Volume 1: Wu Violates the Forbidden Chapter 3: The Beauty Saves the Emperor

  "Ding!"

  "Stop!"

  A loud, metallic clang echoed through the air as the red-clad woman's long sword was struck by a copper coin. The small copper coin bounced off into the air, flipping over several times before landing on the bluestone brick, emitting a series of sharp "tingling" sounds.

  The red-clothed woman's long sword, having received this blow, deviated from its target and grazed Zhao Xian's shoulder. The sharp blade lightly touched the coarse linen robe, tearing it open to reveal a sturdy arm inside, making the situation precarious.

  One strike missed, the red-clothed woman's eyebrows slightly furrowed, and the anger on her fair face disappeared in an instant, replaced by a hint of vigilance. She immediately withdrew and retreated to one side.

  At a glance, in the distance, between the streets and buildings, a woman rushed over, her figure moving too fast, with a small snowflake-like fluttering motion, wearing a warm yellow close-fitting long skirt that was blown out far behind her. This woman jumped several meters high, her feet not touching the ground, like an ethereal fairy, with almond-shaped eyes and peach-colored cheeks, full buttocks and slender waist, her mature and fiery figure like a ripe honey peach, it's hard to tell how old she is, but this beauty at this moment had furrowed eyebrows and a pale face.

  Zhao Xian saw the arrival of the person and finally breathed a sigh of relief. The person was none other than his lifesaver, Hua Yu. Hua Yu was a school teacher in Changzhou's South City and also the only female doctor, with quite a reputation in Changzhou. More importantly, her martial arts skills were unfathomable.

  The name of Huayu is like its name, elegant and gentle temperament is friendly, this city is floating snow, but her appearance always makes people feel a few degrees warmer.

  Her eyes, which could speak a thousand words, were filled with murderous intent. She quickly arrived at Zhao Xian's side and saw that he was unharmed, only his clothes were torn. Her face relaxed slightly as she took in the sight of him, his forehead glistening with a layer of fragrant sweat, his appearance utterly captivating.

  Huayu suddenly stared at the woman in red, saying: "Miss, even if Xiaojian was wrong, you drew your sword and hurt someone, isn't that a bit excessive?" After finishing speaking, she quietly leaned closer to Zhaoxian's side, with a hint of dissatisfaction on her face, softly scolding: "Xiaojian, what kind of trouble have you gotten into again?"

  Xiao Xian is the flower language term for Zhao Xian, after all, Zhao Xian was a little kid back then, no matter how mature he pretended to be, and being called that many times, Zhao Xian got used to it.

  The girl's eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and she whispered to herself with a look of habituation. Zhao Xian smiled awkwardly, feeling embarrassed to say those two lines of "poetry" out loud, so he rubbed his nose and said casually: "Nothing, just had some misunderstanding with this young lady."

  Zhao Xian had someone to help him, and the red-clothed woman also dispelled her intention of teaching Zhao Xian a lesson by taking action. However, letting him off like this was clearly not possible.

  She slightly turned her eyes, suddenly put away the soft sword and wrapped it around her waist, walked to Huayu's side, made a neat bow, and said: "Sister, you must help me out. It's not that I want to hurt him, but this kid is so naughty, learning from that Dengluzi... Ah~"

  The woman in red had a look of wanting to speak but stopping herself, and she glanced at Zhao Xian with a mixture of shame and anger, as if she had suffered great injustice. A layer of tears welled up in her bright black eyes.

  The woman in red was born more delicate than a flower, and although the weather was cold and frozen, her face remained soft and radiant, with a warm and moist complexion like beautiful jade, making her inherently charming appearance even more captivating, especially those pitiful eyes that were extremely touching.

  Ke Zhaoxian, apparently not being fooled by her, slightly twitched the corner of his mouth, thinking that he had only made a couple of jokes, but she was talking as if he had committed a serious crime. This woman is too petty.

  Those two sentences from Zhao Xian indeed have a teasing tone. The red-clothed woman said so, and Zhao Xian could only laugh awkwardly, his gaze drifting to the side.

  Hua Yu heard this and her face stiffened slightly, her eyes full of disbelief. She was about to retort, but habitually glanced at Zhao Xian first.

  But this glance, however, left Huayu momentarily stunned, realizing that over a decade had passed, the little kid from back then was now a head taller than her, with a sturdy build and handsome features, having long since grown into a mature man.

  The flower language seemed to have just realized that Zhao Xian had grown up, and his eyes were slightly dazed for a moment. After a while, he returned to normal and looked at the poor red-clothed woman, whose face was slightly unnatural. He hurriedly stretched out his hand to support the red-clothed woman and awkwardly said: "Miss, Zhao Xian...he might have done it unintentionally, please forgive him."

  The woman in red wiped the corner of her eye, looking wronged and aggrieved like a young daughter-in-law, but her eyes stole a glance at Zhao Xian. Just as she was about to continue acting, her gaze flickered for a moment, as if she had discovered something.

  A figure in white appeared on the stone bridge ahead, with a face as pale as jade and a slender yet tall build. From afar, he gazed over here, seemingly admiring the snowy street scene. However, after a brief moment, he flashed slightly and vanished without a trace, like a fleeting illusion.

