Chai Xiaomi scrambled up from the ground in a panic, her mind buzzing and going blank for a moment. She only felt a layer of fine sweat seeping out on her forehead. She desperately tried to think of a countermeasure, but her legs suddenly gave way.
Nearly tripping over the hem of her own skirt, she was immediately caught firmly in someone's embrace by a single arm.
"Why is my wife always so careless?" Wu Li suddenly put on a different face. His voice was soft and warm, yet it made her scalp tingle.
Before his voice faded, a large, broad hand was already resting openly on her lower abdomen, even making a show of gently rubbing it. "If you fell and hurt our child, what would we do?"
He raised his eyes, sweeping a satisfied glance over Ouyang Rui's astonished face, a mocking curve hooking the corners of his lips.
He pulled the young girl in his arms even closer.
Leaning close to her ear, his voice was as low and hoarse as a sigh, meant only for her to hear:
"Didn't you say you like me? Why didn't you listen to me?"
Wu Li's unnaturally pale, bloodless face flushed with an abnormal redness, and even the corners of his eyes were tinged with a demonic crimson.
A dark, unfamiliar gloom surged in his eyes—something Chai Xiaomi had never seen before.
It seemed to conceal a morbid kind of madness.
Was this the prelude to him turning dark?
Was his psychotic yandere nature finally becoming impossible to suppress?
No, she absolutely could not let him turn dark!
Otherwise, she would be devoured by the Gu worms, and he would march toward his destined doom.
In a moment of desperation, Chai Xiaomi had a flash of wit. She suddenly raised her hand and pointed at the longbow hanging on the wall. "I'm also here to buy a bow! I want to participate in the New Moon Archery Tournament too!"
Quick, quick, quick, change the subject and distract him!
As soon as the words left her mouth, she gave herself a mental thumbs-up.
Xiaomi, oh Xiaomi, you really are a clever little genius!
This way, not only could she logically have Wu Li teach her archery, but she could also openly interrupt his upcoming chance to be alone with Song Yueyao.
If he was going to teach, he might as well teach them together!
"This Young Master Ouyang just saved my life from under a horse's hooves. In a moment of panic, he grabbed my shoulder. It was purely an accident! So I took the opportunity to ask him for directions, and that's how I found this bow and arrow shop."
Her voice grew weaker as she spoke. She touched her nose, stealing a glance at Wu Li's expression, and didn't forget to shoot a look at Ouyang Rui, signaling him not to expose her secret peeping. "I didn't come here to ruin the mood on purpose. I'm really just here to buy a bow, haha, buy a bow!"
Hearing this, Wu Li suddenly froze.
The hostile aura bubbling and spreading around him instantly dissipated by more than half.
Chai Xiaomi struck while the iron was hot. "I just happened to hear you say you were going to teach Sister Yao archery, so could you also conveniently... uh, what are you doing?"
Before she could finish, her wrist tightened suddenly.
She saw the young man with a gloomy face lift her arm and turn it side to side, as if testing some mechanical parts.
Then, without a word of explanation, he rolled up her sleeve. The two sections of her lotus-root-like arms were dazzlingly white. He stood sideways, completely blocking the shop owner's and Ouyang Rui's lines of sight.
Supporting her wrist, Wu Li pressed along her forearm inch by inch, as if giving a massage.
After inspecting and confirming there were no issues, his gaze finally swept over her from head to toe.
"Are your eyes just for decoration? Diving right under a horse's hooves? Did you get hurt anywhere?" his voice was heavy.
"No, no," Chai Xiaomi hurriedly waved her free hand. "Didn't I just say? Ouyang Rui saved me, and he did it just in time."
"Heh," Wu Li sneered coldly. "Whether it was to save someone or hug someone remains to be seen. This Young Master Ouyang's skills are truly a bit weak. If it had been me stepping in to save you, I wouldn't have let my wife's clothes get dirty."
Saying that, he bent down, kneeling on one knee at Chai Xiaomi's feet.
His long, slender fingers pinched a corner of her pale pink skirt. There were a few specks of mud splattered there, hidden in the folds near the hem. They must have been kicked up by the horse's hooves, and even she hadn't noticed them.
With lowered eyes, he repeatedly rubbed the fabric with the pads of his fingers.
The material rustled between his fingertips, and the flecks of dried mud fell away.
It wasn't until that small patch of fabric revealed its clean, soft pink color again that he stopped. He then smoothed out the wrinkled silk gauze, flattening it inch by inch.
His focused expression and meticulous movements made it seem as though he wasn't holding an ordinary dress, but rather a fragile beam of moonlight.
"Wu Li," Song Yueyao, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but smile at his serious, almost stubborn demeanor. "The skirts of us Central Plains women naturally trail on the ground. Unlike the clothing of your Miao tribe, getting a little dust on them is perfectly normal. You just wash it when you get back."
