Chapter 311: Exotic Romance

Chapter 311: Love in a Strange Land

The young couple each changed clothes and strolled leisurely through the streets.

Zhao Changhe casually changed into something else, just to distinguish himself from the "Wang Daozhong" guise—after all, now he was using his true face while walking with his wife, and the Wang Daozhong identity could still be used elsewhere.

Actually, Xia Chichi never understood why Zhao Changhe had this strange obsession: whenever he was with his woman, he had to show his real face, especially during intimate moments. Even if he had kept the sallow-faced look the whole time, it wouldn't have mattered—who didn't know it was him?

Anyway, now he was still a sallow-faced man, hmph.

She also changed back into women's clothing, transforming from a dashing jade-like young master into a soft, enchanting femme fatale—yet still with sword-like brows and starry eyes, a hint of heroism lingering.

After all, she had just killed someone and fled in her male disguise; the Black Widow was now searching the entire city for her, so naturally, that male identity had to disappear.

When she changed back to her original look, she wondered if Zhao Changhe's eyes held admiration or regret—what a rascal.

In any case, the young couple strolled hand in hand through the night-time Kunlun City, their hearts brimming with joy.

They had been in love for a year, but spent more time apart than together. Their rare meetings were always rushed, with barely enough time for a few words. The haste often meant they went straight to intimacy to soothe their longing—it almost seemed as if they were together only for that, no wonder Zhuque found it displeasing.

Not just since they fell in love—this was actually the first time since they met that they openly walked the streets in their true forms, hand in hand, heading toward the same goal... in this distant city of villains, on a snowy night.

"Who said we're heading toward the same goal?" Zhao Changhe teased. "You don't need to find the Thieves' Guild."

"I need to find Tian Lingzi," Xia Chichi said with a grin. "The Black Widow has offended me. If she wants to deal with Tian Lingzi, then Tian Lingzi is my potential ally—of course I have to meet him."

Who knows who offended whom? You just thanked the Black Widow a moment ago.

Zhao Changhe didn't call her out; he knew Xia Chichi was just making an excuse.

By the roadside, an old man was selling wontons, thinly dressed. The wind and snow swept past, but he felt no chill, sitting leisurely and humming a little tune.

Classic: an old man selling wontons is always a master. It sounded very wuxia, but after wandering so long in a martial world, he had never seen one—except for assassins in disguise. In this city of villains, it was perfectly normal; perhaps some former great evil had retired here.

Zhao Changhe wasn't wary; instead, he felt a bit intrigued. He pulled Xia Chichi to sit at the stall: "Two bowls of hot wontons."

Xia Chichi nudged him secretly: "Not afraid of poison?"

Zhao Changhe laughed: "Why would he poison us for no reason? If everyone did that, who would buy wontons? He needs to make a living too."

The old man selling wontons cracked a smile: "Hearing that, I can't help but disagree. What if I really did poison you?"

Zhao Changhe sighed: "Don't be like that, old sir. Give me some face..."

The old man burst out laughing: "Interesting, interesting. In all my time hiding in this city, I've never met anyone like you. These two bowls of wontons are on me. Whether they're poisonous or not, you'll have to decide for yourselves."

The wontons were served. Xia Chichi, who had just been suspicious of poison, was the first to grab a spoon, as if she feared no poison at all.

The old man's gaze on her deepened.

This girl wasn't unafraid of poison... She was extremely cautious and distrustful by nature. The reason she did this was to test the poison first for her fearless, foolish lover.

In this city of villains, to find a pair of lovers so devoted—truly rare.

Then the man seemed to realize something. Just as the woman's wonton was about to enter her mouth, he snatched the spoon away with lightning speed and ate it himself.

Then he yelped, as if burned.

The woman angrily punched him. The man wheezed like a dead dog, and she leaned in to blow on it.

Then the two of them started having fun, blowing on each other's spoons, feeding each other wontons, giggling all the while.

The old man tucked his hands into his sleeves and suddenly felt like the real dog.

He should have poisoned them after all, damn it.

But somehow... a smile crept onto his face without him noticing.

Youth is wonderful...

"Old sir, your wontons are excellent," Zhao Changhe said. He didn't let the old man treat them; instead, he left a silver coin that could buy a year's worth of wontons. "Pity we might not have time to come again. Fate willing, we'll meet again."

The old man thought: You two probably didn't even taste the wontons—you were too busy tasting each other's saliva.

He wiped the smile off his face, put on a sour expression, took the money, and looked up at the sky, ignoring them.

