Who in the world does not know you?

Chapter 71 See you again if fate allows.

The Spring Lantern Festival in Ningxia is held under a bright, clear moon.

Ningzhou Prefecture was brightly lit all night, as if the New Year had arrived.

A clear and sweet voice came from beneath the red Yaksha mask as she reached out and removed the mask from her face.

"You can still recognize me like that?"

Yun Luobai had never seen such a beautiful woman.

She clearly didn't have time to dress up much due to time constraints, and simply let her long, black hair fall loosely behind her head.

But the moment she took off her mask, and her stunningly beautiful face appeared before Yun Luobai's eyes, he still held his breath for a moment.

"What, are you mesmerized? I remember someone saying that I'm not very good-looking. Now that they've seen my true face, I wonder what they think?"

Yun Luobai's throat bobbed, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.

Although she had only changed her clothes and removed the human skin mask from her face, the confident aura she exuded was incomparable to that of ordinary young ladies from wealthy families.

Such a stunning beauty was actually a female thief.

Seeing that Yun Luobai remained silent, she pursed her lips with interest, and her mood became much more cheerful.

"When did you realize I wasn't a real leaf?"

"The first time I saw you in the Rouge Pavilion."

"Tch, stop lying. Back then, I was picking up flower petals with a bamboo basket. How could you possibly see through my disguise and voice-changing techniques the first time you saw me?"

"Your disguise and voice changer are indeed impeccable, but something is missing in your eyes."

"What is it?"

"The despair and cowardice of being truly at the bottom of society, having one's dignity trampled on and being powerless to resist, having to fight with all one's might to survive every day."

She nodded slightly, pondering to herself, then nodded with a relieved expression.

"All right."

"Before this, I already guessed how that female thief escaped from the prison. Not everyone has the ability to disguise and change their voice, so when I first saw you in the Rouge Pavilion, I felt that there were no coincidences in the world, and you were probably that female thief who disappeared from the prison."

"So when I was begging that madam to let me go, you chose to stand by and watch?"

"I just wanted to see what you were up to. It's just that my older brother is kind-hearted and can't bear to see the suffering in the world, so he borrowed money from those constables to get your indenture back. But as you know, I returned those twenty taels of silver to him."

"But I'm not a real leaf, you know that."

"Unfortunately, you are not."

"Um?"

Yun Luobai coughed twice to ease the awkwardness, then immediately changed the subject.

"Where did the real leaf go? And how did you meet her?"

"It's a long story, but I'll keep it short. When I first arrived in Ningzhou Prefecture, I was bored and itchy-handed, so I was thinking of touching something on the street. She happened to notice me. She said she was on the orders of that courtesan to run errands to buy rouge. She couldn't help but glance at me because I was pretty, but she noticed me staring at other people's purses. She asked if I hadn't brought any money with me, and I nodded. In our line of work, carrying money is considered disrespectful."

She beamed when the topic turned to real leaves.

"She assumed I was a rich young lady who had run away from home after a fight with her family and was now destitute, so she gave me the six taels of silver she had on her. She said it was money she had saved herself, not money the courtesan had given her to buy rouge. I asked her why she would give me all her savings when we were just strangers, didn't she feel bad about it? She told me that a beautiful young lady like me deserved those six taels of silver more than she did..."

"It sounds somewhat heartbreaking."

"Yes. So at that moment I decided that even for these six coins, I had to save her from her suffering. Don't worry, I know a very skilled doctor, and I've already sent someone to that clinic to treat her. Her lameness will be cured, and she will live a good life from now on."

"This girl is truly beautiful inside and out."

"Yun Luobai, I didn't expect you to be able to say such nice things. You should know very well what it means for me to reveal my true form and meet you."

"Yes, I know."

She glanced at the handsome young man before her again, as if she had finally made up her mind. Then, she suddenly leaped up and landed lightly on the rooftop beside her.

She looked down at Yun Luobai with a complicated expression.

"Yun Luobai, it's time for us to part ways."

"May I ask your name, young lady?"

"Li Hongyi. If you ever miss me in the future, just whisper my name. You'll look quite amusing then."

"Could I say it silently, Miss Li?"

"No, silently reciting it doesn't count."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

In the blink of an eye, Li Hongyi's figure disappeared from the rooftop, as if she had never existed.

Yun Luobai didn't know why she came to his side, nor did he know why she had to leave in such a hurry.

Her existence was like a dream to him.

Now, it's time to wake up from the dream.

Yun Luobai looked down at his waist and realized that his money pouch, which he always carried with him, had disappeared without him noticing.

It's obvious who did this.

Under the cover of night, a graceful figure in red flew past several times before finally landing on the rooftop of a restaurant two streets away.

She knew she had left in a hurry, but she couldn't think of a reason to stay.

She reached into her bosom and pulled out a brown purse.

"Yun Luobai, don't you even know what I do for a living? I'm giving you a lesson before we part. Be careful when you're out and about in the future, and don't let them take advantage of you again. Let me see how much silver you took with you this time. Tsk tsk tsk, the way you look so annoyed when you find your purse is missing will be hilarious..."

As Li Hongyi spoke, she reached into her money pouch, but besides the cool touch of the silver, her fingertips also felt something else entirely.

She took out what she was holding with a puzzled look, and found that it was actually a note.

Bathed in the bright moonlight, she blinked her clear eyes and took in the contents of the note.

In a daze, she seemed to see him writing this note in the warm yellow candlelight and putting it into his purse.

He had long anticipated her departure, and he had also anticipated that she would take his purse.

She had disliked him for a long time, so how could she not use her skills to play a trick on him before leaving?

Everything was part of his plan; she had been outmaneuvered by him once again.

This time, however, she did not fly into a rage.

She simply stood quietly in the moonlight, looking at the note in her hand with a sweet smile.

The note in Li Hongyi's hand contained only four simple words.

"See you again someday"

A gentle evening breeze caused the thin strip of paper to flutter in her heart.