Gu Lingling made up her mind to change Dagong's stubborn attitude. She picked up Dagong and headed to the fitting room.
Dagong tightly grasped Gu Lingling's clothes, with his small face directed upwards, his big eyes like a clear pool of autumn water, deep and cold.
Gu Lingling was taken aback and decided to restore Dagong's childish nature.
The fitting room was quite spacious. Gu Lingling drew the curtains and showed Dagong the colorful clothes, making his fair face even paler.
"Be good and try them on. If they look good, Mother will buy them for you!"
With a wave of her hand, the bright clothes were placed in front of Dagong.
Dagong clutched his chest tightly, taking a step back and accidentally bumping into the wall.
He had nowhere to retreat.
Gu Lingling picked out a pink and white suit, which looked soft and enduring.
"Let's try this one first."
This was not a request, but a decision. The clothes Dagong was wearing were changed by Gu Lingling from the previous owner's old clothes; the fabric was already very old, and she wasn't good at sewing, so the resulting clothes were either too long or too short in certain places. But compared to the first time she met Dagong, the clothes looked much better. She still remembered that Dagong was wearing a bloodstained outfit at the time, and with his cold eyes, if it weren't for the protection of the Forgotten Worries Pavilion, no evil spirit would have been able to break in. Gu Lingling almost mistook Dagong for a demon.
As Dagong looked at the embarrassing dress, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, suppressing the surging anger in his heart.
Shaking his head at Gu Lingling, he expressed his protest.
"If you don't listen, you'll get a spanking."
Gu Lingling stood with hands on hips, pretending to be angry. This kid really didn't know any better.
Dagong suddenly raised his eyes, and his grape-like eyes were filled with coldness, with his tender lips tightly pursed, a kind of anger that Gu Lingling had never seen before.
Gu Lingling was clearly surprised and took a step back subconsciously. Just as Dagong was about to jump off the platform and leave, Gu Lingling suddenly rushed over and muttered, "You dared to frighten Mother; you bad baby."
Saying that, she quickly clasped Dagong under her armpit and was about to take off his pants.
For a moment, Dagong was stunned and had no reaction. Just as Gu Lingling was about to take off Dagong's clothes, other customers entered the store.
"Boss, are there any new ready-to-wear styles lately?"
It was a clear male voice. Gu Lingling's hands paused, and she anxiously hugged Dagong, squatting in the fitting room.
In fact, it was all Gu Lingling's subconscious action. They were in the inner part of the store, with curtains blocking the view. Unless someone deliberately came to look, no one would have noticed them.
However, Gu Lingling's nervous appearance made Dagong furrow his brows slightly. His face was just right, facing Gu Lingling's smooth and fair face.
Dagong was stunned. Gu Lingling was cautiously paying attention to the movement outside. Her face was tense. Since the two were very close, Dagong could see every tiny bit of hair on Gu Lingling's face, which was blowing with his subtle breath.
Dagong's face turned a little stiff and unnatural, wanting to break free from Gu Lingling's words, but she held him even tighter, and even made a hushing gesture to Dagong.
The shopkeeper was enthusiastically introducing the latest ready-to-wear styles to a young man. The young man was wearing a blue suit, which made his already tall figure even more imposing.
The young man was extraordinarily handsome, and he was only looking at women's styles. The shopkeeper was even more certain that the young man was choosing clothes for his lover, so he took out the most expensive and best clothes in the store for the young man to choose from.
The young man stood a few steps away from the counter, without coming forward. When he saw the shopkeeper take out the best clothes, he just raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, apparently not very satisfied with these clothes.
From beginning to end, the young man pointed to a bunch of brightly colored clothes and said, "What kind of clothes are these? So bright and eye-catching."
The shopkeeper took a look and saw that these were the clothes that Gu Lingling had selected earlier, but had not yet tried on. So he replied, "These were chosen for the child by the previous customer. But speaking of which, it's been half a day already, why haven't they tried them on yet?"
