Jinxia, who had just finished boiling the medicinal concoction, brought the medicine to Lu Yi since his wound had not fully healed.
“Lu Daren, the medicine is here.” She was worried that he was still in a bad mood, so she patiently waited by the door.
She heard no movements. After waiting for a while, she was about to call out for him again, but right at this moment, Lu Yi opened the door.
Seeing his heavily furrowed brows, she knew something must’ve happened, but Jinxia didn’t know whether it was appropriate to ask or not, and she hesitantly said: “This…medicine…I.”
Lu Yi stood in front of the door, his face was expressionless. He took the medicine bowl, then paused for a moment, as if he wanted to say something, but then he just took a step back and closed the door.
The door closed in front of her face hurt Jinxia’s heart a little. She was about to knock again and ask him about it, but she stopped herself and hesitantly stared at the door, and then walked away.
Inside the room, Lu Yi leaned against the door, silently listening to the sound of her footsteps fading away.
Cen Shou met Jinxia who was walking as if she had no energy, and seeing that her hand was still holding the tray, he wasn’t sure what to say, but ended up asking anyway, “What’s wrong with you? You’re like a dried pomegranate.”
“Nothing.” Jinxia pointed towards Lu Yi’s room with her lower lip, “If you have time, try to share the burden of your Young Master.”
“Why?”
“Who knows, maybe he’s upset because he has too many things to deal with. His expression hasn’t been good all day.” Jinxia said, feeling sad, “Compared to when I met him on the ship, it’s way scarier now.”
Cen Shou didn’t understand, “I just came out of the Young Master’s room… He seems fine.”
Jinxia knitted her eyebrows, and shook her head, “You guys are really clueless. You all grew up together, yet you can’t see he’s troubled?”
Jinxia walked away with a sigh of frustration, leaving a confused Cen Shou alone.
***
At night, seeing the code left by Lu Yi on the window, Lan Daoxing entered Lu Yi’s room through the window in silence.
“Tomorrow morning, wait for me near General Qi’s residence, and then we’ll enter together. There is a white deer, and I plan to ask Hu Zongxian to use this white deer as a gift to the Emperor, and make you the caretaker of this deer.” Lu Yi said.
Lan Daoxing was stunned, “You want me to enter the palace to raise a deer?”
“His Majesty is very fanatical regarding taoism, he depends on it his whole life. This white deer is an auspicious animal, just say you were praying and he appeared.” Lu Yi gleaned at him, “You can make up the rest of the story yourself, as long as he enjoys this gift, he will definitely trust you unconditionally, and your chances to stay in the palace will increase.”
“Making up stories is not difficult, what I’m worried about is the deer, what if he doesn’t like me?” Lan Daoxing frowned.
“I’ve instructed General Qi not to allow anyone near the white deer, and let him starve for a few days. Once we get there, you will feed it.” Lu Yi said, “Except for you, no one can feed it. This way it will only obey you. Remember, when you arrive at the palace, you have to do the same thing, so that the Emperor will believe that only you can control the deer.”
Lan Daoxing laughed, “Very well, since there’s a deer to accompany me, the aura of it would make me like a god.”
Lu Yi smiled slightly, but didn’t joke with him, he seriously said, “After you enter the palace, the two of us won’t keep in contact, therefore if you have a problem, you have to resolve it yourself.”
Lan Daoxing laughed out loud, “The day I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived, one man against ten enemies.”
Lu Yi didn’t say anything, just gently patted his shoulder.
***
The next day, Lu Yi had already brought Lan Daoxing into General Qi’s residence and arranged everything for him. In the afternoon, Hu Zongxian and Xu Wei arrived at the scene.
Due to his focus on the white deer, Hu Zongxian had already forgotten to exchange greetings with Qi Jiguang. Seeing the white deer first, he immediately noticed it was completely white, with not even a hair of color. Immediately, Hu Zongxian felt very happy and began writing a report to the Emperor.
“Governor-General Hu, you are not allowed to write this report.” Lu Yi stopped him.
Hu Zongxian said frantically, “Lu Daren, what are you waiting for? The reports of accusations about me have piled up almost into a mountain, I can only rely on this to save my life.”
Lu Yi laughed, “For that reason, that’s why you’re not suitable to write this report. This white deer, after all, it’s just an animal. We need someone who can make the Emperor fall in love with this animal, someone who describes the event in an extraordinary way.”
Hearing this, Hu Zongxian suddenly realized, “That’s right, that’s right, that’s right! I was so excited that I forgot. We have Advisor Xu Wei, a Qingten scholar, it’s definitely not my turn to hold the brush.”
At this time, Hu Zongxian personally grinded the ink, Xu Wei also didn’t waste anymore time, raised the brush and muttered to himself for a while. Less than half an incense later, he had finished the piece “The Appearing of the White Deer”.
Hu Zongxian picked it up and read it carefully, “… The country needs an Emperor who is willing to cultivate Taoism, able to maintain harmony, and who will bring good fortune. It is praiseworthy that the Emperor is deeply devoted to his work and responds to trouble in a timely manner. Having done the work not for personal gain but for the benefit of his people, he is a virtuous Emperor, and he will live long with the blessings of heaven and earth.”
Due to his reputation in war strategy, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and literature, Lu Bing wanted to recruit Xu Wei for himself, but Xu Wei had declined the offer and remained in Zhe Provinces. Upon hearing the title of the written piece, Lu Yi could not help but praise not only the story, but also the words chosen by Xu Wei.
“Governor-General Hu, can this piece be used or not?” Xu Wei asked.
Hu Zongxian put down the paper, didn’t say anything, just turned to Xu Wei and bowed in respect.
Xu Wei hastily stopped him, “Governor-General Hu, don’t!”
“No, you have to accept it! This is not only for the sake of Hu Zongxian, but also for the sake of the people of the two provinces of Zhe.” They bowed at each other until their heads touched the ground.
Considering the white deer’s condition and avoiding any incident on the way, Hu Zongxian dispatched hundreds of soldiers to escort it into the Capital, and he decided to leave in five days. Except for Lan Daoxing, other people with no clear duties were not allowed to approach the white deer. Since the rest of the day wasn’t much, in order to be close to the white deer, Lan Daoxing spent all his time with it.
“Governor-General Hu, there are two LiuShanmen who were temporarily assigned to be my subordinates, and I was thinking of sending them back to the Capital. Is it possible for them to follow your troop, to help escort the white deer?” Lu Yi asked Hu Zongxian. At first, he was thinking of sending Jinxia back, but was afraid she might encounter pirates on her way, so he wanted to use the opportunity of accompanying the white deer to send her back.
Hu Zongxian immediately agreed, “Of course, with LiuShanmen, the white deer will be extra protected.”
Being blessed with a white deer as a gift, along with the writing piece “The appearance of the arrival of a white deer” by Xu Wei, the Emperor should be very happy. As a result, Hu Zongxian’s heart felt much lighter, especially towards Xu Wei, Qi Jiguang, and Lu Yi. In order to celebrate to the fullest, he immediately ordered food and drink to be prepared.
It lasted until the lanterns were fully lit, and the moon was shining brightly in the sky. Despite his bad mood, Lu Yi accepted the invitation, as well as toasting with all the Generals. After a few cups, everyone was drunk.
General Qi sent a small palanquin, ordering people to take Lu Yi home.
While Jinxia was waiting for movement on the street, she kept her ears tuned for any movement. Upon hearing the knock at the door, she opened it, and saw a soldier carrying Lu Yi out of the palanquin: he smelled strongly of alcohol.
“Lu Daren, are you drunk?! Your wound hasn’t healed yet, why did you drink so much?”
She panicked, and was about to reach out to help him.
“No need.” Lu Yi said to her very coldly.
As Cen Fu and Cen Shou quickly arrived, they saw Lu Yi so drunk for the first time in their lives together, and rushed to help him.
“He’s drunk.” Jinxia said, “Be careful with his wounds!”
Hearing her words, Lu Yi laughed bitterly. He thought that by getting himself drunk, he wouldn’t feel anything. Seeing Jinxia’s worried face, his heart ached with pain. What did he have to do in order to make her hate him?
“Young Master—Young Master…. I’ll carry you back to your room.”
Cen Fu was able to carry him, but was stopped by Lu Yi.
“You,” He raised his hand to point at Jinxia, “Also Da Yang, in three days you have to accompany Governor-General Hu back to the Capital!”
Jinxia was stunned, “Back to the Capital?!”
“Exactly.”
“Why do we have to go home?”
“You’re useless here. We don’t need you anymore. Do you really think I’m going to marry you?” Lu Yi said, “Stop daydreaming! I only wanted to use you to kill time. Look at yourself, there’s nothing valuable about you. I can’t believe you thought I was being serious.”
“Useless?!” Jinxia finally snapped, “Am I useless or is it you, who doesn’t want to see me? Is that why you want me to leave?”
Lu Yi was silent for a moment, then said, “Is there a difference?”
The beggar uncle who heard the commotion in front of the residence, quickly rushed out to see.
Jinxia gripped her skirt tightly in her hand, forcing herself to stand there.
Then Jinxia suddenly stepped forward and directly kicked Lu Yi in the stomach, making him fall down on the ground.
“Young Master…”
“Young Master!”
Cen Fu and Cen Shou were simultaneously worried about Lu Yi, but no one blamed Jinxia.
She was about to hit him again, but seeing that Lu Yi was in pain, she could only angrily glared at him and said: “Fine! I’ll go. This Master may not be very well educated, but I won’t be insulted either! All this time, did you think you were good?”
Lu Yi’s lips curled into a bitter smile after receiving her punch and hearing her words, but Jinxia was unable to see it since Lu Yi kept lowering his head.
Cen Fu, who didn’t understand what was happening, and only knew that his Young Master was in pain, hurriedly bent down and carried Lu Yi on his back, bringing him inside the residence. Cen Shou was also busy following along to help Cen Fu. Jinxia hesitated for a moment, but then she stomped her feet and also followed them.
***
While they were changing Lu Yi’s clothes, she couldn’t come in. After a while, she saw Cen Fu and Cen Shou walking out.
“Is his wound alright?” Jinxia asked.
“It’s fine” Cen Shou glanced at her and said, “What he said earlier, don’t take it to heart. I think the Young Master was too drunk.”
Jinxia frowned, “Is he always like this whenever he’s drunk? His drunk behaviours are bad”
Cen Shou shook his head, “No, I have never seen him this drunk. If he starts to get drunk, he will rest. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
Thinking for a moment, Jinxia pointed at the room, “How is he now?”
