Xiao Che withdrew his consciousness from the Sky Poison Pearl and picked up the girl's clothes from the ground. He purified the poison on them before sending the clothes back into the Sky Poison Pearl, then quickly covered the girl's body with them before letting out a small sigh of relief.
What kind of person was this girl really? Why did she appear here? Why did she suck his blood? How did she know about the Sky Poison Pearl? And how did she enter the Sky Poison Pearl?
Xiao Che could not think up of an answer for any of these questions.
He silently watched this girl for a long time and then stretched out a hand to lightly touch her upper lip. His fingertips immediately felt a tiny bit of warmth, a contrast to the earlier icy coldness. A weak breath could also be felt, evenly brushing against his fingertips.
These were all signs of life.
"Little sister?" Xiao Che called, shaking her body.
No matter what the time, a woman's appearance was her strongest bargaining chip and most powerful weapon. If this girl wasn't as beautiful as a fairy, but instead horrendously ugly to a point that one would throw up for three days with just a glance, Xiao Che would absolutely, without hesitation, kick her out from the Sky Poison Pearl. But this girl was not only thoroughly shrouded in mystery, but had also just then bit his finger and forcefully sucked his blood, causing his body to break out in a cold sweat. She even strangely appeared within the Sky Poison Pearl. However, when Xiao Che looked at her, rather than the previous sense of danger, he instead felt an undeniable sense of pity. This was because this girl was such a beauty, so beautiful that it was impossible for anyone to associate her with the word "danger".
Rather than a man's natural instinct, it was more appropriate to say that this would be countless men's most base of nature.
Xiao Che shouted for a long time, but the girl did not respond at all. He stepped back a few paces and then silently gazed at her.
This girl was definitely not normal… Xiao Che thought to himself. From the scars that were on her body, and her ripped up clothing, it was easy to see that the poison on her body wasn't accidentally spilled, but rather forcefully applied by someone else. For this young girl, the most ordinary poison would have been enough to kill her, but her enemy instead used a poison so strong that it alarmed even him.
The person able to use this kind of poison was definitely a very frightening person.
What was even more frightening was that, even with her entire body covered in this poison, she still had not died yet!!
Then, what should he do with her? Should he just let her quietly sleep inside the Sky Poison Pearl?
Xiao Che pondered for a long time before silently leaving the Sky Poison Pearl, leaving the girl inside. Although this girl had just then sucked his blood, it seemed to be an unconscious behavior. A girl this beautiful, how could she possibly be evil? If he took a step back to think about it, at such a young age, how could she become a threat?
He also had no idea when she'll wake up.
After purifying the poison on the ground to the best of his ability, Xiao Che started to leave. In the dead of night, he could only hear his own footsteps. When he was only about a hundred steps from the Xiao clan's back wall, he suddenly saw a shadow walk directly towards him.
His footsteps suddenly stopped as he looked ahead… Who was sneaking out here this late?
The shadow in front of him also discovered him and stopped, vigilantly asking, "Who is it?"
This voice caused Xiao Che to immediately stare, involuntarily saying: "Little Aunt?"
"Ah?" The shadow let out a quiet gasp, then quickly ran over. Coming closer, the moonlight revealed a dainty but charmingly elegant cheek. It was precisely Xiao Lingxi. Upon clearly seeing Xiao Che, she opened her eyes wide. "Xiao Che? Why are you here?"
"I…" Xiao Che scratched his head. "I couldn't sleep, so I came out to stargaze."
"Stargaze? Tonight is your wedding night, you aren't with your Xia Qingyue consummating… consummating your marriage, but instead came out here to stargaze?!" Xiao Lingxi grabbed Xiao Che's arm, an angry pout on her face. "Don't you know that it's dangerous here? From time to time, profound beasts will come out, and when it's this dark, sometimes bandits will come here. What would happen if you carelessly ran into them? I have told you many times now, if I or your grandfather aren't by your side, you absolutely can't come out here, even if it's during the day. You actually… did not listen to my words!"
As she talked, Xiao Lingxi also angrily pinched Xiao Che's arm as punishment.
"Ah! It hurts, it hurts!" Xiao Che hurriedly yelled and then apologetically said, "Little aunt, I know I'm in the wrong, next time I definitely won't dare."
"You want there to be a next time?!" Xiao Lingxi glared at him with her beautiful eyes.
"… There definitely won't be a next time! If I want to come to the rear mountains in the future, I definitely will call for little aunt to come with me." Xiao Che solemnly vowed. With that said, if it weren't for his extra life's worth of memories, he definitely wouldn't dare to come out to this place alone at night.
"That's more like it… There's not allowed to be a next time!"
"Then… Little aunt, why did you come here? It's this late already." Xiao Che asked, confused.
"I…" Xiao Lingxi's voice lowered, her eyes appearing a bit hollow. "I don't know why, but I couldn't sleep tonight. Then I saw that the stars were really bright tonight, so I wanted to come to the rear mountains to take a look."
Xiao Che looked up at the sky, then said with a smile, "In the past, little aunt and I would frequently sneak out here at night to enjoy the evening wind and look at the stars… And would frequently get caught and scolded by grandfather."
"Hm." Xiao Lingxi responded, then quietly said, "I also thought about that, so I thought I'd see how it felt to come out by myself to stargaze… Because in the future, I might not be able to stargaze with little Che."
"Ah? Why?"
