Volume 1: This Heart's Bent Chapter 45: Vinegar Intent (Second Update)

  "Tai Shi, young lady, please stay a moment, I think you might want to know which courses are suitable for you."

  Tai Shi Lan stopped in her tracks, not yet responding, when a group of women suddenly rushed up, with Shen Mei Hua at the forefront.

  "Teacher Li, we also want to know which courses are suitable for us..."

  "Alright." Li Jinyue nodded gently, under the gaze of sparkling eyes, and gestured to Hua Xingyun, "Captain Hua knows more about the camp's curriculum than I do. I'm sure she'll be happy to answer your questions."

  "With great pleasure." Hua Xun smiled and showed a row of white teeth, glanced at Tai Shi Lan, and leaned into Li Jin Xue's ear to whisper, "You women chase after him, bother me with it, what's in it for me?"

  "This time I traveled to the northwest province, and saw some good men..." Li Jinyue smiled, her eyes curved.

  "Get out!" Hua Xun welcomed him with a push, "Go chase your woman!" He turned back to laugh eerily, "Girls, what do you want to ask? Come on... Hmm? Shen Meihua, this instructor will personally answer your questions, dare you leave?"

  "Unfair! Unfair!" In the distance, Shen Meihua's wailing cry echoed...

  After what happened with Hua Xunhuan and Shen Meihua, Ta Shi Lan felt that the atmosphere was somewhat unusual when he was with Li Jinsnow again.

  Two people walked back and forth on the small path in the courtyard, with students pointing and whispering around them. The wailing of women could still be heard from a distance. Tai Shi Lan was always cold, although she felt a bit uncomfortable, she didn't bother to speak up. It was Li Jin Xue who looked at her expression, suddenly stopped in his tracks, smiled and said: "I know there's a pavilion ahead, the view is not bad, want to go sit for a while?"

  Tai Shi Lan nodded slightly, raised his head to look ahead, where a steep cliff rose high into the sky, like a sharp fang of the mountain body piercing the heavens. At the very tip of the fang, a pavilion stood facing the empty valley, serene and windswept.

  The pavilion is named "Ling Yi", its body soaring to the highest point, like a pair of wings inserted.

  It's just a rugged mountain road from the camp to the pavilion, so even if someone loves that magnificent scenery, very few people are willing to work hard and climb.

  Tai Shi remained silent and motionless at first, then began to climb. Jing Tai followed behind her, his short legs stumbling and staggering.

  "I'll hold it." Li Jinsnow looked at Jingtailan and stretched out her hands.

  Jingtai blue first looks at Taishi Lan.

  "Jingtai blue." Tai Shi Lan didn't turn around, pointing at the pavilion above, "Don't you think it's very beautiful up there?"

  "Beautiful." Jing Tai Lan replied with a milky voice and a gentle tone.

  "Don't you want to stand up there and look down at people like ants crawling?"

  "Think." Jing Tai Lan chuckled and thought humans were quite amusing.

  "Then climb by yourself." Tai Shi Lan looked up at the mountain top, "The position of being carried to sit on is forever not as good as the feeling of climbing up by yourself."

  Jingtai Lan chuckled, "......They hold me and sit on it every day......"

  "Go up yourself later." Tai Shi Lan turned back to look at him, "If it doesn't work once, try twice. If it doesn't work twice, try three times. As long as you want to move forward, who dares to stop you, kick them."

  "Whoever blocks me, I'll kick whoever." Jing Tai Lan puffed out her chest.

  Tai Shi Lan nodded slightly and continued forward.

  Li Jinxue stopped in his tracks.

  He took a glance at the small, flushed face of Jing Tai Lan, and his eyes flashed with an unusual color; then he looked again at the slow but persistent steps of Tai Shi Lan, who never turned her head back, and dispelled the idea of using his agility to pull her up the mountain.

  This strong-willed woman, she is a towering mountain, warmth cannot make her hot, emotions cannot move her.

  "Uncle, I have cotton candy here." He magically pulled out a snowy white cotton candy and waved it in front of the blue glazed tile, "You go to that tree over there, and this candy is yours."

  Jing Tai blue eyes shining, immediately kick kick kick off.

  Tai Shi Lan took a glance at the location of that tree, roughly where Jing Tai Lan's current physical limit could reach, and Li Jin Xue was indeed perceptive.

  "How come you still carry sugar with you?"

  "I heard that the last female student even brought a child, so I bought some candies halfway." He had a smile in his eyes and at the corners of his mouth, adorned with a spring-like color.

  Tai Shi Lan's footsteps came to a halt, thinking that such a gentle and delicate man was no wonder the entire Er Wu camp's women all wanted to marry him.

  When he is present, the air seems softer and the sunlight clearer.

  Jing Tai Lan walked to the tree with one breath, and indeed his small face was red and panting, unable to take another step. Ta Shi Lan, although wanting to train him, didn't want to hurt his body, so he told Li Jin Xue to bring cotton candy and instructed him, "Wait for me here, don't run around, or you'll have to wash my clothes for a month."

  Jing Tai Lan nodded repeatedly, holding the cotton candy and licking it with glee. Li Jin Xue patted her hand and said to the air, "Protect the young master well." And she continued climbing the mountain.

