Young Master Yu felt that capturing that red-lipped woman should be a sure thing.

He could see his fingers were only a hair’s breadth from the woman’s shoulder. He had even touched her long hair—soft, slender, slightly wavy, smooth and bright as satin.

Then in the next instant, something like smoke and light flashed before his eyes, and suddenly he lost sight of her.

He froze there, his fingers still in a grasping pose in mid-air, looking somewhat spasmodic.

Everyone was staring intently at these two people, and now they all gasped “Ah…” in amazement, looking around bewildered—where did she go?

“Bang.” Someone crashed into the cutting board piled with braised pork elbows.

Jing Hengbo, afraid of losing her target, had moved too quickly and felt her lower back hit something hard. Things rolled down with a rumbling sound, carrying the distinctive smell of meat and star anise, slippery things smashing onto her face.

She raised her hand and grabbed a braised elbow thicker than her arm from her face. Before she could see clearly or apologize to anyone, she saw seven or eight bright lights flash overhead—swish, swish, swish, swish—like lightning crisscrossing before her eyes, blindingly bright. In that dazzling light, what she held suddenly became much lighter, then something thin began falling piece by piece, landing on her face, chest, stomach…

Even Her Majesty the Queen, who had weathered many storms, was stunned for a second. A second later, she instinctively tried to get up. Just as her waist straightened, “swish”—a bright light slid past her nose tip, forming a beautiful white flower in the air, with meat slices blooming like petals from the flower’s center, scattering another layer on her face.

She put her arms back, trying to support herself on the cutting board, but grabbed two braised elbows. The swishing sounds overhead continued, white light constantly flying past her nose tip, forehead, lip corners, and cheeks, like juggling. She dared not move, fearing that one movement would turn her nose tip, forehead, lip corners, and such into meat slices in rice noodle soup bowls.

Cheers arose from all sides. She twitched her lip corners—this fellow overhead played with knives very well, very skillfully, but playing on her face wasn’t very pleasant.

“Bang.” A thunderous crash, the cutting board beside her vibrated with a buzz, the knife light ceased. She turned to look—oh my, that blade three times thicker than ordinary knives was viciously embedded in the cutting board beside her, deeply stuck into the wood, no more than a hair’s width from her arm.

And the braised elbow on her face now remained only a bone with not a shred of meat left…

“Excellent knife skills!” Those in the crowd who knew martial arts loudly praised.

“One dish of beauty meat slices!” More people hurriedly ordered elbow slices—braised elbow meat sliced on a beauty’s face must taste extraordinary.

In the clamorous voices, conversation continued quietly.

“This woman is rather suspicious.”

“What she used wasn’t lightness skill.”

“When did Dahuang have martial arts we don’t recognize? Are the heavens changing?”

“The heavens changed long ago. It’s about to rain, we need to close up early today and go home to wash clothes. These people stink to death.”

“Don’t you all notice this woman deliberately came over here?”

“I only saw her chest is very big.”

“Yeah, me too. I thought all women in this world were like Ming Zhu, flat as a coffin board. Turns out there are this kind too.”

“Ming Zhu was with her just now. Should we bring her along too?”

“No.”

“No.”

“Why? We grew up together anyway, and she’ll be half our master in the future.”

“No chest.”

“Yeah, no chest. By the way, this one with a chest—who do you think she came for?”

“Me.”

“Me.”

“Definitely me.”

…

Jing Hengbo supported herself on the greasy cutting board and stood up straight. No need to check the divination pearl—this elbow-slicing fellow was definitely not Gong Yin.

There were two other people helping at this stall, one pulling rice noodles and one ladling rice noodle soup. While she was getting elbow sliced on her face, those two never stopped their work.

The divination pearl’s red line was basically stationary. It wouldn’t be them either.

Wind sounds came from in front—Young Master Yu had finally pushed through the crowd to catch up, apparently angry, reaching out to grab her chest. “Come here!”

