Wuwu... You're Bullying Me

Chen Yi frowned, and it looked like she was not.

First, he could be certain the newcomer did not know him, or she would not have asked that way earlier.

Second, the newcomer finding him should be related to his wife, Xiao Jinghong.

The Second Miss Xiao's enemies?

Perhaps, seeing as Xiao Jinghong was a general guarding Shuzhou and had quite a few enemies.

Chen Yi's brows furrowed instinctively. How strong must a martial arts cultivator be to bypass the Marquis's Mansion Guards and reach Chunhe Garden?

Thinking this.

Chen Yi slowly shifted his footsteps, backing against several stalks of purple bamboo, and sized up his surroundings with a guarded expression.

Just as he was about to speak and probe further, he sensed a gust of wind coming from the back of his head.

At the same time, there was also a crisp, giggling sound: "Hehe..."

Without overthinking.

Chen Yi stamped his foot down, lowered his body, supported the ground with his hands, and flipped out sideways. His eyes looked straight at the newcomer, but he could only catch a glimpse of a short figure darting past.

What a fast body movement technique.

The thought had just flashed through his mind when he saw that shadow press toward him again. There seemed to be a bell around her neck, tinkling and jingling.

"Considering that you called me a female hero, this female hero will let you suffer a little less pain."

The voice arrived, and a crystalline white palm followed closely, striking out.

Chen Yi's eyes gazed fixedly, the surrounding sounds vanishing instantly, leaving only that incoming palm in his vision.

The qi within his body circulated instinctively, flowing in an instant from his Dantian Qi Sea back out into his tendons, bones, and skin, and the hundred skeletal remains of the four limbs.

Then, instead of retreating, he advanced. He brought his wrists together, lowered his body, and blocked upward--Collapsing Mountain · Heaven Supporting Style!

Slap!

The moment he made contact with that palm, Chen Yi gripped her wrist fiercely, about to cross his palms and exert force to snap her arm, while simultaneously thrusting his elbow forward with the Collapse Mountain Force.

Little did he expect that before he could finish doing this, the newcomer seemed to be frightened by him, her body going completely limp as she hung right onto him.

"Stop, stop, stop... It hurts, hurts, hurts..."

"..."

Chen Yi's elbow stopped barely in front of her chest, his hands still grasping that arm of hers, and he sized her up using the light of the lantern outside the wooden tower.

He saw that she was a woman adorned with many small braided hair accessories, with a round, fair, and lustrous face, and a circle of silver bells hanging around her neck.

She was also dressed in a bizarre manner, looking very much like the people from the mountain tribes he had seen along the road earlier, primarily in red and blue color schemes. The low-cut collar opened very wide at her chest, and the slits on either side of the sundress reached all the way above her knees.

"Who are you?"

"I, I'm Pei Guanli..."

"Why did you try to assassinate me?"

"A-Assassinate?"

The woman tilted her head, looking at him pitifully, her large eyes sweeping over her wrist. "I wasn't trying to assassinate you, I was just playing around with you."

"Pei Guanli?" Naturally, Chen Yi would not easily believe her. He used both hands to lock her in a reverse hold, pressing his knee against her back.

"Playing around is grounds for attacking me?"

"If you don't tell the truth, I'll have to hand you over to the mansion's guards. I'm sure those big fellows with military backgrounds would really like a delicate, tender young girl like you."

"Don't, don't, don't... Everything I said is the truth... I really was just playing around with you. When I arrived, I had just seen Sister Jinghong."

Pei Guanli explained in a flustered rush, thinking only of how to get away sooner.

At the same time, she was inwardly puzzled-clearly, her elder brother had said that Sister Jinghong's husband was a weak, scholarly literati, a embroidered pillow, and a total straw bag.

How could this person's strength be so great? He must have at least the cultivation base of the Ninth Rank, Upper Stage.

The crucial part was that his martial arts techniques were not weak either. Not only could he evade her attacks, but he could also subdue her in an instant.

If she had known this would happen earlier, Pei Guanli would definitely have slipped him a few doses of poison before making a move.

She had seen his wife? Chen Yi was half-doubting, half-believing. "And what else?"

"And, and Sister Jinghong and my grandmother have known each other for many years. Our tribe even relied on Sister Jinghong to make a better life, and afterward, we're going to establish a mutual market with her to trade what we have for what we lack."

