Chapter Thirty-One: Your Secret and My Secret

  "Are you deceiving me just to let me know there are many bad people in this world?"

  Ou Si Qing Qing Wen.

  Li Xian nodded and said: "A scoundrel like me is everywhere, so remember, idiot, don't easily believe people with unknown backgrounds."

  "Don't call me an idiot!"

  "Alright, idiot."

  Ou Si's face turned green with rage, and he pointed outside the window, saying: "Now if I shout three times, guess what will happen?"

  After a long conversation, the two people who had become familiar with each other no longer felt awkward. Ousiqingqing was originally an optimistic girl with a cheerful and natural personality, and after getting to know her, jokes came easily. However, her threatening tone didn't have much power over a certain someone. In order to show that he didn't care at all, Li Xian even kicked Ou Siqing's foot under the covers.

  "Three calls? Do you believe that if I don't shout out loud once, I'll have already taken care of you?"

  His threat was even less lethal to Ouyang Qingqing, but instead, her toes touched the sole of his foot, making it very uncomfortable.

  Immediately afterwards, Li Xian provoked a stormy revenge.

  Can't help but say, Ou Si Qing's shadowless kick is indeed much more ruthless than Li Xian. After just a few rounds, in the midst of the blanket flying around, Li Xian was completely at a disadvantage. Ou Si Qing's small feet, which were somewhat chilly, covered Li Xian's body with indiscriminate blows, and soon Li Xian was defeated.

  Ou Si covered her mouth and giggled, the victory of a small-scale war was enough to make her proud like a little peacock that had won a fight.

  She laughed so hard she was almost out of breath, her small chest heaving up and down.

  Li Xian was also tired from all the commotion and lay down on the bed with his hands under his head.

  The deliberately suppressed laughter subsided, and the atmosphere in the room became inexplicably heavy. The two people lay on the bed, no longer quarreling or speaking. In the quiet room, there were only the slightly rough breathing sounds of the two people, which somehow brought a sense of calmness.

  "Hey!"

  Breaking through the gradually warming up ambiguity, Ousiqing found a clumsy topic with a nervous heart.

  "Your feet really stink!"

  Li Xian smiled and sat up on the bed with his legs crossed, suddenly reaching out from the darkness to gently touch Ouyang Siqing's forehead, smoothing out her slightly disheveled hair. Ouyang Siqing was startled and instinctively leaned back before staring blankly ahead, her eyes wide with surprise. Her breathing, which had just calmed down, became rapid again. Her face was hot and flushed, so she could clearly feel the faintly cool tips of Li Xian's fingers tracing a path across her forehead.

  I'm leaving.

  Li Xian quickly withdrew his hand, as if he had been scalded by the temperature on Ouyang Qing's face.

  "Oh..."

  Ou Si Qing subconsciously responded with a "yes", but she hadn't heard clearly what Li Xian had said.

  "Hmm, no matter what time it is, I won't come back to Qingniu Lake again."

  Li Xian got out of bed and put on the clothes that were on the floor. The icy lake water from Qingniu Lake was still lingering on his clothes, making them feel stiff and uncomfortable to wear. Not only did it not drive away the chill, but it also made his body temperature drop suddenly after he had just warmed up.

  In the darkness, Li Xian couldn't see Ouyang Qingqing's appearance clearly, and Ouyang Qingqing also couldn't see Li Xian's deliberately suppressed heavy breathing.

  She didn't know that Li Xian had just made a huge effort to withdraw his hand, which was about to touch her lips. This wonderful feeling was abruptly cut off by Li Xian, although not thoroughly, leaving him somewhat annoyed in his heart.

  "What are you doing? What can you do? Hurting her is a sin, a great sin!"

  Li Xian said to himself in his heart when he withdrew his fingers, with a loud voice.

  He forced himself to calm down, and he didn't know if it was because of the humble conscience in his heart or just because he couldn't bear to destroy a piece of natural white jade.

  "You said you're leaving?"

  Ou Si's eyes snapped open and she sat up straight.

  "Well, I'm off."

  Li Xian nodded: "I came to steal things, but I didn't even get to steal anything and was discovered. The owner's family treated me with such warmth that it already makes me feel honored, if I stay any longer and you suddenly develop a conscience and shout three times to catch me, I'll have nowhere to cry. A long, long time ago, I received an education - taking advantage of the situation and running away is an eternal truth."

  He scratched his hair: "Besides, didn't your brother-in-law say just now that your father will rush back from the battlefield to see you before dawn? I don't want to be caught in bed improperly."

  Ou Si's eyes widened slightly as she stared blankly at Li Xian.

  "But how did you get down, Answer Lang is right below."

  Li Xian smiled: "A fool is a fool after all... With such a fuss, do you think An Lang Chong Huang really doesn't notice anything? I'm afraid that if he wanted to, I would have been torn apart an hour ago."

  Ou Si's face turned pale, and before she could say a word, she heard someone outside the window say: "Consider yourself clever, if you want to leave, then leave, it will also save me the trouble of going in and throwing you into the Green Cow Lake."

  Li Xian curled her lip: "Gossiping about others behind their backs is already a big deal, but eavesdropping on them like this? You're shameless!"

  "Say one more word and I'll cut off your tongue!"

  The sound outside the window is very cold, just like the lake water of Qingniu Lake.

  Li Xian glanced out the window and said to Ouyang Qing, "Thanks, my feet are warm now. So, I'd say we're even for me giving you those boots earlier. From now on, let's just go our separate ways on the Yangguan Highway. If we run into each other... it's better if we pretend not to know each other."

