Chapter 32: You were originally a good person, how did you become a thief (Part 2)
The autumn weather was crisp and refreshing, with a clear sky that seemed to stretch on forever. It was the perfect day for traveling, and Xiao Shouren was taking advantage of it as he carried the female assassin towards Youyang County. That night, they were swept away by the dark currents of the Duck Green River and ended up in the territory of Youyang. As it turned out, someone had shot a hidden arrow at them while they were crossing the suspension bridge, hitting the female assassin and causing Xiao Shouren to be pushed into the moat as well. When Xiao Shouren surfaced, he saw the soldiers of the Great Sui Dynasty shooting arrows at the spot where the female assassin had fallen into the water. Thinking that they were aiming at him, Xiao Shouren dove back down again. The female assassin was hit by two more arrows and, seeing Xiao Shouren resurface once more, grabbed onto his pant leg and refused to let go. As a result, she ended up floating away with Xiao Shouren.
After crossing the Yalu River and entering the territory of Guyang County, Xiao Shouren discovered that the female assassin was injured, and it wasn't light. She had been shot with two arrows in the back, although there was no poison on the arrows. However, if they didn't pull out the arrows and bandage her, the wound would become infected, suppurate, and her life would soon come to an end. The female assassin was very stubborn, having fainted but still tightly grasping the curved knife in her hand, which couldn't be pried loose. Xiao Shouren wasn't heartless, so he scooped up the female assassin and brought her ashore, not hurrying to pull out the arrows, but instead carrying her on his back as he hastened towards Guyang City.
As for the Sui army, when they saw that Xiao Shouren and the female assassin had fallen into the water and landed in the moat, they all went down to salvage, but not a single one was salvaged. So they searched along the moat, but they never thought that under the river there would be an undercurrent, which had already swept Xiao Shouren and others thousands of miles away to Fuyu County. The next day, Yang Guang led the wounded troops back to the capital, leaving Yunlai Xing and others to continue searching for Xiao Shouren and the female assassin.
The garrison soldiers of the fishing city did not ask too much about why Xiao Shouren was carrying a girl with an arrow wound on his back. Xiao Shouren simply took out a 100-tael silver note and handed it to the garrison soldier, saying that he would buy wine for several people after drinking, and then entered the city smoothly. Even the "Great Sui Imperial Guard" engraved on the arrow shaft was not seen.
After entering the city, he found a decent inn and opened two rooms. Then, Xiao Shouren went to the money shop in the city to exchange several hundred taels of silver, gave thirty taels to Xia Erge and asked him to run errands to get some herbal medicine and bandages, and buy two sets of men's long shirts. The rest was left to the store's Xia Er, who was very happy, knowing that he had met a generous master.
Money makes things easier. Before long, Xiao Er Ge had everything taken care of. Not only did he buy back the medicine and clothes, but he also brought a table full of dishes.
After eating some food, he saw that the female assassin was still sleeping, so Xiao Shouren took another bath and changed into a new light green long shirt bought by Little Brother. Then he came to the room next door to help her pull out two arrows and apply some golden wound medicine.
As soon as the door was pushed open, a gust of wind sounded, and Xiao Shouren knew at once that someone wanted to launch a sneak attack on him. He dodged to one side with his head tilted, and with a swift motion, he caught hold of the chair that had been used in the attack. Turning around, he saw the female assassin standing behind the door, staring at him with wide eyes. Xiao Shouren noticed that the woman's round eyes were fixed on him, gazing intensely as if she was looking at an alien. The two arrows stuck to his back had already disappeared; it turned out that after the woman woke up, she used her curved knife to cut off the arrow feathers, leaving only the arrow shafts inside his body.
Xiao Shouren was still immersed in this astonishing mood, when he suddenly heard a "bang" sound, and this sound was so close to himself. After reacting, he looked up to see that the owner of the chair had fainted.
This feeling is too severely hurt, has lost too much blood, and suddenly can't hold on and faints. What's to be done?
Xiao Shouren thought of this and discovered another problem: the female assassin must still have prejudices against him, thinking he had ill intentions and had captured her, but that was not the case. If they were to separate now, he feared she would sneak away after waking up, injured and being a girl, it was definitely unsafe. So Xiao Shouren decided to stay and wait for her to wake up, explain things, help her remove the arrow and bandage herself, then leave. Now sleeping had become a problem, there were two people but only one bed in the room! Although they could squeeze together as neither of them was fat, it was well-known that ancient Chinese girls valued their chastity, if this girl woke up to find a strange man sleeping beside her, someone would surely die, but who would be the one to die was unknown.
