Unfortunately, the wheelbarrow was too heavy for her to push. Before long, her palms were trembling from pain as they gamely held onto the chafing handles of the wheelbarrow. Nevertheless, she persevered until she made her way out the city gates.
She had just inquired about the location of Red Maple Mountain Villa. According to the directions, she would arrive once she’d walked 2.5 kilometers from the city towards the mountain. The mountain wasn’t easy to climb, but she could discard the wheelbarrow when she reached the foot of the mountain.
After all the trouble she’d gone to in order to push it out of the city, she tried her best to keep the wheelbarrow under control, but she was too tired, and her arms were beyond sore. The wheelbarrow wrested itself from her hands in the end and bumped into someone.
“Sorry, I’m extremely sorry. Did that hurt you?” She ducked her head as she apologized, but froze when she heard the voice above her, “Your voice, cough…”
Damn it. She still hadn’t managed to get away! She was so close to being able to ascend the mountain. Bai Xiangxiu subconsciously thrust the wheelbarrow away and turned to leave, but that person had already tightly grasped her hand.
She could feel it, there was no way to escape now. She gritted her teeth as she turned around. She feigned an extremely innocent appearance and shed a few tears as she spoke. “You are… are Sir Duan. Were you searching for me?”
Looking at her appearance, Duan Yunying hated her with a passion. He didn’t expect that he would actually come upon her by accident on his way back to Red Maple Mountain Villa.
He’d already given up finding her. He’d tried his best, but hadn’t thought about how well she could hide. She really was quite adept at it, and looked so slovenly that he couldn’t recognize her at all. If it hadn’t been for her voice, he may have just overlooked her right now.
Well, this was also good. Since she’d bumped into him, she wouldn’t be able to blame him for being impolite. Only, this current appearance of hers really killed his appetite to eat her.
“Madame Xiu, you’ve suffered greatly. The prince even dispatched all of his people to find you. The world outside is too dangerous. Why don’t we find a place to hide while I search for an opportunity to secretly send you back to Red Maple Mountain Villa?” Duan Yunying could smell the sheep manure clinging to her body; it was incredibly disgusting. This wouldn’t do! First things first was to wash her clean. With this appearance, he wouldn’t want to make a move no matter how hungry he was.
How would Bai Xiangxiu not know of the conflict in his mind? Although Duan Yunying appeared very calm and steady, his heart must be torn between disgust and the itch to spring into action!
Judging from how badly his hand was trembling, he was fast losing the fight to conceal his inner turmoil. Alright, since he wanted to take her to bed so urgently, why not help him along? Bai Xiangxiu smirked inwardly and suddenly pounced into his embrace, trembling like a leaf, “Alright, all will be as you say. But, in order to let the prince know I’m safe, could we send a letter to him first?”
Duan Yunying’s chest heaved. He was inches away from throwing up. Bai Xiangxiu was cackling with crazed laughter inside, but she was afraid that he would really throw up on her, so she hastily stood up to fake an extremely shy appearance.
Duan Yuanying clutched his chest, and his voice came out in stilted, pained words, “Please come this way.” He was really struggling to hold it together. He let go of Bai Xiangxiu’s hand and didn’t seem to want to hold it again. Bai Xiangxiu discreetly sighed in relief. It looked like she would be safe for now. However, it’d be a different case once she’d cleaned up. He’d likely want to immediately roll in the sheets with her and plant the parasite in her.
She was brought into the city again. Because his identity was already in the open, and out of worry that she’d become suspicious, Duan Yunying naturally wouldn’t wear the peach blossom mask in front of her. He’d also thought this way in the novel, and had stayed by the female lead’s side with the identity of a little white rabbit.
Alright, since he hated her current appearance, she would do her best to maintain it then. If she couldn’t win in a fight, she would just disgust him to death! I’m willing to bet that he won’t force me to take a bath! Even though her current appearance was very disgusting, she could only continue to suffer in this way. Fortunately, she herself was unaffected, since she had become used to the smell.
Alright, truth be told, she was just trying to convince herself. She really did stink. But that was how things would be! She looked at the water that’d been fetched for her and viewed her reflection. A mutilated face, topping a body covered in filth, stared right back at her.
Even she hated the sight of herself, let alone any other man. The gash on her face in particular was jarring. It wasn’t deep, but was terribly painful.
She’d actually liked this face very much. It was such a pity that it was destroyed. But that was alright. Once she returned to the male lead’s side, he would search for methods to help her fix it. She remembered that the plot had once gone that way as well with the female lead, but she wondered if he would be so disgusted by her appearance that he’d want to throw up as well, and keep his distance?
Someone suddenly knocked on her door. If she guessed correctly, it was likely the newly washed up Duan Yunying. Alright, then she would continue to disgust him. There was nothing else to do for the time being, anyways.
Bai Xiangxiu had honed her acting skills to an exceptional level since she’d started living in the prince’s manor. Even if she couldn’t turn it off and on like a switch, she was leagues ahead of her previous self.
She opened the door and carefully looked around. “Sir Duan? Please enter!”
Duan Yunying couldn’t help but frown when the odor hit him as soon as the door was opened. After all the trouble he’d taken to wash himself clean, why was she still like this? He’d thought that she’d finished ahead of him.
But, Duan Yunying was currently playing a very weak scholar, so he had to feign delicacy and weakness to the best of his ability. He coughed lightly a little and said, “Madame Xiu, why have you not washed yet? Are the servants not serving you properly?”
“That’s not it. Come in first and I’ll tell you.” Bai Xiangxiu pulled him inside, even though she knew he would hate her for it. She was quite happy and almost trembling with delight just imagining the contortions his inner self was going through. Indeed, Bai Xiangxiu felt that she was becoming a little odd. Was it that all those who were mistreated would end up becoming a little warped as well?
All in all, she felt that this was how she was right now. She wouldn’t surrender to this pervert, but rather fiercely counterattack instead. Although she would suffer a bit for it, he wouldn’t have an easy time of things either.
Duan Yunying’s entire body tensed up after he was pulled in. He almost forgot to breathe at that moment. A killing desire rose in his heart, but he couldn’t do so right now, so he could only suppress it.
He calmed down and forced a smile. “Why are you still this…?”
“This is because this concubine was kidnapped out of the Red Maple Mountain Villa by some villains and was forced into this appearance. That group is extremely perverted, and they‘ve been continuously chasing me. If I recover my original appearance, I fear that I will bring trouble to you. Since Sir Duan is a scholar, it is best to be careful.” Bai Xiangxiu explained it away as if speaking of the weather. Duan Yunying was stumped, and left without an appropriate retort. First off, the acrid odor was slowly eating away at his insides. Secondly, it seemed that he had just been called a pervert.
He forced himself to smile faintly. “I hadn’t expected that Madame Xiu would’ve considered the matter so thoroughly. Although, you will suffer for it.”
He couldn’t refute her words since Bai Xiangxiu had identified that he was a “scholar”. This was indeed his identity in front of Long Heng. He’d used medicine to hide his qi so that Long Heng wouldn’t see through him.
Then again, how would he dare mention anything else in front of this sly woman? This woman was almost the opposite of the honest and gentle woman from the rumors. She’d meticulously planned her escape step by step with all kinds of schemes. How could those be the actions of a good and gentle woman?