46 Ancient City (1)
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The face beneath the straw hat immediately flashed with anger: "Do you know how to talk, girl? I'm standing here peacefully, how come I'm a ghost?"
Qiuyan was still in shock and blurted out, "This place is a deserted city. How could I have known someone alive would come here? Besides, you were walking so stealthily, wouldn't it be normal for me to mistake you for a ghost?!"
"Abandoned city?!" The man's expression turned from anger to astonishment, but only for a moment before he raged again, "We were living well, how come it's a deserted city?"
"You..." Qiu Yan wanted to say something else, but someone suddenly patted her shoulder. Qu Lingfei gave her a look, then turned to the man with a gentle smile on his face.
Qu Lingfei bowed deeply and said, "I apologize on behalf of my junior sister." Seeing that the other person's expression had softened slightly, he took the opportunity to ask, "I wonder, based on what you just said, where do these other residents live?"
Looking at this place, the only signs of life around were probably the wild grass. He really couldn't figure out how anyone could live there, but it was inconvenient for him to ask like his junior sister, so he thought he was taking a roundabout way.
The man rolled his eyes at him, pointed ahead, and snorted, "You haven't even entered the city gate, so of course you can't see anyone. Follow me!"
Several people stared at each other in amazement, and after suddenly realizing what had happened, they secretly laughed at themselves in their hearts - they thought this was some abandoned ancient city, but it turned out that they had not even entered the gate.
The ancient city was thick with the hustle and bustle of life, with countless street stalls and the sound of hawkers shouting one after another. The difference between this place and the towns they had passed through was probably that the houses here looked very simple and ancient from the outside, and of course, the most important thing was -
"Sir, please come in and take a look. We have the finest wines here, and..." The woman with her face covered in rouge and powder grinned bright red, raised her hand to her lips, and lowered her voice: "And the rare tea maid..."
The people here are overly enthusiastic.
Qu Lingfei frowned upon hearing this. Just as he was about to open his mouth to refuse, someone suddenly tugged at his other arm. Qiu Yan stood beside him, her arms folded, her brows furrowed in displeasure. "Brother, have you forgotten we're here to look for clues? Why are you wasting time here with them?"
Before he could reply, the woman's smile faded. She immediately understood the relationship between the two people in front of her and quickly changed the subject, saying, "Oh, I think this girl is very pretty. She matches the hairpin in our shop very well!"
She took out a golden hairpin from somewhere and reached out to help Qiuyan put it on her head.
Qiu Yan wanted to refuse, but seeing that she was so enthusiastic that she was about to overflow, and Qu Lingfei sighing beside her, she had no choice but to squat down obediently and let her help her put it on.
The few of them were quickly dispersed by the townspeople. Li Jintang quietly stepped aside, trying to make herself less noticeable. She looked around with curiosity, her gaze shifting to a candy figurine shop. The shop was packed with people, and it looked like she couldn't squeeze in.
She wandered around the door for a few times, then anxiously searched the crowd until she saw Qiuyan and the others, and then she felt a little relieved.
He glanced at Nangong Xiu, who was surrounded by many women and looked like he was unable to cope, but still had one hand free to hold onto Tian Heng. It was quite funny.
"Girl, come and look at this hairpin."
Suddenly, a slightly old voice sounded in his ears. Li Jintang turned around and saw a face full of wrinkles but with a warm smile.
Her eyes were dazzled by the silver hairpin in the other person's hand. Before she could answer, she was pulled over by the old woman.
"Mother-in-law, this hairpin doesn't suit me..." Just as she said the words of excuse, she suddenly felt a chill between her hair. Li Jintang was stunned for a moment, and then she was pulled to the front of the stall.
There was a bronze mirror on the wooden table, reflecting the girl's face. The hairpin on her temples was shining in the sunlight, and the rabbit head on it pursed its lips, as well-behaved as its owner.
The mother-in-law looked at her with a smile on her face, praising her: "Girl, this hairpin is simply tailor-made for you. Look at it, it looks so... so..."
"Grandma, I..."
"Just buy it," the mother-in-law said, her eyes almost shining. "This hairpin is the best-selling one, and this is the last one left. Since you have such a connection with it, take it home with you."
Li Jintang glanced at the stall. The hairpins were neatly arranged, but there was indeed only one rabbit-shaped one. Meeting the old woman's eager gaze again, she involuntarily lowered her hand to feel her purse—there were a few remaining talisman papers and a stack of tourniquets inside, but no silver.
She closed the bag rather embarrassedly and raised her hand to take off the hairpin, "Mother-in-law, but I don't have any money..."
Before he could finish his words, a hand suddenly moved across and a shiny silver coin was thrown onto the table.
"Is that enough?" The young man had stood between them at some point, his voice cold and expressionless.
The old woman was embarrassed for a moment and said, "Young man, I can't afford this."
Xie Changyan didn't answer this, but turned his gaze to the girl who was stunned beside him, a smile flickering across his lips, "Do you like it?"
Li Jintang came back to his senses and stumbled, "I like it, but there's no need to spend money..."
"Then there's no need to look for her." Xie Changyan threw this sentence, his eyes swept over her, and then he turned and walked away. Not long after, he heard the sound of slightly hurried footsteps behind him. He paused and slowed down his pace.
