Wei Qingming seemed stone-deaf to the insults, merely handing the bundle of clothes to Wen Shu. "If you have any more trouble, just come to me," she said. Wen Shu clutched her recovered belongings, her body going limp until she could barely stand. Wei Qingming did not allow the girl to lean against her, instead supporting her just enough to sit on a stone. Her movements were gentle, yet utterly devoid of sentiment.
Wen Shu watched the group ride away in a daze before lifting her eyes to Wei Qingming. Her watery gaze was clouded like a misty morning. "Brother Qingming, you, A-Qi, and I... the three of us grew up playing together. Do you... do you truly only have eyes for her? Will you never even spare a glance for me?"
Wei Qingming only replied, "As you heard just now, I work for Yingzhao Temple. I have already resolved never to marry."
Wen Shu gave a bitter smile. "I suppose I heard things I shouldn't have. I knew you were capable, but I didn't realize just how deep your methods went. I shall simply pretend I know nothing."
Wei Qingming considerately lowered her gaze, looking away while the beauty wiped her tears. Once Wen Shu had composed herself, she said, "It is getting late. I will escort you back to the villa."
Wen Shu smiled through her lingering tears. "You've rejected me so decisively; at least grant me some dignity and let me return alone."
Surprisingly, Wei Qingming didn't press the matter. She simply handed her a small bamboo tube. "Blow this if anything happens." Then, as if in a hurry to leave, she vanished in the blink of an eye.
Wen Shu tilted her head back to suppress her tears and sat in silence for a long while. Suddenly, she hurled the bamboo tube away with all her might. It went skittering into the darkening grass. Then, she buried her face in her hands and wept bitterly.
Night fell, and Wen Shu remained motionless. I was growing anxious waiting, thinking I should just go up and take her away, when Cao Chengshuo returned. This time, he was flanked by over a dozen men—not the useless dandies from before, but genuine guards from the Prince’s manor.
Seeing Wen Shu alone, Cao Chengshuo instinctively pulled back his neck, looking around suspiciously. Remembering he had brought plenty of backup this time, his courage surged. He smirked at Wen Shu from atop his horse. "Little beauty, have you finally seen sense? Waiting for your big brother, are you? That Wei Qingming is a cold-blooded, ruthless wretch. He’s no good. Dump him and stay with me; then you’ll know true pleasure!"
Wen Shu asked coldly, "Are you willing to marry me?"
"Of course! For a beauty such as you, how could I bear to let anyone else have you!"
Wen Shu actually began to stand up slowly, looking as if she were about to walk toward him. Overcome with a mix of anxiety and rage, I jumped out and shouted, "You can't go!"
One of the hangers-on from earlier laughed. "Well, well! Another little beauty wants to be a Princess!"
Wen Shu recognized my voice and cried out in shock, "A-Qi? You... you must leave, quickly!"
I cursed inwardly. In my rush to save the damsel, I had forgotten I was still wearing Wen Qi’s face. What now... but since I’d already meddled, I might as well see it through. I huffed and spat, "Princess my foot! Of all the Caos, you’re the biggest waste of space. Today, I’m going to beat you until you’re missing even more teeth!"
Cao Chengshuo’s front teeth had been aching ever since he chipped them, and he had been reflexively covering his mouth. My words hit a sore spot just as the pain flared. He roared, "You foul-mouthed brat! I'll see you dead for that! Xin Mingyuan, seize her!"
A muscular brute cupped his fists at the command and vaulted off his horse.
I had already settled into a fighting stance. "Is this 'Xin-whatever' the fiercest dog you’ve got?" I chirped. "I don't have time for chatter. If we're going to fight, I'll take on the meanest dog in the pack!"
Wen Shu grabbed me in a panic. "A-Qi, you've gone mad! Quickly, apologize to the Young Lord, we..."
"Sister!" I turned and held her. "Even if Wei Qingming has poor eyesight, you shouldn't degrade yourself like this!"
Wen Shu, believing that Wei Qingming and I were mutually in love, was visibly choked by my words. She clutched her chest, coughing so hard she could barely catch her breath. I leaned into her ear and whispered, "Be good. Hold the horse and wait for me. Once I’ve taught this oaf a lesson, we’re running for it..."