“Already asleep.” Cen Fu said, “If you’re still worried, just go in and see for yourself, but don’t bother him.”
After saying that, he pulled Cen Shou away.
Jinxia hesitated for a moment, then she slowly pushed the door open and entered the room, and walked until she stood in front of the bed. Seeing Lu Yi’s steady and calm breathing, she ascertained he was indeed asleep.
Jinxia was about to touch his forehead, but she ran her fingers along his brows instead.
“What you said earlier, is that how you think of me? Do you think I’m useless?”
Jinxia asked quietly, so quiet that it sounded like she was talking to herself.
Of course she didn’t get an answer from Lu Yi. Silently, she stared at him. After a few minutes, she let out a long sigh, got up, tucked him in, lowered the curtain, blew out the candles and left the room.
Behind the curtain, Lu Yi slowly opened his eyes.
***
In Mrs. Shen’s room, the beggar uncle told her what had happened, “I can’t believe it, my dear grandson changed up so quickly. Yesterday, he was still considering her as his treasure, today, he already treats her like grass. It’s hard to touch a man’s heart.”
Mrs. Shen pondered for a while, inwardly frightened and, unable to sit still, stood up and started pacing back and forth.
“I think he already figured out Jinxia’s status, that’s why he’s acting like that! I knew from the start, with his status, sooner or later he will definitely investigate this matter. I just didn’t expect it to be so soon!”
“No… You’re just overthinking. Jinxia said he has a lot of problems to deal with lately, maybe he’s just upset, so he took it out on her.”
“You’re wrong! Lu Yi is a very introverted person, happy or sad, he will never intentionally show his emotions, how can he take his anger out on someone?” Mrs. Shen suddenly thought of something, and she took the beggar uncle’s hands, holding them tightly. “Lu Yu and Yan Song were close. The Xia family have been killed, Jinxia is the only one left, do you think Lu Yi will help Yan Song finish her off? In order to please the Yan family?”
“No way—No way, he’s not that kind of person.”
Mrs. Shen panicked, “Of course you think so! You’re related to him. If anything happens to Jinxia, what will I say to my sister?”
“Don’t panic.”
The beggar uncle regretted his words.
Mrs. Shen bit her lips, then thought about it, and said with certainty, “I’m going to take Jinxia away!”
“To where?”
“Anywhere, as long as JinYiWei can’t find her.”
“Wait—wait,” The beggar uncle tried to calm her down, “Where are you going, I will definitely follow you, but Jinxia, that girl, she will not follow you.”
Mrs. Shen said confidently, “I will tell her the truth. This child values relationships, she will definitely follow me.”
“Not necessarily, I feel like once she knows the truth, she will make a fuss wanting to kill Yan Song to avenge her family. Did you forget that a long time ago, you were also trying to kill Yan Shifan? You almost lost your life.” The beggar uncle said, “Don’t panic, I will try to find out what’s going on with Lu Yi, and then we will discuss this matter again. If it turns out he doesn’t know anything, then you’re panicking for no reason.”
“You’re gonna try to find out from him? You don’t know what kind of person he is. The type who gets information, not to tell them.”
“Leave this to me.” The beggar uncle shook his head, “After all, I am his grandfather, I’ll just ask him.”
Mrs. Shen looked at him in disbelief.
***
The next morning, Lu Yi, who had just opened his eyes, was taken aback by the sight in front of him: it was the large face of the beggar uncle. He was keeping his face so close to his, that the young man could smell his breath. The beggar uncle had a head so big that Lu Yi thought it was gonna fall on him.
“Senior,” Lu Yi moved his body away from him, only then could he breathe normally, “Senior, do you need something?”
The beggar uncle nodded his head, “There is something important I want to ask you.”
“Senior, just say it.”
Lu Yi pushed himself up..
“Last night, what you did and said, do you still remember?” The beggar uncle leaned toward him.
“Last night, I drank wine at General Qi’s place,” Lu Yi chuckled, then he pushed the beggar uncle away again, “The wine was a scented snow wine, have you ever tasted before?”
“Scented snow wine, never tried it.”
“It smells very good, but it’s easy to get drunk. If Senior wants to try it, I’ll tell Cen Fu to go get you a few bottles.”
The beggar uncle laughed. “Good, please ask him to buy some chicken feet too. If there’s wine, there needs to be chicken feet, the most delicious combination.”
“Yes.” Lu Yi laughed, “Just wait at home, he will deliver it to you.”
The beggar uncle walked out halfway, and then realized something was wrong, therefore he hurriedly turned around and said, “Wait! I came here to ask you something, why are you telling me to leave?”
“What’s the matter?”
Lu Yi smiled warmly.
“Last night when you were in front of the residence, do you remember what you said to the girl?” The beggar uncle looked at him, “Don’t tell me you were too drunk to remember.”
“I remember.” Lu Yi said.
Not expecting him to confess so easily, the beggar uncle was dumbfounded, then asked suspiciously, “Do you?”
Lu Yi laughed softly. “What I said, of course I remember it.”
At this time, the door was not fully closed and was pushed open by someone, it was Jinxia. She walked in with dark circles under her eyes; it was obvious that she hadn’t slept well.
“Kid, why are you here?” The beggar uncle felt that with Jinxia here, it could be harder for him to question Lu Yi, “I’m disciplining him, how about you come back later?”
Jinxia didn’t answer, her eyes fixated on Lu Yi.
After taking a deep breath, Lu Yi raised his eyes, looking straight at Jinxia and coldly saying, “Don’t you even know how to knock anymore? Is that what they’re teaching you in LiuShamen?”
“Beizhe is at fault. Daren, please punish me.” Jinxia tried to suppress her emotions.
“Kid—Kid, you go out first, let me talk to him.”
The beggar uncle was about to pull Jinxia out, but she violently pushed his hand away, continued to glare at Lu Yi, and said angrily, “Beizhe just want to ask Lu Daren one thing, afterward, I will leave immediately.”
“Ask.” Lu Yi furrowed his brows.
“Yesterday, what you said, did you mean it?”
“Of course!” He answered without any hesitation, and then continued, “I have arranged with Governor-General Hu for you to follow his guards.”
Hearing his cold words, Jinxia, who was standing where she was, angrily looked at him, “Why? Weren’t we just fine a few days ago? Why did you change so suddenly?”
Seeing her face, Lu Yi stubbornly continued, “What? Feeling like I’ve wronged you? Haven’t you always wanted to be promoted to Superior? I can write a letter to the Chief of Liushamen, stating that you’ve been a wonderful help with the pirates, I’ll ask him to promote you. Think of it as compensation from me.”
Upon hearing these words, Jinxia’s entire body immediately trembled.
“No need!” Her voice shaked, but every word and sentence had been very clear, “This matter, this Master didn’t lose anything. I don’t need the promotion!”
As she walked away, Jinxia was trembling so much that, when she passed the door, she tripped and almost fell.
Seeing that she was about to fall down, Lu Yi didn’t hesitate and rushed over to catch her.
She was tightly hugged by Lu Yi. Jinxia looked up at him blankly, reached out her hand to touch his face, but suddenly remembered his words, and even though they were just a few feet away, it felt like they were miles away. Jinxia quickly pushed him away and walked out.
Lu Yi almost fell, but quickly grabbed the door for support. Right now, his chest felt very tight, like thousands of weights were piling on it, making it hard for him to even breathe.
The beggar uncle looked at him, and shook his head, “You clearly… Do you have a problem that you can’t talk about? Why did you say that to her?”
Lu Yi waved his hand; he didn’t want to say anything else, plus he wanted to get rid of the beggar uncle, so he left the beggar uncle alone in the room.
The beggar uncle took a deep breath; in his heart, he understood.
***
For a moment, not knowing where to go, and just wanting to find a quiet place, Lu Yi walked towards the courtyard. When he heard someone talking, he stopped.
Under the tree in the backyard, Cen Shou was sitting with Cen Fu, saying, “Even though he is my Young Master, but I still have to say it, what he did yesterday was terrible.”
“Since when are you allowed to comment on the Young Master’s actions?” Cen Fu asked.
“Not my place to speak, but Jinxia is usually very unreasonable, especially when we were fighting the pirates, no fear was ever shown on her face. Last night, when the Young Master said she was clueless, her face immediately turned pale.” Cen Shou thought about what he witnessed last night, and felt bad for Jinxia.
“Alright, alright, you even use the word ‘we’ now. Are you on her side?” Cen Fu surprisingly asked, “I remember you’ve never liked her.”
“I—I’m just being honest.” Cen Shou continued to say, “Honestly, Jinxia’s kung fu is definitely lacking, but when it comes to investigating, I have to praise her. I can’t stand the sight of the Young Master toying with her feelings!”
“You can’t stand it, but what are you going to do? Marry her?” Cen Fu fought back.
Cen Shou raised his head, “What if I want to marry her? If the Young Master doesn’t care for her, then he can as well let other people do it.”
“You’re crazy! Don’t say these words recklessly.”
Cen Fu angrily picked up a small rock and threw it at him. Cen Shou was about to say something, but was stopped by Cen Fu with a loud voice, “Be quiet! Don’t say anything else and next time, don’t let me hear such nonsense again!”
“Why are you telling me to be quiet? Who do you think you are? My mother or my father?” Cen Shou slightly snorted.
In the distance, Lu Yi leaned against the pillar of the corridor, silently watching the flower on the tree fall under his feet.
***
Yang Yue was fetching water from the well, and Chun Yumin helped him wash the pagoda flowers, getting ready to be put in steamed rice.
“Da Yang, today you don’t need to cook, this Master will treat you to a meal!”
Jinxia immediately pulled YangYue away.
Last night Lu Yi came home very late, everyone else was already asleep, and Jinxia didn’t tell him anything, so Yang Yue had absolutely no idea what had happened.
“No, I have to cook this rice first.”
“Don’t worry about it anymore, they can make their own food.” Jinxia pulled on him, “It’s rare for this Master to treat you to a meal, don’t ruin my fun.”
Chun Yumin wiped her wet hands, saying softly, “Brother Yang, just go. You can leave the rest to me.”
“How can that be…” YangYue hurriedly said.
“Miss Chun Yu, you should come too!” Jinxia also pulled Chun Yumin along, “It will be another 10 years for this Master to treat anyone, so don’t refuse!”
Chun Yumin pressed her lips into a smile. “Fine, I’ll come.”
