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Edited on January 13, 2020.

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Wearing very simple clothing and styling her hair with a simple braid, Chu Zhu Yu planned to sneak out through the back door during the afternoon recess, the only time the general's residence is not heavily guarded.

Her hands carefully opened the door knob. When she was about to go out, a very familiar voice called out to her.

“What are you doing?”

Chu Zhu Yu felt her body stiffen. She slowly turned her head to see who's behind her, and it turned out to be the person who comes to her room every night and sleep in her bed.

“Aren’t you an imperial guard? Why are you here?” she glared.

Xiao Zhi Zhi crossed his arms calmly as he looked at Chu Zhu Yu. After being stared at for some time, she blinked her eyes rapidly and looked away because of guilt.

If they stand here for too long, they will be caught. If that happens, it will be difficult to stay here without getting fired.

Chu Zhu Yu pondered for a while. Finally, she spoke softly, “I'll tell you, but promise that you won’t say this to anyone else.”

“Okay.” He agreed.

Chu Zhu Yu moved closer to Xiao Zhi Zhi until her face was only an inch away from him, she spoke with a very low and soft voice,

“I am planning to go out.”

Because she was so close, her breath fanned his face. Xiao Zhi Zhi felt as if the air near his ear got hot. It’s a strange feeling.

“Where are you going?”

“To the temple.” she spoke softly. She looked at his clueless expression, and she tried to explain,

“Today is the goddess of fertility's birthday, and I… I'm a devotee, so I need to go and pray.”

After she spoke, she grabbed him, “You can’t say this to anyone.” She looked at Xiao Zhi Zhi.

He thought for a moment, and said : “Okay, but…”

“But what?”

“I also want to go.”

...What!?

———

Even after getting out of the residence, Chu Zhu Yu still continued to mumble to herself.

Why is the imperial guard job so idle? Why can he sneak out so easily?

(E/R: Because he's your boss, that's why. 😂)

She thought of all the hardships that she had to endure just so she could escape in the afternoon.

She had to finish all the jobs in the morning and bribe some maids to show how persistent she is in wanting to go out.

When they arrived at the bustling street of Luo Yang, Chu Zhu Yu was relieved. She has been in the general's residence for days.

When she still lived in her house, she told her father that she will go and buy new tea leaves.

Across two more streets is where her tea house is located, if there wasn't anyone standing next to her, she would have loved to visit her tea house.

“What are you thinking about?” Xiao Zhi Zhi asked Chu Zhu Yu because he saw her absent-mindedly looking at nothing.

Just now, her face looked a bit sad. He didn't like seeing her like that, he liked her laughter instead.

“No, nothing.” she shook her head.

They stopped the horse carriage in front of the temple. The temple was filled with hundreds of incense that burned non-stop, and it was also very crowded.

Chu Zhu Yu pulled Xiao Zhi Zhi over. However, even though they haven’t gotten close to the temple’s door yet, Chu Zhu Yu was already sweating all over her body.

“This is extremely tiring. I never thought there would be this many people.”

She wiped her sweat. She was surprised to see that the person next to her did not change. His breath is stable, and his forehead doesn't have even one bead of sweat.

“How come you’re not sweating?”

“Is it weird?” he even asked.

This… perhaps everybody has different body types. Chu Zhu Yu stared at the people who are pushing against one another in a desperate attempt to enter the temple, and said,

“With so many people, I'm afraid we will have to wait a long time to enter the temple.”

“Do you really want to enter?” he bent down and looked at her.

“Of course. I came here to pray, so how would it called praying if I leave immediately lah?”

Moreover, today is the birthday of the goddess of fertility, and as folks said, during this time, praying to her is the best time.

Once she thinks of what she'll pray about, Chu Zhu Yu's cheeks suddenly turned red.

“It's quite easy to get in."

“Easy?”

“Yes, just do this.” Xiao Zhi Zhi illustrated, he straightened his body and walked to the crowd.

Chu Zhu Yu blinked her eyes, and her mouth gaped wider and wider. The black shadow moved as fast as the wind, simply passing over the crowd until he reached the temple door, whereas the people he passed by suddenly stopped moving as if their body was set up.

