Having not slept all night, and with the large bag of raw flour they bought remaining uneaten, Meng Ruji was both exhausted and heartbroken. Hearing Mu Sui’s stomach growling again, Meng Ruji found a quiet place, had him sit and wait without moving around anymore, while she went to find fruits and dew for him.

After hearing this, Mu Sui was silent for a while, then nodded. But before Meng Ruji turned to leave, he spoke up: “Can the man you threw out hold back the Master of Linlan Mountain?”

Meng Ruji thought about it: “Hard to say, but seeing that the mountain master hasn’t caught up with us yet, he should be holding him back. Even if Yan Tianjun came to the Wuliu Land, he should still have some ability to survive.”

Hearing the implied praise for that person in Meng Ruji’s words, Mu Sui became somewhat unhappy, his eyes darkening and the corners of his mouth turning down. Then he pressed down on the corners of his mouth again.

Mu Sui calmed his emotions, and when he looked up again, he made his expression as gentle as possible: “Elder Sister, tomorrow morning, let’s go get the marriage certificate. When dawn breaks, we’ll go sign it.”

Meng Ruji raised an eyebrow slightly. Before she could speak, seeing her expression, Mu Sui continued: “Since we’ve decided, and Elder Sister has expressed your feelings to me, I don’t want to wait even a moment longer.”

Meng Ruji’s raised eyebrow slowly lowered: “Alright.”

Meng Ruji turned and left, her figure disappearing into the forest.

When the sound of footsteps could no longer be heard, Mu Sui sat in place, looking up at the strange green moon of the Wuliu Land. Letting the night wind blow over him, he murmured: “I hope dawn comes soon…”

After speaking, he closed his eyes as if resting.

On the other side, in the darkness among the trees, Meng Ruji, who should have left, was now crouching on a tree trunk, secretly watching Mu Sui under that tree from afar.

Meng Ruji waited for a long time, only hearing Mu Sui say that one sentence. Then in the silent forest, aside from the wind and insect sounds, only the loud rumbling of Mu Sui’s hungry stomach remained.

Seeing Mu Sui do nothing else, and his stomach rumbling sounding more like death knells, Meng Ruji stopped her surveillance and turned to search for fruits in the forest.

As soon as Meng Ruji left, Mu Sui, under the tree, almost instantly opened his eyes.

His pupils reflected the green moonlight, no longer showing the simple clarity from before. The green light seemed to draw a sinister line in his eyes.

Mu Sui held six silver pearls in his palm, arranging them into an extremely small formation in his palm.

The formation emitted light, and soon Chensha’s figure appeared, but as a tiny person in Mu Sui’s palm. If Mu Sui curled his hand, this formation would be broken and disappear immediately.

“City… City Lord?” There were sounds of struggling and thrashing from Chensha’s side as he asked, “Why use this Palm Reflection technique? Doesn’t it consume more silver? You…”

“Palm Reflection time is limited, so make it brief. I need you to handle something.” Mu Sui said solemnly, “After sunrise, no matter what means you use, you must sever the connection between Yinyuan Hall at Changlin Market by the Nai River and Zhuliu City’s Marriage Tree.”

Chensha was stunned on his end. He seemed to be holding something that kept struggling. He crouched down to pin the thing down, then said with difficulty, “If we cut the connection between Yinyuan Hall and the Marriage Tree, marriages can’t be carved onto the Marriage Tree anymore. Marriage contracts that are signed won’t count.”

“Just do as you’re told, don’t ask why.”

“Yes… But…” Chensha seemed troubled. “Zhuliu City’s Marriage Tree is connected to Yinyuan Halls throughout the Wuliu Land, with roots tangled and intertwined. To sever just one connection…”

“Then cut them all. For one hour after sunrise, no marriages from anywhere may be carved onto the Marriage Tree.”

“…Yes.” Chensha reluctantly agreed. “But this will cost us our last gold piece… City Lord, I won’t be able to bring you back in the short term…”

“No matter. Did you catch Tuzi?”

“She’s in my hands right now.”

“Good. Lock her up in a small cage. If she causes more trouble, when I return to the city, I’ll hold you accountable.”

The thing in Chensha’s hands seemed to struggle even more violently. Chensha completely pinned it down before responding to Mu Sui: “I obey your command.”

Mu Sui clenched his fist, the silver pearls on his hand rolled, the formation disappeared, and Chensha’s figure vanished as well. Mu Sui breathed a long sigh of relief—this matter was finally resolved.

Meng Ruji was still searching for fruits in the forest.

This part of the forest was unfamiliar to Meng Ruji, so picking fruits took more time than usual. When Meng Ruji returned, Mu Sui, sitting under the tree, looked extremely uncomfortable from hunger.

His stomach rumbled like drums, and Meng Ruji could hear it clearly from three zhang away. She quickly handed the fruits to Mu Sui.

Mu Sui wolfed them down hungrily while Meng Ruji skillfully peeled fruits beside him.

After Mu Sui ate seven or eight fruits and the gnawing hunger in his stomach subsided, he finally had the presence of mind to glance at Meng Ruji.

Meng Ruji’s fruit-peeling technique was extremely fast—three strikes and five cuts, and a completely peeled fruit appeared in her palm. Without looking up, she handed it directly to Mu Sui, then continued peeling the next one.

Mu Sui instinctively took it, then seeing her lips that had dried and cracked from not drinking water for a long time, couldn’t help asking: “Aren’t you eating?”

“You eat first.”

Meng Ruji answered without emotion, with the numbness of being accustomed to it, and proof of these days spent caring for him.

