“Were you struck by lightning when you were born?” Cui Xiaoxin asked loudly with her eyes wide open.
This thing sounded so unimaginably strange that even Cui Xiaoxin, who was knowledgeable and calm, had exclaimed in disbelief.
All the people in the Beast-faced Pavilion turned around to look at them. Then, with a weird expression, they laughed at Li Muyang.
“That guy is willing to use all means to please this girl,” someone said.
“Could he survive from a thunderbolt? Does he think that we are idiots?” another said angrily.
“It’s possible. Otherwise, can you tell us why he is so dark?”
…
Cui Xiaoxin heard the people talking. She knew that she had gotten Li Muyang in trouble because she had asked in a loud voice just now. Thus, she apologized. “Li Muyang, I did not mean it. After all, it’s hard to believe such a thing.”
“I understand how you feel.” Li Muyang nodded and said bitterly, “Surely, it sounds unreal to you. The lightning strike happened a decade ago, but even I have yet to accept the fact.”
“Is it true?” asked Cui Xiaoxin.
“Absolutely true.” Li Muyang nodded vigorously.
Cui Xiaoxin believed him because she could see the frankness and pain in Li Muyang’s eyes.
She could understand Li Muyang’s pain. After all, no one would ever feel pleasant after being struck by a thunderbolt.
“That’s why you have been in poor health, right?” asked Cui Xiaoxin.
“Well, it is said that when I was born, I was covered in blood and almost died. Later on, my parents asked a doctor to see me. The doctor was the old Taoist who taught my sister the Qi-breaking Technique. He ordered me to drink all kinds of herbal medicine every day for more than 10 years. That is why I can maintain a relatively healthy condition now. But I also suffer from some residual effects. For example, because of my weak pulse, I can’t drink stimulating tea or eat spicy food. Moreover, I can’t do strenuous exercise, study kung fu, or learn the popular Five-Animal Exercises of the empire.”
Li Muyang looked at Cui Xiaoxin and continued with a feeling of helplessness, “Before the old Taoist left, he told me that I often felt tired and exhausted because my brain had been hit. No one could repair such damage. I could do nothing but leave everything up to my fate. I wanted to study. But whenever I opened my textbooks, I would feel waves of drowsiness. I have tried various ways to force myself to study, like tying my hair to the house beam, sticking needles into my legs, rubbing chili sauce on my temples… However, none of these methods worked. Drowsiness defeated me. You know what happened next—I abandoned myself.”
Cui Xiaoxin had total sympathy for Li Muyang. She said, “But, the Liberal-arts Exam is only a month away. If you make no preparation, have you ever thought about your future? You can’t sleep all your life.”
“Every day in the past, I have thought about my future. But what else can I do?” Li Muyang asked helplessly.
“From today on, I will help you with your lessons,” Cui Xiaoxin gritted her teeth and added, “right here.”
But Li Muyang waved his hands and refused, saying, “Cui Xiaoxin, I am very grateful for your kindness. But I don’t want to slow you down during this crucial period. Li Sinian tutored me before, trying to improve my grades, but she failed.”
“I don’t believe it,” Cui Xiaoxin said firmly. As a girl of strong will, she would never give up easily on anything that she had determined to do. “I don’t believe there are insurmountable difficulties in this world. I don’t believe there are areas in this world that humans can’t conquer, either. From now on, I will be here to coach you. We should start with the basics. I am going to teach you any subjects that you want to learn and answer any questions that you don’t understand. One month of study is not enough, but it will be much better than doing nothing before the exam.”
“But I am afraid…”
“You mustn’t refuse my suggestion,” Cui Xiaoxin interrupted Li Muyang and said, “It will not affect my studies. I am ready to take the exam and will definitely enter Xifeng University.”
“…” Li Muyang was silent and exclaimed in his heart, “What a confident girl! She looks amazing.”
“Li Muyang, what is your opinion?” asked Cui Xiaoxin.