Reminded by the young man, the shopkeeper finally remembered the two people in the dressing room. Not that he was afraid they would run away, but rather afraid that if anything bad happened, it would affect his business.
The shopkeeper came out from the counter and walked to the door of the dressing room, asking inside, "Customer? Customer? Is the little master's clothing fitting? Do you still need to look at the remaining few pieces?"
Gu Lingling inside couldn't believe she was spotted by the shopkeeper, and hesitated for a while. Just when the shopkeeper thought something had happened and was prepared to break in, Gu Lingling, pinching her throat, said, "We're done, please bring the remaining clothes."
Da Bao stared at Gu Lingling with an incomprehensible look, his eyes filled with inquiries.
Hearing a response from inside, the shopkeeper relaxed and went to fetch the clothes, but bumped into the young man as he turned around.
"Customer?"
"It's none of your business, my acquaintance is inside, I want to catch up with her."
Pushing the shopkeeper blocking his way, the young man raised his hand to knock on the door, but halfway through changed it to a retreat and pushed the door open directly. There was a curtain in the dressing room, and Gu Lingling didn't see who had entered, thinking it was the shopkeeper and said unhappily, "I said, shopkeeper, we are going to buy, but by barging in like this, are you still trying to do business?"
"Just kidding," with a calm tone, Gu Lingling tightly held her fingers, as if struggling with something on her face.
Uncomfortable with Gu Lingling's grip, Da Bao patted her face, and Gu Lingling suddenly came to her senses, and smiled at Da Bao, "It's okay, Mommy is fine."
Then she stood up, adjusted her expression, and thought, well, sooner or later she would have to face it.
"Hey, Feixing, we meet again."
Although Gu Lingling had little memory of the original work, she inherited some of the basic memories of "Gu Lingling." The bold and somewhat wicked young man in front of her was none other than Liao Feixing, who had an engagement with "Gu Lingling" in the past.
These details were not mentioned in the original work, but now, as it had become a complete world, everyone's background and fate were no longer blank, but according to the rules in the original work, a set of character origins was generated.
Although "Gu Lingling" was a spy for the Wugou Sect, her family, the Gu Family, was also a small immortal sect. It was just because the family head of the Gu Family colluded with demons, and before the various immortal sects could besiege them, they were killed by the demons, leaving only "Gu Lingling" unaccounted for.
For some reason, "Gu Lingling" escaped the demon's backlash and was brought back by the Wugou Sect leader. It was not until she came to the Forget Worries Pavilion under the guise of being an undercover that she met Liao Feixing, with whom she had a childhood engagement.
Liao Feixing was the junior head of the immortal sect "Zhaixing Pavilion," and because Zhaixing Pavilion and Forget Worries Pavilion had always been on friendly terms, Liao Feixing was sent by the Zhaixing Pavilion leader to become familiar with various operations at Forget Worries Pavilion. After all, he was going to take over the "official second generation" of Zhaixing Pavilion. Following the industry leader's footsteps to learn business skills, how would he lead the immortal sect in the future?
Liao Feixing was not clear about "Gu Lingling's" experiences over the years, but he was disdainful of the Gu Family colluding with demons. Also, people had changed, so the original engagement had become void.
Gu Lingling was not as embarrassed and at a loss as the original host, but she decided to stay away from these conflicts and live carefully, so she didn't want much contact with Liao Feixing.
With disdain, Liao Feixing looked at Gu Lingling, who was holding a pink child’s outfit and carrying a child, "What's going on? Are you still not giving up, following me all the way here?"
Gu Lingling's fake smile instantly froze. Big brother, could you please maintain some dignity? She was avoiding you in the pavilion every day, didn't you get the hint?
"Liao Feixing has good eyesight. I had already figured out that you would come here half an hour early, so I was waiting in the dressing room for you. I didn't expect you to guess right away," Gu Lingling said sarcastically. Liao Feixing's face darkened and he reprimanded, "Don't talk nonsense. I just happened to want to buy clothes for Rongrong..."
