“Look at this young man’s delicate skin and tender flesh. If we sell him to the northern lands as a male entertainer, we could collect quite a bit of silver,” one bandit said with a lewd smile while sizing up Yan Qige.

Yusang saw and heard this, nearly falling off her horse in shock. This was truly a bandit who dared to think and act boldly. However, his eye for talent wasn’t bad—with Yan Qige’s looks, if he became a male entertainer, he would surely become famous far and wide.

“You can’t sell him, and you can’t afford to,” Yusang said with a smile as she rode forward. Her horse’s hooves kicked up, startling the bandit holding the silver so much that his hand went soft and the pouch fell from his grasp. Yusang leaned down and caught it in her hand with one swift motion.

Pulling her horse around, Yusang smiled at the group of bandits and extended her hand toward Yan Qige, who stood against the wall with his face alternating between red and white. Though Yan Qige had lost his memory, he wasn’t stupid. He reached out to grasp Yusang’s hand, used the leverage to step on the stirrup, and sat behind Yusang on the horse.

“Miss, I apologize for the offense,” Yan Qige said somewhat unnaturally from behind her.

Yusang was momentarily stunned, feeling her waist becoming somewhat tight. Only then did she understand that Yan Qige was feeling awkward and uneasy about being so close to her. The current Yan Qige truly had the pedantic air of a scholar.

Seeing that both Yan Qige and the silver had been taken by Yusang, the bandits were all enraged. They abandoned whatever else they were looting and surrounded them completely. Yusang pulled her horse back a few steps, but immediately found her retreat cut off by several bandits holding ropes. They were also very experienced and seasoned.

“This woman isn’t bad either. Since she’s delivered herself to our door, let’s capture them both and sell them,” the bandit leader spoke, followed by the bandits’ raucous laughter and vulgar teasing directed at Yusang.

Feeling Yan Qige’s arm around her waist tighten with some force, Yusang turned her head slightly and asked with a smile, “Are you afraid?”

“I’ve dragged you down. If not for me, you wouldn’t be surrounded,” Yan Qige sighed, his face showing self-blame and worry. Seeing him like this, Yusang suddenly remembered a phrase that Yan Qige used to say habitually during their many demon-hunting adventures together whenever they encountered difficult demons to deal with.

…

…

“Get behind me.”

Yusang said with a smile, then lightly turned her palm and leaped down from the horse with an almost imperceptible speed. Using a white jade brush, she quickly tapped each bandit’s body, and they all fell one by one.

Yusang leaped back onto the horse. Yan Qige stared at her with wide eyes. She rolled her eyes playfully and patted Yan Qige’s cheek teasingly, deliberately joking, “They were going to sell you to the northern lands, but now you don’t have to go to the northern lands—I’ve snatched you away.”

Sure enough, Yan Qige’s face immediately flushed red. Feeling awkward and uneasy, he tried to distance himself from Yusang, but accidentally leaned back too far and nearly fell off the horse. Fortunately, Yusang was quick and reached out to grab his shoulder and pull him back, but she used too much force, and Yan Qige suddenly fell forward into her full embrace, his thin lips touching hers.

After a moment of stunned stillness, neither dared to move. Finally, Yan Qige came to his senses, frantically released his hands, apologized repeatedly, and tumbled off the horse.

Yusang watched Yan Qige fall awkwardly, then hastily scramble up from the ground, his face completely red with embarrassment. Unable to contain herself, she burst into laughter, slightly bending down to rest her chin on the back of her hand as she supported herself on the horse’s back to watch him.

Discovering that Yusang was staring at him, Yan Qige thought she was angry and frantically said, “Miss, I was improper and presumptuous. If you’re angry, feel free to vent your anger on me. I… I definitely won’t fight back.”

Yusang had originally been laughing at Yan Qige’s awkwardness, but as she laughed, she found she couldn’t laugh anymore. Her heart felt somewhat desolate and sad—the former Yan Qige was truly gone. After lowering her eyes for a moment, Yusang helplessly smiled and shook her head, throwing the horse’s reins into his hands. “Let’s go. It’s getting dark.”

Yan Qige was stunned, seemingly surprised by Yusang’s lack of pursuit of the matter, but he didn’t dare look at her more. He turned his head to determine direction and then led the horse forward.

Yusang sat on the horse watching Yan Qige’s back as he led the horse for her, the sadness and desolation in her heart growing stronger. He had become an ordinary person, allowing her to command and tease him without knowing how to resist. In the past, when she was being bullied by him, she always thought about having such a day to vent her anger, but now it seemed she wasn’t happy at all. Though this person had the same appearance as him, he was just the most ordinary among countless mortal scholars. Perhaps Yan Qige had disappeared forever… There would never be such a person in the world again.

Leaving the town for the yellow sands, walking along, the sun gradually set in the west. The yellow sand was reflected crimson by the evening glow, appearing magnificent and beautiful.

Along the way, Yan Qige, who was walking ahead leading the horse, kept turning back to look at Yusang, several times seeming to want to speak but stopping himself.

The current Yan Qige truly wore everything on his face. Knowing he had something to say, Yusang asked, “What is it?”

Yan Qige stopped walking and turned around with his back to the evening glow, looking extremely embarrassed as he said, “Miss, if you’re willing, I would like to marry you as my wife.”

“What?” Yusang thought she had misheard and asked in surprise. Then she realized that Yan Qige had been dwelling on that earlier kiss. According to mortal customs, when men and women had physical intimacy, they should be joined in marriage.

Yusang wanted to laugh at Yan Qige, but just as she moved her lips, she felt particularly uncomfortable. How had such a formerly proud and extraordinary man become like this? Looking at Yan Qige’s sincere and honest face again, beyond finding it amusing, she even felt somewhat angry. She harshly pulled the reins into her hands and rode forward herself.

“Though I currently have no special talents, I will work hard in the future to give you a good life, not let you worry or fear, not let you suffer hardship. I will protect you and stay with you until we’re old and gray,” Yan Qige called out from behind, nervous but determined.

Yusang slowed her forward movement, sitting on the horse with her back to Yan Qige and her eyes closed. After a long time, she helplessly and disheartenedly lowered her head and said, “You aren’t him.”

Yusang pulled the reins to ride toward the setting sun. The horse’s hooves left footprints in the yellow sand. After walking several yards, Yusang still couldn’t resist turning back to look at Yan Qige, discovering he was standing in place, watching her departing figure.

“Do you know? You look very much like someone I know, but you’re not him. He would never say these things or do these things.”

“Who is he?”

Yusang squinted again at the setting sun at the horizon’s edge. After a long time, she said, “He… he is a very annoying person.”

Yan Qige stepped through the yellow sand to approach, looking up at Yusang and asking again, “Then where is he now?”

Yusang looked at the serious-faced Yan Qige for a long time, then lowered her eyelids and smiled, handing him the reins to signal him to continue leading the horse forward. “I don’t know. I don’t know where he is.”

As the sky gradually darkened, Yusang had Yan Qige stop at a dune. She walked to the highest point and, using the Big Dipper in the sky, determined direction. She curved her fingers, chanted an incantation to search for Zi Feng’s message, and created a bamboo leaf from between her fingers that flew out like a butterfly.

Yan Qige gathered some dead leaves and branches to build a fire in the lee of the dune. Yusang sat down beside it, and Yan Qige sat beside her. Neither spoke, both staring into the firelight, lost in their thoughts, until Yusang became drowsy and her eyelids began to droop. Only then did Yan Qige move closer and pat his shoulder, saying, “You sleep. I’m here.”