I'm Already the Richest Man, Why Did My System Just Arrive?

Chapter 283: Chapter 174: A Clear Conscience

Xiaotao tossed and turned all night.

Her Young Master slept to her left, and the Eldest Miss to her right.

A novel experience.

She shouldn’t have fallen asleep so quickly, but she was exhausted from being jostled about all day. She drifted off into a deep, hazy sleep.

She had a dream. In it, she was floating on a cloud, and on the other side of the cloud, her Young Master was smiling and waving at her.

Blushing, Xiaotao floated toward her Young Master. Floating, floating, floating.

She floated higher and higher. Her Young Master smiled happily.

One moment she was crying, the next she was laughing.

As she floated, the figure of the Eldest Miss somehow appeared on another cloud. With a cold smirk, she drew a Curved Bow and shot a cloud-piercing arrow at her.

She woke up.

Upon waking, Xiaotao was drenched in sweat, damp and clammy.

Xiaotao sat up with a jolt.

"You’re awake."

Beside her was the voice of the Young Master she so longed for. A pot was set over the stove, and the aroma of ginger and meat wafted from it.

Zheng Xiu was crouching by the stove, fanning the flames with Xiao Buping’s Iron Fan.

Xiaotao trotted over to help, but Zheng Xiu tilted his head, smiled, and said it wasn’t necessary. Xiaotao found the way he held his neck odd, as if he was deliberately keeping it turned to one side. She thoughtfully asked if her Young Master had slept on it wrong and reached out to massage it.

Zheng Xiu tried and tried to dodge, but he couldn’t get away completely, revealing his face.

The moment Xiaotao saw Zheng Xiu’s face, she was stunned.

On Zheng Xiu’s left cheek was a bright red palm print, the five fingers so distinct it looked like it had been stamped on with an inkpad.

"Young Master, your face..."

"I fell! I fell!" Zheng Xiu turned his head away in embarrassment. "I got up to relieve myself last night and tripped. Just happened to fall right onto the Big Leader’s palm."

"Heh heh heh heh—"

Beside them, Xie Luohe let out a delighted laugh.

She sounded like she was in an excellent mood.

’Fell...?’

Xiaotao keenly sensed the subtle atmosphere between her Young Master and the Eldest Miss, and that sour feeling of jealousy bubbled up again.

’Middle of the night... fell... onto her palm.’

’Such a coincidence?’

Xiaotao forced herself to believe him. Looking at the palm print on her Young Master’s face, she wondered if she should apply some Black Jade Healing Ointment for him. But the thought that the Eldest Miss would surely scold her for it made her abandon the terrifying idea.

’Laughing? You’re still laughing!’

Zheng Xiu, no longer fearing death, shot a vicious glare at Xie Luohe.

’I was careless.’

He thought back to last night.

While he was contemplating the Heroic Invitation, Xie Luohe had stood before him and deliberately spoken to him with Feng Bei’s expression and tone.

This time, Xie Luohe had completely fooled him, making him think Feng Bei had returned.

Then, she’d slapped him so hard he saw stars.

Zheng Xiu was furious that Xie Luohe kept pushing his limits.

’Fine, I’ll play this game with you to the very end.’

Zheng Xiu was sulking, feeling utterly displeased. He furiously stuffed firewood into the stove with such vigor it was as if he wasn’t stuffing the stove, but... ahem.

’Forget it.’

Zheng Xiu forced a slight smile, telling himself not to be angry. Once the pot came to a boil, hissing with steam, he enthusiastically ladled a bowl of hot meat soup for both Xiaotao and Xie Luohe.

Xie Luohe looked down at her bowl, then at Xiaotao’s.

Her own bowl was full of ginger.

Xiaotao’s was full of meat.

Xie Luohe’s smile vanished. She finished the soup with a taut face and said nothing.

Xiaotao hadn’t noticed. She quickly stood up to get some soup for her Young Master, but when she looked in the pot, all the meat was gone. Only broth remained. She was dumbfounded.

Breakfast ended in a strange atmosphere.

Traveling was inconvenient for a woman.

Luckily, neither her Young Master nor the Eldest Miss were strangers. Xiaotao hung up a cloth to create a small, private space. Blushing, she asked her Young Master to look away for a moment, then hid behind the curtain and, with a rustle of fabric, changed out of her damp bodice and hid it away.

Zheng Xiu walked outside the teahouse to observe the sky.

There was no snow today, but a frigid wind howled.

Amidst the whistling wind, Zheng Xiu fanned himself as he fed the horses and made preparations to continue their journey.

A night had passed, and the teahouse family had not returned. It seemed Xie Luohe’s little demonstration had truly terrified them.

HUFF... HUFF... HUFF...

The two horses suddenly grew agitated. Zheng Xiu patted their rumps to soothe them. He turned to see Xie Luohe and Xiaotao emerging from the inner room with their bags packed.

"Xiaoyun, easy now."

Xie Luohe took the reins of one of the horses from Zheng Xiu. Her horse’s name was Xiaoyun.

Incidentally, the other horse was Xiaoliu.

It was as though, even with the Monk absent, his stubborn Spirit was being ridden by them.

"You... How are you able to do that?"

Zheng Xiu had been wondering why Xie Luohe, a Mystic, could ride a horse when Feng Bei clearly couldn’t.

"Didn’t I tell you already?" Xie Luohe gave Zheng Xiu a sidelong glance with a smile. As she mounted her horse, she raised a single finger to her rosy lips and mouthed the words: Voice of All Things.

Zheng Xiu read her lips and paused, slightly stunned.

Before they left, as Xiaotao was hanging her bags on the saddle, she looked back at the deserted teahouse. A wave of emotion washed over her as she recalled the previous day’s events. She murmured, "I wonder if that little boy’s foot has healed... Ah..." As soon as the words were out, Xiaotao realized she shouldn’t have said them and quickly covered her mouth. "Eldest Miss, I spoke out of turn."

"No matter."

Zheng Xiu’s ears perked up.

After deliberately mimicking Feng Bei’s tone for that single phrase, Xie Luohe shot a triumphant glance at Zheng Xiu. Then she said to Xiaotao, "Did you know how many people that family of three harmed before we arrived?"

Xiaotao’s expression was one of shock. She then shook her head vigorously. "The Eldest Miss is always right."

Xie Luohe said, "There’s a reason for everything. If not for... I would have killed them."

When Zheng Xiu first heard Xie Luohe’s "No matter," he knew she was no longer shying away from using Feng Bei’s tone. It seemed she was planning to accept his challenge with a new game of her own. Zheng Xiu had intended to ignore her, but after hearing the second half of her sentence, he couldn’t help but sneer. "Big Leader, surely you don’t think that you—the Big Leader of Yunhe Village, a bandit chief—can be considered one of the righteous, do you?"

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