I'm going to take that girl back to be my daughter!
Along the way, Qi Yan'er had been sizing up Nalan Yanran.
Nalan Yanran was a pampered daughter of heaven. Her appearance, figure, and temperament were all far beyond anything the girls in the village could compare to. Although she was still a bit short of the breathtaking beauties her father described, she certainly had what it took to become her father's... concubine!
Her father and she usually depended on each other for survival. Now that even she was away from his side, he must be feeling so lonely!
Should she...
At that moment, Qi Yan'er was already scheming in her heart about how to trick this woman into coming back to the village alone to keep her father company. This one might not be her birth mother, but she could definitely become her stepmother!
Nalan Yanran would never have dreamed that this little girl of only six or seven years old had already marked her out as prey, plotting to turn her from an older sister into a stepmother!
The three of them walked along like this until they soon reached a fork in the road.
"Yan'er, there's a tea kiosk ahead. Let's go rest for a bit!" Nalan Yanran pointed forward with a smile.
"Yay! Yay!"
Having walked almost until noon, Qi Yan'er was already feeling a bit hungry. Now she grew even more impatient, grabbing Nalan Yanran and running forward.
Moli followed behind, utterly speechless. Originally, he had been walking shoulder to shoulder with the girl of his dreams, but now... he had been reduced to a tagging hanger-on. To make matters worse, he'd probably end up stuck paying the bill later on!
Just thinking about it made Moli's head buzz. What kind of bad karma had he brought upon himself? Yanran had gotten tired of riding the magical beast, so why on earth had he agreed to let her walk instead?
Moli glanced around at the surrounding environment, then looked over at the distant tea kiosk, and suddenly felt that something was amiss.
They hadn't run into a single other person the entire way here. You could say this place was utterly desolate—so how could there possibly be a tea kiosk here? And what's more, there were a dozen or so people inside it!
"Wait, this is wrong!"
Sensing something was deeply wrong, Moli immediately spoke up to warn them: "Yanran, we'd better take a detour!"
Nalan Yanran already found him annoying, and hearing him try to chicken out now only made her lose her patience completely.
"Moli, are you out of your mind? What could possibly be wrong in broad daylight in the middle of a main road?"
With that, Nalan Yanran paid him no mind and pulled Qi Yan'er right over.
"Well now?"
Seeing customers arrive, the tea kiosk waiter immediately perked up: "What can I get for you three? Our little establishment doesn't just serve tea, we've got wine and meat too."
"Bring three catties of beef and two catties of old white liquor!"
Before Nalan Yanran or Moli could even open their mouths, Qi Yan'er waved her little hand and called out.
"Uh..."
Qi Yan'er's words instantly drew the gaze of everyone in the tea kiosk. This little girl... was quite bold!
Nalan Yanran looked at Qi Yan'er with some surprise: "Um—Yan'er, don't tell me you learned all of this from your dad."
"That's right." Qi Yan'er's little face was full of utter composure. "My dad loves drinking, and every time he makes me go buy it, and makes me cook too."
Trash!
That word flashed instantly through the mind of everyone present. Such an adorable little girl, and her father actually made her cook her own meals!
The waiter wore an awkward expression: "Customer, about that—"
"Just bring it."
Nalan Yanran didn't refuse, looking at Qi Yan'er with genuine interest: "Little Sister Yan'er, how come I feel like this dad of yours isn't very good to you?"
"No way!" Qi Yan'er immediately retorted. "My dad is the best to me in the whole world, and he even made me a Hundred-Treasure Box with all sorts of good things inside it, you know."
As she spoke, Qi Yan'er proudly patted the small box strapped to her back.
"Pfft—hahahaha!"
Hearing this, the crowd couldn't help bursting into loud laughter. This little girl was really easy to fool! A beat-up wooden box, and she claimed it had good things inside.
Nalan Yanran helplessly slapped a hand to her forehead and said nothing more.
