Chapter Ninety-Six: Begging for Food, One Comes Upon a Joyful Wolf; Binding That Fair One Is Most Amusing

Wolves came begging for food in numbers, and binding that maiden proved the most amusing of all.

Only after applying medicine, dressing Ma Ruobing's wounds, and clothing her did Han Moyi finally breathe a sigh of relief. At any rate, her life was saved.

Before Han Moyi could even stand up, Ma Ruobing began muttering deliriously again. This time her voice was louder than before, and Han Moyi could make out what she was saying.

She was saying she was cold.

Only then did Han Moyi remember that Ma Ruobing wasn't wearing an outer coat. The leather jacket from before was clearly unwearable now. With no other option, Han Moyi took off his own coat and draped it over her.

"I really don't know what I owed you in a past life." Han Moyi rubbed his hands and grumbled to himself, inwardly cursing the damned heavens for not letting the sun come out.

"Cold... cold..." Ma Ruobing kept muttering about being cold even in her stupor, and only then did Han Moyi realize that she had lost so much blood that her body held no warmth left.

After a moment's hesitation, Han Moyi gently drew Ma Ruobing into his arms.

Out in the vast desert, the wind still blew. In a grove of dead poplar trees, a pack of wolves fixed their eyes unblinkingly on Han Moyi and Ma Ruobing, and not far off stood a horse trembling slightly. No matter how one looked at it, the scene was strangely comical.

Having been busy for so long, Han Moyi couldn't help feeling drowsy, and before long he fell asleep.

With a sharp crack, a slap jolted Han Moyi from his dreams.

"Who?" Han Moyi covered his slapped right cheek and shouted.

He looked up to see that the person who had hit him was none other than Ma Ruobing, who had woken up at some unknown point.

Ma Ruobing's pale face was flushed with anger, and her body swayed slightly from weakness. In her hands she held the sawed-off double-barreled hunting rifle that Han Moyi had seen at the Mobei Inn, and its dark, gaping muzzle was aimed squarely at him.

"What are you doing? Are you out of your mind? I saved you!" Han Moyi had witnessed the power of that hunting rifle. He couldn't be certain his head would return to normal after being blown apart like a watermelon, and seeing Ma Ruobing treat him this way, his temper flared up at once.

"Tell me, did you take off my clothes?" Ma Ruobing shouted harshly, paying no heed to the fact that Han Moyi had saved her life.

"I... I had no choice." Han Moyi hurriedly defended himself.

"So you saw everything?" Ma Ruobing's face turned even paler. She bit her lip and asked, tears welling in her eyes.

"No, no, no! You still had a black garment underneath, and I didn't take that off." Han Moyi hastened to explain. But before his words faded, Ma Ruobing cut him off.

"Heh." Ma Ruobing let out two cold laughs, her face reddening slightly as she roared: "You lecher! You remember the color so clearly and still claim you didn't look? I'll kill you!"

Seeing that Ma Ruobing truly meant to fire, Han Moyi lunged forward to snatch the double-barreled rifle from her hands, but her finger never left the trigger—there was no way he could get the chance.

Just as Ma Ruobing was about to pull the trigger, in that very instant, a dark shadow hurtled straight into her.

A thunderous bang rang out. The bullet whistled past Han Moyi's arm and struck the poplar tree behind him. That poplar, famed for living a thousand years without dying and standing a thousand years after death, snapped clean in two at the impact. One could well imagine the power of that double-barreled rifle—had it struck a body, there would be no surviving that.

Han Moyi, still shaken, looked up and saw that it was the white wolf who had knocked Ma Ruobing away at the critical moment. Ma Ruobing, struck by the wolf's charge, had fallen unconscious again.

"Snowball, thank goodness for you. If I'd known this woman was a lunatic, I wouldn't have saved her." Even as he grumbled, Han Moyi helped Ma Ruobing over to the side. This time, however, he was more careful and hid her rifle inside his pack.

When he finished and looked up at the sky, it was already well into the morning. Han Moyi walked a few steps toward the white wolf with a sly grin and said: "Snowball, how about having your underlings rustle up some food for me?"

The white wolf shot Han Moyi the same contemptuous look as always, then let out a low growl. The wolves began scattering in all directions. The horse, already skittish, grew frantic at the pack's sudden movement and neighed in agitation.

Fearful that the horse's cry would wake the unconscious Ma Ruobing again, Han Moyi quickly shot a glance at the white wolf.

The white wolf immediately understood what Han Moyi meant. A single low growl frightened the horse into silence.

Han Moyi took a drink of water, then handed the waterskin to the white wolf. The white wolf shook its head, indicating it didn't need any. Han Moyi thought about giving Ma Ruobing some water too, but feared she'd wake up and start shouting about killing him again, so he gave up.

He took out some dried rations from his pack. They were cold and hard, and he barely managed a couple of bites before stopping.

