Chapter 12 Chapter 12
Qingyuan Village has only about twenty households, scattered sparsely, and they are not well-informed.
On the way, Changsheng's mother bumped into Qinglian dumping medicine dregs and asked her a question, only to learn that Zhou Cuiniang was ill.
After overhearing this, Luo Yan scratched Zhu Yun's palm and said, "Come with me to see Qingcao."
"I won't go if Liu Changsheng is included."
"I'm not taking him." Luo Yan asked, puzzled. "But what did Changsheng do to offend you?"
Zhu Yun seemed to have taken a poison to silence him, silently climbing over the wall. After taking a few steps, he obediently returned, grabbing Luo Yan and pulling her along before she could get angry.
She straightened her clothes and said, "I'm a girl, after all. Don't carry me like I'm an object next time."
"......"
It was late at night, and the black guard dog was dozing off, emitting soft snores.
A lamp was lit in the room, casting the image of her thin, frail figure sitting by the bed onto the window. Her shoulders trembled as if she were crying.
Luo Yan asked softly, "Aren't Uncle Liu and Qingcao home?"
"Hmm." Zhu Yun could only hear the breathing of the three people, two of whom were taking in more air than exhaling.
She was pondering how to call Qinglian out when she saw the little girl carrying a lantern to the roadside, standing on tiptoe and peering down the slope.
"Blue Lotus—"
Luo Yan quickly caught up, "I heard your mother is sick?"
Upon seeing Luo Yan, Qinglian cried even harder, shaking her head and nodding repeatedly, refusing to speak.
She had no choice but to change the subject: "Where's your older sister? Why isn't she home so late?"
Qinglian was still pouting and crying, which melted Luo Yan's heart. She quickly pulled Qinglian into her arms and comforted her gently.
Zhu Yun urged, "I'm asking you a question."
The little girl, startled by his harsh words, immediately forgot to cry and timidly hid behind Luo Yan, saying, "Father took my sister to town."
Luo Yan assumed they were going to town to buy medicine, and breathed a sigh of relief as she escorted Qinglian, whose emotions were gradually calming down, back home. But as her gaze swept over the carpenter's dilapidated roof and furniture, she suddenly felt uncertain.
Would a man with a long history of alcoholism suddenly become kind and seek medical treatment for his wife?
Does he have the means to hire a doctor?
Zhu Yun knew what she was thinking and said in a normal tone, "She should have been taken to see the matchmaker."
"A matchmaker?" Luo Yan's voice trembled, and her fingertips quivered slightly. "He wants to sell the grass?"
After saying that, she had her answer.
The carpenter had three daughters; the eldest was already married, and the youngest was not very clever. Green grass was the most valuable commodity. As for selling his daughters to pay for his wife's medical treatment, it wasn't out of deep affection, but because Zhou Cuiniang was skilled in farming and weaving, and therefore more useful.
"Ah Yun, do you think the grass has already been sold?"
Zhu Yun couldn't answer, but seeing her red eyes, he coaxed her softly, "I remember the matchmaker's face. If you're really worried, I'll go to town to take a look."
Luo Yan quickly took off her newly acquired gold bracelet and then reached for the jade hairpin in her hair, intending to stuff it all into his hands. Suddenly, she heard Liu the carpenter's drunken cursing coming from down the slope.
He grabbed Luo Yan by the back of her collar, about to lift her away, but remembering her previous instructions, he changed his grip and lifted her by the waist.
Just as he had hidden himself, Liu the carpenter entered the yard and kicked over a winnowing basket, saying, "Useless thing."
Qingcao gestured to her younger sister, who was peeking out, signaling her not to come out. Then she knelt down and begged, "I know a lot of words. I'll go find my aunt. Please don't sell me."
In a flash, she remembered the matchmaker's casual complaint, "Father, if all else fails, you can sell me to the Jia family."
Carpenter Liu turned the jar over and, seeing that not a drop of wine was left, angrily threw it at her: "What they want is a convict slave from the family of an official."
