At the sound of the furious, low growl above her, Xiao Yu started. The next instant, her pretty face flooded with shame and fury, and she thrashed with all her might — yet the sudden surge of strength in Xiao Yan's grip held her wrists fast, his thumbs pressing the veins of her palms in such a way that a creeping numbness stole through her, leeching the power from her limbs.
She struggled for a while longer, but when nothing she did proved of any use, she gave up the futile effort. Her eyes shot daggers at Xiao Yan, her full chest heaving with her ragged breath, and she hissed through her shame: "Little wretch — get off me!"
Xiao Yan bared his teeth in a grin, and the bruises on his face woke into an agony of pain. He sucked in a few sharp breaths, then lowered his head with a cold laugh. "Let you go? And let that beating I just took go to waste? The young master said he was going to violate you — and he means it."
Pinned beneath a youth several years her junior, and one who insisted, to boot, that he meant to have his way with her — Xiao Yu, between fury and mortification, found herself caught between anger and a helpless urge to laugh. She did not for an instant believe the brat actually had the nerve to follow through.
She twisted her wrists; they did not budge. Resigned, she cast him a sidelong glare and gave a disdainful sniff. "Little wretch, you'd do well to learn some manners. Wait until you've grown into a man, and then say such things to a woman."
His manhood questioned, Xiao Yan's brow arched sharply. He leaned low, a mischief lurking in his tone. "Care to test that?"
There was something in his gaze that made her skin crawl, and Xiao Yu swallowed. Yet her pride would not bend. She lifted her chin, white as snow, and answered with a contemptuous smile: "So much as try, and I'll cut that thing right off."
The corners of Xiao Yan's mouth twitched. Faced with a woman who would not yield an inch, he was at something of a loss. Truth be told, though she roused his temper, he was nowhere near the state where he would truly do anything so dreadful to her. Whatever else she was, she was still his cousin in name.
And yet — that beating could not simply be swallowed in silence.
His eyes narrowed to slits, his lips pressed together. Then, quite without warning, he lunged, pressing his whole weight down upon her. Their bodies met, and his chest suddenly found itself against two soft, yielding curves.
The shock of the abrupt motion stunned Xiao Yu still. Her small mouth hung slightly open, as though she had not yet recovered from the sheer audacity of being manhandled like this.
Xiao Yan paid her sudden stillness no heed. His left hand seized both of hers, while his right darted down to those long, supple, beautiful legs — and lingered. Years ago he had learned that this woman nursed an almost obsessive vanity over her own legs, and truly, they were enough to set any man's heart racing...
At the touch of his fingers upon her limbs, Xiao Yu's whole body went rigid. A silence hung in the air for a bare moment — then a scream tore from her parted lips.
His eardrums ringing, Xiao Yan snatched his hand back and sprang away from her as nimble as a monkey, then bolted for the foot of the mountain as though his life depended on it. He knew the woman well enough — she was liable to lose her mind all over again.
The scream dragged on for a long while before it gradually died away. Xiao Yu's face blazed now with a furious scarlet, her beautiful eyes blazing with wrath as she stared at the fading figure vanishing down below. Clenching her teeth, she shrieked: "Xiao Yan, you little wretch — I'll tear you to pieces!"
The distant figure never once looked back. With a slight turn down the path, it slipped from sight among the trees.
"Bastard. Bastard. Bastard."
With Xiao Yan gone, Xiao Yu's face went iron-grey, and the twin jade-fine fists of her hands hammered again and again into the earth beside her.
She raged for a good while before, little by little, the storm within her calmed. Flushing with shame, she looked down at the faint, blurred print of fingers pressed into her legs, where a trace of soil clung — and at the places those fingers had touched, there lingered a tingling numbness that left her weak and unable to move.
Clenching her teeth, Xiao Yu pushed herself up, her body trembling, and looked at her rumpled garments. She was, in that moment, close to tears. Not only had she failed to teach the brat a lesson — she had once again lost the field and let him walk away with the advantage. The outcome galled her beyond endurance.
Yet when she recalled the outrage Xiao Yan had just committed, for all her shame and fury, she did not—as she had done years ago—drag a sword through the clan hunting him down.
She was an adult now, after all, and no longer the girl who would stir the whole household until everyone knew that the brat had laid hands on her thighs. Her face shifting through a dozen colors as she stood deliberating, Xiao Yu finally stamped her foot in hatred and muttered: "Little wretch — just let me catch the chance, and I'll show you what's what."
She wrinkled her nose, smoothed the stray strands of hair that the wind had loosened, then tidied her disordered clothes, and made her way down the mountain at a listless, dragging pace.
...
Having fled down the rear slope, Xiao Yan, too, was uneasy. He crouched in a hiding place at the foot of the mountain, watching until Xiao Yu, her face still iron-grey, had gone — only then did he let out a breath of relief.
With resignation, he rubbed his nose, and his right hand unconsciously twisted and flexed a few times. He muttered to himself: "Even better than it was a few years ago..."
He shook out his neck and let out a sigh of self-mockery. "Every time I meet that infuriating woman, I lose all patience. The grudge I hold against her from our childhood runs deeper than I thought." Drawing a slow breath to press down the thoughts stirring within him, he smoothed his expression back to its usual calm and stepped out.
No sooner had he left his hiding spot than his feet came to a halt. Somewhat sheepish, he turned his head to face the girl in green who leaned lazily against a tree trunk in the distance, and forced an awkward smile: "Xun'er — what are you doing out here?"
As she lounged against the trunk, a violet sash at the small of her waist drifting in the breeze, Xun'er cast her clear, autumn-water eyes over him, a faint, knowing smile playing on her lips. "Xiao Yan-gege, I saw Cousin Xiao Yu storm past just now, furious enough to spit fire. Tell me — have you gone and provoked her again?"
Touching his nose in embarrassment, Xiao Yan walked up to her and answered with a dry chuckle: "Who knows what's gotten into her now..."
Xun'er shook her head with a helpless smile. "Every time you tangle with her, Xiao Yan-gege, your head gets all hot and you go and do something that leaves people utterly dumbfounded."
At her pointed remark, Xiao Yan felt a flicker of guilt. He shrugged with feigned innocence. "You know I was forced into it."
Xun'er gave a light, noncommittal laugh, pressing her small lips together. Her hands clasped behind her back, her slender, graceful form as she turned away was quite captivating.
"Tomorrow is the day we go into the Dou Qi Pavilion to seek our techniques," her voice drifted back to him as she walked away. "Xiao Yan-gege, you'd best be prepared."