Mu Sui silently took the fruit and continued eating.

After Meng Ruji finished peeling all the fruits, she stuffed them all into Mu Sui’s arms. But Mu Sui kept three, and with his stomach still making slight rumbling sounds, he stood up and said: “I’m full.”

Meng Ruji had been busy all night, and her mind was a bit foggy. Without thinking much, she took the remaining three fruits and ate them. Then, seeing that dawn was approaching, she led Mu Sui by small paths toward the market.

Meng Ruji hid in a corner, observing the market streets for a while. She wasn’t sure what the situation was with Mo Li and didn’t dare advance rashly. So she picked up two pieces of torn cloth from the roadside—one for each of them—wrapped around their necks to cover half their faces.

While Meng Ruji cautiously scouted, Mu Sui stood behind her, constantly checking the sky. When the sun had gained some warmth, Mu Sui suddenly grabbed Meng Ruji’s hand and strode quickly toward the shabby “Yinyuan Hall,” with large, fast steps that almost required Meng Ruji to jog to keep up.

“Be more careful!” Meng Ruji tried to hold Mu Sui back. “Going too fast attracts attention.”

Mu Sui didn’t look back, only saying: “Eager to marry.”

Mu Sui led Meng Ruji almost bursting through the door. The interior of Yinyuan Hall was even more dilapidated, with nothing but a simple wooden counter. Behind the counter were wooden compartments stacked high like a medicine cabinet.

Seeing the people who barged in, the soldier guarding Yinyuan Hall was a bit confused: “So early?… Eh?” The soldier looked at Meng Ruji over. “Didn’t you… Come yesterday?”

Meng Ruji touched her nose: “You have a good memory.”

“In a place like the Wuliu Land, who would think of getting married? You’re the only one this month.”

“Yesterday’s marriage contract was lost.” Mu Sui interrupted the soldier’s slow speech, getting straight to the point. “We need another one.”

The soldier looked at Mu Sui, seeming to find him somewhat familiar as he looked him up and down.

Meng Ruji, fearing they’d cause trouble here, pretended to be intimate as she adjusted the torn cloth around Mu Sui’s neck: “Husband.” Meng Ruji called out softly and coquettishly, “You have something on your face, let me wipe it for you.”

Mu Sui was stunned by being called that.

But Meng Ruji’s hands showed no trace of coquettish gentleness—rather roughly pulling the torn cloth up, then whispering instructions: “Keep a low profile.”

Mu Sui coughed lightly, his ears reddening again as he fell silent.

Meng Ruji turned around, smiling brightly at the soldier:

“Yesterday was my fault. After getting the marriage contract and going home, I was so happy that when I got home, I tripped and both the marriage contract and the pen fell into the fire. So today we had to come get another one. Soldier brother, sorry to trouble you.”

Seeing this, the soldier didn’t mind and pulled out a marriage contract and pen from under the counter: “Be more careful this time. This paper and pen cost money too, and we have quotas—can’t just give them out freely.”

“I understand…”

Before Meng Ruji finished speaking, Mu Sui directly snatched the pen from her hand, raised it, and signed his name on the marriage contract—Mu Sui.

With a turn of his hand, he directly placed the pen in front of Meng Ruji.

His eager movements caught even Meng Ruji off guard.

Meng Ruji looked at Mu Sui, seeing his bright eyes full of expectation. So Meng Ruji took the pen and quickly signed as well.

On the red marriage contract with two names written, in the next instant, the contract flashed with red light, transforming into a stream of red silk thread that flew into the distance.

The soldier smiled his congratulations: “Congratulations to the newlyweds. The marriage contract has used its built-in magical technique to send both your names to the Marriage Tree. When the red silk thread arrives, the Marriage Tree will naturally carve both your names, and you’ll become a legal married couple in the Wuliu Land. All public servants of the Wuliu Land offer you their highest respect and heartfelt blessings.”

Watching the red silk thread fly away and hearing the soldier’s blessings, Meng Ruji glanced at the person beside her, feeling somewhat unreal for a moment. She had just married herself off like this.

Really… coming to the Wuliu Land, she had done all the things she had never imagined doing in this lifetime!

But whatever! Zhuliu City was now half within her grasp!

“Mu Sui, from now on…” Meng Ruji said, “We are truly husband and wife.”

Meng Ruji silently added: Here.

“Right.” Mu Sui said, “We are already husband and wife.”

Mu Sui silently added the same: Only for now.

The connection between the Marriage Tree and this place had already been severed. The red silk thread couldn’t fly back to Zhuliu City’s Marriage Tree. The red silk thread would stop mid-air and then disappear. He and Meng Ruji would remain… pure and unattached.

“Hey, look! That Master of Linlan Mountain is here!”

Outside Yinyuan Hall, a crowd suddenly shouted: “So imposing! So majestic! Descending from heaven!”

“He went to the theater stage area!”

“He’s carrying someone with him!”

Hearing this, Meng Ruji felt an ominous premonition. She looked toward the door warily.

Outside the shabby Yinyuan Hall, a group of people were craning their necks to look in one direction, while another group wearing Linlan Mountain disciple clothing, armed with swords, hurried past outside.

Immediately after, a voice spread throughout the entire market, reaching everyone’s ears as they heard the Master of Linlan Mountain’s voice: “You two petty thieves, your father is in my hands. If you want to save him, come see me quickly!”

Hearing this, Meng Ruji wanted to smash the counter in front of her.

Mu Sui turned his head even more, showing his face full of disgust that Meng Ruji couldn’t see.

Whose father?

Disgusting whom?

Mo Li: Come save your daddy! Your old father!