Ye Qi tilted his head, watching Changling’s face shift between shades of pale and flushed, thinking to himself, “Could it be that she’s hurt from the fall? Why was she climbing so high in the first place?”
Changling let out a heavy breath and said, “First, help me untie these bindings.”
Ye Qi hesitated for a moment, then gave a dry laugh and said, “Miss, your martial arts are quite impressive. If I were to untie you, I’m afraid that… In any case, if you have something to say, you might as well speak first.”
As he spoke, he had already walked up to Changling, pulled over another chair, and sat down, putting on a pose of “listening attentively.” Changling didn’t press the matter. Taking advantage of the faint lamplight, she examined him carefully from head to toe, then asked, “Have you ever met Mingyue Fei before?”
Ye Qi shook his head. “I haven’t had that honor before.”
Changling gave him a cool glance. “Regarding Mingyue Fei… how much do you know?”
“Just some rumors from the martial world—ruthless, skilled in schemes and poison, that sort of thing. You probably won’t be happy to hear it…”
“I told you already,” Changling interrupted him, “I’m not Mingyue Fei.”
Ye Qi wore an expression of disbelief, waving his hands repeatedly. “It’s really no use telling me these things, I truly…”
“Aren’t you curious why I didn’t fall unconscious from the Hunyuan Powder?”
Ye Qi’s hand froze. Before he could respond, Changling said, “Because I know the Nanhua Needlework.”
He was stunned. “The Blue-Robed Guest’s Nanhua Needles?”
“That’s right. The Nanhua Needles can expel a hundred poisons within the first moment. While still in the carriage, I had already neutralized the Hunyuan Powder.” Changling said seriously, “In other words, while you were busy fending off the Yan Army, I had countless opportunities to simply kick you off the carriage.”
Ye Qi looked at Changling with astonishment in his eyes.
“Do you think, if it were Mingyue Fei, she would have let you people abduct her?”
The answer was obvious—unless Mingyue Fei had lost her mind.
Ye Qi shot to his feet with a “whoosh.” “Wait, if you really aren’t Mingyue Fei, then you… who are you?”
Changling shifted to a different sitting position, finding it still uncomfortable. “Untie me first.”
This time, Ye Qi didn’t refuse. Now that he knew Changling wasn’t Mingyue Fei, it felt rather inappropriate to keep a young girl tied up, especially one who was injured.
Once the rope was removed, Changling gently flexed her numb arms before answering, “I helped Mingyue Zhou with a small favor. He saw that I was ill, so he let me rest in the carriage. You people happened to arrive at an unfortunate time—if you’d appeared a bit earlier, he and his sister would still have been in the carriage.”
Though Changling’s words didn’t directly answer the question, they were mostly the truth.
She didn’t mention what favor she’d helped with, thinking that people wouldn’t believe her if she told them, and it would be even worse if they did—judging by their attitude, Mingyue Zhou’s predicament of being trapped in Mu Wangbao was precisely the masterwork of that Marquis He whom they venerated like a god. If they knew she had inadvertently released the greatest enemy of the Central Plains martial world, the trouble would only be worse.
Who would have thought Ye Qi would ask again, “I wonder what relationship Miss has with him, and what favor did you help him with?”
“…”
This fellow really knew how to pick out the key points in conversation.
Seeing she couldn’t avoid the question and too lazy to fabricate lies, she simply said, “We met by chance. In the wilderness, he roasted a rabbit for me to eat. Later, when he was being pursued and attacked, I casually helped him clear out a few small fries.”
Having personally witnessed how Daoist Xu had been utterly crushed, Ye Qi could roughly imagine that her “casually” was probably truly casual. However, this misunderstanding had reached such an absurd level that Ye Qi wasn’t foolish enough to be deceived by just a few words. His eyes fell upon the ring on Changling’s finger as he asked, “Then where did this gilded ring come from?”
“Mingyue Zhou gave it to me.”