"Oh," Gu Lingling suddenly realized, "So you like Rongrong, huh?"
Liao Feixing couldn't wait to shut Gu Lingling up, "Don't talk nonsense!"
"Who's talking nonsense? It was clearly you who said it, and said you want to buy clothes for Rongrong. I heard it all, and it has to be this year's latest styles with the best fabric," Gu Lingling mimicked Liao Feixing's tone of extravagance.
"You!" Liao Feixing quickly calmed down and mocked, "I do like Rongrong, what about it? Besides, I don't like you."
Suppressing the urge to roll her eyes, Gu Lingling raised Da Bao, "Is that so? Then I'm so heartbroken."
However, there was no hint of sadness in her tone, and Liao Feixing sensed Gu Lingling's impatience and followed closely behind her, asking, "Whose child is this?"
As Gu Lingling walked out of the dressing room, she put the pink outfit on the counter and examined the other clothes, saying to the shopkeeper, "I'll take these, wrap them up for me."
The shopkeeper was delighted, agreeing repeatedly, “Alright, the customer has a good eye. These clothes will surely look noble and elegant on the young master. He looks good, if you hadn't said, I would have thought he was a beautiful little girl."
Pulling out a silver note, Gu Lingling was also pleased to hear someone praise her elder son and unexpectedly gave him a kiss on the face.
The boy blushed immediately.
"Is he really your son? I don't believe it. Can you give birth to such a big son? Moreover, if he's really your son, can he blush?”
"Okay."
Watching Gu Lingling stop her steps quickly, Liao Feixing regretted his impulsive invitation without thinking, as he realized how hard it was for a girl to take care of a child. Due to his high qualifications and the fact that he was the young head of Zhai Xing Ge, despite the business not being as extensive as that of Wang You Ge, he was assigned to the Qing Yu Ge to handle relatively difficult cases.
The injured Rong Rong, whom Liao Feixing liked, was also a companion at Qing Yu Ge and was accompanied by a companion after being injured in the process of cleansing. Liao Feixing hired a carriage to take Rong Rong and her companion in different directions, and then they proceeded at a leisurely pace.
At that moment, Rong Rong was recuperating at the inn as her clothes were soaked in blood due to her injury. Therefore, Liao Feixing came out to buy some clothes for Rong Rong.
The inn was the most luxurious one in the city, and Gu Lingling felt a pang of envy, wondering when she and her eldest son could afford to stay in such a high-class inn.
Seeing Gu Lingling shaking her head and sighing, Liao Feixing thought she was feeling jealous, and he regretted inviting her to travel with him.
"Don't think too much. The rules of our Zhai Xing Ge are very strict, and our relationships are deep. Once a woman is recognized, she is already a wife of our Liao family, and no woman can be thought of lightly." Liao Feixing tilted his chin high with pride, glancing at Gu Lingling with a somewhat smug expression.
Strict rules? Gu Lingling held back a cold laugh. After the troubles with the Gu family, it was Zhai Xing Ge that cut ties with them first. It was also Zhai Xing Ge that pushed the surviving original owner, who was only ten years old when he went to seek help, out of the door.
Rules? Deep relationships? There was nothing more laughable than this.
"Liao Gongzi, are you a 'bakery bun'?" When Da Bao felt Gu Lingling gripping his hand tightly, he looked up to see Gu Lingling standing on the steps, smiling at Liao Feixing with a mischievous look.
Liao Feixing was bewildered, "No..."
"If Liao Gongzi isn't a 'bakery bun,' then why is there a dog following you? Do you want me to help you chase it away?" Gu Lingling's eyes were sincere and innocent as she leaned forward, apparently genuinely concerned about Liao Feixing. Da Bao raised an eyebrow, and a faint smile finally appeared on his cold face.
