24 Lvzhuang (VIII)
Mysophobia
Several people inquired about the black-clad man's appearance, but the two men just shook their heads. Lu Qingzhu said with embarrassment, "It's not that I don't want to say, it's really... we have no way of knowing."
The two knew that trusting someone of unknown origin without reason was against their father's teachings, but the situation was urgent at the time and they were truly desperate.
"Master Lu," Li Jintang raised his head, his mind focused on helping the two people beside him stand up. "They've been kneeling for too long. Why not let them get up first?"
After getting permission, she and Qiuyan each helped the other to stand up. Only then did they realize that they had been kneeling with them for too long. When they stood up, their legs were weak and they stumbled and almost fell.
Qiuyan freed a hand to steady her, "Be careful."
"I apologize for misunderstanding you all earlier," Lu Chengfeng said, bowing his hands. It took a long time for him to straighten up. He waved his hand, and dozens of soldiers came carrying boxes. As soon as the boxes were opened, golden light immediately dazzled everyone's eyes. "This is a small gift from me, nothing to mention..."
Xie Changyan glanced at Qu Lingfei, who was flattered and eager to refuse, and said expressionlessly, "If you want to bribe us, you must first explain clearly who Mr. Sikong is."
Lu Chengfeng froze, his face showing the embarrassment of having been exposed. He forced a smile and said, "If you are willing to help me with this, I would be very grateful."
After he finished speaking, he ordered someone to bring a scroll and unfold it in front of everyone, "This is the portrait of Mr. Sikong."
Everyone came over to take a look at the portrait and were all shocked - the person in the portrait was standing with his hands behind his back, no, it should be said that he was standing with his wings behind his back, with two big empty eyes embedded in the sallow face, like two dry wells in the desert.
"Isn't this the bat demon?" Qiu Yan cried out.
Lu Chengfeng's expression changed: "Do you know each other?"
"Not only do we know each other, we've even... fought each other." Qu Lingfei closed the scroll and replaced "he kidnapped us" with "he fought each other." He patted Lu Chengfeng's arm with a familiar look and said with a hearty laugh, "Master Lu, don't worry. There's no need for the money. We won't tell anyone about what happened today."
Lu Chengfeng's face showed joy, but he soon became worried again. "I can hide it for a while, but I can't hide it forever. Alas, Mr. Sikong will probably come looking for me again."
Several people looked at each other, not knowing how to comfort them. After all, they were leaving today, and if the bat demon really came, they would not be able to arrive in time to rescue them.
"Forget it," Lu Chengfeng turned his back, waved his hand, and sighed, "Send him out."
Several people said goodbye to him one by one. When they left the manor, the sunlight had become much warmer. Within a few hours, dusk was about to fall again.
They stopped by a shallow river and rested for a while.
"Nangong Xiu," Qu Lingfei turned his head and called out with a smile, deliberately teasing, "Is Jian Xiu ready? Do you want to find a manor to stay for a few more nights?"
Nangong Xiu glared at him, slapped his palm across the river, and splashed him with water without mercy, "Go to hell."
The young man lay with his eyes half closed beside the messy branches on the ground. Suddenly, he felt a cool feeling on his face. He opened his eyes and saw the girl's figure reflected on the sparkling river surface in the sunlight.
Feeling someone's eyes fixed on him, Li Jintang stopped what he was doing and turned around to see that the person next to him had water droplets on his face and clothes.
She quickly stepped back, her tone apologetic: "I, I didn't mean it."
"Why didn't you continue?" the fortune-teller in his hand yelled, "I was enjoying the bath so much, why did you stop?"
"It splashed on someone." she whispered.
This is the first time in my life that I have seen a book about someone who is not afraid of water and even likes to take a bath.
But it is also a god, and it is normal for gods to do unreasonable things.
Li Jintang squatted down again, gently spread some water on the fortune book with her fingers, and suddenly felt a shadow falling beside her. She turned her head and saw Xie Changyan had stood up and walked towards her.
