Saina (Revised)

Su Li was so amused he laughed.

He walked over and plopped down right next to Saina.

"What kind of manure do you have stuffed in that head of yours every day?" Su Li reached out and flicked her hard on the forehead. "I just died and came back, my seat isn't even warm yet, and you're already chasing me away?"

Saina clutched her forehead, biting her lower lip hard without a word.

She turned her head to stare at Su Li's face. It was too good-looking.

With his Sword Brows Starry Eyes and skin so fair it seemed to glow, even dressed in rags, he couldn't hide that aura of a deity descended to earth.

She looked at herself—hands like chicken claws, not an ounce of meat on her bones, a face full of pockmarks.

A crushing sense of inferiority washed over her.

"You aren't an ordinary person," Saina said, hanging her head and plucking at the dried grass on the ground.

"I saw it in our past life. When you forged iron, white smoke would rise from your body. Others would work themselves to death, but you did it with ease. Now that you've died and come back, you're even more handsome. You must have been sent down by the lords in heaven to do something great."

Saina's voice grew quieter as she spoke, thick with a sob.

"I'm just a village girl. In our past life, I hogged you for sixty years and didn't even lay an egg for you. I'm not good enough for you."

"In this life, you should go find a princess, find a beautiful fairy. If I stay with you, I'll only be a burden. Just go. Let's pretend we never met in this life."

Su Li felt his temples throbbing as he listened to this.

To hell with princesses and fairies, he cursed inwardly.

In his previous life, he had just encountered two assassins who looked like fairies, and before he even got a good look at that chest of Gold Coins, they had run him through.

The prettier the woman, the more deadly she was—he had learned that lesson with his own life.

His own village girl, whom he knew inside and out, was better.

Even if she wasn't much to look at, she was the one who had protected him with her whole heart.

He was greedy for money and lecherous, but he valued his life above all else.

Saina was still pulling at the grass, tears dripping down.

Su Li couldn't be bothered with nonsense. When dealing with a stubborn mule like this, reasoning was useless; taking direct action was the only way.

He leaned in and cupped her pockmarked face in his hands.

He used his thumbs to roughly wipe away the snot and tears on her face.

"You slept with me for sixty years in our past life, and now you're trying to pull up your pants and deny it?" Su Li stared at her stunned face, his tone fierce and urgent.

"So what if there are no children? I fancy your pockmarked face, and I fancy this scrawny frame of yours!"

Saina froze.

That impossibly handsome face was inches away. Their noses were almost touching. The man's heat washed over her face.

"You..." Saina stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence.

"Shut up!"

Su Li pressed forward, his lips crushing down hard on her slightly chapped ones.

Forget about taking things slow, forget about romance. In their past life, they had dithered for years before consummating their marriage—it was a total waste of time.

Since they both carried their memories into this life, there was no point in pretending to be a pure, innocent virgin.

Her collar slid straight down to her waist.

A large expanse of snow-white skin hit Su Li's line of sight; the quality of her skin was truly incredible.

Unscathed by wind or sun, kept hidden under clothes all year round, it was blindingly fair. Though she wasn't well-endowed, the firmness of her youth carried a raw, wild beauty.

Saina's body went limp, and she collapsed onto the grass.

Her mind went blank.

But her body's instincts were honest. She reached out with those thin, bony arms and locked them tightly around Su Li's neck.

The night wind turned scorching.

On the grass, two bodies were entangled.

A young shell housing a sixty-year-old soul...

Saina had no power to resist. She could only bite her lip hard, keeping herself from making too much noise.

The moonlight cast the shadows of the two...

Sweat slid down his slender neck.

The conversation felt rather comical.

Though they were an old married couple, they still had to endure this awkward opening all over again.

Yet, the feeling was surprisingly good.

Without that wretched protection clause suppressing his nature, Su Li let himself go completely.

His Sword Spirit Root spun wildly within him. With every breath, the ether in the air burrowed into his meridians. His stamina was ridiculously good.

This...

He did not know how much time had passed.

The night breeze finally dispersed the heat in the grass pit.

Saina lay limply in Su Li's arms.

Her coarse cloth clothes were draped haphazardly over her, unable to hide the vast expanse of alluring, snowy skin. She didn't want to move a single finger, feeling as if every bone in her body had fallen apart.

Su Li leaned against the trunk of the Old Locust Tree. He looked down at the woman in his arms.

Her pockmarked face was flushed red, and tears still clung to the corners of her eyes.

But that sense of inferiority and lifelessness had vanished entirely.

"Still going to chase me away?"

"No more chasing." ... "Can't chase you away. You're just like a dog."

"Calling me..."

Saina snuggled deeper into his embrace.

"Su Li, what are we going to do next?" Saina looked up at him. "Since you died and came back this time, did you end up with nothing? Are we still going to work at the smithy in this life?"

Work at the smithy?

Su Li let out a cold laugh.

To hell with smithing. He had spent his entire previous life hammering iron, only to end up as cannon fodder in the end.

In this broken world, working honestly led nowhere.

Even if he earned the title of Magic Forger, he would only be treated as a fat sheep to be slaughtered.

If he wanted to live well, he had to be more ruthless and wealthier than those noble lords.

"No more smithing." Su Li rubbed his chin. "In this life, I'm going to live off a woman. No, I'm going to be a big tycoon."

"Bragging." Saina curled her lip. "Your pockets are cleaner than your face right now."

Su Li chuckled.

He raised his left hand. Under the moonlight, the ancient bronze ring on his index finger glinted with a faint light.

"See this thing?" Su Li held his hand up in front of Saina.

Saina stared at the worn-out ring, which didn't even have any patterns on it.

"Copper? This isn't worth much. Can it even be pawned for two pieces of black bread?"

Su Li rolled his eyes. This village girl's vision was limited to nothing more than black bread.

"Open your eyes wide and watch."

Su Li focused his mind.

A fist-sized stone on the ground vanished into thin air.

Saina's eyes widened. She rubbed her eyes, staring fixedly at the spot where the stone had been. It was completely empty.