劍問蒼天 - 第49章 妖狐 - 翰墨軒

Zhang Qingyue froze for a moment, never having imagined he would see this woman again so soon. He was tempted to pretend he did not know her, yet after all they had faced death together in the Blooddrop Cave of the Dead Spirit Abyss, and some inexplicable feeling still lingered in his heart, so he could only give an awkward smile and say, "What brings you here?"

Shi Tou, standing nearby, saw something odd in Zhang Qingyue's manner and asked in surprise, "Xiaofan, who is this person?"

Zhang Qingyue blurted out, "She is—" Then he suddenly caught himself. If Bili's identity were known, and his own connection with her besides, it would mean no end of trouble; the words reached his lips and then drew back.

Shi Tou was puzzling over why Zhang Qingyue had stopped short when Bili laughed and said, "Don't ask him. He and I are but newly acquainted, we have met only once, and he does not know my origins."

Only then did Shi Tou understand, but catching the look on Zhang Qingyue's face, he suddenly grinned oddly, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, "Brother Zhang, you look flustered to me. Don't tell me you have taken a fancy to this young lady?"

Zhang Qingyue was thrown into no small alarm; his face went white, and he said urgently, "You must not talk nonsense! I—I have not the slightest connection with her!"

Bili, who had been standing there smiling at him, heard these two sentences and her face suddenly darkened. She gave a cold hum and said with a sneer, "Quite right. How could I have any connection with this shameless, contemptible fellow?"

Everyone was taken aback. They remembered how delighted she had looked when she first saw Zhang Qingyue; who would have thought she could turn faster than a page is turned, and with the words "shameless, contemptible" besides, for a moment every gaze turned strangely upon Zhang Qingyue.

Zhang Qingyue was deeply embarrassed but could not think how to defend himself. Yet to anyone watching, this looked like nothing so much as a pair of young lovers quarreling, and one after another they began to laugh.

Shi Tou glanced at the sky and said to Zhang Qingyue, "Brother Zhang, it is getting late. Let us go in."

Zhang Qingyue would have been glad to escape this awkward scene and hastily agreed. But just as they were speaking, Bili cried out from the side, "Old swindler, stop right where you are!"

The two of them turned. It seemed Zhou Yixuan and Xiaowan had been preparing to slip away while no one was watching, only to be spotted by Bili. Already the Heartbreak Flower in her hand was glowing white again, waves of cold air rising thick from it. Zhang Qingyue was startled and quickly halted, saying, "Wait—what have they done to offend you?"

Bili shot him a glance, clearly not yet appeased, and said coldly, "That is none of your business!"

Zhang Qingyue was rebuffed and felt sick at heart. But Zhou Yixuan had taken a severe drubbing from Bili a short while before, and now that someone had at last stepped forward on his behalf, he was not about to let the chance pass. He said hurriedly, "Young brother, you must save me! Just now in the town I was so kind as to read this young lady's fortune, and would you believe it, she cannot bear to hear the truth. The moment her wishes were not met, she fell to violence against me and my granddaughter—"

Bili said angrily, "Nonsense! You old swindler, your mouth is full of lies, cheating and deceiving and swindling people of their money, and now you dare to turn it around on me. You are asking for a beating!"

With that, her hand shaped a spell, and the Heartbreak Flower blazed white, bright enough to turn the surrounding ground into day. She was plainly about to strike. Zhang Qingyue said urgently, "Bili, wait!"