My Gentle and Pure Sect Leader Husband - Chapter 39

While a happy family was enjoying dinner next door, Lu Xiaofeng had just returned from strolling around the streets.

When he saw the candlelight in the main house, he paused, his face cycling through various expressions. He quickly stuffed the buns in his hand into his mouth, nearly choking himself white-eyed.

After pounding his chest with his fist to help the food go down his throat, Lu Xiaofeng took out a small bronze mirror from his pocket and examined his face. Confirming that his face was still deliberately smudged to look dirty, he took a deep breath and stepped through the open door of the main house.

A woman was sitting at the dressing table.

Although early winter in Jinling hadn’t yet reached severe cold, people on the streets had already added layers to their clothing. However, the woman raising her hand to draw her eyebrows in front of the bronze mirror was wearing only a thin white dress. It was spotlessly clean, light and ethereal, like a lonely immortal in the Moon Palace. When her eyes shifted to look at the boy standing at the door, her delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed, revealing a touch of mortal woman’s melancholy and regret.

She was an extremely beautiful woman.

As the saying goes, true beauty lies in the bones, not the skin. Her beauty wasn’t just in her clear, otherworldly face, but also in her captivating demeanor with every movement, every smile and frown.

The woman put down her eyebrow pencil and sighed softly. “Child, why have you made yourself look so disheveled again?”

Faced with such a charming and elegant woman, Lu Xiaofeng showed an expression of toothache.

The boy stood obediently at the door with his hands behind his back, hiding his dirty face, and mumbled, “…I just went out to play for a while.”

“Oh?” The woman, with her back to the door, saw the little thing sneaking glances at her through the bronze mirror. She smiled softly and whispered gently, “Xiao Feng’er, hasn’t master told you not to interact with the family next door?”

“Hmm?”

That single syllable made Lu Xiaofeng shudder. Actually, he wasn’t afraid his master would take his life or anything, but mainly because… he was afraid of being toyed with.

The kind of toying that might kill him.

Lu Xiaofeng hesitantly retreated a step, behind him was the wide-open door, perfect for making a quick escape.

–He had precisely calculated the timing, when the adults next door were absent; he’d worked out the perfect moment, while his master was still in Lin’an Prefecture, before climbing over the wall!

How did his mysteriously appearing and disappearing master suddenly return early?!

…This was going to be the death of him.

The woman’s fingers were white and slender as spring onions, her fingertips dyed with red. She slowly opened the porcelain lid of her lip rouge and began to apply the vermilion to her lips while looking in the bronze mirror. At the same time, the door behind Lu Xiaofeng closed by itself without any wind, shutting tight with a bang.

Lu Xiaofeng immediately straightened his spine and stood at attention.

…Didn’t dare move, didn’t dare move at all.

“And the result?” The woman paused her half-finished lip coloring, her eyes somewhat dissatisfied as she examined her face in the bronze mirror.

“…Couldn’t see clearly.” Lu Xiaofeng was dejected. He glanced at his master and muttered, “Are all people who wear white clothes this fierce…”

Earlier that morning, he had finally chosen a good angle to climb the wall, but not only did the little beauty next door not invite him in to sit, the fierce iceberg-faced person beside him had forcibly chased him down from the wall.

The woman clicked her tongue and commented, “Stupid.”

Lu Xiaofeng: “…”

“Do you like that child next door?” The woman examined her face in the bronze mirror for a long time, still dissatisfied with the lip rouge color. She simply put down the soft brush in her hand and picked up a handkerchief to slowly wipe her lips clean. “If Xiao Feng’er really likes them, it’s not impossible to invite friends over to sit.”

The emotion in Lu Xiaofeng’s eyes froze for a moment. Remembering his previous friends who had been tested by his master’s various methods and never seen again, his face showed anger and resentment for the first time.

“Master,” the boy said with a straight face, “I make friends only because I like them. It has nothing to do with whether they will betray me, or leave me in times of danger.”

The woman giggled and turned around to lean against the dressing table, her eyes full of lazy charm. “My, is Xiao Feng’er going to defy Master for the sake of two little friends he’s just met?”

Lu Xiaofeng pressed his lips together: “…Master, you know very well this isn’t the same thing.”

“It is if I say it is.” The woman tossed the handkerchief aside. “Invite your little friends over, or accept punishment. Take your pick.”

Lu Xiaofeng was all too familiar with this routine and said helplessly, “Master… have you thought of a new way to torment me again?”

When the woman’s eyes flickered, they revealed a deep emerald green, a color more mysterious than the most precious jade, intertwined with a hint of malice and playful amusement.

“Xiao Feng’er, go, change your clothes.”

