The Frog in Slowly Warming Water

Wang Ping stayed at the Su Family Estate that night.

As for what he had said to Madam Su... he had merely laid out the facts.

Why did Madam Su have no kind words for the wealthy families in town or the constables? To Wang Ping, the answer was painfully practical.

The two sides were not on equal footing.

Whether it was the wealthy families or the county office's constables, they wanted both her wealth and her person.

And one thing was unavoidable: both held an overwhelming advantage over Madam Su. She had no leverage over either of them. She could only drift with the current, and in all likelihood, they would use her up and cast her aside.

That was the real reason for Madam Su's attitude.

She rarely ventured out, but she had come from the capital. She had a discerning eye and knew how the world worked. She might indulge in fantasies, but she would never deny reality.

For that very reason, she was bound to see how Wang Ping differed from the others.

"He's an orphan. Both his parents are dead. He's alone, with no children and no connections. All he has is decent talent and a body full of martial skill."

In her bedchamber, Madam Su sat upright, her skirts neatly gathered.

She knew full well that with Chen Haoyan dead, she could not keep her holdings. The only question was how to get a good price for them.

The wealthy families in town were out.

They meant to devour everything and leave nothing behind. Any deal with them would be a loss.

Next came the constables. They were strong and had deep roots in the county town, but that was precisely the problem: they already had families of their own.

Selling to them would hardly end any better.

As for the young constables without connections, they were too weak to protect her. She would have liked to make a deal with them, but they simply could not afford it.

If Wang Ping had not appeared, she had already planned to choose the friendliest constable she could find and hand over all her businesses. In return, she would try to keep this house. It was the first home she had bought with her own money, and the last thing she had left to cherish.

Then Wang Ping appeared.

A young constable with no connections, no established position, and no money, yet blessed with strength, remarkable talent, and a bright future.

The perfect buyer.

At least he was better than the others. If she sold to Wang Ping, how much could one man spend? The nourishing food he needed for training was expensive, but it would not empty her coffers.

Then perhaps she could keep not only the house but enough money to live on, buying herself time to contact her family back in the capital.

Of course, Wang Ping had also promised never to take liberties with her. Madam Su did not believe a word of it. She assumed he was putting on an act to win her trust. In any case, she no longer cared. As long as she was not left with nothing, what did that small sacrifice matter?

While Madam Su weighed her future over and over...

"Knock, knock, knock..."

Steady footsteps suddenly sounded outside her bedchamber. A man's footsteps. Madam Su jolted awake from her thoughts and instinctively looked toward the door.

Then a voice came from outside.

"Still awake, Madam? Rest assured, I've sent away the wealthy families' spokesmen. They won't trouble you again."

Wang Ping had spent the entire day dealing with them.

Now that Madam Su had taken him in, driving off the unwelcome guests who hoped to swallow the Su Household's property was his job. He had even fought a few of them.

But at this point, no one short of a martial artist at External Arts Perfection could match him. Besides, he had the protection of his official status.

"...Madam?"

When no answer came from inside, Wang Ping frowned slightly and gently pushed the door open. Clear moonlight spilled into the bedchamber like flowing water.

A gentle-looking woman sat on the bed in mourning clothes, tears shining in her beautiful eyes. She was like a snow lotus in full bloom, morning dew still clinging to the tips of its petals. She gazed at him with desolate calm, then closed her eyes as though resigned to her fate when their gazes met.

As if to say, Do as you please.

Wang Ping shook his head. Rather than enter, he took a step back. "Forgive me, Madam. I've overstepped."

"Please rest assured. I promised I wouldn't do anything improper, and I won't go back on my word."

With that, he closed the door himself.

"I'll be staying next door. Call me whenever you need anything."

Madam Su opened her eyes in astonishment. Footsteps sounded outside again, growing fainter and fainter, and his figure was gone.

The county office stables.

After leaving Madam Su's room, Wang Ping hurried back to the county office without a moment's delay and led the Curly-Mane Horse he had been thinking about into the Su Family Estate.

Along the way, he used his Spirit Sense to make sure no one was following him.

Then he directed his Spirit Sense and employed a few methods to loosen the horse's bowels, making the Curly-Mane Horse pass the little bottle of pills it had swallowed earlier.

Wang Ping wasted no time. After choosing the pills he would take that night, he resealed the rest and fed the bottle back into the Curly-Mane Horse's belly.

Once that was done, he patted its neck. "I know it's hard on you. Bear with it a little longer."

"...Neigh!"

For some reason, Wang Ping felt as though his horse had rolled its eyes at him. It even gave a few snorts. It seemed far more intelligent than when he had first met it.

Wang Ping carefully cleaned up, settled the horse, and kept his Spirit Sense spread throughout to ensure no one saw him. Only then did he return to his room, take out the pills, mix them with water, and drink them down in one gulp. He continued absorbing their medicinal power, feeling his body transform.

As for Madam Su, he had long since tossed her to the farthest reaches of his mind.

What a joke. What woman could compare to the pleasure of training?

Besides, he truly had not come for her beauty. The martial arts in Chen Haoyan's possession were his goal. How could he waste time on such things?

And if Chen Haoyan had secretly kept any martial arts manuals, Madam Su was the person most likely to know where he had hidden them.

Under those circumstances, forcing the issue was even more out of the question.

He had to warm the water slowly and let the frog settle in.

And so the night passed without incident.

When Madam Su woke the next morning, she realized she had slept more soundly than she had in seven days. She had even risen late.

She opened the door and stepped into the courtyard. There, she saw a strong young man holding a long saber. As he advanced and stepped, the blade flashed in every direction, cold light sweeping across the yard. Every slash rang with a sharp whistle. From time to time, he mixed in punches and kicks, his bones and sinews sounding together as though a dragon and tiger accompanied him.

