Gao Qing quickly rushed over to her. Seeing the situation, he tightly gripped the handle of his sword and swiped it across the water with all his strength. Just as he did so, a pale hand emerged from the water, and before he could react, that hand caught him. In an instant, he fell into the water.
Jinxia rushed over to pull him, but it was too late. On the surface of the water, the long black hair was still floating, layer after layer. It was difficult to find Gao Qing under the water.
“Commander! Commander!” The remaining JinYiWei watched Gao Qing being dragged into the lake, hence he said in a panic, “This must be the water ghost demanding lives, it must be!”
“No matter what life you want to take, this master definitely wants to live!”
Jinxia gritted her teeth and held her sword tightly. Her eyes looked at the surface of the water, if the hand dared to appear again, no matter whether it was ghosts or humans, she would definitely cut it off…
There was no movement from the stern, and the floating hair had disappeared without a trace.
She was still hesitating, when she heard a muffled noise coming from the cabin. She turned her head to check. Although Sha Xiuzhu’s hands were in shackles, his head was not in a neck locking board. The man gathered all his strength, using his head to hit the JinYiWei until he fainted. If this situation was to happen on the usual day, surely this JinYiWei would not faint so easily, but because this person was in fear of ghosts, his mind couldn’t concentrate on guarding anyone.
Seeing Sha Xiuzhu’s action, Jinxia was sure that in the water there were humans and not ghosts!
At the bow, there was a loud sound of water splashing, and in a moment four figures jumped up from the water. One of them was tall and bulk; with wide steps he entered the boat’s cabin, first, he lifted the unconscious JinYiWei and handed him over to someone outside, after that, he helped Sha Xiuzhu stand up, and said: “I came late, you’ve suffered a lot for my sake.”
“Good brother…”
Sha Xiuzhu was about to press on his shoulder, but the shackles on his hands were blocking him and making loud noises.
“Brother, step back a little, I will cut this disturbing thing.”
Sha Xiuzhu retreated slightly, but all of a sudden he heard a voice shouting behind him, “Wait!”
“Wait!” As soon as she finished her words, Jinxia put her sword on Xie Xiao’s neck, her blazing blade reflected her angry face, “Xie Xiao, did you kill those three people?”
“Little girl, you…”
“Say it! Did you?” Jinxia asked again.
Xie Xiao said helplessly with a sincere expression, “No, I just punished them a little. They are all lying on land, none of them died.”
“Really?”
“Of course it’s true, why would I lie to you?” Xie Xiao said, unhappy.
“You, just because I call you brother, it does not mean I disregard my status as an official.”
Jinxia put the sword down and, in a deep voice, she said: “If you did hurt any of them, I will not let you go. Another thing, the boatman is innocent, don’t hurt him.”
Upon hearing this, Xie Xiao laughed loudly, “He is not innocent, let me tell you the truth, he’s one of my people.”
“Did you plan this all beforehand?”
“Of course.”
“What about the leaky boat?”
“It’s been leaked before, it was just clogged up with wax, so I just needed to cut it a little with a knife.”
“The hair?”
“It’s a horse’s tail, just to scare them.”
The person in the bow of the ship called him, “Young Master Bangzhu, you shouldn’t stay here for long.”
Xie Xiao responded, then split Sha Xiuzhu’s shackles, held him up, and said to Jinxia, “There will be a fishing boat passing by here in a moment, just get on the boat and they will take you back safe and sound.”
“Brother, you can’t just leave like this.” Jinxia called out for him, she frowned, “You, give me a cut.”
“Little girl…” Xie Xiao was stunned.
“Just cut the arm, don’t touch the veins.” Jinxia couldn’t think of another way, “Hurry up or else I won’t be able to face Lu Daren and later I could even lose my job…”
“If you lose your job, let it be, you should be proud about it.” Xie Xiao said angrily.
“Don’t be noisy, if I lose my job, what am I going to eat then? Do it quickly! If I do it myself, the depth of the cut will be unnatural, Lu Daren will definitely notice…”
Xie Xiao didn’t think much, he interrupted her and blurted out, “If you lose your job, I will take care of you!”
