This man, although speaking with the calmness of still waters, had an air of authority that was impressive without anger.
The members of the Gu Family swallowed their words back.
They didn’t dare to continue making Gu Youyou apologize, and no one dared to stop Jin Zijin from swaggeringly taking Gu Youyou away.
A long while after the people had left, the Gu Family finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "This Jin hunter seems different somehow, quite frightening."
The evening breeze was gentle, carrying with it the calls of nocturnal insects that sounded particularly desolate.
He held her hand, and it felt as if it warmed her entire being like the gentle sun.
"Why did you come!" After being quiet for a long time, Gu Youyou couldn’t help but ask.
"It got dark, so I came to pick you up!"
A very legitimate reason.
Gu Youyou smiled secretly to herself, quite pleased.
"If you hadn’t come, I would have been beaten up by them, thanks," she said.
Jin Zijin tightened his grip on her hand, as if deliberately reminding her of something, and then said, "Your needle-sticking skills are not bad, I’m sure you must be very precise."
Gu Youyou’s body stiffened, and she stopped walking, staring blankly at him.
The needles she had hidden that were soaked with anesthetic... he knew about them?
After thinking it through, she felt relieved.
How could he not know? Other than not having uncovered that she was a spirit possessing a body, they had probably dug up everything about her ancestors for eight generations.
She said, "I am different from you all. If something happens to you, Yue Rujing can save you, and if something happens to Yue Rujing, you can save him. If both of you are in trouble, there are still people who care about you and will show up. But what about me? All alone, nobody cares about me, and with a frail body, my only skill is this."
Gu Youyou said it calmly, even with a faint smile, actually not implying anything else. But Jin Zijin heard much more in her words.
For example, when she said she was all alone, had she forgotten about Gu Feng? Or did she subconsciously think of herself as alone, different from others? Or was she saying that because they belonged to a group, they had bullied her, a lone woman? Or was it a warning not to target her anymore since she was sent to the small mountain village on her own and wouldn’t have any comrades to help her if something happened?
In reality, Gu Youyou was openly frank; only the guilty would overthink her words.
After pondering for a moment, Jin Zijin said, "How can you be alone? You have me. If something happens to you, I will definitely come to save you. Look, you were under siege by the Gu Family, and didn’t I come to rescue you?"
In the dim moonlight, Gu Youyou saw Jin Zijin raising his face in a self-congratulatory manner.
That was the only thought in her mind.
If he hadn’t come, she wouldn’t have been afraid of them, but the fact was that he did come, and he did indeed save her from the siege.
But was she talking about something so trivial? He clearly knew what she was really referring to.
Gu Youyou bowed her head again and thought for a moment. After a moment, she raised her head again and asked a very serious question.
"If both Yue Rujing and I were captured by Xuanzong’s people, and you could only save one of us, who would you save?"
Alright, this was a question that often elicited bizarre answers, as cliché as ’if your mom and I fell into the water at the same time, who would you save?’, but ancient people surely had never heard it before.
Jin Zijin was silent for a long while, as if seriously contemplating the question.
Gu Youyou thought to herself, alright, it’s a question to think about seriously. Are you debating whether to lie to me against your conscience, or to openly express your love for your buddy Yue Rujing?