"She is different. She has many little quirks." He lightly flicked the hem of the skirt with his fingertips, brushing away the last speck of invisible dust before standing up.
"She hates being dirty the most."
Chai Xiaomi's face felt slightly hot. She smiled sheepishly at Song Yueyao and added softly, "Sister Yao, I just have a tiny bit of a cleanliness obsession, really just a little bit."
After saying that, she quietly pinched the corner of Wu Li's sleeve, her voice soft and sweet:
"Thank you, Lili~"
He lifted his eyelids slightly, glancing at her, his tone flat. "I've straightened your clothes countless times before, and I've never heard half a word of thanks from you. The sun must be rising from the west today."
Chai Xiaomi pursed her lips, grumbling internally.
How could that be the same?
The past was the past, and now is now.
Right now, he was just one step away from turning completely dark; of course she had to treat him like a shrine.
Chai Xiaomi flashed an even sweeter smile, her fingertips tugging at his sleeve again:
"I was ignorant before, wasn't I? I'll thank you every time from now on, okay?"
Standing to the side, Ouyang Rui felt his heart tremble.
His gaze involuntarily drifted toward the hand gripping the young man's sleeve—delicate and white. So the fairy wasn't just lively and adorable when she was angry; her soft-spoken, coaxing manner left people utterly defenseless.
But the moment this thought arose, a sharp pang of bitterness struck his heart.
He had finally... finally had his heartstrings tugged by someone.
Why did she have to already be pregnant with a child?!
What was even more detestable was that young man, who actually put on an act, scoffing coldly and saying, "Spare me, there's no need for your thanks."
That bastard!
What is he acting so arrogant for!
He gets all the benefits and still acts like he's the one put out!
Ouyang Rui was so angry that he grabbed a handful of melon seeds and threw them into his mouth, chewing them furiously.
Huh? Where was the sweetness? The milky flavor?
Why did they taste bitter, a sour kind of bitter???
"You can learn archery if you want, but you absolutely cannot participate in the New Moon Archery Tournament," the young man's voice came again.
Ouyang Rui quickly pricked up his ears to listen.
Chai Xiaomi: "Why?"
"This hunt is not for ordinary birds and beasts, but for a Moon Shadow Sprite."
"The hunting ground is at Starfall Plateau, a chaotic land swarming with evil spirits. When the Moon Shadow Sprite flees, it will stir up all the surrounding demons. Nine out of ten hunters who went in the past were injured by demons during the pursuit."
"You don't even know the most basic martial arts, so why join in the fun?"
Hearing Wu Li's words, Chai Xiaomi couldn't help but marvel at his exceptional hearing.
He never actively struck up conversations with people, nor did he pry into idle matters. He likely picked up all this information from the passing remarks of others along the way.
He had only been out for such a short time, yet he had already figured out the New Moon Archery Tournament thoroughly.
"Moon Shadow Sprite?" Chai Xiaomi muttered, repeating the name.
She originally thought they were going to hunt wild boars or rabbits. Who would have thought they were actually going to catch demons.
Ouyang Rui seized the opportunity, immediately chiming in to take over the conversation, as if deliberately showing off his extensive knowledge: "This Moonshadow Spirit is neither demon nor beast. It gathers to take form and disperses into mist. Not only can it ride the wind in swift flight, but it can also conceal its shadow in an instant. Most people who try to track it cannot even catch a glimpse of its afterimage."
He suddenly lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "I heard that if this creature is used in medicine, it can prolong life. Our Lord has exhausted his mind over the years, desperately seeking the secret to immortality. The palace has dispatched several waves of hunters to capture it, yet all have returned empty-handed."
Hearing the word "Lord," Chai Xiaomi's heart skipped a beat, and she subconsciously glanced at Song Yueyao.
Wasn't the Lord Ouyang Rui spoke of her very own father?
Yet Song Yueyao merely lowered her long eyelashes, her expression so tranquil it was as if she had just heard about someone entirely irrelevant.
Chai Xiaomi looked up again at Ouyang Rui, who was still talking with great assurance. He likely had no idea that the woman standing right in front of him was the Lord's eldest legitimate daughter, the Princess of Liangya Province.
However, she carried a strong aura of a warrior about her. Her long hair was casually swept up and secured with a simple wooden hairpin, with a few loose strands brushing against the side of her neck, exuding a valiant and crisp grace.
Her robes were plain, and the hem of her skirt was stained with the dust of the road, just as she herself had said, "Gathering a little dust is perfectly normal."
Because she rode her horse alone, frequently mounting and dismounting by herself, the dirt from the saddle easily rubbed onto her clothes.
