Tonight, the moon was nearing fullness. Its clear radiance poured down like a waterfall. Jiang Yin lay draped over the young man’s broad back. After hesitating again and again, she still could not hold back and softly asked, “Brother Huaian, once we finish dealing with Xiao Zhuang’s matter, shall we go home, alright?”
She did not know why she felt so nervous.
Bringing Xie Huaian home to marry and completely avoiding the female lead had originally been something she and the system had agreed upon.
At the beginning, when she learned she had to marry a stranger, she did feel some resistance. But now, whenever the topic of marriage came up, the first thing she thought of was that dream from last night.
Ignoring the terrifying fox face at the end, and only recalling the moment when Xie Huaian, dressed in wedding robes, lifted her veil, let alone resistance, she even felt a bit of anticipation.
Alright, Jiang Yin admitted that she was someone who cared about looks. Xie Huaian was simply too handsome. Even if they got married, she would not be the one at a disadvantage.
Chu Nanci neither confirmed nor denied it, only responding gently, “Alright, we’ll go back and get married.”
Her little thoughts were exposed just like that. Jiang Yin felt as if something had struck her heart. Her cheeks grew warm, yet the corners of her lips could not help but curl up quietly.
‘System, did you hear that? He said he’s willing!’
Chu Nanci sensed the heartbeat coming through the soft warmth behind him and also curved his lips slightly.
Naturally, he had to follow her home. Otherwise, how could he see her reaction when she realized she had mistaken her fiancé?
They arrived at the Xue household just in time. Liu Niang was about to head out. She instructed Xue Zhuang’er not to run around and then fastened a wooden latch on the courtyard gate.
But such an ordinary wooden bolt was nothing more than decoration to Chu Nanci.
As soon as Liu Niang left, he casually reached out and gave it a light push. With a thud, the wooden door fell to the ground.
Jiang Yin: “…”
She reminded him again, “When you fight Zhao Wu later, make sure you hold back. Just put on a show. Don’t actually hurt anyone.”
Chu Nanci let out a sigh. “Alright.”
He had only used a fraction of his strength. Who would have thought the wooden door would be that fragile?
“Sister Jiang?” Hearing the noise, Xue Zhuang’er called out, “Is it Sister Jiang Yin?”
“It’s me.” Jiang Yin responded as she walked forward.
Xue Zhuang’er had been locked inside the room by Liu Niang, so the two of them could only speak through the door.
Jiang Yin asked whether Xue Zhuang’er wanted to go to Xuantian Sect to cultivate. There was silence for quite a while before the boy’s answer came.
“I do.” He hesitated. “But…”
“There’s no ‘but.’ As long as you want to go, that’s enough.” Jiang Yin habitually patted her chest as a guarantee. “Leave the rest to me!”
Chu Nanci’s eyelid twitched. “Be gentler.”
Jiang Yin thought he was worried about attracting Liu Niang back and telling her to keep her movements quiet, so she smiled sheepishly and lowered her voice as she said to Xue Zhuang’er, “Get some good sleep. Sister is going to take care of something. I’ll come back to pick you up in a bit.”
Before leaving, she learned from Xue Zhuang’er that Liu Niang was working at Sun Zhuzi’s house today.
Sun Zhuzi was the brat who had led the others to snatch the chicks and throw stones at her during the day. Jiang Yin had originally planned that after ‘exorcising the demon,’ she would stop by and have a proper talk with Sun Zhuzi’s parents about their child’s upbringing.
Along the way, Chu Nanci still carried Jiang Yin on his back. With his tall stature and long legs, by the time they reached the Sun household, Liu Niang seemed to have just gone in not long ago.
Jiang Yin was lying against the wall, pondering how to lure her out, when she heard a somewhat turbid and greasy male voice say, “Liu Niang, coming out every night like this, aren’t you tired?”
Women seemed to have an innate ability to sense certain kinds of malice. Jiang Yin’s brows knit tightly, a feeling of discomfort rising within her.