Hearing his words, Jinxia was stunned for a moment and looked at him with a muddled expression on her face.
The people on the bow were starting to get anxious, they urged again, “Young Master Bangzhu, please hurry up!”
Jinxia snapped out of her thoughts, “This matter… Let’s talk about it later. Now, be quick and give me a cut.”
Although he was holding the sword in his hand, Xie Xiao had never done anything like this before to anyone, especially to a lady. After a while, Sha Xiuzhu, who was standing next to him, let out a sigh and said, “Sorry to offend.”
He took the sword from Xie Xiao’s hand by force, slashing down the blade: Jinxia’s left arm was cut open with a deep wound, the blood started to spurt out.
“Thank you.” She said while enduring the pain, “You should go.”
“I did not expect…” Xie Xiao couldn’t bear to watch. He looked at her firmly, “Little girl, count it as I owe you a life.”
“Hurry up and go, brother!”
Jinxia waved her right hand with all her strength, telling them to leave as fast as they could.
After Xie Xiao and his people left, there was a fishing boat rowing over not too long afterward, with the fisherman looking over at their boat.
Knowing that he was sent by Xie Xiao, Jinxia could only pretend not to know, she held her left arm, and called out with difficulty, “Brother, help! The boat is sinking.”
The fisherman took her to his boat, all around her was pitch black. Jinxia didn’t know where to go to find Gao Qing and the others, so she asked the fisherman to row her to the dock. It was important to report the situation to Lu Yi first.
The boat reached the dock and Jinxia walked up on land. The gang members saw that her clothes were soaking wet and her right hand filled with blood. This scene shocked everyone to death. Before she could talk, someone had already gone to report the situation. Lu Yi and Shangguan Xi immediately rushed to her.
“Reporting to Daren: in the middle of the journey, we were suddenly attacked. There was a group of criminals who got on the boat and took Sha Xiuzhu away. The whereabouts of the others are unknown.” She reported to Lu Yi.
Lu Yi looked at her left hand, his eyebrows tightened, his expression was unpredictable. A moment later, he said, cold as ice, “Four people are unable to take care of one person? Indeed a bunch of useless people!”
“Beizhe deserves to die.”
Jinxia gritted her teeth and lowered her head even deeper. In order not to involve her, Sha Xiuzhu had made a deep cut on her left arm. From earlier until now, the blood had been flowing continuously without stopping and her head was starting to feel dizzy.
Shangguan Xi was standing next to him. She raised her hand: “Lu Daren, my gang brothers are quite familiar with this area, why not let them go find the missing officials first? In case they are injured, we shouldn’t delay the possible risk of danger.”
“That’s good, sorry to trouble Shangguan Bangzhu.” Lu Yi nodded, his eyes still looking at Jinxia’s arm.
Shangguan Xi turned around, gave the order to her people, then turned again to face Jinxia, she said with a softer tone, “Your wound is not light, how about I clean it first?”
A big problem had occurred, yet Lu Yi hadn’t said anything. Jinxia didn’t dare to raise her head, and didn’t dare to make any movements.
Lu Yi said in the usual cold manner, “Go bandage the wound first… Sorry to brother Shangguan Bangzhu again.”
Shangguan Xi smiled softly, reached out to support Jinxia and brought the girl into a small room in the restaurant.
Half of her sleeve was full of blood and water, soaked in a deep red colour. Jinxia wanted to reveal the wound, but because the wet cloth was sticking to the injury, it made Jinxia grit her teeth in pain. Shangguan Xi was forced to use a scissor to open her sleeve, then clean the wound.
“That… Don’t throw it away, I will clean it then sew it back later.” Jinxia said while enduring her pain.
Shangguan Xi was surprised for a moment, then nodded her head: “Your body is all wet. First, go change your clothes. This thing, put it here, later I will tell my aids to clean it then sew it back neatly to give it back to you.”
“I really don’t want to bother you…”
Before she could finish her words, Shangguan Xi whispered in her ear, “You’ve been wronged this time, Lao Si and I are very grateful to you.”
