Chapter 20 (1/2)

20 – Luo Qing’s Past

Reclining in the chambers arranged for her by the Heavenly Sword Gate, Xue Qilin stared at the ceiling and counted the woodgrains. She couldn’t sleep.

After the banquet, because the gate of the Jinling City was locked, many guests were settled down by the Heavenly Sword Gate in the city. Because of the Merak Palace’s high position, Xue Qilin and them have been arranged to stay in a villa.

Of course, the bed wasn’t too bad, but she still tossed and turned restlessly. It wasn’t that she had something on her mind, she just had too much sleep already.

After another quarter of an hour of tossing and turning in bed, Xue Qilin resigned herself and exhaled – it looks like I have insomnia.

But it was understandable. After all, due to practicing martial arts, martial pract.i.tioners were filled with energy. In general, they didn’t need more than two or three hours of sleep.

After sleeping all day, it would be strange if she could sleep now.

I better get up and find something to kill time… Xue Qilin sat up, put on shoes, and then picked up some outer garments placed next to the bed and put them on.

If only there was alcohol. Xue Qilin started to miss beer. Previously, when she couldn’t sleep, she liked to drink a few gla.s.ses. She wasn’t a hollow leg. Instead, she regarded herself as being weak-headed. Due to this, she was p.r.o.ne to get sleepy after drinking a little.

To put it bluntly, drinking was a trick that helped her fall asleep.

But where can I find alcohol? Xue Qilin sat at a table and propped her chin with a hand.

Suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps.

Knock knock – just as Xue Qilin wondered who it was, the door was knocked.

“Young Ancestor, you aren’t asleep yet?” It was Luo Qing’s voice.

“Little Qing? I’m not!” Xue Qilin promptly rose to her feet and went to open the door.

Still dressed in the green dress, Luo Qing gracefully stood outside the door.

Xue Qilin looked at the sky. Judging by the bright moon, it was already quite late, “Little Qing, what can I do for you? Why are you up this late…”

“I guessed that you couldn’t sleep after sleeping so much today, Young Ancestor. I’m also not sleepy, so I came to talk with you…” Luo Qing gave a tranquil smile, and then shook something in front of Xue Qilin’s nose.

The elegant fragrance of vine a.s.saulted her nose.

“Is this wine?” Xue Qilin blinked her eyes and asked in surprise.

The delicate porcelain contained wine, and it was fine wine. There was no mistake.

Even though Xue Qilin couldn’t be regarded as wine connoisseur, but judging from the aroma, how could the wine not be fine?

However, what left Xue Qilin sigh the most was the fact that Luo Qing came with wine in hand just as she wanted to have a drink.

Can she read my mind? This wasn’t the first time that Xue Qilin had this thought. Luo Qing often appeared when she needed help.

“Young Ancestor?”

“Oh, oh, come on in. I just wanted to find something to pa.s.s the time. You came just in time!”

“That’s good.” Luo Qing smiled, and then Xue Qilin took her to sit down at the table.

The other party fished out two small wine cups G.o.d know from where, then unplugged the cork of the wine jug and filled Xue Qilin’s cup to 70% capacity.

“Thank you!” Xue Qilin took the cup, and then asked curiously: “Little Qing, where did you get the wine?”

“The cups came from the Heavenly Sword Gate…” Luo Qing suddenly became shy and said uneasily: “Qin Chen has good wine, he has a wine cellar. I ‘borrowed’ this bottle the day before we left.”

She spoke the word borrowed a bit mischievously.

Borrowed? Isn’t that taking without permission? Xue Qilin was stunned. She didn’t expect Luo Qing to do such a thing.

The face of the girl in the green dress flushed red. Probably because this was the first time she did such a thing, so she felt embarra.s.sed, “I thought that taking a bottle of wine could serve as punishment for his poor character.”

Punishment? Isn’t this no different from mischief? Oh no, that’s a little cute! Xue Qilin’s face was slightly hot, and she hurriedly looked away.

In order to calm her heart, she gave a light cough and said solemnly: “Little Qing, you did…”

Seeing Xue Qilin seem dissatisfied with her practice, Luo Qing became nervous, and tensed up.

This was the first time Xue Qilin saw her act like this, and she couldn’t help smiling.

“Young Ancestor?”

“It’s nothing, you did well!”

“That’s good. I thought you were angry.” Luo Qing breathed a sigh of relief, and then put on her signature smile again.

She likes to smile. Well, at least of the people Xue Qilin has met, she was the one that smiled the most.

Xue Qilin took a sip of wine. A cool feeling filled her mouth, but when it reached her throat, the cool feeling became an incredible warmth.

Mellow and fragrant – these two words were probably the most suitable to describe Qin Chen’s wine.

Although he has a poor character, but his wine is very good… This wine is wasted on him. It’s just right for me to drink with Little Qing! Xue Qilin thought.

She took another sip and carefully savored the unique warmth. She gave a refreshed sigh and said unhurriedly: “Little Qing, what did you want to talk about?”

“Well…” She pondered for a long time, “I know a lot about you, but I don’t think you have heard anything about me, Young Ancestor. It’s a little unfair… In that case, why don’t you listen to my story, Young Ancestor?”

“Okay!” Xue Qilin agreed quickly. Gossip was the best side dish for when drinking. But…

“I’m an orphan.” Her tone was flat.

When she heard Luo Qing’s words, Xue Qilin was shocked. She didn’t expect such a heavy topic, “Little Qing, if…”

“No, I want to. Would you please indulge me and listen…, Young Ancestor?” She spoke in a nearly pleading tone.

“Okay, go ahead, I’ll listen!” Since the other party insisted, Xue Qilin could not refuse. However, in order to ease the atmosphere, she deliberately picked her ears, to indicate that she was all ears.

“I still remember…” Luo Qing spoke in a flat tone, as if this was of no concern to her. She diligently told the story of her past.

That day was Luo Qing’s ninth birthday, and it was on that day that she lost everything…

Blood slid down that man’s blade and finally dropped to the ground.

The blood staining the blade came from Luo Qing’s parents and the people of her village.

The man in front of her murdered everyone in the village. However, he didn’t seem to have enough.

He turned around, and his emotionless gaze fell on Luo Qing huddled in a corner. He wanted to kill her!

“Don’t…” Luo Qing trembled and backed off repeatedly. Yet behind her was the corner of the wall, so she nowhere to go.

“Don’t, don’t come here…” Scared as she was, she had to spend a lot of effort to squeeze out her voice.

But the other side didn’t care. In just two steps, he stopped in front of her.

“Please, please don’t kill me…”

The man didn’t respond, as if he couldn’t hear her. He looked down at her and raised his blade wordlessly.

The blade was covered in rust, but it was more than enough to cut down a defenseless girl.

He’s going to kill me! Even though she understood this, but the terrified Luo Qing didn’t know what to do.

The blade fell.

She subconsciously closed her eyes, yet her body moved on its own and rolled aside at the critical moment. It was an instinct that saved her. However…

A sharp pain came from her back. She was still cut.

She felt like something was slowly leaving her body, which was probably what they called life.

Luo Qing curled up in pain.

With the sound of footsteps, she saw a pair of straw sandals with the toes exposed.

During deadly danger, it was instinct that prompted people to react.