Fang Jie returned to Hongxiuzhao on the evening of the second day. After entering the house and hearing from Daquan that Henggun was dead, he remained silent for a long while. Henggun's body had been taken away by the Imperial Guards, and the murderer had not yet been found. He silently tore a strip of white clothing from under his robe and tied it around his arm, then said a few words to the people in the room.
"I rented a shop across the street to the west of Hongxiuzhao. I paid the rent on my way back from Changchun Garden. Xiaoyao, you two move in there and wait for me to return."
"I'll go and bring Henggun's body back."
After saying these two sentences, he turned and walked out of the gate of Hongxiuzhao.
"I'll go with you!"
Qilin chased after him, his voice hoarse. "The person who killed Henggun will eventually kill you too. We won't feel at ease letting you go out alone."
Fang Jie stopped and turned to Qilin, saying, "Go left from here for about half an hour, then turn left again. There's a coffin shop there. Brother Qilin... go buy a coffin. I reckon the shopkeeper's already closed. Try to... go through the main street, don't go into the alleys, remember that."
Qilin hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "If it's closed, I'll break it down."
Fang Jie hummed in agreement, then looked at Daquan and Mu Xiaoyao, saying, "Go back first. We can't cause any more trouble for Hongxiu. We're all jinxes; wherever we go, we bring disaster. Everyone has already helped us enough. Our lives aren't safe; nobody knows if we'll ever have a chance to repay them. The more favors we owe, the more burdened we feel. If we can't repay them, at least we shouldn't cause any more trouble for others."
Daquan and Mu Xiaoyao nodded. "You need someone with you."
Shen Qingshan, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke, her tone soft but unwavering.
"I'll go."
Mu Xiaoyao walked slowly to Fang Jie's side, looking into his eyes and saying in a low voice, "Although I don't know why you insisted on going out alone, you must have your reasons. I originally planned to follow you secretly, so I didn't say anything just now. I'm not as clever as her; she just said..."
Fang Jie shook his head, signaling Mu Xiaoyao to stop. He smiled and only said four words: "I knew before I came back."
Mu Xiaoyao nodded and followed Fang Jie out of Hongxiuzhao.
On the third floor of Hongxiuzhao, Xi Huamei stood at the window, watching Fang Jie walk out, and couldn't help but shake her head slightly. Standing beside her, Xi Zhuxin frowned slightly, remained silent for a moment, and then cursed angrily, "Is he an idiot?!"
Xi Huamei was taken aback and looked at Xi Zhuxin, asking, "Didn't you always dislike Fang Jie?"
"The same now, precisely because he's an idiot."
Xi Zhuxin turned and went back to her room, not looking downstairs again. Xi Huamei felt there was something different about Xi Zhuxin's tone than usual, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Watching Xi Zhuxin's retreating figure, she shook her head slightly and muttered to herself, "You deserve a better life. If His Majesty knew you were performing the flowing sleeve dance in this brothel, I wonder if he'd immediately order Fei Yupao to seal it off."
But then she remembered the instructions the man in the blue robe had given her before leaving, and could only sigh silently.
After Fang Jie and Mu Xiaoyao left Hongxiuzhao, they walked about two hundred meters and found a steamed bun shop still open. Fang Jie even had the leisure to stop and buy ten steamed buns with some copper coins.
"You haven't eaten either, have you?"
He asked Mu Xiaoyao.
Mu Xiaoyao nodded.
She used to eat alcohol, but today she hadn't had a single drop. Her heart was too heavy, so much so that she couldn't even drink.
Fang Jie asked the shopkeeper to divide the steamed buns into two portions, six for him and four for Mu Xiaoyao.
"Vegetarian,"
Fang Jie said casually, then stuffed a bun into his mouth. The buns weren't big, but it was still a bit difficult to eat one in one bite. The egg and mushroom filling tasted good. After eating three in a row, he looked at Mu Xiaoyao, whose face showed some difficulty, and said, "You need to eat to have energy. Before coming back, Mr. Zhuo specifically sought me out and asked me to tell you something… The reason your perception has stagnated over the past few years is related to your alcoholism. Drinking too much alcohol will make you increasingly dull… If I had known this earlier, I would never have kept buying you alcohol."
Mu Xiaoyao followed Fang Jie's steps, picked up a bun, and took a bite.
"Disgusting?" Fang Jie asked.
"No."
"Then finish it all."
Fang Jie stuffed the last bun into his mouth, subconsciously touching the rusty, broken knife at his waist. Mu Xiaoyao imitated him, stuffing the whole bun into her mouth, but her mouth was too small, and she couldn't chew it properly. Fang Jie took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and gently wiped the soup dripping from Mu Xiaoyao's mouth, saying softly, "You've walked 365 steps with me from Hongxiuzhao to here, that's enough."
