Xiao Feng didn't voice his worries, as he couldn't pinpoint where this feeling was coming from. Instead, he calmed down and meticulously combed through his experiences on this journey in his mind, attempting to identify anything unusual.
But before he could figure it out, he saw Fujiwara Keiaki pushing Su Yuzhuo closer towards him.
"Mr. Xiao, there's a question you must answer for me," Fujiwara Keiaki said sternly, using a voice only three people could hear.
Xiao Feng frowned slightly, particularly annoyed by the word "must," as if he owed the other party something, but he nodded nonetheless, "Ask away."
"If we can't find the descendant of the legendary healer this time, Miss will be paralyzed for the rest of her life, so you..."
At this point, Fujiwara Keiaki suddenly stopped speaking.
Su Yuzhuo's eyes showed a hint of surprise, as if she hadn't previously known what Fujiwara Keiaki was going to say. Her delicate face blushed a shade of crimson, like a ripe peach, making one irresistibly want to take a bite.
Putting personal grievances aside, even Xiao Feng had to admit, Su Yuzhuo was a first-class beauty.
This beauty was different from Qingyue's arrogance, the little girl's cuteness, Lu Yao's sensibility, or Lin Zhiyan's coldness.
If anything, it was more of an intellectual beauty, yet unlike the feeling of a close-hearted elder sister.
Xiao Feng snapped back from a moment of distraction and moved his gaze from Su Yuzhuo's face, saying, "Continue your point, your Miss will be paralyzed for the rest of her life, and then?"
"Aren't you going to say something?" Fujiwara Keiaki asked with a dark expression, unable to discern if Xiao Feng genuinely didn't understand his meaning or was just playing dumb.
"If I must say something..." Xiao Feng thought it over and began, "I deeply sympathize?"
Fujiwara Keiaki took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to kill, and mumbled, "Mr. Xiao, I've watched Miss grow up, her personality dictates certain things she's unlikely to say to you herself, so..."
"So, are you implying she's secretly fond of me?" Xiao Feng chuckled softly, taking the lead in the conversation.
Su Yuzhuo wished she could find a hole to hide in; her housekeeper was loyal indeed, but how could he not know she had already expressed her feelings, albeit in a somewhat absurd and joking manner, but she had definitely said them.
However, just as Fujiwara Keiaki couldn't hold back his frustration, Xiao Feng was pulled aside by the little girl.
The little girl didn't speak, but the warning in her eyes was unmistakable, as if saying: I won't give you a chance to cross the line!
Xiao Feng, while finding it amusing, also felt thankful as the little girl's tug had saved him from a potential internal conflict.
For with Fujiwara Keiaki's loyalty to Su Yuzhuo, it wasn't inconceivable that he might actually get physical.
Of course, Xiao Feng wasn't afraid, but he wasn't a troublemaker either, and had no interest in battling a veteran ninja.
"We've arrived!"
After walking for about fifteen minutes, Lin Jiaxuan spoke.
The group stopped to look and indeed saw a stone tablet half-buried in the earth amidst the withered grass ahead.
The tablet was two meters wide and about three meters tall, engraved with four barely-recognizable characters: West Huangshu Village.
"Seems like it hasn't been maintained for a long time." Zhao Guo'an pushed aside the dead grass and stood in front of the stone tablet.
The group followed along, turning on their phone lights, finding the tablet covered in cracks like a spider's web; some large cracks were even overgrown with weeds. There was a thick layer of yellow dust obscuring the tablet's original color.
Xiao Feng went to the back side and saw it densely filled with carved characters, though most were illegible, and there were even scribbly white markings, seemingly graffiti from mischievous children.
However, based on the random text preserved on the tablet, one could conclude that this village had some ties to the Medicine King, Sun Simiao.
"Let's go into the village." Xiao Feng said this and led the way forward.
After walking about five hundred meters, a stone bridge appeared in sight.
Under the moonlight, a young man was seen at the center of the bridge, gazing intently at the reflection of the full moon on the water, not moving for a long time.
The young man had long, flowing hair, and his side profile was remarkably handsome, as if sculpted meticulously by an artisan, with the moonlight casting over him, resembling a painting from afar.
But what marred this otherwise perfect picture was that the young man was seated in a wooden wheelchair, introducing a trace of imperfection.
The group exchanged glances and nodded, now slightly more certain of the young man's identity. Still, it seemed odd for him to be sitting on the bridge, watching the moon late at night, during the winter.
"Are you Sun Shijie's disciple?" Fujiwara Keiaki asked, stepping forward.
The young man seemed not to hear and continued staring at the moon reflected in the water, exceptionally focused, as if nothing could disturb him.
Fujiwara Keiaki didn't become angry; instead, he picked up a stone from the ground, raising his hand as if to throw it into the water and break the circle of the moon, but he was stopped by Su Yuzhuo before he could.
At that moment, the young man picked up a pure white flute from his lap, like warm jade, and began to play it at his lips.
"I must say, it does have a touch of the hermit wizard vibe, doesn't it?" Zhao Guo'an commended.
Yet soon enough, harsh reality dealt him a resounding slap...
The flute sound was far from melodious; it wasn't even a piece of music. The sound varied from ethereal to steady, from mournful to desolate. It was highly uncomfortable to listen to, it seemed to blend all emotions, coming together at random like a novice more than anything.
Xiao Feng and the others collectively glanced at Zhao Guo'an, this was your hermit wizard?
"What the heck!"
Zhao Guo'an couldn't stand it anymore; he'd been embarrassed countless times along this journey, whether publicly or privately, it seemed too many to count. Was he just not allowed to speak after all?
Just when everyone was finding it unbearable, a husky woman's voice came from the village: "Play! You play from one to fifteen, like ghost wails. If my hens don't lay eggs tomorrow, I'll definitely come after you!"
The flute stopped abruptly, and the young man twirled the wheels of his wheelchair, turning around, his gaze immediately locking onto Su Yuzhuo: "Are you a visitor from a foreign land?"
"My father was Iwakami Ryoji, he was close with your teacher during his lifetime. I should have come to visit sooner, but I arrived only to find your teacher had already passed away." Su Yuzhuo said, her tone sorrowful.
The young man nodded as expected, "Master long ago instructed me, we might one day await the arrival of his dear friend's descendants... Allow me to formally introduce myself, my name is Shao Wenxing, your future husband."
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