Swallowing, she stares and in her mind, she panics. "Woah... wait... who is this man? What is he here for? Oh, my nose!" She stops picking her nose and hides her face in embarrassment.
The man's body is built for war. Broad shoulders, big chest, defined abs, and piercing gaze. Tattoos and scars covered his body that served as marks of his achievements on the battlefield. He has a headband tied around his head. Long wavy hair that flows with the wind. His pants have slices and holes on them, telling the history of his conquests. Then the most striking part of his appearance is his sheathed sword at his left hip. Its hilt is made out of weaved strips of brown plant fibers and the sheath is made out of thick wood. Apart from its appearance, its boiling aura says it's desperate for blood.
"What do you want?" she asks him.
He just stares at her face while she's wondering if there is something on it. She looks at the mirror on her table but nothing seems to be odd.
"May I help you?" she asks again, this time trembling.
Then he smirks.
"You'll do," he says.
"I'll wha—"
Suddenly, he grabs her and jumps through the window. She screams as they slide on the rooftop. He carries her in his arms just before they land in a poor vendor's shop.
"Sorry, old man!" he apologizes as he runs off.
"My shop!" the old man cries.
Liangyu watches the gate of her house getting far away by the second until he takes a turn to the right on the road. Then as she looks at the face of her kidnapper, everything slows down.
She asks her mind, "Is this what I've been looking for?"
No.
"Is this one of my wishes coming true?"
Not even a slight.
"Is he the man of my dreams?"
Definitely not. I'm warning you, you'd rather marry that pig.
"Is this the freedom I wanted?"
WRONG!!! DEAD WRONG!!!
As clueless as she is, she smiles as she wraps her arms around him. "Take me far away from here!" she yells in joy.
The man confusingly looks at her but she can't see because she's innocently closing her eyes, smiling.
"Crazy girl," he mutters.
"What?" she confusingly chuckles.
"Unhand her!" yells one of the two guards on their tail.
The man runs faster than ever. Then an incoming car is going right at them.
"Argh!" Liangyu squeals, closing her eyes. Then she's confused why it never hit them. She opens her eyes and they're flying. "We're flying!" she exclaims.
"Yikes!" the man blurts out before both of them came splashing and tumbling down the wet concrete cement. The workers are pulling their hair, watching their already-flattened getting obliterated.
"Ouch...," she weeps, sitting and covered in cement. "Ugh..."
The man bounces up to stand and picks her up. The car they met crashed into a shop while the guards continued pursuing them. Running away, both of them are heavy with concrete all over them.
"Was that supposed to happen?" she asks herself. "I thought everything would go smoothly. It's not like this is happening in a romantic novel. Yeah, things like that could happen in real life."
Yes, this isn't a typical romance novel nor it is a romance novel in the first place where the hero is perfect as glass with all of his actions, his plans will go as he planned—THIS IS WRONG!!! This is a novel with no future!
A police car stops ahead and he has no choice but to take a turn to an alley at his left. He unsheathes his swords and cuts the bundle of bamboo they pass by. The bamboos scatter and block the way of the pursuing guards.
"Lady Liangyu!" shouts one of them. "Fight and get out of his grip!"
She makes a ridiculous face at him until they can't see her around the corner.
"What?" asks the guard. "Why is she mocking us?"
"Nah, let her be, Mao," one of the guards who had enough. He's panting very hard. "Let that guy sell her to a brothel. It was clear that she never wanted to marry that pig— Uhm, I mean Lord Bao."
Narrowing his eyes, his companion says, "I heard that, you know."
"Let's just move on and tell her father that she ran away."
"You're the one's gonna explain to him, right?"
"Oh, I think I have to go home and bring in my clothes. It's gonna rain."
"Fang!"
He's too late to do something as Fang is already running away.
Meanwhile, Liangyu and her kidnapper have arrived at the port. Both of them can barely move as the concrete on their bodies is drying. Other people are avoiding them, scared that they might pounce on them or something. Step by step, he carries her until they climb the deck of a large ship.
"What is this?" asks a rugged man who seems to be the captain of the ship. He's looking at what Liangyu.
"A fine woman," answers the kidnapper, trying to wink but he can't.
"Stop winking, you look like an idiot. Anyway, you found her on the streets, didn't you? I told you to bring a healthy, beautiful, young woman! I won't buy this piece of filth!"
"Hey!" she reacts violently. "For your information, I am the jewel of this town! And my name is—"
"Shut up," says one of the crew, tying her mouth shut. "Men are talking."
"I don't like this girl," says the captain. "She badly wants to be in a brothel. A sane girl would be crying in her place. This girl is a bad omen."
She widens her eyes, realizing the trouble she's in. She struggles to get out but the man is fast to tie her arms and legs together.