“Smack.” A greasy bone bounced off his nose tip, making him see stars. By the time he brushed away the bone, that woman had vanished like a ghost again.

The next instant, Jing Hengbo rushed to the lamb noodle soup stall.

This was the largest stall with the most workers, dressed most in Gong Yin’s style, yet she hadn’t chosen to come here first precisely because it felt too obvious, and thus unlikely.

When she stood still and looked around, she was immediately stunned.

Somehow, those originally busy seven or eight workers had all stopped their tasks, standing in a circle with arms crossed, staring intently at her.

For that moment, she even had the urge to fold her arms—these fellows looked at people too shamelessly! Every one of them stared straight at her chest!

Jing Hengbo had a stunning figure and was accustomed to men’s covetous gazes at her assets both before and after transmigration. But men, being face-conscious creatures, even when drooling with desire, would pretend to be proper. They would look, yes, but with sidelong glances, peripheral vision, reflections—all manner of sneaky, concealed ways to feast their eyes. How could there be seven or eight people staring so nakedly and unabashedly?

Strangely, though these people’s gazes were extremely impolite, they didn’t carry much lustful flavor. Instead, they seemed more curious and appreciative, giving her the feeling that these people found this very rare and beautiful, so they absolutely had to stop and look more. As for whether the world considered it proper or appropriate, they simply didn’t care.

Looking more carefully, she couldn’t help but be startled. These seven or eight people were all quite tall. Though their faces were ordinary, when they stood still with arms crossed looking at people, their temperament and expression didn’t seem like workers at all. Those coarse white cloth garments were washed to a shine, radiating a cleanliness that penetrated to the bone.

Most critically, all seven or eight of them had stopped moving!

A crowd outside the awning clamored for noodle soup, but those workers impatiently rolled their eyes. One fellow kicked, and a white cloth fell from overhead with two large black characters: Closed!

Jing Hengbo was dumbfounded—they were all stationary, so how to search?

Worse yet, these people looked at the sky, and one of them pulled down the awning with a clatter, actually preparing to close up and leave.

Jing Hengbo looked around, then at the nearby wonton stall, momentarily caught between advance and retreat. She feared Gong Yin was among these seven or eight people and wanted to follow, but also worried he was actually somewhere else nearby, and leaving now would mean missing him.

What to do?

At this moment, the workers were packing up the stall, preparing to leave. It was about to rain.

Jing Hengbo reached to pull out the divination pearl. If the pearl’s blood thread was still stationary, she’d follow this group. If it had changed, she’d go with them.

Before she could take out the pearl, wind sounds rang out urgently—that Young Master Yu haunted her again.

Jing Hengbo dodged aside, irritated, shouting angrily, “Third time!”

But Young Master Yu seemed not to hear at all, turning to grab her again. “I never agreed to your bet!”

Glancing at those workers packing with incredible speed, having already gathered up awning and utensils, Jing Hengbo felt anxious. She dodged aside and reached for the pearl again. “Get lost!”

“What are you always rummaging for in your sleeve?” Young Master Yu finally noticed her actions, his gaze flashing. “Hidden weapons? Poison? Let me see!” He reached out to grab her sleeve.

Jing Hengbo dodged aside. Just then a tall worker walked past her, and Jing Hengbo, ignoring Young Master Yu, reached out and felt the worker’s chest.

That worker turned his head and froze.

Jing Hengbo, ignoring his inner turmoil, felt no bone-deep coldness in that touch. Gong Yin’s chest was always ice-cold.

She immediately let go and reached to feel the next one.

Just then Young Master Yu’s hand reached out, grabbing Jing Hengbo’s sleeve. “Rip”—the sleeve tore, and the divination pearl rolled out.

In great alarm, Jing Hengbo curved and tilted her arm, so the pearl didn’t fall to the ground but rolled along her arm toward the front, rolling right into the open front of the second worker she’d approached.

That worker cried “Ah!”

All the workers around instantly froze.

