Chapter 332: A Man and Woman Alone Together

Hongfu understood his feelings. If things came to that, the three of them would almost completely lose their freedom. It would do none of them any good. But the decision was not theirs to make.

"The higher-ups must have weighed the gains and losses carefully before reaching this decision. Besides, matters may not turn out that way. If we dig out the truth and discover none of it has anything to do with Zhao Xiongge, and Niu Youdao has no serious relationship with Bu Xun either, then naturally we won't need to disappear under false identities. Tianyu Sect certainly won't go to war with us over a dead man who wasn't even one of its own disciples."

Linghu Qiu swung both feet off the couch and sighed.

"There's something I've genuinely never understood. Why are the higher-ups so determined to obtain that object? Why have they pursued it relentlessly for all these years? What use can having only one of them really be?"

Hongfu said, "Sir, that isn't something for us to decide."

"Since the higher-ups have decided, then all we can do is carry it out." Linghu Qiu clasped his hands behind his back and paced through the room. "As for how to act, we'll have to think it through carefully. If we cause a commotion and draw the cultivators guarding the Qi capital, we'll be in serious trouble."

Hongfu said, "Actually, now is a very good opportunity. He doesn't have many people around him, and he normally eats and drinks with Sir without much caution. We can drug him first and knock him unconscious, then force the Spirit-Torment Pill down his throat. There won't be any commotion at all."

The mention of Niu Youdao eating and drinking with him without guard touched something in Linghu Qiu. To some extent, that lack of caution was itself trust. And now Linghu Qiu was preparing to strike him viciously in return. Putting himself in the other man's place, he could not help feeling some emotion. He shook his head and sighed softly.

"Ah. This bargain-price little brother... I suppose I can only wrong him."

Just then, Hongxiu entered carrying freshly drawn water.

"Sir, wash up."

She poured the water into the basin.

Linghu Qiu asked, "He still hasn't come out?"

Hongxiu answered, "No. I can confirm he spent the night inside Guan Fangyi's room with her."

Linghu Qiu's expression immediately became marvelous. The corner of his mouth twitched.

"This fellow really does have refined tastes. What an appetite!"

Hongxiu and Hongfu exchanged a glance. Naturally they knew exactly what he meant. Neither Guan Fangyi nor Niu Youdao was a three-year-old child. A lone man and woman spending the night together in the same room—what else could they have been doing? Men and women taking pleasure in each other was nothing strange by itself. The real issue was the age difference between Niu Youdao and Guan Fangyi. Anyone would find it a little odd.

So in their eyes, Niu Youdao's tastes were truly beyond praise. And whenever they remembered that he was always casting designs on the two sisters as well, both women felt uncomfortable all over... The sound of people sweeping the courtyard outside slowly woke Guan Fangyi from meditation. A brocade quilt had been spread on the floor, and she sat cross-legged upon it. Niu Youdao, meanwhile, sat meditating cross-legged on the couch.

Just as they had agreed the night before, she had slept on the floor and he on the couch. The whole night had passed with the well water never disturbing the river water. Guan Fangyi rose from the floor and gathered the brocade quilt into her arms. She glanced sideways at Niu Youdao. Then, without warning, she hurled the bundled quilt straight at him. Niu Youdao, whose eyes had been closed, suddenly opened one eye.

One arm swept out casually and knocked the quilt aside onto the couch.

"What's wrong with you first thing in the morning?" he drawled, then lowered both feet from the couch.

Guan Fangyi sneered. "Making a woman sleep on the floor. Do you have no gentlemanly grace at all?"

Niu Youdao chuckled. "I'm younger. It's only natural for you to yield a little."

Was he calling her old?

Guan Fangyi's eyes widened.

"From now on, you sleep on the floor. I sleep on the couch."

"One should keep one's word. How can you say something and then go back on it?"

"I've gone back on it. What are you going to do?"

"I finish the painting for you and you immediately turn on me. You tear down the bridge after crossing the river." Niu Youdao clicked his tongue and shook his head, then looked back at the couch. "That couch looks wide enough. Two people could sleep there without any problem. I don't mind. Why don't we squeeze together?"

"Dream on. Men are all rotten things!" Guan Fangyi said disdainfully.

But at the mention of last night's painting, the look in her eyes softened considerably. Her heart had softened too. It simply did not show on the surface. She turned, walked to the dressing table, sat down, and began arranging her hair and makeup before the mirror. Niu Youdao slowly drifted behind her. His sword stood upright before his abdomen as he looked at her reflection in the mirror.

"What are you looking at? Never seen a woman before?" Guan Fangyi teased while combing her hair, watching him through the mirror.

Niu Youdao bent down and sniffed lightly near her shoulder. He whispered beside her ear.

"I've never seen a woman this beautiful."

There was a practical reason he was willing to actively close the distance between them. At present, he needed her help. Naturally, there was no harm in flattering her a little as well. Women liked pleasant words. Guan Fangyi burst out laughing.

"Your mouth is smeared with honey. You definitely have bad intentions. Tell me honestly. Last night, did you ever have improper thoughts about me?"

She had not slept peacefully the night before. From time to time, she had opened her eyes and glanced at Niu Youdao. She had shared rooms with far too many men to count. And there was no need to ask what intentions most men who willingly shared a room with her had. She had long grown accustomed to that. But last night had been a first. Niu Youdao had not touched her in the slightest. He had not even shown any intention of doing so.