She looked around. The river was obviously so long, why did it have to stand next to her?
Even though she knew he couldn't see her, she still turned away with a guilty conscience and blocked the book of fate with it.
Suddenly, a soft laugh came from above her head. She hesitantly raised her head and saw the other person looking down at her. "I thought Miss Li was so kind, but this plan she just came up with really makes me look at her in a new light."
Hearing that he was teasing him, Li Jintang frowned slightly and asked in confusion: "What trick did I use?"
"You knew that the drug would disfigure people, yet you used it to force them to tell the truth," Xie Changyan narrowed his eyes and smiled. "That's really unexpected."
"No wonder you couldn't think of it, you were wrong." Li Jintang put the cleaned book of fate in his arms, took out the small white bottle from his sleeve, stretched out his hand in front of him, and shook it.
"What?"
The girl stood up and pulled his sleeve, then gently placed the bottle in her palm and closed it. "Look, there's actually nothing in it."
"..." His face suddenly darkened, and a barely perceptible murderous intent gathered at his fingertips.
Oh no, how could I forget he's a germaphobe? Li Jintang retracted his hand before he could brush her away and mumbled, "Sorry."
"Atang..."
A sudden voice broke the somewhat eerie atmosphere. Li Jintang turned around and looked at the person walking towards him.
"Have you packed?" Qiuyan walked up to her with a smile and said, "Master Lu just forced a piece of wood on me, saying it was some valuable ancient tree. Senior Brother, I think it's too cumbersome to carry, so I want to go to a nearby town to pawn it for some silver. But if you're not ready yet, we can wait a little longer."
"I don't have anything else to pack," Li Jintang straightened her clothes. She didn't want to delay anyone's trip because of her, and she really didn't have anything with her. "Let's go now."
The town is not far from here, but it is not close either. After all, by the time we get there, the sky will have been dyed red by the sunset, and it will be completely dark in a short while.
"Do you know where to pawn it?" Nangong Xiu glanced at the obnoxious piece of wood in his hand and snorted disdainfully, "It's just a piece of wood, just throw it away."
Qu Lingfei patted his shoulder and said, "Tsk!", "Brother Nangong, be patient. Young people should be patient..."
There were rows of houses lining the street. Li Jintang walked along the edge, his eyes sweeping across the rows of houses moving away behind him, and finally stopping on a stall selling sugar figures.
In the past, my father didn't allow me to touch anything too sweet, saying it was bad for my teeth. But every time my sister went out with him, she would secretly bring me a piece of candy when she came back.
Because she was afraid of being caught, she always hid in the corner of the study like a thief and ate secretly. Every time she nibbled the last bit of candy stuck on the stick, her father's call came from outside the house.
The girl turned her head and saw him standing upright under the osmanthus tree in a white robe. The falling petals covered his body, as if some golden beans were dotted on his white robe.
But there are more important things right now. As for the sugar man... after I get home, I will beg my sister to take me out. Dad will definitely agree then.
"I see, go that way!"
Suddenly, a voice tinged with joy rang out, bringing her back to her senses. Li Jintang hurriedly quickened her pace and followed the others into an antique shop.
There was a worn wooden table at the door. Between the wooden table and the wooden cabinet behind it sat an old man with white hair. Nangong Xiu was the first to stride in and threw the wood in his hand heavily on the table. "Old man, see how much this broken thing is worth."
The old man just raised his eyelids and looked at them, wrinkles appeared on his forehead, and then he quickly lowered his head, ignoring what he had just said.
"Old sir," Qu Lingfei interrupted him before he lost his temper, "This ancient wood was given to me by a good friend. Can I exchange it for some silver?"
The old man then slowly raised his head, and his gloved hands touched the wood, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper.