“Yes!”
Jinxia led them outside. In front of the residence, they bumped into Xie Xiao. Jinxia also pulled him along to a luxurious restaurant.
“Are you rich today?” Xie Xiao was pretty familiar with Jinxia’s stingy nature.
Jinxia didn’t pay any attention to him, bravely waving her hand to call the waiter. “Waiter, bring two jars of wine here first!”
“Drinking already? Are you really rich?” Xie Xiao turned to look at YangYue, but YangYue also shrugged his shoulders, indicating he didn’t know what was going on either.
The waiter approached excitedly, “Dear customer, what wine would you like?”
“We… What is the cheapest wine?” Jinxia asked.
Hearing this, Xie Xiao smiled.
The waiter didn’t look down on them, he continued, “The cheapest here is Nuo Miju rice wine, but just cause the price is cheap, it doesn’t mean the quality is not good. This wine is made by us, it’s very sweet and fragrant, definitely helps with restoring energy and blood circulation, and more importantly most suitable for the ladies.”
“Nice!” Jinxia said happily, “Then bring out four bottles first!”
YangYue hastily stopped the waiter. “Two bottles first, if not enough we’ll call more.”
“Okay, does the customer want to order food?” The waiter said warmly.
Jinxia raised her head to look at the menu hanging on the wall, confidently saying: “Food must also be cheap! But it has to be special food and has to have meat, can you do it?”
“Fine, I’ll arrange for you, guaranteed to be cheap.” The waiter laughed. “I’ll bring a plate of peanuts first, so you can chew on it and then I will bring out the food after.”
Jinxia was very satisfied, and praisingly said, “Don’t look down on the poor and praise the rich. Waiter, you have a very bright future!”
The waiter laughed, “Thank you for your blessing!”
In an instant, the waiter had brought the peanuts. Jinxia opened a wine bottle and poured out the wine into a bowl instead of a cup. Chun Yumin was stunned looking at the full bowl.
“Since I’m treating, I’ll toast first.” Jinxia lifted her bowl and drank all of it, not a single drop was left.
Yang Yue finally realized something was wrong, and quickly prevented her from pouring another bowl. Then he asked, “What are you doing? Drinking all the wine before the food arrives.”
Xie Xiao also said, “Yes, drinking fast is just going to make you drunk faster.”
Pushing away YangYue’s hand, Jinxia continued to pour her wine, then she said, “Brother, do you remember what I told you? Ever since I was born, I’ve never once gotten drunk.”
Xie Xiao also didn’t want to argue about this with her, and just asked, “Just say it, wanting to treat us today, what is the real reason? If it’s good news, then say it so we can enjoy it too. That’s right, why didn’t you call Lu Daren?”
Her body tensed up immediately, accidentally dropping the bowl of wine. Jinxia took a deep breath, then continued to pour the wine until it was full. “This Master will treat whoever she wants.”
Hearing this, the three of them immediately looked at each other, their hearts immediately understood: Jinxia and Lu Yi must have been fighting with each other.
Out of the three of them, YangYue was the closest to Jinxia; he was like her own family, therefore he asked, “Did something happen between you and Lu Daren?”
Jinxia said impatiently, “Stop talking about him!”
The more she became like this, the more curious Xie Xiao became. He asked, “What happened? Just a few days ago, you didn’t mind all the eyes and shamelessly hugged him, why are you like this now?”
“Don’t talk recklessly…” Yang Yue saw Jinxia’s change of expression, quickly nudging Xie Xiao to stop talking.
In fact, Xie Xiao was very bad when it came to reading people’s expressions and body language. He turned to YangYue and said, “That’s right, you didn’t see it. In front of the gate, they were hugging each other.”
“Brother Xie!”
Even Chun Yumin couldn’t help but stop him, constantly shaking her head, and signaled to look at Jinxia. It was only now that Xie Xiao suddenly realized and lifted his head to look at her — Jinxia sat quietly, tears slowly streaming down her face, dripping into her wine bowl.
Xie Xiao was scared of seeing girls cry, so he didn’t know what to do, and frantically said, “I’m wrong, I’m wrong. Brat, don’t cry anymore! You know tears are very bitter, look they’re dripping down to your wine, it’s gonna taste bitter.”
YangYue knew Jinxia rarely cried in front of people, that made him definitely sure that something had happened. Once again, YangYue tried to ask again, “Jinxia, tell me the truth, did Lu Daren hurt you?”
“No!” Jinxia wiped her tears carelessly with the hem of her robes, “He didn’t hurt me. He even said he’ll write a letter to get me promoted, but I refused.”
“To be promoted to LiuShanmen superiors, this is a good thing, why did you refuse?” YangYue said in surprise.
Xie Xiao was not interested, “If I have to say, in the circle of government officials, being a LiuShamen superior is the same as being LiuShamen, a lot of work but no compensation.”
“It’s not that I don’t have the ability, sooner or later I will definitely become a LiuShamen superior. I don’t need to rely on him,” Jinxia took a sip of her large bowl of wine, then wiped her mouth, “This Master doesn’t need it!”
“Good words! Good words!”
Xie Xiao also lifted his bowl, loudly toasted Jinxia, then drank it in one gulp.
“You can’t eat ambition.” YangYue knew Jinxia valued pride a lot, so he couldn’t help but shake his head, “Don’t use Madam Qi as an example, being stubborn isn’t a good thing. Did you make Lu Daren mad?”
Jinxia shook her head, but did not intend to tell them. She only said, “I just feel like I’m not good enough for him, so I don’t want to be close to him.”
Hearing that, YangYue was even more confused. “You didn’t say that before.”
“I quickly realized and repented, can I not?” Jinxia looked at Yang Yue angrily, “Today, this Master is treating you all to a meal, can you just happily drink some wine with me and stop asking questions?”
YangYue didn’t know what to say anymore. At this time, the waiter brought up some food.
Dinner lasted until late night. Xie Xiao and Jinxia keep pouring each other wine. Two bottles was not enough, so they added four more bottles. Chun Yumin was helpless looking at them.
“Is it okay to let her drink like that?” She asked Yang Yue in a low voice.
YangYue also didn’t know how to deal with Jinxia: “She’s in a bad mood, don’t worry, since I’m here, I’ll just carry her home.”
With great difficulty, all the bottles of wine were finally empty. Jinxia wanted to order more, but YangYue immediately stopped her. “Master Xia, we can continue tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow, we will drink again! Yes, you said it, so don’t forget it!” Jinxia patted Xie Xiao’s shoulder vigorously, “Listen, we’re going to drink again tomorrow!”
Xie Xiao said straightforwardly, “Okay, tomorrow I will treat you!”
After finishing paying, Jinxia stood up, and right away she felt a sudden dizziness. YangYue hurriedly supported her. Xie Xiao seemed fine since he was used to drinking strong wine.
Yang Yue walked along with everyone to escort Jinxia home. Halfway, they met Cen Shou, who was in a hurry to search for something. As soon as he saw them, he said, “How come you guys are here? I’ve been looking everywhere for all of you.”
“What? We can’t go out drinking?” Xie Xiao frowned.
Cen Shou tilted to look at Jinxia, “What’s wrong with her?”
“Drunk.” Xie Xiao said, “She keeps saying she has never gotten drunk in her life. I will definitely laugh in her face tomorrow.”
Cen Shou knew that Jinxia was drinking to vent her emotions, he couldn’t help but look at her.
“You’re in a hurry to look for us, what’s wrong?” YangYue asked.
“Right!” Cen Shou said seriously “Just now Madam Qi sent people to inform us that Dong San has escaped from prison, so she’s asking that we be extra careful, since he might take revenge.”
“Wasn’t he guarded? How did he run away?” YangYue didn’t understand.
“Dong San was indeed locked up, but his subordinate killed a civilian in prison, and then helped him escape.”
Xie Xiao said angrily, “In my opinion, we should just kill him, so he won’t cause unnecessary troubles.”
“The one who should be most careful is you!” Cen Shou said, “That time you disguised yourself as a fisherman, and lied to him for a while, he must have really hated you in his heart.”
Xie Xiao said without worrying at all, “This Master is not afraid of him, if he comes, that’s right! I’d been holding myself back whenever I was on the ship with him.”
“Swords and rifles are coming, I know you’re not afraid, but what we’re all scared of is they will hurt the civilians.” Cen Shou said, “The Young Master has ordered my brother and I to stay up all night to guard, so you guys must be on alert, lock your door and keep a knife beside you.”
Everyone nodded and then all walked back to the residence.
Jinxia was asleep while being carried by YangYue. Mrs. Shen could already smell alcohol all over her, she couldn’t help but frown, but still helped YangYue to support Jinxia. Chun Yumin also helped Jinxia change her clothes
“Mad at other people, you just torture yourself. You really have no will!” Seeing that Jinxia was uncomfortable, Mrs. Shen couldn’t help but tap her forehead.
Chun Yumin asked, “Did she and Brother Lu fight?”
“You guys went out with each other, but she didn’t say anything to you?” Mrs. Shen asked in surprise.
Chun Yumin shook her head. “No.”
Mrs. Shen turned to look at Jinxia, sighed and said: “This child, she couldn’t bring herself to blame him.” Mrs. Shen gently placed a blanket on her, then lowered the curtain, blew out the candle and left the room with Chun Yumin.
Just a moment later, someone’s hands pushed the windows open, and a figure jumped inside Jinxia’s room. It was Lu Yi. The moment when he’d realized Jinxia wasn’t home, he’d already started to panic, but after waiting for a while, he finally saw her dragging her feet home safely. It seemed like she’d been out drinking. Lu Yi slowly lifted the curtain, using the weak dim of light from the moon to look at her. At this point, he couldn’t control the pain in his heart anymore.
Was he doing the right thing?
Or, whatever he did, would it hurt her even more?
***
Everyone continued to monitor the pirate situation. After two days, nothing had happened, and they guessed that Dong San might have returned to the sea and had no time to think about taking revenge.
Although Jinxia’s temperament was quite good, she was still young. In the past two days, she had not spoken to Lu Yi. Even when she was passing by him, she did not look at him at all, and just minded her own business. Lu Yi noticed she had stopped drinking, and felt very relieved.
In the afternoon, Shangguan Xi asked Jinxia to help her go buy some clothes. She handed her the money and also instructed specifically that it had to be men’s clothes.
“Men’s clothes” Jinxia asked, “Based on Brother Xie’s size?”
