Chapter 22: The Great Flower Thief

  "It looks like it's going to be faster than I thought."

  In the darkness, Zi Yun was reclining on a windy tree, shaking a wine cup, facing the figure on another tree, with a smile at the corner of his mouth, yet with a hint of mockery. The person also held a wine jug, and didn't need a wine cup, drinking by himself, but his gaze kept staring at Qi Lin's receding back, his eyes cold like tonight's moon.

  The surrounding air temperature seems to be affected by this person's coldness, making people shiver with cold.

  "You shouldn't be moved, should you?" Playing with the wine glass in his hand, his slender fingers appeared somewhat transparent under the moonlight. He smiled and said, "It's only right, after all... she is your first woman. It's natural to be moved, since... you are a man."

  Moved? The man heard the words, slightly raised the corner of his mouth, and after taking a swig of wine from the jug, he smiled and said "Heart? What thing?"

  He has long since lost his heart, or his heart is no longer moving.

  Zi Yun naturally understood, but just now when Mu Qingfeng hugged Qi Lin, that sudden chill, really hoped it was his overthinking. Suddenly heard something falling, looked up to see that the person opposite had already disappeared without a trace.

  He let out a cold laugh and without any hesitation threw down the wine cup in his hand, stood up and clapped his hands, looked at the bright moon in the sky, then lifted his foot and left.

  When Qilin finally arrived at Zhu Xiangu's residence, she found the house dark and empty, with no sign of Yu Mu. She thought to herself that he must have gone out to accompany some important guests, after all, many high-ranking officials had come due to the Hundred Flowers Campaign, although they all looked friendly on the surface, but were actually beasts inside. There were also some flower-crazy women who would take advantage of the opportunity to meet with Yu Mu.

  However, it's so late and yet she's still out, such a rare occurrence for her. Usually, even if she does go out, she would leave behind some millet or light up the candles, but neither of those things are present now, and this silence makes Qilin feel somewhat unaccustomed to it for a while.

  She fumbled to find the fire starter in the cabinet, and then stumbled upon the candle holder. However, after blowing on it for half a day without any reaction from the fire starter, she was at a loss. This thing wasn't used often, but hadn't Mai Dong lit it with just one blow? Was today a bad omen or something?

  Just thought of seeing a ghost, the wind blowing through the bamboo outside immediately made a humming sound, and the bamboo shadow was also projected onto the door through the moonlight, just like the ghostly shadow in hell.

  If you don't do anything shameful, you won't be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door at midnight.

  With this idea in mind, Qilin puffed out her chest and looked at the tree shadows with disdain, but the anxiety in her heart still couldn't get rid of the fire starter.

  When it seemed like dozens of hands were knocking on the door outside, Qilin finally couldn't bear it and walked to the door in a few steps, opening it without hesitation.

  Suddenly a strong gust of wind blew in her face, pouring into her collar, making her shiver involuntarily. She glared fiercely at the swaying bamboo in the wind, and if it weren't for Elm's fondness for these flowers and grasses, she would have chopped them down with a few swift strokes of her knife long ago, just to avoid the annoyance of looking at them now.

  Damn you, Matsumoto! Aren't you usually with that useless guy? Where did you run off to now? Are you going to flirt with some girl again? And what about that Nintou? You're always sneaking around like a ninja turtle. Why are you following the Elm Tree when it's just doing its own thing? And Elm Tree, aren't you usually not seeing guests? Why did you have to choose today of all days? Usually, you're so careful to leave someone with her and even light some candles.

  What's wrong with everyone today?

  Lowering my eyelids, I gaze at the bamboo shadows dancing on the ground, and it feels like something is missing in my heart. Gently closing the door, anyway no one's there, what's the point of lighting candles? Casually letting the fire go out, relying on the moonlight to find the bed, without thinking I dive into the bed in my memories.

  "Thud, thud"

  A steady and powerful heartbeat, it sounds like a reassuring sound. Slightly raising the corners of her mouth, she listened quietly until Qilin discovered that something was off.

  "Ah." Jill almost jumped up, but just as she was about to jump up, her mouth, which had opened in shock, hadn't even had time to close before she couldn't move again.

  The tall figure in front of her almost enveloped her entire body in darkness.

  Robbery? Or murder and arson? All possibilities had occurred to Qilin, although Yu Mu was normally low-key, but everything he owned was top-notch, even the wheelchair he sat in seemed to be made of high-quality purple sandalwood. Purple sandalwood, what a luxury item! In modern times, being able to get one's hands on a small piece of purple sandalwood-made utensils would make someone rich, and Yu Mu actually used it to make his wheelchair.

  It's normal to be robbed at home. Qilin blinked quickly, opened her mouth, and found that she could speak, which was great. She lowered her voice and said, "This good man, if you want money, then any of the decorations in this house are valuable and can be sold for a good price, take whatever you like."

  At worst, I'll just be forced to kneel on the wooden board for a day or two. That's still better than dying here.

  When he heard Qilin say that, the man's mouth curled up. He had thought Qilin would shout loudly, but unexpectedly her first sentence was to think he was a bandit, and even kindly reminded him that there were many valuable things in this house. Interesting.

  "Really? But nothing in this house is something I can bear to look at." As he walked closer to Qilin, he suddenly caught a whiff of a faint scent. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but it had an incredibly strong allure to him. It was because of this scent that he lost control last time.

  But the decorations inside are all high-quality, even a small candle holder is very valuable, so last time she accidentally knocked over one, and Nindong scolded her for several hours.