“He… gave it to you?” Ye Qi’s tongue tied itself in a knot. “As a gift?”
“Yes, it was originally worn on his ear. Later, seeing me laugh at it, he also felt that it was undignified for a grown man to wear, so he casually took it off.” She felt there was no need to hide this. “I thought I could pawn it for some silver, so I accepted it.”
Ye Qi stared at her blankly, opening his mouth several times but unable to utter a single word. Changling couldn’t understand what his reaction was trying to express, so she simply removed the ring. “If you want it, just take it.”
“Haven’t you heard the rumors about the gilded ring? If Mingyue Zhou gave it to you, that means…”
Before he could finish, someone outside knocked on the door with “bang bang bang,” saying respectfully, “Young Master Ye, Daoist Xu is looking for you.”
Ye Qi was startled.
“Understood.” He casually responded, and was about to step out when he looked back at Changling again. “Wait here for now. I’ll come back to talk more.”
“Don’t worry, I also have questions I want to ask.” Regarding matters concerning Fu Liujing, she wouldn’t rush to leave before getting clear answers.
Ye Qi then walked out the door. Several young disciples immediately crowded around him, and one of them whispered, “Our people have discovered where the sect leader is being held.” Hearing this, Ye Qi’s expression darkened as he strode away, leaving only Yu Ping and a few others with better martial skills to guard the door.
Changling listened to their departing footsteps, but her brow furrowed instead. She looked at the rope on the ground, then at the gilded ring in her palm. After thinking for a moment, her expression suddenly relaxed as she curved her lips into a smile.
“Old tricks,” Changling muttered to herself.
Only she knew what she was smiling about. To anyone else, it would seem utterly baffling—especially Yu Ping, who was currently peering through a crack in the window. Looking in by the flickering candlelight inside the room, he felt a chill run down his spine.
He couldn’t help but tighten his grip on his blade, calculating in his mind: if this young lady were to kill her way out, how should he try to stop her so he could die more slowly?
At that moment, a hand gently patted Yu Ping’s shoulder. Before he could turn around, the back of his head throbbed with pain, and he collapsed on the spot, losing consciousness.
Changling’s hearing had always been extraordinary. She had detected the movement as soon as the person appeared. When she moved to the door and gently pushed it open, she saw someone standing right outside, with young disciples lying scattered at his feet.
That person was none other than Ye Qi.
She blinked in some surprise. “You…”
“Shh.” Ye Qi made a silencing gesture. He looked around, and after confirming that everyone in the surrounding area had been knocked out, he grabbed Changling’s wrist without another word.
Changling lowered her gaze slightly, and contrary to her usual behavior, didn’t pull away, allowing Ye Qi to lead her along.
In the dead of night, though the deserted village had sentries everywhere, Ye Qi knew their positions well and could naturally avoid them with ease. Without much effort, he led Changling around the heavily guarded area and brought her to a stone stool at the village entrance.
A horse was tied next to the stone stool. Ye Qi pointed toward the forest path ahead. “Keep heading east. Once you see a wooden stake, turn south, and you’ll quickly pass through this dense forest.”
As he spoke, he turned around, only then realizing he was still gripping the young lady’s hand. He quickly let go, saying very apologetically, “I was too forward.”
Changling raised her eyelids questioningly. “You’re letting me go?”
“Ah, regardless of anything, Miss, you were mistakenly captured by me. I can’t just pretend it didn’t happen.” Ye Qi smiled with a face full of shame. “To be honest with you, Miss, I don’t have much say among this group. Even if I could convince people you’re not Mingyue Fei, they definitely wouldn’t let you go… After all, the ring you’re wearing is truly extraordinary.”
Changling looked down at the gilded ring on her finger. Without thinking much, she knew that when Ye Qi had been summoned earlier, Daoist Xu must have said something harsh that made him rush to release her—clearly there was no room for negotiation.
