“Little girl, why are you here alone so late at night? What’s your name? Where do you live? Do you want us to take you home?” The short and skinny man spoke again, his tone much kinder than before.
The men exchanged glances, their expressions all very friendly.
Hua Yan twirled her hair with her fingers and smiled, “Sure, sure, I got separated from my brother and was worrying about how to get back.”
The four of them exchanged looks.
“Don’t worry about your brother, we can take you back now, how about that?”
Hua Yan showed a troubled expression, “It’s fine if I don’t worry about him, but I’ve been running around all day and I’m exhausted. Plus, it’s so late now. Let’s leave tomorrow.” She pointed at the campfire, “How about we rest here for the night first?”
“We need to discuss this first.”
“Alright.”
Hua Yan wasn’t in a hurry. She waited on the side, watching the four men whispering to each other, occasionally glancing at her.
Logically, she shouldn’t have been able to hear what they were saying.
But unfortunately, Hua Yan was a martial artist with sharp ears and keen eyes. Even without her inner strength, her hearing and vision were far superior to ordinary people.
“Monkey, should we act now or what?”
“Don’t rush, this little girl doesn’t know anything. Tomorrow, we’ll just coax her to the madam’s place…”
“Speaking of which, this little girl is really quite pretty…”
“Hey! Don’t get any bad ideas. If her virginity is broken, she won’t be worth anything.”
“Okay, okay, I know. She said she got separated from her brother, but it’s probably a lover…”
After they finished discussing, the short and skinny man spoke again, “Little girl, we’ve talked it over. Alright, we’ll just make do here for the night. It’s fate that we met…” As he spoke, he sat down on the grass mat Hua Yan had prepared for Lu Chengsha, coincidentally sitting right on the stone pillow.
Hua Yan: “Uh…”
“What’s wrong, little girl?” The short and skinny man was puzzled.
“Pfft,” the other three also gradually sat down on the mat.
Hua Yan took out her silk fan and fanned herself, smiling brightly, “It’s nothing, you continue.”
With the firelight shining on her, the beautiful girl’s smile seemed to have a captivating charm.
The four men, each with their own ulterior motives, had originally intended to get closer to the little girl and gather some information, but they all momentarily forgot to speak.
Hua Yan just continued fanning herself, slowly and rhythmically.
As Hua Yan fanned herself, the breeze whispered, and the fire crackled as it burned the wood, producing popping sounds. The four men seemed entranced, only hearing Hua Yan’s distant, mist-like voice, “Stand up.”
The four men stood up in a daze.
Hua Yan looked at the now flattened grass mat and stomped her foot in frustration.
She had made it so fluffy just a moment ago!
The four men seemed to wake from a dream, bewildered.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know…”
“Oh, it’s nothing. You can sit back down.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the four men sat down again with a thud.
Hua Yan tightened her grip on the fan and fanned vigorously.
Soon, someone started complaining.
“Why does my body feel itchy?”
“Bitten by bugs? Why make a fuss… wait, I feel itchy too…”
The four men suddenly began scratching themselves, looking uncomfortable, unable to sit still. They stood up and looked around for the source of the itch.
“Oh, it’s so itchy! What’s going on?”
“Help me scratch!”
“I want someone to scratch me too! It’s itching me to death!”
The short and skinny man, scratching his arm, was the first to notice something wrong. The girl sitting by the fire, propping her chin up and fanning herself, seemed completely unaffected.
“Why aren’t you itching?”
Hua Yan “oh”-ed and said, “Maybe the bugs didn’t bite me.”
The short and skinny man wanted to ask exactly that. His whole body felt like it was being bitten by insects, making it unbearable: “Why didn’t the bugs bite you?” As he spoke, the other three also realized this.
“Did you use a sachet or ointment, or…” The short and skinny man suppressed his urge to scratch and furrowed his brow, “Did you do this?”
Smarter than expected.
Hua Yan thought to herself but showed no hint of it, looking innocent as she said, “How would I know! If you think there are poisonous insects here, you can leave. Maybe the bugs only bite men.”
Her words caused the others to hesitate.
Now, the itching and pain were unbearable, and they wanted to find a doctor immediately!
“Monkey, let’s go buy some itch relief ointment first, this isn’t working!” The speaker’s tone grew more urgent as he scratched harder, looking at his arm, “Damn it, I’m scratching until it bleeds!”
The short and skinny man’s eyes darted around for a moment before he suddenly drew the curved knife from his waist and held it to Hua Yan’s neck. “You little brat, tell me the truth! Is this your doing?”
Hua Yan immediately put on a pitiful expression, her eyes welling with tears, “I’m just waiting here for my brother. If you don’t want to take me home, fine, but why are you accusing me? It’s too much!”
Her innocent demeanor and convincing protest seemed to sway the other men.