  Taking a deep breath of cool air, Qilin calmly said "That's because you haven't seen better ones yet. Otherwise, untie my acupoints and I'll find some to show you?"

  Oh? Hearing Qilin say that, the man became even more interested and sized her up from head to toe. Suddenly, he noticed the half-exposed brocade pouch in Qilin's arms, which he remembered was given to her by Mu Qingfeng. He stretched out his hand, and the pouch was already in his grasp. Although he had long guessed what was inside, seeing Qilin's slightly panicked expression made him want to tease her.

  "Is this something very important to you?" He swung the pouch back and forth, noticing that Qilin's eyes were carefully following his hand movements, but Qilin's expression was nonchalant. A smile played on her lips as she said, "Isn't it a gift from your lover?"

  No... I just wanted to say it wasn't, but Qilin thought for a moment and realized that Mu Qingfeng's things would have some reputation, maybe this person recognized him and would spare himself in consideration of Mu Qingfeng's face. After thinking about these things, Qilin opened his mouth and said "Yes, this is something the person I like gave me."

  Is that so? Her eyes narrowed, the strength in his hands unconsciously increased, and he wrapped his arms around Qilin's waist, lightly turning her over, and the two of them ended up on the bed. The man pressed tightly against Qilin's body, their eyes locking together.

  Backlit by the moonlight, Qilin couldn't see the face of the person in front of her clearly, but the faint tea fragrance on this person suddenly reminded her of someone she had been trying to ignore all along.

  "Look at this embroidered pouch, it's quite valuable. Who knows what other precious things you might have on you? Let me take a look." With that, his large hands began to search Qi Lin's body without any courtesy.

  What?! Scared by the sudden change, Qilin's eyes widened in shock, unable to move her hands. The large hand slid up her waist, and only then did she react, "You've already raped me once, do you want to force yourself on me a second time?!"

  "Huh?" The man slightly furrowed his brow, stopped the movement of his hand, and looked at Qilin. They were originally close together, but due to Qilin's panic, their chests rose and fell, making them even closer. At the same time, that strange fragrance became even more intense.

  He leaned in close to Qilin's lips, his slender fingers gently stroking, the man's mouth curved into a smile as he asked "Do you know me?"

  Qilin tightly pursed her lips, not giving the man a chance to tease her, but still allowing him to take advantage of the situation. Several times she wanted to bite hard, but somehow couldn't succeed, so she had no choice but to give up and say coldly, "Tea fragrance."

  This time there was a hint of wine fragrance, but it still couldn't cover up the tea fragrance on the man's body. Through the darkness, she seemed to be able to feel the faint smile at the corner of the man's mouth with her intuition, finding his eyes.

  "I remember the tea fragrance on you." He spoke again, and also recalled their first time at White Tiger Mountain.

  What a fragrant scent? The man was taken aback, did he still have this smell on him? As he stroked Qi Lin's slightly flushed face, this woman always made him feel too much, and he couldn't help himself. He had only come to take a quick look, but when he smelled the scent on her body, he couldn't resist pouncing on her and pinning her to the bed.

  He remembered the last time he saw her, mistakenly thinking she was sent by that person as a spy, but never thought he would have a **impulse towards her. When he saw the crimson on the white stone, he was astonished, but when he saw her embracing Mu Qingfeng, his chest felt suffocated.

  Qilin saw the man seemingly deep in thought and wondered if she had said something wrong. She glanced outside, damn it, why hadn't he come back yet? If he didn't return soon, she would be eaten clean.

  Yu Mu, hurry back!

  Qilin was desperately praying in her heart, and at this moment she could think of the action-impaired Yu Mu. Normally, Yu Mu didn't like to get involved in other people's business, but somehow whenever it came to Qilin's affairs, Yu Mu would always lend a hand, no matter where Qilin was, Yu Mu could always arrive in time, and this time Qilin also hoped that Yu Mu could hear her and come over.

  Suddenly feeling a looseness on her body, Qilin opened her eyes to find that the man had already stood up. Just as she was about to let out a sigh of relief, the man's large hand suddenly came to her collar and pulled forcefully.

  Tear apart

  The crisp sound of tearing immediately took away all of Qi Lin's thinking ability, her mind went blank, and she stared at the ceiling in a daze. It wasn't until that big hand reached into its own pocket and pulled out something she had been carrying with her that she finally came to.

  "What's wrong with you?!" As soon as Qilin saw the handkerchief in the man's hand, she was stunned. That was left on this man's body, and now she was really in trouble.

  Looking at the neatly stacked towels, the man smiled faintly and looked at Qilin's tearful face, saying "Do you like me?"

  "I like your sister!" Zilin blurted out without thinking, the chill in her chest reminding her that the person in front of her was a beast, no, worse than a beast. Composing herself, Zilin said calmly, "Leave this behind, just to remind myself not to forget the pain of past wounds. This lifetime, I will never like a strong and vicious bastard."

  Are the scars forgotten along with the pain? The man quietly gazed at Qilin, through the moonlight that spilled into the room from outside, he could almost see the anger and helpless resentment flashing in her eyes. So be it... Fine, he was a scoundrel who had raped an innocent woman, so today he would turn the tables around. Since scars were already left behind, why not rub some salt on them?

  He bent down again, using a towel to cover Qilin's face, he knew that if Qilin could move, she would have struggled desperately.

  "Now that this bastard has come, I'll just come again, only...". He leaned in close to Qilin's ear, playing with her earlobe, and said "This time I'll make you beg for me."