Little by little, he raised his head and saw that the female cultivator was still diligently harvesting more than ten zhang away. From time to time, she straightened up, braced one hand against her waist, and wiped the sweat from her brow. Moonlight shone upon her face, stirring Liu Xiaolou's heart. She's so beautiful—twice as beautiful as Sister Qing at the entrance to First Alley in Wu Chao Town!
This was not the time to admire a beauty beneath the moon. Liu Xiaolou reined in his stray thoughts and watched her every move. Seeing that she had not noticed him at all, he flicked out the Misty Incense Tendon and began harvesting.
No other thieves came to interfere now. Though he worked carefully, he had steadiness on his side. Once things were steady, naturally, they would not be slow.
After harvesting continuously for nearly half an hour, the four or five fen of fields before him had been stripped bare. He had carried bundles of rice ears into the forest several times, and the distance between him and the female cultivator had shrunk to only six or seven zhang.
One must not be too greedy in all things!
Liu Xiaolou gave himself a warning. After tying up the last bundle of rice ears, he carefully turned around and crawled back.
Enough was enough. It was time to change locations.
He had only crawled a few steps when a voice suddenly sounded behind him. "Harvested enough?"
Liu Xiaolou's scalp went numb. He knew he had been exposed—perhaps he had been exposed long ago. After all, he was not the Big White Goose and was not skilled at this sort of thing. A slip-up had been inevitable.
Yet at this moment, his heart instead relaxed. He simply stood up openly, turned around, and looked over. The female cultivator stood with her hands folded, a long sword cradled in her arms, watching him with a cold sneer.
Caught red-handed, Liu Xiaolou was not afraid. He cupped his hands and said, "I happened to be passing by and worried that you would not finish harvesting in time, miss, thus missing the season. So I lent a hand. Mm, it is almost all harvested..."
The female cultivator immediately laughed. "So you saw injustice on the road and stepped in to help out of righteousness?"
Liu Xiaolou said solemnly, "It was only a small favor. There is no need for you to thank me, miss. It is getting late, so I shall take my leave."
As he spoke, he turned and ran, darting toward the dense forest.
The woods were right before him. Even that surnamed Han fellow from the Dongyang Sect had failed to catch him. Surely she could not catch him either!
As he dashed forward, he suddenly felt a fierce gust of wind rise behind his head. It was truly razor-sharp. Startled out of his wits, he instinctively jerked his neck three cun to the side. A flying sword brushed past his ear and sheared through a fir tree as thick as a bowl ahead of him!
The sword light circled through the forest and flew back into the female cultivator's hand. She said coldly, "Run! Keep running!"
A flying sword!
Liu Xiaolou froze on the spot.
At this moment, he truly wanted to cry but had no tears.
At the very least, she was a grand expert at the Qi Refining tenth layer, at the peak of perfection—and she had come here to work as a hired hand harvesting spirit fields?
While harvesting the spirit fields, she had been so clumsy, neither releasing sword radiance nor wielding her flying sword?
Was she sick? Was there something wrong with her?
A few more steps ahead lay the forest, but Liu Xiaolou did not dare run another half-step. Instead, he slowly turned around and looked pitifully at the female cultivator, utterly dejected.
"Who gave you the nerve to come steal rice from my fields?" The female cultivator lifted her chin and asked disdainfully.
Liu Xiaolou answered honestly, "My family is poor. We truly cannot even keep the pot boiling."
"Poor? Poverty is your reason for stealing rice? No matter how poor you are, you cannot cast away your aspirations!" The female cultivator began lecturing him without the slightest mercy.
"What Senior says is right..."
"Ha, Senior?"
"Ah, what miss says is right. I was muddle-headed for a moment. From now on, I will certainly reform and turn over a new leaf..."
"I am asking you, was the pay offered by the employer not enough?"
"It was enough, enough..."
"Then why did you entertain such despicable thoughts?"
"People inevitably have muddle-headed moments. One false step becomes a lifetime of regret..."
