Martial King's Retired Life

Hua Qing spun around as fast as he could to see Su Li standing there. She had seen him scratching his head and smiling innocently plenty of times already, so she smiled back and turned to leave.

“Miss Su!”

Startled, Su Li almost jumped. “What?”

“I, uh, want to tell you something.”

“Go ahead. Wait, where are we going?”

Hua Qing dragged Su Li off to the small creek where they hid. For a while, all they heard was the night breeze.

Back facing her, Hua Qing started, “If I can make it back tomorr-”

“Not listening! Not listening!” Su Li covered her ears.

“But I’m not done.”

“Why say something inauspicious?! The flag is solid in the ground!”

“Miss Su, what I’m trying to say is… I… I… I… wanted to ask if there was anywhere you still wanted to see at Three Gorges.”

Fed up with Hua Qing’s inability to look her in the eyes and speak his mind, Su Li blurted, “You like me, yes?”

Hua Qing flung his head up. “Huh? Eh? Eh?!”

“No?”

The two flapped their eyelids.

“Y-you knew?”

“You stutter and stammer every time. I’m not an idiot.”

“Oh, oh…” Hua Qing went back to scratching his head as the breeze seared his cheeks.

“You face is really red.”

Hua Qing wagged his hand. “It’s because of the wind… Miss Su, your face is also really red.”

Su Li turned her head. “What are you looking at? It’s the wind’s fault.”

“Yeah, it’s the wind’s fault.”

“… Do you know what I think of you?”

Heart palpitating uncontrollably, Hua Qing uttered, “I want to know.”

Su Li held her gaze against Hua Qing’s and dimpled. “At the start, I didn’t like you whatsoever.”

Hua Qing didn’t completely comprehend what Su Li meant, yet he wanted to smile just meeting her eyes. “Uhm.”

“You were nice to me, but I thought you were the same as every other suitor, harbouring ulterior motives. That’s why I didn’t want to give you the time of day. Hey, are you listening?”

“Hmm? Oh, d-didn’t notice.”

“Geez.” Su Li aerated her cheeks. “Listen properly.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Hua Qing straightened his torso, then held his hands behind his ears.

“After learning of your past and going through danger with you, I considered you a friend. Frankly, I spent most of that time watching Ming Feizhen instead of you.”

“I’d imagine so.” Hua Qing smiled. “I don’t stand out when beside him.”

“No, you don’t stand out no matter who you’re with.”

Vajra Realm can help one defend against blades, but words still pierced deep.

“No, no, you misunderstand.”

“Y-you don’t have to explain.”

“At the very least, compared to Zhuo,” recalling Zhuo Yupin’s swordplay, Su Li paused for a beat, “Miss Zhuo, you stand out more.”

“Oh, thank you so much for not comparing me to A-Fa.”

A-Fa was Zhuo Estate’s gardener.

“You got it wrong.” Unable to find the words, Su Li took out a small book from her pouch. “Take a look at this.”

Hua Qing opened the book to find the pages covered in text. “This is?”

“I have a habit of monitoring people and noting their features. This is it.”

Hua Qing blinked.

“Ahem, please turn to page thirteen.”

Hua Qing carefully turned to page thirteen, which was titled “After Boarding the Ship at Three Gorges”. Instead of writing down people’s actions, Su Li noted down their daily moods.

“My mother told me that what we see may not always be the truth, but humans have emotions. Watch their emotions and think so that you are not fooled. I’m not smart, nor do I have a good memory, so I have to do this the fool’s way, which is to record and reflect daily.

“For instance, Hero Zhuo’z brows would come to life whenever he talked about his son and wife. There was no hiding that joy. Contrary to his name, Ming Feizhen will laugh when he feels like it and lash out when he’s angry. If he isn’t used to being unrestrained, then his guardians must have the same temperament. You are someone who is always cautious. You display concern more than anyone. You wouldn’t be so weary if you didn’t grow up constantly weary of people and things. All that said, this isn’t what I’m trying to say. Look here.”

Hua Qing discovered that the number of mentions he received consistently decreased until he was barely mentioned more recently. Eyes wet, he questioned, “Miss Su, have you forgotten about me?”

“It’s because I don’t need to remember. You show concern twelve times more than Ming Feizhen, frown five times more than him and say lines such as ‘Oh my god’ daily as many times as someone does in a week.” Su Li giggled behind her hand. “You’re old-school, passionate and kind. I don’t need time to know I can’t trust you, so why bother recording?”

Put another way, Su Li only recorded observations of those she couldn’t trust entirely yet.

Relieved, Hua Qing beamed. “I see now. Thing is, if you leave me out, how do you know what I’m thinking?”

“Do I need to record to know? As soon as you greet me in the morning, I know…”

The two of them blushed.

“Wh-whatever the case, I don’t know if I like you or not; however… you are the person I trust most among everyone here.” Su Li jogged off.

After midnight, Hua Qing rocked up at Wugou’s place to demand, “I want to improve!” then sat down to commence training.

At first, Wugou was totally bewildered. Once he had a careful smell, he picked up Su Li’s scent from Hua Qing. “Hah, young men.”

Hua Qing always lacked the drive to improve, so Wugou didn’t see a problem with it.

There were three days left.

“I hope we can make it.”