Chapter 104: The Most Beautiful Woman
On hot summer days, the gravel paths in Mianyuan roll out heat waves, and a dry air permeates the air under the scorching sun.
There was no shelter, and the carcasses of several birds had dried up in the sun.
The habitable area in Mianyuan is only the size of a palm, and the rest are rugged hills, gravel trees, and very little vegetation.
Walking straight ahead along one of the widest avenues, you will enter the Huiying Inn, which is known as a no-man's land. This place is on the border of Xiutu. If you walk a few more steps, you will be face to face with the savages of foreign countries who eat raw meat and drink blood. Therefore, it is difficult for the court to extend its power to the town, and the so-called upright people in the martial arts world will naturally not come to visit this poor place.
During the daytime in summer, every household keeps their doors and windows closed tightly, because if they don't, the heat will rush in and it could be fatal.
At night, this place becomes extremely strange. The heat of the day suddenly disappears, and it becomes so cold that people want to put on a sheepskin coat. The wind howls in the night sky, and the clouds and fog are desolate.
Jiaoyue lifted the hood of her cloak and was obviously burned by the scorching flames of Mianyuan summer.
She finally found her. She was exhausted from the journey and was in a hurry to get on with her journey. A figure was walking on the ground in a dull manner.
She held the reins in one hand and stroked her pregnant belly from time to time, fearing that the bumpy journey would cause the child to suffer, even though she herself vomited all the way due to morning sickness.
The child in her womb seemed to know that the mother was in a hurry to escape, so it was especially quiet and slept soundly in the small, soft chamber.
"I'm sorry, Mom, you've been running around like this." She whispered to the child.
Just as she uttered the word "wave", a long knife suddenly pierced through the quiet summer town road and flew towards her.
Her body suddenly leaped into the air, and when she hurriedly moved away from her previous position, the place where she stopped for a while was already pierced with dozens of hidden weapons, including the long knife.
That’s not all.
Just as he stood firm, another arrow shot towards him.
She spread her arms in the air, flipped, and dodged as swiftly as a dragon, showing her agility.
"You have good kung fu. What brings you to Mianyuan?" A man holding dominoes in his hand knocked his pipe and took out the ash.
Jiaoyue said angrily, "How can you be called a hero if you shoot someone in the back?"
As soon as he said that, the man threw back his head and laughed, "Hero? Mianyuan has fine wine, gold, beautiful women and handsome men, and even dead birds on the ground, but there is not a single hero."
As he spoke, he suddenly shot a dart from his hand, which hit the open space beside the horse, scaring the horse so much that it suddenly neighed and stood up.
Jiaoyue quickly jumped on the horse and controlled it.
Several hidden weapons were launched from his hands.
Jiaoyue was so angry that he grabbed the two crescent-shaped swords. Silver light suddenly appeared and the sword light flashed before his eyes.
This man was not easy to deal with either. He pulled out a judge's pen from his waist, and the crescent-shaped swords collided with his judge's pen, breaking apart at the first collision.
The two of them fell to the side. Ji Jie had not paid attention to the stranger who broke into the town before, but now he paid attention to look at her carefully. Her belly was bulging, and she was actually pregnant.
"Since you are a mother, stop running around and go back. This is not a place for you."
Jiaoyue snorted coldly, "I want you to show mercy?"
She raised her sword to meet him, but Ji Jie leaned back slightly to avoid her two swords. However, Jiao Yue chased after him with her two swords, refusing to let him go.
Ji Ji became so annoyed by the chase that he turned around and fought with her again.
There was a clanging sound as weapons clashed.
As soon as Jiaoyue landed on the ground, she heard a familiar voice coming from afar.
"Cease fire! Boss Ji!"
His judge's pen struck straight down, and this stab went straight to Jiaoyue's throat.
Zhou Zhi was so frightened that his hair stood on end when he saw this. He ran over in a few steps and said, "Don't!"
Ji Ji suddenly stopped and asked, "Do you know this person?"
Zhou Zhi nodded and pushed his hand to let him put away his weapon. "It's me...my sister."
He tried to find some resemblance between Zhou Zhi and this woman from her ruined face, but it was in vain. "In my opinion, you two are not sisters. Your eyebrows and eyes are so different."
Having said this, he put away the judge's pen and Jiaoyue's two swords.
Zhou Zhi said, "Boss Ji, as the saying goes, all brothers are one family, so sisters are also one family. This sister's surname is Jiao, and her given name is Yue. She has been very kind to me and taught me martial arts. Now that she's in some trouble, I've asked her to come and seek refuge with me. If anyone in Mianyuan tries to embarrass my sister, they're becoming enemies of the Ying Inn."
