When Li Qing came out of the Model Home, he happened to see Yuan Sisi burst out of the doorway across from him.
The girl still looked shaken. The moment she saw Li Qing, she rushed over as though she had found a lifeline. "Li Qing! You-you really are Li Qing, right?"
Li Qing stood still and merely gave a slight nod.
Yuan Sisi grabbed his arm and hid behind him, looking back at the place she had come from.
At the entrance to the little courtyard, in front of the shrine marking the Model Home, a woman looked toward them with half her face hidden in shadow and an icy smile on her lips.
Li Qing tilted his head, his voice calm. "It's all right now. She won't come out. We can go back."
Only then did Yuan Sisi murmur, "Okay."
Perhaps because of the fright she had received, she was subdued and remained quiet the whole way.
The two of them actually arrived last. The other four brides had already gathered, each holding a token.
Aside from the pale-faced Yuan Sisi, all four were perfectly calm, which made Yuan Sisi seem like the odd one out.
On the way back, Yuan Sisi finally spoke in a low voice. "Li Qing, didn't any of you encounter anything strange?"
"By strange, do you mean a wife who had completely turned into the Fortune Lady, a ghost child with a darkened forehead, or an imprisoned husband?"
Yuan Sisi's mouth fell open. "Oh, so you knew too! That woman and her child attacked me in there. Luckily, I saw the wooden token sitting outside, so I grabbed it and ran... What a rush."
Li Qing said, "I wasn't attacked."
"Why not..."
"Maybe because you didn't follow her rules."
Yuan Sisi thought for a long time before finally saying, "She gave me a cup of tea and told me to drink it! That tea looked like tar. Who would drink that? As soon as I refused, she and her child tried to grab me and force it down my throat..."
She shuddered as she spoke.
Li Qing said, "That must be it. I drank it, so I wasn't attacked."
"You drank it?!" Yuan Sisi's voice suddenly rose, and several brides ahead turned to look.
Yuan Sisi wanted to grab Li Qing by the neck and shake him. "How could you drink it! Anyone could see there was something seriously wrong with it!"
Li Qing said, "It's fine. Nothing will happen. It doesn't work on me."
Yuan Sisi gave a doubtful "Oh," but Li Qing felt an unpleasant gaze on him.
When he looked up, he saw Xu Yuan looking back over her shoulder. Ever since he had said the tea didn't work on him, she had been staring at him with venom in her eyes.
Li Qing stared back and tilted his head slightly, as if to ask, What's wrong?
Only then did Xu Yuan turn away, loudly sneering at Yuan Sisi. "Some people just aren't blessed."
Yuan Sisi said, "You're blessed. You drank tar!"
"Sisi, don't be angry. That's just how Xu Yuan is..." a timid voice said.
Zhou Qing chimed in too. "Exactly. Just ignore her."
The six returned to the Fortune Lady Temple amid a noisy exchange. The grooms had also finished their offering ritual to the Fortune Lady and had gone off to search for wooden tokens elsewhere in the temple.
In theory, the brides had nothing left to do. They returned to the dining hall, where only two grooms, Zhao Yu and Ding Yi, were present.
Apart from Yuan Sisi, the others got along reasonably well with Zhao Yu, so they asked where everyone had gone.
Seeing that most of them only wanted news of Wan Yingjun and Gong Yao, Zhao Yu couldn't help sounding a little sour. "Them? They haven't found their number tokens yet. Anyway, what numbers did you get?"
"Mine's 1..."
"I have 6."
Wu Nianfang announced her number without much concern. Zhao Yu glanced at his own number and breathed a sigh of relief.
...Anyone with eyes could tell there was something strange about this woman. Pairing up with her would be asking for death.
Zhou Qing smiled bashfully, showing no intention of revealing her number just yet.
Xu Yuan rolled her eyes. "I'm not telling you. What if you want to team up with me and swap tokens with Wan Yingjun?"
"..." The corner of Zhao Yu's mouth twitched. "Don't worry. That definitely won't happen."
Naturally, Yuan Sisi wasn't about to tell them either. Li Qing focused on eating and had no intention of speaking.
Li Qing ate quickly. Once he finished, he planned to find somewhere to rest.
Zhao Yu, however, said coolly, "I'd advise you not to wander around right now."
"Hm?"
"The Fortune Lady Temple isn't exactly safe right now. You have no idea what they might do to get their hands on a wooden token... We're allowed to attack each other now."
At his words, both Zhou Qing and Yuan Sisi grew wary.
Zhao Yu seemed to enjoy making others afraid. Seeing their reactions, he burst out laughing. "Relax. It's easier to strike when no one's around. It's perfectly safe here."
Li Qing nodded. "Understood. Thanks for the warning."
Zhao Yu said, "..."
Li Qing had already left the dining hall.
He walked down the corridor, intending to find an empty room to rest in, but suddenly stopped.
"Ha, I knew my instincts were right. You're much sharper than ordinary people."
A languid voice came from beside him.
With his hands in his pockets, Wan Yingjun sauntered out and stopped in front of Li Qing, looking down at him.
"Let's work together, Li Qing. You're the strongest bride in this batch. Together, we'll definitely make it out of this Dungeon Instance."
Li Qing looked at him quietly. "I thought you'd choose Zhou Qing."
Wan Yingjun gave an suggestive smile. "I only choose the best."
"Is that so?" Li Qing remained noncommittal.
"Think it over. By the way, that kid Gong Yao has his eye on you too?"
Li Qing said, "Actually, I've already made an agreement with him."
Wan Yingjun smiled dismissively. "That's not a wise choice. I'm the only one who can guarantee I'll get you out."
Then he leaned down, studying Li Qing's eyes with amusement. "Tonight, we still have to follow the rule about not staying alone in a room. Come find me, and I'll tell you my number, then help you get the matching token... Don't worry. Those girls all listen to me."
Li Qing didn't answer. He watched Wan Yingjun leave, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.
Yuan Sisi's voice sounded behind him again. "Will you team up with him?"
Li Qing said, "Maybe. Maybe not."
"Oh." Yuan Sisi looked a little downcast.
Li Qing didn't ask what was wrong. Sure enough, after a while, she spoke on her own. "I just found out Zhao Yu and I have the same number... This sucks. How did this happen?"
Li Qing said, "You can have my number token."
Yuan Sisi stared at him in shock.
Li Qing simply took the token marked 3 from her hand and pressed his own 5 into it.
"This is..."
"Wan Yingjun's number," he said.
Yuan Sisi froze.
"What about you?"
"I'll get a token with the same number as Gong Yao's."
At that, Yuan Sisi finally breathed a sigh of relief and returned to her usual chatter. "Then we're both safe. But I'm still a little worried about Fang Miao. I think she's a player too. Ah, I hope she makes it through this Dungeon Instance safely. Li Zi seems pretty nice too. If the two of them..."
"Yuan Sisi." Li Qing finally interrupted her.
Yuan Sisi looked up at him in confusion.
Li Qing said, "Haven't you realized yet? Fang Miao and Li Zi, the people you're talking about, died on the very first day."
"How could that be? I teamed up with Li Zi yesterday, and Miao Miao talked to us today..."
"..."
"...No. That's not right."
Yuan Sisi's face went pale, and she clutched her head in terror.
"That wasn't Fang Miao... That was a... faceless bride in a red wedding dress!"
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