Chapter 197: No rush, who’s begging whom? (1/2)

Chapter 197: No rush, who’s begging whom?

Even Zhao mama had the tact to retreat, leaving no one else in the courtyard besides the two of them. It was very quiet.

Long Feiye sat picking out various needles and concealed weaponry while Han Yunxi stood on one side, stealing peeks at his face. There was no mistake about it, he looked extremely calm. It seemed that yesterday’s events hadn’t affected him in the least.

But that was her first kiss!

What about him?

Yesterday’s kiss had been too sudden and short. She was too inexperienced to tell whether he had experience kissing or not. In any case, he’d left her the impression of being a forceful type! As she kept thinking, yesterday’s scene rose in her mind again. Han Yunxi’s face immediately turned red－just as Long Feiye suddenly raised his head and looked over. His deep gaze stopped on her before he seemed to discern something. An awkward Han Yunxi felt like her face was on fire as she quickly turned aside in a panic. “Your Highness please wait, chenqie will carry over some tea!”

Long Feiye’s vast, dark pupils glimmered with subtle traces that were impossible to read. He didn’t stop her, but continued picking through the weapons on the stone table. Not long later, Han Yunxi really did come back with tea and snacks. Time had given her the chance to adjust her feelings and make a fair recovery. At least, she looked much more normal than before.

“Your Highness, please use the tea.” She sat down across from him and bravely met his gaze straight-on. Since this guy was so unperturbed, why should she feel uncomfortable?

Long Feiye, yesterday was an exception. Next time, this wangfei won’t be so easily affronted.

Long Feiye calmly accepted the teacup and slowly drank a few sips. Han Yunxi copied his movements to leisurely taste the drink, both of them very quiet.

It was currently the end of Spring, so pear blossoms were falling all around the courtyard. From a distance, the scene resembled a painting, its serene background and still figures creating a beautiful era. As to whether the hearts of the people in the painting were calm, that was something only they themselves knew. Long Feiye had long made his selections from the pile of weapons to pick out five that were suitable for Han Yunxi to learn and use. They were, respectively, the Plum Blossom Needle, Pointer Needle, Acupoint Needle, Row-Array Needle, and Mouth Needle. He picked up the Plum Blossom Needle first and began to teach.

This Plum Blossom Needle ended in five tips and was larger than Han Yunxi’s usual acupuncture needles. Han Yunxi had assumed that needles like this should be very formidable, but Plum Blossom Needles were actually the most low-grade hidden weapon. It was also the easiest one to use. The user would typically hide them in her sleeves and grab a bunch to fling at the enemy when attacking. A single needle contained five sharp blades, so a handful of them would have countless edges. If caught unawares, sending out these needles would ensure a high hit rate.

“Another method is to scatter them on the ground when fleeing. They’ll stab into the pursuers’ feet and buy time for the fugitive,” Long Feiye said as he gave a Plum Blossom Needle to Han Yunxi. Then he added coldly, “Of course, your lordship believes you have no need to use such a method.”

If it’s time for running away, then you have to run away, Han Yunxi mumbled in her heart, but she maintained a studious expression as she nodded. “Mm, understood.” It looked like she didn’t need to practice much with the Plum Blossom Needles.

Long Feiye brought out two acupuncture needles next, whose length and width approximated that of normal acupuncture needles. Unlike acupuncture needles, however, one of them split the tip into three individual needlepoints, while the other had the a curved tip at the end.

“These two are called Acupoint Needles…” as Long Feiye spoke, he raised his eyebrows mildly towards Han Yunxi. “Guess what they’re used for.”

“To seal acupoints…” Han Yunxi picked up the two needles and gesticulated a few times. She didn’t even need to think before replying. “These are specifically made to attack vital points on the body!”

It was already called “Acupoint Needles,” so it had to be used for acupoints. For the Tang Clan to create such needles to attack acupoints really was vicious! An ordinary needle was already much more scary than a finger when touching acupoints, much less needles like these! Really, it was almost too much!

Perhaps Han Yunxi was smart; perhaps Long Feiye’s question was too simple. In any case, he didn’t praise her for her intelligence but continued to speak. “These needles can be used both long distance and short distance. At shorter distances, you must be close enough to the enemy to strike them by surprise. At longer distances, you need to rely on your eye strength and hand strength.”

Han Yunxi earnestly nodded her head. She knew that eye strength and hand strength were critical components of using hidden weapons. Long Feiye was in no rush to teach her these two things, but picked up the third type of needle. This one was uncommonly tiny, about the size of a regular doctor’s needle.

“This is a Pointer Needle.”

“Pointer Needle?” Han Yunxi didn’t understand. As she understood it, “pointer needle” referred to the minute hand of a clock. But this was something completely different!

Long Feiye silently hid the needle between his fingers before suddenly extending his hand to Han Yunxi’s face. Before he came any closer, a needle flew out from between the fingers and narrowly avoided scratching her face. A surprised Han Yunxi only realized to dodge afterwards, but by then Long Feiye had already withdrawn his hand to ask patiently, “Understand?”

Han Yunxi came to a sudden realization. So the Pointer Needle’s “point” referred to pointing the fingers! She nodded as she hid the Pointer Needle in her fingers. As an old hand with needles, such a trivial show of acrobatics didn’t cause her any difficulty. Very quickly, all eight cracks between her ten fingers were full of concealed needles.

“Take that!”

With a cry, Han Yunxi extended both hands and sent eight needles flying past Long Feiye’s face. The projectiles were half a needle’s length away from his cheeks!

So close!

If Han Yunxi had used even a tiny bit more strength, or if Long Feiye had budged even an inch, his face would’ve been a goner! Ever since he was young, he’d gotten into the habit of keeping anything dangerous away from himself. He wouldn’t allow anything beyond his control to happen by his side, but Han Yunxi could’ve killed him just then as easily as turning over her palm. For a instant, a flash of killer intent flickered past Long Feiye’s eyes. Han Yunxi didn’t notice anything peculiar. She really liked these needles and happily collected them again.

“These are fun, I’m adept at them!” So speaking, she picked up more Pointer Needles and started hiding four or five of them between the same fingers without revealing a peep. She raised her hand up high for Long Feiye to see, tone cocky. “If the first wave doesn’t hit, I’ll have reserves to catch them unawares.”