Nine Star Burden

On the morning of the next day.

Dripping in sweat, Jiang Xiaopi returned home with some soy milk, dough fritters and two servings of side dishes in his hands.

After two hours of working out, Jiang Xiao felt refreshed.

Exercising would become really addictive once one was in the zone.

To Jiang Xiao’s surprise, he was greeted with the sight of an exasperated Han Jiangxue as soon as he entered the house.

She was really beautiful, especially her gorgeous pair of eyes. Hence, when Jiang Xiao saw the anger in her dark eyes, he felt rather guilty.

“Didn’t I already tell you that this morning’s workout will be canceled?” Han Jiangxue questioned coldly.

Jiang Xiao was a little puzzled and gestured for her to look at the food that he had bought for breakfast. “Good morning to you? And… you’re welcome.”

Han Jiangxue opened her mouth and remained silent for a long time. She then turned around and walked towards the living room angrily, making Jiang Xiao even more confused.

“You angered your sister again!” a beautiful voice exclaimed, coming from beside him. A girl was standing in the kitchen with a glass of milk in her hand. While sipping on it, she walked out.

Jiang Xiao turned around in surprise and was greeted with the sight of a girl who was just as pretty as Han Jiangxue.

Gee, birds of the same feathers really do flock together. 

The girl was physically attractive and she was about 1.78m tall, just like Han Jiangxue.

However, the only thing that set her apart from Han Jiangxue was her voluptuous and alluring figure. She was curvy in all the right places and was incredibly sexy.

Her hair was short, dyed maroon and slightly permed, making her look effortlessly charming.

Below her sharp and sleek brows laid a pair of slightly menacing eyes, but the milk stains around her cherry lips added a lovely touch to her domineering and intimidating face.

She was a typical Beijiang girl—fair skin, beautiful, leggy, suave, and domineering.

While talking, the short-haired girl walked towards Jiang Xiao and raised her hand to tap Jiang Xiao’s head gently before repeating, “You made your sister angry again.”

While talking, she smacked Jiang Xiao’s head several times.

Extremely bewildered, Jiang Xiao wondered, What’s going on? 

The short-haired girl chided. “What’s up with your expression? Don’t you know me? Did I not beat you enough when you were a kid?”

Jiang Xiao pondered for a long while before finally finding some information about her in his memory.

Xia Yan!

She was Han Jiangxue’s best friend and her family had always been in close contact with theirs. Hence, it was only natural for the children of the two families to be close to each other. Han Jiangxue’s personality was rather aloof and she often looked standoffish. It seemed that Xia Yan was her only close friend.

Besides, they were the best of friends and not frenemies.

Jiang Xiao glanced at Xia Yan before turning to look at Han Jiangxue.

Xia Yan’s body was developed rather well.

This hot-tempered girl was particularly outstanding in Jiang Xiao’s memory, especially during elementary school where Xia Yan was undoubtedly the It Girl and a female gangster. She was nothing close to gentle and well-behaved like most girls should be.

After attending middle school, Xia Yan finally realized that she should behave like a girl. Although she didn’t keep her hair long, she became less angst.

The violent and notorious female gangster changed completely after she went to high school, and as she got older, she became more and more feminine. She turned from a tomboy to a “goddess”.

However, Jiang Xiaopi only interacted with her frequently when she was in elementary school. After entering middle school, they rarely met.

He really didn’t expect to see Xia Yan again under such circumstances. She had truly blossomed into a beauty.

“Kid, you and your sister teased me on Weibo two days ago. I’m bearing a grudge against you two.” Xia Yan then pressed her hand on Jiang Xiao’s head and inched closer towards his ear before breathing into it.

Dude, you’re only 18 years old this year, is it really appropriate for you to entice me like this? 

Jiang Xiao tilted his head and took a step back.

Is this girl that “Hong Yan” on Weibo? 

Is she actually that possessive towards Han Jiangxue? 

Impressive. 

“Great, it happens that I was looking for food.” Xia Yan grabbed the food that Jiang Xiao was holding and walked to the kitchen.

