Meng Ruji was awakened the next day by a heavy, thunderous crash. She opened her eyes to see Mu Sui’s face.

Mu Sui had also been awakened by this loud noise. Both looked at each other, their eyes holding the hazy confusion of just waking and the alertness of being startled awake.

After a moment, all these emotions faded away, leaving only traces of awkwardness threading between them… or rather, only remaining on Meng Ruji’s expression alone.

“Cough…” Meng Ruji cleared her throat, wanting to sit up, but when she moved, she discovered that Mu Sui, who was also lying on his side, had one hand resting so naturally on her waist.

Without delay, Meng Ruji slapped his hand away and immediately sat up, pretending to be composed while changing the subject: “This ground is too damp. Amazingly, you could sleep so soundly.”

Of course, Mu Sui wouldn’t dwell on something like “somehow we ended up sleeping together last night” either. He also got up and looked toward where the sound had come from.

“The sound came from the direction of the ruined temple.”

Meng Ruji rubbed her arm and started walking: “Let’s go see.”

The two hurried over. Before they even arrived, they could hear Tuzi’s earth-shaking wails: “Stop hitting! Stop hitting! I was wrong! I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

Meng Ruji rolled her eyes and said to Mu Sui, “Your bunny has great energy, causing a ruckus so early in the morning.”

Mu Sui said nothing and strode directly into the ruined temple.

Inside the temple was complete chaos.

The divine statue that had been sitting on the altar had fallen. The ruined temple that had been supported by it had completely collapsed, with broken wood and tiles scattered all over the ground, covering the statue’s body like a layer of dusty blankets.

The statue’s shoulder was buried in the earth, sunk halfway in. The carved head and face barely touched the ground, with mud splattered on the statue’s eye area, as if giving it pupils that gazed indifferently at these absurd people.

In front of the divine statue, Tuzi crouched on the ground, getting beaten. The one hitting him was Miaomiao.

Ye Chuan was trying to break up the fight, helplessly shouting: “Miss Miaomiao, please calm down!”

But Miaomiao didn’t seem to hear him. Her frenzied fists landed blow after blow on Tuzi’s body, even though Tuzi was much larger than her, even while crouching.

“Bring him back! Bring him back!”

“Who? Bring who back?”

“Him! Him! It’s him!”

“Miss Miaomiao, please calm down first!”

Watching this farce and listening to this circular dialogue, Meng Ruji walked directly to Ye Chuan’s side, grabbed the ineffectively mediating man, and asked coldly: “Where’s Mo Li? Where’s the stone? Did this rabbit do something to him?”

Mu Sui stood at the entrance of the ruined temple, not looking at the beaten Tuzi but only at Meng Ruji, his gaze slightly cooling.

Ye Chuan was suddenly spun around by Meng Ruji’s pull. After being stunned for a moment, his brain began processing Meng Ruji’s question: “Yes, it’s because of that stone!”

But before he could finish speaking, Miaomiao began screaming again, almost ready to tear down the sky: “Bring him back to me!”

Tuzi also roared in pain and anger: “Who exactly am I supposed to find?”

Without another word, Meng Ruji raised her hand and delivered a chop to the back of Miaomiao’s neck. Miaomiao immediately “calmed down.” Her eyes closed, and her body pitched forward. Meng Ruji pushed Ye Chuan aside and caught Miaomiao, steadily placing her on the ground.

At this point, the ruined temple finally became quiet.

Tuzi curled up his legs and whimpered helplessly on the ground, touching his swollen face pitifully. He occasionally glanced at Mu Sui, but seeing Mu Sui’s changeable expression, he didn’t dare speak and could only sob quietly.

Miaomiao lay on the ground where Meng Ruji had placed her, still unconsciously murmuring: “Bring back… bring back…”

Meng Ruji looked at Ye Chuan: “Speak.”

Ye Chuan sighed and pulled the gray-black stone from his chest, handing it to Meng Ruji:

“It’s here with me. Earlier, when I was outside, I didn’t see very clearly, but it seemed like Tuzi did something to this stone, and the stone retaliated. A huge blast of air came, and I was blown down from the tree even though I was outside. Then this divine statue also fell, and the temple collapsed.”

Meng Ruji took the stone and examined it carefully, finding not a single crack on it. But the temple had been blasted down, so Tuzi’s attack should have caused Mo Li to react strongly, yet he still wasn’t awake and didn’t come out to say anything. Very strange indeed.

Meng Ruji looked at Tuzi: “Yesterday you were so kind-hearted about having us use our clothes to make a bed for Miaomiao – wasn’t that all for this stone?”

Tuzi only wiped his tears and didn’t answer.

Meng Ruji had formed her conclusion and didn’t need Tuzi’s answer. She tucked the stone into her chest, then glanced at Mu Sui. Sure enough, she met Mu Sui’s displeased expression.

“Stop acting,” Meng Ruji said to Mu Sui. “You master and servant pair – one doesn’t want me to keep him in my chest, and the future tricks me into taking off clothes just to find opportunities to attack this stone. I was wondering why you’d be so obedient when I told you not to kill people.”

“Not wanting you to keep him in your chest is simply not wanting you to keep him in your chest, nothing more,” Mu Sui said. “It was like that before, and it’s like that now. This has nothing to do with whether I kill him or not.”

That he would explain was somewhat unexpected to Meng Ruji.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. Now I have to keep it in my chest.”

Mu Sui’s expression darkened even more.

“Why is Miaomiao like this?” Meng Ruji asked Ye Chuan. “Continue.”

“It seems to also be because of that blast of air just now,” Ye Chuan judged. “She looks like she’s been bewitched, wanting to find someone back, and she’s mistaken Tuzi for someone else.”

