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Chapter 12

Que Chai lived in a two-story small building. The facade was tiled, and the door was adorned with faded couplets. Everything about it exuded a rustic charm, but in the countryside, it could be considered a “luxury home.”

She went straight up to the second floor, in a good mood, even humming a song. Once inside, she quickly unzipped her long dress, letting it fall to the floor, then kicked off her high heels and grabbed a towel before heading to the bathroom.

Soon, the sound of running water could be heard from the bathroom.

Amidst the sound of water, Yan Tuo checked the interior and exterior of the house. The house seemed uninhabited, as there were no signs of daily life, but it was very clean, suggesting it had been recently cleaned; even the smudges on the windows were still visible. In the bedroom corner were two suitcases: a 26-inch black men’s suitcase standing against the wall, and a 22-inch floral one, wide open and filled with women’s clothes, in a messy heap.

The bedding on the bed was also a mess, with one pillow fallen to the floor and the other lying in the center of the bed.

Que Chai was likely not a local resident but had recently moved here. She had a close male companion, but he had not been staying here these past few days.

The house had a strong feminine presence, with a soft, sweet fragrance. Yan Tuo opened a window to air it out, then picked up a jacket from the open suitcase and sat down on the edge of the bed with his gun in hand.

The sound of water stopped, and a faint humming could be heard. Then, the door was opened, and Que Chai emerged with wet hair, barefoot, adjusting her towel and walking out. She froze in place, letting out a scream.

She was wrapped in a large towel, with the knot tucked between her cleavage. Her hair was still damp, with a few strands hanging down, and the cool September night air, coming through the open window, made her skin crawl.

She shivered and asked, “Who are you?”

But she soon calmed down, her body relaxing: dealing with a man, she felt she had plenty of leverage.

She smiled and quickly guessed Yan Tuo’s identity: “You’re the man who came by during the day, right?”

Yan Tuo tossed the jacket at her: “Put on some clothes before you talk.”

She didn’t catch it. Watching it fall to the floor, she said, “I’m not cold.”

As she spoke, she gracefully removed the towel from her hair and let her wet hair fall onto her shoulders, walking towards the vanity.

Yan Tuo coldly said, “Just stand there, don’t move or lean against anything. And don’t think that just because you’re attractive, you can play games with me. I’m not interested.”

Que Chai felt embarrassed for a moment but decided it was better to drop the pretense: at least then she wouldn’t have to keep up the charade.

She adjusted her towel and smiled softly: “So what do you want? If there’s a misunderstanding between you and the old man, taking it out on a woman like me isn’t very fair, is it? Especially when I’m in the middle of a bath.”

Her tone took on a hint of coquettishness by the end.

Yan Tuo sneered: “I was just driving by and didn’t steal or rob anything. What’s the meaning of attacking me?”

Que Chai smiled with a hint of something elusive: “Alright, handsome, let’s be honest. ‘Just driving by’? Who would believe that? Just say it: are you here to join the gang, or to discuss business?”

Yan Tuo didn’t understand, but it didn’t stop him from responding: “What’s the difference between joining and discussing business?”

“Joining the gang? We don’t have the final say, it’s up to the ones in charge. For business, you definitely need to talk to him.”

“Is the one in charge the one named Jiang? What’s he doing, and when will he be back?”

Que Chai thought to herself, indeed, it wasn’t just a casual drive-by. He knew exactly who the boss was and came directly to Banya with a clear purpose.

“He’s busy with important matters. When he’ll return depends on whether things go smoothly… It’ll take at least seven or eight days. If you don’t mind, you can stay here and wait. There are plenty of empty houses in the village. Or you can come back in a few days.”

As she spoke, she rubbed one foot against the calf of her other leg to warm it up, her toenails sparkling from being washed.

Perhaps having warmed up to the conversation, she became more talkative: “Handsome, are you working alone now, or are you partnering with someone?”

“Partnering.”

Que Chai let out a small, disappointed sigh: working alone would have been easier to deal with. If she could handle one, she could handle the whole family. With a partner, things couldn’t be handled so recklessly.

“Can you contact the one named Jiang now?”

“Handsome, you don’t understand. Only he can reach out to us. We can’t contact him. Don’t worry, when he calls, I’ll let him know.”

Yan Tuo did not respond. After a moment, he changed the subject: “What was that smell in my car? Why can’t I smell it?”

