Chapter 2: Cat and Mouse
"Aran, when you see a man in a light purple robe walking out of that alley later, remember to rush over and hug him."
Jiao Ran was puzzled, "Ah, why?"
Mingguang pinched her chubby little face and asked, "Do you listen to what Senior Sister says?"
The little girl shook her head, "Mother said that I can't get close to outsiders easily, because there might be bad guys who will take me away."
The woman with the bright iris between her brows frowned, "If you don't obey, never come out with me again!"
Jiaoran finally got to go out for once, so of course she was afraid that he would never take her out to play again.
Soon, a man came out of the alley. Mingguang had already hidden himself, leaving Jiaoran standing there stupidly.
She is cute, with a chubby face that is as soft and tender as a small Yuanxiao. No one who sees her dislikes this little girl.
As soon as Jiaoran saw him come out, she obediently ran over and was hugged by the little girl. The man was stunned and was about to push her away, but Jiaoran raised her head, revealing an innocent and pure smile, and laughed at him foolishly.
A dough-like girl with two buns on her hair, who would be wary of her?
He squatted down and rubbed her cheek, "Where are you from, little girl?"
Jiaoran said, "I am Jiaoran. My mother calls me Xiao Jiaoer, and my father calls me A'ran."
"Little Jiao'er? So cute. Why are you here alone? Where is your home-"
Mingguang showed no mercy as he slashed the man's neck with the scimitar. Blood gushed out and the unfinished words were cut off in his throat. The hot blood dyed Jiaoran's clean little face red.
She was stunned and terrified.
It was not until Mingguang came to carry her away that she remembered to cry. When she wiped her tears with her sleeve, her face was even worse. The little girl cried heart-wrenchingly, and her face was blue and purple from crying so hard.
"Alright, alright, I'll take you to take a shower and change clothes. Also, don't tell Master and his wife, or I'll be in big trouble."
"Wow wow wow wow wow wow..."
The little girl cried unpleasantly, her cries like crows making her feel upset. "I should have known not to bring you out. If I hadn't seen that you could deceive people and let him down... there would have been no point in bringing you out!"
"Hmph..." She changed her crying style to one of grievance, but still didn't stop.
When the two of them returned and opened the door, their master's wife was already waiting there. She was sitting in the middle of the inn, on the carved mahogany rocking chair that no one else dared to sit on, with a fan draped over her hand.
The shopkeeper was wiping the abacus beads behind the counter. They were already clean, but he wiped them over and over again.
When Mingguang opened the door, he saw this scene.
She handed Jiaoran over to her master's wife.
The little girl cried all the way and changed her clothes. The clothes she had worn when she left were no longer wearable. She was smart enough to kill someone and hide quickly, without getting a drop of blood on her.
There was a strong smell of blood on Jiaoran's body.
Mingguang also exuded a strong murderous aura.
The proprietress brought Jiaoran over and slapped Mingguang hard. "Where did you go to play, little darling? Why are you crying like this?"
Jiao Ran sobbed, "There was an old man... his head... wuwu... his head fell off... he was bleeding... wuwu... so much blood..."
The proprietress called the shopkeeper over and asked him to take Jiaoran upstairs to sleep.
"Give her some goat's milk and put her to sleep."
The shopkeeper glanced at Mingguang and seemed to be hesitant to speak.
As he went upstairs, he turned back and said, "Don't get angry with your master's wife, talk to her nicely."
Mingguang lowered his head. The side of his face that was hit was already swollen.
She heard the master's wife say angrily, "If you dare to destroy her, I will kill you!"
The disciples in their sect were all orphans adopted by their master and mistress. Some of the well-behaved ones became escorts for the Huiying Sect, those with slightly better martial arts skills were bought out as assassins, and the better ones became guards for high-ranking families. The remaining few who were truly loyal and capable of protecting their families, and those who were neither good enough nor qualified enough to become apprentices, ran errands for the sect's missions. She had killed that man on behalf of her junior brother, but it was only because her junior brother's injuries from the previous mission hadn't healed yet, and she was anxious to do it.