  Changzhou is filled with snow everywhere, the scenery is very beautiful. Scholars and poets dressed like that are all over the place, and can't even attract people's attention.

  And that woman in red, as if she had received some kind of signal, the shyness and grievance on her face all disappeared, turning into a serious expression, her relaxed posture suddenly became more dignified.

  Zhao Xian faced the red-clothed woman and naturally didn't notice the person on the bridge, but felt that the red-clothed woman in front of him had a strange expression, as if she was anxious to leave.

  As expected, the woman in red suddenly bowed to Huayu and smiled: "It was just a joke, I don't blame young master Zhao Xian. I have something else to attend to, so I'll take my leave." After finishing speaking, the woman in red quickly left, her figure seeming somewhat hasty, and disappeared into the crowd after just a few steps.

  "Hey! Hey!"

  Zhao Xian called out several times, but the woman did not respond. He couldn't help but feel baffled - this woman had come to kill him once and then ran off without even leaving her name, acting crazy and strange.

  The flower language looked at the woman with a puzzled expression, and her eyes also flashed with some doubts, then she shook her head and stopped thinking about it.

  Seeing Zhao Xian's lingering figure, Hua Yu couldn't help but shake his head, tidied up his somewhat disheveled hair, and softly scolded: "You're actually out here causing trouble again, this time bullying a young woman, do you really want to infuriate me to death?"

  Zhaoran smiled awkwardly, he was just teasing the woman and hadn't even touched her hand, but unexpectedly she drew a knife and started chopping people. Huayu scolded him, Zhaoran explained helplessly: "I didn't bully her, I was just joking, who knew she had such a bad temper."

  Zhao Xian supported Hua Yu's arm, preventing her from slipping on the snow-covered bluestone, although it was unnecessary, but being able to hold onto Hua Yu with a legitimate reason made him quite happy.

  The language of flowers is also helpless, and a faint smile is no longer inquired.

  "Hey! Zhao Da Chui, caught by your sister again?"

  Zhao Xian and Hua Yu walked to a place not far from Guihua Lane, when a mocking voice suddenly came over. He looked up and saw a half-grown girl leaning out of the window of a wine shop by the street, looking down at the street.

  This girl had a small bamboo skewer in her mouth, with curved eyebrows and delicate skin. Her figure was well-developed, but unfortunately, she gave off a hooligan vibe that made people uncomfortable.

  Zhao Xian's face suddenly fell, this girl was called Huang Tiantian, the big sister of Wumeng Alley, the young master of Zhenyuan Escort Agency. Because Zhao Xian gave her the nickname "Huang Tianba", and they had been fighting since childhood, standard arch-enemies. She was born with a stubborn temper, except for looking like a girl, everything else about her was like a boy, not having any of the gentle qualities of a Jiangnan woman. Her father had always worried that she would be driven out by her in-laws.

  Zhao Xian tossed his flowing long hair and raised his head, pretending to be arrogant: "Huang Tianba, this is my territory, who let you in?"

  Zhao Xian, a man in his forties, was always fighting with this dead girl every day. It's really hard to say, but in the south of the city, apart from this dead girl, no one else dared to provoke him. Zhao Xian had nothing to do all day except for forging iron, so it was quite interesting to accompany this little girl and fight a battle.

  "Chop!" Huang Tian Tian spat out the bamboo skewer to one side, blinked her big eyes, made a ghostly face and said: "I'm already the captain of the South Street patrol, this area from now on is my territory, you can just stay in that cool place."

  Perhaps due to the impression of Zhao Xian's self-proclaimed "master", Huang Tian Tian argued with him, not wanting to lose face, and always referred to himself as "old mother". However, for a 16-year-old girl, this self-proclamation is somewhat comical.

  The surrounding shopkeepers saw the two kids scolding each other, putting down their work and poking their heads out of the door with great interest. They watched these two children grow up, fighting every day, so they were used to it. If the two didn't fight when they met, that would be a real problem.

  What a chief catcher? Zhao Xian was slightly surprised, didn't expect that Huang Tian Tian, a woman, could also be hired as a chief catcher. It seems that this era is quite open-minded, no wonder those women who were casually teased could be chased and killed halfway down the street.

  Look at that dead girl's complacency. Zhao Xian swung his big fist and said, "The captain is not good enough! Why don't we practice?"

  "Who's afraid of who?!" Huang Tian spat out a small tongue, with a provocative face: "This afternoon, at the entrance of the Ling Mansion, whoever doesn't come is a little dog!"

  "Alright, alright! Whoever doesn't come is a little dog." What a silly girl, Zhao Xian thought to himself as he shook his head, picked up the cloth bag and pulled Hua Yu along, leaving the place.

  Zhao Xian and Huang Tian were quarreling, everyone's attention was focused on them, so no one noticed that at the entrance of a lane in South Street, several middle-aged men wearing hemp robes stood there. These people were all physically strong, their expressions frozen stiff, wearing thick hemp robes with bulging sleeves, obviously hiding hard objects inside.

  A few people were lurking in the corner of the wall, their eyes constantly shifting between Zhao Xian and Hua Yu, with a sinister glint in their eyes. Among them was a young man with a slender build like a thin monkey, his face pale and his eyes venomous - it was Li Ya, the scholar who had been humiliated earlier.