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

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a rough shout came from afar: "Xiaoman! No wonder you were dawdling over emptying the chamber pot, and then you were eavesdropping on Xiangyun playing the zither!"

A man who looked like a manager strode over, his voice full of sarcasm: "You're still dreaming of saving up to redeem her? Wake up! Even if Xiangyun is willing to stay with you, Madam Liu will never let her go. Xiangyun's zither playing is the pavilion's living advertisement; without her, we'll lose 30% of our music lovers!"

"Xiangyun is just a musician, not a courtesan," Xiaoman clenched her fingers, her voice tinged with urgency, "Why won't Madam Liu release her...?"

"You should be glad she still has this skill! Otherwise, she would have been pushed out to entertain customers by Madam Liu long ago. How many women who work in this place can escape unscathed? That time a few months ago, she was lucky that a courtesan took the fall for her..."

Halfway through his sentence, the manager seemed to suddenly stop talking, realizing he had said the wrong thing, and his expression changed slightly.

That was a human life, and Mother Liu had warned us long ago not to mention it again.

"What?" Xiaoman asked instinctively.

"Don't ask questions you shouldn't!" the manager interrupted sharply, waving his hand. "Get back to what you were doing!"

"I will definitely take Xiangyun away from here," Xiaoman suddenly whispered.

This amused the steward, who teased, "Alright, unless you can come up with ten thousand taels of gold, maybe Madam Liu will release them."

"I will." Xiaoman gripped the handle of the chamber pot tightly, her knuckles turning slightly white. "Even if it costs me my life."

He seemed completely oblivious to the sarcasm in the other person's words, his unfocused eyes filled with stubborn determination.

Xiangyun was the one who pulled him out of the mud, his benefactor, and the only light in his dark world.

He no longer has a home; Xiangyun is the only place he wants to protect in this life.

If he could obtain that ice bow and black arrow, let alone ten thousand taels of gold, even a higher price would be offered to him. He was determined to give it a try.

After the manager left, Xiaoman apologized again in Chai Xiaomi's direction before leaving.

He walked very slowly, his steps cautious, as if he could barely distinguish light from shadow, but could not make out the specific shapes and outlines.

Chai Xiaomi glanced downstairs again and realized that the girl playing the zither was named Xiangyun, and she was the young man's sweetheart.

Judging from the steward's words, Xiangyun was willing to go with Xiaoman, but Mama Liu was unwilling to let her go unless she could get ten thousand taels of gold.

She subconsciously touched the Qiankun bag at her waist, which contained a money pouch. There was a gold ingot in the money pouch, but it was far less than ten thousand taels of gold. Suddenly, the yellowed shop deed that Zhu Yu had given her flashed through her mind.

No, no, that's the property Zhu Yu worked so hard to earn. Of all the shops she owned, she only kept this one. It must be something she cherished very much. Even though it has been given to me, I absolutely cannot dispose of it carelessly.

As she was pondering, she glanced up and caught sight of two furtive figures, one large and one small, hiding behind a half-person-high porcelain ornament next to the third pillar in front of her.

The way she peeked around was exactly the same as the way she had been spying outside the bow and arrow shop.

"What are you two doing hiding here?"

Song Yueyao also came up at this moment, her gaze falling on the person and the cat.

Jiang Zhiyu and Ji Bai then moved out from behind the porcelain.

As they got closer, the two could see that Xiao Mi's eyes were swollen and red, and her eyelids were slightly swollen, looking like two peach pits that had been soaked in water. She had obviously had a good cry.

"Oh dear, little girl, what's wrong? Who bullied you?" The white cat quickly covered its mouth with its two front paws and exclaimed in a low voice, afraid that someone would hear the cat talking.

"Xiao Mi, what happened?" Jiang Zhiyu didn't bother to pay attention to the young man's back anymore, but stared intently at her red eyes, his expression full of worry and even a hint of panic.

Could it be that we've run into those two barbarians again?

"It's nothing," Chai Xiaomi said, her eyes downcast and her voice weak. "I just got some sand in my eyes."

After she finished speaking, she subconsciously glanced behind her again.

Wu Li had moved closer again, and was now leaning against the railing, his gaze fixed on the stage in the center of the waterside pavilion on the ground floor. However, his eyes were somewhat unfocused, and he seemed absent-minded.

This leisurely posture of leaning against the railing attracted frequent glances from several flower girls passing by on the next floor of the corridor.

