Don't mess with that Miao boy, he's sickly and perverted.

Chai Xiaomi hurriedly got up from the ground, her mind buzzing and she felt dazed for a moment. She felt a thin layer of sweat seeping from her forehead. She desperately tried to think of a solution, but her legs suddenly went weak.

She almost tripped over the hem of her skirt, but was immediately scooped up and pulled into an arm.

"Why is Madam always so careless?" Wu Li suddenly changed her demeanor, her voice gentle yet sending chills down one's spine.

Before she could finish speaking, a large hand was already gently placed on her lower abdomen, even making a gesture of lightly massaging it: "What if you fall and hurt our baby?"

He raised his eyes, glancing with satisfaction at Ouyang Rui's astonished face, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

He held the girl in his arms even tighter.

He leaned close to her ear, his voice low and husky like a sigh, making sure she could hear it:

"You like me, so why don't you listen to me?"

Wu Li's pale, bloodless face was tinged with an unnatural blush, and even the corners of her eyes were tinged with an eerie crimson.

His eyes churned with a gloomy look that Chai Xiaomi had never seen before, a look that was extremely unfamiliar.

It seems to conceal a kind of morbid madness.

Is this a sign that he's about to turn evil?

Is her yandere and perverted nature finally about to burst out of control?

No, we absolutely cannot let him turn evil!

Otherwise, she would be devoured by the Gu worms, and he would also face his inevitable death.

In a moment of quick thinking, Chai Xiaomi pointed sharply to the longbow hanging on the wall: "I'm here to buy a bow too! I want to participate in the New Moon Archery Competition!"

Quick, quick, change the subject and distract him!

As soon as she said it, she mentally gave herself a thumbs up.

Xiaomi, you're such a clever little devil!

This way, not only could Wu Li teach her archery in a perfectly reasonable way, but he could also legitimately interrupt his chance to spend time alone with Song Yueyao.

If we're going to teach, let's teach together!

"This young master Ouyang just saved my life from the ground. In the heat of the moment, I put my arm around his shoulder. It was purely accidental! So I took the opportunity to ask him for directions, and that's how I found this bow and arrow shop."

Her voice grew increasingly ethereal as she spoke, and she touched her nose while stealing a glance at Wu Li's expression. She also gave Ouyang Rui a meaningful look, signaling him not to expose her spying. "I didn't come here to cause trouble on purpose, I really just came to buy a bow, haha, to buy a bow!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Li was suddenly taken aback.

The murderous aura that had been emanating from him dissipated almost entirely in an instant.

Chai Xiaomi pressed her advantage: "I just overheard you saying you wanted to teach Sister Yao archery, so could you also... uh, what are you going to do?"

Before she could finish speaking, her wrist was suddenly tightened.

The boy had a gloomy face. He lifted her arm and turned it from side to side, as if testing some part.

Without saying a word, he rolled up her sleeves, revealing her two slender, white arms that were dazzling. He stepped aside to block the view between the boss and Ouyang Rui.

Wu Li held her wrist and pressed up her forearm inch by inch, as if giving her a massage.

After inspection, it was confirmed that there were no problems.

His gaze swept over her from head to toe one last time.

"Are your eyes just for show? Are you trying to crawl under a horse's hooves? Did you bump into anything?" His voice was deep.

"No, no," Chai Xiaomi hurriedly waved her hand. "Didn't I say that Ouyang Rui saved me? He saved me just in time."

"Heh." Wu Li snorted coldly, "Whether it's to save someone or to carry them is still unknown. This young master Ouyang's skills are really too weak. If it were me who was saving someone, I wouldn't have let my wife's clothes get all dirty."

As he spoke, he bent down and knelt on one knee at Chai Xiaomi's feet.

His slender fingers lifted a corner of her pale pink skirt, where a few mud stains were splattered, hidden in the folds of the skirt's edge. They must have been from a horse's hoof, something she hadn't even noticed herself.

He lowered his eyes and rubbed his fingers together repeatedly.

The fabric rustled between his fingertips, and specks of mud fell in a soft patter.

He stopped moving only when that small patch of fabric regained its clean and soft pink hue, and began to smooth and straighten the crumpled silk gauze inch by inch.

That focused expression and delicate movements made it seem as if he were holding not ordinary clothes, but fragile moonlight.

"Wu Li." Song Yueyao smiled as she looked at his earnest, almost stubborn expression. "Our Central Plains women's skirts are naturally long and trailing on the ground. Unlike your Miao ethnic group's clothing, it's perfectly normal for them to get a little dusty. Just wash them when you get back."