“No, buy it for A’Rui.” Shangguan Xi said, “I saw that he’s been wearing the same set of clothes, and it doesn’t even suit him.”
The clothes that A’Rui wore were Cen Shou’s clothes when he was a coachman. A’Rui never mentioned about the clothes, plus he was busy treating his wounds, and everyone was also busy so nobody thought of buying him clothes
Jinxia tried to think about A’Rui’s body size, nodded and said, “Is there something he specifically likes? What color does he like?”
“This…” Shangguan Xi thought for a moment, “Back when we were in the gang, I often saw him wearing black clothes.”
“Understand.”
Jinxia took the money and walked away. After passing through two streets, she finally reached a clothing store. As she was about to step in, her money bag was snatched by someone who ran off at once.
“No!”
As a constable, being robbed by a thief was truly a disgrace. Jinxia immediately became angry and ran after him.
Unexpectedly this thief was a very good runner, it also seemed like he was very familiar with Xinhe City. Jinxia chased him all the way until they reached somewhere, which seemed like the end of the city.
“If you come with me to see an officer, I will not beat you!” Jinxia called out to him.
The thief ignored her, facing the city wall and shouted, “Gang leader, she’s here!”
Gang leader?!
Jinxia finally noticed Dong San standing not too far from her; she did not expect this to be a trap. She slowly walked backward, with her eyes glancing around hoping to find an opportunity to escape.
At first glance, there were two people in front of her, one on each side, and one behind her, and judging from their clothing, it looked like they were all Dong San’s people.
“Even though you’re a woman, you’ve been standing in the way of my business! Today, I’m going to kill you first!” Dong San immediately signalled his men to step forward.
Jinxia didn’t bring any weapon with her when she left, except for a small dagger in her shoes. As the enemies were getting closer, she immediately took out her dagger, turned around and aimed it at the person that was blocking her way, trying to make an open space for her to escape.
The man that Jinxia was aiming at was holding a Japanese sword. He didn’t even flinch when he saw the dagger. At this time, a small sound was heard and the dagger fell down, and the man continued to walk toward Jinxia.
Seeing the situation, the two men beside Jinxia also started to walk towards her. Jinxia finally noticed how serious the situation was, there was no way of escaping and she didn’t have any weapons on her. The only solution left was to fight.
“Dong San, have you forgotten about your wife and kids?” Jinxia raised her head to look at Dong San, intending to buy herself some time.
Dong San became furious, because Jinxia had mentioned something that caught his attention, because men and women were separated in prison, and not having enough time, he’d escaped prison by himself. Dong San slowly walked towards Jinxia, but his movement seemed unusual — He was injured. Jinxia was trying to find something to say to distract him.
Jinxia continued, “I met them two days ago! You know what they said to me? Do you want to know? I can tell you.”
Seeing how Dong San didn’t react, she started to glance around, seeing that the men were still in the same position, blocking all open spaces.
“Your wife said she really misses you, and your son is very healthy.” Jinxia walked to Dong San, their distance right now was very close, then continued, “You ran away alone, leaving them in prison. You’re a terrible person.”
Hearing her words, Dong San’s expression changed.
“Your wife doesn’t have anything else to say.” Jinxia continued to make up stories, her eyes fixated on Dong San’s leg. Jinxia secretly shifted the direction of her leg, “She heard you escaped by yourself, yet she never once blamed you–”
Upon finishing her last words, Jinxia jumped up, aiming at Dong San’s leg. Unprepared for this sudden attack, Dong San could only lean his body to the side, using the wall to support him, his hand gripping the sword. At this moment, seeing their leader being attacked, all of the men ran forward to fight.
Since there was no turning back, and she definitely wouldn’t be able to fight alone, Jinxia could only continue climbing the wall to escape. Dong San immediately went into a rage, ordering all the pirates to chase after her.
All of them started to chase after her. The previous thief with good kung fu decided to climb up the wall. Jinxia turned around to look a few times to see where they were, she couldn’t help but feel scared, especially since there was no other way to escape.
There was an iron chain, which was used against pirates. When the pirates had retreated, the iron chain had been left there. Jinxia didn’t pay attention to the chain, immediately stumbled and fell down. The pirates immediately surrounded and pinned her down.
“Gang leader, how do you want to finish her?” He turned to ask Dong San.
Dong San limped over, angrily looking at Jinxia, “Put a rope around her neck, hang her up high, so that everyone can see what the consequences are for going against us!”
Surprisingly, Jinxia was still calm. She loudly yelled, “Dong San, you better think about this carefully! Your wife and kid are still in prison, if you kill me today, maybe tomorrow they will hang your family the same way!”
After some thought, he felt that Jinxia had a valid point. “Just kill her, and then throw her out of the city.”
“Hey! Think about it!” Jinxia continued, “Use me to negotiate and maybe you can get your family out of prison.”
Dong San didn’t believe her words anymore, but what she said did sound very convincing. He was in the middle of thinking, when all of a sudden a figure jumped towards them, his leg directly aimed at Dong San’s chest. The man immediately fell down. The figure continued to fight with the rest of the pirates.
It was indeed Lu Yi.
Previously when he’d found out Jinxia wasn’t home, he’d felt uneasy, so he’d followed her from afar. It hadn’t been until she’d started chasing the thief that he’d lost track of her. Xinhe City was full of alleys, it was very difficult to locate her, so he kept looking around. Finally, he decided to jump on the roof and saw her being chased. He didn’t wait any longer and rushed over to her right away.
Although Jinxia was still being held by the pirates, all her worries were gone as she looked at Lu Yi.
“Let her go, then I’ll let you start off with three moves.” Lu Yi’s words were cold and firm.
These three pirates didn’t even know Lu Yi, but they saw Dong San being kicked to the ground, hunched over. He was currently trying to catch his breath. The other knew in an instant that this was a person with high kung fu skills, not easy to handle. Except for the thief, the other two pirates, who were originally Japanese, charged straight at Lu Yi with their swords.
Jinxia was worried that Lu Yi’s shoulder wound hadn’t healed. She watched him tilt his body away, taking the sword to block the incoming lunge, and using the opportunity to punch one of the pirates in the arm. As the pirate’s entire arm went numb, the Japanese sword was taken over by Lu Yi, the sharp edge passed through the pirate’s body, fresh blood immediately spurted, and the pirate died.
The thief who saw the situation, knowing that Lu Yi was no match for him, could only take the opportunity to escape. He was busy pinning Jinxia down, but seeing that Lu Yi was busy fighting with other pirates, he decided to push Jinxia down the hollow ground. Jinxia hadn’t prepared for this, so she desperately grabbed the edges, while her whole body was floating in the air
Seeing Jinxia being pushed down, Lu Yi was startled to death. He was about to run towards her, when the other pirates started to charge forward and slashed fiercely. At this moment, he couldn’t run to her, but seeing the iron chain on the ground, Lu Yi could only use his foot, kick it up and aim to throw it at Jinxia.
The iron chain was heavy and hard, it wasn’t easy to move it, let alone throw it. Plus, Lu Yi’s shoulder was injured so he couldn’t easily pick it up.
Meanwhile, Jinxia’s grip was getting loose, her hands were slowly slipping, but at this moment, the iron chain fell beside her, and she heard Lu Yi yell loudly, “Hold on tight!” Jinxia quickly held on to the chain and crawled up.
The thief saw an opportunity, instead of running away, he took Dong San’s sword and aimed it at Lu Yi. One hand on the iron chain, one hand fighting with a pirate, it was a situation of two against one.
Unfortunately, because the walls were blocking Lu Yi’s view, he couldn’t see Jinxia’s condition, but he knew that she had caught the iron chain. He was still afraid that something else would happen though, so he quickly avoided the pirates, and focused all of his energy on pulling the iron chain. Jinxia’s body was being pulled up with the chain. Seeing that she was fine, he turned around and finished up the pirates.
“Lu Daren…” Jinxia worriedly looked at his wound, but remembered how he didn’t want to see her, “Thank you for saving Beizhe.”
Lu Yi didn’t say a word, turned around and left.
As he lifted the iron chain earlier, he exerted all his inner strength. Now his chest felt tight as he walked steadily down the stairs and turned. He felt as if he couldn’t take it anymore. As he tried to come to his senses, he vomited blood while leaning against the wall. Afraid Jinxia would see him, Lu Yi forced himself to leave quickly.
As Jinxia stood in the place for a while, she instinctively inspected the corpses of the pirates, then slowly walked down, saw fresh blood on the ground, and instantly felt terrified.
***
After returning to the residence, she asked Cen Shou and found out that Lu Yi was already back. He’d been staying in his room since then and had never come out. Jinxia guessed that his injuries had to be serious, so she became very worried. She hesitated for a moment, and finally decided to go knock on Lu Yi’s door.
“Lu Daren, are you injured? Is it bad?”
After a while, Lu Yi’s voice came from inside, “I’m fine. Go away.”
Jinxia was helpless, but she didn’t feel right leaving either. Jinxia decided to squat under his window, thinking that if he needed anything, she would be able to assist him right away.
In the room, Lu Yi meditated to regain his energy. Afterward, he leaned against his bed, closed his eyes to rest, but then fell asleep.
In a half-awake state, Lu Yi saw himself back in the small alley, seeing Jinxia being pinned down by the pirates, but this time, he didn’t rush to help her.
She fell down badly, and a pool of flesh blood poured out right under her body.
His eyes remained closed, but his breathing became heavy. He was trying to sit up to catch his breath.
Jinxia!
Is this a dream, or reality? For a moment he couldn’t tell the difference. He jumped off the bed and opened the bedroom door, frantically looking for someone to talk to.
“Lu Daren?” A voice came from behind him.
As soon as he turned his head, he saw Jinxia standing up, patting his shoulder.
“I—I was afraid you got hurt, especially because of me—”
Before she could finish her sentence, Lu Yi pulled her in for a tight hug. In Lu Yi’s arms, she was very close to his chest, hearing his racing heartbeat and seeing his shaking hands.
She was still there! She was not dead yet!
No longer caring about his wounds, Lu Yi tightened his arm around her, feeling the familiar warmth that he had been thinking of for a while. This person gave him peace.
These two people hugged each other in silence, not knowing that it had been a while.
Suddenly someone called out, “Xia’er!”
This voice… It was a very familiar voice.
Lu Yi loosened his embrace a little, and the two of them turned their heads. There was a person standing in the room, his face was tense: it was Yang Chengwan.