"Not enough!"
Mu Xiaoyao swallowed the food in her mouth with difficulty and shook her head. "There's a noodle shop not far from the shop I rented. It's doing good business; it must be delicious. How about we go eat there together tomorrow morning?"
Mu Xiaoyao nodded, then said firmly, "I'm not leaving."
"You must leave."
Fang Jie wiped Mu Xiaoyao's mouth, folded the handkerchief, handed it to her, and said one word: "Look."
Mu Xiaoyao froze, and while she was still stunned, Fang Jie had already turned and walked out. Mu Xiaoyao hesitated for a moment, but ultimately didn't follow. She turned back and walked towards the shop Fang Jie rented, eating a steamed bun as she walked. Then, naturally, she opened the handkerchief to wipe her mouth. As she opened the handkerchief, she saw a line of small characters written on it.
"With Mr. Zhuo here, I don't trust the court. If anything happens, find the old cripple."
It was a very awkward sentence, yet it contained so much meaning. Mu Xiaoyao's pupils contracted slightly; she instantly understood Fang Jie's meaning. She couldn't help but quicken her pace, the red silk hidden in her sleeve stirring restlessly.
Somewhere. The person emerging from the shadows chuckled softly and said to Mr. Zhuo, "Alone, he really trusts you."
Mr. Zhuo shook his head, remaining silent.
But in his heart, he thought, "If he truly trusted me, he wouldn't be alone."
...
...
After eating six steamed buns, Fang Jie felt a warm and comfortable feeling in his stomach. Six buns weren't enough to fill him up, and even doubling that wouldn't necessarily satisfy him. But he only ate six, not because he was stingy with the money, but because he knew that eating too much at this time would be a mistake.
When a person is too full, they become complacent, and even the slightest complacency can lead to sluggishness.
He walked slowly along the main street. The number of pedestrians was dwindling, and many shops had already closed. When he reached the entrance of a small alley, Fang Jie seemed to hesitate for a moment, then turned and went inside. The alley was deep and quiet. Fang Jie crouched slightly, pushed off with his feet, and dashed out.
He moved like a rabbit.
Just as he reached the depths of the alley, turned the corner, and rushed into another alley, several dark figures suddenly appeared behind him at the alley's entrance. The leader, clad in a black robe that concealed his face and head, gestured in the direction Fang Jie had disappeared, and the men in black behind him immediately rushed in.
On the roof of a house, several masked men who were about to rush down were stopped by their leader. The leader pointed to the men in black in the alley below, a smirk playing on his lips, and whispered, "Someone's doing the work for us. Let's wait and see."
Six or seven men in black rushed into the alley and drew their weapons. The gleaming blades reflected a cold, sinister light in the moonlight. The leader, a cold, contemptuous smile on his lips, muttered, "He's courting death, so he has no one else to blame but himself," and then vanished without a trace.
As the men in black chased through the second alley, they suddenly stopped abruptly. The one in front halted abruptly and even instinctively took a step back.
In the alley ahead, Fang Jie stood quietly, a broken knife in his hand.
"Kill."
One of the men in black growled in a low voice and charged forward. His blade was raised high, slashing down with a thunderous sound towards Fang Jie's head. Seeing the blade raised, Fang Jie didn't retreat but instead took a large step forward. His right hand, holding the broken knife, slashed upwards, tearing through the man's throat before he could collide with him. A spurt of slightly hot blood gushed out.
Fang Jie brushed past the man, while the man in black, blood spurting from his neck, still held his blade in mid-air.
A reverse-grip strike, a straight line.
Right hand. The second man in black was clearly taken aback, never expecting his companion, a second-rank cultivator, to have his throat slashed in the blink of an eye. The leader had previously said this young man was a useless waste, incapable of cultivation, but how could a waste possibly wield such a fast and ruthless blade?
In that instant of astonishment, Fang Jie's blade was already before him. He hadn't even seen the angle from which Fang Jie's blade attacked, instinctively trying to raise his own to block, only to find he couldn't even find the trajectory of his opponent's blade.
It was still a backhand strike, still a single, straight line.
It was still his right hand.
Fang Jie, who had only practiced one sword technique with his left hand for a day, inexplicably chose to kill with his right. Even more astonishing was that in just one day, he had mastered the technique with such skill. The blade appeared from an unpredictable angle, slicing through the second man in black's throat.
Blood gushed out like a waterfall, the blood mist under the moonlight resembling a large, unfolding plum blossom.
"Attack together!"