Lu Xiaofeng’s suspicious expression completely froze when he saw the peach-pink dress laid out on the bed behind the screen.

But no one knew better than Lu Xiaofeng how willful his master was, and how uncompromising once a decision was made.

No one could defy him—and no one dared to.

…..

When Lu Xiaofeng came out, he had not only changed into the peach-pink dress but also wiped his face clean and fair, revealing his very handsome features. Even his hair had been conscientiously tied into two hanging buns.

Children are naturally small in stature, and after changing his outfit, there was nothing that seemed out of place.

The woman nodded with satisfaction and beckoned her disciple to come forward.

Lu Xiaofeng approached his master with eyes full of gloom, expertly crouching down to let the woman personally fix his somewhat messy braids from behind.

“This time, Xiao Feng’er must survive well for three days in the Cihuan Tower.”

Lu Xiaofeng heard these words and hadn’t even fully exhaled in relief when he heard the woman’s soft, gentle voice again.

“Then steal the golden phoenix hairpin from the top courtesan, and plant it on that annoying curly-haired person next door, understand?”

Lu Xiaofeng struggled with his last breath. “…Master, his martial arts are very high. You only have one disciple.”

Could we use me more sparingly and not play me to death?

“Xiao Feng’er,” the woman’s fingers glided through Lu Xiaofeng’s smooth hair, humming a little tune in great delight, “as long as you have a breath left, your master can save you. Isn’t escaping for your life the skill that Xiao Feng’er has mastered most proficiently?”

Indeed.

Lu Xiaofeng crouched there with an expressionless face.

After all, the first skill he learned after being adopted by the person behind him was how to escape with his life.

Over all these years, amid the endless surprises and tricks from the person behind him, Lu Xiaofeng’s martial arts hadn’t shown much progress, but his life-saving skills were truly first-class among the first-class.

“Xiao Feng’er, don’t disappoint Master~”

Listening to the gentle Jiangnan boat song, Lu Xiaofeng suddenly spoke, “Master seems to have been in a bad mood ever since lurking on the roof of the house next door last time.”

The woman’s hand tightened.

Lu Xiaofeng hissed in pain, seizing the opportunity to rescue his hair from the woman’s grasp.

Instead of being angry at Lu Xiaofeng for exposing her, the woman coldly laughed, “Yes… what kind of thing is he, how dare he sleep in the same room as Xiao Yin…”

Lu Xiaofeng stood to the side, sighing softly.

What’s wrong with a husband and wife sleeping together? The child has already given birth to two children; they must have been a young couple who came a long way together, with a good relationship.

Not wanting to touch a sore spot, Lu Xiaofeng made a swift escape and ran away.

“Master, I’m going to complete the mission, remember to eat on time~”

The woman took the few strands of hair from between her fingers, pouted, and snorted lightly.

“Rascal.”

That voice was no longer the gentle, beautiful female voice, but a male voice like flowing water striking stone, carrying some coldness, yet with a dangerous allure that made people want to explore and approach, even more so than the female voice.

****

Three days later.

Today was a rare fine day. Yu Luocha was insisting on taking the whole family out to shop, and Hua Manlou appeared very excited about this, eagerly anticipating it since morning.

Seeing these two so enthusiastic, Yan Hongyin and Ximen Chuixue couldn’t bring themselves to refuse and had to follow along.

Though Hua Manlou had grown up in Jinling, he wasn’t necessarily very familiar with the city. Yu Luocha also behaved like a child, holding Hua Manlou’s hand and squeezing through the crowds, completely without the arrogance that had lingered in him a couple of months ago.

Ximen Chuixue walked beside Yan Hongyin and said in a low voice, “…How can he be so natural?”

Hua Manlou didn’t know Yu Luocha’s identity, but Ximen Chuixue did. Precisely because he knew, and had experienced Yu Luocha chasing him all the way from Lanzhou with assassins, he found it difficult to adjust to this version of Yu Luocha who spent all day in the kitchen, acting coquettish and excitedly shopping.

Yan Hongyin looked at Yu Luocha’s back and said, “This is his precious quality, but also his most terrifying aspect.”

It was common knowledge in the jianghu that Yu Luocha had powerful martial arts and a willful nature, but Yan Hongyin felt that the most frightening thing about Yu Luocha was that he didn’t hesitate to show his emotions and wouldn’t confine himself to a particular identity. He could be Yu Luocha, he could be Ah Yu, or he could be anyone else in any other identity.

Fierce when needing to be fierce, patient when needing to be patient, playful when it was time for fun, grieving when appropriate—this was what made him truly formidable.

Ximen Chuixue bit his lip. “I can’t do that.”