But Jing Hengbo couldn’t care about anything else—the divination pearl couldn’t be lost! She reached into the man’s shirt front to search.

Her body blocked that worker, and Young Master Yu blocked her, so people outside couldn’t see clearly, but the seven or eight workers nearby could see everything clearly, and their eyes went wide.

After Jing Hengbo groped for just a moment, both she and that worker cried “Ah!” loudly.

The worker jumped up with a swish, the divination pearl rolling out from his shirt. He rubbed his chest, yelling, “Ah, hot! How is it so hot!”

The pearl bounced toward another worker, who stared dumbfounded, not knowing whether to catch it. Jing Hengbo lunged like a hungry tiger pouncing on food, crashing into him with a thud, and on his thigh grabbed the divination pearl. The moment she grasped it, she also shuddered and nearly threw it away.

Hot!

Both surprised and delighted, she sprawled on the man to examine the pearl.

Wind sounds came from behind as someone pulled her up. Young Master Yu’s detestable voice rang out behind her again, “What precious thing is that? Let me see!”

With his pull, the divination pearl slipped from Jing Hengbo’s hands again, rolling into a puddle of mud.

Jing Hengbo finally couldn’t bear it anymore. With one hand she scooped up the mud-dripping pearl where the blood thread could no longer be seen, with the other hand she swung forcefully.

A heavy tung oil umbrella tucked under a worker’s arm suddenly flew up, “bang”—viciously smashing into Young Master Yu’s face.

The dull sound of heavy object meeting flesh and when the tung oil umbrella flew up, thick blood also flew out, staining the umbrella with spotted red marks.

Young Master Yu’s face instantly became like a soy sauce shop. As he fell backward, he saw his noseblood spurting high, drawing a rainbow across the sky.

Someone screamed, “Murder! Murder!”

Someone pushed through the crowd, crying out in terror, “Young masters, come quickly! Something terrible! Young Master Yu has been harmed!”

Someone lunged toward Jing Hengbo. The crowd surged violently. Jing Hengbo couldn’t spare time to look at the divination pearl, fearing the crowd might crush and lose this treasure. She hurriedly stuffed the pearl into her bosom and moved like lightning through the crowd, feeling the chests of all those dazed workers who hadn’t recovered their wits.

No ice-cold chest!

Jing Hengbo breathed a long sigh of relief. When touching the last person, she mischievously pinched his face—you dare look, sister dares touch. Speaking of it, sister still came out ahead!

“Pack up, pack up.” She kicked another worker in the rear. “I’m not seeing you off.”

The surging crowd pressed forward. Some were rescuing Young Master Yu, some were hurriedly running outside, and another group was rushing this way. From afar they looked surrounded by attendants—apparently Young Master Yu’s friends had arrived. Not leaving now would mean trouble.

But she didn’t plan to leave.

Her gaze fell on that wonton stall that had been doing business all along.

Only one stall remained. Would he be there? If he really was, and had been avoiding her all along, why hadn’t he left yet?

She walked slowly toward that stall.

The boiling voices again covered subtle conversations.

“Really embarrassing, who’d have thought the big-chested one would fall for me at first sight.”

“Your eyes are blurry, right? Where did she fall for you at first sight?”

“Didn’t you see her touch my chest?”

“She touched my chest too, she even used a scalding hot pearl to burn my navel!”

“Stop being so narcissistic. Didn’t you see her sprawl on my thigh?”

“You all shut up. She touched everyone’s chest, but she only pinched my face! My face!”

“Speaking of uniqueness, she was unique to me. She kicked my butt! Compared to faces, don’t you think butts are men’s more private parts?”

…

The arguing continued unabated. In another corner, someone spoke coolly and lightly.

“The brothers seem quite idle lately.”

“Perhaps.”

“Setting up market stalls to experience worldly atmosphere is about enough. Time to change occupations.”

“What do you think?”

“Starting tomorrow, everyone go help farmers outside the city carry manure.”

“…”