Bai Qing'er

The front gate shook with pounding blows, the bar looking ready to give way. The four men drew their waist sabers, unsure whether they should flee or fight for their lives.

"Ling Zhonghai, Xu Changshou, what the hell are you doing?!"

The furious shout made their eardrums ache.

The four froze. That voice was familiar—Chang Wen, a Hundred-Household Officer of the Flying Fish Guard. When they turned around, their hearts sank. The woman in white who had been behind them moments ago had vanished.

They had been fooled.

After more curses came from outside, the four hurriedly reopened the gate.

The man at the front wore a Flying Fish Robe and carried a Xiuchun Saber. With his stern square face, who else could he be but Chang Wen, Hundred-Household Officer of the Flying Fish Guard?

"You dare obstruct the Flying Fish Guard from apprehending a fugitive? How many heads do you have for chopping?" Chang Wen was beside himself with rage. He stepped forward and gave each of them a slap.

He had chased halfway across East City and was just about to catch her, only for these idiots, drugged out of their minds, to shut the gate on him. The person he was pursuing was a wanted criminal of the imperial court.

"Hundred-Household Officer, it's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding..." Ling Zhonghai hurriedly explained. He was the most senior of the four constables on duty, as well as their leader.

"Get searching!" Chang Wen had no patience for further explanations and barked an order.

The four could only cover their faces and hurried into the facility to search.

They had been intimidated by the title of Di Barbarian spy, and the woman had looked so delicate and frail that they had not thought much of it. Before they knew it, they had been tricked.

Crossing the Flying Fish Guard would bring no good end.

Leading the Flying Fish Guard men, the four soon found fresh bloodstains on the ground. The trail ran from the main gate, through the Corpse Burning Facility, and reached the wall in the rear courtyard, where a clear footprint was left atop it.

She had clearly scaled the wall and fled.

"Chase!"

Chang Wen's face turned livid. Gritting his teeth, he told the four, "The four of you have been requisitioned by this Hundred-Household Officer. If we don't catch her, you'll pay for it."

How could the four dare utter half a word of refusal? They could only climb over the wall after him and follow the blood trail.

Qin He stirred the boiled milk and was about to seal it when something suddenly dropped from the roof beam.

Bang!

A person crashed heavily onto the ground.

"Huh?"

Qin He rubbed his eyes and looked again, startled and delighted.

Where had this corpse come from out of nowhere?

Hadn't they agreed that he was off rotation today? Whose arrangement was this?

He cautiously poked it with a firewood stick. No, it did not seem to be a corpse. It was still soft. It was a woman, her hair covering her face so he could not make out her features.

Qin He was a little dazed. After looking around and confirming there was nothing unusual, he approached carefully.

She was indeed still alive, though her breath was as faint as a thread. Half her body was covered in blood, and she was gravely wounded.

Unable to make sense of the situation, he went outside to look for someone, only to find that the constables on duty had all mysteriously disappeared.

The question before Qin He was whether to save her or not.

Her origins were unknown. If he did not save her, she would probably stop breathing before long.

Or should he simply not save her? Then he would get a corpse for free.

Burn her and claim the reward?

Qin He was startled by the thought that had suddenly surfaced and hurriedly slapped himself across the mouth.

If he kept doing things like this, sooner or later he would suffer Qi Deviation.

Saving one life was better than building a seven-story pagoda.

Qin He shook his head, throwing away his jumbled thoughts. He picked the woman up and placed her on the Corpse Purification Platform. Pulling aside the hair covering her face, he took a look. Whew—she was truly beautiful.

Fair skin, lovely features, clear willow-leaf brows; slender and graceful, with a waist as trim as a bee's. She looked like a fairy who had stepped out of a painting.

Qin He's last trace of hesitation vanished.

He had to save her. No one could stop him.

After examining her wounds, he found that she had taken a saber slash across the back. Through the tear in her clothes, he could see bone gleaming stark white.

She had also been struck in the back by a dart, nearly the whole thing embedded in her body. The dart was poisoned, and the area around the wound had already been corroded into a large patch of black.

He did not know which beast had done this. Whoever it was clearly had no idea how to cherish a delicate flower.

