Translator: pucari @ dreamwidth

Editors: elliot and luca

[Chapter 22 - a.s.sa.s.sination!] The world is cruel!

Outside the tea shack, Ta Xue Bai had long gone to who knows where. Bringing Shen Qian Ling with him, the two of them strolled along the road. Lush and verdant trees lined the road, and the scenery was naturally superb, but Shen Qian Ling had absolutely no mood to appreciate it, his head full of the words from the old man just now.

"Be careful." Qin Shao Yu pulled on his arm.

Shen Qian Ling returned to his senses, and realized that he almost stepped into a puddle.

"What are you thinking about?" Qin Shao Yu asked.

"Nothing much." Shen Qian Ling shook his head perfunctorily, his mind obviously elsewhere.

"Did that old man tell you something?" Qin Shao Yu pinched his ear.

Shen Qian Ling became panicky.

"Say it." Qin Shao Yu was very stubborn, "Did he tell you your fortune?"

Shen Qian Ling frowned, "How did you know?" Don't say that you also did something as despicable as eavesdropping.  

"It's a blind guess." Qin Shao Yu laughed, "The most famous building on Qian Mu Mountain is Pu Du Temple, the incense offered each year, every season are all uncountable; everyday people come to pray to the deities. As the days went by, the people nearby also learned to be more clever, saying a couple of nice phrases when meeting outsiders; everyone is only searching for happiness.”

It was totally not as simple as auspicious words. Shen Qian Ling touched the cloth bag in his sleeve; he was a real immortal. Even if he wasn’t an immortal he was still half of one.

"Quickly tell me, what did he say?" Qin Shao Yu continued probing.

Shen Qian Ling patted his shoulder, "He said that you will have many descendants, happy?"

"No wonder you were sulking." Qin Shao Yu smirked, "So you were jealous."

A mouthful of blood clogged Shen Qian Ling’s throat.

"This you should never worry about, the heavens can prove that to fu-ren I'm.....wu." Qin Shao Yu covered his stomach.

Shen Qian Ling withdrew his fist. It was really satisfying to hit a martial arts expert.

It was not a problem even though he knew that he was just pretending.

"Fu-ren is so violent." Qin Shao Yu complained.

"Don't call me fu-ren when there's no one else around." Shen Qian Ling pushed him away with a kick.

"Then I can do that when there's someone else around?" Qin Shao Yu laughed upon hearing this.

Shen Qian Ling curled his lip, "You only need to act when there's someone around."

Qin Shao Yu froze for a moment.

"Leaving aside the present, even before I lost my memories, you didn't like me, right?" The paper on the window frame had been poked open, but Shen Qian Ling simply asked him directly.

Qin Shao Yu raised an eyebrow, "Why is fu-ren saying this?"

Because it just felt very fake. Shen Qian Ling walked forward at a stroll. Moreover, the acting was exaggerated.

"Not going to ask why I must marry you?" Qin Shao Yu caught up to him.

"......Why?" Shen Qian Ling was somewhat baffled about this. According to his mother, initially it was to give himself a way to alleviate the cold poison, so they specially sent big brother to find Qin Shao Yu to persuade him. Originally it was just to sound out their intentions, but who knew that both sides would hit it off right away, and everything went exceptionally well; a month later, the Dominion of Shadow Chasers had even sent over betrothal gifts. It could be said that it was fairly sincere.

When he first heard about this, Shen Qian Ling felt that this was basically a fantastical story. Although the people who want to become relatives with Sun-Moon Hamlet are as many as there are carp in the river, but all of them wanted their daughters to marry in. Cut-sleeves were after all not orthodox, and according to the power of the Dominion of Shadow Chasers and Qin Shao Yu's standing in Jianghu, no matter which angle it was a.n.a.lyzed from, there was absolutely no reason to have such a negligent man marry in.

"Quickly tell me." Shen Qian Ling pulled on his sleeve.

"You really want to hear?" Qin Shao Yu's eyebrows rose slightly.

Do I even need to consider? Shen Qian Ling nodded earnestly.

Qin Shao Yu said fluently, "Because I fell in love at first sight of fu-ren."

Shen Qian Ling: "......."

These frivolous human beings.

"Tired?" Qin Shao Yu changed the subject.

"Tired." Shen Qian Ling pressed on his shoulders, "Squat down, let's go to the temple on summit in one go."

Qin Shao Yu was the model example this time, crouching down slightly to let him ride on his back.

Shen Qian Ling climbed on happily, taking the chance to shout "Jia" in his heart.

Qin Shao Yu reached one hand back and held onto his b.u.t.t.

A chill went down Shen Qian Ling's back: Ah ah ah this pervert.

But before he could protest, Qin Shao Yu had already leapt onto a big tree, stepping on numerous tree branches on the way to the summit.

Shen Qian Ling only felt the wind howling past his ears, and thus instinctively held tighter onto his neck, hating that he couldn't just stuff his head into his shoulder.

A moment later, Qin Shao Yu landed in a clearing, "Let go."

"We have arrived?" Shen Qian Ling opened his eyes, and jumped down on slightly weak legs.

"Not yet." Qin Shao Yu rubbed his neck.

"You ran off course?" Shen Qian Ling looked at him with pity; see, without a GPS it’s a no go, so at critical times, one had to still rely on science.

Qin Shao Yu's face had an awful color, "Because you kept clutching at my neck."

Shen Qian Ling: "......."

This warrior, you're so calm and cool but it turns out you actually need to breathe too.

"Where are we now?" Seeing the red finger marks on his neck, Shen Qian Ling calmly changed the topic.

"Don't know." Qin Shao Yu leaned against a tree and sat down.