Cao Chengshuo shouted impatiently, "Xin Mingyuan, bind them both!"
I turned back to the center of the clearing and smiled. "What's the rush? Hey, Fatty, what weapon do you use?"
"Weapon?" Guard Xin sneered. "Just these hands."
"Then I suppose I'll show my steel." With a mischievous flick, I produced a pair of chain maces, tossing them lightly in the air.
The crowd was stunned. To their eyes, each mace head was twice the size of my head, and the pair together looked heavier than I was. For a young girl to handle them so effortlessly was not something to be taken lightly. In reality, the maces weren't that large; it was merely the effect of an illusion.
Guard Xin cracked his knuckles, looking excited. "Fine. I'll let you strike first."
"I knew you brutes loved these clumsy things," I taunted, swiftly swinging a mace.
Guard Xin had naturally underestimated me. As the heavy mace came whistling toward him, he suddenly felt its trajectory was bizarre—it was wobbling and weaving, not traveling in a straight line at all. In his confusion, he tried to dodge in a similarly wobbly fashion, only to be struck squarely in the face.
To the onlookers, I had simply swung the mace in a mundane fashion at a moderate speed. Yet Guard Xin had acted as if he were facing a mortal foe, dodging with awkward, mincing steps before getting hit like a complete idiot.
A hanger-on shouted, "Old Xin! Why are your legs going soft for a little girl?"
The crowd jeered. Guard Xin steadied himself and shook his head violently. The blow hadn't hurt as much as he expected, which caused him to lower his guard slightly.
I shouted, "The second strike is for your dog head!"
Guard Xin dodged the attack with practiced ease, twisting his arm to snag half of my chain. Suddenly, the chain wrapped around his arm transformed into a red-eyed venomous serpent, lunging to bite his chest. Startled again, Guard Xin reached out to pinch the snake’s neck, only to have the actual mace head smash into his fingers. His knuckles shattered instantly, and his entire arm went numb and tingling, losing all sensation. I hooked the chain with the tip of my toe, and the two maces came whistling back. I spun around, extending my arms to tuck the chains behind my back in a 'White Crane Spreads Its Wings' pose. Feeling incredibly cool, I stuck my tongue out at him.
Wen Shu was dumbfounded. Cao Chengshuo was equally stunned. Guard Xin, driven by piercing pain and sudden fury, threw a wild, heavy punch at me. I dodged left and right; every time he thought he would surely land a hit, he missed by a hair. It was as if he were drunk or dreaming; his body refused to obey him, and his vision grew blurred. Finally, he threw a heavy punch with absolute certainty, only to see a massive, pitch-black stone wall appear before him with startling clarity. Fearing a collision would cause severe injury, he leaped backward. I was waiting for him—the chain maces had already spun a dozen times in the air before they landed solidly against the back of his head...
What everyone else saw was Guard Xin pouncing at thin air like a hungry tiger, then suddenly retreating like a madman, practically offering the back of his skull to the mace...
I landed on the ground, shaking my head with a sigh. "Sorry. Last time I tried to turn Wei Qingming into an idiot, it didn't work. You've taken her place..."
At this point, if they didn't use their numbers to overwhelm me, where would these grown men hide their faces? I started running, shouting, "Wen Shu! The horse! The horse!"
Wen Shu was reliable; she was already mounted and galloping toward me to pick me up. I grabbed her arm and flipped onto the horse's back, giving Cao Chengshuo a wicked grin and a wave.
The quicker-witted guards had already brought horses around. Cao Chengshuo scrambled onto his, and the group gave chase, shouting as they pursued Wen Shu and me.
I wrapped my arms around Wen Shu’s slender waist, shouting into the wind, "Sister, can we lose them?"
Wen Shu shouted back, "We can!"
I laughed at that and yelled into her ear, "I've never heard you speak so loudly! This is great!"
"It is great!" Wen Shu replied. "I've never ridden a horse with such abandon!"
The night sky was like a sheet of deep purple velvet, and the world unfolded before us. My head felt as if it were crashing through cloud after cloud. Wen Shu’s usually neat, meticulously cared-for hair came loose, her hairpins slipping out and falling into the dreams of some deep sleeper below. We didn't care; we just galloped on, laughing wildly.