"Come on. Go to the villa and explain this to the employer!"
"About this... I am willing to compensate for it!"
"Compensate? Didn't you say you were so poor you could not keep the pot boiling? What could you possibly afford to compensate with?"
"Whatever spirit rice I took, I am willing to return double..."
Hearing Liu Xiaolou's proposed compensation, the female cultivator could not help laughing. "What would I want with your spirit rice? Could I even finish eating it all?"
If you don't care about spirit rice, then what are you doing here working as a hired hand? Liu Xiaolou muttered inwardly. His mind spun wildly, but after circling round and round, he realized he truly had nothing to offer as compensation. As the female cultivator urged, "Come with me," he became frantic. "Miss, please let me off this once. As they say, no acquaintance without a fight. Should you have any instructions in the future, I will brave boiling water and tread blazing fire without hesitation!"
These words still had no effect. The female cultivator clearly had no interest in Liu Xiaolou's promise to brave boiling water and tread blazing fire. "Will you walk on your own, or should I tie you up and drag you there? Oh, and take off that face covering. Show your face, you sneaky fellow..."
Left with no choice, Liu Xiaolou removed his black cloth mask, straightened his somewhat disheveled topknot, and tried his best to blink at the female cultivator—there was only one last move left: seduce her with his looks. After all, he was one of the Twin Beauties of Wulong Mountain alongside Wei Hongqing. He did not dare claim to be an elegant and unrestrained gentleman, but he was at least handsome.
Once the black cloth was removed and the hazy moonlight fell upon him, it added even more refinement to his features.
This move actually seemed to have some effect. Upon seeing his face, the female cultivator's expression stiffened slightly. She stared at him blankly, speechless for a long while.
Liu Xiaolou could only keep blinking as he continually begged for mercy. "I know I was wrong..."
"Turn around. Turn left..."
"Ah? All right..."
The female cultivator suddenly asked, "What is your name? Where do you cultivate? Tell me the truth."
"I am... a Wulong Mountain rogue cultivator, Liu Xiaolou." Liu Xiaolou did not dare conceal it. His face had already been exposed, and she could confirm everything by going to the villa head. At present, his only option was to admit his mistake with the utmost sincerity. Perhaps there was still a sliver of hope.
"Are you of Wulong Mountain?"
"Yes, on Qianzhu Ridge. Miss, should you have any instructions, I will obey them all!"
After another moment of silence, the female cultivator waved her hand. "Go."
"Ah?"
"Go..."
This... Had the handsome-man ploy worked? Liu Xiaolou was momentarily dazed, yet did not dare ask further. He entered the dense forest while looking back every few steps.
When he looked back, he saw her raise her head to gaze at the sky, seemingly lost in thought. He could not be bothered with that and quickened his pace as he left.
As he departed, he also took the rice ears he had previously stored in the woods. She had not told him to return them, nor had she said he was not allowed to take them. Naturally, he was taking them with him.
Liu Xiaolou's pace grew faster and faster. True essence coursed through him as he used every ounce of strength he possessed to flee the area. Finding a secluded spot, he hurriedly processed that night's gains into unhusked rice, packed it into sacks, and rushed anxiously to the farmstead to turn in his quota.
These two days were the final days of the harvest rush. The farmstead granary had not closed; even in the middle of the night, it was still accepting grain. Liu Xiaolou handed over the rice, fifty-six jin in total, leaving him fifty jin short of the required amount.
He had no desire to linger any longer, so he accepted a penalty of one hundred and fifty taels of silver to settle the matter. He did not have that much silver on him, but he had gold and a Jade Pendant taken from Jinping Mountain Villa. He used all ten-odd taels of gold and one Jade Pendant to cover the fine, and his hired work was considered complete.
In a hurry, he carried the four sacks of spirit grain buried in the fields on a shoulder pole and left Goose-Goat Mountain overnight. By dawn, he was already fifty or sixty li away from Goose-Goat Mountain. Only when he caught sight of the Wu Chao River did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.