"Stupid! Because little Che is married! In the future, you should be accompanying your wife, Qingyue, to bed at night, rather than coming out to enjoy the evening wind and stargaze." Xiao Lingxi coldly glanced at him and then pouted for some reason.
"That's not true! As long as little aunt is willing, no matter when, I would willingly come here with little aunt to stargaze… See! Aren't I doing that with you right now?" Xiao Che said with a smile.
"You're still saying that! Sneaking to the rear mountains during your wedding night… Ah! You weren't forced out here by Xia Qingyue, were you?" Upon thinking of that, Xiao Lingxi's face filled with rage and she stamped her feet: "Hmph! That's too excessive, I'm going to go find her!"
"You don't need to worry about her." Xiao Che grabbed Xiao Lingxi's hand. "I wasn't forced out here by her. I came out by myself. Maybe I just carelessly predicted that I'd meet little aunt here… come on, let's go to that place."
"Ah…"
Leading Xiao Lingxi by the hand, Xiao Che jogged through the cool evening wind towards that familiar place.
This was a small hilltop covered by soft and tender grass. Xiao Che and Xiao Lingxi leaned against each other shoulder to shoulder, bathing in the occasional evening wind, their hearts at peace.
"I thought that after little Che got married, I would lose a large part of you. Xia Qingyue is so beautiful, better than me in every aspect. I was afraid that once you had her, you would always stay at her side, leaving me with less and less time with you." Looking at the night sky, Xiao Lingxi's eyes overflowed with a wavering light that was even brighter than the stars.
"Little aunt really didn't believe my words at all." Xiao Che bitterly replied, "I clearly said this morning that in my heart, one hundred Xia Qingyue's won't compare to little aunt. Little aunt forced me… Er, wait no, promised with me. I firmly remember, and will definitely willingly comply…"
"After I marry Xia Qingyue, I won't forget about little aunt just because I have a wife. I'll spend the same amount of time with little aunt like before, I will listen to little aunt's calls and would arrive as soon as I'm called just like before. And lastly, although Xia Qingyue is now my wife, in my heart, she definitely won't outweigh little aunt… I guarantee that I remembered every word right!"
"…" Xiao Lingxi had a dumbfounded expression on her face and the look in her eyes blurred. "I know that was a bit excessive. I was just… just playing around. You really kept it in your heart all along?"
"Of course." Xiao Che nodded without hesitation. "Because little aunt and grandfather are the most important people in my life. Other people can't compare. Little aunt, I promise you, even though I'm now married, you won't ever lose me, just like I hope to never lose you."
"Hehe…" Xiao Lingxi happily smiled, her hands hugging Xiao Che's arm. She rested her head on his shoulder. "As expected, my little Che is the most well behaved, most obedient."
A dark cloud floated through the sky, temporarily blocking the full moon, immediately dimming the surrounding lighting.
"Now that I think about it, it's been a long time… no, it seems like it's been quite a few months since we came out here to stargaze together. When we were little, whether it was winter or summer, we would frequently sneak out here. I remember one winter night, at this very spot, of course the sky was filled with many stars. We watched for a long time, then accidentally fell asleep against each other… Turns out that it unexpected snowed that night, and we were frozen while sleeping. When father found us, we had already become two little snowmen. Afterwards, we only recovered after staying next to the stove for two days and drinking a lot of bitter medicine. Father was really angry, but was reluctant to spank me, not to mention you. So after we got better, he made us shovel a large patch of snow as punishment."
Xiao Che continued with a smile, "And then, we only shoveled for a bit before we started playing in the snow. We even made a big snowman that really looked like grandfather. He didn't know whether he should laugh or cry. Once he started laughing, he completely forgot about our punishment."
"Uh huh! Father was always like that. He usually looks really fierce, but he could never bring himself to spank us even once and would only put on a show to scare us. No matter what, as long as we threw even a small tantrum, he would obediently listen to us." Xiao Lingxi's face was full of warm laughter.
"One time wasn't like that." Xiao Che's smile became vague. "On my twelfth birthday, when you were eleven, grandfather got you a small courtyard, and forbid you from sleeping together with me in the future. I remember you would beg Grandfather every day, crying and shouting, and even angrily stopped eating. But grandfather was extremely unyielding. No matter what he wouldn't let you sleep in the same bed with me… as time passed by, you could only obediently follow his order."
"That… That's because I was really young, and had a lot of things that I didn't understand!" Xiao Lingxi lightly pinched Xiao Che's shoulder. "Some girl things I only learned after growing up, hmph."
"What things?" Xiao Che widely opened his eyes, his face full of suspicion.
"That… That boys and girls can't sleep together after they grow up! I can't believe you didn't know!" Thinking about what had happened before, Xiao Lingxi added another sentence: "Also, they can't randomly kiss like when they were little!"
"Ah, so it's like that…" Xiao Che glanced at Xiao Lingxi lovely cheek, dyed jade under the bright and beautiful starlight. He quietly leaned closer: "But, I always want to kiss you, what should I do?"
"Then marry me!" Xiao Lingxi replied with a proud face, her pink cheeks raising slightly,
"If you weren't my little aunt, I would definitely marry you," Xiao Che said without thinking.
"…"
After saying that, Xiao Che immediately stared blankly ahead. Xiao Lingxi's expression also froze as she vacantly stared at him… as if they had both been struck dumb.