091 Even if it Means Throwing Away One's Dignity, It Must Be Satisfied

Chapter 91: Even if He Must Abandon All Decency, He Will Still Be Satisfied

Before Shi Xiaodou could answer, Guan Shiyin felt a murderous aura rising from behind him, sharp as a sword’s edge.

No need to think with his knees to know it was Shi Bilian.

Guan Shiyin did not dodge at all. Only when that killing intent had reached the back of his neck did he tighten the hand around Shi Xiaodou’s throat, yank, and drag him away from the window. Then with a sudden sweep, he turned; the long sword that had been thrust to his face landed squarely against Shi Xiaodou’s throat.

The sword qi was still too fierce to draw back in time. Shi Xiaodou’s hair, bound at the back of his head, was first blown rearward by the impact; then, as momentum settled, countless severed strands fluttered down over Shi Xiaodou’s shoulders and back.

"Waah!" Shi Xiaodou burst into tears.

"What are you doing? Let go of my little brother!" Shi Bilian hurriedly withdrew her sword and shouted in anger.

Guan Shiyin ignored her. Holding Shi Xiaodou suspended in midair, he hauled him out of the carriage, then turned back and said first to Fang Rulai, "Madam, sleep first. Your husband will return shortly."

Fang Rulai answered him by turning over and closing her eyes.

Since someone was so eager to serve as her guard, why should she exhaust her own wits? As for the matter of how he addressed her... fine, let him be. She supposed the fellow feared that once they returned to Capital Prosper, he would no longer be able to call her so openly, and so now he meant to make use of every chance before then to say it until he grew sick of it.

Bending as he stepped out of the carriage, Guan Shiyin first carefully drew the curtain closed so that not a breath of cold air would slip in and disturb the beauty within. Only then did he turn around, and his expression changed at once.

Anyone who interrupted his bliss—how should he "repay" them so that the fire choking his chest might finally be soothed?

Guan Shiyin loosened his hand, and Shi Xiaodou dropped straight toward the ground, only to be snatched up at once by Shi Bilian, who was quick of eye and hand.

Shi Xiaodou, in her arms, coughed violently.

Shi Bilian’s face turned pale with fright. "Xiaodou, are you all right? Xiaodou, it’s my fault. I didn’t protect you well. Xiaodou..."

Xiaodou coughed until he could hardly breathe, but once he finally managed to stop, he looked first toward Guan Shiyin, his eyes full of grievance. "Pretty sis..."

With a whoosh, Guan Shiyin struck out with a palm. Shi Bilian quickly moved to shield Shi Xiaodou in front of her, and the two of them were sent flying back until they crashed into the tree behind them, where their retreat finally stopped.

Guan Shiyin sat down on the beam before the carriage, folded one leg, propped his cheek on a knee, and let his gaze openly say: if that brat dares utter another word about a "pretty sister," he will not mind slapping them to death.

Shi Bilian cried out in a loud, aggrieved voice, "Young Master, why must you be so serious with a child not even five years old! He only said that because he liked your peerless beauty. How can that count as insulting you? Young Master, surely a man of your breadth of spirit would not pick a fight with a child?"

Guan Shiyin wagged one finger, his expression lofty and contemptuous. "Don’t try to drag the subject away. Speak. Who sent you? And what exactly is your purpose in insisting on traveling with me?"

Of course he had not forgotten what the village head of Shi Family Village had asked in the letter sent to him. Not only that village, but others as well—such as the Zhou family’s shipping line, the Yan family’s saltworks, and so on—had all sent letters to his hands through various people, each with some hidden purpose. The contents were almost shockingly identical: they all wished to ask him, when he returned to Capital Prosper, to take along their daughter, niece, or grandniece, so that she might visit relatives there.

With his appearance and his background, how could he not think twice about these matters?

Yet this trip back to Capital Prosper would surely be met by a storm of blood and wind. Before that, the only time he could deepen his feelings with Fang Rulai was along this road. So he would rather forget who had asked him for what; that was why he had spread the word that they would leave early the next morning, while in truth they had set out at midnight—to quietly shake off these attached women, and to seize the time before war erupted to strengthen the foundation of his relationship with his own wife.

Who would have thought that someone would still be clever enough not to be shaken off?

And she even had decent skills.

The murderous aura around Guan Shiyin slowly seeped outward. He was weighing the matter in his heart. Just as Fang Rulai had said, this was an excellent vine to follow if he wanted to later discover the melon; it might even lure out a big fish hidden behind the scenes. The problem was, was it worth trading away the entire journey’s intimacy for?

"The village head brother’s letter made it very clear, didn’t it? My brother and I are going to Capital Prosper to visit our aunt by marriage. It’s just that the village head brother has had no time to see us off lately, so we hoped to hitch a ride back to the capital with the Young Master. That really is all there is."

Shi Bilian’s words were sincere, her tone steady. The less Guan Shiyin could hear any flaw in them, the more suspicious he became.

Just as he was considering the best response, Shi Xiaodou’s crying suddenly erupted again. "Ah, I don’t want to live anymore! My future wife is trying to murder her husband! I... mmph!"

