Seeing the expression on Shangguan Xi’s face, Jinxia felt like there was a slight dissatisfaction. On top of that, she was very curious about the relationship between Xie Xiao and Shangguan Xi.
According to logic, three years ago, Xie Xiao ran away from home to avoid a marriage; this had hurt Shangguan Xi’s pride without a doubt, even if she didn’t hate him, there should still be some bitterness. However, looking at the situation before her eyes, Shangguan Xi seemed to really care for Xie Xiao, and it didn’t seem to be fake.
Seeing that Shangguan Xi wasn’t speaking, Xie Xiao took a peek at her face expression, the atmosphere was a little weird. Jinxia felt uncomfortable, hence she went up to the front of the boat to talk to A Rui.
“You practice Neijia, don’t you?” Jinxia asked with a smile.
A’Rui didn’t look at her at all, he maintained a cold face and didn’t make any sound.
“Which school?” She kept asking.
A’Rui remained quiet.
Jinxia did not mind, she continued, “Last year, I also met with an expert in Neijia; he was around forty or fifty years old, his face was greenish, he had a large mouth, both sides of his hair were red on the forehead, the three sides of his beard were purple, his nose looked like an eagle’s beak, and his fist was like a monk’s bowl…
Was she describing a Yaksha or a person? A’Rui glanced at her.
Jinxia stopped talking all of a sudden and eagerly made a gesture, instructing him to pull the boat to the side, and at the same time she asked everyone to bow down.
The wind started to blow making the water unstable. In the front, there was a faint sound of people talking.
A’Rui rowed the boat skillfully into the reeds, and the tall plants covered them with success.
Along with the sound of water and the sound of people approaching, they could hear them speaking in Japanese. Jinxia lowered her body, even lower than before, so that she could see them through the reeds. Shangguan Xi also did the same, but instead she was looking at Xie Xiao, who crouched down as well. His whole body stiffened, he was holding his strength like a ferocious tiger. The last person was A’Rui, one hand holding the paddle, the other holding the side of the boat.
On the boat that had just passed by, there were about three people, not that tall, with loosely wormed clothes, and a daodao* hanging from their waist. Two others were laughing happily and picking up something. The indecipherable sounds that Jinxia was hearing were coming from their mouths.
*[daodao = A type of sword, or could also be called a long sword. It’s similar to a katana, but smaller, the handle is thicker, and there’s like a circle handle to hang on clothings, TN]
Looking at them, they still had blood stains on their robes. There were women’s hairpins, men’s jade pendants, and children’s longevity necklaces, she was not sure which family they robbed… Jinxia’s eyes darkened. In the Capital, she had often heard of the Japanese by the seashore, who were killing, robbing, kidnapping and committing other crimes; even the old, the weak, women and children, they didn’t let go of anyone.
Xie Xiao shrugged his shoulders, then felt a slight pressure, because Shangguan Xi was pressing him down.
“Lao Si, promise me not to start a fight.” she reminded him.
“Only a few of them, I’m not afraid!” Xie Xiao let go of her grip, “We must take revenge for our brothers.”
As he finished his words, his voice had already been heard by the Japanese, who jumped up and took their swords out; from their mouths they were enchanting some unintelligible words, their ship turned around and came towards them.
“Brother, wait a minute.” Jinxia pulled him, turned around and gave a signal to A’Rui: “Lure them into the reeds, let them get lost like a ghost hitting a wall.” Even though from their position they had the upper hand in this situation, they wanted to avoid direct contact if not necessary.
“I say, your guts are made by mice!” Xie Xiao shouted at her.
A’Rui looked towards Shangguan Xi, who nodded her head, therefore he paddled the boat, going deeper into the reeds. The chasing boat was causing huge waves and making loud noises.
Behind them, they heard a loud scream and, at the same time, the sound of water splashing. The chasing boat came closer.
Xie Xiao had no strength at that moment, he glanced at Jinxia: “I say, you’re not as great as you were when you were a child.”
Jinxia didn’t care and turned to look behind her. A’Rui was very familiar with this water area, so they weren’t too worried. The boat turned left, then right, agile like a fish swimming.
