chapter 7, Development?

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Shopping District

Lihua was happily walking through the place with bags on her hands.

Each bag contained a set of clothes and undergarments for her use.

Though she had to steal... I mean politely borrow forty coppers from Huan.

She has this happy devilish smile while thinking of all the nice clothes she bought.

While Lihua was passing through an alley, she heard faint steps of someone approaching out.

Normally she would just ignored it if it weren't for that familiar appearance.

Yes, It was Tengfei who had dull eyes, pale face, and bleeding arm.

The last thing he saw before collapsing was Lihua who had a petrified look as she drops her bags.

Immediately without thinking she ran towards him while yelling out "What the hell happened?!" As she quickly surveys the deep wound.

Tengfei just replied back with a low quiet voice "Ha *Cough* You can... do as much torture you want to me later... but please don't leave me to die here..."

"You..." Lihua didn’t spoke much as she ripped apart her sleeves to cover his wound.

While tying it tightly she thought to herself 'I could always leave him here and let him die... but I'm not inhumane to do so. Especially to someone who... never mind.'

She tries wiping off the blood around the wound with one of the cloth she bought but it kept constantly bleeding.

'What to do... What to do...' Lihua started panicking as she thought to herself while dressing up the wound with the cloth she had.

After some time, the bleeding managed to stop which made her stupefied due to the abnormal healing rate.

Tengfei’s breathing started to calm down as she checks his heart beat returning back to normal.

His eyes opened slightly before he utters out "..Thanks."

Lihua uttered a sigh before pinching his nose and replying back "I don't need your gratitude."

She had to wait by sitting down beside his body due to him lacking energy to walk.

While she waited, Lihua couldn't keep hidden her thoughts and asked Tengfei again as to what happened to him.

He didn't reply anything and kept silent.

This caused her to furrow her eyebrows before making a 'hmph' noise. She then procliamed "Ignorant fool, I saved you and this is how you repay me back."

She then looked at Tengfei eye to eye but he immediately averted them.

Lihua clicked her tongue before she tried probing as to what happened to him.

Though the topic has been dodged by Tengfei’s words as he asked her suddenly "What are those bags for?"

Lihua paused before she became flustered with a shocked expression.

"Err... They contain nothing but b-bags..." Lihua was in panic as she replied back.

"Bags that contain bags... Brilliant, what a new way to kill people by stupidity." Tengfei said in a laughing matter.

Lihua was speechless as she looked at him while not noticing that she was carrying the clothing she bought which was used for cleaning the blood.

She then gave a wryly smile before scratching the back of her head before saying "I just borrowed a little amount of money from your friend..."

Tengfei looked at her with his poker face before thought appeared in him.  'Obviously by little, she meant a lot.'

"I'll keep quiet about the money if you stop pestering me about the origins of my wound." Tengfei stated towards her.

Lihua replied back saying in a quiet tone "Deal... but is it really something that you can't tell me."

Tengfei nodded before looking towards the sky.

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Late At Night  

Some time has passed and Lihua with Tengfei returned back inside the inn to find Zhou Huan walking around a table with a worried look.

He then noticed their presence which made him ran while yelling out with teary eyes. "I thought you guys left me!" towards Lihua and Tengfei.

Before he could come close to hugging Tengfei, Lihua front kicked him.

The poor Zhou Huan was pushed down to the ground with his head bumped upon the table before knocked out unconscious.

"Normally I would disagree as to what you did, but right now I'm having a headache to deal with this guy so I'll let it slide." Tengfei said as he massages his forehead.

Lihua rolled her eyes before both of them started heading back to their room while dragging Huan.

While they're getting up the stairs, Tengfei looked upon Huan who's head kept bobbing towards each step and told Lihua "Isn't this too cruel?"

"Meh, he won't feel a thing." Lihua said casually grabs hold on one leg while Tengfei grabs the other one.

Later inside the room, as Tengfei was sitted down and trying to calm Zhou Huan by explaining everything that happened... and at the same time, lied about his head pain.

