Chapter 12: Tossing the Embroidered Ball
Three cold arrows shot through the air. Zhao Linxu reacted instantly, grabbing Li Jianyu and rolling off the horse.
Li Jianyu was protected in Zhao Linxu’s embrace and was unharmed. At the same time, the shadow guards appeared one after another to protect their master.
Li Jianyu only heard the sound of clashing weapons explode in his ears.
“Protect the City Lord!”
Zhao Linxu had the shadow guards surround Li Jianyu while he himself brandished his long whip and charged forward to meet the enemy. He was never the type to wait for the enemy to make the first move; he preferred to seize the initiative and deliver the first fierce blow.
Li Jianyu’s eyes could now only see flickering black shadows before him.
Smack— Zhao Linxu swept away two men in black before him, frowning slightly.
The movements of these assassins were strange. It seemed…
In the blink of an eye, a man’s figure flickered and appeared before him.
The man’s features were covered by a black cloth, revealing only a pair of eyes. Zhao Linxu unintentionally met those eyes, which were flashing with a strange red light, and suddenly felt his limbs go weak.
What was going on?
With this tiny opening, a cut was made on Zhao Linxu’s left arm. But Zhao Linxu was no ordinary person. He quickly reacted, secretly circulating his internal energy to break through the inexplicable restraint, and swiftly dodged the enemy’s ferocious sword strike.
Seeing the black-clad men surrounding him moving like ghosts, a guess formed in Zhao Linxu’s mind.
It was a secret art.
They were likely assassins from the Great Xi. The assassins of Great Xi were famous throughout the world. Not only were their martial arts high, but they were also skilled in mysterious sorcery, making them difficult to deal with. Anyone they targeted would find it absolutely difficult to escape. And naturally, hiring them required a great sum of money.
Zhao Linxu clicked his tongue in amazement. Did Zhao Zhanqi have that much silver?
But these assassins were indeed tricky.
Zhao Linxu couldn’t help but be on high alert. Although his leg was injured and his arm was cut, they were fortunately just minor injuries not worth mentioning.
“Oh my, aren’t you in a sorry state?”
It was a frivolous voice.
Zhao Linxu turned his head and saw Xing Huan standing to the side, followed by a group of people in purple robes.
“We’ve finally found you!”
Xing Huan looked at the men in black and smiled ferociously.
These men in black had mistakenly entered his formation and clashed with his people, delaying him for quite some time.
But Xing Huan was even more excited. The spirit mushroom wasn’t some rare poison; it was just a life-saving herb that could be sold for a high price. The righteous sects were eager for it, but his demonic cult didn’t care for it. He was just here to join in the fun and meet some masters.
And encountering these assassins who knew secret arts, pitted against his demonic cult followers who used unorthodox methods, how could he not be excited? High-level sparring partners and top-tier pill-refining cauldrons had delivered themselves to his door!
“Where am I in a sorry state?” Zhao Linxu smiled.
Xing Huan opened his folding fan with a “snap,” swooped forward, and sent the man who was about to launch a sneak attack on Zhao Linxu from behind flying. He said provocatively, “Seeing how pitiful you are, this seat will do you a favor. Leave this to us, Joyful Moon. You can take your lover and go.”
At the side, Li Jianyu’s eyebrow twitched at the word “lover.”
*Lover your MB.*
[T/N: “Lover your MB.” : This is a very vulgar curse. “MB” is pinyin shorthand for mābī, which literally means “mother’s cunt.” It’s a very strong and offensive way to dismiss what someone said, similar to “Lover my ass!” or “Fuck your ‘lover’!” in English.]
“Alright!”
Xing Huan had been waiting to see Zhao Linxu’s humiliated expression, but who knew that Zhao Linxu would be so happy and readily pull Li Jianyu onto the horse, calling out to the shadow guards, “Let’s go!”
Xing Huan: ???
“You spineless man! Have you no shame!”
“Many thanks, Cult Leader Xing Huan!” Zhao Linxu laughed heartily and flicked the reins.
The assassins had originally wanted to chase after Zhao Linxu, but a man’s word is his bond. How could he go back on it? So, Xing Huan had his followers set up a formation to hold them back, and the two sides fought with great enthusiasm.
“Beauty, we’re going down the mountain.”
Just thinking about the expression on Zhao Zhanqi’s face when he received the news, Zhao Linxu felt his heart bloom with joy.
It was truly an unexpected delight.
The road down the mountain was long. Li Jianyu leaned against Zhao Linxu, the two of them still riding together.
There wasn’t much space on the saddle, and their bodies were practically pressed together. Li Jianyu sat in front, his back against Zhao Linxu’s chest, while Zhao Linxu’s arms were loosely wrapped around him, holding the reins.
It looked as if he was being held by Zhao Linxu.
This wasn’t the first time Li Jianyu had ridden with Zhao Linxu, but in the past, whenever he got a little close to him, his mind was filled with a running commentary of “destroy this bastard, ah, can’t destroy him, damn, still shamelessly sticking to me.” He had no mind to think of anything else.
But now, the forest had returned to its tranquility, and it was just the two of them. And they were very close, so close that he could hear Zhao Linxu’s breathing.
Now pressed together, Li Jianyu couldn’t help but think of what Zhao Linxu had looked like that night.
At that time, Zhao Linxu had been seriously injured, with a large gash across his bare upper body from his shoulder to his waist. But it couldn’t hide his strong physique, the broad chest with its perfect curves tapering down to a tight waist, and the firm, powerful muscles of his abdomen.
