"Why are you two here?" Miao Cuifang asked from the kitchen doorway.
The two, engrossed in their meal, looked up and saw a man dressed in light silk, with long, alluring eyes and a sparkling earring on his left ear that looked very expensive.
A lock of hair was left at her temples, and her ponytail was tied up at the back of her head with a gold crown.
"Huh? What brings you two here? Say something."
The two were stunned; they wouldn't have recognized Miao Cuifang if it weren't for her words.
"elder brother?"
"Brother Cuifang?"
"Brother, you're dressed so nicely now?"
"Brother, you're doing really well out there."
"He's gained weight."
"What does 'fat' mean? My brother now calls it 'handsome and elegant' in the Central Plains dialect."
"If we go back, all the young girls in our village will be flocking to our doorstep."
Miao Cuifang couldn't bear to watch these two spout nonsense, so the young man took a deep breath and said...
“Your sister-in-law is right behind me, shut up.”
The young girl put down her rice bowl, wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and prepared to meet her sister-in-law. Otherwise, why hadn't her brother come home for so long? Her mother-in-law had told her that Miao Cuifang had found a wife in the Central Plains and had been working diligently for the past few years.
"Hello, sister-in-law."
The young girl gave Liu Xu a Miao salute. The girl was about the same age as Miao Cuifang when she started out in the martial arts world. Especially her eyes, which were just like when he first came to Fengyue Tower, clear with a hint of foolishness.
Everyone at the brothel knew about Liu Xu and her lover's affair; now all that was left was the wedding. And, according to custom, they were working on it.
Hello, little sister.
Liu Xu bowed to the little girl, gesturing for her to sit down and continue eating. The boy next to her swallowed what was in his mouth and also bowed to Liu Xu.
“We don’t do those fancy things at home, do you still want to eat?” The more Zhang’s mother looked at the two children, the more heartbroken she felt. The little girl had two particularly prominent bones on her waist and wrists.
"Can we still eat? Auntie, isn't it bad if we eat too much? Don't you have anything left to eat?"
"No, no, come on, have some more soup. Just grab whatever you like."
Huo Xiaolong was also eating a grilled sausage in his hand, looking at Miao Cuifang with a bit of sadness. So this was the kind of life Master Miao used to live.
He should be considered one of the more successful people in Miao territory, the little girl said, tugging at the man's sleeve.
"Master Miao, are they your brother's wife?"
"Um."
"Are you also out here trying to make a living like me?"
Miao Cuifang nodded, tied up her younger siblings' hair, and sat with them by the stove to help Zhang's mother operate the bellows. She took a deep breath and said...
"The Miao region is poor, and it's said to be bad in the martial arts world. We use poison and Gu, and we have eccentric tempers, but there's nothing we can do about it. When I first arrived, I was about the same as them. But because I stayed at Alliance Leader Zhang's house for a while, I was definitely better off than the other two."
“Yes, little sister, we’ve reached the age where we were kicked out by our mother-in-law to make a living. Otherwise, the Miao village couldn’t support so many people. Luckily, Brother Cuifang sent a lot of money back home, so things are much better this year.” The two women, having almost finished eating, patted their bellies and said.
Everything was new and interesting to them. They wondered why there was such a large block of ice in the kitchen, since they had heard that ice was very expensive in the summer.
Wealthy families can't afford it, but brothels can.
Why are these girls so strong? The two women calmly accepted the stares of others and looked around curiously themselves.
"Don't listen to other people's nonsense. Miao territory isn't that scary. They're just being greedy."
While tossing a large ladle, Zhang's mother told Huo Xiaolong stories about the martial arts world.
"You've seen these Miao girls, they're all beautiful. If they were dressed up properly, they'd be stunningly gorgeous, just like your sister Mantuo, with their beautiful eyes and figures."
"Do you think there are any good people in the martial arts world? To put it bluntly, in the eyes of the imperial court, we are just a bunch of petty thugs, only a little better in terms of skills."
“There are always a few hypocritical gentlemen who want to deceive people. Miao territory is different from our Central Plains. They don’t care much about a woman’s private matters. Besides, it’s common for men to marry into the family, so there aren’t many rules.”
"It's a normal thing, it's a mutual consent. But people from Miao areas value promises. If you promise to stay together for life, then it's a lifelong commitment. If you deceive someone, then it's not so easy to part ways amicably."
Huo Xiaolong listened intently, his eyes wide, occasionally handing the two of them a skewer of squid or something. The two were now staring intently at the large block of ice in the kitchen, practically ready to hug it. Then, Zhang's mother continued...
"I remember, a few years ago, the year before Xiao Miao came, there was a rumor circulating in the martial arts world that a Miao girl killed someone from a small sect in the Northwest. My dad went to investigate, and guess what happened?"
"What's up?" Huo Xiaolong chimed in quickly, raising his hand to continue listening.
"When my father went over to take a look, he found out that it was an internal power struggle among them. And then, that little girl happened to be there, and she seemed to be thinking about getting married to their young sect leader. That young sect leader wasn't a good person either; he took the Miao girl's poison and poured it into their sect's well."
"And then they all died?" Huo Xiaolong asked.
"Well, and then they all died. People in Miao areas learn about this stuff from a young age, and they're very particular about the dosage and everything. But he didn't know anything about it, and after something happened, he even framed them."
"What about that Miao woman?"
"Anyway, they released her in the end, and my father even gave her some of the sect's silver." While speaking, Zhang Mama's hands didn't stop; she served everyone dishes and called the girls in the building to the main hall for dinner.
Seeing that Huo Xiaolong still seemed unsatisfied, Miao Cuifang took her hand, took out a handkerchief from her waist, and wiped her clean. "Liu Xu bought these clothes for him. Don't let this child get them dirty."
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