The night wind in the forest grew stronger, stirring up dust and withered grass from the ground. But many fallen leaves weren’t swept up because they were all pressed down by Mu Sui’s silver pearls and copper coins.

The leaves fluttered slightly beneath the money, and Mu Sui’s clothes, grasped in Meng Ruji’s hands, also fluttered in the wind along with his hem.

“You…” In the night wind, in the silence, Meng Ruji spoke up. “Hid money?”

For a moment, it seemed the anger shouldn’t be directed there anymore, the jealousy shouldn’t be felt, and the matter of Meng Ruji pulling a man out of her waistband shouldn’t be pursued. The situation suddenly reversed to become his fault—

How could a fool like him know how to hide money?

With his thoughts churning, Mu Sui slightly turned around, tilting his head to look at Meng Ruji, who was clutching his tattered clothes: “Yes.” He admitted generously, then lowered his head. While hiding all his emotions, the lowering motion also revealed a few traces of guilt and grievance. “I hid it.”

Alarm bells rang in Meng Ruji’s heart. She still clutched his hem, but her gaze cooled as she looked him over from top to bottom. Finally, she narrowed her eyes and stared at Mu Sui’s face, not missing any expression.

“Where did you get the money?”

“Mountain bandits. I caught them.” Mu Sui continued with his head down, speaking in a low voice.

Meng Ruji pondered for a moment and found it reasonable. The timing matched up, and when they returned to see Miaomiao that day, all of Miaomiao’s strange expressions suddenly made sense.

“Catching mountain bandits and taking their money is a good thing. Why hide it from me?” Meng Ruji withdrew her hands, crossing her arms, her voice carrying a hint of leading questioning. “Mu Sui, did you… Remember something?”

Mu Sui didn’t evade. He raised his head, looking at Meng Ruji with the most sincere gaze and earnest tone: “What I’ve remembered, I’ve told you all. I hid it from you because I was afraid you would spend money recklessly.”

Meng Ruji found it amusing: “Which expenditure of mine was reckless spending?”

“You shouldn’t have bought me medicine.”

Meng Ruji let out a scoff: “So watch you die?”

“Just watch me die.”

This left Meng Ruji speechless. She was silent for a while, still scrutinizing Mu Sui: “You want to die?”

Mu Sui steadied his emotions: “Of course not. Elder Sister, I have nothing I want to hide from you.” Mu Sui said, “With you, I’ve been completely honest.” He also said, “Previously, I hid from you and went alone to catch the mountain bandits to avoid making you worry.”

Meng Ruji nodded: “That makes sense.”

“Afterward, when catching the mountain bandits, I learned that the bandit leader was at an inn by the Nai River below the mountain. I wanted to eliminate the root of the problem, but unexpectedly, I saw you. Seeing you injured, I forgot everything else.”

Meng Ruji continued nodding: “Also reasonable.”

Mu Sui continued narrating to Meng Ruji: “Then after that, I fell into the Nai River. In the Nai River, I remembered stealing your Inner Core. Unable to face you, I kept thinking about how to confess to you, so I forgot about catching the mountain bandits.”

“Alright. Continue.”

“Later, you told me that you judge people by the present, not the future. You look at this moment, not the past. You said I was worthy of your sincere treatment. So I also wanted to give you everything sincerely.”

Meng Ruji’s arms crossed over her chest, wavered slightly: “You certainly remember my words clearly…”

“I remember all your words clearly.”

Meng Ruji touched her nose and coughed lightly: “Talk about the matter, don’t say these things.”

Mu Sui obediently continued: “When I was feeling unwell and you helped me buy medicine, after resting for a while and feeling better, I wanted to give you a surprise. So I went to the yamen and collected the reward money.”

“Wait.” Meng Ruji interrupted. “You caught the thieves the day before—why would the yamen believe you caught them?”

“I had the thieves tell the yamen officials that I would bring a mountain yam when collecting the money.”

“…You’re quite clever.” Meng Ruji said with some implication. “Those thieves also listened to you.”

Mu Sui’s gaze grew slightly deeper: “Elder Sister, I can’t remember past events, but I’m not stupid.” He stared at Meng Ruji, his eyes revealing appropriate assertiveness. “Don’t treat me like a child.”

Meng Ruji was slightly stunned, then coughed lightly: “Alright, continue.”

“I brought back the reward money for catching thieves, but didn’t expect that you had brought back medicine bought with all the money.”

“Wait again.” Meng Ruji thought carefully. “When I returned with the medicine, you seemed to have time to give me your ‘surprise,’ didn’t you?”

Mu Sui’s expression didn’t change at all: “Yes, I originally intended to give it to you, but seeing your strange emotions and odd behavior, I didn’t speak up.”