To be fair, he was really handsome.
Li Jianyu suddenly felt a little awkward.
“What’s wrong?”
Zhao Linxu smiled, leaned in, and whispered in Li Jianyu’s ear, “Beauty has been looking at me since just now. What are you thinking?”
“Stop fooling around.” As if he had been found out, Li Jianyu’s ears turned slightly red, and he reached out to pat Zhao Linxu’s arm.
“Hah…”
Li Jianyu was startled. He felt a sticky liquid on his palm and said in alarm, “You’re injured?”
“It’s fine, just a flesh wound.” Zhao Linxu used his sleeve to wipe Li Jianyu’s hand.
Li Jianyu turned his head away.
“It’s nothing serious. I’ve had many small injuries like this in the military camp before.”
“We were able to get the spirit mushroom this time thanks to the Young Master. I will definitely do my best to repay you in the future.”
“Hahaha, this trip was really not in vain. It seems I’ve gained a lot of favors. The Joyful Moon Cult Leader dealt with the assassins for me, the Arrogant Dragon Gang Leader gave me a token, and most importantly, I was able to get a promise worth a thousand gold from Beauty.”
Li Jianyu snorted coldly.
Such a smooth talker.
“Young Master, my eyes are almost better. You can let me down to walk by myself later.”
Riding together like this was really too strange.
“If anyone’s walking, it’ll be me. Not to mention your build, can your eyes even see anything yet?”
Li Jianyu squinted slightly, trying to make out something from the blurry mass of trees before him.
“There, there’s a Drunken Man’s Fruit tree.”
Zhao Linxu looked at the cluster of bushes Li Jianyu was pointing to. The low bushes had a few flowers, and a fruit grew from the bud, which was indeed strange.
“So that thing is called Drunken Man’s Fruit? Why is it called that? Does it make you drunk if you eat it?”
“Because if this fruit is eaten with wine, a person will die.”
“I see…”
Zhao Linxu pondered for a moment, but his body suddenly stiffened.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Zhao Linxu lowered his eyes slightly, hiding the storm raging within them.
After slightly calming the turmoil in his heart, Zhao Linxu smiled. “Even if you can see the fruit, I won’t let you walk down. Why not ride when there’s a horse?”
With that, he spurred Yuefeng to speed up, leaving a row of hoofprints in the mountain mud.
When the two of them finally returned to Luoye City, they saw Meng Qingshu and Chen Zhishu rushing out anxiously as soon as they entered the city gates.
“City Lord—”
“Your Majesty!”
Li Jianyu and Zhao Linxu both felt a headache coming on.
Zhao Linxu said, “Is Ah Xue causing trouble again?”
“Her Highness the Princess says she is in utter despair and wants to follow City Lord Li’s example and toss an embroidered ball to choose a Prince Consort… Now she’s forcing this subordinate to build her a flower platform, saying she’ll commit suicide if it’s not built…”
Li Jianyu blinked.
Wait, what do you mean, follow my example.
“City Lord! You’re finally back! The threshold of the City Lord’s manor has almost been worn down by the townspeople these past few days! They’ve all been looking for you!” Meng Qingshu was also wailing at the side, tugging on Li Jianyu’s sleeve aggrievedly, looking as if he had been subjected to ruthless torment.
“Why.”
“They want you to toss the embroidered ball.”
“…”
Li Jianyu remembered the “City Lord’s Wife Selection Contest” the townspeople had organized before.
So it was tossing an embroidered ball?
Zhao Linxu said goodbye to Li Jianyu and went back to Luoye Garden to deal with Zhao Jiangxue. Li Jianyu continued to ask, “Do I really have to toss the embroidered ball?”
Could he refuse?
He really didn’t want to get married, very much didn’t want to get married. If the embroidered ball was really caught by someone, he would have to find a way to refuse, which was more and more troublesome the more he thought about it.
“Originally, it was for the women to present their talents and the men to present their martial arts, and then the City Lord would choose. But there were too many disputes during the preparations, like the order of appearance, bribery, arguments… The situation became more and more complicated, so it was simply changed to tossing an embroidered ball, to let heaven choose a spouse for our City Lord!”
“…”
In the few days he had been gone, he felt like he had been completely sold out by Meng Qingshu.
“You bookworm.” Li Jianyu was about to turn around when he heard a shout from not far away.
“City Lord! It’s the City Lord! The City Lord is back!”
“Oh, the City Lord is finally back!”
“What are you standing there for? Hurry up and have them prepare!”
Li Jianyu felt that life was meaningless.
He was dragged by a group of aunties and uncles to the high platform by the lake. Auntie Liang smiled like she was herding ducks. “City Lord, hurry up and get on stage!”
The lakeside was where guests were entertained during the festival. The scenery was pleasant, with a stage and tables and chairs for banquets. The high platform before them was originally a watchtower to ensure the safety of the guests and the smooth running of the festival.
At this moment, the high platform was wrapped in festive red silk and hung with a row of lanterns.
“Quick, quick, quick! Get up there!”
“I’ll go call people right now! Tell them the City Lord is choosing a spouse!”
Someone stuffed a plump embroidered ball into Li Jianyu’s hands. He subconsciously looked down at it. A pair of mandarin ducks was embroidered on it with colorful thread.
“…”
After being forced onto the stage by everyone, Li Jianyu looked around.
Very good. The lake is to the left. I’ll just throw it hard into the lake later.