Ji Ji turned his head and saw that the woman had a noble face and a graceful demeanor, which was completely different from the banditry that was everywhere here.
She was in a hurry and pregnant, so even though her hair was a little messy due to the wind, she didn't look embarrassed.
Ji Jie looked at her a few more times and said, "She is Miss Zhou's friend, Miss Zhou's friend, and also my friend from Laicai Casino." As he said that, he clasped his fists slightly as an apology to Jiaoyue.
After leading Jiaoyue away from the town entrance, Zhou Zhicai said, "Sister Ying, don't blame him for being so cruel. The court and the vicious dogs in the martial arts world are now searching for the surviving disciples of the Qingfeng Sect. He is also worried that the few of us gathered here will be caught in one fell swoop."
Jiaoyue turned around and glanced at Boss Ji who was walking in another direction. "To deal with those greedy evil people, you need to be more ruthless."
Zhou Zhi was extremely excited to see her coming, and pulled her forward and ran, "Sister, look!"
Seeing the four big characters on the inn's signboard, Jiaoyue was startled.
Huiying Inn.
Jiaoyue was a little moved. "Why name it after me? It's obviously your hard work."
Zhou Zhi smiled and put his arm around her shoulders, his eyes as bright as a torch. "Ever since the Qingfeng Sect was besieged by several major sects, I thought I was going to die at their hands. They cut my face and asked my mother to hand over the "Gao Shan Shou". My mother couldn't hand it over, so it was my sister who saved me. I lived in this world, thinking that if a woman lost her beauty, there would be no meaning in living. It was my sister who taught me those powerful skills and allowed me to revitalize the Qingfeng Sect. Sister, I know that going against those righteous sects in the martial arts world is a dead end, but I must avenge my parents and the brothers and sisters who died in vain in the Qingfeng Sect. After you left, I thought about it for a long time, and practiced the martial arts you taught me until I was familiar with it. Only then did I understand the meaning of this. As a woman, if I only think about my ruined appearance and can't really do the important things that others dare not do, I might as well die at the hands of those shameless people that day."
The two looked at each other, and Jiaoyue's face was already happy. "You are no longer sad about your face?"
Zhou Zhi smiled and said, "Everyone says I'm the most beautiful woman in the world. I thought that was the best title, but now, I don't care about those empty names anymore. Without my beautiful face, I live a more comfortable life."
She pointed at the plaque and said, "Sister, look at this inn. I spent all the money you left for me to build it."
He pulled Jiaoyue into the inn and pointed something to her every few steps.
"Look at this wine jar, sister. It's filled with the strongest liquor, and it sells out every day."
"Oh, this railing, even though it's made of red willow wood, it's really solid. Oh, I really have no money, so I originally wanted to use pear wood!"
"Look at this table, sister. I didn't cut corners on it. Last time, two villains stayed here and got into a fight. They chopped off a corner of the table. Look, sister, luckily the table didn't fall apart. Otherwise, I would have asked them to pay me another two taels of silver."
Jiaoyue listened to her chattering and couldn't help but rub her face. "Are there so many evil people in this town?"
"I'm afraid I can't even count them on my ten fingers. They're all murderers and robbers. Oh, and there are also people who steal babies. A few days ago, my gold was sleeping, but a wicked man who only loves human flesh sneaked in and almost stole it."
"Gold?" Although Jiaoyue's disguise skills were already perfect, she still took it off in front of people close to her.
Zhou Zhi quickly asked her to go upstairs, "Jinzi is my baby."
"What!!!" Jiaoyue really didn't know that she already had a child.
"I gave birth to him on October 16th last year. I was in so much pain all day and all night. It was so abominable, but I still gave birth to him. Am I amazing? He's completely intact, with all his fingers and toes intact. He looks so handsome, even prettier than when I was a child."
As they were talking, the two of them arrived at the room. Jiaoyue saw a baby sleeping soundly. Although still very small, she could already see its tall nose and delicate little mouth. She couldn't help but want to kiss this adorable child. "Did you really give birth to this child? I didn't know you were married."
She uttered a cry, her face flushed, "I'm not married... I... I'm not married..."
Jiaoyue was surprised, "What about this child?"
Zhou Zhi sat next to her and asked, "Who says you can't have children if you're not married?"
Jiaoyue agreed deeply, "That's true."
"Hey, why did you wake him up?" Jiaoyue saw her poking the child and woke up the baby who was sleeping soundly.
Zhou Zhi boasted in front of her, "Sister, it's amazing, I can give birth to such a big child. From my belly, I didn't even know I could become a mother so soon."
Jin Zi didn't cry for long after being woken up. Zhou Zhi fed him a few mouthfuls of milk and he stopped crying. "It's easy to comfort him. He's still very silly."