Liao Feixing was furious. Gu Lingling not only ridiculed him but also indirectly criticized him. His beloved Rong Rong was now just chasing after a 'bakery bun'!
"Gu Lingling, you're talking nonsense!" Liao Feixing, regardless of his image, chased after Gu Lingling, shouting loudly, attracting curious gazes from the people in the inn.
Unfazed, Gu Lingling continued to walk, swaying her hand, and without looking back, said, "Liao Gongzi, mind your image. Don't embarrass the Liao family of Zhai Xing Ge."
Gu Lingling spoke in a long-drawn-out manner. She refrained from speaking, but once she did, everyone in the inn knew Liao Feixing's identity, pointing and gossiping.
"Oh, I heard that Liao Gongzi of Zhai Xing Ge is graceful and elegant, only overshadowed by Luo Yunzhen, the Gongzi of Wang You Ge. Even in the Immortal Sect, he ranks second. Today, it seems like he's more like a shrew in my family, really... hahaha." The person's last words were extremely soft, only audible to the table's occupants, who all chuckled after hearing it.
"Indeed, although I agree with you about Luo Gongzi of Wang You Ge being first, second place must go to Du Xiuming of Wu Guo Gate. I have had the privilege of meeting him once, and he is truly graceful and elegant." As they chatted, they began discussing the rankings of the Immortal Sect's young lords, with Liao Feixing's position seemingly becoming lower and lower. His face alternated between green and white, but he didn't dare to be too outspoken for fear of embarrassing the Liao family.
Gu Lingling slowly walked upstairs, listening with great interest to the gossip. She nodded in agreement when they spoke of Luo Yunzhen, appearing quite approving.
If the protagonist isn't in first place, who is?
Though Da Bao had heard this kind of talk a lot, he didn't let it bother him. However, for some reason, he stole a glance at Gu Lingling, and his gaze lingered fleetingly, then shifted away.
"Which room?" Upon reaching the second floor, Gu Lingling turned to ask Liao Feixing. In reality, if it wasn't for the child, Gu Lingling wouldn't want to share a carriage with Liao Feixing.
"Room number two..."
Before Liao Feixing could finish, his expression suddenly tightened, and he tightly gripped the hilt of his sword, as if he was ready to draw it at any moment.
Da Bao also raised his head and glared at the second-to-last room at the end of the corridor with a cold gaze.
"There's a monster." Liao Feixing turned to look at Gu Lingling, somewhat surprised. Gu Lingling felt uncomfortable under his gaze and explained, "Although I can't sense it, the shadow on the window paper is very obvious."
Through the corridor's window paper, a bizarre shadow was cast. Liao Feixing immediately made a move, striking the door with a palm, only to find the opposite window open. With his sword, he struck the window frame, and a piece of clothing with bloodstains was just disappearing outside the window.
When Gu Lingling arrived carrying Da Bao, Liao Feixing was holding the sword, and the room was empty.
"Where did the person go?"
"Escaped..." Liao Feixing was dazed, not yet recovered from the shock just now.
"Why didn't you stop them?" Gu Lingling was anxious, as Liao Feixing was answering one question at a time, delaying things.
"It was threatening Rong Rong, and I was afraid of hurting her." Liao Feixing's expression was strange, as if he hadn't figured something out.
"Do you recognize that monster?" Gu Lingling noticed Liao Feixing's tone and asked further.
"It's impossible, it's impossible. It's already dead, killed by my Falling Moon Sword. I personally cut off its head and sent it back to be accounted for..." This time, their task was to kill a offending monster. Although it usually lurked in the deep mountains and only preyed on animals, it had been on a rampage lately, killing over ten villagers. When Liao Feixing and the others went to find the monster, it didn't take much effort because it had started ambushing the villagers in the village. Though Liao Feixing and the others went through some difficulties, and Rong Rong was injured, they ultimately eliminated the monster. However, it was Liao Feixing who plunged the Falling Moon Sword into its heart and watched as it took its last breath. He also severed its head. However, moments after they forcefully entered, they saw the monster, which was supposed to be dead, trying to escape through the window while holding the unconscious Rong Rong.
