CH 102

After an unknown amount of time, Tan Lingyin woke up in dazed when she heard a voice: "Boss, the medicine is ready."

There was a noise, followed by the sound of a porcelain spoon tapping on a ceramic bowl; a strong herbal smell floated in the air. With her eyes closed, Tan Lingyin felt her lips and teeth were pried open by a porcelain spoon. A warm liquid slipped into her mouth; it was bitter, astringent, and very fishy. She opened her eyes at once, sat up, and coughed while covering her chest. She coughed out all the medicine, causing the brown concoction to stain the quilt. Fortunately, it was just this mouthful, so it wasn't too ugly.

After spitting up the medicine, Tan Lingyin was awake. She was a little embarrassed, threw away the quilt, and raised her head. She saw a dark-skinned person sitting by the bed. And standing beside the bed was a person with a pale face.

The pale-faced man saw Tan Lingyin wake up, and said to the dark-faced man, "Boss, this medicine is really effective!"

Dark-faced responded with a glare.

Tan Lingyin was quite frightened. "Are you the Black and White Impermanence?"[1]

"No." Dark-faced shook his head, his face remained serious.

"Then who are you?" Tan Lingyin asked him. She can also see that the dark-faced had the final say, so she asked the dark-faced first.

Dark-faced didn't speak, but pale-faced hurriedly replied, "This is your husband."

"..." Tan Lingyin almost thought she had lost her memory. She woke up in a strange place and now a stranger said this unfamiliar man in front of her was her husband… just what the heck is going on here? Tan Lingyin lowered her head to evaluate her situation and quickly concluded. She was clearly kidnapped.

Calm down, calm down. Tan Lingyin's heart was beating wildly, she really couldn't calm down!

Dark-faced glared at pale-faced again. Because his face was dark enough, the whites of the eyes almost shone, so it was very intimidating whenever he glared at someone.

Pale-faced shrank his neck. He took away the medicine bowl, and went out. When he went out, the pale-faced didn't forget to close the door. Unfortunately the wind kept blowing at the wooden door and it couldn't be closed no matter what.

Only then did Dark-faced speak to Tan Lingyin with some confidence. "I'm Duan Feng."

"..." Who’s Duan Feng? Someone famous?

Seeing her doubts, Duan Feng said again, "I’m uh, Phoenix Camp’s boss. Mhm, this is Phoenix Camp."

Tan Lingyin finally knew who he was. Phoenix Camp must be on Phoenix Mountain; she had entered a bandit’s den! Mommy! I want to go home!

Duan Feng saw that her expression was not good, so he asked with concern, "Do you still have a headache? These bastards are too ruthless."

"Dage!" Tan Lingyin was a little excited. "I have no grievances nor enmity with you, why did you tie me here? Oh, it must be for money, right? How much money do you lack, dage? You can hold me on ransom, just don’t kill me!"

Duan Feng felt insulted. "We are not short of money." And just recently scored a big one too.

"Ah, what are you lacking?"

"Lacking a Madam of the bandits." He was a little embarrassed.

"..." Tan Lingyin immediately understood why she was here, she shrank into the bed, "I don't want to be Madam of the bandits. How about you let me go back, I'll give you some money and you can buy yourself one? Buy a good one."

"I already said I'm not short of money," He was a little irritable. "You think you’re too good for me and our camp?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant!" Tan Lingyin didn't know how to communicate with him anymore. This person's brain was obviously not normal.

At this time, the pale-faced man, who delivered the medicine just now, came back. "Boss, that dog has bitten someone, do you want us to kill it?"

Duan Feng retorted angrily, "Kill it? Why! I don't want to eat dog meat! I’ve had enough of eating dog meat every day!"

The pale-faced was quite disappointed. "But it's very fat."

Tan Lingyin quickly realized something was off. "What dog? Is it my dog?"

"Yeah, that’s the one. That dirty yellow thing. Now I finally know 'biting dogs do not bark'."

Tan Lingyin's eyes turned red. "Don't kill it!"

Seeing this, Duan Feng deliberately said, "Beat it to death! We’re going to have dog meat today!"

"Okay!" Pale-faced agreed and was about to go out.

"Don't! Don’t! Don't!" Tan Lingyin hurriedly got out of bed and grabbed him. She then turned to look at Duan Feng, "Since you said you want to marry me, then it’ll be my only dowry! If you beat it to death, you might as well kill me too!"

Duan Feng knew that she had agreed, so he grinned, "Okay, then we won’t kill it. This boss doesn't lack those two bites of meat anyways. Go back to bed and lie down, don't catch a cold."

Tan Lingyin stood still. "Bring Tang Tang...that dog, bring him here and I'll watch it. I'll be at peace if I watch it."

So Duan Feng asked pale-faced to bring Tang Tang over.

When Tang Tang saw Tan Lingyin, it plunged into her arms with an ‘awoo’ sound. Tan Lingyin caught him, hugged Tang Tang tightly, and stroked its fur over and over again. She then loosened her grip and checked Tang Tang carefully to make sure it wasn't hurt.

Pale-faced couldn't help but say, "Don't worry, it was only knocked out by my comrades who used a knockout drug on it. It only woke up just now."

Tan Lingyin touched the back of her head, which was still aching, and asked angrily, "Then why don't you use the drug on me?"

When she said this, Duan Feng couldn't help but look at the pale-faced man.

Pale-faced laughed, "I don't know, I'll go ask for you." Then he ran away.

There was only Duan Feng left in the room, so the atmosphere became a little awkward. Tan Lingyin touched Tang Tang's head, and lowered her head to think about how to get out.

Duan Feng suddenly announced, "Why don't we get married today?"

Tan Lingyin rolled her eyes at him. "You tie me up like this and then want a marriage? Don't you want to go to my family to propose marriage first?"

Duan Feng sneered. "Don't think that I don't know your thoughts and want to tip off your family? You should just kill that hope."

Tan Lingyin tried to aggravate him. "Are you afraid that my family will come to Phoenix Mountain?"

"How could I be afraid? I just think it's troublesome. Besides, if my father-in-law brings my brother-in-law up the mountain and I accidentally kill them, it will hurt the peace."

"Okay, if you don't want to meet your in-laws, then don’t." Tan Lingyin could only follow his train of thought, so she asked, "Then what kind of bride price did you prepare for me?"

"If you marry me, I will share half of my wealth with you. And everyone on this mountain will listen to you, it’s that enough?"

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Footnote:

[1]Black and White Impermanence (黑白无常)- The Heibai Wuchang, literally "Black and White Impermanence", are two Deities in Chinese folk religion in charge of escorting the spirits of the dead to the underworld. As their names suggest, they are dressed in black and white respectively.