Seeing Nalan Yanran's reaction, Qi Yan'er sighed inwardly: *You think I'm cute and gullible, but I think you're the one who knows nothing of the world! But that's even better! Hehehe~ Dad, just wait at home, I'm sending someone right to you!*
Before long, the waiter brought over the wine and meat.
A moment later...
"Thud! Thud!"
Just as Moli had anticipated, Nalan Yanran and Qi Yan'er both slumped over onto the table, fast asleep.
"Hehehe~"
Seeing this scene, the tea kiosk waiter and the others stood up one by one and let out strange, sinister laughs.
"Dressed so nicely, looks like they must have plenty of valuable stuff on them. Brothers, we've struck it rich!" A burly, thick-necked brute roared with laughter as he hoisted a large saber over his shoulder.
"Third Leader, that guy hasn't collapsed yet!" A lackey pointed toward the edge of the table, where Moli was angrily pulling out his long sword.
"Him? Just a scrawny beanpole of a weakling!" The brute sneered with utter contempt. "All of you, go together. Slaughter the man, I'll take this pretty little thing back to have my way with her, and that little girl—"
"Third Leader, what should we do with this girl?" the lackey asked in confusion.
The brute split his mouth into a wide grin: "Naturally, we're taking her back to the mercenary group so she can be my daughter!"
"Uh..."
The mercenaries stared blankly. So their Third Leader actually had a fetish for being a doting daughter-obsessed father?
Hearing this, Qi Yan'er, who was slumped across the table, shifted her little face in disgust. *Have you no shame whatsoever? I am my dad's daughter, and this shameless brute actually wants me to be his daughter!*
Moli gripped his sword sideways, his gaze locking onto the group as he shouted angrily, "Such audacity! Do you have any idea who I am?"
"I don't give a damn who you are! Once you're on Hemeng's turf, you do as I say! Chop him down!"
Hemeng pointed a large finger, and a dozen-odd men instantly surged forward.
"A bunch of trash~"
Moli's expression turned ice-cold. As his long sword flashed from its scabbard, the might of a Five-Star Dou Zhe erupted forth. He was a disciple of the Misty Cloud Sect, after all. Moli's strength was not weak by any measure.
"Swish, swish, swish!"
In the blink of an eye, four mercenaries had already crashed to the ground.
"Oh?"
At this, Hemeng finally noticed Moli's extraordinary skill. Taking a closer look, he suddenly spotted the five golden stars embroidered on Moli's chest, along with his moon-white robe!
This pattern is...
As the leader of a mercenary group, Hemeng naturally had a broader horizon than the others. At that moment, realization suddenly dawned on him!
"Crack, crack!"
Hemeng clenched his iron fists tightly, his knuckles letting out sharp pops.
"Brat, go to hell!"
Hemeng smiled sinisterly, slammed his foot hard against the ground, and charged forward like a giant magical beast barreling wildly toward Moli.
"An Eight-Star Dou Zhe?!"
Feeling the terrifying strength radiating from Hemeng, Moli's expression changed drastically. He never expected that someone in this obscure tea kiosk would actually be an Eight-Star Dou Zhe!
"This is bad!"
Seeing the brute swing his heavy fist toward him, Moli hastily raised his sword to block.
"Bang!"
A dull, heavy impact echoed out, and Moli's body was sent flying straight back.
"Pfft—"
A large mouthful of blood spewed from his lips. Moli was left in a wretched state, struggling desperately to get back to his feet, but unable to rise.
"Sigh~"
A pair of large eyes blinked from beneath her slender arms. Qi Yan'er felt utterly helpless. She had thought this Moli was supposed to be smart, but it turned out he was just a clueless idiot who knew nothing of the world. Knowing full well they harbored malicious intent, he had just stood his ground—wasn't that pure stupidity?
"Bang!"
Hemeng leaped through the air and landed right in front of Moli, his eyes filled with a fierce, murderous aura.
Sensing the impending death, Moli cried out in sheer terror: "You can't kill me! I am a disciple of the Misty Cloud Sect!"
Qi Yan'er: Σ(⊙▽⊙"a??
Is this what her dad always called... an utter moron?