It wasn’t a set up! They were acupunctured by him. She saw him standing in front of the temple door, waving to her and said,

“Now it’s easier for you to enter the temple.”

This is not about how easy is it to enter the temple, but… Chu Zhu Yu is currently being slandered by those who were acupunctured by Xiao Zhi Zhi.

Suddenly, she realized that her understanding of Jue Qing (aka Xiao Zhi Zhi) was still too little.

“Release their acupuncture point, now!” she said when she arrived to the front.

“Do you really want to release them?”

“Of course! If you don’t do it, people will report us!”

If hundreds of people were to stand in front of the temple without moving, it will attract the officers to come.

“So what?” he doesn’t seem to care.

“Whatever, just release these people.” she glared angrily at him.

“Are you angry?”

He glanced at her and got confused. Chu Zhu Yu energetically nodded her head.

“I did what you asked for, so why are you angry?”

She wanted to enter the temple faster, so he acupunctured all of those people to make it easier for her to enter.

Now she doesn’t need to push anyone around, but why was she not happy like what he first expected?

“Martial arts isn’t suppose to be used like this!”

Since Jue Qing (Xiao Zhi Zhi) lacked common sense, Chu Zhu Yu planned to “educate” him slowly, so that in the future, he won’t do such things anymore.

“You're a master in martial arts, but you must never use your martial arts for your own selfishness and hurt others.”

Even if… he did it for her.

Xiao Zhi Zhi lowered his head and looked closely at Chu Zhu Yu's “educating” expression.

So far, no one dared to speak like that to him. Maybe they see him as someone scary, who could determine people's lives by waving his hand.

That’s why most of the time, people are afraid of him or are very timid around him. In this world, people who are not scared of him are very, very few.

He never thought that she's also one of those few people. Zhu Yu, his precious treasure….

“I like the way you talk to me.” he abruptly said.

“Hah?” Chu Zhu Yu was stunned.

She nagged for such a long time, but he only replied like that without showing any repentance.

“You aren’t afraid of me, that's good.” his fingertips gently crossed her cheek.

While she was still standing, his long fingertips touched her cheek. Her face felt kind of hot, and she turned red.

Although Xiao Zhi Zhi didn’t spend much time to release the acupuncture points of the people outside, they were still very furious after being released, so Chu Zhu Yu hurriedly pulled Xiao Zhi Zhi inside of the temple.

Luckily, the people inside of the temple didn’t know what happened outside, so Chu Zhu Yu could safely pray in front of the idol.

Chu Zhu Yu let go of Xiao Zhi Zhi’s hand, and kneeled in front of the idol. She said,

“Please give me a baby, I will take the responsibility to be a good parent, I will act as the mother and father, and I will teach the child to be good…”

A child.

Only one child, a child who will follow her surname. If that happens, then her tea house will be protected, and her father can also retire early.

After praying, she burned an incense stick, and finally walked out of the temple with Xiao Zhi Zhi.

As they were going out of the temple, Chu Zhu Yu was thinking of the fastest way to get pregnant, while Xiao Zhi Zhi's face was dark.

He gloomily looked at her, and suddenly asked her, “You came to the temple to ask for a child?”

“Ah!” Chu Zhu Yu was shocked, in that moment, her mind went blank, and then she replied,

“You were eavesdropping on me?”

“No.”

“Then how did you know?”

“I learned martial arts.” He replied.

His hearing ability was sharper compared to ordinary people.

Chu Zhu Yu bit her lip, “Whatever you heard, don't tell anyone about it.”

After all, she's still an unmarried maiden. But after carefully thinking about it, if she really had a baby with a stranger, then she shouldn’t be afraid of marrying anyone.

Marriage, a husband, a family, she never thought about it. When she was still in the tea house, she would hear people talking about romance, and at those moments, she would be very interested to listen to them.

But… can she really marry?

Big uncle and Tang Ge (brother cousin) caused a ruckus at their house. They gave her no choice but to urgently find a man who is willing to marry into her family.

