Yin Wuxiao was speechless. She had never seen Yin Bitong with such a serious and earnest expression before. For a moment, she thought that Yin Bitong had been possessed by Baili Qingyi.
Yin Bitong looked at Yin Wuxiao with bright, sparkling eyes, but seeing that the blank expression on her face lingered for a long time, she grew impatient. He scratched his head hard: "Damn it, that brat Yin Zhangfu, that sentence clearly had an effect!"
Yin Wuxiao was even more speechless.
After a long while, she sighed.
“Yin Bitong, I can see that you and your sister are trying hard to be ordinary people… but you still have a long way to go…”
Yin Bitong was speechless. His expression even showed a hint of desolation: "Little Yin, why did you fall for Baili Qingyi? If it's because he met you first, then..."
“When you like someone, you always need a trigger. Maybe he said something that you didn’t, or he did something that you didn’t, or he was by my side when you weren’t.” Yin Wuxiao answered cautiously, always feeling that the next moment Yin Bitong would ficklely stick his bloody fingertips into her forehead and then pull them out.
"So, even if you had met me first, none of that would have changed, right?"
Yin Wuxiao chuckled dryly: "How could that be... If I had met you first, I would never have forgotten you."
Yin Bitong gave her a deep look, as if she wanted to utter something, but hesitated and held back.
He finally lowered his head and smiled bitterly: "What Mr. Yin said was indeed true."
Yin Wuxiao sighed, "Why are all these men such idiots when it comes to relationships?"
Yin Bitong murmured, "Or perhaps I should just turn you into a human skin purse..."
Yin Wuxiao felt a chill run through his body.
At that moment, Baili Qingyi's voice rang out from outside the door: "Xiao'er, are you awake?"
Yin Wuxiao had never found Baili Qingyi's voice so pleasant to hear.
Suddenly, she felt something being quickly slipped onto her wrist. Looking down, she saw it was a thin silver bracelet.
"Little Yin, this is the Love-Locking Ring I got from the old abbot of Kongwen Temple. It can keep you safe and ensure you never forget me. Remember this: even if you marry Baili Qingyi, I will not let you go!"
Yin Wuxiao shivered. He saw Yin Bitong lightly leap onto the windowsill. Just as she was about to leave, she turned back and frowned, saying, "Little Yin, could you go and say hello to that thief surnamed Bai? Stop chasing after me."
Yin Wuxiao was taken aback, then slowly smiled. In this situation, she suddenly felt as if she had detached herself from those bloody and sorrowful past events. Her man was standing outside her door, about to welcome her in a bright red wedding robe.
Her smile was like the last forsythia in the spring sunshine, causing Yin Bitong to lose her composure slightly.
"Yin Bitong, everyone has their own sins to repay, and one day they will have to pay them back."
Baili Qingyi pushed open the door and entered. Seeing his future wife standing happily in the room, he felt a little strange.
"Was someone in the room just now?"
"Yes, I'm in my room," Yin Wuxiao replied absentmindedly.
"Xiao'er, tomorrow is our wedding day. You must promise me that you won't come up with any more tricks," Baili Qingyi said anxiously.
Yin Wuxiao fixed her eyes on the handsome man and nodded obediently.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: When the Moon Returns to the Wind and Fate Begins
So what exactly happened six years ago?
Baili Qingyi thought he was dead, but the cold touch on his lips reminded him that he was still alive. He thought that if his father knew he had fallen to such a state, he would be furious.
A sweet trickle seeped into his parched mouth, and he slowly opened his eyelids. For a moment, he thought he had encountered a legendary fairy.
A disheveled girl, about fifteen or sixteen years old, with long, wet hair, was feeding him water by rolling a leaf into a funnel shape. She looked extremely troubled, as if she had never done anything like serving someone before.
Then he noticed that he was on the bank of a mountain stream, and that his abrasions had been carefully bandaged, the cloth used for the bandages appearing to be from a girl's clothes.
It seemed that he was the culprit who caused the girl's clothes to be in disarray.
The woman seemed certain he wouldn't wake up quickly; the fabric covering her body barely covered her vital parts, leaving large expanses of skin exposed, a tantalizing sight. His upbringing forced him to look away, only to find himself completely stripped naked, all his clothes hung to dry over a nearby fire.