“Then, please help me,” Li Muyang said in a deep voice.
The boy and girl smiled at each other. Li Muyang felt a very warm current surging through his body.
It made him feel so good.
“Miss, the fruit you ordered.” A waiter wearing a beast-face uniform brought a fruit tray over.
Li Muyang glanced at him, noticing that this handsome young man was not the person who served them before. With a smile, he said, “Thank you.”
Li Muyang replied to him with the empire’s standard noble etiquette. It was a pretty skillful imitation of Cui Xiaoxin. When Cui Xiaoxin watched him act like this, her eyes brightened. She felt as if Li Muyang, who was sitting right before her, were a real noble general of the empire.
“Have you ordered any fruit?” Cui Xiaoxin asked loudly.
“No.” Li Muyang shook his head then asked in surprise, “Didn’t you order it?”
“I didn’t,” Cui Xiaoxin answered.
Her face instantly turned pale. She opened her mouth and was going to say something…
She reacted marvelously quick, but it was still too late.
A ruthless smile appeared on the face of the young waiter who carried the fruit tray. With a sharp paring knife in his hand, the waiter directly went to stab Cui Xiaoxin’s neck.
The waiter thought, “The neck is one of the most fragile parts of the human body. As long as my knife penetrates her main artery, this beautiful virgin with a delicate fragrance will perish forever.
“She is the target of my trip to Jiangnan.”
“Danger!” Li Muyang cried out in alarm.
He sensed the danger.
He felt like he was walking into an uninhabited, barren mountain and a horrifying monster was stalking him.
His heart raced uncontrollably, and the sense of impending danger made his hair stand on end.
Li Muyang sat opposite Cui Xiaoxin. Thus, when he saw the knife in the killer’s hand, he immediately pounced upon the killer right away.
There was no better option, nor did he know if there were any other options.
What about running away? That sounded like a good choice, but such an idea had never crossed Li Muyang’s mind.
He opened his mouth to shout but failed to make a sound.
His heart was beating so fast that he feared it would jump out of his chest.
Li Muyang was terrified. Actually, he was scared to death.
However, he still spread his arms wide and threw himself at the killer.
He was going to push him away and put himself in front of Cui Xiaoxin to protect her.
The killer kept an eye on the situation here before he attacked.
Except for the noble lady of the empire, there was only a dark-skinned young man sitting opposite her.
As one of the top 20 killers of the empire, Crow, who was very good at killing, had sharp eyes.
Crow trusted his judgment—the ugly boy was an ordinary person who was even weaker than average. Only after he said a few sentences, the sweat burst through the skin on his forehead in tiny beads. In addition, when he stood there, his legs were shaking continually.
The killer witnessed everything that had happened when Li Muyang begged Cui Xiaoxin to stay. In fact, he watched even more carefully than everyone else.
“A reckless and blind idiot,” Crow thought with disdain.
At first, Crow didn’t plan to do anything to Li Muyang. After all, he was only paid to kill the girl. A killer would never kill an extra person for free.
He expected this idiot to be petrified with fear as soon as he launched his attack. But to his surprise, this boy was bold enough to play the hero—he rushed out to save the beauty.
However, heroes usually come to no good end, and it is never so easy to save a beauty.
Even before Li Muyang could approach him, Crow had already hurled the fruit tray in his left hand at Li Muyang’s head.
“Clang!”
The fruit tray hit Li Muyang’s head, which prevented Li Muyang from going any further.
When the tray was on Li Muyang’s face, Crow’s right hand didn’t remain idle.
With his right hand, he spun the paring knife in a beautiful style and then slid it at Cui Xiaoxin’s throat.
He was going to carve a cherry blossom on Cui Xiaoxin’s white, tender neck. The delicate blossom would start to bloom when her red blood seeped out.
“Swoosh!’
The knife was inserted neatly into Cui Xiaoxin’s flesh.