The children given away by the master and his mistress are worthless just like cats and dogs and can be thrown away at any time. Only Jiaoran is different.
Only she is different.
She calls her master "Dad" and her master's wife "Mom".
She was their child, but like them, she was an orphan.
She even started many years later than them.
This is not fair.
"Yeah, I just can't accept it. Why can't she even watch us kill people?"
The anger in the lady boss's eyes grew even stronger. "You took our junior sister out and even made her bleed, and you still don't repent?"
"I'm not wrong."
Why should Jiaoran be treated like a treasure, while they deserve to be treated as worthless? They are obviously the same children without parents.
"You're not wrong?" Her tone was cold, the anger on her face disappeared, and her lips were tightly pursed. If this child was not disciplined now, he would only cause trouble in the future and bring trouble to Huiyingmen.
"Since you don't repent, I will teach you a lesson today."
"Master said a few days ago that the people in Prince Wei's Mansion wanted to buy a sword slave to perform sword dancing in the mansion for fun. After Master's Wife has taught me a lesson today, please give me the antidote to Huiyingmen. I am willing to go to Prince Wei's Mansion to be a sword slave." Her words made Master's Wife's face change color.
She sarcastically asked, "What kind of place is Chang'an? Is that something you can go to?"
Mingguang could no longer bear it and shouted desperately, "Why can't I go? Is Chang'an paved with gold bricks or the sky inlaid with silver? How lowly am I that I can't even be a servant in the Prince of Wei's palace? Master's wife has bullied me too much! If I can save my life from Master's wife today, I will go to Chang'an and cut off all ties with Huiyingmen!"
"You really think I don't dare to kill you? Let me tell you, I have no mercy. Even if you were my wolf cub, I would still kill you."
"Okay, I've been wanting to see the teacher's real skills for a long time." As he said this, the scimitar was already unsheathed.
She uses a pair of scimitars and has become quite famous in Xiu Tu in recent years. Everyone calls her Jade Hook Knife.
She held the two swords in her hands and asked Master's Wife, "Master's Wife should have chosen one that suits her. Swords have no eyes. If I hurt you, it would be my fault."
The proprietress didn't answer, but just looked around, as if searching for something. She looked up and saw a small bamboo pole supporting the window on the other side of the wine table. She said disdainfully, "Just use this."
Mingguang immediately felt humiliated. When she was a child, she didn't practice martial arts seriously, so her master's wife always beat her with a small willow branch. The willow branch was thin and made a crackling sound when it hit her body. She was beaten with bruises all over her body, and not a single piece of it was healed.
At such an age, she still hits her with this. Does she really think she is still a child?
Seeing her gritting her teeth, the master's wife shook the small bamboo stick in her hand and said with a smile, "I think it's a waste of talent to use this against you. Just use all the skills you have and let me see what you can come up with."
However, the bamboo pole, which was as thick as a little finger, made Mingguang so angry that he almost jumped up.
Mingguang held his weapon tightly and said to his master's wife, "You are my master's wife, please go first."
She sneered, "Do you want me to go first?"
She sighed deeply and said, "Let me tell you what I'm doing. I'll use my moves while I tell you what I'm doing. I'll stab you in the middle with the sword in my hand first." As she spoke, she stabbed the bamboo pole towards Mingguang's chest.
Mingguang did not slack off at all. She raised the knife in her left hand and was about to chop the bamboo pole, but the bamboo pole slid past her scimitar like a swimming fish and headed towards her chest.
Mingguang hurriedly used her right knife to block, but the bamboo pole just passed through the gap between the two knives. When she lowered her head, the end of the bamboo pole hit the middle of her chest, not an inch off.
In a cat-and-mouse game, the mistress pretended to pull and thrust, tapping Ming's bare chest a few times, and taunted, "If this were a real weapon, you'd have already lost your life by now."
Mingguang intended to take the bamboo pole from her. But just as he reached out to grab it, the master's wife had already pulled the bamboo pole back.