Luo Yan's tears fell "plop plop," warm as they landed on the back of Zhu Yun's hand.
He was unmoved by the noise below, but he could hardly ignore the sobbing girl beside him. He simply drew his dagger, nimbly twirled it around, and called out to her, "Yanyan."
"Um?"
"Would you be happy if you killed him?"
Luo Yan was stunned by the question, thinking she was hallucinating, but Zhu Yun was clearly eager to try: "It's a new one, sharper than the previous one, and it won't make any noise."
She instantly stopped crying and said with utmost seriousness, "Ah Yun, this isn't funny."
I'm not kidding.
Zhu Yun pursed her lips, still unwilling to give up: "If you kill Liu the carpenter, you can continue to be Qingcao's teacher, isn't that good?"
"Good for you, my foot!" Luo Yan couldn't cry anymore. She picked a fruit and handed it to him. "Could you knock him unconscious, but don't cripple him or..."
Before he could finish speaking, Liu the carpenter had already fainted on the ground.
Qingcao was initially surprised, but soon a relieved smile appeared on her face. She scrambled to her feet and led her frightened younger sister into the house to visit their mother.
Zhu Yun clapped his hands, his face darkening with anger, and inwardly blamed Luo Yan for using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
But they forgot that Luo Yan was not a martial artist, and since it was dark all around, she couldn't see anything at all.
She felt her way to the boy's collarbone, then moved down his arm to slip the jewelry inside, whispering, "I'm thinking of digging a shallow hole to bury the bracelet, and then luring the two sisters to find it."
Zhu Yun's ears turned red from her words: "Take your hand away."
"oh."
He entered the yard with an air of nonchalance, and kicked the big black dog's rear end first: "Don't make a sound."
Then he dug a shallow hole with the scabbard, buried the things, went into the kitchen, took a steamed bun, broke it into pieces and sprinkled it on the hole, then kicked the black dog: "Eat."
As expected, Qinglian peeked out from the noise and saw Xiao Hei digging out a shiny object from the ground. She hurriedly went to call her sister.
Luo Yan was actually quite afraid that they would turn around and hand the things over to Liu the carpenter, so she clung to Zhu Yun's arm and wouldn't let go: "Let me look at it for a little while longer, just a little while longer."
Fortunately, Qingcao did not disappoint her. She carefully put away the bracelet and told her younger sister, "If you still want to have a mother, you must never let Father know."
With a weight lifted from her heart, Luo Yan wiped her face, looked up, and asked, "Can you tell I've been crying?"
Zhu Yun lowered his eyes and saw that her eyelids were covered with a thin pinkish tinge, which looked strangely like the peach blossom pastries he had bought that day. So, as if possessed, he reached out and rubbed them.
Luo Yan: "?"
He licked his lips, avoiding eye contact: "Go home."
*
As the hour of Chou (1-3 AM) was about to pass, Zhu Yun was awakened by a sharp whistle.
He listened intently for a moment. The distance was not close, so it was likely that the group from Lanyue Tower had searched without success and were using this method to lure him out.
After spending several months in seclusion in Qingyuan Village, he was looking for someone to practice on when a target came knocking on his door. There was no reason not to welcome it.
Zhu Yun got up, dressed, wrapped the long whip around his waist, picked up his sword, and went into the next room as usual before leaving.
The girl's breathing was steady, her arms wrapped around a crescent-shaped pillow, her cheek resting on it, clearly fast asleep. Zhu Yun flicked her slightly pouting lips with his finger and whispered, "I'm going out for a bit. I might be back soon, or... a little later."
After hesitating for a few moments, he still lit Luo Yan's sleep acupoint to prevent her from waking up and getting angry if she couldn't find him.
He followed the initial whistle southward, only to hear the same whistle coming from the north, realizing that the Lan Yue Lou's tactic was called "finding a needle in a haystack".
Too lazy to turn back, let's keep heading south.