The remaining four or five men in black swarmed forward, their blades flashing and slashing at Fang Jie. Fang Jie moved like a fish among them, then without turning his head, he thrust his blade into one of the men in black's back. With a soft thud, the blade pierced the skin.
He stumbled back a few steps, pulling the wounded man with him. The four men in black who had brushed past him turned and slowly pressed forward. Fang Jie slowly pulled his broken blade from the man's back. In the silent night, the sound of the saw-like blade being slowly pulled from the man's body was so clear, the sound of the blade scraping against bone making one's teeth ache.
With a thud, Fang Jie kicked the man in black away, then, with a light step, he lunged forward along with the flying corpse.
Just as a man in black dodged the flying corpse, before he could even turn around, Fang Jie was in front of him. The broken knife pierced straight into his heart, and then he felt the knife twist violently inside his body. He even had the illusion that he heard his heart rupture.
"Useless!"
The masked leader, lying prone on the roof, cursed under his breath, pointed at Fang Jie, and said, "Go down and help! No matter who those people are, we all have one goal now: kill Fang Jie!"
The four or five masked men beside him immediately stood up and swooped down from the roof like owls spreading their wings.
At that moment, the black-clad leader, who had been hiding, also became annoyed. He emerged from the shadows, drew a soft sword concealed in his black robe, and stabbed at Fang Jie's back like a venomous snake. He had been hidden in the shadows of the wall, his robe so wide that it completely concealed his figure. While he stood there motionless, no one had noticed his presence.
The soft sword was almost instantly at Fang Jie's back, and Fang Jie seemed completely unaware.
Just as the sword was pressed against Fang Jie's back, the black-robed man suddenly froze. The sword wouldn't advance an inch further. The next second, he did something that shocked everyone.
He withdrew his sword, turned, and stabbed one of his men through the heart. With another swift stroke, he slit the throat of a masked man. His wide black robe billowed out, and he moved like a giant bat, his movements so fast that no one could react. He darted and weaved through the alley, swooping and soaring like a bat.
Fang Jie charged forward, while the man behind him charged in another direction, like perfectly coordinated partners, each killing faster than the other.
In less than a minute, most of the seven or eight men surrounding Fang Jie had been stabbed to death by the black-robed man. The remaining two were cut down one by one by Fang Jie.
After killing the last man in front of him, Fang Jie glanced back at the sword-wielding man. He wiped the sweat from his brow, looked up at the rooftop with a hint of frustration, and said, "Couldn't you have come faster? I'm really not in the mood for thrills."
Sometimes before, another person had appeared beside the masked man who had been lying on the roof.
Clad in simple clothes, this person placed their hand on the masked man's shoulder. They sat there quietly, while the masked man beside them trembled uncontrollably with fear.
"Discard your sword."
The man in simple clothes uttered two words softly, and the man in black robes in the alley immediately dropped the soft sword in his hand to the ground. One spoke, the other acted, without any hesitation.
After saying this, he couldn't help but say to Fang Jie with some disappointment, "The one who should have come hasn't."
Fang Jie didn't answer, but instead charged out like a cheetah that had spotted its prey. He didn't even glance at who the man in black robes who had tried to kill him was, pushing himself to the limit. Seeing him rush back like a madman, Mr. Zhuo's expression changed drastically. He said, "Take everything," and then leaped after Fang Jie.
...
...
This was a general store. The original owner had moved out, and many unused items were carelessly left in the store, making it look very messy.
Big Dog glanced at the chaotic state of the place and couldn't help but shake his head: "You two go upstairs and rest first. I'll clean up... Although I hate doing these vulgar things, it seems like no one else will clean it now, right..."
Shen Qingshan, sitting on the cart, and Mu Xiaoyao, standing to the side, both knew that Big Dog had a strange habit. Despite being a boorish person, he had the same quirks as those so-called nobles, even more so. He wouldn't wash clothes, wouldn't go into the kitchen, and as for cleaning the room, that was out of the question. He was like a true nobleman, refusing to do anything that would tarnish his status.
It was unclear where this persistence came from, but Big Dog's stubbornness was sometimes infuriating. But today, it seemed he had an epiphany.
Just as he bent down to pick up a broom to sweep the floor, someone suddenly asked softly from outside the door.
"Excuse me, are you the one with the most sensitive nose?"
The big dog looked up sharply and saw a person in a white robe standing in the doorway. Perhaps it was too dark to see the person's face. Or perhaps a layer of mist lingered around the person's face, making the features indistinct even though they were not far away. In the quiet night, the person standing in the doorway, their snow-white robe like a blooming white lotus, was exceptionally conspicuous.