  Tai Shi Lan didn't show any surprise, Li Jin Xue was a person who gave people the feeling of being clean and transparent, but in reality, extremely transparent, also made it impossible for people to see through.

  She didn't plan on seeing clearly either.

  The two of them walked silently to the top of the mountain, taking a whole hour, mainly because Tai Shi Lan was dragging her feet. The mountain road was full of small rocks and pebbles all the way, making it very difficult to walk, and she didn't have any martial arts skills after all.

  When Taishi Yan looked up and saw the two words "Ling Yi", his eyes also lit up slightly.

  That pavilion, simple and elegant, with brown eaves, half against the blue sky, half against the green cliff, half facing the bright sun, and half facing the strong wind. Standing by the pavilion, one can embrace the vast valley, the continuous mountain range, and the broadness of heaven and earth, all within one's arms.

  Tai Shi Lan stood at the highest point in the pavilion, subconsciously opening her arms and tilting back her head. The mountain-top wind came rushing over, sweeping away her hairband with a whoosh, revealing half-long short hair that flew up freely, fluttering like black flags.

  She closed her eyes, sunlight from thousands of feet high shot down, illuminating her skin like transparency, a sparkling diamond-like light jumping on the open forehead.

  Three feet away, Li Jinyue silently watched her - the position she was standing in, although it was the highest, most open and brightest, giving people a sense of embracing the sky and the earth, but it was also the most dangerous position, with a slope, steep and slightly slippery, making it easy to lose one's footing, and even if the wind was just a little stronger, it could send someone tumbling into the valley. Before this, he had seen students come up here too, but regardless of whether they were male or female, few people dared to stand in this position.

  Only this woman who didn't know martial arts chose here without hesitation, as if it was her instinct - ignoring danger and fear, only heading to the highest place.

  She stands with the wind, and unlike those who have just climbed the mountain, she doesn't like to shout loudly. She is silent, but in her silence, she possesses an unyielding power.

  Li Jinyue suddenly grasped her sleeve without realizing it herself.

  "It's windy." He said, "You're also tired, take a seat."

  Tai Shi Lan took a deep breath of satisfaction and retreated back to the edge of the pavilion, crossing her legs, stretching out her two long legs comfortably.

  "Li Jinxue, I haven't asked you yet, how did you escape that day?"

  "Call me Fu Zhou." He smiled, "Jin Xue is my name, I should have told you the truth. That day I fell into a cliff crevice, where there was an underground cave, and in the cave there was water, I fell into the water and was swept out of the mountain, when I came out I was already on the other side of the Lu Ming River, fortunately my swimming skills are good, but I also got hurt, and have been recovering from injuries, couldn't tell you in time that I'm safe." He looked at Tai Shi Lan with apology, "Sorry."

  "I'm also sorry for startling you." He continued, "I offended a group of people from the jianghu, those men that day were there to kill me and ended up implicating you."

  Tai Shi Lan just nodded slightly, "As long as nothing's wrong."

  Li Fu Zhou smiled slightly, "Yes, seeing you sitting safely beside me, I feel that it's really good."

  The two suddenly fell into a slight silence, not an awkward silence, but a peaceful one, unwilling to break it.

  The wind passes by, soft as a song.

  After a while, Li Fu Zhou suddenly squatted down, grasped Tai Shi Lan's ankle, and began to take off her boots.

  Tai Shi Lan didn't scream and didn't shrink back, she just lowered her head and stared at him.

  Her narrow and long eyes, with extremely large pupils, edges slightly brown, when looking at people, like a deep pool of water, wanting to drown people.

  Li Fu Zhou's expression was even more calm than hers.

  "Your boots are too hard, and there are too many pebbles on this mountain road. You don't climb often, and your walking posture is wrong, so you must have blisters." He half-knelt down to help her take off her boots, his movements gentle. "We need to puncture the blood blisters first. I have some good ointment that will make it better after a while. Otherwise, you'll be in for more suffering on your way down."

  Tai Shi Lan didn't speak. He just lowered his head and looked at the person who also had their head down.

  His fingers were very light, and when her hair passed through the blood blisters on her feet, she almost didn't feel any pain. The medicinal plaster lifted by his fingertips smelled slightly pungent, but felt cool when applied. The slight pain on the soles of her feet disappeared instantly, and the blood blisters subsided at a speed that was almost visible to the naked eye. His fingers gently grasped her ankle, and his jade-like fingertips rested lightly on her smooth, pale skin.

  She suddenly felt a little dizzy.

  From young to old, she had never been so close to anyone, and no one had ever treated her with such intimacy. Her childhood memories were already vague, but it seemed that the only thing she remembered was her mother, who, due to the pressure of making a living, rarely had tender moments with her.

  Embracing, a light kiss on the forehead, physical contact and caressing... Strangers like distant galaxies.

  She was born with a hard skeleton and couldn't touch her warm and soft chest.

  Short hair was blown into disarray, blocking a moment of dazed eyes.

  For some reason, she suddenly felt a sense of foreboding in her heart. She turned sideways and took a look. In the distance, under the tree where Jing Tai Lan was eating sugar, the little figure had disappeared without a trace.

  She was startled and subconsciously wanted to stand up. As soon as her foot moved, Li Fu Zhou immediately became aware of it and turned his head to look at her, also slightly changing color.

  Just then, they heard someone behind them say in a drawling tone: "You two are really enjoying yourselves."