His gaze met the girl's eyes. The girl screamed, picked up a stone, and smashed it over his head. Before he could even sigh, he fainted again.
When he regained consciousness, it was completely dark. By the firelight, he saw the girl sitting cross-legged beside him, wearing his outer robe, completely covered. Fortunately, his undershirt was back on, avoiding the embarrassment of being naked. A familiar look of panic appeared in the girl's eyes, and she seemed about to reach for a rock again. Baili Qingyi quickly cried out, "No!"
His voice was hoarse, and his pronunciation was unclear. The girl frowned and slowed her movements. For a moment, Baili Qingyi wondered if she could understand Mandarin.
Or perhaps she truly was a mountain spirit, untouched by worldly concerns? He found his own speculation amusing.
“Miss,” he cleared his throat, “I am not a bad person.”
The girl still sized him up with hostility, but slowly lowered her arm, seemingly no longer intending to find a rock to knock him unconscious.
Baili Qingyi smiled bitterly. He realized that his limbs were numb and he couldn't move. The girl must have given him some kind of numbing drug. He cautiously asked, "You...can you understand Mandarin?"
The girl was clearly taken aback. She lowered her head and pondered something, then suddenly looked up and raised a stone.
Baili Qingyi was shocked: "Stop!" Is this girl really wild? He tried to smile: "I'm not a bad person, I... I didn't mean any harm..." He had been practicing martial arts in Baili Prefecture since he was a child, and since he mastered the skills, he had never encountered a situation where he was unable to move or communicate and could only be slaughtered by others.
Unexpectedly, the girl raised the stone and smashed a fruit on the ground in two with a loud bang. She picked up the fruit and dripped the fragrant juice from the shell into his mouth. The juice was very thick, almost making him choke. He obediently swallowed it, not forgetting to say, "Thank you."
The girl gave him a strange look, then took the remaining half of the fruit and ate it herself. Unfortunately, she had smashed that half, and the juice spilled all over her hands and face.
Seeing how messy she was eating, Baili Qingyi couldn't help but laugh.
The girl paused, looking at him angrily.
Baili Qingyi quickly suppressed her smile: "I apologize, I did not mean to mock you."
The girl snorted, threw the fruit aside, turned her back to Baili Qingyi, and fell asleep immediately.
A gentle breeze and a bright moon; the night was still and the mountains empty, with a beautiful woman by his side. Baili Qingyi thought for a moment, then closed his eyes, feigning sleep. But for some reason, his mind was in turmoil, and he couldn't fall asleep no matter what. So he opened his eyes and said to the girl's retreating figure, "Miss! Your clothes are on fire!"
"What? Where?" The girl jumped up like a rabbit, frantically checking every part of her body to see if it was intact.
She suddenly realized that she had been tricked and glared angrily at Baili Qingyi.
Baili Qingyi suddenly found her very cute.
"Young lady, you clearly speak Mandarin, and your voice is quite pleasant. Why do you want me to think you can't understand Mandarin?"
The girl sneered, "The clothes are on fire? It's clearly the hair that's on fire." She picked up a burning branch, brought it close to Baili Qingyi's head, and unceremoniously singed his hair.
“Miss…” Baili Qingyi finally panicked a little, “This is no joke…” The flames burned brighter and brighter, almost burning off his full head of black hair. With a splash, the girl scooped up the cold spring water from the mountain stream, extinguished the flames, and also poured it all over his head and face.
Baili Qingyi kept her eyes tightly closed, and only slowly opened them after the water dripped down her face.
He now understood the meaning of "what goes around comes around." He immediately heeded the adage "silence is golden" and remained silent.
After a while, the girl asked, "Are you a member of the martial arts world?"
"Hmm...I guess so," Baili Qingyi replied.
“Yes or no, what do you mean by ‘it’?” The girl was dissatisfied with his answer.
Baili Qingyi pondered for a moment: "What do you think defines a person of the martial world?"
"People who fight and kill, who talk about chivalry all day long, but do nothing productive and do no good deeds."
"...That's a novel idea, but it's not without merit."
"So, are you a member of the martial arts world?"
Baili Qingyi smiled and said, "Yes."
Are you being hunted down?
