Chapter 22

Although she was annoyed that Zhao Jiuye was too presumptuous, she wouldn't run off to the hilltop and make them search for her while everyone was exhausted from traveling.

Although he had deliberately chosen remote country roads, even if they came across a village, if there were corpses of the starved, he would avoid them. Even so, it was better to be careful—there might be others with the same mindset, carrying enough food and water for the journey, afraid of being robbed, and choosing the same route as them.

"A Sen..." Fu Tingjun reached for A Sen, but the group had already swarmed forward.

Even if the sky were falling, Ninth Master would only nod faintly upon hearing it, pace a few circles in the room with his hands behind his back, or sit alone by the river for a while before coming up with a solution... Miss Fu had merely run off alone—just call her back, why the bitter smile?

A Sen worshipped Zhao Jiuye and had always imitated his every move, knowing him very well. In Fu Tingjun's eyes, Zhao Jiuye seemed no different from usual, but in A Sen's eyes, he felt that Zhao Jiuye seemed somewhat helpless.

A Sen looked utterly bewildered, glancing at the silent Fu Tingjun, then at the displeased Zhao Jiuye. After hesitating for a long while, he finally said, "Miss Fu said she doesn't need to rush on the journey, so the steamed buns should be saved for you, Master."

They bolted the door. Fu Tingjun slept in the rear chamber, while Zhao Jiuye and A Sen slept in the main hall, all taking an afternoon nap. When the sun began to weaken, they each drank some water, ate half a steamed bun, and set off again.

A Sen's eyes widened even more.

They found a household with a spacious courtyard to rest at.

A Sen felt this matter was Fu Tingjun's fault.

Fu Tingjun's hairs stood on end.

A Sen stared wide-eyed until Fu Tingjun's figure disappeared beyond the door before he snapped back to his senses.

Fu Tingjun quickly stepped aside.

"What are you doing?" she shouted in rebuke while dodging to the other side of the handcart. "Our master will be back any moment—mind your lives!"

The man let out an "ouch" and clutched his head as blood seeped through his fingers.

Zhao Jiuye grabbed the fellow in the parrot-patterned cocoon silk robe and flung him onto the group of looters.

At this moment, they had stopped at a village at the foot of a hill. Most of the vegetation on the hill had withered and died, with only a few towering trees on the northwest corner—once lush and thriving—still alive, with some weeds growing beneath them. But as for wild vegetables or the like, that was absolutely impossible. Why did Miss Fu have to say she wanted to look for wild vegetables?

Fu Tingjun let out a sigh of relief.

The group surrounding A Sen immediately abandoned him and rushed over upon hearing this.

"Get out of the way!" A Sen shouted, shaking off Fu Tingjun's hand, and charged forward swinging his staff, striking the leader on the side of the neck.

The others snapped out of their daze and, howling, lunged at A Sen.

Compared to food that could keep them alive, she—who could fetch fifty taels of silver—wasn't as important.

"Ninth Master!" A Sen's spirits lifted. Abandoning those clinging to him, he ran over and delivered a finishing blow to each of the fallen men's heads.

The man, caught off guard, slumped and collapsed to the ground.

...

Fu Tingjun suddenly recalled the idiom of "three peaches killing three warriors."

A Sen met them head-on without showing any weakness.

Zhao Jiuye had already knocked down those clinging to A Sen with one punch each.

Fu Tingjun's face turned pale with fright as she grabbed something at random and held it in front of her chest.

Fu Tingjun let out a cold, light "hmph," stood up, and called out "A Sen": "Let's go take a stroll on the hillside—Grandmother takes us to the villa in Huaxi Town every spring for an outing and tells us sisters to pick wild vegetables. I see the trees on the eastern slope are still alive, so there's likely a spring there—maybe we can find some wild vegetables! That way we won't have to drink water and eat steamed buns every day." With that, she turned and walked out the door.

