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Fizzled, her eyes firmly close as her fingers run over her forehead to avoid the dizziness. The noodles shop boss keeps lowering his head to show his respect to them for helping the people. In order to stop him from kneeling, Xiao Fan quickly gets up and holds his hand.

 “You don’t need to do that,” Xiao Fan snaps. As he holds him up, the boss nods amidst tears. He slowly wipes it off and smiles at them. But the smiley look in his eyes flinches at the situation of his other customer. Tracing his eyes, Xiao Fan finds Su Ruo with trembling eyes. Her fingers clutch so tight on to the table to the extent that they were almost inseparable.

 “Junior Cheng, are you okay?” Unfortunately, her mind was still unsettled to notice the concern in their eyes. Firmly keeping her eyes closed, she keeps on shaking her head remembering short, unclear scenes in her mind.

After a while, the two confused companions settle to a decision. The boss quickly rush over to his kitchen to fetch a jar of water. Cold taps from the sprinkles of water over her face draws her back to reality.

 She deeply exhales and inhales repeatedly until her eyes open suddenly. With her eyes widened from the horrible memories, her grip on the table loosens while she looks around keenly. The two didn’t know how to react after seeing her reaction too. Standing by her, she throws her eyes over her surroundings and finally settles on the bowl of unfinished noodles.

 “Noodles,” she repeats as she drops the celadon chop sticks on the table taking a deep breath. “Junior Cheng,” he starts but she cuts him off mid sentence.

 “Boss, how long have you stayed here?” This question of hers brought him aback. But quenching the eagerness and curiosity in her eyes seems to be the only way to help her out. After glaring at Xiao Fan for a second, he turns back to her. “Fifteen years.”

 The two of them keep confused looks as she looks at the bowl of noodles for several minutes. “Have you met any beggar children around here?” The boss tries to keep himself from sighing but her question was too promising to him. “What kind of a question is that? Song has always been a poor state. Thousands of street beggars come to my shop.”

 Her head falls in silence while maintaining her composure. After running through her hanfu, she pulls out a few silver coins and drop them on the table. “Sorry for the trouble. I’ll take my leave now,” she excuses with her arms folded. After grabbing her sword from the table, she starts walking out.

Xiao Fan sighs and runs after her while the boss stares at the curious customers he just had.

When he manages to hold her hand to stop her, she yields with sealed lips. “Are you okay?” She returns a cold nod and yanks his hand off before resuming her run. “Do you know how to get to the inn?” She stops on her tracks and glares around anxiously from the corner of her eyes.

 With her fingers clutching in silence, Xiao Fan walks up to her and stares at her. “Senior Lu left this badge with me. This will show us the way.” Left with nothing else to say, she retreats to let him lead the way.

As I cling to my growling stomach, my head lowers in shame. I squeeze my eyes shut and click my fingers against each other in anxiety.

I’m done! Done! Why did my stomach have to betray me whenever I was around him? This is so embarrassing!

With his hands behind him, he stops by the inn glaring at the abandoned streets. The inn was no better from the horrible state the country was in. Cobwebs and dust was all over the place.

With the stench from the dust, I begin coughing in no time. I quickly cover my nose with my arm amidst coughing while biting off the dust with my other hand. “What place is this?! I thought we booked a luxurious room.”

He didn’t show and reaction of agreeing with what I said. Waving his hand over his face to rid off a cobweb stuck to his face, he takes another careful glance at the inn. The whole upper part of the house, including upstairs was a mess. Withered leaves from the peach tree outside still lay around the floor, even inside the inn.

 My eyes close in dire desperation. I wanted to follow him so I left the luxurious sect’s abode. But this was too much. How was I going to stay here?

 “This is the most luxurious and only inn left in the desolate city. If you can’t bear with it, I’ll find someone to send you to the sect."

“Don’t! It’s perfect.” Forcing my teeth out to fake a smile, I retreat when I hear stern footsteps from upstairs. My hands swiftly grab hold on to his hand before I rush to stand behind him. Although he seems irritated by my clinginess, he ignores me and looks up to locate the owner of the footsteps.

The woman keeps her eyes fixed on us while standing motionless on the stairs. After a moment, he quickly rushes to us and jumps in joy. Right after that, he walks around us glaring at us curiously. Unable to keep up with his creepy movements, I bury my face in his back.

He steps back immediately and throws me off guard. As my trembling eyes glare at him, he yanks my hand off. He didn’t seem bothered by the creepy look of that woman but rather weary of me. Me?

 It is only after a while that he retreats too when the woman tries to touch his shoulder. “You’re real?!” His eyebrows furrow at his words. Flinching, the woman aims for his cheeks and begins squeezing it with a big smile.

 Zhao Yun immediately pushes her hand away and points his sword’s tip at her neck. She slowly moves back while I stand away. “Is that your wife?” My head jerks up in surprise hearing what he said.

I don’t know why but my cheeks start to flush from a thought. Squeezing my eyes shut, Zhao Yun turns back to him pushing the sword much closer to her neck. “What is your motive? Who are you?!”

 Her eyes widen when she feels the sharp cold blade touching her bare, fleshy neck. With her hands moving up, she shakes her head. “Sorry for my behavior. I was just surprised to see people here. Welcome to Sunny Inn!” Both of us quickly raise one eyebrow simultaneously at his reply.

Welcome? What does she mean?

