“It’s not difficult. As long as the young lady tells me your name.”
“My name?”
Su Mu looked at her in a daze. This condition was indeed quite simple.
But why was this person asking for her name?
With that thought, a guess popped into Su Mu’s mind.
Earlier, when she had watched the chest-breaking boulder performance, this woman had helped her for no reason.
Now, she was lending her silver and only wanted to know her name.
She had no money to share, so the only thing worth this woman’s attention was her naturally beautiful face.
In other words, the masked woman across from her had taken a liking to her.
Damn it, she was the same as Chen Qing.
Seeing Su Mu’s strange gaze, Chen Qing knew the Traitorous Shizun had misunderstood.
However, Chen Qing didn’t explain. She wanted to see how Su Mu would handle encountering a woman with ill intentions toward her out here.
“I’m called Jiang Yun—Jiang as in river, Yun as in cloud.”
Su Mu lied straight to Chen Qing’s face without blushing or skipping a beat.
After all, she had only said she wanted to know her name, not that it had to be her real one.
Seeing Su Mu lie so calmly, Chen Qing felt an inexplicable surge of delight.
Although this Traitorous Shizun had a bit of a silly side, she had grown a brain and wouldn’t be easily deceived by a strange woman.
“Miss Jiang Yun, here are ten taels of silver. Take good care of them.”
In a good mood, Chen Qing directly took out ten taels and handed them to Su Mu.
Su Mu stared at the shiny silver in front of her, hesitated for a moment, then pocketed it all.
Although the mask only cost one tael, the remaining nine taels in her pocket would surely come in handy someday.
Anyway, she would steal Chen Qing’s silver later to pay her back.
This could count as compensation from that damn Villain.
“Thanks. I’ll pay you back later.”
Su Mu stuffed the remaining nine taels into her pocket and happily took one tael to buy the mask.
The unscrupulous old granny had watched the entire process of Su Mu borrowing money from the mask seller.
She glanced at Su Mu’s pocket containing the other nine taels, a flash of greed in her eyes.
But on the surface, she still put on the appearance of a kind and amiable old grandma.
“Young lady, you’re back. This mask is made of bronze and iron. Wear it, and it’ll keep you safe in the Black Market.”
The old granny took Su Mu’s one tael and was preparing to continue sweet-talking her to squeeze out the rest of her silver.
But then she noticed Chen Qing, who had followed along, staring at her with blood-red eyes. The bone-chilling killing intent made her shudder all over.
“Y-Young lady, I’m off. Be careful in the Black Market yourself.”
Seeing that Su Mu had an expert protecting her, the old granny didn’t dare scam her any further.
She hurriedly grabbed the remaining masks and slunk away.
“Why are you leaving so fast? I still want to ask how to put on the mask.”
The mask from the old granny was different from the ones outside—not only was it made of iron, but it had extra cloth buckles.
This allowed it to be fixed more securely on the face, but it also took more effort to put on.
“Let me help Miss Jiang put it on.”
Seeing Su Mu fiddling with the mask in her hands, Chen Qing smiled and leaned in.
“Then, I’ll trouble you.”
Su Mu looked at her a little embarrassed. Not only had she borrowed money from a stranger, now she even needed help putting on the mask.
Chen Qing took the mask from Su Mu’s hands, unfastened the cloth buckles, and carefully placed it on Su Mu’s face.
The metallic mask on Su Mu’s face, paired with her slightly slender figure, gave off an air of cold fragility with a hint of feminine softness.
“How is it? You can’t see my face, right?”
Through the two holes deliberately left in the mask, Chen Qing could clearly see Su Mu’s lively little eyes.
It was her first time wearing a metal mask like this, and Su Mu found it quite novel.
She reached out to touch the cool surface—it felt a bit rough, but very sturdy.
“Miss Jiang’s curious eyes are on full display.”
Looking at Su Mu’s silly expression, Chen Qing suddenly felt as if she wasn’t the one standing in front of her.
Instead, it was some wicked woman trying to abduct her home. Su Mu might even curiously inspect the interior if someone took her back.
“It’s fine if my eyes are visible—as long as my face isn’t seen.”
Most people’s eyes in the world looked the same, so Su Mu wasn’t worried about being recognized by hers.
The most distinctive eyes she’d ever seen were Chen Qing’s blood-red ones.
Su Mu glanced at Chen Qing’s eyes beneath the mask—black and glossy, just like her own.
As expected, only someone with a special Villain identity like Chen Qing had eyes different from everyone else’s.
Chen Qing’s blood-red eyes suited her ferocious personality perfectly. At a glance, anyone could tell she was ruthless.
What Su Mu didn’t know was that the black eyes she saw were merely the result of Chen Qing using Internal Energy to conceal their true color.
Everyone else saw Chen Qing’s eyes as black too.
Only Su Mu knew they were red.
As for why she hid them, it involved a secret from her previous life—one of the major factors that led to her betrayal by allies and kin. Chen Qing didn’t want to dwell on it.
After buying the mask, Su Mu headed to her actual destination.
She hadn’t even entered the mysterious Black Market in City North yet, and she’d already spent one tael on it.
If she couldn’t find that important side character, she would curse the System out harshly.
But as Su Mu followed the System’s navigation toward the Black Market, she realized the Fox Mask wearer was always right behind her.
Whenever she turned a corner, so did she. Even when Su Mu deliberately veered into an alley, she followed.
“You—you, why are you following me?”
Su Mu turned around to face the masked Chen Qing. This woman’s stalking was way too blatant—no attempt at hiding it at all.
“Miss Jiang Yun is going to the Black Market, and so am I. Isn’t it normal to travel the same path?”
Chen Qing looked at Su Mu with amusement and took a few more steps forward.
Seeing the Fox Mask drawing closer, Su Mu fearfully stepped back.
Glancing at the dead-end alley, Su Mu felt both panicked and regretful.
She had only entered this dead end to confirm if the woman was really tailing her, but now she’d backed herself into a corner.
Don’t panic. She doesn’t know my background. I’ll scare her off.
“Although I look weak, I’m not someone to be trifled with.”
Su Mu mimicked Chen Qing’s manner, lowering her voice to intimidate the woman in front of her.
Others might not know, but did Chen Qing not know exactly what Su Mu was capable of?
She could fall into the river just trying to catch a fish, yet here she was thinking she could scare someone else.
Still, seeing Su Mu’s earnest expression, Chen Qing’s desire to tease her only grew stronger.
“May I ask which renowned expert Miss Jiang Yun is?”
Chen Qing kept advancing, shrinking Su Mu’s safe space.
As she drew nearer, Su Mu’s timid heart pounded wildly.
“Actually, I lied to you earlier. My real name is Chen Qing, known in the Jianghu as the Life-Seizing Female Demon. If you don’t believe me, you can go ask Mu Qiuzi at the Departing Cloud Merchant Association if she knows me.”