“You, slow down a little! If we lose their tracks, this master will deal with you.” Xie Xiao shouted at him.
Shangguan Xi didn’t even have to look, she carefully listened to the sounds of the water, saying in a low voice, “They won’t dare to come in here, they’re still going around outside.”
Even though the Japanese were water-based individuals, yet they were strangers in a foreign land and didn’t dare to go into the reeds.
“A bunch of weaklings, paddle over there!” Xie Xiao shouted in anger.
“Lao Si…” Shangguan Xi looked at him, “The roots of this Japanese people are still unclear, before thoroughly investigating the situation, we better not rush to take any action.”
Xie Xiao didn’t understand why Shangguan Xi was so cautious, she was considered to be a female warrior that fought against the Dong family, so he angrily said: “Our brothers have been hurt, what now? We have to let them die for nothing?”
Shangguan Xi only stared at him, furrowed her eyebrows and said nothing.
Xie Xiao glared at her for a moment, then rubbed his forehead nervously and annoyed he said, “Jie, I didn’t want to come back, but you asked me to come back and become this young master. Fine! Now that I’m working, I can’t even decide anything! I can’t even order this boat paddler!” He pointed at A’Rui.
“I can’t even intervene in any of the business in the gang, I’m not allowed to fight or avenge our brothers. You should just buy a picture of me and hang it on the wall, it’s better than the Me now. Say, you dragged me home… for what?!?”
He shouted at Shangguan Xi.
Shangguan Xi’s lips trembled, in a deep voice, she said: “I just thought of introducing you to the work slowly, I thought you would understand.”
“I do not understand!”
Xie Xiao replied in a loud voice.
“Be careful!” Before he realized what was happening, Jinxia had pushed him down.
An unknown weapon came flying at them sideways near their heads and then stuck on the front of the boat. It had almost cut Xie Xiao’s hair and formed a line of gutters on his head.
Everyone was still frozen, when the other two flying weapons came in both directions, left and right: one was hit with a paddle by A’Rui, the other made a cut on the sleeve of Shangguan Xi’s robe. Hiding behind these reeds became an advantage, but these weapons were thrown with extreme precision. Luckily nobody was hurt.
Jinxia was still pressing on Xie Xiao’s body, not letting him move. He used one hand, touching the water with attention, and helped A’Rui to paddle the boat to the side.
Xie Xiao looked at Jinxia, who was still onto him. He uncomfortably moved his body, his tone of voice was rather awkward: “Thanks, this master owes you a life.”
“Shhh…”
Jinxia didn’t pay attention to anything he had just said, her eyes were scanning through the reeds in anxiety.
“Can you get off me first?” Xie Xiao said, embarrassed.
Shangguan Xi glanced at the both of them, and then turned away.
“Oh.”
Jinxia moved to the side, asking in a low voice to A’Rui: “Can you get behind them?”
A’Rui didn’t say anything, his eyes searching for Shangguan Xi, who then said, “Listen to what Young Master Bangzhu has to order.”
Xie Xiao pushed his body up, turned towards Shangguan Xi, then said to A’Rui in a cold manner, “Go behind them.”
A’Rui paddled with a blank face.
On the side, Jinxia took out a handkerchief from her pocket, carefully pulled out the secret weapon embedded in the front of the boat, wrapped it in the handkerchief and put it back in her pocket.
They were unaware of how A’Rui was paddling, but the small boat had already sailed past a group of reeds. After a while, he stopped and motioned them to look to the left.
Slowly coming out of the rushes, Jinxia looked at the boat again. The Japanese were looking at the reeds, thinking that the people in there were ordinary fishermen from the lake, so they didn’t care too much.
The sound of the wind brushed the ears. Xie Xiao picked up a spear of a fish fork with his feet, then threw it towards the boat with all his strength.
The fish fork spear flew toward the Japanese, who were sitting in the middle of the boat. Perhaps because of the strong wind, one of them pulled his necks on instinct and the fish fork speared over his ear, then flew into the reeds.
The Japanese on the left found them, their wrist trembled a little, then pulled out two flying weapons out of their sleeves.