After a critical examination of his appearance, Zhao Yun lets out a heavy sigh. “You’re the inn keeper?” He grins. Zhao Yun retreats and takes a look around. “We paid–”

“Yes! I thought it was a prank so I didn’t prepare to welcome you guys. I’m truly sorry. How about you wait outside a bit while I get the place ready?”

With his sword slinging into its sheath, he drops his hand before looking at the state of the inn. “Where’s the eatery?” Her smiling face fades with his questions. Sealing her widened mouth, she rushes to hold his hand and sigh. My eyes start to blink at her brazenness.

As my lips widen in surprise, I rush over and yank her hand off with a smile. “I’d want to go first. I’m very hungry.” She totally ignores me and clutches to his arm again before running her hands over his face. Although he tries to keep away from her, but his duty prevents him from behaving rudely to women.

 My hands clench as I watch her trying to get his attention. After watching them, my blood begins to boil. I couldn’t take it anymore so I rush over to the counter and grab a big jar of wine. After dragging it on the floor, I struggle for seconds until I’m able to lift it.

With a scream, I run into her and dump the whole jar on her. Her body starts to tremble while I stand by taking deep breaths. The soaking cold water slowly drips down on the floor as she stands still freezing. Tilting my head with my eyes closed, I fold my arms before her.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry! I’m just feeling hungry so I wanted to inquire about this wine.” Her hands remain stiff beside her while she keeps her eyes closed. Surprised by my swift reaction, Zhao Yun stares at me when I fold my arms again. “Don’t worry. I’ll pay for everything!”

 After taking in deep breath, she slowly opens her eyes. She could tell why I did that by just looking at me. Irritated, she marches towards me raising her hand. But when her eyes spot Zhao Yun just beside me, she forces herself to smile.

“No problem. You don’t need to pay for it. Your soothing presence here is enough. I’ll get your food so you can take a seat outside.” With that, she disappears out of sight after Zhao Yun settles for a chair. I quickly sit right beside him raging from the earlier situation.

 “Shifu, she was clearing flirting with you.” He looks up and glares at me with a flick of anger in it. “You learnt nothing ever since you left the palace. That’s not how to treat anyone–”

“Shifu, she’s clearly after–”

“Whatever it is, you should still learnt to control your anger. One mistake and you’re putting everyone’s lives at stake.” My head lowers in silence while thinking over what he said earlier. He’s always only concerned about the people.

As his disciple, I’m supposed to assist him. But I don’t know what got over me a few minutes ago. She was crossing the line with him and I wasn’t going to let that happen no matter what!

When he spots a pigeon flying over to him, he gets up and meets up with it. After finding a paper attached to its feet, he pulls it off reads the entails. “The commanders of Yanbei army are on their way here.”

Zhen Lan is coming here?

I would usually be happy to hear this. But I didn’t feel much happiness to hear of him this time. The inn keeper returns in no time with my bowl of noodles. When she drops it on the table, she walks over to him with a smile. “Everyone who used to come here knows me by Miss Liu. But you can call me however you want!”

 “I assume she’s your wife?"

 “Please keep your assumptions cleared before saying otherwise, miss.” There was no need for further answers. She understands what he just meant. Relieved, she smiles at him. “That’s great then. Your rooms are almost ready.” My hands clutch at her daring words. I didn’t want to get him angry but I couldn’t control myself with her flirty nature.

 “When you mentioned not having any customers, what did you mean?” Her lips curve in silence after she thinks over what he had just said. After contemplating for a few seconds, she clears her throat and pushes my bowl of noodles right in front of me. I quickly turn around and cross my arms with a pout.

“I can see right without tasting that it’s salty! I’m not eating it.” As she scoffs at my words, Zhao Yun clears his throat. “Oh, right. You might not know but just a few days ago, Wei Army swam over here and vanquished all those who opposed them, including some peasants who tried to resist them.”

 After listening to her, I feel a growl in my stomach again. With the aroma of the noodles running over my nose, I slowly take a short glimpse of the noodles from behind.

“Unfortunately, only a few are left. Even the governor and his underlings were killed by an unfamiliar explosive. That’s how the city ended up like this.” His curiosity grows higher as she continues narrating the story. When she attempts to sit beside him, I dump my hand on the chair and move to that seat.

She sighs and shakes her head. “Explosives?” Her lips curve anxiously. “Exactly. Only a few loads were able to get the state into such a horrible situation. The world is going to become a chaos soon enough. Even the emperor is afraid to go against them. All the governor’s family were killed and the women made slaves. His daughter is still missing.”

 When they hear crunching from behind, I gulp the last round of noodles from my chopsticks and wipe my mouth quickly. “I’m afraid someone’s going to die from excessive salt.” I quickly pour a jar of wine into a bowl and sip it up at a go. A cough escapes my lips when I attempt to talk back at her.

“Even those are scarce to street children.” Both of us turn to him wondering what he meant by that. After taking in a deep breath, Zhao Yun grabs his sword.

“Senior Lu?” Su Ruo and Xiao Fan step in looking exhausted. Before they could get accustomed to their presence, Mo Yan and A'Ying also enter sighing. “Great you’re all here. We have a complete mission to do.”

     Comment 🌸 Vote 🌸 Share

What mission is he referring to?

Where’s the governor’s daughter?

Who made those deadly explosives?

What made Zhao Yun say that about beggars?