"Hmm." He couldn't very well tell her that his old injury had flared up while he was passing through Yunshan Mountain, causing him to dizzy and fall from the mountaintop. "And you, young lady? Why are you alone in these mountains?"
"I came here to soak in the hot springs." But halfway through her soak, a pervert fell from the sky and soiled her hot spring water.
Baili Qingyi's heart skipped a beat: "Miss, could it be that I fell in while you were soaking in the hot spring?"
"What do you think?" The girl glanced at him sideways, her expression indifferent, but Baili Qingyi felt a chill run down his spine.
"I'm really sorry, young lady." Baili Qingyi gritted his teeth. He had encountered many infatuated female warriors who wanted to create some kind of accident to make him take responsibility, but this time, no matter what, it didn't seem like an accident created by this young girl. It was his fault no matter how you looked at it.
"Is a simple 'sorry' all it takes?"
"...How would you like me to make amends, young lady?" Does this mean I really have to offer myself in return this time?
The girl suddenly turned around and flashed him a big smile. The smile was dazzling and carried a hint of wickedness.
"You are quite beautiful."
Baili Qingyi was momentarily scorched by her smile. "Not bad, not bad."
"Let me tease you a little."
"..." He thought he had misheard.
“Miss, flirting seems to be something that can only happen between a man and a woman. If it’s a woman flirting with a man…” he tried to explain with difficulty.
"Why? Why?" the girl cried out indignantly. "Why should women be the only ones to be teased?" She scrutinized Baili Qingyi, grinned, and reached out to lift his chin: "Beauty, give me a smile."
Baili Qingyi finally realized that he had encountered a female rogue.
The girl stroked her chin, deep in thought. "No, no, I should write a lewd poem instead." She shook her head, muttering to herself in distress, "This topic is so unfair! I could easily go and flirt with Cen Lu, and I'm afraid Cen Lu would be more than willing to strip naked and hand me over to her. But, to flirt with Brother Feng Lang, I just can't bring myself to do it. Brother Feng Lang is so innocent."
Baili Qingyi shivered slightly: "Miss, I... am also very naive."
The girl glared at him and said, "You don't need to scream anymore. You can scream your lungs out, but no one will listen to you. You've already been drugged with my family's top-grade sleeping potion, and you can't move a muscle." She stretched out her wolf-like claws and began to grope Baili Qingyi all over.
Touch her face, touch her chest, touch her neck, what else? She thought for a moment, then brought her small mouth to the beautiful woman's thin lips with their clear lines.
"Girl!" Baili Qingyi calmly stopped her, "What did you just mention... an obscene poem?"
The girl paused, then withdrew her attack.
“That’s right, writing poetry is more important.” She looked around, stood up, put her hands behind her back in a serious manner, and paced back and forth, shaking her head as she did so.
"The moon returns to the wind, the mountains and rivers hold back the white silk, the gate welcomes the red lips, the flute player dances intimately. Tomorrow, the dream clouds, phoenix feathers flow with crimson, the courtyard sends off the goddess of frost, beautiful women share the same poem." She recited with each step, and after finishing, she turned her head and smiled at him: "Is it still considered elegant?"
Baili Qingyi nodded, genuinely surprised. He hadn't expected this young girl to possess such extraordinary literary talent, able to compose an erotic poem with such elegance and freshness, all while speaking fluently and effortlessly.
"Young lady, you are very talented." He praised her, then suddenly and unexpectedly leaped up from the ground and pressed on the girl's vital points.
"You...you weren't supposed to be unable to move, were you?" the girl exclaimed in terror, realizing that she was the one who was now unable to move.
Baili Qingyi sat on the ground, panting. Even the most potent sedative couldn't suppress him for long; it was only his severe injuries that had held him back. He had to gather his strength for a long time to complete this series of actions. This little girl was too reckless; he couldn't let her run wild.
"Young lady, do you know how lecherous thieves are dealt with in the Jiangnan region?" His breathing was disordered, and the threat in his words was still quite obvious.
"What should we do?" the girl asked, trying to remain calm.
"We caught the lecher, stripped him naked, tattooed two big characters on his chest: 'Lecher,' and then hung him on the city gate for public display for three days and three nights." He deliberately threatened her. Someone had to teach this audacious girl a lesson.