Legend of Fei

26. Aren't You Behaving Like a Scoundrel?

I feel like I was loosing inspiration every few chapters in the last 10 chapters but I started reading English Translation of Bandits and it's been inspiring. 

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Xiaobo frowned and Xie Yun elaborated.

"I will need you to deliver a few letters for which I need some writing paper."

"I will have them be sent here." he bowed and Xie Yun held his shoulders tightly, picking up on the fact that the man knew his birth identity.

"There is no need for that between comrades."

"You are more than a comrade, Mr. Qian." he trusted the man for long, he wasn't going to start being weary now.

"Not anymore." he waved his hand. He would have added more if not for a breathy groan.

A'Fei clutched her head, eyelids pinched together in pain, looking about her at the tucked blanket in annoyance.

"A'Fei." he kneeled and held her hand in a tight grip while running a light thumb over her temple to soothe the pain.

"I am alright," she soothed him first and it only made him worry a little. She was the kind to play her problems down. When she played it down, it meant there was a problem.

He poured some water into her cup and raised it to her lips.

"Drink," her hands shook.

"Here," he pressed the cup to her lips and tipped in, helping her drink.

"It's good to see Madam Qian safe." He saw A'Fei flinch and reach for her sword but Xiaobo didn't pause at her reaction. Had A'Fei not sensed the third man into the room. 

"I will take my leave and have someone send the needed items." she looked behind him as he bowed before walking away.

He could sense her tension but waited for her to speak, "Xiaobo?"

He took her pulse while smiling, "his partner came to aid just as you fell. Thankfully you did not hit your head  someplace worse or..."

Her pulse was steady but her qi was obviously low. 

"What happened out there?"

"Qi manipulation." Xie Yun felt like his body become weightless, about to crash as an image of lifeless man in the middle of a thicket flashed before him. If what Feng Feihui or Feng Feng or whoever this boy was, wanted A'Fei's Wither Bloom, she could die.

His surprised grip at the edge of his bed eased as she followed up, "but my qi resisted."

Something clicked, he looked at A'Fei, really looked, a bit of relief flooded him.

"Has this happened before?" Xie Yun had a nagging suspicion suddenly.

"Yes. I think he tried to manipulate my qi before but I wasn't sure." Xie Yun knew there was no point reprimanding A'Fei over it. She had not taken the whole thing seriously.

"There is something we must be missing. He obviously can't just take it easily. Wither Bloom is not ordinary internal energy. But then, what changed this time? Even if your qi resisted, something must have aided him or made you more susceptible this time."

A'Fei had a far away look.

"What?" he leaned back with her in the crook of his arm, sliding beside her.

She removed the covers from around her and checked her sash. Then she checked her lapels.

"What are you looking for? The inkstone are there."