Wen Kexing crossed his arms, chuckling, “Great, you took her away, now your reputation as an unorthodox villain is further cemented.”  He thought about it, then reflected smugly, “That’s fine, anyway, I don’t have any good reputation either. You’re mine, so this counts as sticking together for better or for worse.”

Zhou Zishu didn’t even look at him, bending to examine Liu Qianqiao’s condition. He took a small bottle of medicine out of his robes and stuffed a pill into her mouth without a second thought, regardless of whether it would work[19], and said, “Lao[20] Wen, the mouth is meant for eating, not for talking crap--just a fraction of force more, and you’d have killed her on the spot.”

Hearing that slightly annoyed, but inexplicably familiar address of “Lao Wen”, Wen Kexing was instantly overjoyed. As for the words that followed, he automatically assumed that they were just demonstrating his tough love.

Liu Qianqiao coughed once; this light movement nearly caused her to fall apart. She glared at Zhou Zishu with angry eyes, speaking with much effort, "Why…are you pretending at kindness?"

Zhou Zishu ignored her words, squatting down to ask, “Let me ask you, where did you learn your skills of disguise from?”

Liu Qianqiao did not expect this to be the first question out of his mouth; she paused, then spat, and said gutsily despite being near-death, “What’s it got to do with you?”

Hearing this, Wen Kexing said, “Miss Liu, were you changing your appearance and snatching the Lapis Armour all for Yu Qiufeng? Let me give you a word of advice, then: a woman doesn’t have to be afraid of being ugly or stupid, but should be more fearful of being blind. That kind of trash, it’s a disservice to you to have fallen for him. Do you know how Yu Qiufeng found us? Why Ye Baiyi would have chased a man in black into that alley? Who was it that misled you on purpose, making you think that the escaped man in black was Yu Qiufeng, so that you would strike out at Ye Baiyi? Who exposed your identity in front of everyone? He was using you as a human shield, silly.”

With his words, he ripped apart the “maidenly troubles” of this woman no longer in the prime of her youth. This was more fatal than Ye Baiyi’s “ugly freak” had been; had Liu Qianqiao possessed the slightest bit of energy to move, she would have crawled to her feet and bitten him dead.

Zhou Zishu said, “Shut up.”

Receiving the order, Wen Kexing immediately shut his mouth tight, like he was wishing that he’d grown only a single lip.

Staring at her face, Zhou Zishu estimated Liu Qianqiao’s age, and suddenly asked, “You...when you were little, did you meet an odd man who didn’t have eyebrows, who was injured and starving to death? And you gave him food?”