Three

She then proceeded to try to smoothen out her stiff expression for her brother Bai's sake. Even though her dislike for Cang Mang was already known to those who knew them, she still tried to put up appearances.

She cleared her throat and spoke in a milky voice to brother Bai, "brother Bai, I only brought sister out here to play with the fortune teller."

"Play what? I've already told you to leave," the old monk berated.

"Old monk, don't be vexed over it. This old witch is shameless. It's her usual manner. She is good at taking herself to places where she is not wanted," Cang Mang bowed his head and capped his fist in greeting, "this one greets the righteous man. But your anger cannot go in vain, don't be afraid to spell her evil." He went ahead to point at Dong Mei directly.

The old monk looked at Cang Mang with an irritated expression. He seemed about to chase them all away. But for a long time, he said nothing and simply looked at the four people; two were completely absorbed in their own world while the other two kept throwing daggers at each other.

The old monk got even more irritated.

Having not received a reply, Cang Mang turned his attention to looking around the place. It was an old, small and dilapidated temple. It hadn't been maintained in centuries. All the furniture had been looted and, the grass had over grown through the cracks in the tiles of the floor that was littered with dry leaves. The only source of light was a gap broken into the roof.

Cang Mang frowned and complained, "what kind of game would be played in such a place? Isn't it suitable for hiding a body?"

"Only one that thinks of executing murder would think first that a place is suitable for hiding a body," the old monk spoke while looking gravely at Cang Mang.

"The old monk is righteous," Dong Mei praised with a bit of schadenfreude.

A light flashed through Cang Mang's eyes as he glanced at the monk, his expression flat. After a second, he scoffed, "am I not just being cautious of what she could do?" He pointed at Dong Mei, "don't be fooled by her looks, she is capable of collapsing nations."

"At least your eyes are not blind," Dong Mei who stood at the side dusted her sleeves, "even Yama can't avoid admitting my beauty."

"I'm afraid only Yama can admit," Cang Mang mumbled loud enough for her to hear.

Dong Mei raised her eyebrows, "so earlier you admitted because you were afraid I've not heard enough," she looked down at her nails, "there's no need for this extra treatment."

Cang Mang's crossed his arms, "it's extra treatment because no one else dare give it."

(A/N; nation collapsing beauty is normally used by Chinese authors to describe extreme beauty. Cang Mang's meant she would ruin nations but she twisted his words to her advantage. Yama is the king of hell/ the underworld/ all that rots and dies- so CM was saying only someone who was seeing rot and death everyday would appreciate DM as extremely beautiful. )

"How did you find us?" Li Hua's voice suddenly broke into the conversation.

"We asked and were told that you were seen heading this way with Dong Mei," Bai Yang Wei replied to her, smiling happily at their held hands.

"But their are so many paths to take. We have only just arrived. It would take you a bit longer to find us with a random hint," Li Hua reasoned.

She was right, to get to the temple, she and Dong Mei had had to pass through a small unused path. The temple was also small and was covered by surrounding trees and could not be noticed from a distance. They hadn't told anyone where they were going so it wasn't reasonable to think anyone would have said that they were at the temple.

"It was all Cang Mang," Bai Yang Wei said, seeming a bit distressed over having to praise another man in front of his woman, "you know he knows a lot about forests. So finding you wasn't hard."

Li hua turned to Cang Mang. Grateful, she smiled at him. Dong Mei turned to Cang Mang. Unamused, she scowled at him.

Pleased with himself, Cang Mang smirked and huffed his chest a bit.

Dong Mei rolled her eyes and said to Cang Mang between gritted teeth, "if you didn't come so early to shout for praise, the effect would still be the same." She crossed her arms against her chest.

Cang Mang turned to Dong Mei, "by the way, your second face is falling off."

Dong Mei made a sneer in response. How could she maintain anything? She was sure that her brother Bai wouldn't pay any attention to her since the moment he started to share the same space with Li hua. Unless she called out to him, she was as good as the wind that passed by. Even then, she'd have to be hanging off the edge of the cliff with no one to help for him to turn to her.

So what was the point of acting nice?

"Leave my temple at once," the old monk reminded them of his existence. The beads he had been holding started to make fast rounds between his fingers.

As if the idea of leaving had only come back to his mind, Bai Yang Wei turned and pulled Li Hua towards the entrance.

"Wait! What about the fortune?" Dong Mei tried to stop them, so that she could at least have more time to formulate a plan to get brother Bai.

"No need," Bai Yang Wei smiled softly, and looked deeply into Li Hua's eyes, "for this lifetime, I am already fortunate. Whatever uncertainty may come, I'll weather through the storm, as long as you're behind me."

Dong Mei's lips dropped. She had just been trying to create an opportunity for herself. Why had she suddenly become the help needed to bring forward a cute scene? When she wasn't expecting it, she would be forced to swallow a mouthful of dog food.

Bai Yang Wei had implied that he was fortunate enough for having met Li Hua and he would wish for nothing more. He didn't need to know what kind of misfortune would come because either way, he would protect her from it.