his mouth as soon as he finished speaking. But the purple-robed man's eyebrows shot up.

I chuckled and said, "You've already grown a beard, and you're only fourteen? How come I'm not thirteen?"

I hadn't actually tied his hands. When I said that, he instinctively touched his chin. After touching it, his face stiffened, and he said, "You're bluffing me?"

I nodded: "If you can frame me, why can't I trick you?"

The man in purple robes stepped forward, swung his sword, and severed the vines. As the boy landed, he swiftly struck his pressure points. When he turned to me, his face was slightly flushed, and he said with some embarrassment, "I'm sorry, young lady. Bai Yifei couldn't distinguish between fish and eyes and almost wronged you."

I raised my chin: "It wasn't just a close call, you've already wronged me. But since you apologized so readily, you're a sensible person, so I won't hold it against you."

The most important thing right now is to find the thief through Yu Qiang and retrieve my bag.

Bai Yifei said, "Since I have wronged you, young lady, I will help you retrieve your lost items as an apology." It's always good to have someone help you.

Bai Yifei was quite skilled at interrogation, and Yu Qiang quickly revealed the man's whereabouts.

Later, Bai Yifei told me that when he saw me in Yancheng, he heard that a female thief had been caught in the bustling city. When he squeezed in to see what was happening, he happened to see Yu Qiang hugging me and crying, saying that he would take good care of me when he became rich. He initially thought it was strange that my accent wasn't from the local area and that the victim had run away on her own, but when he saw me push down the skinny boy and kick him, he felt it was too much and couldn't help but come over to intervene. Later, when he heard Yu Qiang say "You're only thirteen" in the woods, he realized what was strange. How could a younger brother be completely unaware of his older sister's age? Upon closer inspection of Yu Qiang, he also noticed some clues. It seemed that he was not very tall due to a special physique, rather than being young. Therefore, he realized that he had been tricked and felt quite regretful.

We took Yu Qiang to look for the man in blue. When we searched in a small alley in the east of the city, the man said, "The bundle is gone. Someone from the mountain just took it away."

Bai Yifei and I exchanged a glance. "People from the mountain?" They weren't just petty thieves; did they have a bandit hideout behind them? Bai Yifei asked, "What mountain?" Yu Qiang and the man in blue seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, saying, "It's Youxian Village on Sikui Mountain outside the city." No need to ask further, they were mountain bandits. Just a short time's difference, and we've already had to go up the mountain to suppress them. I couldn't help but frown and sigh.

Bai Yifei comforted me, saying, "Don't worry, I'll help you find this bundle. Is there anything valuable in it?"

I said, "I'm not worried, I'm just a little annoyed. There's nothing wrong with the money inside, but there's someone else's congratulatory gift that I have to deliver, and I can't afford to lose it."

He nodded. "Don't worry, they'll return it to you the way they took it." He spoke with great authority, and I couldn't help but glance at him again. His face was somewhat cold at that moment, but he was really quite handsome.

He turned to the two men and said, "Youxian Village on Sikui Mountain? Alright, lead the way."

He spoke very decisively, truly displaying a chivalrous spirit. The two hesitated for a moment, exchanging glances. Although Yu Qiang looked somewhat flustered, he didn't utter a word, only walking ahead with his head down, which puzzled me greatly.

We left the city and headed north. Not far ahead was the road up the mountain, overgrown with trees. I hurried up a few steps, but it seemed the two people didn't want to run. Instead, they looked back at us several times, as if afraid we would run away.

The path up the mountain was narrow, and there were many trees and branches. Sometimes the figures of the two people in front of me were obscured and I could not see them, but I could still hear their footsteps and voices.

A moment later, Bai Yifei, who was next to me, suddenly chuckled and whispered to me, "If you become the bandit's wife, you'll have to save me."

My hearing has always been very sensitive, and it turns out his is just as good.

I laughed and said, "Didn't you hear? You were already dead then, how could I save you? If you had died a little slower, I might have been able to do something. Saving people is a matter of chivalry."

The two men, emboldened by the trees and the relatively short distance, quietly discussed who should present them to the bandit leader once they reached the mountain. The man in blue said, "The bandit leader told us to find a beautiful girl. This one has practically delivered herself to our doorstep, saving us the trouble. Once we get up the mountain, I'll go ahead and announce our arrival. We'll kill this lad at the gate, and drug the girl. She's beautiful; the bandit leader will surely be satisfied by now."

Yu Qiang said softly, "This girl is not to be trifled with; even the chief may not be able to handle her."

