Chapter 20

Chapter 20

“Qiao Ying.” Ah Yuan appeared in the kitchen doorway and called her name softly.

Qiao Ying set down what she was holding and walked to the door. “What is it?”

Ah Yuan looked terribly embarrassed. After fidgeting for a while, she said, “I’m sorry, Qiao Ying. If I hadn’t panicked and acted so recklessly that day, you wouldn’t have been taken away. And Miss Mu, too-if she hadn’t pulled me back, I definitely would have been taken instead. Seeing both of you come back safe in the end really let me breathe a sigh of relief.”

Ah Yuan’s complexion was poor, and she looked listless. It was clear that while Qiao Ying and Mu Yunshu had been missing, her conscience had tormented her badly.

Inside the kitchen, Aunt Wang, wanting to coax her grandson into a better mood, grabbed a handful of peanuts for him and had him sit by the window to eat and play.

The boy’s tears had not yet dried. Sitting on a little stool, he had just cracked open his first peanut when he suddenly found himself staring straight at a smiling face outside the window.

The person outside lightly pressed an index finger to their lips and gave a soft “shh.”

Sweat poured down the boy’s face.

Seeing Qiao Ying chatting idly with Ah Yuan, Aunt Wang still remembered how Qiao Ying had talked back to her before. She deliberately raised her voice and said, “Do you think the Zhao family’s wages are that easy to earn? Everyone else is run off their feet, yet some people still have time to stand around and rest.”

Ah Yuan, however, grabbed Qiao Ying’s hand and deliberately raised her voice as well. “The young master and Young Master Xue said Qiao Ying deserves part of the credit for protecting the entire city yesterday, and they specifically asked me to invite Qiao Ying to the front hall as a guest at the wedding banquet!”

Aunt Wang’s eyes widened. She knew there had been an earthquake in the middle of the night yesterday, but no matter what, she never would have imagined that the tremors later calming down had anything to do with a delicate little thing like Qiao Ying.

Ah Yuan led Qiao Ying out by the hand. Qiao Ying glanced at Ah Yuan’s hand and said, “Why is your hand so cold?”

Ah Yuan said, “Maybe because I just went to the ice room to fetch some ice.”

She let go of Qiao Ying’s hand and said with a smile, “Young Master Xue also mentioned your elder brother. He wants to invite him to attend the ceremony as well. But…”

Qiao Ying asked, “But what?”

Ah Yuan looked around to make sure no one was nearby, then lowered her voice and said, “Actually, everyone has been saying in private that you and that elder brother of yours really don’t look alike. Some people are gossiping that perhaps the two of you aren’t siblings at all, but lovers who eloped from home.”

Ah Yuan spoke cautiously, out of kindhearted concern. She had thought Qiao Ying would fly into embarrassed anger, but to her surprise, Qiao Ying merely gave a mild “oh.”

Ah Yuan was astonished. “You two really are in that kind of relationship?”

Qiao Ying said, “If I said we weren’t, would any of you believe me?”

Ah Yuan said, “The two of you are inseparable, and he… he isn’t in very good health, yet you refuse to leave him. You even work to earn money to support him and take care of him in every possible way. If you say you aren’t deeply in love with him, who would believe it?”

Qiao Ying looked utterly helpless.

Ah Yuan said, “Am I wrong?”

“No. What you said makes a lot of sense.”

Ah Yuan said, “Qiao Ying, you’re pretty and you have a good personality. Actually, I think… I think there’s really no need for you to hang yourself on one tree. You could have better choices. You’re still so young. You can’t spend your whole life supporting him while he lives off you, can you?”

Qiao Ying’s expression turned complicated. “Although what you’re saying makes a lot of sense, I still can’t just abandon him.”

Admiration appeared in Ah Yuan’s eyes. “You really do love him deeply.”

Qiao Ying tugged at the corners of her mouth, her smile powerless.

Although Ah Yuan had kindly tried to persuade Qiao Ying to escape her sea of suffering, there was nothing she could do about someone determined to jump into the fire. She still had other things to attend to, so she had to leave first.

