Chapter 86
Chapter 86
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 86
>Chapter Title: Departure
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“What kind of person is he? Isn’t Senior Brother Li pretty good?”
It was as if she sensed something of hers was being slandered. Bai Lingmiao seemed a bit unhappy.
“He...”
Xiaoman hesitated a little.
“You really think there’s nothing wrong with Senior Brother Li? If there was nothing wrong with him, why did that leper head grab him as a medicine primer back then?”
The room quieted down. After spending so much time together, everyone knew each other inside out. Compared to everyone else’s outward issues, Li Huowang’s mental problems were far trickier.
It was just that everyone deliberately avoided the topic.
Bai Lingmiao’s expression dimmed a little.
“So what? If he’s like that, am I any better? I’m all white. Everyone else is scared of me when they see me. But Senior Brother Li never treated me any differently. And he’s saved me several times.”
“For someone like me to find someone like Senior Brother Li, it’s something I never even dreamed of. I’m already thrilled that he doesn’t mind me.”
Seeing this, Xiaoman stopped trying to persuade her and just let out a soft sigh before slowly closing her eyes.
“Go to sleep.”
The bedroom gradually quieted, leaving only the two girls’ faint breathing sounds.
Once she heard the breathing behind her gradually shallow out, Xiaoman turned around and looked toward the exquisite girl in front of her.
Looking at those long eyelashes, Xiaoman reached out and gently stroked the other’s cheek. That sensation, smooth like a freshly peeled boiled egg, made her utterly entranced.
“...I... know... don’t rush me...”
Bai Lingmiao mumbled some sleepy dream talk.
Xiaoman’s brows, hidden under her thick hair, furrowed slightly as her cheek quietly drew closer.
“Bang!” The sound of the door being kicked open made Xiaoman bolt upright. She yanked a dagger from under her pillow and positioned herself in front of Bai Lingmiao.
“Senior Brother Li? You came down from the mountain?”
She said in surprise, looking at the young man before her.
The one who pushed open the door was none other than Li Huowang, who had just come down from Heng Hua Mountain.
“Where’s the gold?”
Li Huowang got straight to the point.
“It’s all with the tall fool Zhijian. He’s guarding it.”
Li Huowang glanced at the bleary-eyed Bai Lingmiao and turned to head toward the other guest rooms.
“What happened? Who’s here?”
Bai Lingmiao sat up in a daze.
Xiaoman gently pulled her back down and said softly,
“Nothing. Go to sleep. We’ll talk about other things tomorrow.”
By the next day, Xiaoman was pulling Bai Lingmiao’s hand into another guest room, where they saw Li Huowang.
She keenly noticed the yellow mud at his feet. It looked like her Senior Brother Li had been running around outside all night yesterday, who knows doing what.
“You’re here? Sit. I’ll tell you about the next leg of the journey.”
Xiaoman saw Li Huowang unfurl a drawn map.
“This place is where we’re heading next. I need to go there first to get something. Once I have it, I’ll send you all home.”
With that said, Li Huowang didn’t wait for anyone else’s input. He pocketed the map and headed for the door.
“Pack your things. We’re setting out at noon today.”
“Senior Brother Li! What happened on the mountain? Is that place dangerous?”
Seeing Bai Lingmiao quickly follow after him, Xiaoman turned to the others.
“What the heck is going on? What’s Senior Brother Li doing? Why are we turning back again?”
“How should I know? Senior Brother Li never consults us anyway. It’s already a huge surprise that he gave us a heads-up today for once.”
Gouwa said in a sullen voice, his face scrunched up miserably.
“We’re going, so we’re going. Why the long face?”
It was fine if he didn’t say anything, but once he did, tears streamed down Gouwa’s face.
“Senior Brother Li gave all the gold away! Nothing left! If I’d known, I wouldn’t have gone whoring. I should’ve bought a wife first!”
“What?! All of it? How could you not stop him? You all know there’s something wrong with Senior Brother Li’s head!”
Xiaoman shouted anxiously.
“I did try to stop him! Yesterday when he was giving away the gold, I tried all the way! But I can’t exactly stop him if he won’t stop!”
Xiaoman turned and rushed outside in a hurry, but it was all for nothing. He hadn’t slept all night yesterday, and the gold had already been sent to An Ci Nunnery.
“Don’t worry. I kept some traveling money.”
With heavy hearts, Xiaoman and the others set out once more. In this matter, they really had no say.
The water bandits were killed by Li Huowang, and the gold was robbed by him. If he wanted to give it away, no one had the right to stop him.
It was just that plummeting from extreme wealth to pennilessness so suddenly was really hard to adjust to emotionally.
Xiaoman opened her eyes. She glanced at Li Huowang, who sat like a statue by the campfire, staring at the red bamboo slips, and quietly slipped out from under the blanket toward the misty woods at dawn.
She came to a secluded grassy clearing, pulled out a book, drew the long saber at her waist, assumed a stance, and began practicing according to the book.
The blade whistled through the air. Though it looked clumsy, Xiaoman’s eyes were resolute as she practiced with utmost seriousness.
“Whew~”
The blade halted. She jumped in fright upon seeing Li Huowang standing there with the tip pointed right at him.
Li Huowang was still the same Li Huowang. Exhaustion was written all over his scarred face above his neck full of scars.
“Where’d this book come from?”
Li Huowang walked over, picked up the book from the ground, and flipped through it. He found it only had drawings of little figures wielding swords, with no text at all. It looked like a sword manual.
“Didn’t you say before that we should buy what we want? I went to an escort agency and traded gold with one of their escorts for this.”
Xiaoman replied.
“In these times, anyone who’s an escort knows some kung fu. I paid a big price for this one. It’s real.”
Then, Xiaoman smiled softly.
“After I killed my dad, I kept thinking—if I’d had a blade in my hand back then, would he still have dared sell me and my little sister?”
“So I want to get stronger. To protect myself and protect the others too.”
Hearing Xiaoman’s words, Li Huowang nodded silently and turned back toward the campfire.
Xiaoman looked at that retreating figure, hesitated in her heart, then gritted her teeth and shouted,
“Senior Brother Li, Junior Sister Bai is sincere about you. Please don’t let her down!”
Li Huowang didn’t stop walking. He strode right out of the woods.
“Show this book to the others too. Maybe they can learn something from it.”
They traveled with stops and starts along the way. Even with a carriage, it still took many days to cover two hundred li.
When they were almost there, Li Huowang led the others to regroup in the nearest village to that location.
In a small farmhouse courtyard, the bored others were huddled together playing leaf cards. Gouwa yawned listlessly and asked the Sun Baolu across from him,
“Where’d Senior Brother Li go? We haven’t seen him all day today. We’re almost there—why are we still hanging around here? This isn’t like him at all.”
(End of chapter)