Time Travel: I'm a Flower Thief

The woman crawled two steps on her knees and approached him, saying, "Young master, please wait."

Xie Xiaoyi frowned, thinking to himself:

I've already given you fifty taels, what more do you want? Are you trying to force me to knock on a widow's door in the middle of the night?

"Is there anything else?"

The woman knelt down again, clutched the silver notes in her arms, and kowtowed fiercely.

"My family...my family also has a sixteen-year-old daughter."

My husband went crazy gambling in the city. He not only lost all our assets, but also used our daughter to pay off his debts.

Now that he's gone, the people at the gambling den are saying they're going to sell my daughter to a brothel..."

The woman's forehead slammed heavily against the ground, making a dull thud.

"Since you've offered your help, sir, you must be a kind-hearted person. Please have mercy and save my poor daughter!"

She kowtowed again, this time with even more force, and a few drops of blood appeared on the ground.

"As long as you can pull my daughter out of this hellhole, I, Li, am willing to serve you like a slave for the rest of my life."

"I will obey any command, even if it means going through fire and water, without uttering a single complaint!"

The crowd erupted in uproar.

"Li Qiaoyun? You're treating this young master like a sucker!"

"Exactly, they've already given you so much money for free, and you still want them to spend money to save your daughter?"

"Haha, are you and your daughter planning to serve this young man together tonight...?"

Xie Xiaoyi's heart stirred upon hearing this.

Holy crap.

You can play it like this?

One minute he's a father, the next he's a son-in-law...

It's a bit chaotic, but I'm still pretty excited about it!

His mind was filled with filthy images when he suddenly caught sight of Li Qiaoyun's bleeding forehead.

Seeing his disheveled appearance softened my heart, and I forgot all the wild ideas that had been running through my mind.

"Alright."

Li Qiaoyun suddenly looked up: "Thank you, benefactor, thank you, benefactor, I will definitely..."

Before she could finish speaking, Xie Xiaoyi interrupted her:

"Take these fifty taels first, and use them to handle your husband's funeral. After that, come find me at the inn at the west end of town, and take me to the gambling den."

After saying that, Xie Xiaoyi turned and left, not looking back at the woman who was sobbing uncontrollably behind him. He just rubbed his still aching back and cursed inwardly:

"Well, this isn't something I should be involved in, but what can I do when I'm caught up in it?"

......

At three quarters past noon, the sun hung obliquely on the eaves, casting dappled light and shadow.

The threshold of the inn at the west end of the town was gently pushed open, and Li Qiaoyun, dressed in plain clothes with her hair neatly combed, appeared.

However, her eyes still held the weariness of losing her husband, and she clutched a plain cloth bag in her hand as she hurried to find Xie Xiaoyi.

Xie Xiaoyi was leisurely shelling fennel beans when he saw her come in. He raised his eyes and asked, "Have the funeral arrangements been taken care of?"

His gaze swept over Li Qiaoyun's clean, white clothes and her neatly combed hair.

Although her face still looked tired, it was much more pleasing to the eye than her previous disheveled appearance.

He thought to himself:

"Tsk, she looks alright now that she's tidied up. She has a well-proportioned figure and decent features."

If she weren't a widow, she'd be a really good choice for warming the bed.

Li Qiaoyun curtsied, and as she bent over, the bust line outlined by her plain-colored dress swayed slightly, making Xie Xiaoyi's heart skip a beat.

Xie Xiaoyi immediately regretted it in his heart and spat at himself:

"Damn it, if I'd known she had this figure, I wouldn't have given her away for free and promised she wouldn't need any service!"

Li Qiaoyun, completely unaware of the situation, respectfully replied, "Thank you for your concern, my lord. Everything has been arranged properly."

Xie Xiaoyi withdrew his gaze from her chest and coughed lightly to cover his discomfort: "Now that we're done, let's get going!"

He stood up and walked towards the door, but then glanced back at Li Qiaoyun, his tone softening slightly: "Lead the way to the gambling den."

Li Qiaoyun quickly responded and followed, a hint of gratitude on her face:

"Alright! This way, my benefactor. Once you leave the town and head north, you'll reach the territory of Jieshi City."

"Jieshi City?"

"Yes, there's a big gambling den there called 'Qianjin Pavilion.' It's easy to find once you get into the city; it's about 40 or 50 miles from here."

When Xie Xiaoyi heard "forty or fifty li," his brows furrowed, and he cursed inwardly:

"Is this woman hopelessly directionally challenged? Forty or fifty miles—she might not even get there by tomorrow on foot! What kind of person could she possibly save!"

He stopped and glanced sideways at Li Qiaoyun: "Forty or fifty li, is it that far?"

Li Qiaoyun was taken aback by the question, and an anxious look appeared on her face, with tears streaming down her face involuntarily.

"Can you ride a horse?" Xie Xiaoyi asked bluntly.

Li Qiaoyun quickly shook her head, her face full of apology.

"Aren't you in a hurry to save your daughter?"

"Urgent! Of course it's urgent! If we're even a step too late, I'm afraid..."

"Since you're in such a hurry, then I won't stand on ceremony, sister-in-law. Please forgive my rudeness!"

Without waiting for her reaction, Xie Xiaoyi stretched out his long arm and wrapped it around her waist.

Li Qiaoyun exclaimed in surprise and instinctively wrapped her arms around Xie Xiaoyi's neck, only to be firmly lifted up by him.

Xie Xiaoyi lightly touched the ground with his feet, his body suddenly rising into the air. His toes lightly touched the eaves of the inn, and he floated away like a falling leaf.

He looked down at the woman in his arms, her face pale with fright, and a roguish smile crept across his lips:

"What's the panic? Hold on tight! It's okay if you can't ride a horse, I'll take you flying—"

"You give me directions, and my three legs will be faster than riding a horse!"

Li Qiaoyun frowned.

Three legs?

Is my benefactor perhaps illiterate?

......

The wind whistled past her ears, and Li Qiaoyun felt light as a feather; the shadows of the trees by the roadside became blurry patches of color rushing past.

At first, she was so frightened that she closed her eyes tightly, clung tightly to Xie Xiaoyi's neck with both hands, and didn't dare to breathe.

After regaining her senses a little, she dared to squint and take a closer look—

Xie Xiaoyi stood tall and straight, his clothes fluttering, his toes barely touching the tops of the walls and trees.

It could leap several feet away, its speed even faster than the fastest carriage in town.

Li Qiaoyun was shocked and speechless.

It turns out my benefactor knew martial arts!

This agility, as light as walking on snow, is exactly the skill of those chivalrous heroes who would draw their swords to help those in need, as described by the storyteller in town.

Such handsome skills and such righteous deeds must be the work of some unsung hero who came to save me from danger.

Little did she know that the "hero" she so admired was secretly plotting something wicked.

He used the light-footed skill of Yan Fanyun, appearing fast and stable, but deliberately jerked his body violently between leaps and bounds.

With this jolt, Li Qiaoyun involuntarily pressed herself against his chest, her soft breasts rubbing against his.

Xie Xiaoyi's current mood is: joy, beauty, happiness, and like eating honey.

But he deliberately made a big fuss:

"Hold on tight! This kind of light-footed skill is all about using someone else's force against them. A couple of bounces are normal. I'm not responsible if you fall!"

Li Qiaoyun had no time to think about any of that; her heart was entirely focused on her daughter. She buried her head in his shoulder and urged him anxiously.

"My benefactor, faster! Faster! I can take it..."