265: Chapter 45 The Wind Rises

Seeing that Meng Li had agreed to her request, A Zhu said, "I take my leave," and left with Mu Wanqing.

A Zi followed them out as well.

Meng Li guessed that the girl wanted to go watch Mu Wanqing make a fool of herself, so he paid it no mind.

With A Zhu around, A Zi would, at most, cause minor trouble.

As for A Zhu teaching Mu Wanqing Martial Arts, A Bi, Mei Jian, and Zhu Jian all had no objections.

Wang Yuyan was slightly displeased, but a few comforting words from Meng Li fixed it.

This was one of the advantages of having a love-struck brain; she was easy to appease.

Meanwhile, Mu Wanqing suffered another blow.

After leaving the garden, A Zhu took her to the Listening Fragrance Pavilion where she and A Zi lived.

One reason was to let Mu Wanqing get familiar with the place.

The second was to formally begin teaching her Martial Arts.

During this time, A Zi could not restrain herself and instigated a duel with Mu Wanqing again.

Mu Wanqing intended to test A Zi's true capabilities and verify whether A Zhu's previous statements were exaggerated, so she agreed.

Seeing this, A Zhu knew she could not persuade them, so she only told them to stop before things got serious.

Then, Mu Wanqing was utterly defeated.

However, her stubborn personality meant she would not lose face even if she lost the fight.

Looking at the triumphant A Zi, Mu Wanqing looked unconvinced: "You could only beat me because you learned superior Martial Arts."

"Once I learn the same Martial Arts, I will definitely win back."

A Zi was unconcerned and smiled sweetly: "That's for later. What should you call me now?"

Mu Wanqing's expression stiffened; the words were hard to utter.

A Zi raised an eyebrow, displeased: "Don't tell me you're going back on your word?"

"A Zi!" A Zhu gently called out to her younger sister, signaling her to stop.

But A Zi was insistent: "Sister, I'm not forcing her. We agreed to this just now."

Hearing this, Mu Wanqing gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and spat out two words toward A Zi through clenched teeth: "Sister."

A Zi instantly beamed, teasingly saying: "There you go, good little sister. Call me Sister one more time."

"You are pushing it too far!" Mu Wanqing, already embarrassed, instantly flushed crimson and raised her palm to strike A Zi without another word.

A Zi stepped back easily using Swift Steps, and after steadying herself, she stuck out her tongue at Mu Wanqing: "Can't hit me, can't hit me!"

"A Zi!" A Zhu sharply called out, her gaze unfriendly.

Seeing her older sister genuinely angry, A Zi dared not cause any more trouble, pouting listlessly: "Boring."

With that, she activated Swift Steps and flipped over the wall to leave the Listening Fragrance Pavilion.

A Zhu did not stop her. Instead, she turned to Mu Wanqing, her face showing apology: "I'm sorry, Miss Mu. A Zi has a mischievous nature and likes to fool around, but she means no harm. If I offended you just now, I apologize on her behalf. I hope you won't take it to heart."

Mu Wanqing saw her sincerity and her anger somewhat subsided. Considering she still needed to learn Martial Arts from her, she decided to let the matter go.

"It's fine. Ultimately, it was my skill that was inferior."

Hearing this, A Zhu smoothly moved to the main topic: "Then I shall teach you Martial Arts next."

"Good."

After A Zi left the Listening Fragrance Pavilion, she headed straight for the garden.

When she arrived, she found Meng Li was not there.

Wang Yuyan was instructing Mei Jian and Zhu Jian in Martial Arts, with A Bi watching nearby.

A Zi felt strange and asked A Bi, "Sister A Bi, where is Young Master Master?"

A Bi replied, "Brother Bao Three and Fourth Brother Feng arrived and said they had urgent matters to discuss, so the Young Master went with them."

A Zi then realized what had happened.

At this moment, Wang Yuyan finished instructing Mei Jian and Zhu Jian, telling them to practice on their own. She turned around, saw A Zi, and asked with a smile: "A Zi, weren't you going to watch Sister A Zhu teach that Miss Mu Martial Arts? Why are you back so soon?"

A Zi's eyes darted, and she replied, "Martial Aunt, I didn't go to watch my sister teach Martial Arts; I went to help you vent your anger."

Next, she vividly recounted the story of 'defeating Mu Wanqing and making her call her sister.'

After hearing this, Wang Yuyan's already good mood instantly improved greatly.

Mu Wanqing couldn't even beat A Zi, yet she still wanted to challenge her status? Wishful thinking!

A Bi also felt satisfied. She didn't have much of an opinion about Mu Wanqing, but she remembered that Qin Hongmian had 'slandered' Meng Li, for which she had slapped her once.

The satisfaction she felt hearing of Mu Wanqing's setback was purely incidental.

After finishing her story, A Zi dropped her slightly exaggerated expression and feigned pitifulness toward Wang Yuyan and A Bi: "Martial Aunt, Sister A Bi, you must not tell Young Master Master about this, or he will definitely punish me."

"Alright, I won't tell Cousin.", Wang Yuyan readily agreed.

A Zi was very pleasing to her, and what she did helped vent Wang Yuyan's frustration, so she had no reason to refuse this small request.

But just as she finished speaking, Meng Li's voice carried over.

"What matter is it that you won't even tell me?"

As the words fell, Meng Li strode into the garden, curiosity etched on his face.

"Ah!" Seeing she was caught, Wang Yuyan cried out, feeling guilty.

A Zi immediately darted behind Wang Yuyan.

Only A Bi remained composed, smilingly diverting the topic: "Young Master, didn't you say you had urgent matters? Why are you back so soon?"

Meng Li replied, "The matter was handled, so I returned."

"It was handled so quickly? What was the matter?" Wang Yuyan asked, intending to change the subject.

Meng Li noticed her little trick but didn't press it. Instead, he followed up on the conversation: "Recently, quite a few people in the Jianghu have died by their own famous techniques. This has made many people think of 'returning a favor with the same technique' and suspect that I killed those people."

"These people have gathered and plan to come to Canhe Village to demand an explanation."

As soon as he said this, Wang Yuyan and the others showed surprise, followed by righteous indignation.

"Nonsense!"

"Cousin, you've been staying in Canhe Village recently. How could you have killed those people?" Wang Yuyan said with fury.

A Zi chimed in, "Exactly! Someone must be framing us!"

A Bi frowned in thought: "But Young Master has not made enemies over the years, and the Murong Family rarely crosses swords with others. Who would be framing us?"

"I don't know." Meng Li shook his head.

In truth, he had a good idea. The real culprit, if nothing unexpected happened, was Murong Bo, who was only feigning death.

This fellow's desire to restore his nation was unquenched. After faking his death, he never stopped causing trouble, not only sneaking off to Shaolin Monastery to learn Martial Arts but also secretly killing people.

The result was that he couldn't leave no trace, exposing Shifting Stars.

Thus, the situation devolved into what it is now.

Later, it was even exploited by opportunistic people like Kang Min and Bai Shijing, who managed to pin Ma Dayuan's death on the Murong Family.

It had to be said that Murong Bo was shooting himself in the foot and dragging his son down with him.

In the original story, after this incident, Murong Fu investigated the truth everywhere to clear his name, only to have his family robbed.

Meng Li certainly would not repeat those mistakes.

After all, he knew the truth: Murong Bo had killed many of those people. In a sense, it wasn't entirely false framing.

But since Murong Bo had been dead for years, as long as he didn't foolishly expose his identity, these charges couldn't be firmly pinned on the Murong Family.

As for how to prevent Murong Bo from exposing his identity?

That was a problem worth pondering...