I was still not quite sure, so Xie Yuancheng told me to think carefully about the two times he abandoned me, which made me afraid to bring it up again.

"Ying'er~" Xie Yuancheng called me early in the morning. I had already gone to bed late last night, so I turned over and continued to sleep.

Xie Yuancheng directly pulled off my blanket: "You were curious last night and kept talking nonsense, now you can't get up, can you?"

"Ha~ Let me sleep a little longer. The weather is nice today, let's go out a little later."

"It's because the weather is nice that we need to leave early." Xie Yuancheng came over and lifted my eyelids: "Your eyes are still so bright and clear. I want you to follow along so you won't make the same mistake again."

I finally got up. Last time, he did a lot of scary things to stop me from bathing in the river. If I hadn't gotten up this time, he would have tormented me to death.

"That's a good girl. We're outside, so just make do with what you have. Once we get to a nicer place, I'll give you a proper bath."

"Who needs your kindness? I can clean it myself."

"You can't even wipe yourself clean!" Xie Yuancheng got excited again: "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't even eat. You were already a bit chubby, but now you have no meat on your body except for two places."

If I go back to Beijing like this, and my in-laws ask, should I tell them I jumped off a cliff again at the end of the year, or should I say I'm planning to abandon me?

He spoke with righteous indignation, making me feel like I had done something terrible. But it was clearly him who wouldn't listen to my explanation; how would I know what he had done behind my back?

"Alright~ I'll do whatever you say, you petty-minded lord." I spoke very softly after that, but he still heard me.

I had to admire his hearing; he could hear such a soft whisper. But Xie Yuancheng didn't try anything funny; instead, he helped me onto the horse with exceptional gentleness. I felt a chill run down my spine; he was definitely up to something bad again.

"Yuancheng, you can't do anything reckless, I'm so sleepy." He kept touching me the whole way, then quickly pulled his hand back, making my heart race.

“You always say I’m stingy, so of course I’ll show you how stingy I can be.”

"I promise I won't call you stingy anymore. You're a magnanimous marquis, okay?"

I turned my head to ask him, and Xie Yuancheng grinned mischievously. Just as he was about to come closer, we heard a sound from the woods. The leaf in his hand flew out, and then a wail came from inside.

"Who is it?" Xie Yuancheng half-embraced my waist, his voice turning cold.

“My lord, it’s us. Last time you helped the village get rid of the pest, and we heard from the guards that you were coming, so we prepared to welcome you. But you were talking, so we didn’t want to disturb you.”

A rather short man came out, and the expression on his face didn't look honest.

"This is the result of your efforts; I only did what I could."

What good deed had he done this time? Along the way, people kept greeting him, like friends meeting. The short man came over, bowed, and explained his purpose: he wanted to invite Xie Yuancheng to the village for a visit.

"Yuancheng, we still have a lot of things to do. We've already wasted some time, so we can't stay any longer."

“Yes.” Xie Yuancheng followed my words and said, “Village chief, you should go back now. Come again when you have time.”

Xie Yuancheng was about to leave on his horse when the village chief quickly stood up: "My lord, actually, we have come here today to ask you for a favor."

I knew this short man was cunning. He first said he was welcoming Xie Yuancheng to the village, but now he's changed his mind and asking for his help. There's no way he'll actually go!

“My lord is very busy. If you want to find someone to help you, go to the nearest government office. He can’t do anything for you all by himself.”

When I saw the village chief talking about someone, he clearly had a smile on his face. He definitely came on purpose, and this time, if Xie Yuancheng didn't help, he wouldn't be able to leave.

"Ying'er~" Xie Yuancheng put my hat on and said, "Now that the village chief is here, I'll go into the village and take a look."

Those around him, upon hearing his words, came out to express their gratitude profusely. Seeing that they had no goodwill towards him, I pouted and ignored Xie Yuancheng's words.

“Madam, you are the wife of the Marquis whom I married with great ceremony. We should help others when they are in trouble.”

Xie Yuancheng turned my face towards him and said, "Hmph! Even if you gave me the Heavenly Snow Lotus now, it wouldn't quell my anger!" But he actually followed me on horseback, and I still felt uneasy.

"They're plotting something," I whispered to Xie Yuancheng. He just smiled at me and didn't reply.

"Naive, idiot, be careful not to get tricked." I muttered softly, Xie Yuancheng hugged my waist and pressed me against his chest: "You're whispering in my ear again."

I stopped talking then. The Phantom Sword was very close, and they didn't seem to know any kung fu. If a fight broke out, I should be able to dodge it.

Before even entering the village, a dozen or so people stood there holding wine. I frowned when I saw the wine. They were all young women who wanted to offer Xie Yuancheng a toast, saying it was a custom that came from other places.

"Gentlemen, my wife is very jealous and doesn't like me drinking. Let's just forget about it, otherwise I won't be able to interfere in your affairs."

I could clearly see the girls' regretful expressions. They reached out and shook hands with Xie Yuancheng, just to show off and see what they could do.

Several girls had red eyes. If they were looking for Xie Yuancheng to be their husband, they were seriously underestimating me. My cunning was far greater than Xie Yuancheng's.

The village chief smiled apologetically, "My lord, they are ignorant. Let's continue on our way."

The people following behind had already gone ahead to clear the way. There were quite a lot of girls in this village, dressed in a rather comical way. Their rouge and powder were applied so thickly that it was creepy to look at them even in broad daylight.

"Yuancheng, what village is this?" I was a little scared. It wasn't even noon yet, and I had goosebumps all over my body.

Moreover, I could tell that they must have started getting ready last night; their eyes were bloodshot, their skin wasn't very shiny, and they looked somewhat lifeless.

“This is Wuming Village. I came here once before with Anshi and the others. This time, even though we didn’t take this route, we were still invited here, so of course we had to come and see it.”

Xie Yuancheng whispered something in my ear, which made me want to laugh. He even blew on my breath, which made it even more ticklish.

Neither of us dismounted. The girls beside us seemed hesitant to speak; they looked rather strange. As a man, I didn't want to look at them a second time.

It's also possible that their attire was too strange, resulting in a bad first impression, making it seem like they had entered a den of fairies, or rather, fairies who didn't know how to dress up.

The village chief walked ahead, never turning back to smile; he looked like a petty person, which always made me uncomfortable. There were only two of us; if they teamed up, we probably wouldn't be able to beat them.

If they weren't smiling, I would think it was normal. They were smiling the whole way, and there were quite a few of them.