The blood-red eyes and the mark of the Falling Moon Sword on its chest were vivid in his mind, and while it was holding Rong Rong, liao Feixing was still in a daze. By the time he regained his senses, the monster had vanished into the night.
During the conversation between the two of them, Da Bao let go of Gu Lingling's hand, put one hand behind his back, and slowly walked to the edge of the bed, reaching into the quilt with his chubby little hand. It was warm.
Da Bao quickly pondered for a moment, then walked to the nearby couch. The candles on the candlestick had already been extinguished. Frowning slightly, he picked up the candlestick. There was still more than half of the candle left on it, and the dripping wax next to it had not solidified, indicating that it had just been extinguished. There was something obviously different at the top of the candle, seeming to be some kind of liquid.
Just as Da Bao was about to examine it carefully, he was suddenly grabbed from behind and lifted up under his armpits.
"Da Bao, don't move randomly. If there's poison left by a monster on it, it would be bad."
Liao Feixing picked up the candlestick and also noticed something odd. The candle had been extinguished by some liquid. Liao Feixing wiped a bit of it with his hand and sniffed it under his nose, a strong fishy smell.
Placing the Fallen Moon Sword on the couch, he took out a fire lighter. What caught his eye was a muddy green color.
"It's monster blood, and it's the blood of a dead monster."
Although there are various kinds of monster blood, some are red and some are green, they all have one characteristic, which is that they mix after death. The monster blood on the candle was almost solidifying, indicating that it had been on the monster's body for many days.
Liao Feixing tightly held the monster blood in his hand. "I'm going to track it."
"Wait!" Gu Lingling stood in front of Liao Feixing. "Big brother, this person has been taken away for half a day before you want to go after her. Isn't it too late? This matter is suspicious and still needs to be carefully considered."
As soon as she finished speaking, a spiritual bird carrying a spiritual message came flying from outside the window.
Liao Feixing waved his hand, and the message carried by the spiritual bird entered his mind.
"A companion from the Blue Feather Pavilion just arrived outside the Boundary of the Forgetfulness Pavilion with the head of a monster, and then the monster head disappeared into thin air."
Liao Feixing's face changed, indeed the monster had returned to seek revenge.
"Were there any strange occurrences at that time? Was it really just a disappearance out of thin air?"
Gu Lingling was somewhat incredulous at the news, and Da Bao, who was in her arms, also seemed surprised at Gu Lingling's question.
Liao Feixing gave Gu Lingling a look, "You guessed right. It wasn't really a 'disappearance out of thin air,' but there was a strange whistle sound, and then the monster head vanished."
Although Gu Lingling was also a member of the Forgetfulness Pavilion, the two of them were at different levels, and Liao Feixing did not want to disclose too much. In Liao Feixing's eyes, Gu Lingling did not have the qualifications yet.
But unexpectedly, Gu Lingling had hit the nail on the head, so Liao Feixing had no choice but to reveal the truth.
"My companions warned me to pay attention to any strange whistle sounds and beware of the monster's retaliation. But they didn't know that the monster had already made its move."
Someone had stolen the monster's head and somehow made the monster "come back to life," abducting Rong Rong. After the monster disappeared, the Blue Feather Pavilion immediately sent out a spiritual bird, but it was still too late. Whether the one behind it was human or a monster, it was clear that preparations had been made earlier, or else it wouldn't have been so swift.
Author's Note: Liao Feixing is a very high-spirited young man, and he looks down on Gu Lingling a bit, but he is also extremely narcissistic, thinking that Gu Lingling still has some feelings for him, so he is superior and self-confident in his words and actions. But his feelings for Rong Rong are real.