Jiaoyue had never heard a mother say this about her child. "Don't talk nonsense in front of him. What's so stupid about him? I think he's very smart."
Zhou Zhi recalled taking him for a walk in a dark place a few days ago. "He started crying as soon as he got to a dark place. He's so timid. If there's no light at night, he'll cry too. Oh, right, no one is playing with him. I put him aside while I do some work, and he still cries. I've never seen such a timid boy. He can only calm down if I hold him and coax him."
"Who is the child's father? Do I know him?"
Jiaoyue suddenly asked her.
It's really strange that even Ying would ask her such a boring question.
"That's not important."
There is a knock on the door.
"Who?" Zhou Zhi asked.
"It's me, Mu Feng."
Jiaoyue didn't recognize this person, but Zhou Zhi pulled up his clothes and opened the door, "Come in."
She introduced him to Jiaoyue, "This is one of our Qingfeng Sect's disciples, a junior fellow apprentice of mine. I only found him last year. Don't be fooled by his height, his martial arts skills are...tsk tsk..."
Hearing her say that, Mu Feng snorted, very dissatisfied, "Wait until my injury is healed, I will immediately practice martial arts day and night, and by then even you will not be my opponent."
Seeing that he was so serious, Jiaoyue couldn't help laughing.
Mu Feng stared at Jiaoyue's eyes, which were as bright as a mirror and could see through people's hearts. He shyly ran downstairs and said, "I'll have someone make some food and bring it up to you guys later!"
"Is that it?" Zhou Zhi chased after him and asked.
A moment later, before she could close the door, another man came upstairs. Jiaoyue came out and met the strange woman. He nodded slightly and said, "Tagu Muli greets Madam Chai."
"You are..." Jiaoyue didn't know this person named Tagumuri.
Seeing him suddenly come upstairs, Zhou Zhi was a little flustered, "You...you are eating, what are you doing up here! This is my guest, don't disturb her."
Interesting. There was a hint of smile in Jiaoyue's eyes. "Tagu... Muli?"
"Yes, I'm from Northern Xinjiang and I'm a painter."
"How many paintings can a painter who settles in such a remote town paint for tourists?" Jiaoyue asked deliberately.
Tagumuli shook his head. "I don't paint for others often. The paintings I've made in the past few years are enough to support me for the rest of my life. It won't be difficult for me to support my family."
"What are you talking about!"
Zhou Zhi was even more flustered. "What do you mean by supporting the family? You... I want you to support the family! The gold belongs to me alone. If you keep talking nonsense in front of my sister, you will get out of my inn tomorrow."
Seeing that she was angry, he also got a little flustered. "I'm not trying to compete with you for the gold. I'm just worried about you. I'm afraid you'll be too tired to be alone. I want to stay here and compensate you."
She said it was okay, "Pay a lot of money every day, and I'll keep the room for you, and the meals will be normal."
After saying that, he locked him outside.
Before Jiaoyue could finish her words, Zhou Zhi covered her mouth and said, "What are you laughing at? You're so annoying."
Jiaoyue pulled her hand up and said, "He looks nice. Is he Jinzi's father?"
"……yes."
She was so embarrassed that she lay on the edge of the bed and was too embarrassed to look at the bright moon.
Jiaoyue walked over to her side. She was so heavy that it was difficult for her to squat down. "You don't want to marry him, you just want this child?"
"Originally, I thought he wouldn't be able to find me after I left, but who knew he would find Mianyuan? God knows how he found me. I thought he was a lackey sent by those underworld people and almost killed him, but he didn't get angry. When he saw Jinzi, he told me that he knew I had suffered a lot and would protect us in the future."
Jiaoyue nodded. "I didn't expect your destiny would be here. What do you think now?"
Zhou Zhi sighed, "Everything is a mess. Who knows what to do? I'm not ready yet."
Just like she gave birth to the child before she was ready, and the man followed her before she was ready, "He came here to ask for a status, I haven't thought about it yet."
"Then think about it, were you happier before he came, or after he came?"
Zhou Zhi hugged the gold and said without hesitation, "Of course... after he came. I thought it was just a fleeting romance."
Jiaoyue smiled gently, took the gold and coaxed, "Your mother and father are getting married."
When Zhou Zhi heard this, she really wanted to find a hole to hide in. "I don't want to get married. If he wants me to marry him, I will marry him? That would be so embarrassing for me."
Jiaoyue thought for a long time. As the sun gradually set outside and dusk deepened, she said, "The fate between people is sometimes very strange. When we have the choice and are able to choose, we should not resist the people and things we yearn for. In fact, what we can obtain in this life is very little."
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