Chapter 14 Gathering the Fleeting Light "It seems I can understand the happiness of the rich woman..."
After a rain, autumn is in the air.
Fortunately, the rain was heavy and the wind was strong that day, and the rain poured down completely. The next few days were sunny.
Life goes on as usual, yet there's always something different about it.
For example, people who are usually very observant suddenly stopped scrutinizing others, and a usually carefree young girl began to look around with her chin in her hand, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.
People who have always regarded rest and recuperation as the highest principle use dry grass as stakes in their yards and throw stones and sand at them every morning, calling it "self-protection and prevention of trouble."
She's off work today, and after breakfast she practiced her martial arts in the yard.
Inside, the air was filled with the bitter aroma of herbs and swirling steam.
As Ji Ming listened to the clattering of pebbles outside the window, he slowly swallowed the soup in his bowl. Staring at the unappetizing plate of wild vegetables, he hesitated for a long time before finally picking up a little and putting it in his mouth.
He chewed with difficulty, his Adam's apple bobbing, and it took him a long time to swallow.
After spending so much time with Ning Lu, he could no longer tell whether he had a poor appetite or the food was just too bad.
Before he could pick up his chopsticks for the second time, a gasp came from outside. Ning Lu rushed in like a whirlwind, pulling him outside.
"Amin, Ji Amin! Come quick, come quick...bird!!"
She was shocked, and reason reminded her to control the force with which she shook Ji Ming's arm, but her overwhelming emotions still drove her to make the movement almost rough.
Ji Ming was dragged along by her, staggering into the yard. He coughed a few times before looking up.
A bird was hanging on the fence outside the yard.
Ning Lu turned her back, not daring to look him in the eye, and tugged at his sleeve, pointing behind her.
Ji Ming pulled the wrinkled cuff from her hand and bent down to examine it.
It was a wild dove, its feet and wings twitching instinctively, its body still warm.
He casually pinched the bird's head and shook it a few times, then pinched it downwards. His eyes immediately darkened, and his brows furrowed.
The angle was tricky, the force was just right, and it was a fatal blow.
"His neck is broken, he's beyond saving."
Ning Lu first glanced at the bird's limp body, then stared at Ji Ming's cold, casual movements, speechless with astonishment.
What are you looking at me for?
Ji Ming examined her again and confirmed that she had died from external injuries. He then held her up to Ning Lu's face and shook her twice.
He was satisfied only after she exclaimed in surprise and backed away in disgust. He then put the dove on the ground, clapped his hands, and went into the house.
The medicine is getting cold.
Ning Lu grabbed his cuff again.
Her fingertips trembled slightly, and the shock on her face turned into guilt as she pulled a few pebbles from her pocket.
Meeting Ji Ming's slightly surprised gaze, Ning Lu stammered guiltily, "It seems... I did it."
"I just threw it casually and hit it."
She was just throwing the haystack around for fun when she saw the fat bird fly sideways across the yard.
Feeling playful, I casually tossed it aside, and then heard the bird squawk as it made an emergency landing on the fence.
Seeing that Ji Ming was examining the dead bird again, Ning Lu cautiously revealed her recent discovery: "Ji Ming, I think... I have the ability to shoot an arrow through a willow leaf from a hundred paces away."
Upon hearing this, Ji Ming glanced at her, as if trying to determine the truthfulness of her words.
He had witnessed her throwing accuracy once, when facing a pack of wolves on a rainy night.
It is accurate.
He didn't respond, and Ning Lu became a little anxious: "It's true, I discovered it a couple of days ago. I can hit whatever I want to hit."
As she spoke, she nodded repeatedly, like a chick pecking at rice.
His gaze swept over her slightly trembling palm, and Ji Ming picked out a pebble of moderate size and uniform thickness.
"Try again."
"Um?"
He tilted his head in a gesture that brooked no argument.
Ning Lu pursed her lips and reached out to pinch the pebble.
From childhood to adulthood, she had rarely killed any living creature, let alone caught any with fur. Still shaken, she glanced at the dead bird on the ground and silently murmured Amitabha.
In contrast to her tension, Ji Ming was relaxed and at ease, throwing stones with a backhand motion.
thump--
The pine tree startled the birds, and several birds took flight together.
He raised his hand slightly, indicating that Ning Lu could choose whatever she wanted.
After hesitating for only a moment, she wiped the sweat from her hands on her clothes, scanned the air, and locked onto the slowest one.