“Han Jiangxue, what is she doing here?” Jiang Xiao asked in confusion.

“Nothing much. Okay, we will leave in a while,” Han Jiangxue answered coldly.

“Eh? Aren’t you going to take Xiaopi with us on the adventure?” Xia Yan asked in bewilderment as she popped her head out.

“Adventure?” asked Jiang Xiao.

Xia Yan said, “Ah, we’re just going to have some fun in the snowfield.”

Jiang Xiao got excited immediately. “Snowfield!?!”

Han Jiangxue said coldly, “I don’t want to bring him along anymore. He’s exhausted and weak now.”

Jiang Xiao frantically said, “I’m very energetic now.”

Han Jiangxue humphed in a nasal tone.

However, Jiang Xiao felt like she was just saying one thing and doing another in a prideful manner.

Half an hour later, the three of them got into Xia Yan’s black jeep.

To Han Jiangxue, it was just an ordinary black jeep, but Jiang Xiao knew that it was a Land Rover Discovery 4.

She was only 18 years old and yet, she was driving such an ostentatious and big car. She was truly wild by nature.

Along the way, Jiang Xiao recalled everything about Xia Yan. Through his not-so-vague memory, he also knew that Xia Yan’s father was a businessman.

The black Discovery 4 zoomed all the way south and dashed out of the southern suburbs of Jiangbin City. After traveling for 70km, they entered a village town.

However, they were stopped by several soldiers at the entrance.

“What town is this? Has the Martial law been implemented here?” Jiang Xiao tried his best to recall everything, only to realize that his mind was blank.

“Be quiet.” Han Jiangxue, who was seated in the passenger’s seat, glanced at Jiang Xiao coldly.

Xia Yan looked at Jiang Xiao with sympathy. She remarked, “Poor Pipi.”

“You shut up too.” Han Jiangxue looked glowered at Xia Yan who was beside her.

Xia Yan cringed in horror, and at the same time, they heard the sounds of the soldiers coming from outside the window.

“Ms. Xia.” A soldier approached and looked inside the car before turning around and saying to his comrade, “Let them in.”

With an elegant smile, she placed two of her slender fingers on her temple and raised them slightly to greet the soldiers in a cool and suave manner. It seemed that she was familiar with them.

As their vehicle drove into the village, Jiang Xiao noticed that the houses were all locked and the windows were all tightly shut.

They would often see soldiers lining up together and patrolling.

As they approached the center of the village town, the security seemed to become tighter.

Xia Yan showed her face continuously along the way and finally pulled up slowly in front of the village council.

“Get off the car and enter the building.” Xia Yan alighted from the car after giving them the instructions.

Led by several soldiers, the trio entered to see that there were already six armed soldiers standing on the east side of the first floor.

“Are they going together with us?” Han Jiangxue asked with a frown.

“Didn’t you say that you wanted to bring Xiaopi along? I thought we ought to get more help to take care of him,” Xia Yan said derisively. “These guys drank a carton of beer each last night. I wonder how they’re doing today.”

Han Jiangxue’s tone became more high-pitched. “Did you go out to drink again?”

Xia Yan shut her mouth in a hurry and picked up in her tracks.

“Poor Xia Yan,” Jiang Xiao remarked, meaning it from the bottom of his heart.

The timing was so apt that Xia Yan couldn’t help but turn around to look at Jiang Xiao who seemed to share the same woes as her. It was as if they could empathize with each other…

“Let’s form a team of four. We’ll have enough people to protect him. This time, we’re only going to let him get familiar with the snowfield, we won’t stray too far,” Han Jiangxue said resignedly while ignoring their behavior.

“Okay, we’ll listen to you.” Xia Yan’s voice was soft and charming. She lifted her finger in the air and finally pointed at a buff soldier who had a solemn expression on his face. “Pikachu, I choose you!”

The tall soldier took a step forward with a frown and said with slight displeasure, “My name is Pi Keqiu.”

Jiang Xiao was speechless.