Little Purple

"..." Qing Guang closed her eyes and knitted her brows. "Yesterday night, when brother was not in the inner garden."

"Who?"

"Li…"

"Tch!"

Qing Bo's eyes were full of hatred, his grip on Hu Cheng Se's hand getting tighter and tighter. Hu Cheng Se began to drop cold sweats.

While she tried to get away from Qing Bo, she thought: Why is this man so irritating in the morning, compliant in the afternoon, and full of wrath in the evening?!

When Hu Ye, who stood a bit far from them, saw his sister's pained expression and paling wrist, he gasped. "Release her!" he shouted in a strong voice. Qing Bo didn't heed him, only staring at his little twin sister's wrist, his expression heavy.

Qing Guang took a step forward, grabbing ahold of Qing Bo's other hand with both of hers.

"Brother, let go of her."

Hearing her voice, only then did Qing Bo release Hu Cheng Se.

"If only I did not follow father. If only I had stayed there, then this wouldn't… that demon of a half sister wouldn't dare…"

"Brother, don't blame yourself. If you don't follow father, he won't let us live in a nice room anymore. It was my fault for being careless while you were away. Sorry to worry you, brother."

"..."

Qing Bo was the only heir of their Li family, making him untouchable lest someone wish to earn the ire of the Left Prime Minister. When people wanted to harm him, they wouldn't hurt him directly. Instead, his twin sister always took the brunt of the attacks in his stead.

"Shou, what happened? Why is the air so tense?"

"Hm?"

Hu Zi, who finally got a bit of her strength back, wondered about the commotion. She and Shou were sitting a distance away from the other four. Shou was still eating, and he did not realize what was happening.

"The air around Second Sister is so tense…" Hu Zi said, feeling uncomfortable. She knitted her brows hard.

"Are you worried, Xiao Zi? Should we go there?" Shou licked off the remnants of spice sticking to his right thumb.

Hu Zi put her left hand on Shou's shoulder and stood up. "You can stay here and eat. I know you are tired too. I will go and check on them," she said, turning around and walking to the place Hu Cheng Se stood.

Hu Zi could hear a bit of their conversation but couldn't see how badly Qing Guang was hurt. She increased her concentration and was finally able to feel the rough and disfigured skin hidden under Qing Guang's loose clothing. Hu Zi's brows furrowed together.

Hu Zi's great focus and her ability in feeling the details around her were better than her own master's, Master Shou. As long as there was air around, she could even tell when a single leaf fell to the ground.

Hu Zi slowly placed her hand in front of her chest, palm facing up to the sky. She concentrated and blew a ball of wind toward Qing Guang.

A gentle breeze passed through Qing Guang's body, and she felt that her injuries didn't hurt as much anymore when they grazed her clothes. Then she saw the deep, swollen red marks being reduced to a light pink. It made the twins startled.

Making healing wind requires a huge amount of energy. Hu Zi already drained most of hers when taking care of her own wounds. Now that she made another one to heal Qing Guang's, her legs felt very weak. Hu Chang Se immediately grabbed her and supported her.

"Qing eldest miss, the hot spring is good for blood circulation. You should go with us and nourished your body," said Hu Cheng Se meaningfully. "Now that all your wounds are closed up, I think that going to the hot spring won't hurt you as much had you went there with any open wounds."

Qing Guang glanced at her brother, seeing that he didn't say anything and just kept his head down. She lightly nodded. She helped to support Hu Zi's weight while they made their way in the direction Hu Zi told them to go.

When they arrived, they immediately took off everything but their undergarments and went inside the spring.

The hot spring water slowly flowed from a brook. The bushes along the spring were very thick, only short of secluding the spring from the surrounding area. Hu Zi was leaning against a rock, her head surfaced above the water. She tried to regain as much energy as she could so that she would be able to walk again the next day.

"Do you always carry that with you?" Hu Cheng Se saw Qing Guang's black bow and asked out of curiosity.

"Yes, it is a habit," Qing Guang coldly said. "I will continue to bring it along if no one stops me."

Hu Cheng Se was a daring lady, so after a long while she asked again. "You have so many wounds on your body, isn't it hard to hunt that way?"

"Actually, during today's hunt, we didn't move that much." Qing Guang explained. "At least not as much as I expected we would."

"You didn't move much? Don't people run and chase their targets when they hunt?" Though the snakes they gathered today were of a common type, they were supposed to avoid people and moved very fast, so even if you could find many of them, you might not be able to catch them due to their agility.

"Their behavior was a bit weird. I've never been to this mountain before, but I know that the spotted dark green snakes don't usually attack humans, yet these snakes came slithering to us, baring their fangs in every turn."

Hu Cheng Se quickly thought of something, but before she could ask Qing Guang again, a ghastly faced Hu Zi tugged at her hand while slowly pointing in the spring brook's direction.

Hu Cheng Se and Qing Guang followed the direction of Hu Zi's finger, only to see a giant, spotted dark green snake looking at them with his saliva dripping.