Instead, that very lack of intention had made her uncomfortable. Hence the question.

"No. You can put your heart completely at ease."

Guan Fangyi immediately turned her head to study his reaction. Niu Youdao shrugged, looking entirely as though he had spoken the truth. She turned back toward the mirror and sighed.

"Even a hot-blooded young man doesn't find me attractive anymore. I really have no choice but to admit I'm old."

Niu Youdao froze for a moment. Then understanding dawned, and he smiled bitterly.

"You women..."

"What about women?"

"I mean, just a moment ago someone was cursing that no man is any good. But if a man genuinely has no such thoughts toward her, she becomes unhappy again. Tell me, then. Is it men who are cheap, or women?"

"Men, obviously."

"I just remembered a story."

"What story? Tell me."

"One rainy night, a lone man and woman took shelter inside the same room. There was only one plank bed where anyone could rest; everywhere else was wet. With no other choice, they shared the same bed. The woman was cautious. She drew a line down the middle and said that whoever crossed it was a beast. The next morning, she woke and discovered the man had truly never crossed the line. He had not touched her in the slightest. So she slapped him across the face."

Guan Fangyi looked astonished. "She wasn't violated. Why hit him?"

Niu Youdao said, "The woman said, 'Worse than a beast!'"

Guan Fangyi froze. Once she understood, she burst into loud laughter, shaking from head to toe.

"Nonsense!"

Niu Youdao asked, "Qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting. High, middle, low. Which grade did the portrait I painted for you last night reach?"

Guan Fangyi stopped laughing. She stared meaningfully at his reflection in the mirror.

"Has your competitive spirit been aroused?"

"What does this have to do with being competitive?"

"Don't you want to know how many men earned the highest grade and shared my bed? I can tell you, though I no longer remember the exact number. Some men truly conquered me with their bearing and talent, and I willingly gave myself to them. With some, my feelings were one-sided. I gave myself because I hoped to change my circumstances. And some possessed backgrounds and status so powerful that refusing was not really possible. You could say I was forced. I never wanted myself to become too filthy, but I'm not as clean as you imagine either."

Niu Youdao fell silent. His eyes met the woman's in the mirror. Suddenly, Guan Fangyi raised the comb in her hand and held it back toward him.

"Comb my hair."

Niu Youdao smiled bitterly. "I don't know how."

"You despise me?"

"It's not that. I've genuinely never combed a woman's hair before, especially not these complicated hairstyles you women wear..."

Guan Fangyi interrupted him.

"Then start now. Yesterday my head was hot and I acted on impulse. After a night's sleep, I've sobered up quite a bit. If you want me to risk my life for you, you need to give me at least some reason to begin. At minimum, don't make me feel that I sold myself too cheaply. Otherwise, I'll never be reconciled to it."

"What a fine excuse."

Niu Youdao shook his head. He set his sword aside, took the comb, and began awkwardly arranging her hair. The moment his hands touched it, Guan Fangyi could not help laughing. She could tell at once that he genuinely had no idea what he was doing. After a while, she spoke again.

"I've heard a little about your past too. Tang Yi, Sect Leader of Shangqing Sect, is the wife you formally bowed to Heaven and Earth with?"

"Since you've already heard, what is there to ask? That's in the past. We have nothing to do with each other anymore."

"That Tang Yi was foolish. Treating marriage as child's play—truly foolish."

"You concern yourself with a great many things."

"I'm only feeling a little emotional. To leave with you just like this... I really can't accept it. I kept waiting all these years. I refused to believe I would never meet a man who treated me well. Who would've thought things would end like this?"

"With your looks, how could there have been no men who treated you well? Maybe you simply never noticed them, or perhaps you missed them."

"If I never noticed, or could miss them so easily, what kind of 'treating me well' was that?"

"Everyone has his own way of being good to someone. If you calculate every detail, nothing will ever seem good enough. Aren't things fine like this? Look. Precisely because of all that, you waited until I arrived. Maybe everything you were waiting for before was destined. Maybe you were simply waiting for me."

"Tch. Spare me the sweet talk. I've heard far too much of it. Can you marry me?"

"No."

"What if I were several decades younger?"

"There are no 'what ifs' in life. One can only keep moving forward."

"Is it because my reputation is too rotten and you wouldn't dare marry me?"

"Here you go again. Let's discuss something serious."

"No. Answer me. If I were several decades younger, would you marry me?"

"Hongniang, you take your own grievances far too seriously. Do you think other people care that much? I think I finally understand why you've managed to stay in the Qi capital for so many years. You're stubborn. Fine. Answer one question for me first."

"Go ahead."

"Tell me this: why should I marry you?"

"..."

Guan Fangyi was choked speechless. For a moment, she genuinely had no answer. Yes.

Why should he marry her?

Was being beautiful an absolute reason for someone to marry a person? She fell silent. It was as though all the things that had happened across these many years had finally found an answer in that one question. Seeing her remain silent for so long, Niu Youdao tugged lightly at her hair and pulled her head back.

"Stop daydreaming. Let's talk about something serious."

"Why are you pulling? Fine, speak!"

"Help me find some manpower."

[End of Chapter 332]