When he looked up, he happened to see the white wolf staring straight at him. Han Moyi's heart chilled, and he silently thought: "Is Snowball hungry after watching me eat? Is it planning to eat me?"

Seeing Han Moyi look up, the white wolf quickly turned its head away, and Han Moyi's heart grew colder than before.

After a long while, Han Moyi finally couldn't hold it in and smiled bitterly at the white wolf: "Snowball, are you hungry? Let me tell you—don't get any ideas about me. I haven't bathed in days."

When the white wolf heard Han Moyi mention he hadn't bathed in days, it looked at him with disdain and involuntarily sidled a few steps away from him.

Seeing the white wolf look at him with such contempt, Han Moyi felt relieved. After all, better a thief who steals than a thief who schemes, right?

Although the white wolf didn't intend to eat him, Han Moyi still feared its wild nature might lead it to attack Ma Ruobing or the horse. After thinking it over, he took a piece of dried beef from his pack and offered it to the white wolf.

Unexpectedly, the white wolf turned its head away with a look of disgust, clearly not interested in the jerky in Han Moyi's hand.

After about half an hour, a huge dark shape came racing toward the poplar grove, kicking up clouds of yellow sand in its wake.

When the shape drew near, Han Moyi saw that it was the giant wolf from before, with a medium-sized gazelle in its jaws.

The giant wolf opened its mouth, and the gazelle dropped to the ground. Han Moyi looked down and couldn't help admiring the wolf's cunning, for the gazelle had no bite wounds—it looked as if its bones had been broken by a collision, leaving it slumped helpless on the ground.

Setting down the gazelle, the giant wolf shook itself in front of the white wolf, and a number of things tumbled and rolled off its back. Han Moyi squinted, then gaped in astonishment—what had rolled off the giant wolf's back were wild fruits, perhaps twenty or thirty of them in total.

The white wolf gave a low growl, and the giant wolf ran off again, vanishing into the desert within moments.

Another half hour later, a thin plume of smoke rose straight into the sky from the poplar grove, and the rich aroma of roasted meat wafted out.

Han Moyi crouched in front of the fire, continuously rotating the roasting lamb in his hands, occasionally bending down to blow on the flames. When he looked up, the white wolf saw the black soot smudged across his face, and quietly moved a little farther away from this fool.

"Snowball, want a bite?" Han Moyi held up the roasted lamb in his hand, tempting the white wolf, who was off to the side eating wild fruits. The white wolf just shot him a contemptuous look and ignored him.

"Lecher! Let me go!" Suddenly, Ma Ruobing's furious shout rang out from behind Han Moyi. He turned around and saw that she had indeed woken up.

Fortunately, Han Moyi had bound her hands with rope, or she might have been taking shots at his back.

"You're awake?" Han Moyi asked without thinking.

"Are you blind?" Ma Ruobing said coldly, her tone sour.

Han Moyi had brought the embarrassment on himself, and seeing that Ma Ruobing continued to glare at him with hostility, his own temper began to stir.

Looking at the roasted lamb in his hand, an idea struck him—a fine way to tease Ma Ruobing.

"Wow, that smells good! It must taste amazing!" Han Moyi waved the roasted lamb in front of Ma Ruobing repeatedly. The savory aroma naturally drifted to her nostrils.

"Lecher, don't give me that." Before Ma Ruobing even finished speaking, her own stomach betrayed her with an undignified growl.

"Lamb! Fragrant, sizzling roasted lamb!" Seeing that his trick was working, Han Moyi began hawking it like a street vendor with great flourish.

Having not eaten for a day and a night, Ma Ruobing was certainly hungry, but she didn't want to show it in front of Han Moyi. The more she thought about it, the more aggrieved and furious she felt. She, the eldest young miss of the mighty Ma family, when had she ever suffered such humiliation? She shut her eyes, and two lines of clear tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes.

Seeing Ma Ruobing cry, Han Moyi, the culprit, was thrown into a panic. He hurried to soothe her with the gentlest tone: "Hey... don't cry, don't cry. I'll let you eat, won't I?"

So saying, he held out the roasted lamb. Ma Ruobing didn't even glance at him, instead turning her head away.

"I'm sorry—I'll apologize, won't I?" Han Moyi pleaded. Seeing that Ma Ruobing still ignored him, he said in a low voice: "Miss Ma! Ma lass! My dear ancestress Ma! I'll kneel to you, won't I?"

Han Moyi's flustered manner and his pleading tone were so ridiculous that Ma Ruobing could no longer hold it in and burst out with a laugh.

But the moment she laughed, she regretted it. To cover it up, she forcibly kept a straight face and said: "Kneel then! Go on, kneel!"

With her having said that, Han Moyi found himself caught on the horns of a dilemma. Seeing Ma Ruobing's cold face again, he gritted his teeth, steeled his heart, closed his eyes, and made as if to kneel.