Seeing that the two girls were ready to act, Xuan Yi did not want blood to stain their young hearts. She held them back, meaning to deal with the arrogant scion herself.
But before the guards had taken three steps, several bolts of lightning fell from the sky and struck them down.
Even the old man standing behind Cheng Shou did not escape. A bolt a little thicker than the rest came down squarely on his head.
Crack!
A blinding flash burst across the street, and everyone nearby covered their eyes by instinct. The old man tried to block the bolt with his hand, but it was useless, and the lightning struck him all the same.
When the onlookers opened their eyes again, the guards were gone. Only heaps of black ash remained on the ground.
"Is this divine retribution for all his evil deeds?" someone gasped.
"It must be. Serves him right."
Xuan Yi knew exactly who had done it. She turned to see Xiao Tian walking toward them.
He stopped at Xuan Yi's side and looked at Cheng Shou, who stood rooted to the spot across from them, frozen by the sudden lightning.
"Daddy, you're here! This toad bullied us, and he even had bad thoughts about Aunt Xuan. Hmph, hmph!" The two little girls ran to Xiao Tian's side with their most wronged expressions.
Xuan Yi could not help smiling at the act the girls were putting on.
"All right. Daddy will teach him a lesson." Xiao Tian looked at Cheng Shou and spoke without any emotion. "Since you have such thoughts, I'll deal with the root of the problem for you."
He pointed a finger, and a thin bolt of lightning shot toward the sickly young man.
"Aaaah!!!"
A bloodcurdling shriek tore out of Cheng Shou's throat. He clutched at a charred spot on his body and writhed on the ground.
Hiss...
A chorus of sharp, indrawn breaths rose from the crowd. Every man there felt a chill run through him, and they all instinctively shielded themselves and flinched, as if they felt the pain themselves.
Miserable. Truly, terribly miserable, too awful to watch. It was the most painful spot on a man's body. Even a bump there was unbearable, let alone having it shattered by lightning.
Xuan Yi stepped closer to Xiao Tian and pinched his waist, giving him a helpless look from her beautiful eyes. She leaned in and said, "There are so many people here. Don't be so crude. Just kill him and be done with it."
Xiao Tian took her pinching hand in his and played with it for a moment. Xuan Yi's figure was fuller and softer than most, and her hand felt wonderful.
At once Xuan Yi stiffened, and a blush spread across her cheeks. She struggled a little, for form's sake. When she could not free herself, she did not struggle further, and let him hold her hand.
"He's the one who had ill intentions toward you. I'll give him a lesson he'll never forget as long as he lives," Xiao Tian said calmly.
His voice was calm, but it carried a deep, protective strength. She could not help squeezing his hand in return.
"Aaah! Stop hitting him!"
Just as Xuan Yi was about to speak, a scream rang out nearby. The two of them turned and saw Xiao Ling and Xiao Meng whipping Cheng Shou.
"You thought you could crawl away while Daddy and Aunt Xuan were being lovey-dovey? Lie down properly!" Xiao Ling shouted as she lashed him.
"That's right! We were enjoying the show, and you had to go and run, so we couldn't enjoy the drama!" Xiao Meng added, just as displeased.
Hearing them, Xuan Yi's face went completely red, and she pulled her hand out of Xiao Tian's grasp. She hurried over to the two girls to calm them down.
When they were calm again, she glanced at Cheng Shou on the ground. His whole body was covered with whip marks, and blood seeped steadily out, staining his brocade robes crimson. He was in a wretched state, barely clinging to his last breath.
Seeing him like that, Xuan Yi decided not to let him suffer any longer. She flicked a finger, and a flame landed on his body.
At once, roaring fire burst from Cheng Shou's body and swallowed him. The flame was fiercely hot. Before he could even scream, he was reduced to ashes.
"Is this the legendary 'fallen leaves return to their roots'? I never expected you to be so kind, Aunt Xuan."
Xuan Yi was stunned by Xiao Tian's words. She turned to look at him, and the depth that usually filled her eyes was replaced by confusion.
Fallen leaves return to their roots? Was that how the saying was used?
Xiao Tian chuckled softly. "Think about it. When a person dies of old age, in time he turns into a pile of ashes. Now he has turned into a pile of ashes, and Tianhuang City is his hometown. Isn't that 'fallen leaves returning to their roots'? You helped him fulfill his last wish ahead of schedule. It's definitely a good deed, with great merit!"
"Pfft!"
Xuan Yi and the two girls all lost control at once and burst out laughing.
Xuan Yi wondered how she would ever hear that saying again with a straight face. If someone told her that their plan for the future was to "return to their roots," would she set them on fire on the spot?
"You're full of nonsense," she said, rolling her eyes at Xiao Tian and scolding him with a smile.
"Hahaha! But you have to admit it's true."
Xuan Yi thought about it and found, to her surprise, that there was a sliver of logic in it, though it was pure sophistry.
While she was lost in thought, she suddenly felt a warm touch at her side. Her body stiffened slightly. She looked down and saw a hand around her waist.
It was Xiao Tian's. It was the first time any man had touched and held her this way, and the feeling was strange to her. Her breathing quickened for a moment, then settled.
Her first instinct was to remove his hand. But then she thought of how he had saved her and acted on her behalf just now. And she found that she did not dislike the feeling. In fact, she liked the feeling of his hand around her waist.
In the end, she decided to let him go on holding her waist, full-figured but still slender.
Xiao Tian watched the changing expressions on her face, but she did not swat his hand away. Instead, the tense muscles of her waist slowly relaxed and returned to their soft, yielding feel. His careful, tentative move had been a complete success.
Love, he thought, is a gradual climb made through constant testing: from tentatively holding hands, all the way to a little nuzzling and rubbing close, until at last the goal is reached and a lifetime is spent together.
If you don't take the first step and she doesn't either, then in the end she will be in someone else's arms, and you will be left leaning against a wall with a bottle of wine, full of regret. By then regret is useless, because you brought it on yourself!
In Xiao Tian's view, there was no such thing as "treating each other with respect as though they were guests." That phrase was only a polite way of saying that the love was gone. If love was there, who wouldn't be like dry tinder meeting a raging fire, hopelessly in love?