“Husband?”
The young woman’s cool, aloof expression held a trace of confusion.
Her deep, glistening eyes reflected Xu Ping’an’s figure.
“Husband… what is that?”
“Husband… well, a husband is your spouse!” Xu Ping’an replied with a playful tone.
“Spouse?”
Her previously cold and stunning profile lost the fleeting sharpness it had shown moments before, now softened with a touch of endearing innocence.
Her large eyes fixed on Xu Ping’an.
“Spouse?”
“Yes, yes, spouse!”
Xu Ping’an nodded eagerly, like a pecking chick, but noticed the woman glancing around with a puzzled look.
“Then… spouse, why are we here?”
Why?
Shouldn’t he be the one asking her that?
She had fallen from the sky and knocked him out cold.
Heaven knows how much time he’d wasted today!
Still… the sensation of holding her when he woke up earlier was rather unforgettable.
Xu Ping’an instinctively clenched his hand, only to feel something soft and warm.
Lowering his gaze, he realized his hand was resting on her thigh.
The plush sensation sent a rush of heat through him.
The young woman also glanced curiously at the hand gripping her thigh.
“Husband, what are you doing?”
“Uh… intimate contact! Couples need some intimate contact—it’s the best way to strengthen their bond,” he explained hastily.
“Really?”
She tilted her head, her large eyes brimming with curiosity.
“Yes, yes, absolutely!”
Xu Ping’an nodded vigorously, but at that moment, she shifted her waist slightly, as if uncomfortable, and looked down with a puzzled expression.
“Husband, did you hide something under my skirt? It feels… hard.”
Before Xu Ping’an could react, she grabbed it!
“Hiss—don’t, don’t move!”
“Hm?”
Her pupils reflected Xu Ping’an’s expression—a mix of pain and something else—as her hand, still gripping the “iron rod,” gave it another curious squeeze.
“I said don’t move!!”
If she kept going, he wouldn’t be able to hold back from devouring this woman right here and now!
“You… you need to get off first…”
“Husband, didn’t you say… intimacy is how we strengthen our bond?” she asked innocently.
“Uh… yes, but not in a place like this. Come on, get up first.”
Seeing the pure, almost naive curiosity in her eyes, Xu Ping’an gritted his teeth, mentally scolding himself to stay in control.
“Oh~”
The young woman nodded obediently, her large, half-understanding eyes still fixed on him.
She watched as he struggled to stand, his back slightly hunched as if he were injured.
“Husband, are you in pain?”
“No… I’m fine,” he managed to say.
Despite the innocent, almost clueless look in her eyes, he forced himself to stay composed.
Even if his urges were going wild, he had to hold back.
He was a decent guy, after all—he couldn’t take advantage of her like this.
“But Husband, why are you hunched over?”
The young woman tilted her head, her expression adorably clueless.
Xu Ping’an gritted his teeth and turned away, taking a long moment to calm his raging impulses.
Xu Ping’an, get a grip!
Tricking someone this naive is practically a crime!
Right now, he shouldn’t be thinking about anything improper.
He needed to figure out what to do next!
Ditch the girl trailing behind him?
He glanced back at those glistening, wide eyes and found he couldn’t bring himself to say the words.
Call it lust or accuse him of thinking with the wrong head—fine.
But any man in his shoes would struggle to abandon a girl like her in the middle of a deep, dark forest.
What if she got lost and something happened to her?
Or worse, what if she ran into a ferocious beast and ended up torn apart?
The guilt would haunt him.
He looked at the woman behind him, her curious gaze darting around like a college student’s, but her hand clung tightly to the hem of his clothes.
That alone made it impossible for him to harden his heart.
Fine, fine!
It seemed like he must have racked up some karmic debt in a past life, and now it had come to collect.
He just didn’t know who this girl might be—a reincarnation of someone he owed?
Had he really wronged someone in a previous life?
“What are you looking at?”
Having made his decision, Xu Ping’an felt a weight lift.
He studied the girl with growing interest, noticing her cautious glances and timid demeanor, and couldn’t help but ask curiously.
“Husband, it’s so dark around here… I-I’m scared,” she said, her voice trembling.
Seeing her shrink her shoulders, her small hand gripping his clothes as if terrified he’d abandon her, Xu Ping’an couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Alright, don’t be afraid. There might be some wild animals around, but no ghosts or monsters.”
“Ghosts!? Where are the ghosts?”
Perhaps she was naturally terrified of ghosts, because the mere mention of the word made her shudder.
She threw herself into Xu Ping’an’s arms.
A sudden softness crashed against his chest, nearly knocking the breath out of him and making him feel like he might pass out!
Good grief!
The force of her “collision” was staggering.
What had this girl been in the past?
Could she really be, as he’d half-jokingly wondered, some kind of trained assassin from a secret faction?
Though his chest felt tight, Xu Ping’an reached out to comfort the trembling girl in his arms.
“There, there, don’t be scared. With your husband here, no demons or ghosts would dare come near.”
She slowly lifted her head, her deep eyes shimmering with a few crystalline tears that clung to her delicate cheeks.
Bathed in moonlight, her beautiful face was even more striking, those tears sparkling like tiny jewels.
A beauty in tears under the moonlight—she was breathtaking.
In that moment, Xu Ping’an’s heart skipped a beat.
“Really? It’s true, I promise. Your husband may not be an immortal cultivator, but ordinary demons and ghosts are no match for me. Come on, don’t cry. Let’s head home.”
“Mm!”
She nodded firmly, her adorable, naive expression making his heart itch.
After a moment’s hesitation, Xu Ping’an took her delicate hand, savoring the softness in his palm.
He turned to pick up the medicine basket he’d dropped earlier, paused, and also retrieved the sword she’d somehow conjured, placing it in the basket.
The moonlight was bright, but the narrow village path was flanked by tall trees, casting the ground in deep shadow, making it nearly impossible to see the way ahead.
Yet Xu Ping’an moved as if unaffected by the darkness, leading the girl smoothly back to the foot of a nearby mountain.
“Husband, is this our home?”
Under the moonlight, they crossed through the forest and emerged onto a small path.
A tidy fenced courtyard came into view, with patches of unfamiliar herbs growing within.
A modest house with one main room and two side rooms stood before them.
“Yes, this is our home,” Xu Ping’an said with a smile, nodding.
But deep in his eyes, as he looked at the girl, a trace of unease flickered.
As a physician trained by the system, he’d held her hand the entire way, subtly checking her pulse.
What he found shocked him.
Her qi and blood were flowing backward, her organs were misaligned, her soul was damaged, and her life force was hanging by a thread!
If not for the fact that she was standing here, talking to him as if nothing were wrong, he might have thought the girl he was holding wasn’t even human.
Something was off—very off.
How could someone with such severe injuries still be alive?
Could this be… the legendary “mere fatal wound”?
Tis but a scratch!