I Quit Being This Female Lead (GL) - Chapter 58

Outside the inn, the wind and snow raged, but inside the partition, the atmosphere was surprisingly lively.

When the saber rested on Mang Ke’s neck, she felt her shoulder sink, realizing the knife was quite heavy.

“My Lord, My Lord, let’s talk this out nicely!” The innkeeper, afraid something might happen, hurriedly rushed over, held the man’s shoulder, and moved the saber away from Mang Ke’s shoulder.

“Talking nicely is fine,” the man said, staring at Mang Ke coldly. “Tell your group to get out. My brothers and I have reserved the inn for today.”

Mang Ke blinked, pondering whether she should listen to the man.

Just as the two sides were at a stalemate, a figure appeared on the second-floor corridor. The person was wearing green robes—Mang Ke’s Senior Sister in this story.

“Xiao Ke?” The woman in green frowned, glancing at the people downstairs. She estimated there were about twenty of them, completely filling the inn lobby.

Mang Ke turned her head, saw the woman in green, and said, “Senior Sister.”

When the man saw someone appear, he puffed out his chest and haughtily repeated his previous demand for the woman in green to hear. After listening, the woman was neither agitated nor angry. She looked calmly at the group of people and spoke lightly: “What? Does this Lord not understand the rule of ‘first come, first served’?”

“I don’t care about your ‘first come, first served’,” the man lifted his broadsword and said to Mang Ke’s Senior Sister, “Just obediently get out, or I won’t be polite to you!”

“I’m sorry,” the Senior Sister said with a cold face, “My Grandmaster is not well, so I ask all of you to find lodging elsewhere.”

“Don’t refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit! My saber does not recognize people!”

The Senior Sister sighed faintly and said, “It seems that kind words cannot save a doomed soul. Is losing your lives over a matter of lodging really worth it?”

The man sneered: “Since you know it’s not worth it, hurry up and take your belongings and leave.”

Hearing this, Mang Ke turned to the woman in green upstairs and said, “Senior Sister, maybe we should just leave? Don’t argue with them.”

“Your Junior Sister certainly knows how to cherish life.”

“That’s not it,” Mang Ke turned back to the man and said, “I just don’t want you all to die.”

The man was stunned for a moment, then flew into a rage. The three-foot-long saber was instantly plunged into the floor, causing the innkeeper to wail, My floor!

“Two little brats spouting nonsense here! Today, I’ll use your lives to dedicate my saber!”

Before his voice faded, the surrounding closed doors were instantly blown open by the fierce wind and snow. Large swaths of white snow rushed in, carrying biting cold.

“How did the doors open!”

“Quickly close the doors and windows! It’s freezing!”

Mang Ke also shivered. Taking advantage of the distraction, she ran behind the woman in green and said, “Senior Sister, I already warned them. Please don’t get too angry.”

The Senior Sister nodded with a cold face and said to Mang Ke, “Go check on Grandmaster. I will handle things here.”

Mang Ke affirmed her request. She hurried to the innermost room on the second floor, opened the door, and slipped inside.

As soon as she closed the door, she heard wailing downstairs, the sound of the wind whistling past, and the voices of those men crying and calling for “Sister.”

“What’s wrong?” An elderly man with white hair sat on the bed. Hearing the commotion downstairs, he asked Mang Ke, “Is your Senior Sister bullying people again?”

The man helping the elder change his clothes next to the bed couldn’t help but smile: “Grandmaster, don’t worry. Senior Disciple-Sister knows her limits; she won’t cause any fatalities.”

“That may be true, but your Senior Disciple-Sister is so fierce. How will she ever get married?”

“You don’t need to worry about that. The queue of men who want to marry Senior Disciple-Sister could stretch for miles.”

“Really?”

“Of course! Here, Grandmaster, drink some ginger soup to warm yourself. It’s truly too cold today.”

The man saw Mang Ke still standing near the door and said, “What’s wrong, little girl? You look unhappy.”

Mang Ke, being the youngest disciple, was particularly well-liked. She looked at the three people in the room and said with some difficulty, “Senior Sister seems truly angry…”

She was afraid the room would soon be covered in blood, which would scare the innkeeper.

Since arriving in this world two months ago, Mang Ke had been with this group. The Grandmaster, at 100 years old, had returned to his hometown for his birthday celebration. After the celebration, they were preparing to return to their sect. Thus, the first month was spent celebrating, and the second month was spent traveling.

From the plot, Mang Ke knew that the woman in green possessed boundless mystical power; summoning wind and rain to break through sieges were mere child’s play for her. Any trouble along the way was handled by her.

The only issue was that the girl had a bad temper. She didn’t talk much, but her methods were extremely vicious. She could dislocate someone’s arms and legs over a minor disagreement. That was why Mang Ke had spent half the time begging her Senior Sister just now not to be too heavy-handed.

Assuming the wailing downstairs had quieted down a little, Mang Ke timidly said to the people in the room, “I’m going out to check on Senior Sister.”

With that, she slipped out.

Rounding the second-floor corridor, Mang Ke saw a vast expanse of white below. The surrounding walls were covered with a thick layer of frost. The group of men who had been so arrogant moments ago were now kneeling on the ground, their faces pale from the cold, with the silhouette of the woman in green standing among them.

“Senior Sister~”

Mang Ke saw the innkeeper hiding behind the counter and cautiously said, “Don’t be angry anymore. That’s enough, or the owner will have a lot of trouble cleaning up tomorrow.”