Inside, Liu Niang tried to brush it off, but Sun Zhuzi’s father clearly had no intention of letting her go so easily.
“You’re a widow. You haven’t tasted a man in all these years. Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it? If you ask me, don’t go out tonight. Zhuzi’s mother has gone back to her family home. You can stay in my room for the night. The two of us…”
Jiang Yin suddenly raised her hand and covered Chu Nanci’s ears!
‘Filthy stuff! He must not hear it!’
She moved too quickly. Chu Nanci barely managed to suppress the instinctive urge to raise his hand and strike her down with a single blow.
…She did not know his true identity, so naturally she did not know that a fox’s ears were not to be touched casually.
The girl’s soft palm blocked out part of the sound. He clearly heard the dull thud of his own heartbeat magnified in his chest. At the base of his ear, pressed so closely, a faint heat quietly spread. Chu Nanci pressed his lips together and did not pull her hand away.
This barrier could not affect his hearing. He heard Liu Niang’s refusal and her suppressed angry scolding from inside the room. Sun Zhuzi’s father, humiliated and enraged, panted heavily as he attempted to use force.
“Bastard!” Jiang Yin cursed in a low voice. She released her hand from his ears and was about to jump down from the wall.
Chu Nanci reacted swiftly, grabbing her back before she could move, preventing the disaster of her breaking her own leg before even saving anyone.
“Why are you stopping me?! Hurry and save her!” Jiang Yin was blocked from helping for the first time and glared at him.
Chu Nanci knew why she was anxious, but the fact that she took out her anger on him because of someone else made him displeased.
His eyes narrowed slightly. A wisp of spiritual light invisible to ordinary people drifted from between his brows into the Sun household.
In the next instant, a towering blaze suddenly shot up in the courtyard. The fire was extraordinarily fierce, instantly dyeing half the sky red.
Jiang Yin stared in shock at the sudden blaze. Before she could even speak, Chu Nanci had already carried her away from the vicinity of the Sun household.
“Wait, Liu Niang, she…” Jiang Yin turned back anxiously.
But seeing the villagers who had rushed over upon hearing the news charging toward the Sun house to put out the fire, she let out a breath of relief.
With so many people around, Sun Zhuzi’s father likely would not dare to do anything anymore. Besides, the fire had started in his own house. He would have to put it out first.
She said, “Then let’s just wait here. After something like this happens today, Liu Niang probably won’t continue working. This is the only road she takes home. Once we see her later, we’ll send a signal to Zhao Wu.”
Chu Nanci responded faintly, “Mm.”
His voice was low, noticeably different from his usual gentle tone, but Jiang Yin was still unsettled and did not notice this subtle change.
The fire grew larger in the blink of an eye. No matter how much water the villagers threw at it, the raging flames showed no sign of weakening.
What was even more astonishing was that any sparks that splashed outside the Sun household would extinguish on their own. So even though the blaze was fierce, it did not spread outward.
As the villagers discussed this strange fire, Jiang Yin spotted a figure walking out from the darkness in the distance. Illuminated by the firelight, she recognized at a glance that vividly colored demon beast head.
‘Zhao Wu?! Why did he come over by himself? She hadn’t even sent the signal yet!’
Among the villagers gathered to watch and help put out the fire, someone called out, “Liu Niang, wait a moment. What’s going on with this fire at the Sun house? You were working there today. Did you see anything?”
The moment Jiang Yin heard that Liu Niang had already come out, she did not have time to think about why Zhao Wu had acted on his own. She hurriedly patted Chu Nanci. “Quick, it’s your turn.”
Against the backdrop of blazing flames filling the sky, a man dressed in moon-white robes descended from above. His handsome face resembled that of a deity. His movements were clean and decisive. In the blink of an eye, he had knocked the strange demon beast to the ground.
He stood quietly where moonlight and firelight intertwined. His robes fluttered slightly, his bearing extraordinary. His lowered gaze carried three parts compassion and seven parts indifference. From head to toe, he embodied the words “otherworldly expert.”