The man in blue didn't seem to care, saying, "Once we get to the mountain, we'll use coded language, and the brothers will understand. No matter how strong she is, can she be stronger than medicine? No matter how strong a woman is, she'll still be crushed into mud in the hands of the chief."

I looked at Bai Yifei with some sympathy and said, "They already consider you a dead person."

Bai Yifei sighed and said, "Since he's dead, then we can only do ghostly things."

Youxian Village had three guard posts. At the first post, I gathered my strength and waited patiently, but the two men remained motionless, presumably waiting until we were deeper in and more confident. We passed the second post easily as well, when the man in blue suddenly quickened his pace. Bai Yifei and I exchanged a glance, then simultaneously pounced, each grabbing one of them. Bai Yifei, holding the man in blue, said, "Your thing is useless now, throw it away." I understood, pressed Yu Qiang's pressure point to knock him unconscious, and tossed him into the bushes. The man in blue tried to scream, but Bai Yifei gripped his throat, laughing, "Speak when you're told to."

The third hurdle was easily overcome; after grabbing one person, they found the Hall of Righteousness.

In front of the Hall of Gathering Righteousness, the chief and second-in-command of Xianyou Village, along with others, were already waiting in full force. Seeing us approach, a gruff voice shouted, "Which dares to break into the village?"

Bai Yifei said proudly, "Bai Yifei." Then he looked at me and asked, "What's your name?"

Let me introduce myself as someone who has come before me. I said, "Qi Wu."

Bai Yifei continued, "We're here to retrieve the lost package; we must have only been on the mountain for a short time."

A burst of laughter, both loud and soft, rang out, and the rough voice laughed, "Why would you return meat that's already in your mouth?"

Bai Yifei said coldly, "The meat that's already in your mouth? Even if you've swallowed it, you'd better spit it out."

I simply watched with my arms crossed. While Bai Yifei was dealing with the top and second-in-commands, they captured their third-in-command and forced him to lead the way to retrieve the light blue satin bundle that had just been delivered that afternoon. Youxian Village was quite extravagant; they didn't have a secret room for their gold and silver treasures, they were just piled up inside the rooms. My bundle was placed on top of the pile.

I retrieved my bundle. The first and second leaders had already been defeated, frozen in place by pressure points, standing dumbfounded in the hall, while their men all wore expressions of fear. Seeing me emerge, he asked, "Found it? Is anything missing?" I replied that the clothes and gifts were all there, only two silver notes were missing. Bai Yifei remained silent, only coldly glancing at the first leader with his phoenix eyes. The first leader hurriedly ordered the third leader to fetch them. I took a look at the notes and realized I'd made a huge profit; the notes were originally worth only one hundred taels, but he'd brought back five hundred. I initially intended to return them, but remembering that the silver notes were originally looted, I generously accepted them.

As they descended the mountain, the gang leader said bitterly, "Young Master Bai's skills are superb, and Youxian Village is no match for him. Perhaps the leader of Xingyang Gang would be interested in challenging you to a duel."

Bai Yifei turned around with a smile and said casually, "Oh, okay, tell him to come to Baima Manor to find me."

I only just learned that he was from Baima Manor. The number one manor in the world, I've heard so much about it.

Upon seeing me adopt the martial arts style of bowing, he said, "I admire Miss Qi's martial arts skills."

I said, "You don't need to worry too much. If I didn't cheat, I might not have been able to beat you. I was just eager to ask you something."

By the time I descended the mountain, dusk had fallen. I returned to Lonely Goose Inn and saw the innkeeper's shifty eyes. Recalling his ambiguous words that afternoon, which had trapped me in the position of a female thief, I felt quite indignant and wanted to cause trouble. However, when the innkeeper saw me striding towards him, he seemed to tremble slightly. I secretly wondered if I looked ferocious in the twilight, but perhaps a ferocious look would be better. I walked up to him, staring intently at him, and said, "Is your inn a black market?"

He forced a smile and said, "What, what are you saying, Miss? We, we are all operating legally, how could we be a shady business?" His voice was trembling slightly.

I sneered, "You can clearly tell from my accent that I'm not a local, so why did you conspire with thieves to frame me?"

He glanced at Bai Yifei behind me and continued, trembling, "This...this...this little shop is just for safety. Because these people have Youxian Village backing them up, they sometimes openly rob people in Yancheng. We can't afford to offend them. Besides, Miss lost her belongings in this shop, and I...I'm afraid Miss will hold us accountable..."

I had thought the people here were kind and honest.

I said angrily, "Is there no law to govern such a thing in such a prosperous city like Yancheng?"