"Bah!" he suddenly cursed, then burst into laughter. As everyone stared in amazement, he said, "You've been duped! What ancient tree? It's just an ordinary log. Look over there, there's a bunch of them. Who would pay for this?"
His ridicule was like a bucket of cold water poured over everyone, leaving them all stunned and at a loss as to what to do.
"I can tell you're inexperienced," the old man continued. "I see you're in a hurry to get going, right? It's inconvenient to carry this thing with you, so why don't you just leave it here and let me take care of it..."
"How do I know if you're lying?" Nangong Xiu had painstakingly carried the 'ancient wood' all the way, only to be told it was fake. He flew into a rage, "Are you trying to cheat us by not wanting to pay?"
The old man snorted, but he wasn't angry. "Take it and ask every household to see if there's any fool who would accept it."
After these words were spoken, no one said anything.
Could it be that Lu Chengfeng really deceived them?
But why would he give them a piece of fake wood to carry? Could it be that the wood was smeared with poison...
As soon as this thought flashed through his mind, Li Jintang immediately touched the sleeve of the man in front of him and whispered, "There might be something wrong with that piece of wood. Stay away from it."
Xie Changyan tilted his head and looked at her for a long moment, then curled his lips and said, "The wood isn't poisonous, it's just..."
He looked around and said, "There are things more dangerous than poison."
Before Li Jintang understood what he meant, he saw him turn his wrist, and a silver object flew out from his fingertips. The next moment, he heard a scream, and the man on the horse fell straight down. The curtain of the carriage behind him was lifted by a hand, and a man in blue jumped out and landed in the middle of the street.
Suddenly, a strong wind passed across his cheek, followed by another one. "Thank you, brother!" Qu Lingfei exclaimed and jumped out right after him.
Before she knew it, she and the old man were the only ones left in the room. Li Jintang turned to look at the man who was sighing at the counter and bowed slightly to him, "Sorry to bother you." Then she quickly followed him out the door, her light clothes swaying in the wind.
For a moment, the only sound on the street was the clanging of weapons. Pedestrians shouted in panic, and vendors packed up their stalls and ran away, leaving a large area of land vacant in an instant.
"Who are you?"
When Qu Lingfei arrived, the man in green had a cut on his shoulder. Xie Changyan was looking at him indifferently with the long sword dripping with blood in his hand.
"Hmph, of course it's someone who's here to take your lives!" The man in green said viciously, covering the wound on his shoulder.
Upon hearing this, Qu Lingfei laughed and said, "Just you? My brother Xie injured you just now, not to mention there are three of us." When it comes to fighting, he automatically ignored the two girls.
"More than that." Xie Changyan sheathed his sword and threw out three silver needles with his backhand. They went straight through the scattered people walking on the street and shot towards the residents watering flowers by the window, the scholars watching a play in the pavilion, and the vegetable vendors on the roadside.
These people are dressed just like ordinary people, blending in with the crowd and making it even harder to notice them.
Qu Lingfei was so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth. "Xie, how did you find out?"
"I met him once in the manor," Xie Changyan smiled and said sarcastically, "Why, can't you remember?"
Qu Lingfei didn't hear the sarcasm in his words and asked, looking around, "Is it gone this time?"
Before they could get a reply, the man in green in front of them suddenly snapped his fingers, and then a group of people in rough clothes rushed out from all directions and surrounded them.
Xie Changyan raised his eyes coldly, "Lu Chengfeng sent you here."
The man in green laughed heartily: "Since you've already guessed where I'm from, then this is nonsense."
It seems that Lu Chengfeng deliberately gave them a piece of fake wood, predicting that they would take it to this town to pawn it, so he sent people to ambush here.
The man in green had not yet finished laughing when he thrust his sword forward. Qu Lingfei took a half step back and hurriedly drew his sword to block. When the two swords were just a hair's breadth away, the opponent suddenly changed direction and rushed straight towards Nangong Xiu.
【Author’s words】
Next chapter will be updated on Friday [kiss]
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