She realized in that instant that Shangguan Xi knew about the robbery, but it didn’t surprise her at all. She lowered her voice, “He said no one died, is that true?”
“Yes, soon you will find out.”
She wiped clean the wound on Jinxia’s arm. Shangguan Xi was about to put the medicine on, when they heard the sound of the door opening; Lu Yi walked in with a blank face.
Shangguan Xi immediately rushed to take her outer robe to cover Jinxia’s arm, blaming Lu Yi, “Daren, the process is not finished yet.”
“Let me see the wound.” Lu Yi said in a cold voice.
From the beginning, she had guessed that Lu Yi wouldn’t believe her words so easily, and he would definitely investigate her wound. Thankfully, she wasn’t the one who made the cut, Jinxia was secretly grateful.
“Daren, Constable Yuan is still a lady, this…” Shangguan Xi pressed down the outer robe that was placed on Jinxia, not letting him have the slightest chance to see Jinxia’s arm.
“Sister, It’s fine.” Because there was quite a lot of blood coming out, Jinxia’s lips turned pale but she forced herself to laugh, “Letting a prisoner escape, I’m the most suspicious, Lu Daren must do a proper investigation.”
While talking, she had taken the outer robe to set it aside. Because of her white skin, the wound was in plain sight, from the top of the arm to the forearm… The blood was still dripping.
His eyes were dark, his eyebrows were tightened. Lu Yi reached out to grab a lantern with one hand, walked closer to Jinxia, and with the other hand he lifted her wrist to carefully inspect the injury…
The cut was done by Sha Xiuzhu, but the sword belonged to Xie Xiao, none of those was her doing. Jinxia felt she hadn’t made the slightest mistake, but when she glanced at Lu Yi, her face grew more serious and tense.
A few moments later, he let go of her hand and, from his pocket, he took out a small bottle, giving it to Shangguan Xi.
“Use this medicine.” He said shortly, then walked out.
Jinxia and Shangguan Xi looked at each other in confusion, then Jinxia took the bottle, furrowed her eyebrows and asked in a low voice, “This isn’t a medicine that makes the wound worse, right?”
“Impossible.”
Despite saying that, Shangguan Xi was also a little hesitant. She opened the small bottle and smelled it, then her eyebrows tightened.
“Here, I also have Jinchuang* medicine here,” Shangguan Xi sniffed the bottle, feeling unsure for a moment, “Or…You…You can decide.”
*[Jinchuang = Ointment to apply on wounds, TN]
“Use yours.”
If she was to choose, Jinxia would feel better not to touch Lu Yi’s things. Even if there was no problem with the medicine, what if he asked for a payment?
Shangguan Xi took the Jinchuang, and carefully applied it on her wound, then wrapped it. Finally, she ordered people to bring her some change of clothes. Afterward, she locked the door, and helped Jinxia change.
“The cut is deep, only applying medicine wouldn’t be enough, you should go to a doctor and get prescribed.”
While helping her to get things done, Shangguan Xi looked at her pale face, becoming rather worried.
“It’s okay, it’s just an external injury.” Jinxia tried to keep her spirits up, she lowered her head to look at her clothes, felt the soft fabric and said with envy, “Sister, your clothes are great, wait for me to return to the Capital, I will get my mother to make one exactly like this.”
She did not know why, these words made Shangguan Xi a little sad. She didn’t have enough time to answer because someone knocked on the door.
“Bangzhu, our brothers have found the missing officers.”
Even though Xie Xiao and Shangguan Xi said they did not harm anyone, Jinxia was still worried. She followed Shangguan Xi while holding her arm.
“There are three officers who suffered from external injuries, and also choked on water. The injuries aren’t too serious, but there is one that has a slightly heavy wound, the ribs seem to be broken into about two or three parts. Thankfully, it was not life-threatening.” The person who was called Uncle Dong by Shangguan Xi gave a report.
Shangguan Xi nodded, then she turned her head to glance briefly at Jinxia: her gaze had a meaning, Jinxia let out a sigh of relief. At first, she was afraid that Xie Xiao would attack with violence, but everything seemed to be all good. Who was the officer with broken ribs?