Mingguang was so angry at her that his temples were trembling, and he became even more confused.
"Be still and watch my next move. Kill the bottom lane."
As she finished speaking, the bamboo pole had already hit her knee.
This slight touch actually forced Mingguang to take a step back.
She just chopped with the knife in her right hand, and the master's wife dodged by slightly turning her body. At the same time, the knife in her left hand was hit by the bamboo pole, and it trembled so much that she could not hold it anymore.
A few moves would determine the outcome. Even if she practiced for twenty years, she might not be her opponent. After realizing this, Mingguang stopped trying to hide. "Master's Wife, if you want to fight or kill me, it's up to you."
She said yes.
A bamboo pole mercilessly hit her face. The pole made a sound and left a bloody mark on her face. The wound was not deep and would not cause disfigurement, but blood slowly seeped out.
I just ask if you accept it? she said.
“I don’t accept it!”
"Are you convinced?"
"I refuse to accept it!" Mingguang said with tears in his eyes. "Even if I ask you a hundred times, I still refuse to accept it!"
"You don't know how to care for your fellow disciples, you disobey your elders, and you refuse to correct your mistakes. How can I, Yingmen, dare to keep you?"
She doesn't care about her fellow disciples?
Jiaoran was playful and ran to the mountain spring behind to throw stones. She accidentally fell into the water. She pulled Jiaoran out and wrapped her in her arms to warm her, fearing that she would catch a cold.
She said, why don’t you keep an eye on your junior sister? How can you let such an ignorant child run around without keeping a close eye on her?
It's ridiculous that she is so old and still jealous of a child.
But before Jiaoran came into being, Master's wife had also mended clothes for her.
On her first mission, she killed someone, was scared, and was injured.
It was her master's wife waiting for her at the other end of the road.
She knew that no matter how long it took, she would wait for her.
So when she went on her second mission, she passed by a temple and asked the gods and Buddhas to bless her master and his wife with a long life.
Why did the master and his wife change completely when she came?
Just because of her cute face, she can be pampered endlessly.
Disobeying elders? How could she? Absolutely not.
She also sat on her lap and watched her keep accounts.
She swore that if anyone betrayed her, she would kill them.
She would never betray them.
But she was willing to die for them, so why did the master's wife still just treat her as a pawn?
They fed her the Thousand Changes.
All the children in Huiyingmen had to eat it, except Jiaoran.
Only—she didn't have to take poison.
So, she is free.
Whenever she wants to leave Huiyingmen, she will not be bound.
Mingguang finally couldn't hold back his tears, "Since I'm so disobedient, why don't you just kill me?"
She didn't care much and propped up the window frame with bamboo poles. The sunlight shone in from outside, making the room brighter. "When a bird's wings are strong, it will eventually run away. Your brothers are just as unconvinced as you. If they want to leave, I will let them go. You haven't done anything wrong to disgrace your sect. Why should I kill you? Even if you did do something wrong, there's no rush to clean up the mess. If you want to leave, go ahead and go to Chang'an. Just remember that in the future, if the Ying Sect needs your help, don't forget who you are."
When she heard her say that she could leave, her heart sank even deeper into the abyss.
Not even a word of trying to keep me.
It seemed that he was disgusted with her.
"Come back every two years from now on, otherwise if the poison takes effect, even the miracle doctor can't save you. It's not like Xiu Tu out there. If I teach you to die, I mean it. If you die, your killer will laugh at you for not learning the art well. The ground in Chang'an is too hard, and if you fall on it, it's hard not to hit your head. But remember, except to get the antidote, you are not allowed to come back if you are injured. No one will vent your anger for you."
Mingguang turned around, his eyes red but no tears in them.
"Thank you for your guidance, Master. Mingguang will remember it."
The small figure was stuck in the wooden railing upstairs, staring at her receding back, his eyes blurred by tears.
Dad patted her on the back and said, "It's not Xiao A'ran's fault. Your senior sister has grown up and it's time for her to leave home and become independent."
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