Jiang Yin, acting as both screenwriter and director for the first time, was very satisfied with how the male lead had performed the script. Just look, the villagers of Sanshan Village were all staring in a daze.
But what was going on with Zhao Wu? According to the script, at this moment he should have taken advantage of everyone’s attention being focused on the male lead to quickly slip away and hide.
Jiang Yin was practically sending signals with her mouth like a telegraph, yet the “demon beast” on the ground did not move at all.
A sense of something being wrong finally dawned on her.
From a distance just now, she had not seen clearly. But now that she was closer, why did that demon beast headpiece look a bit worn out?
Among the onlookers, someone finally reacted.
“Liu Niang?!”
Wait.
Jiang Yin’s pupils suddenly contracted, and she nearly screamed, “Liu Niang?!”
No wonder something felt off. This person was wearing women’s clothing!
Jiang Yin hurried over and pulled off the demon beast headpiece. Sure enough, underneath it was Liu Niang.
At this moment, her eyes were tightly shut, her face pale. She had already fainted.
Jiang Yin felt like she was about to have a heart attack. “Liu Niang! Liu Niang, why are you here?! Wake up, Liu Niang!”
The woman showed no response. Afraid that she might have suffered internal injuries from the blow, Jiang Yin quickly tried to take her to the medical clinic in town.
But the people of Sanshan Village would not allow it.
These two had suddenly appeared, beaten Liu Niang, and now wanted to take her away. Even if the villagers did not usually get along well with Liu Niang, there was no way they would let them take her so easily.
Jiang Yin was sweating profusely from anxiety. After much pleading and explanation, she finally managed to make the villagers relent.
They agreed to let Jiang Yin take Liu Niang to the medical clinic, but Chu Nanci, who had just injured someone, could not leave. He had to stay behind as a hostage. If Jiang Yin ran away, they would escort Chu Nanci to the authorities.
Listening to their words, Chu Nanci almost laughed out loud.
Did they even know what they were saying? Sending him to the authorities? They really dared.
But the one who dared even more was Jiang Yin.
After venting her anger on him, glaring at him, and ignoring his displeasure, she actually agreed to leave him behind as a hostage.
‘Ha. Ha.’
Chu Nanci nodded with a smile. “Alright.”
Very well.
Two days’ time, was it?
If she was even a second late in showing up after two days, then they could just wait to collect the corpses.
Completely unaware that they had left behind the greatest danger, the villagers and Jiang Yin each felt reassured. The villagers continued putting out the fire, while Jiang Yin secretly found Zhao Wu, who was still lying in the grass waiting for a signal. With his help, she carried the unconscious Liu Niang down the mountain overnight.
In the middle of the night, the medical clinic in town had long since closed. Fortunately, Zhao Wu had some acquaintance with the physician, so he directly climbed over the wall into the courtyard and dragged the half-asleep old doctor out of bed.
After a round of commotion, by the time everything was settled, the sky outside the window had already begun to glow with the pale light of dawn.
After staying awake all night and climbing the mountain several times in a row, Jiang Yin was utterly exhausted. After seeing the physician off, she collapsed onto the bed. Her eyelids were so heavy they kept drooping, and she wanted to sleep. But when she turned her head and saw the two demon beast headpieces placed on the table, she found herself unable to fall asleep no matter what.
Aside from the difference in how old they looked, the two headpieces were almost identical. Even the colors in every part matched exactly. It was hard to call it a coincidence.
So the so-called great demon that ate children had been fake from the very beginning. The “demon” Xue Zhuang’er saw was likely Liu Niang herself.
But Jiang Yin still could not understand why Liu Niang would pretend to be a demon beast to scare Xue Zhuang’er.
She looked at the newer demon beast headpiece placed beside the old one and suddenly sprang up from the bed.
About an hour later, Jiang Yin appeared at the tailor shop and learned the truth about the demon beast headpieces from the shopkeeper.