Que Chai laughed: “Of course, you can’t smell it, I can’t either. I’m curious about what it is.”

“Can Big Head smell it?”

Que Chai realized she had let something slip. She didn’t respond and instead changed the topic: “Handsome, let me ask, how much merchandise do you have?”

“That depends on how much you need.”

Que Chai was momentarily stunned. Her throat moved slightly, and her voice changed a bit: “What’s the price? How much?”

As the conversation continued, it was clear that revealing too much could be risky. Yan Tuo decided to close the discussion: “For specifics, I’ll only discuss it with Mr. Jiang.”

Banya was a surprise. He had two options: one was to get information from Que Chai, who was just a minor player with limited knowledge; the other was to play along and take a bigger risk, meeting the old Jiang and finding out more.

He was willing to take the risk.

Standing up, he said, “I’ll come back in a few days.”

Que Chai was a bit surprised but understood that haste makes waste: “Alright then, handsome, what’s your name? When Mr. Jiang comes back, I’ll let him know. Also, if convenient, leave a phone number.”

These details would be discovered eventually, so there was no point in hiding them. Yan Tuo told the truth: “Yan Tuo, with the double fire character, the ‘Tuo’ in ‘expansion.’”

He gave her his phone number. There was no pen in the room, and he didn’t know where his phone was, so in a hurry, Que Chai used an eyebrow pencil to write the number on the vanity mirror. She wrote quickly, her hand trembling slightly.

This detail made Yan Tuo realize that the persona he had created for himself was quite significant to the other party.

It seemed that within a few days, he would meet Mr. Jiang.

As he reached the door, he turned back and asked, “One more thing, what do you call that thing in my car?”

Que Chai replied, “It’s called a ‘fortune cat.’”

Yan Tuo thought the answer sounded rather false, but her expression didn’t seem deceitful.

He left the small building and, after walking more than ten meters, heard a whistle behind him. Turning around, he saw Que Chai leaning out of the second-floor window, smiling sweetly and seductively. Her skin was very fair, and under the light, she almost seemed to glow.

In her hand was a folded three-function crossbow, already fitted with a stainless-steel arrow. The arrowhead glinted with a cold light, aimed directly at him.

Yan Tuo said, “Put on some clothes so you don’t catch a cold.”

After saying that, he turned around and continued walking, exposing his entire back to her.

Que Chai tilted her head slightly and looked through the crossbow’s sight, seeing Yan Tuo’s back framed entirely within the crosshairs.

Her index finger hovered over the trigger for a moment before she let go.

Back in the car, Yan Tuo felt a wave of heat. His forehead was burning, and his palms were sweaty.

He rested his forehead against the steering wheel, trying to calm his racing heart.

After a moment, he sat up straight, picked up his phone, and opened the recent call log.

The log was filled with records from the same person: Lin Xirou.

Yan Tuo stared at the name for a while before taking a deep breath and dialing the number.

The call was answered quickly, the voice on the other end calm and gentle: “Little Tuo.”

Yan Tuo’s neck bristled with sweat, a conditioned reflex after all these years.

He steadied himself: “Aunt Lin.”

Lin Xirou smiled: “Where are you now? You should be home in a day or two, right?”

“No, Aunt Lin,” he tried to sound casual, “I wanted to let you know that I’ll be coming back a bit later. I ran into an old friend here whom I haven’t seen in years, so we’re catching up.”

“That’s good. It’s rare for you to have a friend to catch up with,” she said, her voice dropping, “But be careful with Dog Tooth.”

Yan Tuo looked at the rearview mirror in the car. His expression was as cold as iron: “I understand.”

“Is the journey going smoothly?”

“Smoothly.”

“If you encounter someone who shouldn’t see what they see, you know what to do?”

“I know.”

Lin Xirou said, “Aunt Lin knows you’re a soft-hearted kid. If you can’t bring yourself to do it, let Dog Tooth handle it.”

“Got it.”

After ending the call, Yan Tuo sat silently in the car for a while before starting the engine and heading back to the hotel.

He couldn’t quite pinpoint why, but he felt uneasy about having Nie Jiuluo and Dog Tooth in the same room.

Let’s talk about Nie Jiuluo.

As soon as Yan Tuo left, Dog Tooth shed his earlier timid demeanor. He spat a couple of times outside the suitcase and cursed, mentioning something about “cheap son” and “pretty boy,” though the specifics were unclear to Nie Jiuluo.

