Chapter Sixteen I Want to Pick Up a Daughter-in-Law

  Yang Fan said hesitantly: "This Xiao Qianyue, because of his ugly appearance and poverty at home, is almost thirty years old and still can't find a wife..."

  The female assassin raised an eyebrow: "What's it to you?"

  Yang Fan took a deep breath and said: "But at the beginning of this year, he picked up a girl on the road, and later... that girl became his wife."

  Yang Fan said up to here, then "very embarrassed" and hung his head down, the purpose of his words had already been made clear.

  His shy and introverted appearance was the normal reaction of a young man who was forced to reveal his inner voice. Yang Fan was so used to this kind of pretentiousness, it was a skill he had honed since childhood to deal with those passionate and lively southern girls.

  The female assassin was stunned.

  What Yang Fan said was not a rare thing in those years, almost every city and village had similar things happen: a homeless vagrant woman was taken in by someone and then became their daughter-in-law, this kind of thing happened too often.

  Even more, this female assassin thought of herself after hearing Yang Fan's words. In the past, wasn't she also at a dead end and almost became someone else's adopted daughter-in-law?

  However, the purpose of saving this seemingly quite pleasing little thief in front of him was to emulate his neighbor with the surname Xiao and get a cheap wife for himself! He was going to take home the female assassin who attempted to kill the Empress and make her his wife! The female assassin really didn't know how to evaluate this gentleman's incredibly fanciful idea, so she just stood there, speechless for half a day.

  Yang Fan saw that she didn't speak, her face turned even redder. He scratched his head and said with a red face: "At that time... actually it was just a vague thought, I didn't really want to... Cough cough, it's only right if you don't repay kindness, you can rest assured, I won't force you into this kind of thing, I just had such a thought..."

  He couldn't tell the woman that he saved her just because she was being pursued by the authorities and he instinctively hated the authorities, so he joined forces with her. He also couldn't tell the woman that her helpless appearance, bowing down by the creek, looked exactly like his childhood self, so he was moved to make up a somewhat plausible reason.

  The female assassin thought it was true, and she didn't know whether to be angry or laugh at this time. She stared at Yang Fan for a long time before sighing with mixed emotions: "You have saved my life, and I naturally want to repay this great kindness, but..."

  Seeing the glint in Yang Fan's eyes, the female assassin hastily added a sentence: "However, it's not what you think. In short, I will repay you, I don't like owing people favors. I'm very tired now and want to rest first, let's talk about anything else tomorrow morning, okay?"

  "Alright, alright!"

  Yang Fan learned from Ma Qiao, who was scolded by his mother, and looked helpless. He rubbed his hands together and smiled foolishly: "Alright, let's go to bed first, it's late at night, and I have to get up early tomorrow. If there's anything, we can talk about it tomorrow." As he spoke, Yang Fan sat down on the edge of the bed and began to take off his shoes.

  "The female assassin exclaimed: 'What are you doing?'"

  Yang Fan said casually: "Sleeping, I only have this wooden bed, you... aren't telling me to go sleep in the woodshed?"

  How can this be?!

  The female assassin's face turned cold and she said: "You sleep on the ground!"

  "Miss, can't you see reason? This is my home!"

  The female assassin pressed the sword's hilt, and with a "ting" sound, the sharp blade popped out half a foot. Yang Fan was startled and quickly retreated to the floor, giving up his plan to reason with her.

  The female assassin hummed softly and sheathed her sword, holding it in front of her chest.

  Yang Fan lay down on the ground, stealing a glance at her and said "concernedly": "Miss, sleeping in wet clothes is probably not very good. I only have this set of clothes, really don't have any other clothes to lend you. If you want to take off your wet clothes, it's actually nothing, anyway with the lamp blown out, nothing can be seen."

  The female assassin didn't say a word, she just stared at him with those beautiful big eyes.

  She figured it out, this kid is just a city boy with some rascal habits, neither extremely evil nor having the guts to do anything seriously evil, but also not a well-behaved good kid, or maybe he still has some ill intentions, can't give him a good face.

  Yang Fan was stared at by her gaze and couldn't help but whisper: "Isn't there still a quilt, if you cover it up, it's done..."

  Yang Fan said, and then blew out the lamp.

  The oil lamp went out, and the room suddenly... was filled with clarity.

  Tonight, the crescent moon is like a hook, and the starlight is shining brightly across the sky. Yang Fan thought that extinguishing the lamp would make it darker, but unexpectedly, the room was as cool and clear as frost. Yang Fan turned her head to glance at the girl, just catching sight of the girl's bright and sparkling big eyes, and even the contours of her facial features were vaguely discernible.

  Yang Fan said "honestly": "Really... can't see, I'm blind as a bat!" (Idiom: night blindness)

  The female assassin still didn't speak, only staring at him with those beautiful big eyes.

  Yang Fan was too tired to eat and had no choice but to turn over and go to sleep.

  The girl's mouth twitched twice, her shoulders were sore and her body was tired, but somehow she felt like laughing: "How did I run into such a treasure..."

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  As soon as the sky was slightly bright, the Tianmen Gate rang out with bell drums announcing the dawn.

  When the first drumbeat sounded, the female assassin opened her eyes. Although she was still a bit drowsy, how could she sleep with such loud bell and drum sounds? As soon as she opened her eyes, she found that the man sleeping on the floor had disappeared. The female assassin's heart tightened, and she immediately sat up. Because of the sudden movement, her wound hurt again.