He curled his lips, about to say something, when suddenly a group of people burst out from the woods on the hill.

Zhao Jiuye was momentarily taken aback.

By the time Zhao Jiuye revived the two men, the sky was already filled with evening glow.

"Miss Fu!" he exclaimed in surprise.

Zhao Jiuye moved like lightning, leaping several bounds to reach her side. Without a word, he swung his fist, and she heard a sound like bones cracking—"crack"—then turned to see the horse-faced man collapsed motionless on the ground.

Fu Tingjun quickly explained, "The weather is too hot—I really can't eat."

It made her sound as if she knew nothing of hardship and was being willful.

"What happened?" Zhao Jiuye glanced at the men on the ground, then looked at Fu Tingjun.

"Nothing!" Fu Tingjun wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Nothing's wrong—when there's nothing to say, naturally one speaks less!"

Miss Fu had been gone for a while too... What if she ran into wild dogs or something? That would be terrible! It would be just as well to quietly mention it to Ninth Master later on the road.

A Sen felt he needed to remind Ninth Master.

"Master!" A Sen looked at Zhao Jiuye uneasily, not knowing what to do.

A Sen was truly clever!

Across the handcart, Zhao Jiuye and A Sen slept on the left, while Fu Tingjun slept on the right.

The other man was short and stocky with a horse-like face. When he saw Fu Tingjun's face, a greedy gleam flashed in his triangular eyes, but his gaze quickly shifted to the handcart. "What time do you think this is? You're still thinking about all that nonsense. Even if this woman could sell for fifty taels of silver, we'd need to have the luck to get her to Spring Joy House alive. Survival comes first! Hurry up and help me push this cart away." With that, he ran over and grabbed the handles of the handcart, muttering, "One look at this woman and you can tell there's goods on this cart. If we're lucky, there might even be some valuables..."

He couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen Ninth Master smile bitterly.

Although those people were numerous and were grown men, much taller and bigger than A Sen, they only knew how to crowd together and swing hoes or wooden clubs at A Sen. Not only was there no technique to their attacks, but their movements were also sluggish, as if they were so starved they had no strength left. In contrast, A Sen wielded his brow-level staff with fierce vitality—splitting, parrying, sweeping, and thrusting at tricky angles. Relying on his small stature to dart around everywhere, he kept the group spinning in circles, unable to get anywhere near him.

Ninth Master... a bitter smile!

Fu Tingjun quickly recounted what had happened.

Her dissatisfaction with Zhao Jiuye was written all over her face.

Because of Miss Fu!

The summer noon made one drowsy.

Who would have thought Ninth Master would urge him: "Why haven't you gone yet!"

One was Miss Fu, whom he liked very much; the other was Ninth Master, whom he respected the most.

"Even if you can't eat, you must eat!" Zhao Jiuye stuffed the steamed bun into her hands. "When you're out on the road, it's not like being at home. When you need to make do, you make do."

Young as A Sen was, he could tell that Fu Tingjun was sulking at Zhao Jiuye.

Zhao Jiuye was stunned again.

The woman's shrill cry echoed through the air.

She shouted loudly: "You can't take our food away! If you take it, what will we eat?"

For some reason, Fu Tingjun's nose tingled and tears blurred her vision.

They were all able-bodied young men, seven or eight of them. Every one was skin and bones, sallow and gaunt, with sunken eye sockets and fierce looks in their eyes. In their hands they held hoes or wooden clubs, and when they saw the group, their eyes gleamed green like rabid dogs that hadn't eaten in days spotting food.

The weather was hot, and as they talked, she actually fell asleep.

Fu Tingjun didn't want to argue with him, so she just held it in her hand without eating.

Fu Tingjun and A Sen both grew a bit tense, hastily putting the things the group had scattered back onto the handcart, then following Zhao Jiuye as they hurried away.

Fu Tingjun, however, didn't even twitch an eyebrow. She rose slowly and deliberately, patted the dust off herself, and asked Zhao Jiuye flatly: "Can we go now?"