“Nightmare magic,” Meng Ruji nodded, poking the stone in her chest. “This is a nightmare demon. Miaomiao has never practiced magic, so the spell carried in that blast of air must have confused her mind.”

Meng Ruji breathed a sigh of relief. “I suppose it’s not a big problem. She should be fine when she wakes up…”

Before Meng Ruji could finish speaking, a hand suddenly grabbed her arm.

Miaomiao on the ground had awakened.

Miaomiao stared with her big watery eyes, looking at Meng Ruji pitifully. Slowly, tears gathered in her eyes: “Brother Changyun, I’ve been looking for you for so long. Where did you go?”

Meng Ruji looked at Miaomiao and fell silent for a moment.

The others looked at the two of them and didn’t dare make a sound, afraid of disturbing Miaomiao and making her as frenzied as before.

Meng Ruji tugged at her sleeve, but Miaomiao gripped it tightly, and she couldn’t pull it free at all.

“Miaomiao…” Meng Ruji used her other free hand to rub her forehead. “Is there any possibility that I’m a woman and not a brother?”

“What?” Miaomiao stared at Meng Ruji in shock as if struck by lightning. “You have another woman outside!?”

“…”

Tears rolled down Miaomiao’s face, pattering onto the ground: “What kind of woman is she? Do you like her?”

“No…”

“Are you disgusted with me? Because I never came to find you?”

“I didn’t…”

“Brother Changyun…”

Miaomiao began crying, looking pitiful like a pear blossom in the rain. Seeing her red eyes and nose, Meng Ruji’s heart softened from her crying. Then she heard her sobbing intermittently.

“Wedding dress… I sewed the wedding dress myself… Cooking… I learned to cook everything…”

Thinking of that bag of clothes and that bag of flatbread, Meng Ruji immediately didn’t want to explain or clarify anymore. She quickly coaxed: “There’s no other woman, no woman outside. Only you. Please don’t cry.”

Miaomiao’s watery eyes blinked as she looked at Meng Ruji: “Are you telling the truth?”

Meng Ruji didn’t blink either: “The truth. I only love you. Is that alright?”

Miaomiao broke into a smile through her tears.

Looking at her smile, Meng Ruji marveled that there was truly nothing in this world easier to coax than a girl.

“Rest for a while first,” Meng Ruji said gently. “I’ll go outside for a moment.”

“What are you going to do?” Only then did Miaomiao look around. “Where are we?”

It was as if she were truly in a dream.

“I’m taking you home to get married,” Meng Ruji coaxed. “You’re tired from walking, so rest a bit. I’ll go ask for directions and come back for you in a moment.”

Miaomiao obediently agreed: “Alright.”

Meng Ruji quickly left, patted Ye Chuan, gave Tuzi a meaningful look, then dragged Mu Sui outside the ruined temple.

After walking some distance and making sure Miaomiao couldn’t hear them talking, Meng Ruji looked at Tuzi speechlessly. Before she could say a single critical word, Mu Sui spoke up.

“When my wife acknowledges someone else’s husband, she’s also quite fluent, one endearment after another.”

Hearing this, Meng Ruji’s eyes almost rolled to the sky: “Whose mess am I cleaning up here? And besides, Miaomiao is just a girl – are you going to be jealous of this too?”

Mu Sui looked away and coldly dropped a sentence: “Getting married twice in the Land of No Refuge will bring divine punishment.”

“Tell that to you men yourselves!”

Meng Ruji also turned her head away in disgust. Then she immediately drew a big X over last night’s thought in her mind – what weaving him an azure grass cloak.

Did he deserve it?

Just based on that mouth of his, he didn’t deserve it!

“It’s my fault that caused trouble, don’t scold the city lord brother anymore!” Tuzi spoke up righteously, but his swollen face made his words somewhat comical. “I’ll pull the cart to take her to Zhuliu City. You can sit on it too. I just won’t deliberately drag you through bumpy places to jostle you.”

“You…” Meng Ruji pointed at Tuzi, a mouthful of old blood choking in her throat. She held it in for a long time, took a deep breath: “Things being as they are, we’ve worn her clothes and eaten her flatbread. She’s our employer. No matter what, we have to properly deliver her to her destination.”

“Miss Meng speaks reasonably,” Ye Chuan said with some concern. “But Miss Miaomiao is currently mentally unclear. What will happen when she reaches Zhuliu City?”

“We’ll take it one step at a time. Let’s get to Zhuliu City first. Her symptoms of mental confusion from nightmare magic might get better on the road. Speaking of which…” Meng Ruji looked at Ye Chuan. “Aren’t you a Medical Immortal? Take a look at her – can she recover faster?”

Tuzi’s eyes also lit up: “Right, treat her! I don’t want to get beaten anymore.”

Ye Chuan pondered for a moment but sighed: “To my shame… these years… I’ve neglected my medical practice. I… probably can’t diagnose accurately.”

Meng Ruji sighed, both for Miaomiao and for herself.

She thought she had recruited a Medical Immortal, but it turned out she got a barefoot doctor…

Well, having come to the Land of No Refuge, how could good fortune fall to her…

Before Meng Ruji could finish sighing, she suddenly heard the “rumble rumble” sound of cart wheels. Looking up, she saw Miaomiao huffing and puffing as she dragged the wooden cart out of the ruined temple by herself.

Everyone was stunned, but they heard Miaomiao say, “Brother Changyun! Look what I brought you!”

Meng Ruji looked at the wooden cart and asked politely: “What is it?”

“A horse!” Miaomiao said. “Such a big horse! You said before you’d take me horse riding. Now let’s go ride horses!”

Meng Ruji: “…”

Meng Ruji turned to look at Ye Chuan: “How about you take a look after all.”

Treating a dead horse as if it were alive – why not?

Meng Ruji: Can’t normal people stay by my side?