Meng Ruji thought about it—at that time, she was waiting for Mo Li in her belt to move around, so her emotions were indeed strange, and her behavior should have been odd.

When facing Mu Sui, she wasn’t exactly a good person either.

Meng Ruji again touched her nose somewhat embarrassedly.

“Then what?”

“Then you fed me the medicine. This medicine was expensive—you didn’t say so, but I knew you felt heartbroken about it.”

Meng Ruji indeed felt heartbroken.

Eight silver.

How many days had they been in the Wuliu Land? When had she ever seen so much money?

“I didn’t want to see you so heartbroken.” Mu Sui lowered his head, looking self-reproachful and sad. “You shouldn’t have spent all the money on me.” He raised his hand to lightly cover his eyes.

This…

Meng Ruji was stunned: Was this boy actually… crying?

Mu Sui covered his eyes, pressing hard until they hurt a bit, then continued: “I want you to always be happy. But I know you’re kind-hearted—seeing me injured, you wouldn’t ignore it. So I thought to keep the money matter hidden.”

Mu Sui finally lowered his hand.

His eye sockets were slightly red, and his eyes seemed to glisten with moisture.

“Elder Sister, if you want a thousand gold, I want to save up a thousand gold to give you all at once.”

Meng Ruji looked at his eyes, seeing his sincere gaze that didn’t avoid hers at all. In the night wind, Meng Ruji felt a trace of confusion.

Mu Sui’s words made it genuinely difficult for her to distinguish truth from falsehood.

Moreover, if what he said was true.

Meng Ruji felt that she might be… somewhat excessive.

Finally, Mu Sui turned his back again, saying sadly yet restrainedly:

“But today I realized you don’t need me to do these things at all. You… your heart belongs to another. You treasure and cherish him, hiding him close to your heart…”

Treasure and cherish…

Meng Ruji rubbed her forehead: “I told you it’s not like that… That Yan Tianjun is my debt.”

Mu Sui blurted out: “Love debt?”

“A debt of favor!”

Meng Ruji sighed deeply: “If I valued him, would I throw him out like a weapon? If I were to throw someone, I’d throw you! I left him there but brought you away—which is more important doesn’t need verbal proof, does it?”

Mu Sui’s back stiffened slightly. He turned his head to look at Meng Ruji. He didn’t speak, but his eyes held a slight gleam.

Meng Ruji turned her back. After pondering for a moment, suddenly, as if her mind cleared for an instant, she whipped her head around to look at Mu Sui. She smacked her lips, coughed lightly, then walked to Mu Sui’s side. This time, she took Mu Sui’s hand.

At the touch of fingertips, Mu Sui’s gaze also deepened slightly.

In the night, in the breeze, with their clothes intertwining and hair flying, Meng Ruji’s voice was gentle as her fingertips lightly traced across the back of Mu Sui’s hand: “Mu Sui, since you say you hid money to give it all to me later, then Mu Sui, I can be certain that you like me, right?”

Mu Sui’s mouth immediately acknowledged: “I like you.”

“I was once a farmer’s daughter. In my hometown, only a wife can possess her husband’s money. Two people help each other, love each other, and walk hand in hand through life. Look, aren’t we already in that kind of relationship now?”

Meng Ruji looked into Mu Sui’s eyes, not missing any of his expressions.

Of course, Mu Sui didn’t make any expression that would make Meng Ruji suspicious. However, while one of his hands was being held, touched, and caressed by Meng Ruji in front of him, his other hand behind him had already clenched into a fist so tight that he could feel the pain in his joints.

Their eyes met. Regardless of what undercurrents surged, Mu Sui still firmly answered: “Elder Sister, let’s get married.”

Meng Ruji smiled and nodded: “Alright, Little Sui.”

In Meng Ruji’s mind, there were only two possibilities for the current Mu Sui. First, he truly was as he claimed—simple, sincere, and genuinely in love with her.

Second, he had remembered everything and was just acting. He wanted to obtain something from her through his current state, so he had to act in front of her.

For Meng Ruji, if the first possibility was true, Mu Sui was pitiful and tragic, deceived by her emotionally and into a marriage contract. Her conscience felt guilty!

But would she stop because of this?

She wouldn’t! She had to continue the deception!

Deceiving a Zhuliu City Lord into marriage was her fastest way back to the mortal world! Even if it meant going against her conscience, she had to deceive him! She would find ways to compensate him later!

As for the second possibility, she would deceive him even more! She wouldn’t even need to go against her conscience!

In this battle of wits, if he wanted to manipulate her, why couldn’t she also fish him along?

They were all thousand-year-old foxes—who was nobler than whom?

Truth or falsehood, lies or sincerity—she couldn’t distinguish clearly, but did it matter?

What mattered was that she was determined to sign this marriage contract! Even if the Heavenly King himself came, he couldn’t stop her!