"Then why didn't you say so right away?"

"She, Sister Jinghong wouldn't let me attend the Old Marquis's birthday banquet, so, so I just wanted to tease you a bit to make her angry..."

Having finished speaking, Pei Guanli turned her head to look at him while struggling, wailing with crystal tears at the corners of her eyes, "Brother-in-law, this person knows her wrong, wuwu..."

Hearing this, the corners of Chen Yi's mouth twitched slightly, and he already believed her words.

"Get up."

However, after Chen Yi released her, he still cautiously retreated two steps just in case.

Pei Guanli got up, rubbing her grasped and aching arm. Looking at the blue and purple bruises on her wrist, tears poured down freely from her eyes.

"You just wait, I'm going to, I'm going to tell Sister Jinghong and say you bullied me."

"I'm also going to tell my elder brother and grandmother, and have them come beat you up, wuwu..."

Watching her crying and whimpering appearance, Chen Yi wore a look of utter headache.

It was not because of the crying or some elder brother or grandmother, but because he suddenly realized-

If this lass knew Xiao Jinghong and had a very good relationship with her, wouldn't that mean his hidden martial arts cultivation base and techniques were going to be exposed?

"Stop crying. Get up and speak."

"I won't... Huh? Huh? Where are you taking me?"

Chen Yi lacked the patience to coax her. He pulled her directly into another wooden tower chamber belonging to Xiao Jinghong and tossed her onto a stool.

Pei Guanli looked at the pitch-black room, then looked at the irritated-looking Chen Yi, and fear finally welled up in her heart.

"B-Brother-in-law, y-y-you... what are you going to do?"

"Don't you go doing anything reckless, I-I-I... I'm telling you, the girls of our tribe are planted with a special type of Gu worms from a young age. If you do that thing, the outcome will be very miserable."

Pei Guanli forgot to cry, "intimidating" him in a panic. "Everything I said is true, and Sister Jinghong won't let you off either if she finds out."

"..."

What on earth was she talking about?

Chen Yi glanced at her appearance. Although pretty, it was clearly not enough to make him shatter his peaceful life for it.

Thinking this, he sat down by himself to the side and said flatly, "How about we make a deal?"

Pei Guanli crossed her arms over her chest, asking guardedly and fearfully, "Wh-What deal?"

"I can let bygones be bygones regarding tonight's events, but you cannot speak of anything that happened tonight to anyone."

"J-Just, just like that?" Pei Guanli watched him cautiously.

Chen Yi nodded. "Just like that. Treat it as if this matter never happened."

As long as I don't speak of it, if I don't speak of it...

Thinking of the rumors she had heard earlier, a flash of inspiration crossed Pei Guanli's mind.

"Are you afraid of people finding out you know martial arts? You want to hide it from Sister Jinghong, right? So you were intentionally concealing it all along. Are you trying to harbor malicious intentions against the Xiao Manor?"

Hearing this, Chen Yi shook his head helplessly at this foolish girl.

"If you don't agree, I will hand you over to the Marquis's Mansion Guards right now under the charge of assassination."

"Then the fact that you practice the martial arts path will also be exposed together."

"Who would believe it?"

"Sister Jinghong would believe it." Seeing his calm expression, Pei Guanli still felt somewhat afraid and hitched her buttocks backward to put some distance between them.

Chen Yi said with a stern expression, "I've only practiced martial arts for a little over ten days. Tell me, who would believe that?"

"A little over ten days... Impossible!" Pei Guanli stood up abruptly, pointing at him. "Y-Y-You're... lying to me, right?"

No one could possibly cultivate the martial arts path to this extent in just over ten days.

If it were that simple, what did it say about her being stuck at the Ninth Rank, Upper Stage for all these years and unable to break through?

Chen Yi glanced at her. "That is the fact of the matter, believe it or not."

"In short, if you don't agree, then we'll call it quits and go our separate ways. Perhaps some guard will take a fancy to you, and you can enter the bridal chamber tonight."

"..."

Pei Guanli glared at him for a long time, as if looking at a monster.

After a moment.

She rolled her eyes a few times, leaned slightly closer, and a flattering smile appeared on her round face as she coaxed:

"Brother-in-law, how did you pull that off? Teach me, won't you?"