Qiao Ying was hesitating over whether she should call Shen Qingyu to attend the wedding banquet with her when, beneath the silent corridor, she suddenly heard a cracking sound.

She looked up, and her brows twitched.

At some unknown point, the young man had seated himself on the roof eaves. His blue robes snapped in the wind, his white hair drifting lightly with the long breeze. His slender figure stood like cold jade, and the white silk blindfold rippled gently in the wind.
Who knew where he’d gotten a handful of peanuts from, but he was shelling them one by one, looking perfectly comfortable and at ease. Perhaps noticing that Qiao Ying had finally seen him, he lifted the corners of his lips in a faint smile.

Qiao Ying quickly looked away again and continued forward without so much as raising her head.

The smile on Shen Qingyu’s face paused slightly. He touched his own face, then rose and followed her steps, walking along the roof eaves as if they were flat ground.

“Qiao Ying.”

She gave no response.

He said again, “Aren’t you usually the best at chattering on and on? Why won’t you speak to me now?”

Qiao Ying pressed her lips together, folded her arms, and still couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge him.

Shen Qingyu fell briefly silent. “I’ve been reflecting too. Perhaps I’ve indulged you too much.”

That sounded awfully familiar.

Shen Qingyu smiled. “Otherwise, how could you seem to have forgotten that I can kill not only demons, but people as well?”

Qiao Ying stopped in her tracks, her expression shifting again and again.

Right. How had she nearly forgotten that this guy was a complete lunatic?

The young man above the eaves crouched down, propping his chin in one hand. His white hair fluttered in the wind, making him look like some fluffy animal squatting there to rest. The corners of his lips curved up once more, and his voice was gentle. “Qiao Ying, why are you ignoring me?”

Shen Qingyu was intensely curious by nature. Once a question took root in his mind, he had to get an answer.

Qiao Ying finally lifted her face and looked straight at him. “Didn’t you say I was noisy? Then I just won’t talk and disturb your precious peace and quiet.”

This time, it was Shen Qingyu whose expression turned a little strange.

He said softly, “At the time, you really were noisy enough to irritate me.”

Qiao Ying was unconvinced. “How exactly was I noisy enough to irritate you?”

Shen Qingyu thought for a long while before saying, “Chirp, chirp, chirping away like birds in the mountain forest. You were so noisy I couldn’t calm down. It seems that ever since you kissed me last night, I’ve found you especially annoying.”

The young man, clever and quick-witted, smiled as he offered a solution. “So from now on, you’re not allowed to kiss me again. If you annoy me too much, I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop myself from killing you.”

Qiao Ying: “…”

She hadn’t wanted to kiss him last night either!

Taking advantage of the fact that he couldn’t see, she rolled her eyes in a most unladylike fashion, turned her head, and kept walking. “They invited us to the wedding banquet. Whether we go or not is up to you.”

A gust of wind stirred beside her. When she looked up again, she was startled by the young man, who had approached her like a Ghost.

Shen Qingyu bent down, leaning close to her face. “Will there be good food at the wedding banquet?”

Qiao Ying said, “There probably will be.”

“Then I’ll go with you.” Shen Qingyu held out his hand to her. The shelled, round peanuts lay obediently in his palm.

Qiao Ying glanced at his hand but didn’t dare move.

He pushed his hand a little farther forward, the curve of his smile fixed in place.

She was uncertain. “…What are you doing?”

“Your love for me runs so deep, so I’m treating you.”

For a moment, Qiao Ying had no idea how to respond.

Shen Qingyu tilted his head slightly. “Do you want me to feed you?”

Qiao Ying couldn’t bear this method of reward from him, so she quickly snatched the peanuts from his hand. She ate two of them, chewing with her heart in her throat.

Noticing that the trees outside the corridor had grown far too lush, Qiao Ying walked on while raising a hand to push a branch aside. Only then did the sightless young man avoid smacking his forehead right into it.

She asked, “Where did the peanuts come from?”

For some reason, the young man’s smile deepened. He moved closer to her, his tall frame seeming to envelop her completely. His laughter was bewitching.

“Perhaps I picked them up off the ground.”