Gao Qing quickly rushed over to her. Seeing the situation, he tightly gripped the handle of his sword and swiped it across the water with all his strength. Just as he did so, a pale hand emerged from the water, and before he could react, that hand caught him. In an instant, he fell into the water.
Jinxia rushed over to pull him, but it was too late. On the surface of the water, the long black hair was still floating, layer after layer. It was difficult to find Gao Qing under the water.
“Commander! Commander!” The remaining JinYiWei watched Gao Qing being dragged into the lake, hence he said in a panic, “This must be the water ghost demanding lives, it must be!”
“No matter what life you want to take, this master definitely wants to live!”
Jinxia gritted her teeth and held her sword tightly. Her eyes looked at the surface of the water, if the hand dared to appear again, no matter whether it was ghosts or humans, she would definitely cut it off…
There was no movement from the stern, and the floating hair had disappeared without a trace.
She was still hesitating, when she heard a muffled noise coming from the cabin. She turned her head to check. Although Sha Xiuzhu’s hands were in shackles, his head was not in a neck locking board. The man gathered all his strength, using his head to hit the JinYiWei until he fainted. If this situation was to happen on the usual day, surely this JinYiWei would not faint so easily, but because this person was in fear of ghosts, his mind couldn’t concentrate on guarding anyone.
Seeing Sha Xiuzhu’s action, Jinxia was sure that in the water there were humans and not ghosts!
At the bow, there was a loud sound of water splashing, and in a moment four figures jumped up from the water. One of them was tall and bulk; with wide steps he entered the boat’s cabin, first, he lifted the unconscious JinYiWei and handed him over to someone outside, after that, he helped Sha Xiuzhu stand up, and said: “I came late, you’ve suffered a lot for my sake.”
“Good brother…”
Sha Xiuzhu was about to press on his shoulder, but the shackles on his hands were blocking him and making loud noises.
“Brother, step back a little, I will cut this disturbing thing.”
Sha Xiuzhu retreated slightly, but all of a sudden he heard a voice shouting behind him, “Wait!”
“Wait!” As soon as she finished her words, Jinxia put her sword on Xie Xiao’s neck, her blazing blade reflected her angry face, “Xie Xiao, did you kill those three people?”
“Little girl, you…”
“Say it! Did you?” Jinxia asked again.
Xie Xiao said helplessly with a sincere expression, “No, I just punished them a little. They are all lying on land, none of them died.”
“Really?”
“Of course it’s true, why would I lie to you?” Xie Xiao said, unhappy.
“You, just because I call you brother, it does not mean I disregard my status as an official.”
Jinxia put the sword down and, in a deep voice, she said: “If you did hurt any of them, I will not let you go. Another thing, the boatman is innocent, don’t hurt him.”
Upon hearing this, Xie Xiao laughed loudly, “He is not innocent, let me tell you the truth, he’s one of my people.”
“Did you plan this all beforehand?”
“Of course.”
“What about the leaky boat?”
“It’s been leaked before, it was just clogged up with wax, so I just needed to cut it a little with a knife.”
“The hair?”
“It’s a horse’s tail, just to scare them.”
The person in the bow of the ship called him, “Young Master Bangzhu, you shouldn’t stay here for long.”
Xie Xiao responded, then split Sha Xiuzhu’s shackles, held him up, and said to Jinxia, “There will be a fishing boat passing by here in a moment, just get on the boat and they will take you back safe and sound.”
“Brother, you can’t just leave like this.” Jinxia called out for him, she frowned, “You, give me a cut.”
“Little girl…” Xie Xiao was stunned.
“Just cut the arm, don’t touch the veins.” Jinxia couldn’t think of another way, “Hurry up or else I won’t be able to face Lu Daren and later I could even lose my job…”
“If you lose your job, let it be, you should be proud about it.” Xie Xiao said angrily.
“Don’t be noisy, if I lose my job, what am I going to eat then? Do it quickly! If I do it myself, the depth of the cut will be unnatural, Lu Daren will definitely notice…”
Xie Xiao didn’t think much, he interrupted her and blurted out, “If you lose your job, I will take care of you!”
