Outside the tent.
He Ji was the last to stagger out. After a few steps, he spat on the ground, craned his neck to glance back at the empty tent, and his face was full of contempt.
“A woman, acting so arrogant? Does she really think she’s someone special?” He sneered. Seeing no one around, his voice grew louder. “If it weren’t for her grandfather, Nie Yue, being her shield, who the hell would give a damn about a broken princess who once served as a hostage?”
He grew more excited with each word, planting his hands on his hips and standing there, his chin nearly pointing at the sky.
“And she believes the ramblings of some Miao tribesman? Realgar? Ha, not me.” He wore an expression of self-proclaimed foresight. “Mark my words, we’ll lose this battle for sure. I’d better find a chance to slip away first.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Women are women, destined to stay home and tend to children. What are they doing on a battlefield? How can they lead troops? They can’t even keep their belts tight, and she still thinks she can command the army?”
“When the city falls, I’ll just wait and see her begging those barbarians for mercy, and see if she can still be so—”
Before he could finish,
A sack dropped from out of nowhere, covering his head completely.
He Ji panicked, reaching to pull it off, but his hand touched something cold and slippery. It coiled around the sack, loop by loop, tightening each time.
“Good job, Hongjiao! Tighter!”
A clear, crisp voice rang out.
Then—thud!
Something solid slammed into his forehead.
Chai Xiaomi grabbed her Ice Bow and Mystic Arrow and beat him on the head, striking with every curse:
“Let’s see you keep that filthy mouth shut!”
Thud!
“Let’s see you look down on women!”
Thud!
“Toxic! Man!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Chai Xiaomi had just asked Hongjiao to summon Ah Nan, entrusted him with a task, and was heading back to the tent to find Wu Li when she stumbled upon this scene. The more she heard him talk, the harder her fists clenched.
She had been keeping an eye on this guy for days. Every time Sister Yao turned her back, he’d sneer, and once she was out of earshot, he’d spit with sarcasm.
A typical case of a man who couldn’t do a damn thing himself but couldn’t stand seeing a woman outperform him.
But he was still trained. Her sloppy punches weren’t enough to do real damage.
He Ji suddenly sliced through the sack with his sword, reckless as he lunged in Chai Xiaomi’s direction.
Hongjiao instantly shifted form and was about to lunge.
But the next second, he suddenly froze, unable to move.
Chai Xiaomi steadied herself. She had called for backup just in time. The silver bell at her ankle gave a soft jingle, and the young man had quietly appeared at her side, unnoticed.
Wu Li bent down, picked up a stone, tossed it casually in his hand a couple of times, and strolled over to He Ji, placing the stone perfectly on top of his head.
“Here’s just the spot for a target.” He tilted his head to look at her, a hint of a smile at the corner of his lips. “Mimi, since the opportunity’s here, how about we make a bet?”
Chai Xiaomi stiffened, her hand still holding the bow. “Bet on what?”
Of all times, he had to joke around now.
“Let’s bet on your secret.” Wu Li nodded toward the stone on the man’s head. “If you can hit that stone, then tell me what’s been weighing on your mind and making you so down lately. Lay it all out for me. If you miss, I won’t ask again.”
Chai Xiaomi had half a mind to wonder if he’d gotten it backward. With her skills, there was no way she’d hit it.
She still hadn’t figured out how to concentrate spiritual energy into the Ice Bow and Mystic Arrow. She lifted the bow lazily. “You said it yourself, remember.”
“Yeah, I said it.” Wu Li nodded.
“What… what are you two going to do?” He Ji couldn’t move, staring at the bow in the girl’s hands, instinctively sensing it was no ordinary object.
She casually plucked the bowstring.
The next instant, a sharp, biting gust of air burst forth.
“Crack!”
The pebble above He Ji’s head shattered on the spot, and he was so startled by the crisp noise that his eyelids fluttered as he passed out cold.
Chai Xiaomi’s hand, still gripping the bow, froze mid-air. She herself was stunned.
She looked down at the bow, then up at the crushed bits of stone, and recalled the fierce power of the air current just now—utterly incomparable to the white beam of light that condensed when Wu Li had drawn the bow earlier.
Her gaze fell into the depths of the young man’s eyes.
Suddenly, she understood.
He had rigged it all along.
Wu Li walked toward her, bent down close to her face, his long lashes fluttering slightly. His voice dropped so low that only the two of them could hear, coaxing and cajoling: “My lady really does have some skills. It’s time you told me your secret.”
