Chapter 8.1 - Touch (1/2)

Translator: Superbulat

Song Mo felt bad for the little nun, but all he could was sympathize.

Help her?

How could he, an adult male, help her for no reason? If he made a hasty move, she would think he had a hidden agenda, right?

He could only stand there and watch her leave.

Also, to avoid the awkwardness of seeing each other again, as well as the unexplainable panic in his heart, Song Mo only patrolled in the Peach Forest for the next few days for fear of bumping into her again. The thought of the thin and frail girl carrying the water buckets back and forth, her red palms, and the pitiful sight of her sitting and crying at the roadside, he became increasingly afraid of seeing her, for fear that he couldn’t resist the urge to help her.

He shouldn’t have feelings for a little nun. He should be able to forget about the fluttering of his heart as time passed by…

~

Tang Huan could sense that Song Mo was avoiding her.

That day, although she was tempted in asking Song Mo to help her in carrying water, her master had taught her that if a man likes you, naturally, he couldn’t bear to see you suffer, and he would take the initiative to help you without waiting for you to ask. If he didn’t do anything, it meant he either didn’t like you and didn’t care about you, in which case asking for his help would only be embarrassing yourself, or he didn’t know how you felt towards him and dared not act rashly, lest even your current relationship could not be maintained.

From Tang Huan’s observations and understanding of Song Mo, he might be having a slight affection for her. If she was just an ordinary girl next door hinting at him, he would have been hooked. However, she was a nun. She couldn’t just act like a shy girl with a crush on him. As for Song Mo, he was an honest man. It was even more impossible for him to take the initiative to pursue a nun.

So all she could do was to try to gain his sympathy and induce him to take the initiative. Wouldn’t they get closer if he helped her?

But who knew that while she had worked so hard carrying water for so many days in anticipation of meeting him, he was actually avoiding her!

Tang Huan was furious.

Nevermind. If he didn’t come, she’d go to him instead!

When Tang Huan went into the mountains to chop wood the next day, she specially harvested some wild vegetables, finished her work earlier than usual, and returned with the firewood on her back. She deliberately took a detour because she had decided to use the wild vegetables to repay him for the flatbread and cucumber, while making another attempt at seducing him.

While she was climbing the hill, thinking about what she should do if she saw him later, she heard a voice from above asking in a strange tone, “Hey tough guy, don’t you like to fight? Why can’t you do it now? Get up! Get up and beat me!”

It was Qiao Liu’s voice!

Having a bad feeling, Tang Huan hurriedly hid the firewood and wild vegetables in the grass and quietly climbed upwards. She came from the hillside behind the wooden house, so she couldn’t see what was going on in the front yard. She could only hear the muffled punches and kicks to a person’s body, as well as Qiao Liu’s triumphant laugh. Tang Huan had a hunch that Qiao Liu had brought people over to seek revenge on Song Mo after he saved her the other day.

He mustn’t die!

A layer of cold sweat broke out on Tang Huan’s back. She tightened her grip on the machete, ready to save Song Mo. As a result of the dreams, she and Song Mo were both on the same boat. If he died, she wouldn’t be able to live as well. Even if she couldn’t defeat these people, she couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. The last time she was in danger, she was hungry, tired, and had no weapon in her hands, so she had no choice but to run away when she met Qiao Liu. This time with the machete and a few moves that she had memorized, even if she couldn’t use her Internal Energy 1 and couldn’t beat a skilled fighter, she still had some chances of winning against a thug.

Just as she was about to run out, the kicking and punching sound stopped.

Skinny Monkey dropped the long stick in his hand, spat on the ground, and said, “Liu- ge , this coward can’t take a beating. He passed out!”

Qiao Liu threw a half-eaten cucumber on the ground, pushed aside his gang mates who were encircling Song Mo, and looked down. When he saw Song Mo lying at his feet like he was already dead, he sneered and kicked him hard before waving his hand and saying, “Let’s go. I’ll spare his little life this time. Hmph, after getting beaten by us, I bet he won’t have the guts to get in my way anymore!” So what if he was good at fighting? One fist was no match for four hands. He had more than enough lackeys to deal with a forest ranger!

“Why of course, Liu- ge is the best!” Skinny Monkey followed closely behind him. He cast a few glances in the direction of the nunnery and asked with a lustful smile on his face, “Liu- ge , when should we find those two little nuns again? The nuns who had gone down the mountain to collect alms in the last two days were either too old or had big faces and crooked mouths, which were really appalling!”

Qiao Liu paused in his tracks. He felt as if he had heard that sweet voice calling him ‘Liu- ge’ again.

He rubbed his chin and instructed in a low voice, “For the next two days, get two of our men to stay watch with you at the foot of the mountain. If you see Minghui, immediately report back to me. If you don’t see her, go find out when she’ll be leaving the mountain. By the way, when you ask the other nuns, make sure to warn them not to talk nonsense when they return to the nunnery. If you screw up and cause Minghui to suffer, I’ll let you eat my fist!”

“Of course not! I would never have the guts to mess up what Liu- ge ordered me to do!” Skinny Monkey hurriedly assured him. “Hehe, Liu- ge is so caring and considerate, that little nun named Minghui is really lucky.”

Qiao Liu smiled with satisfaction and tossed him a money bag. “Take it, treat our injured men to a good meal. Don’t let them get beaten in vain!“

Skinny Monkey answered “Yes” and weighed the money bag with his hand. He already had a good estimate on how much money he could pocket.

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内力 (Internal energy): The cultivated energy within a martial artist’s body. Utilizing it, a martial artist can accomplish superhuman feats of speed, agility, strength, endurance, etc… It can even be used to heal wounds and nullify poisons. -Wuxiaworld ( https://www.wuxiaworld.com/page/general-glossary-of-terms# )