“Come on, Monkey, let’s just go.”
“I can’t stand it any longer! It’s itching me to death!”
The short and skinny man seemed to believe her as he slowly sheathed his knife and appeared to be about to leave. But just as he was turning away, he suddenly swung the knife back at Hua Yan.
Unfortunately for him, Hua Yan had already anticipated his move and lightly jumped back, dodging the attack.
The curved knife struck the spot where she had been sitting, sending up dust and leaving a deep gouge in the ground.
If Hua Yan had truly been a defenseless girl, she would have been struck down.
Hua Yan thought to herself, the Jianghu is really dangerous.
The short and skinny man had pretended to leave, but his killing intent hadn’t diminished at all.
She wasn’t stupid.
She could sense it!
Seeing his strike miss, the short and skinny man didn’t get angry; instead, he laughed. “I knew something was off. A girl alone in the wilderness at night—it’s never that simple. Stop scratching and grab her!”
Hua Yan wielded her silk fan, assuming a stance, and cleared her throat, reciting the lines she had prepared, “Today, I, the great hero, will uphold justice and rid the world of evil…”
But before she could finish, the four men lunged at her.
“…Let me finish my lines!”
Hua Yan dodged as she spoke, her movements extremely agile. In her evasions, the men ended up crashing into each other.
The four men, enduring the pain and itch, desperately tried to catch her, but the more they rushed, the more she slipped through their grasp like an eel, dodging with ease and even a sense of leisure.
After playing around for a while, Hua Yan started to feel bored.
Just as she was about to knock them out, she saw a sword light flash before her eyes, filled with intense killing intent.
The murderous aura was terrifyingly fierce, chilling to the bone, and its sudden burst was enough to make anyone feel frozen.
The sword light flashed past, swift as lightning, leaving almost no time to react—
The men who had been aggressively trying to capture her now lay on the ground in front of Hua Yan.
Hua Yan followed the direction of the sword light and saw a figure in black, bathed in moonlight that seemed to coat him in a silvery sheen, making him appear even more imposing and fierce.
Lu Chengsha turned his gaze towards her, his cold eyes showing no emotion. He moved his lips as if he wanted to say something.
Hua Yan exclaimed in delight, “Great Hero Lu, you’re finally back!”
It might have been a trick of the light, but it seemed there was a bead of sweat on Lu Chengsha’s forehead.
Hua Yan, oblivious, began to embellish her story, describing how difficult it had been for her, a weak girl, to fend off the attackers with only her wit and resilience in his absence.
She chattered on until she heard Lu Chengsha’s voice, cool and slightly strained.
“What if I had really left?”
A question mark seemed to pop up above Hua Yan’s head.
“Weren’t you just relieving yourself?”
“……”
“And in this desolate wilderness, with the night so dark and the wind so cold…” Hua Yan confidently patted her chest, “A hero would never do something so unkind as to leave a weak girl here alone!”
“……”
It seemed like Lu Chengsha was sweating again.
He looked at a loss for words.
After a while, he sat down on the flattened grass mat Hua Yan had prepared.
Hua Yan asked expectantly, “How is it?”
“…It’s alright.”
Hua Yan remembered what had just happened and felt a bit frustrated. “It’s a pity those people sat on it and flattened it! I was going to make it soft again…”
As she expressed her dissatisfaction, she suddenly heard Lu Chengsha’s voice.
“…Aren’t you afraid of me?”
“Huh?” Hua Yan blinked and realized he was asking her. “Why should I be afraid of you?”
“……”
Hua Yan blinked again, looking more puzzled than Lu Chengsha.
“I’ve actually been meaning to ask, why are those people so afraid of you?” Hua Yan pondered, “Is it because they’ve done bad things and feel guilty, so they’re afraid you’ll come after them?”
“……”
Lu Chengsha remained silent for a while, then stood up, untied the horse from the tree, and mounted it.
This time, before Hua Yan could ask, Lu Chengsha spoke first, “Come with me.”
Sometimes, Hua Yan found this Great Hero Lu very hard to understand.
Hadn’t they already decided to camp outside? She had gone to the trouble of preparing a grass mat, and now he was saying they had to leave!
But, oh well…
Hua Yan mounted her horse and leisurely followed Lu Chengsha.
After a while, she heard Lu Chengsha’s voice again.
“What’s your name?”
“…???”
Hua Yan realized that despite knowing each other for so long, Lu Chengsha still didn’t know her name!
That was quite absurd!
As she opened her mouth to speak, she realized something else.
Although the name Hua Yan was known only to those close within the sect, there was a chance it could give her away!
She hesitated for a moment and decided to use her father’s surname.
It was normal for people in the Jianghu to have an alias!
“My surname is Zhou, and my name is Xiaohua!” Hua Yan said, patting her chest.
Introducing the newly minted Zhou Xiaohua!