Chapter 37 – Great Ambition

Ever since Wen Lan followed him home that day, Xuan Yue had felt that this country girl from the mountains was a bit strange. Why was she so unafraid of strangers?

And now, she had even rolled up her pants right in front of a man, showing no sign of shame on her face whatsoever.

Was she really someone from these mountain villages?

Or were the people here just naturally this bold?

Xuan Yue somewhat regretted agreeing to Qingfeng’s request.

But when he accepted the flatbread Wen Lan handed over, a voice in the back of his mind whispered that keeping such a servant girl around wasn’t entirely without benefit.

At the very least, he could eat something other than meat.

Xuan Yue wasn’t a man who particularly enjoyed meat, but in the three years he’d lived in the forest, meat was all he had to fill his stomach.

In truth, Qingfeng had been right. A man like him—one who had once led soldiers on the battlefield—did need someone by his side who could at least wash clothes and cook.

What’s done was done. So be it.

Xuan Yue took a bite of the flatbread.

Wen Lan saw the hunter take the flatbread and eat it with a calm expression. Thinking of how he had also helped her drag the pig carcass out of the forest earlier, she figured this cold-faced hunter probably wasn’t too difficult to get along with.

So, she wanted to ask him where his impressive skills had come from.

“Um… hunter big brother, where did you learn your martial arts?”

“……”

Wen Lan made a fluttering motion with her fingers. “I saw you disappear in a flash earlier—it looked like lightness skill.”

“No.”

Wen Lan didn’t believe it. “I know real masters always live in seclusion in the mountains. You’re so skilled, and someone even calls you ‘Master.’ You must be someone extraordinary. Are you from Emei?”

“?” Xuan Yue furrowed his brow slightly.

“Kunlun?”

“??” Now Xuan Yue looked completely confused.

“Shaolin? Wudang? Kongtong?” Wen Lan rattled off the remaining martial sects in quick succession.

Xuan Yue made a stop-it gesture. “You seem to have forgotten the condition under which I let you stay. Don’t talk to me.”

“Oh, sorry.” Wen Lan quickly shut her mouth.

Only then did Xuan Yue relax and go back to eating his flatbread.

Wen Lan also took a few bites herself.

The mountain stream murmured gently nearby. Aside from the sounds of chewing, there was no further exchange between them.

After a while, Wen Lan stopped eating and tilted her head to look at Xuan Yue.

“Big brother, can I say just one last thing?”

Xuan Yue glanced at her.

Wen Lan immediately clarified, “Can I talk to myself?”

Xuan Yue closed his eyes, possibly out of frustration. He hadn’t expected Qingfeng to leave him such a chatty village girl.

But Wen Lan wasn’t actually being chatty for no reason. Her request to talk to herself was just a strategy to avoid being completely passive.

She knew absolutely nothing about the Southern Dynasty, and she had no intention of staying in Yushou Village like the other peasant women—marrying a farmer, having a bunch of kids, and toiling every day just to make ends meet.

So she had to talk to people in order to gain more information.

If the hunter didn’t want to talk to her, fine. She would ask questions anyway and extract what she needed from his reactions.

She was good at this.

“Don’t worry, big brother. I’m not talking to myself because I want to dig into your past or anything. I’m really not that interested in you personally. I just asked all those questions earlier because I want to know what the world outside is like.”

That was the truth.

“Why do you want to know?” the hunter finally responded.

That was exactly the opening Wen Lan had hoped for. But to preserve a bit of mystery, she answered with just five words:

“My ambitions lie elsewhere.”