Repaying a Favor?

When Chu Qing returned to his little courtyard, the assassin's corpse was still lying there, looking rather forlorn.

Chu Qing silently glanced at it, then went inside.

Wen Rou was still meditating on the kang. She opened her eyes at the sound of footsteps, her voice carrying a hint of weakness:

"You're back."

"Mm."

Chu Qing took the bottle of antidote from his robes and tossed it to Wen Rou.

"The antidote."

Wen Rou opened the bottle, took out a pill, and swallowed it before circulating her internal energy.

Watching the black aura on the back of her hand gradually fade, Chu Qing turned and went outside. He fetched a shovel and started digging a pit in the courtyard.

Before long, he had dug a large hole.

Chu Qing inspected the assassin's corpse again, but the man had nothing of value on him, and he found nothing. Only then did he toss the corpse into the pit and cover it with earth.

After stamping the dirt down until it was firm, Chu Qing finally let out a breath.

"Looks like even the Corpse Buriers have a hard time making a living..."

There was a group of people in the jianghu who sought neither fame nor fortune and asked nothing of the future. They devoted themselves to burying those who died in the jianghu's conflicts and whose bodies went unclaimed.

They were known as Corpse Buriers...

Chu Qing remembered seeing them once. They were a taciturn bunch; some carried coffins on their backs, while others merely tucked a roll of straw mat beneath their belts.

Perhaps because they spent all year dealing with corpses, they all carried a chilly air about them.

Shaking his head, Chu Qing set down the shovel and went inside to check on Wen Rou.

He had just reached her when she suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood. She glanced at Chu Qing, rolled her eyes, and collapsed onto the kang.

Chu Qing's heart lurched. He thought there might be something wrong with the antidote.

He took her wrist and felt her pulse, then finally relaxed.

The strange condition in her body was gone; she was simply completely drained...

"So, she's asleep?"

"Hey, did you really take me for a good person? You sleep here, so where am I supposed to sleep?"

Looking at Wen Rou curled up on the kang, a trace of pain still on her face, Chu Qing tried nudging her a couple of times, but got no response. He was at a loss for words.

He knew she wasn't simply asleep—she had passed out.

But after she woke up, her injuries would be more or less healed.

Sighing, he grabbed the quilt and tossed it over Wen Rou.

Then he left the room, brought over two chairs, and sat cross-legged to continue his cultivation.

The night passed without incident. At dawn, Chu Qing's ears twitched as he heard movement in the bedroom.

Knowing Wen Rou had woken, he stood and stretched his limbs.

After sitting all night, his bones had grown stiff. As he stretched, they crackled loudly.

When he entered, he saw Wen Rou sitting against the wall, clutching the quilt. She looked up at Chu Qing, her eyes still full of confusion.

"Who are you, exactly?"

"You smell a little like the eldest brother of the Chu Family, but not quite the same."

"Is your nose really that keen?"

Chu Qing looked at Wen Rou in surprise.

Wen Rou nodded.

"Very keen."

"If you've met someone before and see them again, can you recognize them at a glance no matter how they disguise themselves?"

"As long as their scent hasn't changed, I can recognize them."

Chu Qing thought for a moment, then said:

"Wait here."

He went to the kitchen, cooked two bowls of rice porridge, sprinkled some pickles into them, and brought one bowl to her.

Wen Rou licked her lips and glanced at Chu Qing again before taking the bowl and slurping down the porridge.

"Once you've finished eating, leave."

Chu Qing was eating too.

Wen Rou didn't argue. She only gave a soft "Mm."

But after a while, she looked up at Chu Qing.

"But... you saved my life."

"So what?"

Chu Qing looked up at her.

"My master said that a life-saving favor should be repaid by giving yourself to your savior."

Wen Rou delivered those words in a completely calm voice, even though they were enough to make someone's ears burn and heart race.

Fortunately, Chu Qing wasn't some inexperienced youth. He only smiled.

"Are you sure you haven't confused 'repaying a favor' with 'taking revenge'?"

"?"

Wen Rou looked at Chu Qing again, the confusion in her eyes deepening.

"Don't overthink it."

Chu Qing spoke softly.

"We met by chance. I happened to save your life; I wasn't looking for anything in return."

Inside, he felt a little helpless. Had he been having an unusually lucky run with women lately?

First Xia Wanshuang, and now Wen Rou... What was going on?

Women were a quagmire. Especially in his current situation, he absolutely couldn't let himself get dragged in too deep.

Wen Rou thought it over, then said nothing and quickly finished her bowl of porridge.

The color had returned to her face, and she looked much better.

She pushed the quilt aside and got down from the kang.

"Then I'm leaving."

"Mm."

Chu Qing nodded, but just as Wen Rou was about to walk out of the room, he called after her.

"Wait."

"Have you decided you want me to give myself to you?"

Wen Rou turned back to ask.

"...Can you forget about giving yourself to me?"

Just how worried was Cui Buno that Wen Rou would never get married?

What kind of nonsense had he been teaching her all this time?

How could saving her life leave him feeling like he'd been saddled with a debt collector?

Chu Qing spoke softly.

"If you want to repay me, then agree to do one thing for me."

"Fine."

Wen Rou nodded solemnly.

"Don't come bother me again. You, or anyone you know, are not allowed to come here."

Chu Qing spoke in a deep voice.

This woman's constitution was actually a bit troublesome.

He had a feeling that moving would be pointless; if she wanted to, she could follow his scent and find him anywhere.

Rather than keep hiding, he might as well make himself clear to her.

Wen Rou thought for a moment.

"Fine."

Chu Qing waved her off, and Wen Rou finally left.

But watching her disappear from sight, Chu Qing couldn't help frowning again...

Being an assassin had made him inevitably suspicious.

She'd agreed so readily. Could she be saying one thing and doing another?

Unfortunately, he didn't have any particularly good way of dealing with her.

Their relationship was a tangled mess. He couldn't beat her, and he couldn't kill her. What a nuisance.

Fortunately, Wen Rou really didn't come looking for him over the next two days. She must have taken Chu Qing's words to heart.

Chu Qing continued with his daily routine: practicing martial arts in the morning, cultivating his energy at night, and visiting Zhou Yi at the oil and grain shop in the middle of the night. Sometimes he went to dispel the Demonic Seed in Zhou Yi; other times, he checked whether Wu Qianhuan had left a message.

He wasn't in a hurry to deal with Cheng Sihai. As long as the man was in Heavenly Dance City, Chu Tian would be able to find him.

Sure enough, by dusk the following day, Chu Qing received news from Chu Tian.

The message was long, so Chu Qing gave it a rough summary.

Cheng Sihai was currently hiding in the Liu Family's residence in Heavenly Dance City.

The Liu Family wasn't a martial arts clan. Its patriarch, Liu Dafu, came from a background similar to Xia Wanshuang's: he was a wealthy merchant in Heavenly Dance City.

Cheng Sihai had taken the assumed name Ji Changchun and worked as an adviser in the Liu Family's household.

The Four Great Protectors had also become martial arts instructors who guarded the Liu Family estate.

At present, it was unclear whether the Liu Family patriarch knew who these people really were.

Of course, the rest of those details didn't matter to Chu Qing.

He only needed to know where Cheng Sihai was.