Ning Lu held her breath, focused her energy in her dantian, and with a sudden flick of her wrist against the tip of her nose, the pebble pierced the air like a sharp blade.
With a whoosh, the bird chirped briefly and then fell to the ground with a thud.
Almost simultaneously, she herself retreated repeatedly, instinctively pulling Ji Ming in front of her to block his view.
Without thinking, Ning Lu pushed the person out.
"Go and see."
Ji Ming belatedly realized that he had been used as a human shield, and after a moment of stunned silence, he laughed instead of getting angry.
He casually picked up the bird that was still fluttering on the ground.
This one was clearly fatter than the first one, and because she was hesitant when she struck, she unconsciously used less force and didn't kill it immediately.
But obviously, he won't live much longer.
Ji Ming lowered his eyes, his fair fingertips pinched the bird's neck and twisted it cleanly, ending its life.
Ning Lu stood a few steps away from him, witnessing his familiarity and naturalness.
She had no time to be shocked by his cold-blooded ruthlessness; all her energy was focused on digesting her new skills.
In fact, she noticed everything during this time, whether it was the increasingly familiar leaping and gliding motion while traveling or the unerring accuracy of her throws.
She just hadn't dared to think too much about how these skills would be useful to the original owner.
Are you scared?
"I have never killed any living creature."
She told the whole story.
Ji Ming raised an eyebrow, hesitated for a moment, then accepted her reason and casually said, "It's a dove, you can eat it."
"It's edible?!"
Although she still didn't dare to step forward, Ning Lu's back was clearly straightened, and her voice revealed excitement.
"Really? Does that mean we won't have to spend money on meat anymore?"
Her small eyes gleamed, and she slowly moved her palm down, trying to look directly at the little bird that had died because of her.
Help!
The tiny, dove-like eyes suddenly appeared close to her face, and before Ning Lu could scream, the warm corpse fell into her arms.
The fat dove was tossed from her left hand to her right like a hot potato, and she herself was suddenly thrown around the yard like a clown performing acrobatics.
The culprit, Ji Ming, took two steps back, keeping his distance to watch her panic, a half-smile on his face, completely at ease.
When Ning Lu finally calmed down and accepted the ugly deaths of the two doves, he slumped on the wooden stool. He was sitting under the eaves, holding a bowl of medicine.
"Hey! I shot the bird, so shouldn't you be the one plucking its feathers and cleaning up the carcass?"
"certainly."
He readily agreed, his tone calm and relaxed.
Before Ning Lu could reply, she heard the man cough again, his eyes lowered, his already pale face even more bloodless.
"However, my health is poor... I'm prone to catching a cold if I get tired, and then... I'm afraid medicine won't be of any use... cough cough..."
so what?
Ning Lu was furious. She got up from her chair, rolled up her sleeves, and was about to retort.
In that instant of eye contact, through the rising steam from the medicine bowl, one could indeed discern a faint trace of haggardness and exhaustion in his pale face.
He fell silent instantly, and the finger pointing at his nose stiffened and bent.
Fairy.
"good--"
"Okay, okay! I'll do it myself."
Ning Lu forced a smile, gritting her teeth.
She has her own opinion on whether the medicine or she is cheaper.
No matter where she was or what dynasty she lived in, she was always cheap labor.
Three poles in the sun.
The usually stagnant backyard was now bustling with activity.
Ning Lu sat on a stool, busily scalding and plucking the bird's feathers. Ji Ming sat obediently by the side, wearing a robe.
Occasionally, when their eyes met, he would raise that harmless, innocent, and weak smile, which was enough to leave Ning Lu speechless.
After struggling for half an hour, she finally managed to pluck all the feathers from the two doves lying across the basin.
Looking at the two naked, fat birds, Ning Lu leaned back and let out a mournful cry.
Even without looking in a mirror, you can tell that she must be radiating resistance and disgust from head to toe.
Suddenly a gust of wind arose, and the fluttering feathers fell onto Ning Lu's face.
tui, tui—
Upon hearing this, a hint of amusement flickered in those deep, well-like eyes.
Just then, she wiped her face and looked up, glaring at Ji Ming with a sharp look.
"You're still laughing. How can you treat your savior like this?"
She even felt that this person was deliberately retaliating.
She retaliated by forcing him to drink the dregs of medicine and eat dark, unappetizing wild vegetables, and she also complained that he was sickly and delicate...
