Chapter 1076 - 1078: The Soul-Capturing "Beauty"_1
The next day, Niu Cuicui was still causing a ruckus outside the Bai Residence. When a guard chased her away from the front door, she ran to the wall behind the backyard and started crying out loud, which was closer to the garden. She refused to believe that Xiaosi wouldn’t go to the garden to play.
As she was crying out Xiaosi’s name, suddenly a dark figure flew out from over the courtyard wall and landed right in front of her. Startled, she hastily stepped back, only then realizing that the person who had arrived was a young man with a mischievously wicked smile on his face.
Niu Cuicui’s heart tightened, realizing the danger: she was in the back alley with no one around. What if he intended to kill her?
With this thought, Niu Cuicui’s lips turned pale with fright, and her body couldn’t stop trembling.
"What are you thinking about? Are you wondering whether I’ll kill you or not?" Muyu’s voice was soft, even somewhat amused, but it had a sinister edge that made Niu Cuicui tremble even more violently.
"I know Bai Ruozhu sent you. If you dare to kill someone in broad daylight, there will still be legal consequences!" Niu Cuicui spit out defiantly yet fearfully.
Muyu chuckled lowly, "After all, no one’s here. If I kill you, I kill you. Who even knows you exist? How would the Government Office come to know about it?"
"That’s not true. My son will report it to the authorities. He’ll hate you for the rest of your life!" Niu Cuicui said in terror, backing away. She stumbled over a stone and ended up falling on her bottom.
"He doesn’t even recognize you, so how can he be considered your son? Killing you would be as easy as flipping my hand over, and there are many guards in the residence who could crush you with one hand. Yet here you are, still causing trouble, truly tired of living, aren’t you?" Muyu said, then suddenly advanced two steps forward and yanked Niu Cuicui to her feet.
"What are you going to do? I will report this to the authorities! I will report this!" Niu Cuicui screamed, but Muyu simply tapped her, and she suddenly found she couldn’t make a sound no matter how hard she tried.
"Report to the authorities? To say the Bai Family stole your son? What evidence do you have to prove Bai Zeqing is your son? Is it just your one-sided statement? Let’s see if the officials believe you, or if they’ll behead you for your connections with Batianzhai. Also, who knows if you’re just trying to con money. You’ve already swindled the Bai Family out of two hundred silver pieces," Muyu said with a smile. Suddenly, he moved agilely on the roof eaves. He hopped up and down, frightening the suspended Niu Cuicui, who opened her mouth wide and screamed silently until, within moments, she rolled her eyes back and fainted.
Disgusted, Muyu took her to a gathering place for beggars in the west of the city and threw her there. If it weren’t for the lady’s kindness, he would have certainly thrown this woman into the red-light district, no matter her age, for even the brothels needed servants.
When Muyu returned to report, Bai Ruozhu saw the excitement in his face and asked worriedly, "You didn’t kill her, did you?"
"No, I just scared her as the lady ordered. Otherwise, I would have left her stripped in the red-light district long ago," Muyu replied.
Bai Ruozhu’s mouth twitched slightly. Niu Cuicui’s identity was unclear; what if she was really Xiaosi’s biological mother? It wouldn’t be right to act overly harsh.
"Just scared her?" Bai Ruozhu was clearly skeptical of Muyu, who might appear simple-minded but harboured a cunning inner strength. If she had asked Chenfeng to do this, he probably wouldn’t have been willing.
Muyu laughed a little, "You really can’t hide anything from the lady. I just tossed her to the area where the beggars stay in the west of the city."
Bai Ruozhu thought for a moment before saying, "Well, it’s time to give her a lesson. Otherwise, she’ll genuinely think our Bai Family is overly merciful. Let it be."
In the following days, Niu Cuicui indeed didn’t come again, and Master Taoist Xuan Jizi, having some friends in the Capital, often went out to visit old acquaintances, while Xiaosi became acquainted with Chu Hai and Diao Yao from the Bai Residence, always seeking them out to learn Martial Arts when he had nothing else to do.
Thinking that Xiaosi didn’t know when he would leave, Bai Ruozhu suggested taking him on a tour around the Capital. Xiaosi, upon hearing this, enthusiastically invited Chu Hai and Diao Yao to join. Diao Yao, still young and fond of fun, was tempted by the idea. Previously, due to Chu Hai’s poor health, she hadn’t felt like going out, and despite being in the Capital for so many days, she had hardly gone out at all.
"Alright, let’s go for a stroll," Chu Hai rose to agree, to which Bai Ruozhu felt a bit surprised. She had always thought Chu Hai was accustomed to being indifferent, and even if Diao Yao wanted to go out and play, he most likely would have said that he was fine staying at home.
Perhaps it was because Chu Hai had been poisoned for so long that now the poison was about to be cleared, he too wanted to get out and about.
"Then let’s go on horseback, not too fast, just not sitting in a carriage," Xiaosi, with sparkling eyes, suggested. He had learned to ride and felt that riding in a carriage was for women and children.
Bai Ruozhu, not wanting to dampen his enthusiasm, nodded and said, "Okay, we’ll go on horseback."
Chu Hai and Diao Yao, being people of the Jianghu, were used to riding horses when going out, and naturally had no objections.
Because they chose to ride horses, they couldn’t take Little Dengdeng out with them, which made him feel aggrieved for a while, but soon enough, Rongrong cheerfully distracted him with something else to play with.
The group of four rode out from the Bai Residence and wandered around the City, having lunch at Yingkelai. Both Diao Yao and Xiaosi had faces full of curiosity, looking here and there. It was during this time that Bai Ruozhu felt Xiaosi seemed a bit childish—it’s not at all cute when he always tries to act mature with a stern face.
However, Chu Hai remained his usual icy self, but his expression seemed to vary more than usual. Bai Ruozhu even felt as though he seemed to be looking unintentionally in the direction of the Imperial City—what could he see from such a distance? Perhaps just the roof tiles of distant buildings.
But this made Bai Ruozhu more cautious. She didn’t know much about the backgrounds of Chu Hai and Diao Yao, only that they were from the Bihai Sect and were Western Regions nationals; everything else was unclear. Chu Hai’s background was even more mysterious, his mother deeply poisoned, and yet he concealed the fact that Diao Yao was his own sister from her—no matter how she thought about it, there was something odd.
As she pondered this, suddenly a group of people appeared ahead, blocking their way. Bai Ruozhu looked up, her face changing dramatically—how could he be here!
The person leading the other party approached on horseback, a sly smile on their face, and said, "Bai Ruozhu, we meet again. This time you won’t escape my grasp."
This person had an androgynously beautiful face, soul-stealing eyes slightly raised, and thin lips tilted to one side in an obvious smirk.
Passersby on the roadside were stunned by the appearance of this person—how could someone be so beautiful? And just one glance seemed enough to captivate their souls.
Bai Ruozhu furrowed her brows, wondering why Zhou Jue would appear so boldly in the Capital City of Danliang Country when there had been no news of a diplomatic mission from Chengshui Country.
Moreover, he seemed even more enchanting than before. If she didn’t know the terror associated with this man, she too might have been tempted to take a few more glances at him.
No, he is...