He couldn’t be like Yan Hongyin, blending into the crowd as an ordinary doctor without edges; he couldn’t be like Yu Luocha, carefree and unrestrained like a fish in water; he also couldn’t be like Ah Lou, making people happy at first sight…

Ximen Chuixue remembered scenes from his childhood when his mother would beat him while crying and begging him to cry out, and he grew even more silent.

“You don’t need to do that.” Yan Hongyin raised her hand to block a bamboo pole from a vendor’s cart that almost swept into Ximen Chuixue, and said calmly, “You are not them.”

“Then what am I?” Ximen Chuixue’s heart skipped a beat. He stopped walking, feeling an indescribable palpitation in his chest.

Yan Hongyin looked down at him. She was always like this, whether talking to little Hua or little Ximen, never dismissing their thoughts because of their age, always addressing and answering them with a respectful attitude.

“What do you want to become?”

Ximen Chuixue’s fingers trembled inside his sleeve.

“I…”

Something he wanted to say was on the tip of his tongue but got stuck in his throat.

Yan Hongyin held Ximen Chuixue’s hand and walked slowly forward. Bustling crowds surrounded them on both sides.

In the midst of the noisy clamor, Ximen Chuixue caught that unhurried voice, carrying an indescribable steadiness and stability. “There’s no rush. This is a very important choice. There’s still plenty of time; Ah Xue can take it slowly.”

“Ahh——!!”

Hua Manlou’s cry came from ahead. Yan Hongyin was startled and frowned, quickly walking forward.

The possibly, probably forgotten Ximen Chuixue was forced to open his legs, being held in her hand and uncontrollably following her in a small trot forward.

Near the candy hawker stood a tangled group of one adult and two children.

The big one was Yu Luocha, the small one was Hua Manlou, and the other was a little girl in a pink dress, who was now anxiously and urgently trying to struggle free from Yu Luocha’s grasp.

The three of them had clothes smeared with sticky, messy tanghulu that had been rolled between them.

The little girl was still struggling non-stop, making the tanghulu that was originally in Hua Manlou’s hand smear even more pitifully on all three of their clothes.

“What happened?”

The confused and helpless little Hua heard Yan Hongyin’s voice and immediately “looked” in her direction. His chubby little face was also smeared with melted sugar syrup, looking quite pitiful.

“Aunt Yan!”

Yan Hongyin rescued Hua Manlou from Yu Luocha’s arms. As soon as Hua Manlou was placed on the ground, he instinctively grabbed both Yan Hongyin and Ximen Chuixue’s sleeves, looking thoroughly frightened.

“Just now, a… little girl suddenly ran out from the side and bumped into me, then we both fell backward and were caught by Uncle Yu, and then…”

Hua Manlou tried to recall what happened but realized he had no idea why he and the little girl ended up entangled in Uncle Yu’s arms.

Yan Hongyin could see at a glance that the little girl was indeed intentionally trying to run away, but Yu Luocha was deliberately holding onto her, his eyes full of the excitement, pleasure, and mischief of a cat playing with a mouse.

“Ah Yin~ We don’t have a little girl at home yet. Why don’t we keep her and raise her as a child bride for Ah Lou or Ah Xue?”

The little girl struggled even harder upon hearing this, but even as she struggled until her face turned red, she didn’t make the slightest sound from beginning to end.

“Hmm, seems like she might be mute?” Yu Luocha’s voice, filled with laughter, mixed with malice as he said softly, “Well then, since things are like this, how about cutting off the little things that a little girl shouldn’t have? This little fellow wouldn’t mind, right?”

The little girl’s struggling movements stopped abruptly. She instinctively squeezed her legs together, staring wide-eyed at the man who was holding her.

Why was there another devil in this world as terrifying and wicked as her master?!!!!

She quickly lowered her eyelids, using a pitiful expression to look at the white-clad woman nearby.

She knew of Doctor Yan, reportedly the most gentle and good-tempered doctor in Jinling city.

Yan Hongyin looked at the “little girl” who was silently pleading with her expressions while also noticing the “little girl’s” sneaky movements trying to strip off her clothes and escape. She raised an eyebrow and casually said, “If you want to keep her, cut it yourself.”

Yu Luocha’s hand that had been holding the “little girl” shifted to grip the back of her neck, a practiced gesture like holding a chicken by the neck before plucking its feathers in the kitchen.

With his other hand, he took out an exquisitely crafted golden phoenix hairpin that gleamed in the sunlight. Yu Luocha said with a half-smile. “So she’s a little spendthrift too. Relax, my knife is quick and won’t hurt. You’ll just go to sleep, and when you wake up, the things a little girl shouldn’t have will be gone~”

Lu Xiaofeng: “!!!”

He painfully turned his head toward Hua Manlou’s direction and called out, “Little beau- little master, save me——!!”