Ji Ming lazily pulled his clothes tighter, unconcerned, and innocently raised an eyebrow.
The same was true on the night we first met.
Her hand reached out to him, but her feet instinctively pointed in another direction, ready to run away at any moment.
They're both hypocritical, but she's much more interesting than the others...
Ning Lu wiped the sweat from her brow with her sleeve and glared fiercely at the still-smiling man.
She was wrong; this guy might not be a good person.
He was the kind of spoiled brat who took pleasure in tormenting others, the arrogant male classmate in school who would pull girls' braids.
If I had known this would happen, I should have asked that man surnamed Wei that night how many taels of silver I could get for betraying him.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Ning Lu couldn't help but say, "Go ahead and laugh. I'm just a coward, afraid of things I've never seen before. But you wait, once I do it, I won't be afraid anymore. I can even pluck your feathers and dissect your abdomen with my bare hands."
Seeing that he remained unfazed, she continued muttering.
"Besides, if it weren't for my cowardice, you would have been dead long ago."
Upon hearing this, the man surprisingly shifted his body and focused his gaze on her.
"When I was little, my mom bought me a turtle. It wasn't good-looking and it was a weak hatchling. As soon as it came to my house, it got white eye disease. Its eyes bulged out, and it was really scary."
Ning Lu rubbed her nose with her elbow, tilted her head and spat out a few more bird feathers: "I'm not only afraid of its appearance and feel, but also afraid of it dying. So I mustered up my courage to apply medicine to it. I have to wear several layers of gloves before I dare to pick it up."
"When it was sick, I was scared and worried. I wanted to go see it every morning and evening, but I was also afraid of seeing it die."
Ning Lu was so engrossed in her own preparations that she didn't notice Ji Ming's softening gaze.
He drew out each word, emphasizing each syllable: "So, in my eyes, seeing you reminds me of that little turtle~"
The air pressure dropped, and the surrounding air gradually became colder.
Completely oblivious, she said smugly, "Let me teach you another psychological term. I know you're inherently dangerous. But I'm more afraid of dead people than of you. That's why I chose to save you. It's called avoidance-avoidance conflict. Got it?"
When faced with two evils, choose the lesser one.
He understands.
However, her way of weighing the pros and cons was different from others. He had noticed this long ago.
Overcome with weariness, Ji Ming didn't bother arguing with her, looked away, raised his hand to droop his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.
I don't know when it started, but her nagging was no longer jarring and noisy; instead, it became like a lullaby, making people sleepy.
There was no sound under the eaves. Ning Lu was afraid that he would faint again, so she peeked out to observe. Seeing that his breathing was even, she secretly pursed her lips.
After looking around for a while, I was amused by the thought that popped into my head.
The snickers grew louder, their boisterous laughter unlike that of a young lady confined to her quarters, more like the squeaking of a dove repeatedly being kneaded.
“You’re a little different from that turtle.” Knowing he wasn’t fast asleep, Ning Lu raised her voice.
"You're a little bit prettier than that little turtle."
Ji Ming's eye twitched, and he turned his head inward.
You can't expect ivory to come out of a dog's mouth.
The autumn air was crisp and clear; it was midday, and the sun was warm.
As Ning Lu said, once she succeeds, everything else will follow.
After skinning the first bird, dealing with the second one was a breeze, as if divinely inspired.
After finishing what I was doing, I straightened up and saw that the person had slumped against the wall and was fast asleep.
His eyebrows and eyes were relaxed, his eyelashes cast shadows under his eyes, and his fingers, which were pale and curled, rested on his dark robe.
A pale purple hue spread across her lips; with each breath, she felt a slight tightness in her chest; she furrowed her brow in resistance, but ultimately succumbed to a drowsy, lingering state.
The sunlight streamed down, gently dispelling the man's usual aloofness and guardedness.
A rare moment of peace and tranquility, a life of idyllic countryside.
"I think I can understand the happiness of rich women now."
Once she has money, if she can keep a male lover with looks like that, it seems like she wouldn't necessarily have to go home...
Ning Lu was so captivated by his sleeping posture that she couldn't look away. It wasn't until a few bird feathers brushed against her face, tickling her and bringing her back to reality.
Regaining her remaining rationality and realizing what she was thinking, she felt an urge to slap herself twice immediately.
"Ning Lulu, you should wake up. Don't forget what happens to the female leads in TV dramas who pick up men randomly and fall in love with them."
A note from the author:
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