"Master Liu, you flatter me. If it weren't for your righteous act of sacrificing your own sister, Madam Yu, Yu Zhanyuan would not have left in such a hurry, leaving his daughter alone on Cangyun Mountain."
"But he would never have expected that the Master Wei of Jade Sword Manor at this moment is not the real person. This time, not only Yu Zhanyuan, but the entire martial arts world has been manipulated by you and me." The female voice was cold. "I hope Master Wei will keep his promise and not have any thoughts of taking it all for himself."
"That's natural."
A figure moved on the cliff, and after a while someone reported: "Reporting to the leader, no trace of the child has been found in the surrounding area."
"No trace of the child?" The woman's voice trailed off, then suddenly turned cold. "That child is no more than eight years old. This hut is perched on a cliff; could she possibly fly? Search!"
"yes!"
The sounds of pots and pans smashing and breaking were incessant, and she bit her lower lip to keep herself from making a sound.
Her home, the home she shared with her parents.
"Not yet?" the woman gritted her teeth. "Master Wei, could it be that you arrived first?"
"Don't worry, Master Liu."
"Don't overthink it? I'm just afraid you have ulterior motives!"
"Women are so short-tempered!"
“Wei Bozhong, don’t forget, the child is in my hands. At most, it’s just an aunt wanting to see her niece. For Liu Ti’s sake, Yu Zhanyuan wouldn’t dare to do anything to me. But if it were you, hmph.”
"you!"
"Master!" A loud voice interrupted the argument, "There's a suspension bridge behind the banyan tree!"
"Oh no, that child must have run away from there!"
"Does Master Wei think so?"
"If you don't believe me, fine! Just wait here!" the man said angrily, and ran quickly behind the tree.
"Cut down the suspension bridge." Like a gust of cold wind, the woman's voice froze her heart. "I'll make sure that girl has nowhere to go home, and see how she escapes my grasp."
That night, she stood on the cliff face, silently comforting herself, thinking that home is where her parents are.
Little did she know, she was already an orphaned fledgling, guarding only an empty nest.
"Never mind." She put down the pebble in her hand.
"If I remember correctly, it was the young lady who wanted to eat meat." Shangguan Yi looked up at the bird's nest in the tree.
"Birds without feathers have less meat and taste worse."
Two tits flew in through the dim light and shadow, feeding the chicks in the nest one after the other.
"That's good, now everything's complete." Shangguan Yi looked at her with a smile.
"Shh." She gestured for him to be quiet, listened for a while, and then exclaimed with delight, "Water sound! We have fish to eat!" With that, she pulled Shangguan Yi up, making him lean against her, and they walked forward with difficulty, their steps unsteady.
"What?" Noticing that he was staring at him, Yu Zigui blinked. "Young Master doesn't like fish?"
Shangguan Yi smiled gently, her warm breath brushing against her neck.
wack.
Yu Zigui thought to himself, then said, "Fish is more nutritious than bird, so you should eat more later, young master."
"Is the young lady concerned about me?"
Suppressing the twitching at the corner of her eye, she answered frankly, "Young master, I am naturally concerned because of my injury."
"I see." He lowered his eyes to his side and said in a soft, pleasant voice, "I've been through thick and thin with you, young lady, so it would be strange to be so polite. How about we address each other by our first names? What do you think?"
Yu Zigui paused slightly, glancing warily at him again and again. His handsome eyes were clear and unwavering.
"Well... okay." She agreed hesitantly, still harboring some doubts.
"Zigui." The way he called me that sounded so pleasant. "From now on, Zigui can call me Ziyu."
"Young master's courtesy name?" she asked, startled.
"yes."
She's a rigid, old-fashioned woman who adheres strictly to traditional etiquette; let's just forget about her.
"Young Master Shangguan, this..."
"Ziyu."
The man didn't give her a chance to speak in a formal, formulaic way, and they stared at each other for a long time. Only when her stomach started rumbling did she reluctantly say, "Ziyu."
With a beautiful curve at the corners of her lips, Shangguan Yi smiled warmly, like a spring breeze that had turned the south bank of the Yangtze River green, making her feel dizzy and blissful.
She regained her senses in a short while.
Unsolicited kindness is always suspicious, especially since they have more than one old and new grudge.
She remained certain, subconsciously ignoring the inexplicable emotions that suddenly welled up within her.
…………
The early summer mountain breeze was a bit cool as Shangguan Yi sat on a rock by the stream. Her gaze casually swept over a pair of bare, jade-like feet, past the branches that occasionally dipped into the water, and finally landed on Yu Zigui's hand that was catching fish.
It turns out she's left-handed.