We had already cleared the villa district and broken into the outskirts of the Imperial Tombs. As the distance between us grew, Cao Chengshuo gritted his teeth and made a ruthless call: "Use arrows!"
Five or six guards drew their bows and loosed arrows. Wen Shu swerved left and right, but one arrow still managed to strike one of the horse's wings. The Pegasus reared and shrieked, and Wen Shu couldn't calm it. I held her tight, shouting, "Don't panic! Aim for the highest tomb on that slope! I have a plan!"
Without hesitation, Wen Shu steered the horse into a rapid descent. I pulled out one of the defensive artifacts Master had given me—the Xuan-nu Golden Silk—ready to catch us. However, Cao Chengshuo’s lot was prepared and had already closed in. One of the hangers-on leaped from his horse, throwing himself at us with reckless abandon. The horse’s wing blocked him for a moment, but he still managed to grab my calf. Seeing things go south, I activated the Xuan-nu Golden Silk, wrapping it around Wen Shu to protect her, while I turned back and threw a furious punch at the man in mid-air.
The two of us seemed to fall even faster. The massive, dark Imperial Tombs loomed like a strange giant beast. The expected pain never came; instead, I felt like a weightless shadow, merging into the vast, boundless darkness.
"Sister!!!" Wen Shu landed on the ground. Facing the smooth, sealed tomb, she clutched the Golden Silk and wailed.
Seeing Wen Shu with her hair disheveled and eyes red with tears, Cao Chengshuo rubbed his hands together lecherously. "This is fate! Come with me!"
Wen Shu grabbed stones from the ground and threw them blindly at him. Just as Cao Chengshuo was about to seize her, a figure suddenly leaped out from among the guards, standing in front of Wen Shu. "Young Lord, please stop!"
Wen Shu thought the man looked familiar. Squinting, she cried out, "Young Master Xiao!"
Cao Chengshuo snapped in frustration, "Boy, you'd better think this through!"
Xiao Xuelin still had that habit of turning shy whenever he saw a woman. His face flushed, but he said firmly, "I have. I cannot stand by and watch the daughter of my benefactor be insulted."
***
I was certain I had fallen into the interior of a tomb. For some unknown reason, the roof of this tomb had opened a massive gap to let us in, only to seal shut immediately after. I was worried about Wen Shu up there, so I took my anger out on the unlucky bastard who had fallen in with me. "You son of a bitch! Why the hell did you jump at us like your life didn't matter?"
"Waaaah... my life doesn't matter, but money does..."
"Bah! You'd sell your life for a few coins from that Cao guy? You're supposed to be from a family of officials!"
The man groaned in pain from some injury, his whining grating on my nerves. I barked at him again, "Tell me, is my sister beautiful?"
"What?" The man didn't understand why I was asking that. He dithered for a moment before saying wistfully, "Beautiful... of course she's beautiful..."
"Do you like her?"
"I... of course I like her..."
"Then why the hell were you helping that Cao guy ruin her! Are you even a man?"
The man didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "My dear young lady, what on earth are you talking about..." He then muttered a complaint under his breath: "Your name is Wen, but I've never seen a girl so... martial..."
I gave him a backhanded punch. "You stay here and be 'refined' then. I'm going to find a way out!"
"Wait! Miss Wen! Young lady! Great Aunt! I'm afraid of the dark and ghosts! Don't leave me here alone!"
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
---|---|---
辛明远 | Xin Mingyuan | A muscular guard serving Cao Chengshuo.
链子锤 | Chain Maces | A weapon consisting of heavy mace heads attached to chains.
玄女金绸 | Xuan-nu Golden Silk | A defensive magical artifact given to the MC by her Master.
官陵 | Imperial Tombs | The burial grounds for officials or royalty; the setting of the crash.
萧学林 | Xiao Xuelin | A young man (scholar) who was previously helped by the Wen family.
文/武 | Wen / Wu | A pun on the MC's surname Wen (meaning literary/refined) and the word Wu (meaning martial/fierce).
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