Faintly, he could still hear their playful bickering fading into the distance: "Think you're so rich, paying with silver for wontons. If you keep wasting money like this, I'll teach you a lesson!"

"It's inconvenient to carry copper coins on the road—such a long string! When will I ever get a storage ring? Wuwuwu..."

The voices faded, lost in the distance—perhaps they had moved on to serious matters and switched to sound transmission.

A storage ring? The old man smiled faintly and lowered his head to cook more wontons.

The young couple, now far away, were still bickering: "Tell me, where did you get that money? From the Cui family or the Tang family?"

"...I used up all my money outside the passes. This was a parting gift from General Huangfu before I left—not much, the old general isn't wealthy... In a way, you could say it's your sect's money, right? Smile?"

Xia Chichi didn't feel like smiling. Rumor had it that Yi Huo Snake had an affair with you, didn't she? How dare you bring that up.

And who knew when a new Yi Huo Snake had appeared, and she was an imperial consort—it sounded strange. Why hadn't she heard of such a major matter before? She only knew that the Venerable himself often stayed in the capital.

Forget it. On such a lovely night, she wouldn't argue about other women.

Xia Chichi leisurely glanced at the shops along the street, clicking her tongue: "I didn't expect the city to be a bit quiet but still well-stocked—even a general store like this. The quiet might just be because of the snowy night; on a different day, it might be lively."

Zhao Changhe turned to look and laughed: "Where there are people, they'll set up what they need for daily life, making everything move toward a normal city. The idea of a bunch of villains lurking grimly in their houses doesn't hold up—we haven't all become immortals yet. The only difference is that the shopkeeper might be some retired villain. Now I understand why Yang Qianyuan said people in the city don't easily attack each other—you never know who you're dealing with, so you don't dare act rashly. If you do, you trick an outsider into doing it, like the Black Widow tricking you into going after Tian Lingzi."

"Pretty much. This so-called den of villains has its own rules. If you're careful, living here isn't as dangerous as imagined," Xia Chichi said leisurely. "I wonder what Yuxu Zhenren is thinking, creating a place like this."

Zhao Changhe didn't know what Yuxu Zhenren was thinking either, and he wasn't interested. As long as the Dragon-Elephant Blood Ginseng wasn't in Yuxu Zhenren's hands, everything would be fine.

Xia Chichi clearly wasn't that interested either. Suddenly her eyes lit up, and she pulled Zhao Changhe excitedly into a shop.

"Hey, where are we going?"

"Stop asking—I'm buying you something." She dragged him inside and said with a pout, "You just won't give up that broken gourd of yours. It's old, worn out, cracked, and ugly as sin... How can you keep using it?"

Zhao Changhe chuckled: "Old as it is, I still need it."

Xia Chichi felt a secret satisfaction. As long as that glaring gourd was there, any other woman would feel a lump in her throat but couldn't say a thing. Imagining that scene was pure bliss.

Actually, she was overthinking it. Few people noticed the gourd, and if they did, they just sighed at Zhao Changhe's sentimentality—and liked him even more for it, like that certain rabbit.

"Anyway, I won't let those little sluts think this Saintess is stingy and mistreats you." Xia Chichi grumbled as she looked up at the gourds hanging in the shop. "Only I get to change your gourd, right?"

Zhao Changhe turned to look at her smiling face, his heart softening. He whispered, "Yes."

Xia Chichi tapped the counter and said with a laugh, "Shopkeeper, bring me a wine gourd. It needs to be made of special material—light, tough, not easy to break, and something that can stay new even with use."

The shopkeeper was speechless: "Miss, are you cultivating immortality? Do you want it to never run out of wine too? Where would I find such material? And even if I did, no one would make a gourd out of it!"

Xia Chichi laughed: "Ordinary places might not have it, but jade comes from Kunlun—the Yujun Pavilion should have it."

Zhao Changhe's first thought was: Does this Yujun Pavilion use hammers? His second thought was: So the Yujun Gang has already arrived.

No wonder Liu Tu Zhang thought the Yujun Gang's goods were miscellaneous—they really had everything, a jumble of items that couldn't have come from normal channels.

Then laughter came from upstairs: "Are you here to buy something, or to find the Yujun Gang?"

"I was originally looking for Tian Lingzi," Xia Chichi said, hands on her hips. "But now I want a gourd first—the gourd is the priority! Everything else can wait!"

"If you really want a gourd like that, it's not impossible." A Daoist came down from upstairs, smiling. "What price can you offer, miss?"

Xia Chichi rolled her eyes and grinned: "How about I catch you a spider? What do you think?"

The Daoist paused, studied the two of them, and grew serious: "Please, come upstairs."