The shopkeeper, no longer trembling, sighed, "Thieves are like iron, officials come and go. Miss, you can only manage for a short time."

I didn't know what to say. Bai Yifei came up and patted my shoulder, saying, "What the shopkeeper said is true. Yancheng is prosperous on the surface, but in reality, it's a mixed bag. You have to be careful when you're out there alone."

The shopkeeper said, "You two haven't had dinner yet, have you? My shop will offer you a meal and drinks as compensation, is that alright?" I'm not one to press for more, so I accepted the offer without hesitation.

I turned to Bai Yifei and said, "Well, since you helped me retrieve my bundle, I was planning to treat you to a meal, but this will save me the money."

He smiled and said, "I should be the one apologizing to you. I'll treat you next time."

The next day, as I was about to go to the restaurant in front for breakfast, I saw a man leaning against the courtyard gate, smiling at me in the morning light. The morning glow painted his face and body with countless golden rays, making him look radiant. It was Bai Yifei.

He said, "Good morning, Miss Qi. Are you leaving the city today or will you stay and enjoy yourself for a few more days?"

Yesterday's incident dampened my enthusiasm for sightseeing in Yancheng. I originally planned to leave today, but I unconsciously replied, "I'll leave after one day of sightseeing."

He said, "That's what I was thinking too. Why don't we go to the riverbank to enjoy the scenery after breakfast?"

Okay, let's travel together then.

On the third day, I got up early, packed my bags, and was about to leave my room when I heard a knock at the door. Opening it, I saw Bai Yifei in an indigo robe. I glanced down at my own light blue gauze dress and couldn't help but smile. He asked, "Leaving already? I'm going the same way, why don't we go together?" Going to Dragon City was indeed in the same direction as White Horse Manor. I then noticed that he also carried a small blue bundle on his back, and a long sword slung across his shoulder, looking quite dashing.

However, as soon as we left Yancheng, we were blocked from our way.

It turned out that the north of Yancheng was the territory of Youxian Village, while the southeast was the territory of Xingyang Gang. The people who stopped us were from Xingyang Gang. There were about seven or eight of them, dressed in short blue robes, and they looked quite capable. The one in the lead said, "Are you Bai Yifei from Baima Village? Our gang leader requests that you come and have a talk with us."

Bai Yifei smiled faintly, then turned to me and said, "They really have no patience. Here, Miss Qi, you go first. There's a small teahouse about ten miles ahead. Wait for me there."

I was just about to express my chivalrous spirit of "sharing joys and sorrows" when I said, "Don't worry, I'll go with you." But the Xingyang Gang members didn't want to let me go either, and said, "Since this young lady is a friend of Young Master Bai, it would be better if she went together."

I chuckled inwardly, still somewhat afraid of Bai Yifei, and even considered taking someone hostage. But was I the kind of pushover anyone could manipulate? (In fact, He Lanqian later mocked me: "You are just a pushover anyone you know.") Of course, I was more than willing to go. So, I went along.

Although the Xingyang Gang was on flat ground, their posture was no different from that of the Youxian Village gang. Their leader was a sallow-skinned man in his thirties, repeatedly claiming that Bai Yifei had injured his brothers from Youxian Village and robbed them, demanding an explanation. I chuckled softly: Injured the people from Youxian Village? Bai Yifei hadn't even let them bleed; to call that injury is far too fragile. Bai Yifei is a gentleman, acting with integrity; his intention was to teach them a lesson, not to kill them. I realized this during our fight in the woods. As for the robbed goods, I suppose he meant the thousand taels of silver notes he later gave me. It was real money, and although it wasn't theirs, it still stung a little.

I turned to Bai Yifei and said, "I have never killed anyone."

He looked at me gently and said, "I haven't done that either, but I have done things that cripple people's martial arts."

There's no need to reason with unreasonable people; just take action.

That day, the Xingyang Gang was in complete disarray. There wasn't much bloodshed, just a few broken arms. As I dusted myself off and went outside, I heard Bai Yifei say to the gang leader, "Today I won't cripple your martial arts, I'll just teach you to remember not to aid and abet evil."

I was delighted; my first fight in the martial arts world went remarkably well with my partner. Perhaps this is fate.

Author's note: I updated today. I might only update once a day tomorrow or the day after, maybe the day after tomorrow.

Chapter Thirteen: Walking Together

The journey from Yancheng to Baimazhuang actually took several days, but I felt it was very short. Our way of addressing each other also unconsciously changed from "Miss Qi" and "Young Master Bai" to "Little Mist" and "Brother Bai."