Looking at the fainted female assassin, Xiao Shouren finally bent down and picked her up, putting her on the only bed in the room, covering her with a quilt. When he picked her up, Xiao Shouren had thought of lifting her veil to take a look at what this big-eyed female assassin looked like. But thinking of Mu Wanqing from "The Legend of the Condor Hero", Xiao Shouren restrained his curiosity. He didn't want to end up having to marry her if she looked as beautiful as Mu Wanqing. What if she was ugly? Could he tell her, "Miss, you look too sorry for the audience, why bother with this ambiguous beauty? Isn't that encouraging crime?" That would be too hurtful. After struggling and thinking, Xiao Shouren finally didn't have the courage to do it.
After covering her with the quilt, Xiao Shouren knew that he would have to practice for a night. He went back to his own room next door, took out a quilt and sat on the floor, starting to cultivate the Bone Tempering Technique in the Blazing Flame Technique. Due to his daily cultivation over this period of time, coupled with his good foundation, Xiao Shouren was now cultivating his dual arms. In another two days, he estimated that his dual arms would also reach their peak. The long night was quiet and uneventful.
The next morning, Xiao Shouren woke up to find that the female assassin had already woken up. He quickly got out of bed and sat down beside her, looking at her with a smile. She was staring at the ceiling with her round eyes wide open, but when she saw him approaching, she hastily closed them again. Xiao Shouren chuckled and said, "You can't speak or move, that's for the best. Just don't cause me any trouble." He knew that the female assassin was very weak at this moment and posed no danger to him. What he feared most was being discovered by the Sui army, which would force him to return to his fugitive life on the run. Seeing that the quilt had been tossed aside, Xiao Shouren helped her pull it back over herself, covering her up. Her long eyelashes trembled constantly, and she seemed to be afraid that he might do something untoward. He reassured her with a smile, "Don't be afraid, I won't kill you, nor will I take advantage of your current state. Once you've recovered from your injuries in a few days, I'll let you go." The female assassin opened her eyes and glanced at him before quickly closing them again.
Xiao Shouren thought to himself: "Last night, as soon as I woke up, she hit me on the head with a chair? Now it's still in my hands. If I don't tease her now, she'll think I'm easy to bully. Why not take advantage of her and get revenge for the time she held a knife to my neck? She's lost too much blood, so if I want to hit her, I can hit her; if I want to scold her, I can scold her - she can't move. Haha!" He couldn't help but laugh out loud at his own cleverness.
The female assassin heard him laugh and opened her eyes to see why he was laughing. Xiao Shouren laughed and said, "You're a female assassin, very impressive, aren't you? I'm not putting you in my eyes at all!" He walked up and stared at her with both eyes, and the female assassin quickly closed her eyes again. Xiao Shouren said, "What's the use of closing your eyes? Well, if you don't want to open your eyes, what's the use of this pair of eyeballs? Why not dig them out and let me drink?" After finishing speaking, he took out a dagger from his pants leg, held it flat on her eyelids, and drew a few strokes. The female assassin shuddered all over, but still didn't open her eyes. Xiao Shouren saw that even this couldn't scare her into opening her eyes, and suddenly his competitive heart was stirred up. He laughed and said, "Good, good, good! Today I'll just play with you and see who's more powerful, you or me, the 'Over-the-River White Dragon' of the Jianghu!" I won't dig out your eyeballs for now, if I do that it would be considered my loss. Instead, I'll draw a small turtle on your left cheek and write some words on your right cheek... Ah! Let's see... How about "Official Concubine"? When the wound heals, when you walk on the street, everyone will point at you and say: 'Look, this little girl has a turtle on her left face and an official concubine on her right face!' Will you open your eyes or not?" The female assassin's whole body was numb, only opening her eyes could be decided by herself. Hearing Xiao Shouren's words, she closed her eyes even tighter. Xiao Shouren muttered to himself: "It turns out that this assassin thinks she's not beautiful and wants me to draw a few strokes on her face to give her an ancient makeover! Unfortunately, I don't know what's wrong with me today, my hand holding the knife is shaking non-stop... What if I accidentally draw a turtle that doesn't look like one?" He opened the inkstone on the table, ground the ink, dipped his pen, and walked to the bedside. With one swift motion, he tore off the damn veil, and Xiao Shouren was stunned. This stunning beauty suddenly appeared before his eyes... The big eyes didn't need to be said, the trembling eyelashes with some tears, the smooth face that seemed like it could be blown away by a breath of air, the tightly pursed lips, the high nose bridge with a bit of exotic flavor... He stared for a while, and Xiao Shouren still picked up his pen and drew a small turtle on the female assassin's left cheek. The female assassin immediately burst into tears, and a tear stain appeared on the strokes of the turtle.
I can only say that I'm exhausted today, tired to the point of being like a mangy dog with only half my life left, but updates are absolutely essential. Given how hard I've worked on this book, please give it some love by adding it to your collection and clicking on the red ticket button - thank you so much!