"Lost?" Shen Qian Ling held a hand to his forehead; so he still ran off-course.

"Rest for awhile, I will bring you down the hill later." Qin Shao Yu patted to his side, "Sit."

Just as he finished speaking, thunder roared through the skies, as if it was happening right by their ears.

Shen Qian Ling trembled a bit and pulled Qin Shao Yu up in one go.

"Scared?" Qin Shao Yu asked him.

Scared your head. Shen Qian Ling dragged him and ran towards a clearing, "Don't stand under trees when it's raining, how could you not even know this?"

He really doesn't have one bit of common sense.

The rains in the southern mountains fall whenever they want to. Before the two of them had run to the clearing, a downpour had already started, their faces hurting from the bean-sized raindrops falling.

"Ya." Shen Qian Ling covered his head, "There's hail."

Qin Shao Yu pulled him into his arms, "Cover your head."

"What about you." Shen Qian Ling asked; if the hail becomes bigger then it would be fatal. Although this person was really full of bad points, it was best not to get hurt if possible.

Qin Shao Yu pressed his head onto his chest and hurried onwards.

"Why don't you find a place to hide." Shen Qian Ling was very worried. Even if he couldn’t be smashed to death, it was still possible to smash him dumb.

"Shut up." Qin Shao Yu berated in a low voice.

Shen Qian Ling: "......."

I was clearly saying it for your own good.

A moment later, a small house finally appeared by the roadside, Qin Shao Yu kicked open the door, and directly carried Shen Qian Ling in.

"You are breaking and entering." Shen Qian Ling looked around.

"It's an empty house of the mountain caretaker." Qin Shao Yu put him down, "There are keys at the entrance, any pa.s.serby can come in for a rest."

"There are keys and yet you kick off the doors." Shen Qian Ling condemned. Just as he was about to tell him to put it back, Qin Shao Yu had already stepped on the doors and broken them apart, using them to create a fire in the middle of the house.

Shen Qian Ling closed his mouth silently.

Alright, I should have known not to have high hopes about him.

"Want to dry your clothes?" Qin Shao Yu asked him.

Better not. Shen Qian Ling shook his head firmly, "Achoo."

Qin Shao Yu didn't force him either, taking off his own outer robe and drying it by the fire.

"I'm going outside to pee." Shen Qian Ling tried his best to walk out naturally; actually, he mainly wanted to check the cloth pouch that the old uncle gave him previously, as he had already been curious about it the whole way.

"Come back." Qin Shao Yu pulled him over and sat him down.

No way, you even want to care about me peeing? Shen Qian Ling, with an innocent face, held onto his stomach, "Can't hold it in anymore."

Qin Shao Yu pointed to a corner, "Go there."

You caveman. Shen Qian Ling said angrily, "No!"

"I will accompany you outside." Qin Shao Yu stood up.

Shen Qian Ling looked at him challengingly, "There's no need for company in this sort of thing, right?"

"No, you cannot leave my sight." Qin Shao Yu's tone left no room for discussion.

To even say such an old fas.h.i.+oned line, this warrior you alpha male. Actually, you are the one who came from a CEO novel(1) right, Shen Qian Ling sighed internally. He can only check it out after they go down the mountain.

Because Shen Xiao Shou absolutely refused to do his business inside the house, Qin Shao Yu could only compromise a little, and brought him under the eaves of the roof, "Pee now."

Shen Qian Ling erected a middle finger in his heart, then turned around, faced the corner and started untying his pants, beginning to happily pee.

"Who are you people?" The voice of an adorable girl suddenly came from the door of the courtyard. A chill instantly ran down Shen Qian Ling's back, and he clumsily hurried to pull up his pants.

"Who are you?" Qin Shao Yu said coldly.

".......My father is a hunter, this is a house he built." The girl was clearly frightened by sect leader Qin's cold tone, so scared that her face turned pale.

"Quickly come over to get away from the rain." Shen Qian waved and called her, and also poked Qin Shao Yu to tell him to shut up. It is such a cold day, don't interrogate her anymore; moreover, this is her house.

The girl moved over carefully, water dripping from her hair.

"There's a fire in the house, why don't you go....dry your clothes? We will keep watch here." Looking at her, Shen Qian Ling was somewhat worried; young ladies are scared of the cold, don’t end up getting sick from it.

As he finished speaking, Qin Shao Yu had already firmly pulled him into the house.

Shen Qian Ling was speechless. This warrior, could you show some universal love?

The girl also followed in, and sat silently at the other side of the fire, stealing glances at Qin Shao Yu here and there.

Sect leader Qin's face was ashen, not saying a word; the mood was peculiarly calm.

"How old are you this year?" Shen Qian Ling could only take the initiative to find a conversation topic.

"Twelve years old." The girl smiled sweetly. She was very adorable.

"Hmph." Qin Shao Yu coldly snorted.

What was there to snort about, muttering all day long. Shen Qian Ling looked at him weirdly.

The girl had also clearly gotten scared, and spontaneously closed her mouth and hugged her knees.

"You, don't be scared." Shen Qian Ling said in a friendly manner, "This brother and I are not any good people."

Qin Shao Yu: "......."

The girl: "......"

"Er, mistake." Shen Qian Ling felt he was a little foolish, "I mean we are both ---- ah!"

Before he could finish, he was pulled away by Qin Shao Yu, three silver darts brus.h.i.+ng past his ear with a blue light, embedding into the wall instantly.

Shen Qian Ling's face was pale, and was stunned as expected.

An a.s.sa.s.sination?

(1) CEO novel: 總裁文 - basically those novels where there's a brash leader-type character that does whatever they want.

Chapter 23