Hearing his words, Jinxia was stunned for a moment and looked at him with a muddled expression on her face.
The people on the bow were starting to get anxious, they urged again, “Young Master Bangzhu, please hurry up!”
Jinxia snapped out of her thoughts, “This matter… Let’s talk about it later. Now, be quick and give me a cut.”
Although he was holding the sword in his hand, Xie Xiao had never done anything like this before to anyone, especially to a lady. After a while, Sha Xiuzhu, who was standing next to him, let out a sigh and said, “Sorry to offend.”
He took the sword from Xie Xiao’s hand by force, slashing down the blade: Jinxia’s left arm was cut open with a deep wound, the blood started to spurt out.
“Thank you.” She said while enduring the pain, “You should go.”
“I did not expect…” Xie Xiao couldn’t bear to watch. He looked at her firmly, “Little girl, count it as I owe you a life.”
“Hurry up and go, brother!”
Jinxia waved her right hand with all her strength, telling them to leave as fast as they could.
After Xie Xiao and his people left, there was a fishing boat rowing over not too long afterward, with the fisherman looking over at their boat.
Knowing that he was sent by Xie Xiao, Jinxia could only pretend not to know, she held her left arm, and called out with difficulty, “Brother, help! The boat is sinking.”
The fisherman took her to his boat, all around her was pitch black. Jinxia didn’t know where to go to find Gao Qing and the others, so she asked the fisherman to row her to the dock. It was important to report the situation to Lu Yi first.
The boat reached the dock and Jinxia walked up on land. The gang members saw that her clothes were soaking wet and her right hand filled with blood. This scene shocked everyone to death. Before she could talk, someone had already gone to report the situation. Lu Yi and Shangguan Xi immediately rushed to her.
“Reporting to Daren: in the middle of the journey, we were suddenly attacked. There was a group of criminals who got on the boat and took Sha Xiuzhu away. The whereabouts of the others are unknown.” She reported to Lu Yi.
Lu Yi looked at her left hand, his eyebrows tightened, his expression was unpredictable. A moment later, he said, cold as ice, “Four people are unable to take care of one person? Indeed a bunch of useless people!”
“Beizhe deserves to die.”
Jinxia gritted her teeth and lowered her head even deeper. In order not to involve her, Sha Xiuzhu had made a deep cut on her left arm. From earlier until now, the blood had been flowing continuously without stopping and her head was starting to feel dizzy.
Shangguan Xi was standing next to him. She raised her hand: “Lu Daren, my gang brothers are quite familiar with this area, why not let them go find the missing officials first? In case they are injured, we shouldn’t delay the possible risk of danger.”
“That’s good, sorry to trouble Shangguan Bangzhu.” Lu Yi nodded, his eyes still looking at Jinxia’s arm.
Shangguan Xi turned around, gave the order to her people, then turned again to face Jinxia, she said with a softer tone, “Your wound is not light, how about I clean it first?”
A big problem had occurred, yet Lu Yi hadn’t said anything. Jinxia didn’t dare to raise her head, and didn’t dare to make any movements.
Lu Yi said in the usual cold manner, “Go bandage the wound first… Sorry to brother Shangguan Bangzhu again.”
Shangguan Xi smiled softly, reached out to support Jinxia and brought the girl into a small room in the restaurant.
Half of her sleeve was full of blood and water, soaked in a deep red colour. Jinxia wanted to reveal the wound, but because the wet cloth was sticking to the injury, it made Jinxia grit her teeth in pain. Shangguan Xi was forced to use a scissor to open her sleeve, then clean the wound.
“That… Don’t throw it away, I will clean it then sew it back later.” Jinxia said while enduring her pain.
Shangguan Xi was surprised for a moment, then nodded her head: “Your body is all wet. First, go change your clothes. This thing, put it here, later I will tell my aids to clean it then sew it back neatly to give it back to you.”
“I really don’t want to bother you…”
Before she could finish her words, Shangguan Xi whispered in her ear, “You’ve been wronged this time, Lao Si and I are very grateful to you.”