Then, Dog Tooth turned off the light—when he climbed out of the suitcase, Nie Jiuluo was startled, thinking he had recognized her and was about to exact revenge for his blindness.

But no, he simply walked to the door, turned off the light, and then returned to the dark, crawling back into the suitcase.

Nie Jiuluo wondered: could it be that he disliked the light?

Even though her hands were cuffed behind her, her fingers could still move freely. With her right index finger, she deftly hooked the bracelet on her left wrist.

To the casual observer, the bracelet seemed like a “thin, multi-looped, threaded” accessory—bling and fashionable. However, the real trick was that it wasn’t actually multi-looped; it was just a single band wound around several times with strong elasticity. Even if forcibly straightened, it would return to its coiled state once released.

She fiddled with the bracelet for a while but eventually gave up. After a moment, she used her hands to rub against the water pipe to create friction.

The sound of metal grinding against metal was grating. Soon, Dog Tooth could no longer tolerate it and, in the darkness, roared at her, “Be quiet!”

Nie Jiuluo pretended not to hear, confident that Dog Tooth wouldn’t dare to harm her, especially since Yan Tuo had given clear instructions.

Dog Tooth, furious, jumped out of the suitcase, smashed the light switch, and yelled at her, “Can’t you understand human language?”

Nie Jiuluo tilted her face up, signaling that he had something to say.

In a fit of rage, Dog Tooth raised his hand, preparing to rip off the tape. Just as he was about to reach her face, he suddenly paused and then carefully began to peel off the edge of the tape.

Nie Jiuluo was astonished by this sudden display of tenderness, but the next second, she heard a loud ripping sound as the tape was harshly torn away.

She winced in pain, feeling her face burn, and wondered if a piece of her skin had been torn off.

Indeed, birds of a feather flock together—Dog Tooth, like Yan Tuo, was also a pervert.

Gritting her teeth to steady herself, Nie Jiuluo looked up with a concerned expression and said, “Your wound, do you need to bandage it?”

Dog Tooth: ??

“Your eye, it’s a serious injury. If left untreated, it could get infected.”

Only then did Dog Tooth realize what she was implying and gruffly replied, “No need.”

“You might not understand the seriousness of the situation,” Nie Jiuluo was undeterred, “I see that your wound is quite deep. How long is that piece of wire? Could it have affected your brain? You might hold on for now, but if bacteria get into your brain, you’re done for. The environment here is so dirty…”

Dog Tooth, annoyed, interrupted her angrily: “No need! Shut up!”

Damn! She had never encountered someone who took blindness so lightly, letting blood and pus flow from their eye. “Are you even human?”

Her remark was more of an offhand comment, implying “Anyone would know to get treatment; if you don’t, are you even human?”

Unexpectedly, this casual comment had a profound impact on Dog Tooth. He froze, his face turning pale, and he angrily demanded, “Who’s not human?”

Nie Jiuluo was struck by this response. At first, it seemed unremarkable, but upon reflection, it felt off. Usually, when people argue, they say things like “You’re not human” or “Your whole family isn’t human,” escalating to cursing ancestors, but rarely would someone retort with “Who’s not human?”

Although Dog Tooth’s actions, especially climbing out of the window in the dead of night, had made her say “I think only a non-human could do that” to Xing Shen, she had meant it figuratively. After all, exceptional individuals who could leap and climb were not unheard of.

She stared at Dog Tooth, whose chest was heaving violently. His remaining eye reflected some fear, while the blind eye was covered in dark scabs.

Nie Jiuluo enunciated slowly and gently, “Aren’t you human?”


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An Owl Rising From The Green Soil

An Owl Rising From The Green Soil

Love On The Turquoise Land (Drama)
Score 8.0
Status: Ongoing Type: , Author: , Artist: Released: 2020 Native Language: Chinese
Over two thousand years ago on a deep night, Xu Fu* set sail to the eastern seas in a treasure ship to search for immortality, but few people knew that at the same time, a group of black-turban soldiers secretly entered the vast and dense Nanbao forest… A millennium later, the dark legend continues to slowly grow in the shadows. Xú Fú: Qin dynasty court necromancer and was tasked by Qin Shi Huang to look for the elixir of life between 219 BC and 210 BC. He never returned after departing on his second mission in 210 BC.

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