Jinxia, who had just finished boiling the medicinal concoction, brought the medicine to Lu Yi since his wound had not fully healed.
“Lu Daren, the medicine is here.” She was worried that he was still in a bad mood, so she patiently waited by the door.
She heard no movements. After waiting for a while, she was about to call out for him again, but right at this moment, Lu Yi opened the door.
Seeing his heavily furrowed brows, she knew something must’ve happened, but Jinxia didn’t know whether it was appropriate to ask or not, and she hesitantly said: “This…medicine…I.”
Lu Yi stood in front of the door, his face was expressionless. He took the medicine bowl, then paused for a moment, as if he wanted to say something, but then he just took a step back and closed the door.
The door closed in front of her face hurt Jinxia’s heart a little. She was about to knock again and ask him about it, but she stopped herself and hesitantly stared at the door, and then walked away.
Inside the room, Lu Yi leaned against the door, silently listening to the sound of her footsteps fading away.
Cen Shou met Jinxia who was walking as if she had no energy, and seeing that her hand was still holding the tray, he wasn’t sure what to say, but ended up asking anyway, “What’s wrong with you? You’re like a dried pomegranate.”
“Nothing.” Jinxia pointed towards Lu Yi’s room with her lower lip, “If you have time, try to share the burden of your Young Master.”
“Why?”
“Who knows, maybe he’s upset because he has too many things to deal with. His expression hasn’t been good all day.” Jinxia said, feeling sad, “Compared to when I met him on the ship, it’s way scarier now.”
Cen Shou didn’t understand, “I just came out of the Young Master’s room… He seems fine.”
Jinxia knitted her eyebrows, and shook her head, “You guys are really clueless. You all grew up together, yet you can’t see he’s troubled?”
Jinxia walked away with a sigh of frustration, leaving a confused Cen Shou alone.
***
At night, seeing the code left by Lu Yi on the window, Lan Daoxing entered Lu Yi’s room through the window in silence.
“Tomorrow morning, wait for me near General Qi’s residence, and then we’ll enter together. There is a white deer, and I plan to ask Hu Zongxian to use this white deer as a gift to the Emperor, and make you the caretaker of this deer.” Lu Yi said.
Lan Daoxing was stunned, “You want me to enter the palace to raise a deer?”
“His Majesty is very fanatical regarding taoism, he depends on it his whole life. This white deer is an auspicious animal, just say you were praying and he appeared.” Lu Yi gleaned at him, “You can make up the rest of the story yourself, as long as he enjoys this gift, he will definitely trust you unconditionally, and your chances to stay in the palace will increase.”
“Making up stories is not difficult, what I’m worried about is the deer, what if he doesn’t like me?” Lan Daoxing frowned.
“I’ve instructed General Qi not to allow anyone near the white deer, and let him starve for a few days. Once we get there, you will feed it.” Lu Yi said, “Except for you, no one can feed it. This way it will only obey you. Remember, when you arrive at the palace, you have to do the same thing, so that the Emperor will believe that only you can control the deer.”
Lan Daoxing laughed, “Very well, since there’s a deer to accompany me, the aura of it would make me like a god.”
Lu Yi smiled slightly, but didn’t joke with him, he seriously said, “After you enter the palace, the two of us won’t keep in contact, therefore if you have a problem, you have to resolve it yourself.”
Lan Daoxing laughed out loud, “The day I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived, one man against ten enemies.”
Lu Yi didn’t say anything, just gently patted his shoulder.
***
The next day, Lu Yi had already brought Lan Daoxing into General Qi’s residence and arranged everything for him. In the afternoon, Hu Zongxian and Xu Wei arrived at the scene.
Due to his focus on the white deer, Hu Zongxian had already forgotten to exchange greetings with Qi Jiguang. Seeing the white deer first, he immediately noticed it was completely white, with not even a hair of color. Immediately, Hu Zongxian felt very happy and began writing a report to the Emperor.
“Governor-General Hu, you are not allowed to write this report.” Lu Yi stopped him.
Hu Zongxian said frantically, “Lu Daren, what are you waiting for? The reports of accusations about me have piled up almost into a mountain, I can only rely on this to save my life.”
Lu Yi laughed, “For that reason, that’s why you’re not suitable to write this report. This white deer, after all, it’s just an animal. We need someone who can make the Emperor fall in love with this animal, someone who describes the event in an extraordinary way.”
Hearing this, Hu Zongxian suddenly realized, “That’s right, that’s right, that’s right! I was so excited that I forgot. We have Advisor Xu Wei, a Qingten scholar, it’s definitely not my turn to hold the brush.”
At this time, Hu Zongxian personally grinded the ink, Xu Wei also didn’t waste anymore time, raised the brush and muttered to himself for a while. Less than half an incense later, he had finished the piece “The Appearing of the White Deer”.
Hu Zongxian picked it up and read it carefully, “… The country needs an Emperor who is willing to cultivate Taoism, able to maintain harmony, and who will bring good fortune. It is praiseworthy that the Emperor is deeply devoted to his work and responds to trouble in a timely manner. Having done the work not for personal gain but for the benefit of his people, he is a virtuous Emperor, and he will live long with the blessings of heaven and earth.”
Due to his reputation in war strategy, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and literature, Lu Bing wanted to recruit Xu Wei for himself, but Xu Wei had declined the offer and remained in Zhe Provinces. Upon hearing the title of the written piece, Lu Yi could not help but praise not only the story, but also the words chosen by Xu Wei.
“Governor-General Hu, can this piece be used or not?” Xu Wei asked.
Hu Zongxian put down the paper, didn’t say anything, just turned to Xu Wei and bowed in respect.
Xu Wei hastily stopped him, “Governor-General Hu, don’t!”
“No, you have to accept it! This is not only for the sake of Hu Zongxian, but also for the sake of the people of the two provinces of Zhe.” They bowed at each other until their heads touched the ground.
Considering the white deer’s condition and avoiding any incident on the way, Hu Zongxian dispatched hundreds of soldiers to escort it into the Capital, and he decided to leave in five days. Except for Lan Daoxing, other people with no clear duties were not allowed to approach the white deer. Since the rest of the day wasn’t much, in order to be close to the white deer, Lan Daoxing spent all his time with it.
“Governor-General Hu, there are two LiuShanmen who were temporarily assigned to be my subordinates, and I was thinking of sending them back to the Capital. Is it possible for them to follow your troop, to help escort the white deer?” Lu Yi asked Hu Zongxian. At first, he was thinking of sending Jinxia back, but was afraid she might encounter pirates on her way, so he wanted to use the opportunity of accompanying the white deer to send her back.
Hu Zongxian immediately agreed, “Of course, with LiuShanmen, the white deer will be extra protected.”
Being blessed with a white deer as a gift, along with the writing piece “The appearance of the arrival of a white deer” by Xu Wei, the Emperor should be very happy. As a result, Hu Zongxian’s heart felt much lighter, especially towards Xu Wei, Qi Jiguang, and Lu Yi. In order to celebrate to the fullest, he immediately ordered food and drink to be prepared.
It lasted until the lanterns were fully lit, and the moon was shining brightly in the sky. Despite his bad mood, Lu Yi accepted the invitation, as well as toasting with all the Generals. After a few cups, everyone was drunk.
General Qi sent a small palanquin, ordering people to take Lu Yi home.
While Jinxia was waiting for movement on the street, she kept her ears tuned for any movement. Upon hearing the knock at the door, she opened it, and saw a soldier carrying Lu Yi out of the palanquin: he smelled strongly of alcohol.
“Lu Daren, are you drunk?! Your wound hasn’t healed yet, why did you drink so much?”
She panicked, and was about to reach out to help him.
“No need.” Lu Yi said to her very coldly.
As Cen Fu and Cen Shou quickly arrived, they saw Lu Yi so drunk for the first time in their lives together, and rushed to help him.
“He’s drunk.” Jinxia said, “Be careful with his wounds!”
Hearing her words, Lu Yi laughed bitterly. He thought that by getting himself drunk, he wouldn’t feel anything. Seeing Jinxia’s worried face, his heart ached with pain. What did he have to do in order to make her hate him?
“Young Master—Young Master…. I’ll carry you back to your room.”
Cen Fu was able to carry him, but was stopped by Lu Yi.
“You,” He raised his hand to point at Jinxia, “Also Da Yang, in three days you have to accompany Governor-General Hu back to the Capital!”
Jinxia was stunned, “Back to the Capital?!”
“Exactly.”
“Why do we have to go home?”
“You’re useless here. We don’t need you anymore. Do you really think I’m going to marry you?” Lu Yi said, “Stop daydreaming! I only wanted to use you to kill time. Look at yourself, there’s nothing valuable about you. I can’t believe you thought I was being serious.”
“Useless?!” Jinxia finally snapped, “Am I useless or is it you, who doesn’t want to see me? Is that why you want me to leave?”
Lu Yi was silent for a moment, then said, “Is there a difference?”
The beggar uncle who heard the commotion in front of the residence, quickly rushed out to see.
Jinxia gripped her skirt tightly in her hand, forcing herself to stand there.
Then Jinxia suddenly stepped forward and directly kicked Lu Yi in the stomach, making him fall down on the ground.
“Young Master…”
“Young Master!”
Cen Fu and Cen Shou were simultaneously worried about Lu Yi, but no one blamed Jinxia.
She was about to hit him again, but seeing that Lu Yi was in pain, she could only angrily glared at him and said: “Fine! I’ll go. This Master may not be very well educated, but I won’t be insulted either! All this time, did you think you were good?”
Lu Yi’s lips curled into a bitter smile after receiving her punch and hearing her words, but Jinxia was unable to see it since Lu Yi kept lowering his head.
Cen Fu, who didn’t understand what was happening, and only knew that his Young Master was in pain, hurriedly bent down and carried Lu Yi on his back, bringing him inside the residence. Cen Shou was also busy following along to help Cen Fu. Jinxia hesitated for a moment, but then she stomped her feet and also followed them.
***
While they were changing Lu Yi’s clothes, she couldn’t come in. After a while, she saw Cen Fu and Cen Shou walking out.
“Is his wound alright?” Jinxia asked.
“It’s fine” Cen Shou glanced at her and said, “What he said earlier, don’t take it to heart. I think the Young Master was too drunk.”
Jinxia frowned, “Is he always like this whenever he’s drunk? His drunk behaviours are bad”
Cen Shou shook his head, “No, I have never seen him this drunk. If he starts to get drunk, he will rest. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
Thinking for a moment, Jinxia pointed at the room, “How is he now?”
