Chapter 5.3

“You’re so clumsy!” Liu Er pulled at her and the married woman hurriedly moved back, not uttering a word. Liu Er then laughed towards Xiao Youning and Yuan Guo, dragging the person with hurried footsteps to leave.

“This man is really vicious. I don’t know how much grief whoever marries him will suffer.” Yuan Guo avoided looking at Liu Er’s back. Grabbing the chopstick, she used a handkerchief to wipe it down again before handing it over to her mistress. “Miss, please eat.”

Xiao Youning took the chopsticks and put them down again with a bang, asking, “Has Bodyguard Xie returned?”

Yuan Guo stared blankly, then went to look at the wall that separated them from their neighbor. “Seems like he hasn’t? Including the other people, they all went out, but the coachman is in?”

Xiao Youning immediately became silent.

And Liu Er, who had left, dragged the woman back into the house. Reaching out with one hand, he gave her a slap. “What are you shaking for? I gave you some face these two days, and you don’t know who you are anymore! If you spoil my business, I’ll reunite you with your dead man!”

A drop of blood came out of the corner of the woman’s mouth from the strike, but she simply didn’t dare to utter a cry and she shrunk her entire body in the corner. Liu Er saw her like that and spat in her direction. “As expected, a village woman is a village woman, even that young man has softer skin and more tender flesh than you.”

After he said that, it was unclear what he thought of, but he let out a strange smile that pulled at the corners of his mouth.

——

“Miss … no, Young Master, after you finish eating it won’t be too late to try to find that Daoist Priest again.”

Xiao Youning, who should have been eating, suddenly said she wanted to go to their neighbor. Yuan Guo repeatedly urged against it, not knowing what she was thinking.

Xiao Youning hurried her steps toward the main house next door and, with an anxious heart, knocked on the door. She called out a few times, but nobody answered, so she simply pushed open the door.

Inside the house, an oil lamp burned, and directly in front of the door sat Ye Shen. When she opened the door, the flame flickered, exposing that cool and collected appearance that Xiao Youning had seen before. A pair of eyes shone within the darkness, staring at the intruder with a clear and rippling gaze that made Xiao Youning’s heart jump a little.

Moreover, this look was somewhat familiar to her.

Puzzling over that for a split second, she very quickly entered the house, indicating to Yuan Guo to keep guard on the door for any surprises. She courteously cupped her hands toward Ye Shen in apology as she said, “Daoist Priest, I’m very sorry for barging in, but there is an emergency. The people here apparently are all not very proper. My bodyguard said he would take the horses to graze, but the people who went to try to find him all disappeared, so in short—”

She spoke at length, but the other party from start to finish kept their gaze fixed on her position, without even the slightest change in expression, making her stop out of embarrassment. Only then did she realize that the servant wasn’t by his side, because his gaze was increasingly making her more uncomfortable. She lifted her hand and used the tip of her finger, wanting to twist the hair at the side of her temples.

This action, when she found only air beside her ear, reminded her that she was in a disguise pretending to be a boy, and she quickly put her hands down. “Daoist Priest, in short, this isn’t a place to stay for a long time, and it’s better to leave quickly.” She took a deep breath and finished what she had to say.

Ye Shen all along had been staring at her while twirling a string of blood-red beads between his fingers, and finally made a move.

She suddenly came over just to complain to him that this place wasn’t suitable to stay in for a long period?

Ye Shen gave the slim figure in front of him a once-over, thinking that this young lady from the Xiao Family … Why is it that when he saw her at the Li Family’s gates, her mouth seemed distinctively sharper?

She indeed was different. The last time was to exploit him, this time, however, she could fairly be considered good and honest.

“According to what you said, you are already like a clay Bodhisattva living in the river, so why not run away first? Dragging me with you, won’t it be even more conspicuous?” Ye Shen said.

Xiao Youning stared at him blankly.

His voice was very pleasant to hear, but no matter how pleasant it was, it was all discounted by his cold and indifferent tone. Not to mention that these words were uncomfortable to listen to. Just like the expression he used to look at people- cold, unconcerned, and very dismissive, but so arrogant and with such an oppressive force he could see right through people’s hearts.

Xiao Youning’s slender fingers curled up, clenching completely into a fist as she felt an indescribable level of embarrassment. But then she had to admit that there was some truth to his earlier rhetorical question as she had come over because there was something else …

“——Caught on fire!”

“Grab that person, quickly! Don’t let him get away!”

Shouts emerged, interrupting Xiao Youning’s next words. She turned her head and noticed that the movement outside was becoming more and more rampant. Apparently, every household had opened their doors and ran out, as the ground was being trampled to the point where it was vibrating and rumbling in their ears. Yuan Guo had already grabbed her hand and was nervously looking outside the door, pondering whether it was better to leave.

And Ye Shen, who had been sitting, slid the string of beads in his hand into his sleeve as he stood upright after her.

Xiao Youning still hadn’t returned to her senses and found herself soaring in the air and flames appearing before her eyes. It was Ye Shen who came behind the mistress and servant without warning and, with a stretch of his arm, snatched Xiao Youning up by the waist and opened the door to go out.

Yuan Guo stared blankly for a moment before realizing that her miss had been snatched away and hurried to give chase.

A green canopy carriage rampaged towards the entrance of the courtyard. Xiao Youning was still in a daze when she heard the driver shout something, then her body soared in the air again and she was directly thrown inside the carriage.