“You cheated!” Chai Xiaomi turned her face away. “That wasn’t my shot.”
“Then what proof do you have that it wasn’t you?”
“I…” Chai Xiaomi was left speechless. She had drawn the string, yes, but there was no way she could have produced that kind of air current. “It just wasn’t me, I’m telling you.”
“So you’re determined not to be honest with me?”
“No, I’m not deliberately hiding anything from you.” Fried dough stick had warned her many times: if she revealed her identity or told him about her mission, she’d be instantly wiped out by the system—dead on the spot.
It was a case of having a mouth but being unable to speak.
Wu Li pressed his lips together, the line of his jaw tight.
“You’re the one who kept insisting that there should be no secrets between husband and wife. I’ve laid everything about myself bare for you. Why can’t you do the same? Mimi, that’s not fair.” His voice carried a trace of bitterness, barely noticeable. “Not fair at all.”
Wu Li’s expression was gloomy. A flicker of menace seemed to lurk in his mismatched pupils, like a trapped beast circling its cage, unable to find a way out.
He pressed his tongue against his teeth, his cheek twitching slightly, as if he was struggling to hold something back.
But in the end, his voice softened:
“Please, just tell me. All right?”
Chai Xiaomi’s lips parted. For a long moment, she spoke in a soft, coaxing whisper, like a little girl wheedling: “There really isn’t anything, Lili. Can you please stop asking?”
Wu Li didn’t answer.
He straightened up.
The young man who would always bend down, lean in, and lower himself to her height—now stood tall and unbending.
When his eyes looked down at her from above, there was a chill Chai Xiaomi had never seen before.
The temper and pride of youth clicked back into place all at once.
He didn’t look at her again.
He turned and walked away.
It was the first time he had so clearly worn his hurt and anger on his face, without any cover, without leaving any room for a way out.
Chai Xiaomi stood where she was, watching his figure gradually grow distant.
So often, he acted steady and mature, always going along with her, doting on her, making her forget one thing: he was only eighteen, and capable of sulking too.
But Wu Li had barely gone ten meters when he suddenly stopped.
Under the sun, his shadow stretched long.
His back was straight and strong. Stripped of that cold aura, he cut an exceptionally handsome figure.
Then, all at once, he turned and strode quickly back.
He lifted her chin with one hand, the anger in his eyes not yet faded, yet hiding a flicker of cautious hope. "Are you going to tell me or not?"
...He had given her another chance.
It was as if he was telling her this was the final warning—if she didn’t speak now, he would truly lose his temper.
Chai Xiaomi lowered her eyes, not daring to look at him, and mumbled gloomily, "I can’t say... If I say it, I’ll die."
Wu Li’s grip on her paused for a moment.
"Fine. Very well."
After a long pause, he released her, a disbelieving smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as if he was too angry to laugh. "If you don’t want to say it, then forget it. There’s no need to scare me with death. You know how important you are to me. Using that to shut me up—what else can I do about it?"
The young man bit out the words, his Adam’s apple bobbing, and when he turned away, the rims of his eyes were slightly red.
It was clear—this time, he was truly upset.
Chai Xiaomi’s heart clenched. She stuck to him like glue, chasing after him and tugging at his arm, her voice soft like a kitten begging. "Lili, Lili."
"Don’t call me that." He kept walking without stopping, but when he noticed her stumble slightly, he slowed his pace immediately.
She shook his arm, looking up at his profile with wide, pleading eyes. When he didn’t respond, she moved in front of him, tilted her head, and blinked pitifully. "Are you really mad?"
On the city wall, the archers had taken their positions.
"Hurry up, move it! Dip the arrowheads in realgar, lime, and wormwood! Those beasts will be at the city gates within half a day!"
Soldiers rushed back and forth around them, preparing for battle.
This wasn’t the time for a lovers’ quarrel. Chai Xiaomi quickly set aside her coaxing tone and said seriously, "Lili, this battle..."
"I’ll help in my own way," he interrupted, his voice cold and hard, his gaze fixed far away without sparing her even a glance.
Before she could speak, Wu Li had already guessed what she wanted to say.
She pursed her lips, about to say something more, but he turned his head away. "Go stay in the city with the kids. Just don’t distract me."
So that’s how he was when sulking—all cold and aloof, playing it perfectly.
Chai Xiaomi stared at his tense jawline from the side and silently muttered in her head: Damn, he’s so irresistibly attractive. I just want to crush him.