“Already asleep.” Cen Fu said, “If you’re still worried, just go in and see for yourself, but don’t bother him.”
After saying that, he pulled Cen Shou away.
Jinxia hesitated for a moment, then she slowly pushed the door open and entered the room, and walked until she stood in front of the bed. Seeing Lu Yi’s steady and calm breathing, she ascertained he was indeed asleep.
Jinxia was about to touch his forehead, but she ran her fingers along his brows instead.
“What you said earlier, is that how you think of me? Do you think I’m useless?”
Jinxia asked quietly, so quiet that it sounded like she was talking to herself.
Of course she didn’t get an answer from Lu Yi. Silently, she stared at him. After a few minutes, she let out a long sigh, got up, tucked him in, lowered the curtain, blew out the candles and left the room.
Behind the curtain, Lu Yi slowly opened his eyes.
***
In Mrs. Shen’s room, the beggar uncle told her what had happened, “I can’t believe it, my dear grandson changed up so quickly. Yesterday, he was still considering her as his treasure, today, he already treats her like grass. It’s hard to touch a man’s heart.”
Mrs. Shen pondered for a while, inwardly frightened and, unable to sit still, stood up and started pacing back and forth.
“I think he already figured out Jinxia’s status, that’s why he’s acting like that! I knew from the start, with his status, sooner or later he will definitely investigate this matter. I just didn’t expect it to be so soon!”
“No… You’re just overthinking. Jinxia said he has a lot of problems to deal with lately, maybe he’s just upset, so he took it out on her.”
“You’re wrong! Lu Yi is a very introverted person, happy or sad, he will never intentionally show his emotions, how can he take his anger out on someone?” Mrs. Shen suddenly thought of something, and she took the beggar uncle’s hands, holding them tightly. “Lu Yu and Yan Song were close. The Xia family have been killed, Jinxia is the only one left, do you think Lu Yi will help Yan Song finish her off? In order to please the Yan family?”
“No way—No way, he’s not that kind of person.”
Mrs. Shen panicked, “Of course you think so! You’re related to him. If anything happens to Jinxia, what will I say to my sister?”
“Don’t panic.”
The beggar uncle regretted his words.
Mrs. Shen bit her lips, then thought about it, and said with certainty, “I’m going to take Jinxia away!”
“To where?”
“Anywhere, as long as JinYiWei can’t find her.”
“Wait—wait,” The beggar uncle tried to calm her down, “Where are you going, I will definitely follow you, but Jinxia, that girl, she will not follow you.”
Mrs. Shen said confidently, “I will tell her the truth. This child values relationships, she will definitely follow me.”
“Not necessarily, I feel like once she knows the truth, she will make a fuss wanting to kill Yan Song to avenge her family. Did you forget that a long time ago, you were also trying to kill Yan Shifan? You almost lost your life.” The beggar uncle said, “Don’t panic, I will try to find out what’s going on with Lu Yi, and then we will discuss this matter again. If it turns out he doesn’t know anything, then you’re panicking for no reason.”
“You’re gonna try to find out from him? You don’t know what kind of person he is. The type who gets information, not to tell them.”
“Leave this to me.” The beggar uncle shook his head, “After all, I am his grandfather, I’ll just ask him.”
Mrs. Shen looked at him in disbelief.
***
The next morning, Lu Yi, who had just opened his eyes, was taken aback by the sight in front of him: it was the large face of the beggar uncle. He was keeping his face so close to his, that the young man could smell his breath. The beggar uncle had a head so big that Lu Yi thought it was gonna fall on him.
“Senior,” Lu Yi moved his body away from him, only then could he breathe normally, “Senior, do you need something?”
The beggar uncle nodded his head, “There is something important I want to ask you.”
“Senior, just say it.”
Lu Yi pushed himself up..
“Last night, what you did and said, do you still remember?” The beggar uncle leaned toward him.
“Last night, I drank wine at General Qi’s place,” Lu Yi chuckled, then he pushed the beggar uncle away again, “The wine was a scented snow wine, have you ever tasted before?”
“Scented snow wine, never tried it.”
“It smells very good, but it’s easy to get drunk. If Senior wants to try it, I’ll tell Cen Fu to go get you a few bottles.”
The beggar uncle laughed. “Good, please ask him to buy some chicken feet too. If there’s wine, there needs to be chicken feet, the most delicious combination.”
“Yes.” Lu Yi laughed, “Just wait at home, he will deliver it to you.”
The beggar uncle walked out halfway, and then realized something was wrong, therefore he hurriedly turned around and said, “Wait! I came here to ask you something, why are you telling me to leave?”
“What’s the matter?”
Lu Yi smiled warmly.
“Last night when you were in front of the residence, do you remember what you said to the girl?” The beggar uncle looked at him, “Don’t tell me you were too drunk to remember.”
“I remember.” Lu Yi said.
Not expecting him to confess so easily, the beggar uncle was dumbfounded, then asked suspiciously, “Do you?”
Lu Yi laughed softly. “What I said, of course I remember it.”
At this time, the door was not fully closed and was pushed open by someone, it was Jinxia. She walked in with dark circles under her eyes; it was obvious that she hadn’t slept well.
“Kid, why are you here?” The beggar uncle felt that with Jinxia here, it could be harder for him to question Lu Yi, “I’m disciplining him, how about you come back later?”
Jinxia didn’t answer, her eyes fixated on Lu Yi.
After taking a deep breath, Lu Yi raised his eyes, looking straight at Jinxia and coldly saying, “Don’t you even know how to knock anymore? Is that what they’re teaching you in LiuShamen?”
“Beizhe is at fault. Daren, please punish me.” Jinxia tried to suppress her emotions.
“Kid—Kid, you go out first, let me talk to him.”
The beggar uncle was about to pull Jinxia out, but she violently pushed his hand away, continued to glare at Lu Yi, and said angrily, “Beizhe just want to ask Lu Daren one thing, afterward, I will leave immediately.”
“Ask.” Lu Yi furrowed his brows.
“Yesterday, what you said, did you mean it?”
“Of course!” He answered without any hesitation, and then continued, “I have arranged with Governor-General Hu for you to follow his guards.”
Hearing his cold words, Jinxia, who was standing where she was, angrily looked at him, “Why? Weren’t we just fine a few days ago? Why did you change so suddenly?”
Seeing her face, Lu Yi stubbornly continued, “What? Feeling like I’ve wronged you? Haven’t you always wanted to be promoted to Superior? I can write a letter to the Chief of Liushamen, stating that you’ve been a wonderful help with the pirates, I’ll ask him to promote you. Think of it as compensation from me.”
Upon hearing these words, Jinxia’s entire body immediately trembled.
“No need!” Her voice shaked, but every word and sentence had been very clear, “This matter, this Master didn’t lose anything. I don’t need the promotion!”
As she walked away, Jinxia was trembling so much that, when she passed the door, she tripped and almost fell.
Seeing that she was about to fall down, Lu Yi didn’t hesitate and rushed over to catch her.
She was tightly hugged by Lu Yi. Jinxia looked up at him blankly, reached out her hand to touch his face, but suddenly remembered his words, and even though they were just a few feet away, it felt like they were miles away. Jinxia quickly pushed him away and walked out.
Lu Yi almost fell, but quickly grabbed the door for support. Right now, his chest felt very tight, like thousands of weights were piling on it, making it hard for him to even breathe.
The beggar uncle looked at him, and shook his head, “You clearly… Do you have a problem that you can’t talk about? Why did you say that to her?”
Lu Yi waved his hand; he didn’t want to say anything else, plus he wanted to get rid of the beggar uncle, so he left the beggar uncle alone in the room.
The beggar uncle took a deep breath; in his heart, he understood.
***
For a moment, not knowing where to go, and just wanting to find a quiet place, Lu Yi walked towards the courtyard. When he heard someone talking, he stopped.
Under the tree in the backyard, Cen Shou was sitting with Cen Fu, saying, “Even though he is my Young Master, but I still have to say it, what he did yesterday was terrible.”
“Since when are you allowed to comment on the Young Master’s actions?” Cen Fu asked.
“Not my place to speak, but Jinxia is usually very unreasonable, especially when we were fighting the pirates, no fear was ever shown on her face. Last night, when the Young Master said she was clueless, her face immediately turned pale.” Cen Shou thought about what he witnessed last night, and felt bad for Jinxia.
“Alright, alright, you even use the word ‘we’ now. Are you on her side?” Cen Fu surprisingly asked, “I remember you’ve never liked her.”
“I—I’m just being honest.” Cen Shou continued to say, “Honestly, Jinxia’s kung fu is definitely lacking, but when it comes to investigating, I have to praise her. I can’t stand the sight of the Young Master toying with her feelings!”
“You can’t stand it, but what are you going to do? Marry her?” Cen Fu fought back.
Cen Shou raised his head, “What if I want to marry her? If the Young Master doesn’t care for her, then he can as well let other people do it.”
“You’re crazy! Don’t say these words recklessly.”
Cen Fu angrily picked up a small rock and threw it at him. Cen Shou was about to say something, but was stopped by Cen Fu with a loud voice, “Be quiet! Don’t say anything else and next time, don’t let me hear such nonsense again!”
“Why are you telling me to be quiet? Who do you think you are? My mother or my father?” Cen Shou slightly snorted.
In the distance, Lu Yi leaned against the pillar of the corridor, silently watching the flower on the tree fall under his feet.
***
Yang Yue was fetching water from the well, and Chun Yumin helped him wash the pagoda flowers, getting ready to be put in steamed rice.
“Da Yang, today you don’t need to cook, this Master will treat you to a meal!”
Jinxia immediately pulled YangYue away.
Last night Lu Yi came home very late, everyone else was already asleep, and Jinxia didn’t tell him anything, so Yang Yue had absolutely no idea what had happened.
“No, I have to cook this rice first.”
“Don’t worry about it anymore, they can make their own food.” Jinxia pulled on him, “It’s rare for this Master to treat you to a meal, don’t ruin my fun.”
Chun Yumin wiped her wet hands, saying softly, “Brother Yang, just go. You can leave the rest to me.”
“How can that be…” YangYue hurriedly said.
“Miss Chun Yu, you should come too!” Jinxia also pulled Chun Yumin along, “It will be another 10 years for this Master to treat anyone, so don’t refuse!”
Chun Yumin pressed her lips into a smile. “Fine, I’ll come.”