He lowered his head slightly, his nose was high and delicate, his dark hair was adorned with silver ornaments, and a few strands of hair fell from his forehead, inadvertently resting on his earrings that shimmered with tiny silver light.

Her pure pupils were as clear as gemstones immersed in water, and her eyelashes were long and thick, growing longer towards the ciliary lashes, outlining a pair of eyes that were both indifferent and affectionate.

Her eyes naturally slant slightly upwards, giving off a nonchalant yet alluring charm.

The lip color is a natural light pink, like a thin layer of cherry juice.

Just leaning against it so casually, it looked like the ostentatious behavior of someone from a brothel!

Chai Xiaomi looked away, her breath still slightly choked from crying so hard earlier.

Song Yueyao stepped forward to block her, and quickly explained, "We just went outside for a walk, and I bought a bow. It was quite windy and dusty, and Xiao Mi got some dust in her eyes. She's already rubbed it out, but her eyes are still red."

Seeing the bow in her hand, Jiang Zhiyu understood. The Crescent Moon Arrow Challenge required two people to participate together, and he had already guessed that she would choose to participate with Wu Li.

"You haven't answered yet," Song Yueyao brought the conversation back on track, "What are you doing hiding there so suspiciously?"

Jiang Zhiyu then stepped forward, leaned slightly, and asked Chai Xiaomi in a low voice, "Xiaomi, when you were talking to that man just now, did you notice anything unusual?"

His expression held a hint of probing: "For example, dark circles under the eyes, weak limbs, looking... like someone whose life force has been drained by a fox spirit?"

"Huh?" Chai Xiaomi was stunned.

She subconsciously assumed that the "vixen" Jiang Zhiyu mentioned was the courtesan in the brothel, and immediately retorted, "Don't talk nonsense, Brother Yu. He has a girl he likes. I think he's a man of great loyalty and affection, only thinking about saving money to redeem his beloved."

"Besides, he doesn't have any of the symptoms you described. Although his vision is blurry, his eyes are clear, and his eye sockets aren't bluish. He walks slowly because he's afraid of bumping into people, not because his limbs are weak."

Jiang Zhiyu frowned in confusion and exchanged a glance with the white cat at his feet.

Ji Bai stroked his beard with his paw and said meaningfully, "That shouldn't be the case. My nose has never been wrong. The demonic aura around him is very strong. Nine times out of ten, he's been possessed by a fox spirit."

Upon hearing the word "demonic aura," Chai Xiaomi realized that the fox spirit they were talking about was a real demon.

She quickly pointed to a corner of the waterside pavilion: "Old Ji, come and take a look. Could that little girl playing the zither be a vixen?"

The white cat leaped lightly onto the railing.

Its tail swished idly twice. It looked around and, seeing no one passing by, quickly formed a hand seal with its two front paws in the air. After whispering an incantation, it slowly pulled open a thin, transparent, glass-like mirror.

Looking around to make sure no one was passing by, the cat quickly formed hand seals in the air, and slowly pulled open a transparent, glass-like membrane between its two paws.

The mirror framed the figure playing the zither; the person remained seated upright, the clear, melodious tune flowing from their fingertips, showing no sign of anything amiss.

"It's a human." The white cat put away the hand seals.

Chai Xiaomi's eyes widened as she leaned closer in to exclaim in amazement, "Wow, Lao Ji, what is this?"

The white cat smugly twitched its whiskers: "A mirror that can discern truth from falsehood—if she were a fox spirit, the mirror would show her furry true form."

"So amazing, can you teach me?" Chai Xiaomi was envious of everyone around her who had skills. She had no fighting ability at all. If she could learn this, at least she could sense danger in advance and run away.

Ji Bai looked at the girl's bright eyes and his beard twitched: "I've never taken on a female disciple before. You really want to learn? I'm very strict. If you still don't understand after I teach you three times, I'll teach you one more time and you'll have to squat in a horse stance for another half an hour."

As it spoke, it jumped down and patted Jiang Zhiyu's boots with its paw: "Ask this kid how long he practiced the horse stance when he was learning this True Form Mirror technique?"

Jiang Zhiyu was publicly executed. He scratched his head in embarrassment and smiled sheepishly at Xiaomi: "I squatted there for a full three hours."

"I taught you six more times, plus the previous three times, making a total of nine times before you learned it!" The white cat rubbed its waist, pulled out a whisk that it had magically hidden under its armpit, placed it on its paw, and said with a serious face, "Little Xiaomi, if you can endure this hardship, then this old man will teach you."