Chapter 31 Master, I'm Afraid [Seeking Follow-up Reading]

There were crowds of people all around, and the street was as lively as usual. Wei Mingqi tried not to show any abnormality. He rolled up the note into a ball and put it in his pocket. He slowly packed up his stall and walked back.

Along the way he wanted to look up.

Calculating the time, the man who carries the Yuanying on his shoulder and leans against the 'Luotianlong' should be several years younger than him. The current 'Gong Kui' Cang Liangye is his grandfather, who is also from Yunzhou. Not only has he been the 'Kui' for twenty years, he is also ranked seventeenth on the current martial arts list.

"When fellow villagers meet, they fire a shot from a distance."

Thinking of the "rogue" martial arts used by two generations of "Cang Family Archers" in the original plot to dominate the [arch] army for half a century, Wei Mingqi resisted the urge to look up and returned to the Pomegranate Lane as if nothing had happened.

creak-

He walked in with a tool in hand. Xie Beiling was washing clothes in the yard. When she saw him come in, she quickly pressed the white clothes she was kneading into the water. She looked up with a calm expression:
"Sold out? So fast."

"After you, Master, I am now also a popular figure on the street, a walking signboard of Yonganfang. The girls all call me 'Yu Man Lang'. I can't sell enough, absolutely not enough!"

"..."

Xie Beiling didn't know what he was like when he was outside, but in this courtyard, he rarely stopped talking. She was such a quiet person that sometimes she didn't even find him noisy.

"Pretty good."

Xie Beiling smiled quietly, as if she had already put aside the morning's article, her tone full of relief and admonition:

"It's a good thing to please girls. In two or three years, you will be old enough to get married. As long as you don't get too picky and don't do anything against your conscience, Master will always be happy for you."

"Forget it. I don't like girls outside."

"..."

Xie Beiling was washing clothes and didn't respond.

Wei Mingqi's mind moved a little, and he moved the wooden basin for washing the basket in front of her, and then took out something from his arms and handed it to her:
"Master, take a look at what this is."

For a moment, Xie Beiling didn't want to look, but the expectation in his words was evident, and finally the woman's eyelashes trembled, and she still opened her eyes.

"Do you like it? I bought it from the lady at the front door. She said that if you are not satisfied with the style, you can ask her to exchange it. There were rouge in the store, but I think you won't be able to use it."

"..."

Lying in his palm was a plain white jade hairpin. It had no complex or dazzling carvings, but a smooth and pleasing arc shape, and a small green jade pendant as the finishing touch.

It's really beautiful, and it's carefully selected.

It even reminded Xie Beiling of an old event that had little to do with this incident, but she remembered it anyway.

At that time, she was two or three years younger than Wei Mingqi. She followed her master and wandered around. One day, she arrived at a wealthy merchant's house in Yunzhou and told the master's fortune in exchange for travel expenses. The merchant's daughter, who was accompanying her, was dressed in silk and satin.

She, who was dressed in a gray Taoist robe, did not feel ashamed of herself and was jealous, but she just liked the green jade hairpin on the girl's head.

She didn't look at it much.

A few months later, she tried to carve a wooden hairpin for herself, but the wood was not trimmed cleanly and it often got tangled and broke her hair, causing her hair to frizz from time to time, which made her master laugh.

"Master?"

The voice in front of him brought Xie Beiling back to his senses.

"Is it because you don't like this color?"

Knowing his feelings, Xie Beiling wanted to refuse, but when the words came to her lips, she pursed her lips and smiled gently:
"like."

"..."

Wei Mingqi watched Xie Beiling take the hairpin with a stiff smile. For a moment, he felt even more panicked than when he knew that Cang Liangye was coming to Beijing.

He knew his master very well. How could he let her accept such a daughter's makeup without repeated refusals and constant pestering?
I felt something was wrong just now, and now it seems more than just wrong, this is a farewell—

He was washing the steamer with a heavy heart. Before he could figure out how to keep Xie Beiling, he heard the latter speak:

"Mingqi, I'm going to take a break at Mantoupu for a while." "Huh?"

Wei Mingqi immediately raised his head, his expression becoming distressed: "We can't take a break, Master! If our store closes, the business of the entire market will drop, and then the neighbors will definitely poke us in the back!"

"I'm fine-"

"But I have something to do!"

Wei Mingqi interrupted her and said confidently: "I am now in the critical period of my career to be promoted to commander. The appointment has not yet been made. What if the court sends someone to investigate and finds that my official reputation is so bad, what will be your apprentice's future? Don't you want me to make progress?"

"you--"

"If you are tired, just take a rest. I will take care of the front desk! You don't have to worry about anything. Just wait at home and count the money every day!"

"..."

With Xie Beiling's character, he was also amused by his "shamelessness" at this time, but he also understood that Wei Mingqi had noticed something.

"Mingqi, you are a smart kid."

Xie Beiling shook off the water droplets on his hands, turned to Wei Mingqi with a serious expression, and finally got straight to the point with him:
"Master is going to be away for a while."

Seeing her reveal her cards, Wei Mingqi turned around and asked in a serious tone:

"For a while, or forever?"

"..."

The last time I saw him so serious was when he was so rebellious as to say that he was 'indecisive'. However, at that time, Xie Beiling had a clear conscience and could comfort him like a child. But now, he can't even give a decent answer.

Yes, she was in the wrong.

Because even she herself hadn't decided how long she would be away, where she would go, or when she would come back. She just instinctively wanted to escape from the forest like a little animal.

Mingqi is right.

She is a person who lives a daily life and easily immerses herself in this dull life until her limbs become weak and she is unable to escape.

If she were alone, or in a different identity, perhaps she would be willing to drown like this from then on, but there are no ifs in the world, and she cannot respond to the knock on the door.

It was also the first time that Wei Mingqi saw Xie Beiling like this. She was sitting in front of him, looking at him with blank eyes. Her unintentional expression was as hesitant as a child.

Is he pushing too hard?

It should be, but how to do it is a matter for the future. What he has to do now is to keep the person by his side no matter what.

"Master, let's go."

"……what."

Xie Beiling blinked in confusion and didn't hear clearly for a moment.

"You go."

Wei Mingqi went back to scrubbing the steamer, "If I die one day, you must try to bring Li He out while protecting yourself. Dongfang Ming can treat his wife and son as his tools. I am worried about Li He."

"..."

Xie Beiling pursed his lips and said calmly: "Even if you want Master to stay, you don't have to say such things."

"I was serious."

Wei Mingqi raised his head and looked at her: "Someone handed me a letter this morning, saying that Cang Liangye would go to the capital for me. I am somewhat confident that I can survive against other Kuis, but in front of Luo Tianlong..."

The young man also pursed his lips like her:
"Master, I'm scared."

(End of this chapter)