Shangguan Xi drew out a pair of swords, only to hear two loud noises ‘Clang! Clang!’, the flying weapons were dropped.
The Japanese pirate who was sitting in the middle had one ear full of blood; with one hand he was holding his ear, with the other he took out his daodao, while shouting in a loud voice. The tip of the blade waved back and forth, yelling at the Japanese pirate who was rowing, and instructing him to bring the boat closer.
Because he didn’t bring any weapon, and there were no objects for him to use as a weapon, Xie Xiao lowered his head and looked at the boat: there was a barrel filled with clean water that was tightly closed. He used all his strength to lift it, then threw it towards the Japanese pirates that were shouting.
One of the Japanese pirates used the sword to strike the barrel, splitting it in half, the water spurted out and the barrel fell right in front of his face, dripping water and making him look like a chicken soaked in soup. He became more and more angry.
At this time, there was still some distance between the two boats. Xie Xiao had no objects in his hand, but because he was an impatient man, with his long body, he jumped straight on the Japanese pirate’s boat. Shangguan Xi who was afraid he would suffer fighting alone, followed him and jumped onto the boat too.
The boat was small, because fishermen used it to sail and catch fish, but now it had to withstand the burden of so many people, not to mention they were moving back and forth while fighting. A Japanese pirate would require a lot of space when using his sword, but in front of him the space was narrow, therefore the sword wagged. Halfway seeing the sword, Xie Xiao punched him hard in the abdomen, and the man curled up in pain. Xie Xiao grabbed the wrist of the hand that was holding the sword, held it tightly, and slammed it with his knee multiple times. This time, the sword was dropped and the Japanese pirate collapsed.
Next to him, Shangguan Xi had also subdued the Japanese pirates who used the unknown weapons and was pressing their bodies on the floor of the boat.
Seeing the situation, the Japanese pirate that was rowing abandoned his group in a rush, turning around and jumping into the water. Xie Xiao tried reaching out to catch him, but it was a little late, feeling helpless while looking at him in the water.
“You, mother… Earthworm!”
He was furious, then stepped on a pirate, and picked up the sword from his hand, he was about to stab it into the water like using a fish fork spear.
Just when the sword was about to be thrown into the water, on the surface of the water some air bubbles popped up and two heads appeared. It turned out it was Jinxia and the pirate that had jumped in the water. Xie Xao was not sure of when she’d entered the water or how she had caught the pirate, but the pirate was being held tight by Jinxia… What a useless rebel!
In no need to throw the sword anymore, Xie Xiao stuck on the boat’s floor. The pirate’s hand who was throwing the flying weapon was struck so hard that it pierced through the bones of his hand. Xie Xiao continued to watch him screaming in pain. He turned to face Jinxia, raised his chin, and asked: “Since when did you enter the water?”
Jinxia was still floating on the surface of the water and did not have the time to answer his question. She pushed the pirate with all her strength, gesturing to A’Rui to help her: “Hurry, get him up, he’s thin and weak, but heavy like an iron scale.”
Both the boats were now docked. A’Rui pulled the pirate up, laying him face down so he can spit out the water. Jinxia followed from behind, getting on the boat while being all wet.
“I thought these Japanese pirates would be all fierce and scary, I didn’t think it would be a bunch of weaklings,” Xie Xiao pulled out the daodao, kicking the pirate over with all his strength, “Taking your lives as revenge, don’t worry, this will be easy and quick.”
While he was talking, the sword was about to be stabbed into the pirate’s chest.
“Don’t do that!” Jinxia shouted. As an official, she had to disagree with the unlawful punishments by ordinary people.
Shangguan Xi saw that something was wrong, “Lao Si, be careful!”
The pirate that appeared to be dying under the hand of Xie Xiao, had a change in his eyes, his lips were slightly open and a silver light shot from his mouth, aiming straight to Xie Xiao’s face…
In the blink of an eye, Shangguan Xi pulled Xie Xiao away, but A’Rui stepped forward and pushed Shangguan Xi.
The sword stabbed into the pirate’s heart, taking his breath away immediately. The silver needle hit A’Rui’s shoulder, but he didn’t make the slightest sound, only the veins on his head were popping in and out several times.
