“Hehehe. I see that Miss Chu is really smart and talented. Why don’t I teach you a trick or two?” offered Jiang Wuhen with a smile.
“How about I just throw you off this carriage now?” Ling Yichen said coolly. ‘This rascal must be seeking death. How dare he try to misguide Chuxi? I will kill him without pardon.’
“Hahaha. I’m only joking, only joking,” replied Jiang Wuhen, wiping cold sweat off his forehead. ‘Tsk tsk tsk. This one called Yichen is quite fierce. It’s better if I don’t provoke him.’
“Hey Master, that looks like your garment. That man is the one who stole your garment!” Just as Jiang Wuhen had finished talking, a man dressed in servant’s clothing exclaimed to his potbellied old master standing beside him by the road.
“Ha! Jiang Wuhen, I have finally caught you. I have employed you back then to teach. Not only have you stolen my books and money, but you have even stolen my New Year’s celebration garment. Get ahold of him! Beat him, beat him up cruelly for me. But don’t destroy my New Year’s clothes. Take him for a parade through the streets after you have stripped him of them.” The old master roared and few of his servants unsheathed knives and swords with expressions as fierce as devils and chased after the carriage. Jiang Wuhen’s expression changed again.
Ling Yichen shook his head helplessly. He leapt off the carriage and quickly solved the problem for Jiang Wuhen. He gave the servants some money to give to their master and said a few good words on Jiang Wuhen’s behalf. Jiang Wuhen was trembling all over his body and felt Ling Chuxi’s sharp gaze stabbing into him like a knife from behind. He completely believed that if were not for the fact that Ling Chuxi needed him to lead the way right now, she would have joined the group of servants in beating him up.
…
While exiting the city, Jiang Wuhen was like a street rat that everyone wanted to shout at and hit. The aggression directed towards him almost never stopped even for a moment. Only then did Ling Chuxi and Ling Yichen know that not only had Jiang Wuhen stirred up a lot of trouble, he practically had enemies everywhere under the sky. If not for Ling Yichen striking out to help, one would reckon that Jiang Wuhen would not be able to take a single step out of the city. Ling Chuxi found it hard to imagine how Jiang Wuhen had managed to survive up till this day.
“How much trouble have you stirred up actually?” Ling Chuxi could not resist asking. If she had known about this earlier, even if they did not pay him, she reckoned that he would have shamelessly followed by their sides.
“There’s no more. It will be better after we leave the city,” said Jiang Wuhen guiltily as he continued driving the carriage.
“Master, master. Look! That looks like your son-in-law who escaped.” Just as they left the city, someone had roared out another one of Jiang Wuhen’s sins amidst the crowd entering the city.
Ling Chuxi shook her head. It turns out that this parade would not cease even if they had exited the city. This fellow was totally a troublemaker.
“Jiang Wuhen, get down here. How dare you kidnap and swindle my, Butcher Wang’s, daughter? You wiped your mouth clean and patted your *ss and left just like that. How can you be let off so lightly?” There was a muffled roar that sounded like rolling thunder which drifted across the crowd. Then, a man with big arms and a round waist who was as tall as an iron tower came rushing out with a pig slaughter knife held in his hands.
Jiang Wuhen trembled all over and hastened the horse attached to the carriage into a faster gallop desperately.
“Wait, what? You actually kidnapped and swindled a young girl belonging to a good family?” Ling Chuxi really did not want to help Jiang Wuhen anymore this time. Even if she let him off because she needed to find Rejuvenation Valley, he should receive some punishment and suffer some pain in his flesh.
“I didn’t. I really didn’t. It’s them who are forcing me to stay,” said Jiang Wuhen, panicked till his tears were about to fall. The grief in his voice and on his face really made those who heard it to be sad and those who saw it to cry.
“Hubby, hubby. Don’t run away. It’s Xiao Rou. Please stay and we will live a good life. We still have to birth a big bunch of babies,” said a voice that sounded as if a lion was roaring from the east bank and the sound had drifted over. A girl with big arms who was as tall as an iron tower with a little yellow flower tucked into her hair was rushing over joyously. The ground shook violently in time with her cheerful footsteps.
‘Xiao Rou?’ (1) Ling Chuxi and Ling Yichen had chills at the same time. How could one be gentle with such a figure? People would have mistaken it for an earthquake if she was out for a jog.
Jiang Wuhen’s expression changed. It really changed. Even his hands which held the horse’s reins were trembling. It was best for him to hold onto the determined attitude of fighting to live when he was confronted with death. The whip lashed out sturdily against the horse’s hide. The horse felt the strike and gave out a mad neigh. It then rushed forward as if it had gone mad.
(1) Xiao Rou means little gentle in Chinese. Thus, the great discrepancy between her name and her demeanor.
