After they had polished off a full six large tables of dishes, the two of them finally put down their chopsticks under the waiter’s horrified gaze.
Ren Ning let out a sigh of infinite satisfaction. "This is the first time in my life I’ve ever eaten this full! Uh... it feels so good!"
Xue An smiled faintly. "Don’t worry. From now on, as long as you’re with me, I’ll make sure you eat your fill every meal."
"Mm mm mm!" Ren Ning nodded like a pecking chick.
He didn’t know if it was an illusion or what, but Xue An noticed that as Ren Ning nodded, the mist covering her face seemed to thin out a little.
He could faintly see a trace of the features beneath.
But Xue An said nothing about it, merely smiled lightly, paid the bill, and then turned to lead Ren Ning out of the restaurant.
By now the street outside had grown even livelier. After eating her fill, Ren Ning’s courage seemed to have grown as well; she edged up to Xue An and asked quietly,
"Where are we going next?"
"Naturally, we find a place to stay first. Or do you want to sleep on the street?"
At the word "stay," Ren Ning’s face flushed scarlet all at once. She lowered her head and mumbled, "Mm!"
Xue An didn’t notice any of this, and simply strolled down the street at an easy pace.
Ren Ning followed closely behind, step for step, while her mind once again ran wild with dramatized scenarios.
Heavens!
He’s actually going to take me to an inn.
According to how it goes in those storybooks, once we get to the inn, we’ll definitely run into the situation where there’s only one room left, and then he’ll look at me with a very troubled expression and ask what we should do!
Right at that moment, there’ll just happen to be a torrential downpour outside, the kind where you absolutely can’t go anywhere.
With no other choice, I’ll have to tacitly agree, then follow him into the room.
At first he’ll definitely act like a perfect gentleman, maybe even offer me the only big bed and take the floor himself.
But then, in the middle of the night, he’ll quietly climb into the bed...
Heavens!
What am I going to do? Just thinking about it is enough to die of embarrassment! Should I refuse him now?
But he just treated me to such a lavish dinner. According to the套路 in those storybooks, doesn’t that basically mean I’ve already tacitly agreed?
Mm!
That must be what he’s thinking. No, I have to tell him I’m not that kind of casual woman.
Even though he saved me and bought me dinner, I still can’t just hand myself over so easily.
But how am I supposed to refuse?
If I say it directly, I’ll definitely make him angry. What if he gets upset and abandons me here? What will I do then?
Ren Ning fell into deep distress.
Xue An had no idea about the tidal waves churning in her heart; he even casually bought a few desserts from a street stall and handed them to her.
"Have some fun eating these."
Ren Ning took the sweets, then suddenly bit down hard, as if making up her mind.
"Hey..."
"What’s wrong?" Xue An turned to look at her.
Ren Ning suddenly shrank back a little, but still forced herself to endure her inner fear and said in a trembling voice,
"It’s not going to rain tonight!"
With that, she scampered off like a startled bird.
"Hm?" Xue An stood there, looked up at the sky full of stars, his head full of question marks.
At that same moment, a carriage slowly rolled up outside Ren’an City.
"Tuan’er, where are we now?" a voice asked from inside the carriage.
The curtain lifted, and the little maid stuck her head out again to look around for a moment. Then she took a map out of her pocket and compared it for quite a while before finally saying,
Though quieter, this street was lined with inns and sat right by the city gate, making it very convenient for coming and going. The environment was actually quite nice.
Just as Xue An was leading Ren Ning toward the first inn, preparing to find lodging, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Following close behind, Ren Ning was caught unprepared and bumped straight into Xue An’s back.
"Ah!" Ren Ning cried out in surprise and was just about to ask what had happened.
Right then, Xue An said quietly, "In a moment, stay right behind me and don’t go anywhere."
Ren Ning’s whole body trembled, then she nodded like a pecking chick, so nervous she couldn’t even speak.
Because at that moment, she too sensed that something was wrong around them.
First was the silence!
A silence pushed to the extreme, the kind that made your heart race with unease.
Earlier, although this street had been a bit quiet, there had still been some sounds of bustle; it would never have been this silent.
Next, Ren Ning clearly remembered that just a few more steps ahead there was a brightly lit inn.
But now, that inn had vanished.
And not just that inn—the entire street had disappeared.
Only a few faint, ghostly candles remained burning, as if they might go out at any moment.
This eerie, sinister scene scared the color right out of Ren Ning’s face.
She didn’t need Xue An’s instructions to obediently stand behind him, not daring to move an inch.
At the same time, Xue An faced the heavy darkness head-on, the corners of his mouth slowly curving up into a cold, murderous smile.
"Since you’re already here, why haven’t you shown yourselves yet?"
As soon as his voice fell, the darkness began to surge, and a weird laughter like ghosts wailing came from within.
"Kid, can’t deny you’ve got guts. You offended our Shura Hall and can still act this calm!"

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