EBE Chapter 77 Wild Mandarin Duck
Chapter 77 Wild Mandarin Duck
"Are you his older sister?"
The silver needles, as thin as hair, flew swiftly across the emaciated, bluish-purple, and swollen body.
The man on the ground had his eyes covered with a white cloth, and his pale face slowly regained some color as Fei Xi applied acupuncture.
Seeing her younger brother's condition improve, Liu Yingxue finally felt a little relieved. Hearing Fei Xi's question, the somewhat fiery-tempered Liu Yingxue looked at her brother on the ground with a complicated expression and replied:
“That’s right, he is my younger brother, named Liu Nanli. I haven’t seen him since I was brought to my grandmother’s place. But last month, when I paid my respects to my grandmother, I discovered that her new male favorite was actually my brother. My brother is stubborn and refused to be my grandmother’s male favorite, so my grandmother was furious and ordered him to be imprisoned.”
Liu Yingxue lowered her head and glanced at the man on the ground with difficulty. Her apologetic voice was tinged with a resolute determination as she continued:
“My brother must have come looking for me, which is why Grandma found him and made him her new male concubine. Why is he so stubborn? Grandma has been so kind to me, I can't possibly go home with him. He doesn't want to be Grandma's male concubine, but I can't just watch him die here. I'll let you go, but you must take him with you.”
"What are you saying! Don't you want him anymore? He's blind. As his sister, you're not going to take care of him. Even if we take him away, what will happen to him? Besides, he was beaten like this by your so-called 'grandmother,' almost to death. Don't you hate that 'grandmother' at all?"
As soon as Mu Qingfeng finished speaking, Xiao Liu and Liu Yingxue's expressions changed. Xiao Liu drew his sword, but Liu Yingxue stopped him, angrily saying:
“Sister Feng, if you speak ill of Grandma again, don’t blame me for being impolite! It’s my brother who is unworthy to serve Grandma. He’s disobedient, so what’s wrong with Grandma disciplining him!”
"You...you are simply unreasonable!"
The body beneath her fingertips trembled slightly, but Fei Xi pretended not to notice.
Putting away the silver needles, she stood up and pulled her junior sister, whose face was flushed with anger, behind her. Calmly meeting Liu Yingxue's gaze, she said slowly:
"Alright, Sister Liu, I will grant your request. I will take him out, and once we're out, I will treat him like an elder brother and take care of him. However, I have one condition."
"Sister, what are your conditions?" After all, he was her own younger brother. Hearing Fei Xi take the initiative to say that he was willing to take care of him, Liu Yingxue couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
She could understand why the two new sisters, who hadn't met their grandmother yet, didn't want to stay. Her younger brother, however, had become a burden to her since losing his sight, a weight that weighed heavily on her heart and almost suffocated her.
Since coming to live with her maternal grandmother, she has felt that her life has become more joyful.
Why is her younger brother clinging to her like a ghost?!
She really didn't want her current life to be ruined by her younger brother, but she also couldn't bear to watch him die in front of her.
All she wanted was for someone to take her brother away from her.
Liu Yingxue, putting herself in their shoes, was afraid that if she asked them to take care of her younger brother, the two would find it troublesome and refuse to leave.
With a doctor's heart of compassion, after spending these few days together, she bet that Fei Xi wouldn't be heartless enough to abandon her brother after taking him away, and now it seems she made the right bet.
“Sister Liu, since you don’t want him anymore, then I will. From now on, you are no longer his sister, and he is no longer your brother. If we ever meet again, no matter who he is, you are not allowed to ask him to do anything as his sister. Can you do that?”
Seemingly surprised by Fei Xi's condition, Liu Yingxue was momentarily stunned.
"Just agree to her, we need to hurry back," Xiao Liu urged impatiently, his words bringing Liu Yingxue back to her senses.
Thinking of the carefree days she would spend at her grandmother's house, she gritted her teeth and nodded in agreement:
"Okay! I promise you, from now on I, Liu Yingxue, will not have a younger brother, and I will not ask him to do anything as his older sister."
Seeing that the two sides had reached an agreement, Xiao Liu took out a map from his pocket and handed it to Fei Xi, saying:
“Little sister, no one usually comes to this dungeon, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Once he can move again, take him and hide in the cave as soon as possible. Follow the map I gave you and follow the route. The exit is not far from the Suihe Wharf. You can buy a boat and go wherever you want. But if you don’t want to die in Tongcheng, you’d better not come back.”
Fei Xi took the map, her eyes flashing, and pressed, "But we're nowhere to be found. He disappeared from the dungeon. How are you going to explain this when you get back?"
"Grandma won't remember those who refuse to obey her. As for you, when have you ever even appeared?"
……
Well, it seems this isn't the first time this group has done something like this under Grandma's nose.
After everyone left, Fei Xi took out a pill wrapped in oil paper from her brocade pouch, half-lifted Liu Nanli, and put the pill to his mouth:
“I know you’re awake. Take your medicine and let’s go into the cave together.”
"Heroine Fei..." Liu Nanli's lips trembled slightly as he called out Fei Xi softly.
He obediently swallowed the pill after calling out, and Fei Xi didn't respond or ask him why he called her. Her fingers, which had just held the pill, were wet, and she felt as if a puppy had licked them.
"How did you manage to travel all the way from Nanxuan City to Tongcheng, you blind man?"
The word "Female Knight Fei" reminded Mu Qingfeng that she had seen the blind man in front of her at the Crimson Tent Courtyard before; he was the unfortunate passerby who had been infected with the plague by the Confucian scholar.
"Xiao Feng!" The eldest sister's gaze was just like that of Uncle Yin when he was about to scold someone, so Mu Qingfeng quickly made a shushing gesture.
Hmph! She just doesn't like the blind man in front of her.
