Chapter - 432 The Bride's Pale Arms Parts the Red Clothing (7)

"No, no!" Zhang Wuji kept saying, "If I have the least bit of desire to be the Emperor, let the Heaven punish me and the Earth swallow me, let me die a wretched death."

Listening to his determination, Zhou Zhiruo's expression changed slightly, she turned her gaze outside the window and no longer said anything.

Four people talked a bit more, and then after dinner, Zhang Wuji said, "Peng Da Shi and I are going out to inquire information about Yifu." He thought that Han Lin'er was hot-tempered, if he saw any injustice, he would certainly not hesitate to let his fists do the talking and thus inviting some unwanted disaster; thereupon he said, "Han Xiongdi, you and Zhiruo better stay in the inn tonight. Have a good rest."

"Yes," Han Lin'er said, "Jiaozhu, please be careful!"

Zhang Wuji and Peng Yingyu made an agreement right away that one of them would go to the west, and the other to the east. They would meet again at the inn to discuss their findings.

Zhang Wuji paid no attention to all these unfounded comments by simple people; he wandered aimlessly until the path he took started to get quieter. Suddenly he looked up and realized that he had reached the small inn where he had a drink with Zhao Min the other day. He was startled and mused, "How did I get here? Could it be that in my heart I still cannot let her go?"

He saw that the door of the inn was ajar, and noticed that it was very quiet inside, apparently there was no guest drinking inside that night. He hesitated for a moment then he pushed the door open and walked in. He saw the attendant was dozing off on the counter table. On a table toward the corner, there was a lone candle flickering weakly in the dark. Next to the candle sat a guest. This table was precisely the table they used both times Zhao Min and he had a drink. Other than this single patron, there was nobody else in sight.

As that guest heard the footsteps approaching, the guest stood up. The candlelight swayed and shone on that person's face. To Zhang Wuji's surprise, that person was Zhao Min.

Neither of them expected to see the other. "Ah!" they both exclaimed in shock. "You …" in a low voice Zhao Min said, "Why are you here?" Her voice trembled, revealing her exceedingly excited heart.

Zhang Wuji replied, "I was passing through, and came in to take a look. I don't expect …" while talking, he walked toward her table, and saw that there was another set of cup and chopsticks on the seat opposite hers, thereupon he asked, "Are you expecting someone?"

Zhao Min blushed, "No," she said, "It was because twice we had a drink here; you were sitting over there, so … so I told the attendant to set another set of cup and chopsticks."

Zhang Wuji's heart was touched. He also noticed that the four dishes of food and wine on the table was exactly the same as the food and wine Zhao Min prepared the first time she invited him over. From the bottom of his heart he knew the depth of Zhao Min's feeling; he could not stop himself from reaching out to grab her hands in his. "Miss Zhao!" he said, his voice shaky.

"I hate it," Zhao Min gloomily said, "I hate it that I was born to a Mongolian Prince family, and become your enemy …"

Suddenly, from outside the window came two 'hey, hey' cold laugh sounds, followed by something flew in. 'Slap!' that thing extinguished the candle on the table, that the room suddenly turned dark.

As they heard the sneer, Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min knew it was Zhou Zhiruo. While they were still at a loss, they heard indistinct footsteps on the roof and Zhou Zhiruo was gone like a wind.

"You are engaged to her, aren't you?" in a low voice Zhao Min asked.

"Yes," Zhang Wuji replied, "I shouldn't conceal the truth from you."

"I was hiding behind the tree that day," Zhao Min said, "I heard your sweet words to her. I wished I could die immediately, I wish I have never been born in this world. That day I laughed coldly twice, and today she paid me back by laughing coldly twice. But … but you have not even said half a word to make me happy yet."

"Miss Zhao," Zhang Wuji said apologetically, "I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't even see you. I have my people to think about, I shouldn't make you upset. You are a golden-branch-and-jade-leaf kind of person, from now on you should forget this village kid, farm boy like me."

Zhao Min lifted his hand up and gently ran her finger over the scar on his hand. "This is where I bit you," she said in a tender voice, "Even if your martial art skill were higher, your medical skill were better, you would still not able to take this scar away. If you cannot get rid of the scar on your own hand, how can you take the scar in my heart away?" She wrapped her arms around Zhang Wuji's neck, and then planted a deep kiss on his lips.

Zhang Wuji's mind was chaotic to suddenly feel cherry soft lips on his, and sweet fragrance assaulting his nostrils. Suddenly Zhao Min bit his upper lip as hard as she could, until he was bleeding. And then she pushed his shoulder away from her as she turned around and escaped from the window, while calling out, "You are a pervert little thief! I hate you! I hate you …!"

As Zhang Wuji and Peng Yingyu left the inn, Han Lin'er said to Zhou Zhiruo, "Miss Zhou, you'd better go to bed earlier tonight." Without daring to say anything else, he stood up and left the room.

"Han Dage [big brother Han," Zhou Zhiruo smiled, "Are you afraid of me? You are not willing to be alone with me even for a second."

Han Lin'er blushed profusely. "No, no," he hastily said, but his steps were getting faster. He quickly entered his own room, closed the door behind him, and bolted it; while his heart was thumping madly. Trying to calm himself, he reclined on the 'kang' [heatable brick bed common in northern China], while thinking of Zhao Zhiruo's tender and beautiful, simple yet elegant, countenance, and her soft but warm voice. He mused, "In the future, Miss Zhou will become Madame Jiaozhu. I will diligently follow Jiaozhu's orders and will stake everything to set up a few merits. I will make Miss Zhou happy, and then she will say, 'Han Dage, really, you troubled yourself too much to do this!' When that happens, then my, Han Lin'er's, life will not be in vain." His daydream made him smile, and he drifted off to sleep.