"She's different; she has a lot of little quirks." He lightly flicked his fingertips at the hem of her skirt, brushing away the last unseen speck of dust, before standing up.

"She's most afraid of dirt."

Chai Xiaomi's face flushed slightly. She smiled shyly at Song Yueyao and added softly, "Sister Yao, I only have a tiny bit of a cleanliness obsession, really just a tiny bit."

Having said that, she quietly grasped Wu Li's sleeve, her voice soft and gentle:

"Thank you so much, Lili~"

He slightly lifted his eyelids, glanced at her, and said in a nonchalant tone, "I've straightened your clothes countless times before, and I've never heard you say thank you once. Today, the sun has risen in the west."

Chai Xiaomi pursed her lips, secretly grumbling to herself.

Can they be the same?

The past is the past, and the present is the present.

He's just one step away from turning evil, so of course she's going to treat him like royalty.

A sweeter smile bloomed on Chai Xiaomi's face as she tugged at his sleeve again.

"I was so immature before, I'll thank you every time from now on, okay?"

Ouyang Rui, who was standing to the side, felt his heart tremble.

Her gaze involuntarily drifted to the hand that was clutching the boy's sleeve. It was delicate and fair. It turned out that the fairy was not only lively and cute when she was angry, but also irresistible when she spoke in a soft voice and acted coquettishly.

But as soon as the thought popped into his head, he felt a sharp pang of bitterness in his heart.

He finally... finally managed to fall for someone.

How come she already has a child?!

What's even more infuriating is that the boy actually put on an air of sneer and said, "No need for thanks, thank you."

You little rascal!

What's with the attitude?!

Get cheap and sell well!

Ouyang Rui was so angry that he grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds and put them in his mouth to chew.

Hmm? Where's the sweetness? Where's the milky flavor?

How did it turn bitter? So bitter it tastes sour!

"You can learn archery if you want, but you absolutely cannot participate in the New Moon Archery Competition," the boy's voice came again.

Ouyang Rui immediately perked up his ears to listen.

Chai Xiaomi: "Why?"

"This hunt is not for ordinary birds and beasts, but for a moon shadow spirit."

"The hunting grounds are in Falling Star Plains, a chaotic land teeming with evil spirits. When the Moon Shadow Demon Spirits flee, they stir up all the surrounding demon spirits. In the past, hunters who went there were injured by demon spirits in eight or nine out of ten during their pursuit."

"You don't even know the most basic martial arts, what are you doing getting involved?"

Upon hearing Wu Li's words, Chai Xiaomi couldn't help but marvel at his extraordinary hearing.

He never initiates conversations with others, much less inquires about other people's business. Most of this information he gleaned from snippets of conversation he overheard along the way.

Having only been out for a short while, he has already thoroughly mastered the Crescent Moon Arrow Technique.

"Moon Shadow Demon?" Chai Xiaomi murmured repeatedly.

She thought she was going to hunt wild boars and rabbits, but little did she know that she was going to catch demons.

Seizing the opportunity, Ouyang Rui immediately chimed in, as if to show off his extensive knowledge: "This Moon Shadow Spirit is neither a demon nor a beast. When it gathers, it takes form; when it disperses, it becomes energy. It can fly swiftly on the wind and also disappear in an instant. Most people who try to track it can't even see a wisp of its afterimage."

He suddenly lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "I've heard that if this thing is used in medicine, it can prolong life. Our lord has been racking his brains all these years, desperately seeking the way to immortality. The palace has sent several groups of hunters to catch it, but they all returned empty-handed."

Upon hearing the word "My Lord," Chai Xiaomi's heart skipped a beat, and she subconsciously looked at Song Yueyao.

Isn't the "lord" that Ouyang Rui mentioned her father?

Song Yueyao simply lowered her long eyelashes, her expression calm as if she had only heard from an insignificant person.

When Chai Xiaomi looked up at Ouyang Rui as he spoke eloquently, he probably had no idea that the person standing in front of him was the eldest daughter of the lord, the princess of Liangya Prefecture.

However, she exuded a military aura, and her long hair was casually tied up and secured with a simple wooden hairpin, with a few strands of hair brushing against her neck, revealing a touch of dashingness in her neatness.

Her clothes were simple, and her skirt was covered in dust, just as she herself said, "It's nothing unusual for her to get a little dusty."

Because she rode alone, often mounting and dismounting by herself, the dust from the saddle easily clung to her clothes.