The Senior Sister softly acknowledged her with an ‘Mhm,’ then crossed her arms, looking down at the men, and said, “Get out.”

“N-no, please, lady侠 (heroine)!” The man’s hair was covered in frost, and he spoke, puffing out hot air: “If we go out today, we’ll die! Please, lady侠, save us!”

After speaking, he began to kowtow with loud thuds.

The Senior Sister said flatly, “There are so many of you, and the inn only has three rooms. Even if we give them up, you wouldn’t all fit.”

The innkeeper poked his head out, shivering, and said, “My Lords, the Lady侠 is right. Even if you take the rooms, there are too many of you to fit. Conveniently, there are two or three empty houses next to each other on the west side of the village. You could stay there for the night, which should solve your urgent problem.”

Hearing this, the men thought it was a viable solution. They stood up, patted the frost from their armor, and bowed to the Senior Sister.

“We apologize, Lady侠. We were wrong today, and we were indeed too impulsive.”

The Senior Sister’s expression was calm; she lowered her eyes and said, “Apologize to my Junior Sister.”

The man was momentarily stunned, then he generously cupped his hands and said to Mang Ke, “Little Junior Sister, I apologize for frightening you just now! I, Li Mang, offer my sincerest regrets!”

Mang Ke smiled and waved her hand: “It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

Li Mang’s expression softened considerably. He turned to the innkeeper and said, “Innkeeper, please lead the way. My brothers and I will follow you.”

“Of course, of course. If your attitude had been this good just now, there wouldn’t have been so much trouble! You young people are just too impulsive, but my floor… what a pity…”

“Uh, if the innkeeper doesn’t mind rough men like us, we’ll come back tomorrow and fix the tables, chairs, and floor for you.”

“Alright, you said it! I’ll thank you in advance then.”

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing, it was our mistake…”

Watching the group of over a dozen men leave the inn, Mang Ke finally ran to the woman in green and said, “Senior Sister, we should rest too.”

“Mhm.” The Senior Sister turned back to look at Mang Ke and couldn’t help but smile: “You weren’t frightened, were you?”

Mang Ke waved her hand: “What was there to be afraid of? It’s so cold; let’s hurry and rest.”

The Senior Sister nodded: “Good.”

Upstairs, they met two Senior Brothers coming out of the Grandmaster’s room. Mang Ke greeted them.

“Senior Disciple-Sister,” the slightly older man asked, “Was the situation downstairs resolved?”

The Senior Sister nodded: “It was resolved. Has Grandmaster gone to sleep?”

“Yes, he has. Grandmaster is a light sleeper, so let’s not disturb him.”

“Mhm.”

“Are you two hungry? I was thinking of seeing if there was any food in the kitchen. It’s better to sleep on a full stomach.”

“The innkeeper left with the men, so we’ll probably have to make it ourselves.”

“That’s no problem,” the man said with a light chuckle. “What would you like to eat, Little Junior Sister? I’ll make it.”

Mang Ke smiled and said, “A serving of stir-fried rice noodles, please. If there are no rice noodles, stir-fried noodles are fine too.”

“Although I don’t understand what you’re saying, I think I have a general idea of what you want.”

“Hehe.”

After eating the late-night meal, everyone prepared for sleep. Mang Ke was exhausted; the first thing she did upon getting into bed was wrap herself in the quilt. She said goodnight to her Senior Sister and immediately fell asleep.

The woman in green looked at her little Junior Sister with a feeling of helplessness, sighed, blew out the candle, and climbed into bed as well.

The next morning, when Mang Ke woke up, she saw that someone was already in the back courtyard.

The elder Senior Brother was holding a basket of hay and was feeding handfuls of it to a tall, black warhorse.

Although he was called the elder Senior Brother, he was only twenty years old; his title simply indicated his seniority within the sect.

He saw Mang Ke emerge from the building and said, “Hei Zai’er (Blackie) doesn’t need feeding anymore. I’ve fed all of them.”

Mang Ke looked at the black horse’s bright eyes and couldn’t help but lean forward to stroke its mane.

Hei Zai’er liked Mang Ke petting it. After snorting loudly, it continued to chew the hay in its mouth, though its eyes remained fixed on Mang Ke.

“Senior Brother, have you eaten breakfast?” Mang Ke said, hugging Hei Zai’er. “Should I go to the kitchen and make some noodles? It’s about time for Grandmaster to wake up, too.”

He also looked up at the sky and nodded: “Good. Thank you, Little Junior Sister.”

“No trouble at all. I’m off to make the noodles.”

After greeting the innkeeper, Mang Ke went to the back kitchen. The innkeeper had been alone last night, but in the daytime, two assistants came to help him: one as a server in the front hall and one as a cook in the back kitchen.

The cook was large and muscular. Seeing Mang Ke come in to make her own noodles, he pointed to the innermost chopping block and the flour vat: “Everything’s over there. You can help yourself. I need to get ready to deliver food.”

Mang Ke looked at the steaming, packed bamboo baskets next to the cook and couldn’t help but ask, “Who are these for?”

“That group of men in the west side of the village,” the cook said. “They ordered over 50 buns. They just finished steaming, so I’ll take them over while they’re hot.”

Mang Ke recalled the men from last night and nodded.

The cook was probably bored. Having finally met someone he could talk to, he started rambling.

“Little girl, why do you suppose those soldiers are just a small group?” The cook asked while packing the buns. “I heard that His Majesty is looking for the Elixir of Immortality. Do you think they might be an advance team or something?”

Mang Ke thought about it while kneading the dough: “Who knows?”