Seeing the expression on Shangguan Xi’s face, Jinxia felt like there was a slight dissatisfaction. On top of that, she was very curious about the relationship between Xie Xiao and Shangguan Xi.
According to logic, three years ago, Xie Xiao ran away from home to avoid a marriage; this had hurt Shangguan Xi’s pride without a doubt, even if she didn’t hate him, there should still be some bitterness. However, looking at the situation before her eyes, Shangguan Xi seemed to really care for Xie Xiao, and it didn’t seem to be fake.
Seeing that Shangguan Xi wasn’t speaking, Xie Xiao took a peek at her face expression, the atmosphere was a little weird. Jinxia felt uncomfortable, hence she went up to the front of the boat to talk to A Rui.
“You practice Neijia, don’t you?” Jinxia asked with a smile.
A’Rui didn’t look at her at all, he maintained a cold face and didn’t make any sound.
“Which school?” She kept asking.
A’Rui remained quiet.
Jinxia did not mind, she continued, “Last year, I also met with an expert in Neijia; he was around forty or fifty years old, his face was greenish, he had a large mouth, both sides of his hair were red on the forehead, the three sides of his beard were purple, his nose looked like an eagle’s beak, and his fist was like a monk’s bowl…
Was she describing a Yaksha or a person? A’Rui glanced at her.
Jinxia stopped talking all of a sudden and eagerly made a gesture, instructing him to pull the boat to the side, and at the same time she asked everyone to bow down.
The wind started to blow making the water unstable. In the front, there was a faint sound of people talking.
A’Rui rowed the boat skillfully into the reeds, and the tall plants covered them with success.
Along with the sound of water and the sound of people approaching, they could hear them speaking in Japanese. Jinxia lowered her body, even lower than before, so that she could see them through the reeds. Shangguan Xi also did the same, but instead she was looking at Xie Xiao, who crouched down as well. His whole body stiffened, he was holding his strength like a ferocious tiger. The last person was A’Rui, one hand holding the paddle, the other holding the side of the boat.
On the boat that had just passed by, there were about three people, not that tall, with loosely wormed clothes, and a daodao* hanging from their waist. Two others were laughing happily and picking up something. The indecipherable sounds that Jinxia was hearing were coming from their mouths.
*[daodao = A type of sword, or could also be called a long sword. It’s similar to a katana, but smaller, the handle is thicker, and there’s like a circle handle to hang on clothings, TN]
Looking at them, they still had blood stains on their robes. There were women’s hairpins, men’s jade pendants, and children’s longevity necklaces, she was not sure which family they robbed… Jinxia’s eyes darkened. In the Capital, she had often heard of the Japanese by the seashore, who were killing, robbing, kidnapping and committing other crimes; even the old, the weak, women and children, they didn’t let go of anyone.
Xie Xiao shrugged his shoulders, then felt a slight pressure, because Shangguan Xi was pressing him down.
“Lao Si, promise me not to start a fight.” she reminded him.
“Only a few of them, I’m not afraid!” Xie Xiao let go of her grip, “We must take revenge for our brothers.”
As he finished his words, his voice had already been heard by the Japanese, who jumped up and took their swords out; from their mouths they were enchanting some unintelligible words, their ship turned around and came towards them.
“Brother, wait a minute.” Jinxia pulled him, turned around and gave a signal to A’Rui: “Lure them into the reeds, let them get lost like a ghost hitting a wall.” Even though from their position they had the upper hand in this situation, they wanted to avoid direct contact if not necessary.
“I say, your guts are made by mice!” Xie Xiao shouted at her.
A’Rui looked towards Shangguan Xi, who nodded her head, therefore he paddled the boat, going deeper into the reeds. The chasing boat was causing huge waves and making loud noises.
Behind them, they heard a loud scream and, at the same time, the sound of water splashing. The chasing boat came closer.
Xie Xiao had no strength at that moment, he glanced at Jinxia: “I say, you’re not as great as you were when you were a child.”
Jinxia didn’t care and turned to look behind her. A’Rui was very familiar with this water area, so they weren’t too worried. The boat turned left, then right, agile like a fish swimming.