After thinking for a moment, Qin He first tied the woman's hands and feet. Then he took off her clothes, took off his own clothes as well, pulled out the dart, and lowered his head to suck the poison from her wound.

Don't get the wrong idea.

He tied her hands and feet to keep her from suddenly rising up and attacking him. Since her origins were unknown, caution came first.

He removed her clothes to make treating her injuries easier.

He removed his own clothes because Qin He was hot. Damn this lingering autumn heat.

Sucking out the poison was part of the treatment.

As for the breathtaking spring scenery of her upper body, Qin He had probably only looked seventeen or eighteen times. Perfectly normal.

What Qin He did not notice was that although the woman in white had her eyes closed throughout the treatment, her eyeballs kept moving beneath her lids. She clearly had not completely passed out.

After fiercely sucking out several mouthfuls of poisoned blood, Qin He took out the Golden Wound Pill from his pocket.

It was a reward from burning corpses before. He crushed it and mixed it with water into a paste, feeding half to the woman and applying the other half to her wounds.

To Qin He's surprise, the medicine was extraordinarily effective. The blackness from the poison slowly faded, while her wounds healed at a visible rate. He could even hear the frantic growth of fresh flesh.

The woman was better, but Qin He soon discovered that something was wrong with himself.

His mouth seemed to be going numb, and his limbs were no longer obeying him.

Staggering over to the water bucket and looking at his reflection, he was dumbfounded. His lips had swollen like sausages.

Bang!

Qin He fell stiffly onto the ground, inwardly crying out that things were bad.

The poison lingered in the body—and it had a paralytic effect too.

He hurriedly circulated his inner force to resist it, but it did little good. Then something even worse happened. Rustling came from the Corpse Purification Platform. The woman in white moved.

Before long, that pretty face appeared above Qin He. Her face was frosty, her eyes filled with killing intent, and along with her came a gleaming dagger.

Qin He instantly regretted it so deeply his intestines turned green.

He was finished. He had capsized in a gutter!

This woman was no good person!

Bai Qing'er was furious.

That lecherous bastard, that lustful pervert, that damned little beggar!

He had actually violated her. Taking off her clothes and looking was bad enough, but he had even used his mouth.

Worst of all, he had stuck out his tongue!

An overwhelming frenzy tore at Bai Qing'er's reason.

She had barely escaped alive from the Flying Fish Guard's encirclement, cleverly tricking them away, only to be molested by this little beggar in the blink of an eye. Her purity had been ruined beyond recovery.

The dagger rested against Qin He's throat, cold and vicious as a venomous snake. All it would take was a light slash to turn him into a corpse.

Forget it. I'll just pretend I never came to this world. Qin He sighed inwardly. The Corpse Burning Facility truly was a deadly place. If corpses did not pounce him to death, then some other inexplicable accident would.

It was just a pity that he had never visited Old Alley Entrance.

Qin He felt that he agreed with Crippled Li even more now.

With that thought, Qin He instead calmed down and studied Bai Qing'er before him.

She had already been beautiful, and those watery almond-shaped eyes made her even more so.

What was slightly unusual was that a faint ring of pink surrounded Bai Qing'er's pupils, lending her an exotic air.

Meeting Qin He's calm gaze, Bai Qing'er's anger gradually receded, replaced by a sense of guilt.

The little beggar might have molested her, but the fact remained that he had treated her wounds and saved her life.

How could he treat her injuries without removing her clothes? How could he treat her injuries without sucking out the poison?

His gaze was so calm. He probably had not harbored that sort of intention. Since he had not meant it that way, it did not count as violating her—it had merely been forced by circumstances.

Once a person started making excuses for the other side, they could no longer bring themselves to strike.

Bai Qing'er was exactly like that.

If there had been even the slightest plea for mercy in Qin He's eyes, blood would surely have splashed across the spot.

"Hmph. I'll spare you this time. If there's a next time—no, there won't be a next time. Farewell. We'll never meet again!"

Bai Qing'er glared with her almond eyes, sheathed her dagger, and her lovely face left Qin He's view.

Then he heard the front gate gently open, then gently close.

Qin He suddenly went limp, inwardly marveling at his lucky escape.