She followed him to his side, her breath still unsteady as she spoke: "Xie An, thank you."
Coming up just to say thank you? He turned around, hands behind his back, and looked at her leisurely.
Seeing him looking over, Li Jintang paused for a moment and asked quietly, "Do you think there's anything strange about this place?"
It's not her fault that she's suspicious. This is the first time in her life that she's experienced traveling through a book. She's experienced so many near-death experiences, and it's already pretty good that she can still stand here with such a stable mentality.
He didn't answer immediately. After a few seconds of silence, he raised his hand and passed it over her head.
Li Jintang was stunned for a moment and instinctively tried to turn his head to avoid it, but the hand only stayed on his hair for a very short moment and then withdrew.
"Your hairpin is worn crookedly." He looked away and said lightly.
Is it crooked? Li Jintang raised his hand to support it, but when he looked up again, he had already walked away.
"You young men have come all the way here, you must be tired, right?"
A figure suddenly appeared at the door of an inn, holding a fan in his left hand and waving his right hand. A group of people walked out of the house, each holding a wine jug in their hands.
The man must have been the owner of this shop. His voice was very loud: "It's getting dark. Why don't you come and rest your feet here? I have free drinks."
The rest of the people on the street suddenly fell silent, all looking at him. A few looked up at the sky; the sun was clearly still high above, suggesting it would likely be several hours before "darkness" fell.
However, he was not the only one who lied with his eyes open. Soon, people came out of the neighboring inn, shouting one after another, as if they were going to snatch people away.
"This..." Qu Lingfei finally got away from the group of women. He rubbed his eyebrows and suddenly felt a headache.
"Fellow Daoist Qu, you might as well just listen to him and stay here for one night."
The crowd immediately fell silent after these words were spoken. Unexpectedly, Xie Changyan would also agree to this. Qu Lingfei pondered for a moment, then looked at Nangong Xiu. Seeing him nod nonchalantly, he said, "Since Brother Xie and Brother Nangong have spoken, it's fine to stay here for the night."
The crowd roared with laughter, so loud that it made one's head ache.
Finally, they chose the first innkeeper to emerge. As they followed him upstairs, the innkeeper smiled cheerfully, "Don't be scared. Our place is remote. Aside from the occasional visit from the city lord, we rarely have guests here. That's why they were so welcoming just now."
So that's how it was. Glancing at her senior brother about to speak again, Qiu Yan smiled and spoke before him: "I'm not scared, but we're just going to stroll around and we can't let them block our way again."
"Of course." The shopkeeper chuckled.
"Junior sister, you just said that you were going out?" Qu Lingfei slowed down his pace and walked beside her, leaned forward, and asked in a low voice.
Qiuyan glanced at him and said, "There's nothing much to do here anyway, so why not go out for a walk?"
Qu Lingfei immediately smiled and extended his hand: "Then I'll go with you..."
"No need," Qiuyan put down the heavy brocade bag at her side, dodged his hand, walked around him and walked out the door, "I'm going to find Atang."
Qu Lingfei's face changed and he withdrew his hand awkwardly from mid-air - no matter how carefree he was, he could hear the displeasure in his junior sister's tone at this moment.
"Junior sister, junior sister," he called out twice, chasing her to the door and stopping her before she left. "Junior sister, I...did I do something just now to make you unhappy?"
"How could that be? Brother, whatever you do is right." Qiuyan lost her patience and tried to go around him, but he stretched out a hand to block her way. She couldn't help but ask angrily, "What are you doing?"
"Junior Sister, it's my fault. Please don't be angry with me, okay?" Qu Lingfei had always been helpless with her, and he couldn't guess what the girl was thinking. So he softened his tone and said humbly, "You know me... I've only been closest to you since we were young. You don't have to be so distant with me. If I've done anything wrong, tell me and I'll definitely change."
The words he had just spoken out of haste were somewhat incoherent. Qu Lingfei was afraid that she would really ignore him, so he quickly raised one hand, extended his middle three fingers, and said, "I, Qu Lingfei, swear here that I will never make Junior Sister angry again, otherwise I..."
"Alright, who asked you to swear?" Qiuyan's anger receded slightly after hearing his sincerity. She snorted softly before finally giving in and saying, "That person just asked if we wanted to stay the night. Why did you only ask Fellow Daoist Xie and Nangong Xiu? Where do you put Atang and me? Have we contributed nothing along the way?"
She asked three questions in a row, leaving Qu Ling dumbfounded - he really hadn't thought so much just now, and he didn't expect to make his junior sister angry because of this matter.
"Just because we're women, you're ignoring us?" Seeing him stare blankly, Qiu Yan took it as his tacit agreement. She grew even more irritated for no reason, and her voice doubled in volume: "Does our opinion not matter?!"
Her voice suddenly rose, and Qu Lingfei immediately came back to his senses. He knew that what he had done was indeed inappropriate, and hurriedly said, "I was wrong. I won't do it again. Junior Sister, please forgive me this time. How about I take you out for a walk?"
"I have hands and feet, I don't need you to lead me."
I don’t know which word in this sentence angered her. Qiu Yan took advantage of his unpreparedness and stepped on his foot mercilessly. Then she pushed him away and walked out the door without looking back.
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