“You, slow down a little! If we lose their tracks, this master will deal with you.” Xie Xiao shouted at him.
Shangguan Xi didn’t even have to look, she carefully listened to the sounds of the water, saying in a low voice, “They won’t dare to come in here, they’re still going around outside.”
Even though the Japanese were water-based individuals, yet they were strangers in a foreign land and didn’t dare to go into the reeds.
“A bunch of weaklings, paddle over there!” Xie Xiao shouted in anger.
“Lao Si…” Shangguan Xi looked at him, “The roots of this Japanese people are still unclear, before thoroughly investigating the situation, we better not rush to take any action.”
Xie Xiao didn’t understand why Shangguan Xi was so cautious, she was considered to be a female warrior that fought against the Dong family, so he angrily said: “Our brothers have been hurt, what now? We have to let them die for nothing?”
Shangguan Xi only stared at him, furrowed her eyebrows and said nothing.
Xie Xiao glared at her for a moment, then rubbed his forehead nervously and annoyed he said, “Jie, I didn’t want to come back, but you asked me to come back and become this young master. Fine! Now that I’m working, I can’t even decide anything! I can’t even order this boat paddler!” He pointed at A’Rui.
“I can’t even intervene in any of the business in the gang, I’m not allowed to fight or avenge our brothers. You should just buy a picture of me and hang it on the wall, it’s better than the Me now. Say, you dragged me home… for what?!?”
He shouted at Shangguan Xi.
Shangguan Xi’s lips trembled, in a deep voice, she said: “I just thought of introducing you to the work slowly, I thought you would understand.”
“I do not understand!”
Xie Xiao replied in a loud voice.
“Be careful!” Before he realized what was happening, Jinxia had pushed him down.
An unknown weapon came flying at them sideways near their heads and then stuck on the front of the boat. It had almost cut Xie Xiao’s hair and formed a line of gutters on his head.
Everyone was still frozen, when the other two flying weapons came in both directions, left and right: one was hit with a paddle by A’Rui, the other made a cut on the sleeve of Shangguan Xi’s robe. Hiding behind these reeds became an advantage, but these weapons were thrown with extreme precision. Luckily nobody was hurt.
Jinxia was still pressing on Xie Xiao’s body, not letting him move. He used one hand, touching the water with attention, and helped A’Rui to paddle the boat to the side.
Xie Xiao looked at Jinxia, who was still onto him. He uncomfortably moved his body, his tone of voice was rather awkward: “Thanks, this master owes you a life.”
“Shhh…”
Jinxia didn’t pay attention to anything he had just said, her eyes were scanning through the reeds in anxiety.
“Can you get off me first?” Xie Xiao said, embarrassed.
Shangguan Xi glanced at the both of them, and then turned away.
“Oh.”
Jinxia moved to the side, asking in a low voice to A’Rui: “Can you get behind them?”
A’Rui didn’t say anything, his eyes searching for Shangguan Xi, who then said, “Listen to what Young Master Bangzhu has to order.”
Xie Xiao pushed his body up, turned towards Shangguan Xi, then said to A’Rui in a cold manner, “Go behind them.”
A’Rui paddled with a blank face.
On the side, Jinxia took out a handkerchief from her pocket, carefully pulled out the secret weapon embedded in the front of the boat, wrapped it in the handkerchief and put it back in her pocket.
They were unaware of how A’Rui was paddling, but the small boat had already sailed past a group of reeds. After a while, he stopped and motioned them to look to the left.
Slowly coming out of the rushes, Jinxia looked at the boat again. The Japanese were looking at the reeds, thinking that the people in there were ordinary fishermen from the lake, so they didn’t care too much.
The sound of the wind brushed the ears. Xie Xiao picked up a spear of a fish fork with his feet, then threw it towards the boat with all his strength.
The fish fork spear flew toward the Japanese, who were sitting in the middle of the boat. Perhaps because of the strong wind, one of them pulled his necks on instinct and the fish fork speared over his ear, then flew into the reeds.
The Japanese on the left found them, their wrist trembled a little, then pulled out two flying weapons out of their sleeves.