After the explanation, Huan who was stupid enough to believe his words relating to the inn keeper of the shop he works in, hitting him for slacking off.

Lihua from inside the bathroom asked Tengfei with a shy tone "Can you accompany me for some time...?" Which then she shut the door.

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A brief silence was left in the room before Huan nudge the sides of Tengfei as he says "What did you guys did while I was out?" 

Tengfei made a cold look at him before before stabbing him with his hand which caused Huan to scream in agony.

As to what she asked, Tengfei entered the bathroom to find Lihua in her undergarments checking inside the bags.

When Lihua noticed his arrival, she then nonchalantly said "Oh, you actually came. Well just give me a second as I wear the clothes."

Tengfei has this perplex expression while hints of red can be seen appearing in his face while not understanding towards her behavior compared to before.

He then asked with a shy tone "Aren't you bothered at all of me seeing you in that attire?"

"Not one bit... Not at all." She said while trying to avoid direct eye contact.

"Then how come your face is redder than a tomato." He asked which then he try to avoid looking.

"You're one to say, as your face color is similar to my underwear colour and plus, you already seen it before so it doesn't really matter..." Lihua said with a quiet meek voice.

Tengfei touched his cheeks to tets whether what she said was true while wondering as to what reason she wants me here.

He then asked with curiosity "Perhaps you're in heat and preparing for the annual season?" 

Lihua shivered before looking at him and said with a disgusted tone "With you.... ew, better start dreaming as that's the last thing I'll do, similar to hell freezing over."

Tengfei got annoyed as to what she said before grinning then saying to her "For someone that resembles a board, you got a lot of nerves to even think of being with me who is someone unmatchable ." 

Lihua gritted her teeth annoyingly as she wears her clothes before turning to look at him.

"You can look now, asshole." She said with an angry tone as she folds her arms.

He then turns around to find something pleasant for once in her.

Comparing to the spoiled princess with childish pink clothing from before to someone with charcoal black robe, that has a large red ribbon strapped around her waist area and underneath the clothing shows a plain shirt with flower pattern.

Lihua noticed that he was keeping the normal poker face but has eyes that were stuck on her like glue.

This caused her to feel embarrassed before saying out "So... what you think?"

"I-It's not cute nor beautiful at all." Tengfei said with a flustered tone before averting his eyes.

Lihua made a smile then said with a sweet tone. "I'll take that as a compliment with your sweet and sour personality."

"Well that means we're alike then... on personality wise." He replied back.

"And nothing else." Lihua completed his sentence.

They looked at each other for a while before Tengfei asks her "Recently you have been opening up to me, why so?"

She looks at him while thinking of a way to answer back but nothing is coming out of her mouth except "Uh...."

Looking at her fiddle with her fingers is enough of an answer for him and so he decided to wryly smile at her before leaving.

Lihua twitched her eyes with annoyance as she received a look which was mixed with mockery.

A ghost then appeared behind her with puffed cheeks while looking really angry with a tinge of envy.

Yup, it was the ghost that normally follows Tengfei for an unknown reason.

She was currently floating while showing hollowness in her eyes as to what she witnessed between Tengfei and Lihua.

Later at the middle of the night, Tengfei was laying down in bed with both of his hands on the back of his neck as he thinks about the events that happened.

The ghost was on top of the bed floating without his notice as per usual. She's doing nothing but laying upon her view on his face with sadness.

Finally a voice came out of her. "Do you know? This is the most painful thing ever?" 

Not a single reply was heard by him as she awaited and repeated again and again the same question.

She even continued by asking. "The heavens were cruel to us brother... they seperated us from our birth parents and each other. I have no one except you. If only we can converse properly since I have so many things to talk about... Tengfei."

Eventually she gave up and tears started dripping off her eyes as she disappeared again.

It's not as enough Tengfei didn't feel anything at all as he felt a slight shiver through his spine.

"I thought I heard someone call me..." He said while looking left and right.

Tengfei looks at the ceiling before murmuring "I could have sworn..."

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