  She furrowed her eyebrows, sat up straight, gently pressed down on her shoulders, and cautiously looked around.

  The morning sunlight filtered through the window and into the room, still with a hint of gloom. The room was empty, except for a bed, a desk, and an old broken trunk stuck to the wall. There were not many things, but they gave people a feeling of being messy to the extreme. This is a typical characteristic of a single man. The house was dirty and messy, and except for the places where the owner often touched, other places even had a thick layer of dust.

  The female assassin walked to the wall, opened that broken trunk and took a look. This was the only piece of furniture in this messy house like a pigsty. As the guy said, there were no clothes inside, it seemed that all his belongings were just what he wore on his body. If she wore this night-walking outfit and walked out in broad daylight...

  The female assassin shook her head slightly.

  Although she didn't know where the man who had never been named went, she wasn't worried that he would go to the government to inform on her. If he had intended to inform on her, he wouldn't have taken the risk of carrying her back home last night and could have simply abandoned her at Wu Hou Pu. Even if he changed his mind, he could have reported it while she was unconscious and wouldn't have waited until now.

  But can she trust this person and rely on him to recover from her injuries? This little guy is glib, but he seems to be a scoundrel without the guts to do anything bad. No need to worry that he will harm her. However...

  The female assassin hesitated slightly.

  Although she failed in her mission, she didn't worry about it. Assassinating the Empress wasn't going to be easy anyway. When they first entered the palace to make their move, the young master had already anticipated this outcome, and the chances of success weren't high to begin with. But even if there was only a 1% chance, they had to give it a shot.

  Although she failed now, there is a prince's insider in the Feather Forest Guard who can assist her to sneak into the Jade Light Temple for assassination. Her failure and escape must be known by the prince, and he will know how to respond accordingly.

  At present, the only thing she needs to do is to protect herself, and her only worry is that she doesn't know whether the government will search the whole city. If so, this little thief with a guilty conscience but no courage will hear the news and become timid, and then betray her.

  She thought again, and she became practical. In these years, Wu Zetian had eliminated the Li Tang royal family one by one. Even when her eldest son and second son became obstacles to her, they were killed without hesitation. She widely used cruel officials, under various names, to purge ministers loyal to Li Tang, and frequently fabricated "auspicious omens" to create momentum for herself, clearly intending to overthrow the Li Tang dynasty.

  At this time, Wu Zetian was trying her best to create an atmosphere of "the world returning to the heart", would she publicize the assassination attempt and thus help the rebellious forces?

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  "Pffft! Pfft pfft!"

  The female assassin in contemplation heard some sounds faintly coming from the courtyard, so she closed the trunk and walked towards the door.

  In the courtyard, Yang Fan was squatting beside the well brushing his teeth.

  A cow's bone for a brush handle, a pig's bristle for the brush hair, dipped in blue salt, and brushed with a mouthful of pig hair.

  Yang Fan spat out the pig hair from his mouth and muttered, "This toothbrush is still new, but it's already shedding hair after just one use. This old lady really doesn't make good toothbrushes. How can she possibly sell them?"

  At that time, most people still used willow branches to brush their teeth. They would soak the willow branches in water beforehand and then gently bite them open with their teeth, causing the fibers inside to come out and form a small wooden comb. Alternatively, they would use loofahs. Although toothbrushes had already been invented, "toothpaste" made from medicinal materials like Chinese angelica was still yet to be invented, so people only used green salt.

  However, at that time, toothbrushes were still a luxury item, and ordinary people would not spend money on this aspect. Yang Fan was near the water tower because Ma Qiao's mother made toothbrushes, so he got a few for free, and thus he became one of the first users of Ma's toothbrushes.

  It looks like this Max toothbrush is clearly a counterfeit product, the bristles not only have a strong pig hair smell, but also the cow bone handle turns black after getting wet a few times, and there are some rough and hard spots that can easily scratch the gums.

  Actually, those who make toothbrushes have their own secrets, such as splitting cattle bones, drilling holes in cattle bones, and bundling pig bristles. These steps are easy to do once you see them. However, the split cattle bones need to be soaked in rice water for several days to prevent decay, and the soaked bone slices need to be planed with a hemp cloth before being put into a wooden bucket containing yellow bamboo chips to polish. After the toothbrush is made, it needs to be fumigated with sulfur to remove odors and disinfect. These secrets are not shared by others, so you won't easily think of them.

  Yang Fan was muttering and complaining, when suddenly the door creaked open with a "creak".

  The female assassin stood quietly there, like a rare orchid growing in the deep valley, with no hint of ferocity or murderous aura that a female assassin should have.

  She stood by the door, her pale face due to excessive blood loss, making her originally fair skin have a semi-transparent texture, a few strands of hair hanging on her egg-like translucent cheeks, which made her skin even whiter.

  Yang Fan smiled and waved at her, saying: "You're awake, come out, it's okay, this is just the first drumbeat. In this Wenfang, no one gets up earlier than me."

  His smile was radiant, like sunshine, and when he smiled, two shallow dimples appeared on his cheeks. The female assassin saw it in her eyes and suddenly felt a sense of "You are a great beauty, why be a thief!"

  P: I want to pick up a few recommendation votes! Chest out, and slam down with all one's might!