“Yes!”
Jinxia led them outside. In front of the residence, they bumped into Xie Xiao. Jinxia also pulled him along to a luxurious restaurant.
“Are you rich today?” Xie Xiao was pretty familiar with Jinxia’s stingy nature.
Jinxia didn’t pay any attention to him, bravely waving her hand to call the waiter. “Waiter, bring two jars of wine here first!”
“Drinking already? Are you really rich?” Xie Xiao turned to look at YangYue, but YangYue also shrugged his shoulders, indicating he didn’t know what was going on either.
The waiter approached excitedly, “Dear customer, what wine would you like?”
“We… What is the cheapest wine?” Jinxia asked.
Hearing this, Xie Xiao smiled.
The waiter didn’t look down on them, he continued, “The cheapest here is Nuo Miju rice wine, but just cause the price is cheap, it doesn’t mean the quality is not good. This wine is made by us, it’s very sweet and fragrant, definitely helps with restoring energy and blood circulation, and more importantly most suitable for the ladies.”
“Nice!” Jinxia said happily, “Then bring out four bottles first!”
YangYue hastily stopped the waiter. “Two bottles first, if not enough we’ll call more.”
“Okay, does the customer want to order food?” The waiter said warmly.
Jinxia raised her head to look at the menu hanging on the wall, confidently saying: “Food must also be cheap! But it has to be special food and has to have meat, can you do it?”
“Fine, I’ll arrange for you, guaranteed to be cheap.” The waiter laughed. “I’ll bring a plate of peanuts first, so you can chew on it and then I will bring out the food after.”
Jinxia was very satisfied, and praisingly said, “Don’t look down on the poor and praise the rich. Waiter, you have a very bright future!”
The waiter laughed, “Thank you for your blessing!”
In an instant, the waiter had brought the peanuts. Jinxia opened a wine bottle and poured out the wine into a bowl instead of a cup. Chun Yumin was stunned looking at the full bowl.
“Since I’m treating, I’ll toast first.” Jinxia lifted her bowl and drank all of it, not a single drop was left.
Yang Yue finally realized something was wrong, and quickly prevented her from pouring another bowl. Then he asked, “What are you doing? Drinking all the wine before the food arrives.”
Xie Xiao also said, “Yes, drinking fast is just going to make you drunk faster.”
Pushing away YangYue’s hand, Jinxia continued to pour her wine, then she said, “Brother, do you remember what I told you? Ever since I was born, I’ve never once gotten drunk.”
Xie Xiao also didn’t want to argue about this with her, and just asked, “Just say it, wanting to treat us today, what is the real reason? If it’s good news, then say it so we can enjoy it too. That’s right, why didn’t you call Lu Daren?”
Her body tensed up immediately, accidentally dropping the bowl of wine. Jinxia took a deep breath, then continued to pour the wine until it was full. “This Master will treat whoever she wants.”
Hearing this, the three of them immediately looked at each other, their hearts immediately understood: Jinxia and Lu Yi must have been fighting with each other.
Out of the three of them, YangYue was the closest to Jinxia; he was like her own family, therefore he asked, “Did something happen between you and Lu Daren?”
Jinxia said impatiently, “Stop talking about him!”
The more she became like this, the more curious Xie Xiao became. He asked, “What happened? Just a few days ago, you didn’t mind all the eyes and shamelessly hugged him, why are you like this now?”
“Don’t talk recklessly…” Yang Yue saw Jinxia’s change of expression, quickly nudging Xie Xiao to stop talking.
In fact, Xie Xiao was very bad when it came to reading people’s expressions and body language. He turned to YangYue and said, “That’s right, you didn’t see it. In front of the gate, they were hugging each other.”
“Brother Xie!”
Even Chun Yumin couldn’t help but stop him, constantly shaking her head, and signaled to look at Jinxia. It was only now that Xie Xiao suddenly realized and lifted his head to look at her — Jinxia sat quietly, tears slowly streaming down her face, dripping into her wine bowl.
Xie Xiao was scared of seeing girls cry, so he didn’t know what to do, and frantically said, “I’m wrong, I’m wrong. Brat, don’t cry anymore! You know tears are very bitter, look they’re dripping down to your wine, it’s gonna taste bitter.”
YangYue knew Jinxia rarely cried in front of people, that made him definitely sure that something had happened. Once again, YangYue tried to ask again, “Jinxia, tell me the truth, did Lu Daren hurt you?”
“No!” Jinxia wiped her tears carelessly with the hem of her robes, “He didn’t hurt me. He even said he’ll write a letter to get me promoted, but I refused.”
“To be promoted to LiuShanmen superiors, this is a good thing, why did you refuse?” YangYue said in surprise.
Xie Xiao was not interested, “If I have to say, in the circle of government officials, being a LiuShamen superior is the same as being LiuShamen, a lot of work but no compensation.”
“It’s not that I don’t have the ability, sooner or later I will definitely become a LiuShamen superior. I don’t need to rely on him,” Jinxia took a sip of her large bowl of wine, then wiped her mouth, “This Master doesn’t need it!”
“Good words! Good words!”
Xie Xiao also lifted his bowl, loudly toasted Jinxia, then drank it in one gulp.
“You can’t eat ambition.” YangYue knew Jinxia valued pride a lot, so he couldn’t help but shake his head, “Don’t use Madam Qi as an example, being stubborn isn’t a good thing. Did you make Lu Daren mad?”
Jinxia shook her head, but did not intend to tell them. She only said, “I just feel like I’m not good enough for him, so I don’t want to be close to him.”
Hearing that, YangYue was even more confused. “You didn’t say that before.”
“I quickly realized and repented, can I not?” Jinxia looked at Yang Yue angrily, “Today, this Master is treating you all to a meal, can you just happily drink some wine with me and stop asking questions?”
YangYue didn’t know what to say anymore. At this time, the waiter brought up some food.
Dinner lasted until late night. Xie Xiao and Jinxia keep pouring each other wine. Two bottles was not enough, so they added four more bottles. Chun Yumin was helpless looking at them.
“Is it okay to let her drink like that?” She asked Yang Yue in a low voice.
YangYue also didn’t know how to deal with Jinxia: “She’s in a bad mood, don’t worry, since I’m here, I’ll just carry her home.”
With great difficulty, all the bottles of wine were finally empty. Jinxia wanted to order more, but YangYue immediately stopped her. “Master Xia, we can continue tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow, we will drink again! Yes, you said it, so don’t forget it!” Jinxia patted Xie Xiao’s shoulder vigorously, “Listen, we’re going to drink again tomorrow!”
Xie Xiao said straightforwardly, “Okay, tomorrow I will treat you!”
After finishing paying, Jinxia stood up, and right away she felt a sudden dizziness. YangYue hurriedly supported her. Xie Xiao seemed fine since he was used to drinking strong wine.
Yang Yue walked along with everyone to escort Jinxia home. Halfway, they met Cen Shou, who was in a hurry to search for something. As soon as he saw them, he said, “How come you guys are here? I’ve been looking everywhere for all of you.”
“What? We can’t go out drinking?” Xie Xiao frowned.
Cen Shou tilted to look at Jinxia, “What’s wrong with her?”
“Drunk.” Xie Xiao said, “She keeps saying she has never gotten drunk in her life. I will definitely laugh in her face tomorrow.”
Cen Shou knew that Jinxia was drinking to vent her emotions, he couldn’t help but look at her.
“You’re in a hurry to look for us, what’s wrong?” YangYue asked.
“Right!” Cen Shou said seriously “Just now Madam Qi sent people to inform us that Dong San has escaped from prison, so she’s asking that we be extra careful, since he might take revenge.”
“Wasn’t he guarded? How did he run away?” YangYue didn’t understand.
“Dong San was indeed locked up, but his subordinate killed a civilian in prison, and then helped him escape.”
Xie Xiao said angrily, “In my opinion, we should just kill him, so he won’t cause unnecessary troubles.”
“The one who should be most careful is you!” Cen Shou said, “That time you disguised yourself as a fisherman, and lied to him for a while, he must have really hated you in his heart.”
Xie Xiao said without worrying at all, “This Master is not afraid of him, if he comes, that’s right! I’d been holding myself back whenever I was on the ship with him.”
“Swords and rifles are coming, I know you’re not afraid, but what we’re all scared of is they will hurt the civilians.” Cen Shou said, “The Young Master has ordered my brother and I to stay up all night to guard, so you guys must be on alert, lock your door and keep a knife beside you.”
Everyone nodded and then all walked back to the residence.
Jinxia was asleep while being carried by YangYue. Mrs. Shen could already smell alcohol all over her, she couldn’t help but frown, but still helped YangYue to support Jinxia. Chun Yumin also helped Jinxia change her clothes
“Mad at other people, you just torture yourself. You really have no will!” Seeing that Jinxia was uncomfortable, Mrs. Shen couldn’t help but tap her forehead.
Chun Yumin asked, “Did she and Brother Lu fight?”
“You guys went out with each other, but she didn’t say anything to you?” Mrs. Shen asked in surprise.
Chun Yumin shook her head. “No.”
Mrs. Shen turned to look at Jinxia, sighed and said: “This child, she couldn’t bring herself to blame him.” Mrs. Shen gently placed a blanket on her, then lowered the curtain, blew out the candle and left the room with Chun Yumin.
Just a moment later, someone’s hands pushed the windows open, and a figure jumped inside Jinxia’s room. It was Lu Yi. The moment when he’d realized Jinxia wasn’t home, he’d already started to panic, but after waiting for a while, he finally saw her dragging her feet home safely. It seemed like she’d been out drinking. Lu Yi slowly lifted the curtain, using the weak dim of light from the moon to look at her. At this point, he couldn’t control the pain in his heart anymore.
Was he doing the right thing?
Or, whatever he did, would it hurt her even more?
***
Everyone continued to monitor the pirate situation. After two days, nothing had happened, and they guessed that Dong San might have returned to the sea and had no time to think about taking revenge.
Although Jinxia’s temperament was quite good, she was still young. In the past two days, she had not spoken to Lu Yi. Even when she was passing by him, she did not look at him at all, and just minded her own business. Lu Yi noticed she had stopped drinking, and felt very relieved.
In the afternoon, Shangguan Xi asked Jinxia to help her go buy some clothes. She handed her the money and also instructed specifically that it had to be men’s clothes.
“Men’s clothes” Jinxia asked, “Based on Brother Xie’s size?”
