198.1 – I Missed
The two people instantly opened their eyes wide and stared at each other.
“Hey, good evening!” Xue Qilin scratched her cheek, “Can you pretend like you didn’t see me?”
Finally, the man came back to his sense. He made a sound from his throat and raised a trembling finger, as if about to shout out “thief!”.
“No, don’t! There’s something to discuss!”
Although she said such a thing, but Xue Qilin has already flashed forward. She gathered true qi on her middle and index fingers and struck the man several times.
As a result —
“What are you doing?”
The man asked in surprise. He must not have realized what Xue Qilin was planning on doing just now. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked this question.
“Eh, it’s not easy to use… I missed?”
Xue Qilin looked back and forth between the man, who can still speak and move freely, and her fingers with surprise on her face. She intended to use acupuncture skills she learned from Qi Qiqi to restrain the other party’s movement. But now it seems that she didn’t learn it well, which is why she didn’t hit the acupoints accurately.
“Sorry, it missed! I’ll try again!”
With that, without waiting for the man’s reaction, Xue Qilin hit him again a few.
“What the hell are you doing? Who are you? A new maid?”
“Huh, missed again — no matter!”
Seeing that the other party can still move freely, Xue Qilin gave up the original plan and hit the back of the his neck with a hand. The man let out a dull groan, his eyes rolled back, and he fell on the ground, knocked unconscious.
“Lord, Lord Father?”
Probably because there was too much noise outside the room, a voice came from the room.
It is a familiar voice.
However, before Xue Qilin realized who the owner of the voice is, the door was opened.
“What happened?”
After the door opened, a familiar figure came into view.
In the bright yellow eyes, there is a lass in a luxurious dress reflected.
As if a dry throat was moistened with water, the uneasiness, worry, and sadness that wrapped around Xue Qilin’s heart was dispelled.
This is perhaps a kind of happiness that comes with receiving the response you were looking forward to.
The pleasant surprise and relieve that gushed out filled her heart in an instant, and then overflowed and turned into a call.
“Little Qing!”
Xue Qilin gave up on tying up the man that fainted and ran up to Gong Tianqing standing in front of her, eager. She ran very fast, nearly dashing. As a result, she bumped into Gong Tianqing, who is full of surprise.
“You’re really here, that’s great!”
Xue Qilin looked Gong Tianqing up and down excitedly.
Gong Tianqing, who still doesn’t know what’s going on, looks like she is drunk. Her eyes followed Xue Qilin circling around her, bewildered.
“Young, Young, Young Ancestor –”
When her stagnant thoughts finally started revolving again, Gong Tianqing exclaimed in disbelief. As if to determine whether the figure in front of her is an illusion or not, she slowly extended her right hand, and then finally grasped Xue Qilin’s hand gently.
— It’s not an illusion, the hand is warm.
For a moment, Gong Tianqing showed a complicated expression, as if asking “why are you here?”.
Seeing the young lass silently withdraw her hand and step back, Xue Qilin frowned suspiciously.
“Little Qing, you…”
“Young Ancestor, why have you come?”
Gong Tianqing lowered her head, and shadows covered her face, making it impossible for Xue Qilin to see her current expression.
“I came to find you!”
Xue Qilin humphed twice contentedly.
“Really, why did you return to your clan without saying a word? We were so worried! You know, Little Seven is nearly going crazy.”
Xue Qilin used the tone of rebuking. Normally, Gong Tianqing would shrink back and apologize promptly. But this time, she just kept silent.
Little Qing, there’s something wrong with her… When Xue Qilin realized this —
“Why did you come?”
Gong Tianqing sounded agitated unexpectedly, her voice resounding.
Impacted by the voice, Xue Qilin could only stare blankly. The attitude of the lass in front of her if completely different from what it used to be, giving off a sense of estrangement.
Is she really Little Qing? Xue Qilin suddenly became afraid, yet she doesn’t know what she if afraid of…
Maybe she’s afraid of rejection.
As if trying to determine the other party’s intention —
“I came to see you…”
The ringing voice penetrated the quiet atmosphere and shook the ear drums.
She extended her hand involuntarily, yet it was slapped away by the other party. Xue Qilin was surprised at once. Taken aback, she looking back and forth between the unusually unyielding Gong Tianqing, who assumed an attitude of rejection, and her already red right palm.
Eh, what’s going on? It was so sudden that Xue Qilin didn’t realize what happened. She didn’t even perceive the faint feeling of pain coming from her palm.
“I have clearly refused you, so why did you come?”
She spoke in an accusatory tone.
“I…”
Unable to understand why her worry would be met with such a blatant rejection from the other party, Xue Qilin didn’t say a word for a while.
She could only open her swaying eyes wide and watch as Gong Tianqing shook her head and retreated slowly. After staggering a few times, she collapsed and sat on the floor.
When Gong Tianqing finally raised her head, her face full of pain entered Xue Qilin’s eyes at once. Although she tried to plaster hatred on her face as much as possible, but her eyes are filled with sorrow.
This is the expression of someone about to abandon themselves to despair.
She is staking everything on the line with heart-wrenching pain in her heart, this is what Xue Qilin understood almost intuitively.
Even so, Gong Tianqing still stubbornly stifled the pain in her heart and said in a trembling voice, “I don’t want to see you…”
A sharp blade cut Xue Qilin’s heart mercilessly.
A feeling dizziness assaulted her.
Xue Qilin took several steps back with difficulty, trying her best not to kneel down like Gong Tianqing.
There must be something wrong —
Even though she had a hunch earlier, but when she heard Gong Tianqing’s words of refusal, Xue Qilin still couldn’t easily accept it.
Xue Qilin forced out an ugly smile and asked, “Little Qing, this joke isn’t funny…?”
Rather than her asking if the other party is joking, it’s more like telling herself that the other party may just be joking.
Although this is akin to burying your head in the sand, but it is also understandable.
No one who came across such a situation would easily believe it to be true. Instead, they would think that “it must be a prank” and use it as an excuse to convince, to convince themselves that the other party would never treat them so cruelly.
It’s not self-deception, but self-protection.
However, without even leaving Xue Qilin such a misunderstanding, Gong Tianqing hardened her heart and said, “Xue Qilin, go back… there’s no one here for you to look for.”