Chapter 651: If you’re hard-hearted, I’ll be unfair (1/2)

It was unclear whether Mu Linger could read the hidden meaning in Han Yunxi’s gaze, but she returned the mischievous laugh with one of her own and entered into the fray.

“All of you, shield me!”

“Mu Linger, this has nothing to do with you! Get lost!” Duanmu Yao panicked. Why didn’t she remember this girl was around, too?

“Han Yunxi’s my boss, so her business is my business!” Mu Linger wasn’t just confident, but even imitated Duanmu Yao’s earlier huffy tone. “Duanmu Yao, this girl will only give you one chance. Be good and hand over that letter, or else…” She trailed off into ominous chuckles just like Han Yunxi. Seeing this, Han Yunxi set her worries at ease. She knew that Mu Linger understood what to do!

“Stop meddling in other people’s business! Die!” Duanmu Yao raised her sword and executed a series of beautiful katas straight at Mu Linger. Although she looked fearless, her heart was filled with tension.

She’d be more than equal to the task of fighting off eleven men and a single Han Yunxi, but she was less sure against Mu Linger.

“Chu Xifeng, hurry and charge!” Mu Linger called. In response, Chu Xifeng and the ten guards all rushed to surround Duanmu Yao once again. She fended them off as she raged.

“You’re all men, yet you have the shame to bully a single girl like me?”

“Just hand over the letter peacefully. I promise nobody wants to bully you at all!” Mu Linger laughed disdainfully. She was still standing on the side to wait for the perfect chance.

Of course Duanmu Yao knew she was scoping out the situation, so she kept part of her attention on Mu Linger as well. But that moment of inattention allowed Chu Xifeng and the rest to draw closer until she was forced to give them her full efforts again. After a few rounds, they seemed evenly matched. Chu Xifeng’s group couldn’t gain an advantage, just as Duanmu Yao couldn’t slip away. She was getting more and more worried that Mu Linger would strike. Her sword parried Chu Xifeng’s with a vicious strike before she twirled in a circle to press back the guards with the edge of her blade in a sweeping arc. Only then did she gain enough time to catch her breath and speak.

“Senior brother,” she shouted, “I’ve incurred a serious internal injury. Can you help me treat my wounds? Master–” She wanted to reveal the full contents of the letter and that it didn’t even matter whether he read it or not. Any excuse for her to withdraw gracefully from the topic would be good. But before she could finish, Mu Linger flew over with alarming speeds.

Surprised, Duanmu Yao moved to block her, but Chu Xifeng and the guards beset her again. At the critical moment, their threat eclipsed that of Mu Linger, so her instincts had her moving to defend against them instead. But Mu Linger didn’t attack at all. She drew close enough to grab Duanmu Yao’s collar, then violently tore the fabric.

Riiiiippp…

The sound froze everyone in their tracks, including Duanmu Yao herself. The ethereal white fabric beneath her little red jacket had gained a fresh new tear, causing the letter hidden there to drop to the ground. The pale yellow fabric binding her chest was revealed to the world. While everyone stared stunned, Han Yunxi and Mu Linger only grinned. Han Yunxi’s smile was leisurely and lethargic, while Mu Linger’s looked sweet and perfectly harmless.

These pair of cousins really were one of a kind.

“Ahhh….!” Duanmu Yao shrieked as she shielded her chest with her hands. She re-buttoned her jacket, but it only covered the top portion of her dress and did nothing for the torn section beneath. She looked around her and saw nothing but men staring at her instead!

“What are you all looking at?!” Furious and embarrassed, she screamed at them as if she’d gone mad. “No peeking! All of you turn around for this princess! Do you hear me?!”

Even both her hands weren’t enough to cover up everything. Now she had no more face to continue the fight! She cast a glance at the carriage, only to see Han Yunxi looking at her in disdain. The curtains were drawn tightly with no response from the occupant within. Bitter, grieved, miserable and unresigned, her despair changed into tears that poured from her eyes.

“Senior brother, don’t blame me for being unfair when you’re so hard-hearted! Han Yunxi and Mu Linger, I, Duanmu Yao, won’t forget today’s grievance! I’ll return this to you twicefold!” After her shout, she violently resheathed her sword before leaving in a pathetic mess.

Mu Linger ignored the warning and only kept Duanmu Yao’s shameless comments today in mind. She picked up the letter and tossed it to Han Yunxi before exclaiming, “Here! I’m going to find—” she narrowly missed blurting out the wrong name again, but quickly stuck out her tongue and laughed. “I’m going to find His Excellency Pill Fiend now!”

Han Yunxi opened up the letter and found, as she expected, the same contents as the one from before, a message with three “musts” written into the missive. She lifted the curtains and found that Long Feiye was still reading and drinking tea. By now he’d reached the last page of the Annals of the Seven Noble Families, which had an introduction to the Wind Clan.

She’d done her utmost to block a rogue peach blossom from bothering him outside, but here he was enjoying himself with drinks and books. Still…she rather liked his attitude!

Handing over the letter, she asked, “What now?”

It was easy to overthrow Duanmu Yao, but not the sword sect master. With the letter in their hands, it’d be hard to make any more excuses. Moreover, Duanmu Yao might stop bothering them now, but she could still use the sword sect master as an excuse to pressure Long Feiye. He couldn’t feign indifference forever.

What to do?

She didn’t dare to really offend the old man. Now she was out of ideas. Long Feiye wasn’t even interested in touching the letter, but glanced at it before he said, “It’s useless, so why don’t you just throw it away?”

“You have a solution?” Han Yunxi rejoiced.

“Trash it!” he said somewhat impatiently.

Han Yunxi recalled how Duanmu Yao had hidden the letter in her bosom and felt disgusted as well. The next second, she’d tossed it aside.