"After I recovered from my illness, Lord Mu allowed me to leave the Crimson Tent Courtyard. He asked Young Hero Yu to escort me home. I waited for three more days at my home on Qing Shi Road. Sister..." Liu Nanli stopped abruptly as soon as he uttered the word "sister." He cautiously looked in Fei Xi's direction, as if afraid that this "sister" would anger Fei Xi.
"I forced her to disown you, are you going to blame me?"
Fei Xi hated men being so coy. She had promised to take care of him, so she would naturally bring him back to the Qingcheng Sect. His sister had clearly been brainwashed by her grandmother. If she were to ask him to do something harmful to the Qingcheng Sect in the future, he would probably do it without hesitation, even while struggling with his conscience.
Therefore, even if it is cruel to this person, and may even make the other person resent her, she must make the other person fully realize the reality from the very beginning.
“I… my older sister used to treat me very well. After our parents died, we relied on each other for survival. Lady Fei, I don’t know… perhaps my older sister didn’t want to be my sister a long time ago.”
"Yes, she doesn't want you. From now on, you don't have a sister anymore, understand?"
"...I don't have a sister anymore?"
"Yes, you don't have a sister anymore."
"Hahaha... If she doesn't want me, then I don't want her either. I don't have a sister anymore!"
The mournful laughter startled Mu Qingfeng, who looked at her senior sister with a puzzled expression.
The senior sister in front of her felt very unfamiliar, and she suddenly felt sorry for the blind woman.
"We'll tell you your story later. Can you stand up? Xiaofeng and I will help you. Let's go into the cave first."
Liu Nanli shakily tried to get up from the ground. As soon as he managed to stand up, he felt two hands supporting one of his arms and slowly pulling him forward.
In the pitch black, the three stumbled their way to the storage room. Just as they were about to go downstairs, Fei Xi suddenly called out to Mu Qingfeng. She took out a pill from her clothes, crushed it into powder, and gently applied it to Mu Qingfeng's face.
"Sister?"
"Alright, let's go." Fei Xi didn't explain why she did this. This cave wasn't only known to Xiao Liu; she wanted to take precautions.
After catching her senior sister, Mu Qingfeng flew up and covered the wooden lid.
Lighting torches, Fei Xi recalled the location on the map, and then led the two slowly forward through the cave.
Some parts of this cave were dug out by man, but most of it is a naturally formed karst cave.
The path through the natural cave was rugged and uneven. The three of them stumbled along for an hour, and their bodies were starting to give out.
Fei Xi wiped the sweat from her forehead and decided to rest where she was, take a nap, and leave when it got light.
She secured the torch to the pile of stones, took out a handkerchief from her bundle, inside which were some plum blossom cakes.
Meals in the bamboo forest are delivered from outside and eaten together in a designated room every day.
However, some of the older sisters, when they feel like it, will ask for some ingredients to make some pastries in the small kitchen.
Fei Xi was very popular with the older sisters because of her medical skills. When the older sisters shared pastries, she would secretly hide some of them and bring them out with her when she ran away this time.
"Eat something, Xiaofeng. We'll take turns resting for an hour, and then we'll continue on our way when it gets light."
Fei Xi divided the pastries into three portions. Mu Qingfeng didn't stand on ceremony; after walking for most of the night, she was starving.
Liu Nanli pursed his lips, touching the handkerchief in his hand, which emitted a faint, sweet scent. He picked up a small piece of pastry and put it in his mouth; it was very sweet. After eating two pieces, he felt a cool sensation on his hand.
"This is cold water. You are weak right now. Hold the water in your mouth for a while before swallowing."
He thought to himself, "Fei is such a gentle yet awkward person."
"Miss Fei, isn't this against etiquette?"
"If you say another word, I'll beat you up! Lie down and get some sleep, Xiaofeng, stay close to me."
Mu Qingfeng pouted and hummed in agreement, then hugged her senior sister's arm and leaned against her. She didn't envy the blind man lying on her senior sister's lap at all.
It's early summer, and the nights aren't very cold, but the temperature inside the cave is very low, just like winter.
When they escaped from the bamboo grove, she and Xiaofeng were not dressed lightly, but as soon as they stopped walking in the cave, they both felt a bit cold, not to mention there was a sick person there.
When she and her junior sister went out, they each brought some changes of clothes. Fei Xi casually laid one out on the ground. After sitting down, she leaned against the wall and let Xiao Feng sit next to her. The two of them covered each other with an outer garment, while she half-embraced Liu Nan'an and covered him with all the other clothes.
Hearing the other person's hesitant words, Fei Xi half-angrily and half-deliberately threatened him, and sure enough, the other person immediately became obedient and didn't say anything more.
The torches cast long shadows of the three of them. Fei Xi yawned, listened to the two snoring sounds beside her, and gradually drifted off to sleep as well.
The three were awakened by the sound of fighting.
"Bian Yuan, after all these years of affection, do you really not care at all?" The woman's voice was both sweet and alluring, captivating and enchanting.
"Hand over the person, and I will forgive and forget; otherwise, forget about the sword and the past." The man's cold voice was filled with murderous intent.
"You're still so heartless. You want to kill me? If you kill me, you'll never find him again." The woman's voice seemed to come from near and far, as if she were busy running for her life.
"what do you want?"
"I think...who is it!"
Fei Xi had just been jolted awake, and before she could get up, the two people who had accidentally stumbled into the cave saw two women and a man seemingly embracing each other on the other side of the firelight.
"What kind of illicit lovers have come to my Free and Unfettered Sect to do such a despicable thing!"
Ling Mianqing, the leader of the Xiaoyao Sect, spotted the stunningly beautiful face among the three at a glance. With a flick of her jade finger, she intended to kill all three of them.