On her way to find a suitable candidate, she never even thought if this was a good plan or not.

How many people will be understanding of a single mother with a child?

Perhaps, when she becomes pregnant, she could say to everyone that the child's father is someone she encountered when visiting the tea field, but as they rushed for marriage, a group of bandits suddenly killed her husband, so she could only escape and bring the child to Luo Yang.

This reason can still be brought by the people. After all, nowadays, the court isn’t stable, bandits and rebels can intrude the city from inside and out.

Chu Zhu Yu looked gloomy, so Xiao Zhi Zhi asked, “What are you thinking of? Say it.”

He used a commanding tone, so she furrowed her eyebrows, “I don’t think I need to tell you about my thoughts.”

“Are you thinking of the child’s father?”

He controlled himself, and hugged her entire body. He really hated the idea of her with other men.

If it was possible, he wanted her to only think about him, all about him!

Since when did he desire such a thing? Even he doesn’t know. But he understands that even if he can control this desire, he won’t suppress it.

Chu Zhu Yu avoided his sight. In some ways, she did think about the baby and the baby’s father, and her future together with them.

“I won’t let it happen!” his anger surged.

“Hey, you don't have the right--”

She was about to argue with him, but all of a sudden, she saw the back of someone she knew, and she quickly burrowed her face into his arms.

The person walking slowly in front of them was actually Chu Zhu Yu’s Tang Ge, (brother cousin) Chu Mu Cai and his sly friends.

In their direction, Chu Mu Cai saw Chu Zhu Yu, but he was unsure if it really was her.

“Brother Chu, is there anything wrong?” one of his friends asked.

“I thought I saw my Tang Mei (sister cousin).”

Just now, when he passed by a tall man, he seemed to have seen a girl who looked like his Tang Mei being hugged.

“Your Tang Mei, didn’t she go to Yan Zhou to get new exotic tea supplies?”

“Yes, but…”

Chu Mu Cai decided to look closer on whether or not she is Chu Zhu Yu. He decided to look at the girl's face once more.

Chu Zhu Yu lowered her head, hearing their footsteps coming nearer, her heart thumped louder.

“Jue...Jue Qing.” She softly called Xiao Zhi Zhi by his nickname.

“Hm?”

“As we hug, please don’t let those people see my face.”

Her arms hugged his waist, while her head was stuck to his chest, her cheeks tightly pressed to his black clothes.

His heart suddenly beat louder and faster, feeling her body's aroma coming out, he leaned down and smelled her scent.

Xiao Zhi Zhi's hands that were on her shoulders, moved to slightly lift her jaw slgihtly, his nose gently rubbing her hair to smell her scent.

Chu Zhu Yu's face turned red. But she doesn’t seem care about this kind of thing anymore.

“Lady, I am Chu Mu Cai. Please excuse me, but you look a lot like someone I know. If it is possible, could my lady show me your face?” Chu Mu Cai asked.

Chu Zhu Yu who was hugged by Xiao Zhi was shaking her head, it made Chu Mu Cai more suspicious, “Lady, could you please…”

“Scram!” a controlled voice from Xiao Zhi Zhi rumbled out, Chu Mu Cai just realized the identity of the man who was hugging the girl.

His eyes opened wider. Those eyes, that temperament, as long as he wasn't nearly blind, there is only one person who possesses all of these things!

Suddenly, he swallowed his saliva, Chu Mu Cai stupidly looked at Xiao Zhi Zhi for a moment.

While sweating, he opened his mouth, “Xiao…”

“Scram. Don’t make me repeat myself.” Xiao Zhi Zhi was displeased.

“Yes, yes, yes, this lowly one will be gone.” Chu Mu Cai hated himself, why didn't he look more carefully...

The well-known general who dislikes women, at that moment, was hugging a woman.

This was very big news.

If he made the general unhappy, he might lose his head. Chu Mu Cai left so fast. On the other side, Chu Zu Yu had a doubtful look, because her Tang Ge (brother cousin) would only cower and run away when he's sure that the other party is stronger.

She didn’t even know the real reason why her Tang Ge was so afraid of them…