His figure blended perfectly into the darkness as he moved through the night. When Zhu Yun came to a steady stop on a treetop, none of the thirteen people noticed his presence.
The leader was Jia Liu, whose ears ached from the whistle, and he frowned.
Yi Si, adept at reading people, waved his men away and inquired with a smile, "Is the young master really still alive?"
“Of course.” Although Jia Liu was impatient, he couldn’t stop talking. “The divine doctor said that the young master took a lot of good things from the pharmacy, so he won’t die so easily.”
"But that's a warm bed for mandarin ducks."
“I already told you it was the miracle doctor who said it, why are you yelling at me?”
Yi Si hurriedly bowed and apologized, and after Jia Liu went to inspect other places, he spat at his back again.
From the tree, Zhu Yun observed everyone's reactions.
He sorted things out and guessed that the divine doctor had made public the matter of refining the Mandarin Duck Warm Energy and was certain that he was not dead.
After he killed several "seniors," the top-tier disciples fell from grace. While everyone outwardly remained respectful, they were not necessarily truly convinced.
For example, people like Yi Si often say in private:
How could a mere thirteen-year-old boy take them all down? Was he simply too strong, or were some of the others too weak?
However, what attracted Zhu Yun the most was the divine doctor.
He crushed a specially made pill from the building, scattering it as he walked. After confirming that he was far from Hanmei Town, he sat cross-legged on a boulder.
About half an hour later, rustling sounds came from the forest.
Jia Liu, seeing the young man's calm and composed demeanor from afar, realized he had deliberately lured people here, and his scalp tightened immediately. However, he couldn't disobey the lord's orders, so Jia Liu quietly took two steps forward and called out, "Little Seven—"
Before he could finish speaking, a bamboo leaf flew straight at his face.
Jia Liu was prepared. He pulled the disciple on his left to his right and cut a long bloody gash across his throat with a leaf, killing him instantly.
Upon seeing this, the crowd appeared one after another, attempting to negotiate: "The Lord of the Tower has not issued a kill order."
“It’s no use talking to him.” Jia Liu retreated subtly and sighed, “For the sake of our acquaintance of over ten years, please be lenient.”
Zhu Yun curled her lips into a smile: "One by one, or all at once?"
Jia Liu closed his eyes in despair, listening to the clash of swords, which then fell silent. He still dared not make a move, and soon, a soft, cool whip wrapped around his neck.
As the pressure tightened, Jia Liu's face turned pale. He was about to curse Zhu Yun before he died when the pressure on his neck suddenly loosened.
Did the Guanyin Bodhisattva I worshipped today actually have any effect?
"Cough cough cough." Jia Liu collapsed to the ground. From this angle, the boy's face looked extremely solemn. Could it be that he was thinking of some underhanded trick that would leave someone half-dead?
Alarm bells rang in Jia Liu's mind. He forced his eyes open, only to find that he was shining shoes.
"?"
Zhu Yun was slightly annoyed; she should have changed into her old shoes before going out.
Jia Liu realized this was a good chance to save his life and said, "Washing with wood ash several times can remove the bloodstains. Hmm, I happen to have some with me."
He knew Jia Liuxi was clean and had no doubts. He took the porcelain bottle and poured the contents onto the soiled embroidery.
"Little Seven," Jia Liu said in a softer tone, "the Lord sent me out just to deliver a message to you."
"explain."
"Go back when you've had enough fun."
Zhu Yun straightened up and smiled indifferently: "Also, please pass on a message for me: tell the divine physician to come see me within ten days."
After saying that, he threw down the porcelain bottle and left.
Back in his room, Zhu Yun heard barely audible breathing. His killing intent hadn't faded, and he instinctively drew his sword. He quickly withdrew it when he met Luo Yan's bewildered expression, but still managed to leave a half-finger-long bloody gash on her delicate neck.
Zhu Yun's pupils constricted: "You... how did you wake up?"
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