Shangguan Xi drew out a pair of swords, only to hear two loud noises ‘Clang! Clang!’, the flying weapons were dropped.
The Japanese pirate who was sitting in the middle had one ear full of blood; with one hand he was holding his ear, with the other he took out his daodao, while shouting in a loud voice. The tip of the blade waved back and forth, yelling at the Japanese pirate who was rowing, and instructing him to bring the boat closer.
Because he didn’t bring any weapon, and there were no objects for him to use as a weapon, Xie Xiao lowered his head and looked at the boat: there was a barrel filled with clean water that was tightly closed. He used all his strength to lift it, then threw it towards the Japanese pirates that were shouting.
One of the Japanese pirates used the sword to strike the barrel, splitting it in half, the water spurted out and the barrel fell right in front of his face, dripping water and making him look like a chicken soaked in soup. He became more and more angry.
At this time, there was still some distance between the two boats. Xie Xiao had no objects in his hand, but because he was an impatient man, with his long body, he jumped straight on the Japanese pirate’s boat. Shangguan Xi who was afraid he would suffer fighting alone, followed him and jumped onto the boat too.
The boat was small, because fishermen used it to sail and catch fish, but now it had to withstand the burden of so many people, not to mention they were moving back and forth while fighting. A Japanese pirate would require a lot of space when using his sword, but in front of him the space was narrow, therefore the sword wagged. Halfway seeing the sword, Xie Xiao punched him hard in the abdomen, and the man curled up in pain. Xie Xiao grabbed the wrist of the hand that was holding the sword, held it tightly, and slammed it with his knee multiple times. This time, the sword was dropped and the Japanese pirate collapsed.
Next to him, Shangguan Xi had also subdued the Japanese pirates who used the unknown weapons and was pressing their bodies on the floor of the boat.
Seeing the situation, the Japanese pirate that was rowing abandoned his group in a rush, turning around and jumping into the water. Xie Xiao tried reaching out to catch him, but it was a little late, feeling helpless while looking at him in the water.
“You, mother… Earthworm!”
He was furious, then stepped on a pirate, and picked up the sword from his hand, he was about to stab it into the water like using a fish fork spear.
Just when the sword was about to be thrown into the water, on the surface of the water some air bubbles popped up and two heads appeared. It turned out it was Jinxia and the pirate that had jumped in the water. Xie Xao was not sure of when she’d entered the water or how she had caught the pirate, but the pirate was being held tight by Jinxia… What a useless rebel!
In no need to throw the sword anymore, Xie Xiao stuck on the boat’s floor. The pirate’s hand who was throwing the flying weapon was struck so hard that it pierced through the bones of his hand. Xie Xiao continued to watch him screaming in pain. He turned to face Jinxia, raised his chin, and asked: “Since when did you enter the water?”
Jinxia was still floating on the surface of the water and did not have the time to answer his question. She pushed the pirate with all her strength, gesturing to A’Rui to help her: “Hurry, get him up, he’s thin and weak, but heavy like an iron scale.”
Both the boats were now docked. A’Rui pulled the pirate up, laying him face down so he can spit out the water. Jinxia followed from behind, getting on the boat while being all wet.
“I thought these Japanese pirates would be all fierce and scary, I didn’t think it would be a bunch of weaklings,” Xie Xiao pulled out the daodao, kicking the pirate over with all his strength, “Taking your lives as revenge, don’t worry, this will be easy and quick.”
While he was talking, the sword was about to be stabbed into the pirate’s chest.
“Don’t do that!” Jinxia shouted. As an official, she had to disagree with the unlawful punishments by ordinary people.
Shangguan Xi saw that something was wrong, “Lao Si, be careful!”
The pirate that appeared to be dying under the hand of Xie Xiao, had a change in his eyes, his lips were slightly open and a silver light shot from his mouth, aiming straight to Xie Xiao’s face…
In the blink of an eye, Shangguan Xi pulled Xie Xiao away, but A’Rui stepped forward and pushed Shangguan Xi.
The sword stabbed into the pirate’s heart, taking his breath away immediately. The silver needle hit A’Rui’s shoulder, but he didn’t make the slightest sound, only the veins on his head were popping in and out several times.
