By now, had Xiao Rufeng crossed over and met the male protagonist once already? Or had she met him several times? Well, it was not important… What was important now was that Xiao Rufeng had successfully drawn the attention of Feng Cheng, making him realize she was different from the rumors.
However, Xiao Rufei occupied the position of the future Lady Seven now. Even if Feng Cheng wasn't fond of Xiao Rufei, he wouldn't stand by on the sidelines and watch her suffer, for the sake of the Xiao family.
But if he accepted Ming Shu's proposal, he would have to offend the Bai family.
Although he was from the royal family, in reality, the royal family and these noble families had large gaps between each other. It would cause trouble to offend any one of them.
"Miss Zhi Po, could you make another demand?" Seeing his lord hesitate, the escort volunteered to speak out. "Any rare and valuable objects. You need only name it, the royal family and the Xiao family will not let you down."
With just one sentence, the Xiao family was also dragged into the negotiation. No matter what requirements Ming Shu would ask, the Xiao family had to undertake half of the responsibility.
These people were too shrewd to lose any pennies.
"Well, don't blame me, then." Ming Shu smiled to see them off. "Lord Seven, there's nothing I can do for you, please leave now."
Being the male protagonist, Feng Cheng had his own thoughts. He took a profound look at Ming Shu, and somehow, let his eyes fall on the pattern of her robe again.
Where on earth had he seen it before?
Watching Feng Cheng leave, Bai Yanran caught her breath again. It was too scary.
"Zhi Po, you hold on!" Bai Yanran dropped these threatening words. She dared cause her trouble with such malicious schemes; luckily Lord Seven didn't agree.
"Whatever. Are you going to eat me?" Ming Shu was quite at ease.
Anger turned Bai Yanran's eyes red. She glanced over at Feng Cheng and ran to him in a trot, abandoning her argument with Ming Shu.
Ming Shu laughed lightly and continued eating.
...
"Lord, Miss Xiao is getting worse now. We'd better leave this place immediately," the escort suggested.
Feng Cheng looked thoughtful, focusing his eyes on the woman moaning in pain. He then said in deep voice, one hand holding his jaw, "She was poisoned by the black-eyed golden viper. We need the healing herb to detoxify her, or nothing will help even we leave."
"But the healing herb is too hard to find. I'm afraid that before we get it, Miss Xiao might…" The healing herb was a very precious kind of herb, which could remedy all kinds of poisons.
"The healing herb? When I arrived here, I heard someone shouting at a man for the healing herb." Although Bai Yanran wasn't willing to save Xiao Rufei, this was the perfect chance for her to draw Feng Cheng's attention.
"Where's that man?" the escort immediately asked.
Looking around, Bai Yanran didn't find the man she saw earlier. "It seems he has left…"
"He shouldn't have gone far, I'll go chase him," the escort immediately said, turning to Feng Cheng to await his order.
After a three-second pause, Feng Cheng nodded.
The escort then left hurriedly to chase after Yang Shufeng and those students.
The remaining escorts found it a little unbearable to see Xiao Rufei in pain, and someone suggested, "Lord, let me force that woman over so that she can make Miss Xiao feel better in the meanwhile."
Feng Cheng didn't answer. He stared at Ming Shu's red hem drooping on the ground.
"Lord?"
Feng Cheng returned to himself and ordered, "Find a place to rest first."
The escort was a bit unwilling, throwing a glance at Ming Shu. But thinking that the woman might be capable of reining a beast, he then was convinced that it would be wise for the Lord not to contend with her so casually.
...
The escorts didn't catch up with Yang Shufeng and those students. Xiao Rufei's condition was getting more and more serious. Bai Yanran volunteered to take care of Xiao Rufei. Feng Cheng agreed, for she might do the job more conveniently as she was of the same gender as the patient.
Right now, a group of people were camped in a relatively open area, taking a rest.
After Ming Shu finished her meat, she leisurely strolled near them with Hui Xue and Liu Feng. But she didn't get closer to them, just kept wandering not far away.
The others were full of confusion, not knowing what she wanted to do.
However, there was a clear boundary between them and Ming Shu, and neither side crossed over the line.
Bai Yanran finally accepted the fact that Ming Shu would no longer listen to her, so she let go of the idea of ordering her about now. But deep in her heart, she was thinking of taking revenge for today, trying to find a way to teach Ming Shu a lesson.
When it grew darker, everyone noticed Ming Shu starting to roast meat again.
The tempting smell of the meat floated over, making their mouths water.
But they had all grown up with servants and no one was willing to go hunting. More importantly, they had lost all their strength during the day being chased after by the sixth level spirit beast. They were too tired to move.
"Yanran, what's wrong with that Zhi Po?" Someone approached Bai Yanran, asking with a grouchy stare pointed in the direction of Ming Shu.
Before, when Zhi Po was with them, they didn't have to worry about the food at all, because the two servants beside her would do everything for all of them.
"Who knows," Bai Yanran answered resentfully. "I didn't beg her to come with me. Now she's giving me the cold shoulder, who does she think she is!"
"Yanran, if you didn't treat her that way, we might have avoided these unpalatable things now." A girl sitting opposite them blamed Bai Yanran, her tone ironic.
Hearing this, Bai Yanran exploded. "What do you mean? Are you blaming me?"
"I didn't say that, don't mistake me, Yanran," the girl immediately denied, but her tone was still iffy. "But I heard that she took the initiative to protect you. She was not your servant, how could you command her like a slave?"
Bai Yanran was about to erupt. Then she saw Feng Cheng coming this way out of the corner of her eye, so she merely glared at the girl before putting on a smiling face for Feng Cheng.
The girl rolled her eyes at Bai Yanran and whispered, "If not for your family, who would tolerate you? Now you dream to latch onto Lord Seven, what a joke."
The others also looked at each other and then quickly averted their gazes.
Truly, they didn't like Bai Yanran; she always ordered them about and acted like she was the queen. But they could do nothing about it. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth!
Late at night, the camp quieted down.
Ming Shu chewed on a bone like a dog. She stared at the campfire before her and pondered, What to eat for breakfast?
Hui Xue sat next to Ming Shu. She was too sleepy to hold up her head.
Ming Shu reached out to hold Hui Xue's slumping form, preventing her from hitting her head. Hui Xue was then gently placed against a tree trunk.
Liu Feng, who stood in the tree, looked down to catch this picture. His calm black eyes flashed. The Miss seemed more approachable now and smiled more often.
But that smile was not the same as in Death Valley. He couldn't tell what the difference was, though.
Rustling…
Some weak sounds suddenly emerged from the woods behind them. Ming Shu turned her head to peer into the darkness, then she stood up, propping herself on the trunk and doing a little stretch. The Feng Cheng's escorts also heard the noises. But seeing Ming Shu stand up, they thought it was Ming Shu making the noise. After staring at her for a few seconds and not hearing the strange noises again, they slowly drew back their gazes.
But something didn't seem right. Pondering uncertainly, the escorts turned to the source again.
There was only a campfire there, the flames swaying with the night breeze. Nothing to see but the shift of dark and light.
Even the one standing in the tree was gone.
"Aooooo~!"
Several dark shadows leaped out from the darkness. The leading one was the very same sixth level spirit beast that chased them during the day.
"Beast attack!"
"Ahhh!"