An apple stuffed his mouth shut.

It came from Guan Shiyin.

Guan Shiyin casually took another apple from the food pouch on the saddle, then bit into it with fierce force, thinking: the feel of that “apple” just now had been quite good; he had not even had enough of it before being interrupted...

He looked up, his grievance sky-high. "Your brother and sister’s martial arts are not weak."

He should never have underestimated them. If he had simply had Zhu Xishi drive them away, or had Banyue take action directly from the start, things would not have dragged on until he was forced to stop before he had even had enough apples.

Shi Bilian looked aggrieved. "Because Shi Family Village is in a rather cold region, where the magistrate’s authority does not reach. And because there are many salt farmers in the village, some bandits and marauders think the villagers are hiding smuggled salt. So they often come to make trouble and try to steal a little. Later on, after being disturbed so often, the people of Shi Family Village, old and young alike, all learned a bit of martial arts to protect themselves."

"The speed of your sword doesn’t look like the level of someone who only learned a bit."

"That was because the Young Master showed mercy."

"And your little brother, who’s not even five years old—he also only learned a bit?"

"Yes, but he is too young. He has only managed to learn lightness skills. I beg the Young Master to see clearly."

Shi Bilian’s explanation was utterly plausible, and her tone lacked the wavering inconsistency typical of a liar. Guan Shiyin’s biting of the apple paused, and then he opened his mouth and spat the fruit out. With a chop of his palm, the apple split in two, then shot out like a pair of darts straight for the throats of Shi Bilian and Shi Xiaodou.

Guan Shiyin said coldly, "If you truly have no other purpose, then don’t hide."

"Why shouldn’t I dodge!" Shi Bilian cried, clutching Shi Xiaodou as she sprang into the air. They had barely risen half a person’s height when the two apple halves, like flying darts, stabbed viciously into the trunk of the big tree behind them with two sharp clicks.

Deeply embedded.

Shi Bilian’s face flushed with a look of humiliation, as if she had been insulted. Landing, she turned and started to leave. "If the Young Master doesn’t trust us, then so be it. If the Young Master dislikes my brother and me traveling together, then we won’t travel together. Why must the Young Master still use lethal methods to drive us away?"

Perched on Shi Bilian’s back, Shi Xiaodou flailed and kicked. "Sister, I’m not leaving! I want to sleep in the same carriage as the pretty sister! When I grow up, I’ll marry her!"

Shi Bilian stopped short and turned back to rebuke him furiously. "That is the Young Master, a man, not some pretty sister! Shi Xiaodou, know your limits!"

"What? I don’t believe you! You lied to me before and said I had to master lightness skills before I could be elegant and dashing and charm everyone I met. But now I’ve already mastered them, and I still haven’t charmed a single one! I’m never believing you again." Shi Xiaodou continued to kick and flail. "Hurry and let me go. I, I absolutely will not keep company with a liar! I, I’m going to betray you! I’m going to be a loving family with the pretty sister!"

"Pfft." From inside the carriage, Fang Rulai laughed aloud again. Had this shameless little brat grown up in a theater?

Guan Shiyin poked his head inside. "Why aren’t you asleep yet? Sleep, sleep! Once I’m sure they’ve gone far away, I’ll come in and keep you..."

Sleep!

Fang Rulai ignored him and called out, "Banyue, invite Miss Shi into my carriage to travel with me."

"No." Guan Shiyin objected immediately.

To keep bait for fishing and to keep it close to one’s body were two entirely different things. The risk was far too great; he did not agree.

Fang Rulai shot him a glare. Could the risk possibly be greater than the risk of being in the same carriage as him and maybe...

"No, no, I’m not the sort of frivolous person with no principles and no decency," Guan Shiyin said at once, seeing through her thoughts.

"Not?" Fang Rulai sat up straight. The blanket slipped from her chest almost carelessly, revealing a large stretch of smooth, pale skin that struck Guan Shiyin squarely in the eyes.

His gaze turned blazing at once. "Uh, of course. If Madam truly has need, your husband would certainly abandon all principles and all decency if necessary, merely to satisfy Madam..."

"Get lost!" Fang Rulai hurled a pillow at him. Guan Shiyin tilted his head to avoid it, and the pillow flew through the carriage curtain and struck Banyue, who was walking over outside.

Beside him were the brother and sister from the Shi family.

Guan Shiyin exploded in anger. "Damn it, Banyue, didn’t I say no?"

Banyue said with great seriousness, "When we left the capital last month, Master said that before the mission was complete, Miss would be Banyue’s new master. So now, Master wishes to inform Banyue that the mission has been completed early? Banyue may return to the old team?"

"You!" Guan Shiyin glared at Banyue, then glared at Fang Rulai. "What medicine did you give this boy?"

"The same kind you took. Why, does it feel different?"

"He had better not dare feel the same!" Guan Shiyin glared at Banyue again, but Banyue had already cleverly withdrawn to a distance after delivering the people. Guan Shiyin’s glare then landed on the Shi siblings before him.