  He pulled open the window and took a look at Dalang Changhong who was standing on one side of the window, hugging a knife: "No chance to meet again."

  Dalong nodded silently, without saying a word.

  Li Xian jumped out of the window and then crept over to where Da Xi Chang Ru was on the high slope. Having only walked a few dozen meters, he suddenly stopped and asked in a low, cold voice: "Planning to leave me behind?"

  A tall and robust figure emerged from the darkness, shaking his head gently: "See you off."

  "Why? Just because you're also Chinese?"

  Li Xian's words were devoid of any emotion, as if the young man who had been frolicking with Ouyang Qingqing in the small building earlier was a completely different person.

  "It's undeniable, you're indeed very clever."

  Dalan Changhong walked up to Li Xian, his height advantage forcing him to look down, while Li Xian seemed annoyed by this gaze, his hand involuntarily resting on the deerskin pouch at his waist, where the dagger was, ready to be drawn at any moment.

  Dalan Changhong smiled: "Didn't you say that holding a knife handle while talking to people is very impolite?"

  "For those who can't tell friend from foe, it's better to be cautious."

  Li Xian raised an eyebrow: "Especially, I don't think I can beat you."

  Da Lang didn't respond to Li Xian's hostility, he shifted his gaze away from Li Xian's face. With his hands behind his back, he looked at the moon reflected in the Qing Niu Lake and asked in a tone that made Li Xian puzzled: "Why did you say such cold words before leaving? You should know she would be very sad. Before, it seemed like we were friends, but now you're saying goodbye forever, the contrast is too big, she can't accept it."

  "It's you I said 'we'll meet again someday', not her."

  Li Xian pouted.

  "Answer me!"

  Lang Xiang's gaze gradually became sharp and piercing, his eyes returning from the lake surface to become as sharp as a knife.

  "What right?"

  Li Xian asked back.

  "With you unable to defeat me, I can kill you, but you cannot kill me."

  Rong Changhong said seriously.

  "Alright"

  Li Xian suddenly abandoned his hostility, and his hand also left the hilt of the dagger. He sat down on a rock very casually, thought for a moment, and replied in a very serious tone: "Because she is too simple, so simple that she can't bear to be hurt."

  "But you hurt her."

  Dalan Changhong took two steps forward, and was now within a knife's distance from Li Xian.

  "Hurt?"

  Li Xian smiled and said, "She and I are people from two different worlds."

  "She's a fish in the water, I'm a bird in the sky. Even if we meet, we're destined to be apart. To put it bluntly, I'm someone who has today but no tomorrow. Today she sheds tears, and with her temperament, maybe in less than half a month she'll forget today's unpleasantness. But if things really drag on, I don't know if there will come a day when she'll cry herself to death at my grave."

  Dalan Changhong was taken aback for a moment, then smiled.

  "Are you afraid of death?"

  "Only an idiot wouldn't be afraid of death!"

  Li Xian glanced at the monster-like An Lang Chang Hong and said, "Don't worry, my reason for choosing to leave like this has nothing to do with being afraid of death or not having a single copper coin. It's also not to curry favor with you so that you'll let me go. If we were to fight, I'm definitely no match for you, but if I want to run, you won't be able to catch me in a short while."

  This sentence is actually not tough, but it's true.

  "I have never seen such a young man among the Han people."

  Dalong let out a long sigh.

  Li Xian smiled and asked: "You're not a Han person? You really think of yourself as a Khitan?"

  "I find it strange."

  Dalong Changhong faced Li Xian: "How did you know I'm a Han?"

  Li Xian thought for a moment and said: "Do you believe what I'm going to say is nonsense?"

  Rong Changhong didn't say anything, but quietly waited instead.

  "Alright..."

  Li Xian sighed: "Although I don't want to be a clever person, in fact, I'm not stupid. The reason why I can tell you're Han Chinese is first, because of your hair. Although it looks like the nomads' with some curls, but your curling level is too poor, I guess it wasn't done by a hairstyling master, just find an iron rod, heat it up, wrap it in a towel and use it to straighten your hair? I knew there was such a method, practically speaking, the straightening effect is not bad, but can you be more diligent? The front part is curly, while the back part is very straight."

  "Secondly, your speech carries a hint of Jiangnan flavor, although it's very faint, but if one listens carefully, they can still tell. Of course, the Khitan people probably wouldn't deliberately notice this point, because they've never been to Jiangnan. Thirdly, your knife skills, although you also use a curved knife, the moves are clear and distinct. That day when you killed the Jie people on the mountain slope, I watched very carefully, your angle and force of the knife were just right, not wasting any energy, the grassland people don't have such refinement in using knives."

  Li Xian said, "I have a master who is great at knife skills, so I also know a bit about it. It's just that I don't know if you've ever spent a day drawing your sword thousands of times and chopping small wooden sticks for no reason."

  "I should have killed you."

  Dalong Changhong shook his head: "At your age, why be so cautious?"

  "Because I want to live."

  He stood up, patted the nonexistent dust on his buttocks: "If you don't plan to tell me why you're hiding out with the Khitans, I'm leaving. I just said goodbye to my first love, and I'm not in the mood to chat with you here."

  He tidied up his clothes, making sure the dagger was within easy reach: "You have your secrets, I'm not interested in knowing. I also have my secrets, of course, and no interest in telling you, so... goodbye."