Fu Tingjun hurriedly ran toward Zhao Jiuye, shouting "Ninth Master, save me!" as she ran.

Zhao Jiuye had always been a man of few words; whenever something came up, it was always the others who spoke to him first.

So that Miss Fu wouldn't fail to find wild vegetables and then make big claims in front of Ninth Master and be embarrassed.

They walked on like this for two or three days before Zhao Jiuye noticed that Fu Tingjun only drank two mouthfuls of water at noon and didn't touch her steamed bun at all.

She shouted "Help!" with all the strength she could muster in the direction Zhao Jiuye had gone.

From that day on, although Zhao Jiuye still handed Fu Tingjun a steamed bun at noon as before, if she didn't eat it, he didn't force her. As for Fu Tingjun, she no longer took the initiative to talk to Zhao Jiuye like she used to. She still chatted and laughed with A Sen as usual, no different from before. Sometimes when Zhao Jiuye spoke to Fu Tingjun, she answered yes or no with not a single extra word. Sometimes when Fu Tingjun and A Sen were happily talking and Zhao Jiuye walked over, Fu Tingjun would immediately fall silent, and only after Zhao Jiuye left would she resume her animated conversation with A Sen.

Seeing that Fu Tingjun wasn't going to the hillock for now, A Sen was naturally pleased.

The village was indeed very clean.

The two of them sat in the shed and talked.

Fu Tingjun frantically searched the handcart for something to defend herself with, but the cart contained nothing but straw mats, cool bamboo mats, chopsticks, bowls, steamed buns, and a water skin.

The two men had already run up to her.

"Ninth Master!" A Sen ran over, choking with sobs.

But A Sen, heedless of everything, swung his staff again and struck the nearest person on the head.

The people behind stared at A Sen in horror, their steps faltering as they stopped in their tracks.

Helpless?

She was so anxious that sweat covered her forehead.

With a "bang," five or six people fell to the ground at once.

At night, when they didn't come across any villages, they slept out in the open by the roadside.

A Sen pondered this, ran out the door, and saw Fu Tingjun standing in the shed outside where the haystacks were stored.

Fu Tingjun smiled at him: "The weather's too hot. Let's go take a look later."

But no matter what, two fists can't beat four hands—after all, A Sen was just a child.

Both men had a fierce look in their eyes. One of them, of medium height, wore a parrot-green cocoon silk Daoist robe, with a dried bloodstain on his sleeve. When he saw Fu Tingjun, a flicker of admiration passed through his eyes, followed by a delighted expression: "Elder Brother, this woman is quite beautiful. We can sell her for at least fifty taels of silver..."

Fu Tingjun's mind finally caught up.

A Sen had never disobeyed Zhao Jiuye's words, and without a second thought, he responded with a "Yes." Only when he realized he had answered too quickly did he notice that Zhao Jiuye had already bent down to tidy the handcart.

A Sen didn't believe it at all!

Zhao Jiuye's figure appeared on the barren ridge between the fields.

A Sen quickly pulled out the staff from the handcart, stepped forward a few paces, and said, "Who are you?" shielding Fu Tingjun behind him.

While Zhao Jiuye went ahead to scout the path, he asked Fu Tingjun, "Why don't you speak with Ninth Master? He even spoke to you!"

Zhao Jiuye frowned deeply.

Zhao Jiuye let out an "Mm," and with a composed expression, turned and entered the gate.

Two men who had been circling around the edge of the fight exchanged a glance, then abandoned A Sen and the others and ran toward Fu Tingjun.

If they let the handcart be taken away, they probably wouldn't survive either.

How could they let a child stand in front of them?

"We can't stay here long!" Zhao Jiuye said immediately. "Let's go quickly!"

"Go!" Zhao Jiuye said with a bitter smile. "Don't let Miss Fu be left alone."