“No, buy it for A’Rui.” Shangguan Xi said, “I saw that he’s been wearing the same set of clothes, and it doesn’t even suit him.”
The clothes that A’Rui wore were Cen Shou’s clothes when he was a coachman. A’Rui never mentioned about the clothes, plus he was busy treating his wounds, and everyone was also busy so nobody thought of buying him clothes
Jinxia tried to think about A’Rui’s body size, nodded and said, “Is there something he specifically likes? What color does he like?”
“This…” Shangguan Xi thought for a moment, “Back when we were in the gang, I often saw him wearing black clothes.”
“Understand.”
Jinxia took the money and walked away. After passing through two streets, she finally reached a clothing store. As she was about to step in, her money bag was snatched by someone who ran off at once.
“No!”
As a constable, being robbed by a thief was truly a disgrace. Jinxia immediately became angry and ran after him.
Unexpectedly this thief was a very good runner, it also seemed like he was very familiar with Xinhe City. Jinxia chased him all the way until they reached somewhere, which seemed like the end of the city.
“If you come with me to see an officer, I will not beat you!” Jinxia called out to him.
The thief ignored her, facing the city wall and shouted, “Gang leader, she’s here!”
Gang leader?!
Jinxia finally noticed Dong San standing not too far from her; she did not expect this to be a trap. She slowly walked backward, with her eyes glancing around hoping to find an opportunity to escape.
At first glance, there were two people in front of her, one on each side, and one behind her, and judging from their clothing, it looked like they were all Dong San’s people.
“Even though you’re a woman, you’ve been standing in the way of my business! Today, I’m going to kill you first!” Dong San immediately signalled his men to step forward.
Jinxia didn’t bring any weapon with her when she left, except for a small dagger in her shoes. As the enemies were getting closer, she immediately took out her dagger, turned around and aimed it at the person that was blocking her way, trying to make an open space for her to escape.
The man that Jinxia was aiming at was holding a Japanese sword. He didn’t even flinch when he saw the dagger. At this time, a small sound was heard and the dagger fell down, and the man continued to walk toward Jinxia.
Seeing the situation, the two men beside Jinxia also started to walk towards her. Jinxia finally noticed how serious the situation was, there was no way of escaping and she didn’t have any weapons on her. The only solution left was to fight.
“Dong San, have you forgotten about your wife and kids?” Jinxia raised her head to look at Dong San, intending to buy herself some time.
Dong San became furious, because Jinxia had mentioned something that caught his attention, because men and women were separated in prison, and not having enough time, he’d escaped prison by himself. Dong San slowly walked towards Jinxia, but his movement seemed unusual — He was injured. Jinxia was trying to find something to say to distract him.
Jinxia continued, “I met them two days ago! You know what they said to me? Do you want to know? I can tell you.”
Seeing how Dong San didn’t react, she started to glance around, seeing that the men were still in the same position, blocking all open spaces.
“Your wife said she really misses you, and your son is very healthy.” Jinxia walked to Dong San, their distance right now was very close, then continued, “You ran away alone, leaving them in prison. You’re a terrible person.”
Hearing her words, Dong San’s expression changed.
“Your wife doesn’t have anything else to say.” Jinxia continued to make up stories, her eyes fixated on Dong San’s leg. Jinxia secretly shifted the direction of her leg, “She heard you escaped by yourself, yet she never once blamed you–”
Upon finishing her last words, Jinxia jumped up, aiming at Dong San’s leg. Unprepared for this sudden attack, Dong San could only lean his body to the side, using the wall to support him, his hand gripping the sword. At this moment, seeing their leader being attacked, all of the men ran forward to fight.
Since there was no turning back, and she definitely wouldn’t be able to fight alone, Jinxia could only continue climbing the wall to escape. Dong San immediately went into a rage, ordering all the pirates to chase after her.
All of them started to chase after her. The previous thief with good kung fu decided to climb up the wall. Jinxia turned around to look a few times to see where they were, she couldn’t help but feel scared, especially since there was no other way to escape.
There was an iron chain, which was used against pirates. When the pirates had retreated, the iron chain had been left there. Jinxia didn’t pay attention to the chain, immediately stumbled and fell down. The pirates immediately surrounded and pinned her down.
“Gang leader, how do you want to finish her?” He turned to ask Dong San.
Dong San limped over, angrily looking at Jinxia, “Put a rope around her neck, hang her up high, so that everyone can see what the consequences are for going against us!”
Surprisingly, Jinxia was still calm. She loudly yelled, “Dong San, you better think about this carefully! Your wife and kid are still in prison, if you kill me today, maybe tomorrow they will hang your family the same way!”
After some thought, he felt that Jinxia had a valid point. “Just kill her, and then throw her out of the city.”
“Hey! Think about it!” Jinxia continued, “Use me to negotiate and maybe you can get your family out of prison.”
Dong San didn’t believe her words anymore, but what she said did sound very convincing. He was in the middle of thinking, when all of a sudden a figure jumped towards them, his leg directly aimed at Dong San’s chest. The man immediately fell down. The figure continued to fight with the rest of the pirates.
It was indeed Lu Yi.
Previously when he’d found out Jinxia wasn’t home, he’d felt uneasy, so he’d followed her from afar. It hadn’t been until she’d started chasing the thief that he’d lost track of her. Xinhe City was full of alleys, it was very difficult to locate her, so he kept looking around. Finally, he decided to jump on the roof and saw her being chased. He didn’t wait any longer and rushed over to her right away.
Although Jinxia was still being held by the pirates, all her worries were gone as she looked at Lu Yi.
“Let her go, then I’ll let you start off with three moves.” Lu Yi’s words were cold and firm.
These three pirates didn’t even know Lu Yi, but they saw Dong San being kicked to the ground, hunched over. He was currently trying to catch his breath. The other knew in an instant that this was a person with high kung fu skills, not easy to handle. Except for the thief, the other two pirates, who were originally Japanese, charged straight at Lu Yi with their swords.
Jinxia was worried that Lu Yi’s shoulder wound hadn’t healed. She watched him tilt his body away, taking the sword to block the incoming lunge, and using the opportunity to punch one of the pirates in the arm. As the pirate’s entire arm went numb, the Japanese sword was taken over by Lu Yi, the sharp edge passed through the pirate’s body, fresh blood immediately spurted, and the pirate died.
The thief who saw the situation, knowing that Lu Yi was no match for him, could only take the opportunity to escape. He was busy pinning Jinxia down, but seeing that Lu Yi was busy fighting with other pirates, he decided to push Jinxia down the hollow ground. Jinxia hadn’t prepared for this, so she desperately grabbed the edges, while her whole body was floating in the air
Seeing Jinxia being pushed down, Lu Yi was startled to death. He was about to run towards her, when the other pirates started to charge forward and slashed fiercely. At this moment, he couldn’t run to her, but seeing the iron chain on the ground, Lu Yi could only use his foot, kick it up and aim to throw it at Jinxia.
The iron chain was heavy and hard, it wasn’t easy to move it, let alone throw it. Plus, Lu Yi’s shoulder was injured so he couldn’t easily pick it up.
Meanwhile, Jinxia’s grip was getting loose, her hands were slowly slipping, but at this moment, the iron chain fell beside her, and she heard Lu Yi yell loudly, “Hold on tight!” Jinxia quickly held on to the chain and crawled up.
The thief saw an opportunity, instead of running away, he took Dong San’s sword and aimed it at Lu Yi. One hand on the iron chain, one hand fighting with a pirate, it was a situation of two against one.
Unfortunately, because the walls were blocking Lu Yi’s view, he couldn’t see Jinxia’s condition, but he knew that she had caught the iron chain. He was still afraid that something else would happen though, so he quickly avoided the pirates, and focused all of his energy on pulling the iron chain. Jinxia’s body was being pulled up with the chain. Seeing that she was fine, he turned around and finished up the pirates.
“Lu Daren…” Jinxia worriedly looked at his wound, but remembered how he didn’t want to see her, “Thank you for saving Beizhe.”
Lu Yi didn’t say a word, turned around and left.
As he lifted the iron chain earlier, he exerted all his inner strength. Now his chest felt tight as he walked steadily down the stairs and turned. He felt as if he couldn’t take it anymore. As he tried to come to his senses, he vomited blood while leaning against the wall. Afraid Jinxia would see him, Lu Yi forced himself to leave quickly.
As Jinxia stood in the place for a while, she instinctively inspected the corpses of the pirates, then slowly walked down, saw fresh blood on the ground, and instantly felt terrified.
***
After returning to the residence, she asked Cen Shou and found out that Lu Yi was already back. He’d been staying in his room since then and had never come out. Jinxia guessed that his injuries had to be serious, so she became very worried. She hesitated for a moment, and finally decided to go knock on Lu Yi’s door.
“Lu Daren, are you injured? Is it bad?”
After a while, Lu Yi’s voice came from inside, “I’m fine. Go away.”
Jinxia was helpless, but she didn’t feel right leaving either. Jinxia decided to squat under his window, thinking that if he needed anything, she would be able to assist him right away.
In the room, Lu Yi meditated to regain his energy. Afterward, he leaned against his bed, closed his eyes to rest, but then fell asleep.
In a half-awake state, Lu Yi saw himself back in the small alley, seeing Jinxia being pinned down by the pirates, but this time, he didn’t rush to help her.
She fell down badly, and a pool of flesh blood poured out right under her body.
His eyes remained closed, but his breathing became heavy. He was trying to sit up to catch his breath.
Jinxia!
Is this a dream, or reality? For a moment he couldn’t tell the difference. He jumped off the bed and opened the bedroom door, frantically looking for someone to talk to.
“Lu Daren?” A voice came from behind him.
As soon as he turned his head, he saw Jinxia standing up, patting his shoulder.
“I—I was afraid you got hurt, especially because of me—”
Before she could finish her sentence, Lu Yi pulled her in for a tight hug. In Lu Yi’s arms, she was very close to his chest, hearing his racing heartbeat and seeing his shaking hands.
She was still there! She was not dead yet!
No longer caring about his wounds, Lu Yi tightened his arm around her, feeling the familiar warmth that he had been thinking of for a while. This person gave him peace.
These two people hugged each other in silence, not knowing that it had been a while.
Suddenly someone called out, “Xia’er!”
This voice… It was a very familiar voice.
Lu Yi loosened his embrace a little, and the two of them turned their heads. There was a person standing in the room, his face was tense: it was Yang Chengwan.