She realized in that instant that Shangguan Xi knew about the robbery, but it didn’t surprise her at all. She lowered her voice, “He said no one died, is that true?”
“Yes, soon you will find out.”
She wiped clean the wound on Jinxia’s arm. Shangguan Xi was about to put the medicine on, when they heard the sound of the door opening; Lu Yi walked in with a blank face.
Shangguan Xi immediately rushed to take her outer robe to cover Jinxia’s arm, blaming Lu Yi, “Daren, the process is not finished yet.”
“Let me see the wound.” Lu Yi said in a cold voice.
From the beginning, she had guessed that Lu Yi wouldn’t believe her words so easily, and he would definitely investigate her wound. Thankfully, she wasn’t the one who made the cut, Jinxia was secretly grateful.
“Daren, Constable Yuan is still a lady, this…” Shangguan Xi pressed down the outer robe that was placed on Jinxia, not letting him have the slightest chance to see Jinxia’s arm.
“Sister, It’s fine.” Because there was quite a lot of blood coming out, Jinxia’s lips turned pale but she forced herself to laugh, “Letting a prisoner escape, I’m the most suspicious, Lu Daren must do a proper investigation.”
While talking, she had taken the outer robe to set it aside. Because of her white skin, the wound was in plain sight, from the top of the arm to the forearm… The blood was still dripping.
His eyes were dark, his eyebrows were tightened. Lu Yi reached out to grab a lantern with one hand, walked closer to Jinxia, and with the other hand he lifted her wrist to carefully inspect the injury…
The cut was done by Sha Xiuzhu, but the sword belonged to Xie Xiao, none of those was her doing. Jinxia felt she hadn’t made the slightest mistake, but when she glanced at Lu Yi, her face grew more serious and tense.
A few moments later, he let go of her hand and, from his pocket, he took out a small bottle, giving it to Shangguan Xi.
“Use this medicine.” He said shortly, then walked out.
Jinxia and Shangguan Xi looked at each other in confusion, then Jinxia took the bottle, furrowed her eyebrows and asked in a low voice, “This isn’t a medicine that makes the wound worse, right?”
“Impossible.”
Despite saying that, Shangguan Xi was also a little hesitant. She opened the small bottle and smelled it, then her eyebrows tightened.
“Here, I also have Jinchuang* medicine here,” Shangguan Xi sniffed the bottle, feeling unsure for a moment, “Or…You…You can decide.”
*[Jinchuang = Ointment to apply on wounds, TN]
“Use yours.”
If she was to choose, Jinxia would feel better not to touch Lu Yi’s things. Even if there was no problem with the medicine, what if he asked for a payment?
Shangguan Xi took the Jinchuang, and carefully applied it on her wound, then wrapped it. Finally, she ordered people to bring her some change of clothes. Afterward, she locked the door, and helped Jinxia change.
“The cut is deep, only applying medicine wouldn’t be enough, you should go to a doctor and get prescribed.”
While helping her to get things done, Shangguan Xi looked at her pale face, becoming rather worried.
“It’s okay, it’s just an external injury.” Jinxia tried to keep her spirits up, she lowered her head to look at her clothes, felt the soft fabric and said with envy, “Sister, your clothes are great, wait for me to return to the Capital, I will get my mother to make one exactly like this.”
She did not know why, these words made Shangguan Xi a little sad. She didn’t have enough time to answer because someone knocked on the door.
“Bangzhu, our brothers have found the missing officers.”
Even though Xie Xiao and Shangguan Xi said they did not harm anyone, Jinxia was still worried. She followed Shangguan Xi while holding her arm.
“There are three officers who suffered from external injuries, and also choked on water. The injuries aren’t too serious, but there is one that has a slightly heavy wound, the ribs seem to be broken into about two or three parts. Thankfully, it was not life-threatening.” The person who was called Uncle Dong by Shangguan Xi gave a report.
Shangguan Xi nodded, then she turned her head to glance briefly at Jinxia: her gaze had a meaning, Jinxia let out a sigh of relief. At first, she was afraid that Xie Xiao would attack with violence, but everything seemed to be all good. Who was the officer with broken ribs?