“If you just go back like this, how will you handle the situation?”
“I’m still somewhat useful to them. They won’t dismember me, at least.” Ye Qi rolled up his sleeves. “I only ask that if Miss encounters Mingyue Zhou later, please don’t tell him what happened here.”
Changling’s expression flickered for a moment. “What about the rescue?”
“Rescue?”
“The sect leaders of the eight major sects—you’re not rescuing them anymore?”
Ye Qi was stunned, then said with sudden realization, “…Thank you for your concern, Miss. We already have another plan for this matter, so it’s not convenient to disclose…”
Changling was about to say more when Ye Qi couldn’t hold out any longer. He kept looking back, afraid that a group might kill their way out at any moment. So he shoved the horse’s reins haphazardly into Changling’s hands. “Go quickly. Once they all arrive, there won’t be a second chance like this.”
Changling frowned. “You…”
Before she could finish, seeing Ye Qi wave his hands repeatedly, shooing her away like a fly, she still had many questions in her heart, but she wasn’t one to drag things out. She immediately mounted the horse, squeezed the horse’s flanks with her legs, and rode straight toward the forest.
Seeing her leave, Ye Qi finally breathed a sigh of relief. While sighing, he lowered his head to adjust his collar. Just as he took a few steps back, he heard the hoofbeats that had already faded away come “clip-clop, clip-clop” drifting back.
He turned to the side and saw that in the faint night scenery, a figure in striking red robes was particularly eye-catching, bringing with her a rustling wind as she rode back.
Seeing Changling return, Ye Qi was utterly shocked. Before she could ride up to him, he had already leaped forward to the horse, pointing at Changling’s nose and saying, “Can’t you understand human speech, young lady, or what? Do you really think this is a game?”
Changling pulled on the reins, jumped down from the horse, and met his gaze. “This position is just right.”
Ye Qi looked at her somewhat bewildered. “What?”
Changling’s gaze moved past where they had been standing, landing on a cluster of village houses several yards behind the stone stool. “The house on the left facing west has at least three people, and there are five on the right. What we said just now, they could hear clearly… But at this position, they can’t hear us.”
She said unhurriedly, “I guess what just happened, including you covering my escape, was all a setup—a setup that would allow you to follow the trail and discover where the captives are being held.”
As her words fell and she shifted her gaze back, she saw a pair of sharp, piercing eyes. In that instant, all traces of that person’s anxious demeanor from a moment ago had completely vanished, as if he had transformed into an entirely different person.
A completely different person with an icy aura.
Changling was only slightly startled, then smiled faintly, with three parts sincerity and earnestness.
“Young Master Ye, I told you—I wanted to talk with you alone.”
Author’s Note:
Mini Theater:
Yu Ping: Wh-who said earlier that this novel’s female lead is just physically strong but simple-minded?
Rong-ge: Oh, Sister Ling is simple-minded relative to her physical abilities, but compared to other people, her mind is still quite developed.
Ye Qi: Hahaha.
Yu Ping: Young Master Ye, what are you laughing at?
Ye Qi: My future wife is both smart and strong in combat. I’m happy, is that not allowed?
Yu Ping: Your wife alone occupies the roles of martial force, beauty, and intelligence. You’re still playing dumb. Don’t you consider your own precarious position?
Ye Qi: I don’t need status. As long as she likes me, that’s enough.
Changling: Who said that?
Rong-ge: Who said that?
→→→→→→→→→→→→
Many have said that Qi-zong’s personality differs from his childhood self. There must be internal reasons for this—keep reading to find out~
Also, some readers think the male lead is naive and not clever. How could that be? He’s an opponent who’s given Old Fu headaches for many years.
But even with ability, it’s very difficult to make Sister Ling look at him with new eyes… Sister Ling has grown up seeing only two types of people: peerless masters (master, senior brother, senior uncle) and supremely intelligent people (father, brothers, Old Fu). One must also have other exceptional qualities.