Bab 9: Running Through the Forest After Arson is the Perfect Date!

As expected the entire prison burst into flames and there was a huge explosion.

Song Yongrui was startled. He hadn't expected an explosion, let alone one of that magnitude. He turned and leisurely jogged over to where Bai Jingfei was standing, knowing that the guards were definitely too shocked to chase them.

He looked back at Bai Jingfei with new found respect.

Song Yongrui had always had a lot of respect for those who could effectively cause destruction and Bai Jingfei was one such person.

He grinned at Bai Jingfei as behind him guards desperately rushed to extinguish the flames that enveloped the ugly, old prison.

It was a beautiful sight, the flour dispersed in the air had caught fire too, allowing the red hot flames to rise far beyond the prison it consumed. The crackling noise and the heat could be felt all the way next to the forest.

'Beautiful' thought Bai Jingfei gleefully.

The fire had quenched her desire for revenge and Bai Jingfei was satiated. Now her problem was how she was going to return to the library without being spotted.

The easiest way would be to walk back from in front of the prison but that would make her a prime suspect…

Her only choice now was to take the long route, a detour through the forest.

Song Yongrui looked at Bai Jingfei as she stared down at her toes, pondering.

"So, girlie, where do you have to go?"

Bai Jingfei was startled out of her thoughts and almost stumbled yet again while trying to respond to Song Yongrui.

By now Song Yongrui knew that she was extremely clumsy and had almost no sense of balance or a shred of athleticism. He already had his hand in place around her waist, as if waiting to catch her.

Song Yongrui's greatest strength had always been his athleticism. He was both strong and fast, and extremely quick witted. But he wasn't without flaws either.

He was unable to understand how Bai Jingfei was so clumsy.

He was rather amused by her behaviour and was extremely curious about the background of this strange arsonist girl.

Bai Jingfei blushed a little, feeling his arm around her waist. She was prepared to kick him in the place where the sun doesn't shine until she realised that he was helping her.

After all, Bai Jingfei was extremely embarrassed about falling.

However this realisation of hers saved Song Yongrui's future lineage.

Of course she was the one who had threatened it to begin with but you get the point.

As a professional thug, Song Yongrui had noticed her reflex action and was prepared to defend himself if needed but he had let his guard down as he knew that she was only startled.

Even if she did kick him, this penguin-like girl who could only stumble around wouldn't be able to hurt him.

But Song Yongrui was severely underestimating the lethality of the cave creature's kick.

Bai Jingfei steadied herself, and tried to remove Song Yongrui's hand from around her waist. However his grip was too strong for her and she struggled for a while before he noticed that he still had his arm around her.

Bai Jingfei turned red and jogged ahead saying, "Let's move quick, what if they're following us?"

Song Yongrui laughed and ran behind her, watching her fleeing back despite the fact that he could easily outrun her.

"So where are we going?" repeated Song Yongrui casually.

Bai Jingfei finally realised she had completely ignored his question previously and refused to turn back to look at him, fearing he would see her embarrassed face.

Unfortunately for Bai Jingfei, Song Yongrui could spot her embarrassment from her blushing ears and her unnatural running.

Well, the unnatural running could be because she couldn't really run to begin with.

"The library. We're going to the library" she almost screamed.

Song Yongrui felt the urge to burst out laughing. Bai Jingfei had no sense of direction and was running toward the main palace, the opposite direction from the library.

Bai Jingfei had already reached the end of the forest when she realized that she was in the wrong place and that Song Yongrui was no longer following her.

From the trail in the grass it was evident he'd left quite a while ago.

She felt embarrassed that she hadn't realized but soon got over it. She wasn't his nanny. She didn't have to make sure he found his way home. It was also unlikely he was heading the same way as her to begin with.

She found herself in the bright sunlight, in front of the main palace.

There were a few guards standing there, and breathing heavily she walked over to them.

"Excuse me, have you seen my father?" she asked, looking extremely pitiful.

The guards asked her a few questions before saluting respectfully upon hearing prime minister Bai's name.

She was pointed towards a gate from which she told the prime minister would come out, in a few minutes after a meeting ended.

Bai Jingfei nodded thankfully and walked over to the rusty little gate that stuck out in comparison to the rest of the extravagant palace and fiddled with it.

Within a few minutes prime minister Bai came out of the hall followed by someone dressed so extravagantly, that they could only be the emperor.

"So, this is your daughter-" started the emperor looking almost judgmentally at Bai Jingfei.

Bai Jingfei knew that she was not going to like whatever the emperor said, so she did what any self respecting cave creature would do.

She pointed towards the giant flames consuming the prison that could even be seen from behind the forest. Her eyes were doe-like and innocent, as if she wasn't the one who had set the prison on fire just a few minutes ago.

Well technically, Song Yongrui set the place on fire, not her but the technicalities don't matter here.

With a weak voice and a trembling wrist she pointed out...

"Papa! There's a fire."