He stared fixedly at the two of them, his gaze unmoving, but his words were aimed at Fang Rulai. "You rarely go out, so you may not know this: the jianghu is perilous, and women and children are especially dangerous. One relies on feigned weakness to disguise herself; the other relies on innocence to disguise himself."

Fang Rulai’s voice came from inside the carriage. "Weakness is easy to tell, and innocence is just as easy to see. It’s only that those without decency keep circling before my eyes while loudly proclaiming themselves the most decent of all. That is truly hard to guard against."

"Huh? Madam, are you saying I’m that sort of person in your eyes?"

"What, aren’t you?"

"Of course I am not..."

"Fine. Prove it to me!"

"You!" Only then did Guan Shiyin realize what had happened, and he could not help protesting, "Madam, how could you set a trap for your husband!"

Fang Rulai began dressing beneath the covers. "Enough. Get down and let Miss Shi come up."

"I..." Guan Shiyin sincerely felt that at a moment like this, he should not be made to lose out in front of the others. He had already been forced to give up his manly dignity in Capital Prosper; outside, now that he was dressed as a man, how had he still not managed to rebuild much of it? And then there was Banyue, who had just so brazenly ignored him! Honestly!

"What? You want the carriage? Fine, then I’ll get down." Fang Rulai’s voice rose again.

Guan Shiyin hurriedly stopped her. "All right, all right. My lady wife can have the carriage. I’ll go, I’ll go, all right?"

As he said this, Guan Shiyin lifted a leg to step down, but just as his feet touched the ground and he was about to pass by the Shi siblings, he withdrew again. With a light flip of the wrist, he snatched Shi Bilian’s arrow away. "People may get on the carriage, but swords may not."

Shi Bilian reached out at once to seize it back, but Guan Shiyin dodged aside, then leapt back into the carriage. "Wait. Once the miss has finished changing, you can come in."

Inside the carriage, Guan Shiyin immediately handed the sword to Fang Rulai. Time was too tight for him to send someone to investigate the siblings’ background, so he could only borrow Fang Rulai’s ability for now.

Fang Rulai understood at a glance and reached out without hesitation to take the sword.

But Guan Shiyin withdrew his hand and took it back, signaling with his eyes: Is your body all right? Regarding this, Ji Rou had told him that when Fang Rulai used her ability, there was occasionally a side effect of damage to her internal organs.

Fang Rulai nodded, and her heart trembled faintly.

Only now did she understand why, ever since he had appeared, the standard of the meals she ate had remained at an impossibly lofty level. So that little thing had told him about the side effects of her sensing ability too. That was why he had disregarded the danger of exposing his identity and spent lavishly on such a grand scale—everything only to nourish her body!

Leaning forward, she took the sword in her hand and, as she did, patted the back of his hand twice to indicate: I’m fine.

Then, without waiting for his response, she gripped the long sword with both hands and closed her eyes. People were still waiting outside, and they were using the excuse that she was changing clothes. Surely she could not take half an hour merely to change? She had to hurry and leave no leverage for suspicion.

After a short while, Fang Rulai opened her eyes. She was just about to say something when a pair of seductive eyes, glittering with green light and close at hand, startled her into holding her breath.

Why are you so close? Fang Rulai dared not scold him aloud, and could only mouth the words.

Guan Shiyin pretended not to see it. At that moment, his gaze was like a soft breeze, passing over every inch of Fang Rulai’s face.

Warm and gentle, carrying not the slightest weight, yet Fang Rulai somehow felt as though her nose and mouth were being pressed down by a mountain, making every breath painfully difficult.

She loosened her grip on the sword and lifted a hand, intending to push Guan Shiyin away so she could breathe more easily. But the moment her shoulder moved, Guan Shiyin’s face swooped down.

By the time her "no" had reached her throat, he had already brushed his lips against hers.

And at a time like this he still did not forget to be a rogue! Grinding her teeth in fury, Fang Rulai prepared to deliver a fatal blow the moment his tongue came pushing in.

Yet after that light peck, Guan Shiyin withdrew on his own.

What was he doing? This was not like him at all! Fang Rulai was completely baffled.

Guan Shiyin stuck out the tip of his tongue and licked the back of his own hand. Only then did Fang Rulai suddenly understand: ah, so that affectionate little pat earlier had invited the wolf.

A flood of regret surged through her heart. Fang Rulai glanced toward the outside of the carriage and could only bear with it for the moment.

She returned the sword, signaling: I’m fine.

That is good. Guan Shiyin gave her a careful look before taking the sword and stepping back outside the carriage.

"Hey, you there—Xiaodou, was it? Come on. If you’re a real man, come with me to the other carriage." Like picking up a little rat, Guan Shiyin lifted Shi Xiaodou and carried him far away in a leap.

Whether there was really trouble or not, he would keep a hostage first.

Shi Bilian gathered her breath and was about to pursue him, but Fang Rulai stopped her. "Miss Shi, please get in."

The curtain lifted, she took her seat, and hot tea was handed to her side, along with Fang Rulai’s foxlike, sly smile.

"Go on then. Tell me, how did your ancestors end up dressing as bandits and marauders, making a point of attacking their own village so often?"