Madam Su stood there, watching in a daze.

Memories of the past rose in her heart. For a moment, she was entranced, her fingers unconsciously moving along with the changes in Wang Ping's saber form.

The Great Shun Dynasty had been founded through martial might.

She might be a woman, but she had come from the capital and grown up in a world that revered martial prowess. How could she not have been interested in martial arts?

Long ago, she too had been a girl who loved practicing with blades and staves.

But as the saying went, the poor studied letters, while the rich trained in martial arts. Ever since she had been driven from her family home and forced to travel far away, she had no longer had the means to train.

The skills she had learned had long since fallen into disuse.

Otherwise, with the talent she had shown back then, if she had trained without pause, she could have protected her businesses herself even after Chen Haoyan's death.

But in the Martial Dao, one either advanced or retreated.

After years without practice, her skills were nowhere near what they had been. Her constitution might still be good enough for her to live to a hundred, but it could no longer carry her through a fight to the death.

When she had earned money and built a business of her own in Longxing County, she had hoped to take up martial arts again. But that man's arrival had destroyed every hope.

"Chen Haoyan..." Madam Su gritted her teeth.

That bastard truly had helped her a great deal when he first approached her. Before long, however, he had lost patience and revealed his true face.

He had taken the businesses she had spent years building, then kept her in this house as though she were his private possession. Apart from helping with the accounts, she had nothing to do. The slightest thing that displeased him brought scolding, blows, or punishment, and she even had to attend to his daily needs.

At the thought, Madam Su's spirits sank.

She looked around. She knew this large estate well enough to distinguish every flower and blade of grass, yet now it stirred an inexplicable anger in her.

What saddened her more was that, in the next instant, she suppressed the anger almost by instinct. She buried every feeling and stood there blankly.

It was like a canary in a cage suddenly fluttering its wings, only to find it could not fly out and settle back where it had been... Of course. She had long since become a bird kept indoors. How could she still dream of escaping the cage one day and flying into the sky?

Madam Su lowered her eyes, looking more forlorn and fragile than ever.

"Madam?"

The soft call broke through her sorrow. She looked up and found that the young constable had stopped practicing at some point and come over to her.

"Would you like to practice with me?"

Wang Ping smiled. "I saw your fingers moving just now. You've trained before, haven't you? That saves me some effort persuading you."

"Persuading me?" Madam Su frowned.

Wang Ping nodded. "I'd meant to persuade you to learn at least a little martial arts, whatever else you decide. I can't live here and protect you forever."

"So it would be best if you learned some. Once you can defend yourself, you'll be able to protect yourself even when I'm not here."

For some reason, his words reminded Madam Su of the day Chen Haoyan had confined her to this estate. He seemed to have said something similar.

Only he had meant the exact opposite.

"Why would a woman practice martial arts? You'll ruin yourself, and then I won't be able to take you out to meet anyone. Stay home and behave. Don't worry, I'll take good care of you."

All of it was bullshit.

Now another man was holding out a hand to her. But instead of telling her to stay obediently at home, he was asking her to pick up what she had once set aside.

Madam Su could not name what she felt.

Yet when memory and reality overlapped in her mind, she instinctively took a step back, like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.

Before she could speak, Wang Ping moved first. His broad, sturdy, callused hand firmly took her pale, slender one. One hand was delicate, the other rough. At the contrast, both their hands trembled slightly.

Madam Su's body went rigid.

Wang Ping, by contrast, looked perfectly at ease, as though he saw nothing amiss. Instead, he said with complete seriousness, "Madam, don't let stray thoughts distract you while training."

"..."

A flush rose over Madam Su's usually snow-white cheeks.

Then, under Wang Ping's firm instructions, she obediently took up the stance, stirred her blood and energy, stretched her limbs, and began practicing in the courtyard.

I don't want to. He's making me. I have no choice...

As Madam Su tried to convince herself, she formed a seal with her fingers and pressed her lotus-shaped hands to her flat lower abdomen. Her body relaxed without her noticing.

Wang Ping was teaching her the Fire-Born Lotus Seal. It was the most suitable seal for a beginner. Madam Su practiced with growing enthusiasm as her blood and energy circulated through her body. Color deepened in her cheeks, and warmth spread through her from head to toe. Wang Ping repeatedly reached out to show her how to adjust the seal.

Each time, Madam Su's cheeks grew redder.

Whenever he helped her correct the seal, that solid hand brushed lightly across her lower abdomen, carrying a startling heat.

At the thought, Madam Su could not help pressing her legs together.

"It's... a little warm..."

By the time Madam Su came back to herself, she was drenched in fragrant sweat. She stole a glance at Wang Ping, only to find him still looking straight ahead.

Was he doing it deliberately, or was it an accident?

"Madam?"

Wang Ping suddenly frowned and finally looked at her, displeasure on his face. "Focus. Your hand seal is wrong, and your blood and energy aren't circulating properly."

Smack!

His palm struck her lower abdomen, neither especially hard nor especially gentle. In an instant, she felt as if a current had raced through her whole body.

Madam Su's thoughts tangled into chaos. She could only console herself that he knew martial arts and was young and strong. If he truly wanted to do anything, she could not resist him.

Over the next three days, Wang Ping guided Madam Su through her practice every day. He was diligent, often correcting her movements hand in hand.

Madam Su tried hard to resist, though each attempt was weaker than the last.

I can't trust him...

She struggled to recall the past, trying to use Chen Haoyan's example to keep herself from being swayed. Yet whenever she returned to the present, Wang Ping's face was before her.

"Madam, you can rest now."

The young constable wore a warm smile. "You've practiced very well. I doubt you'll need my guidance from now on."

With that, he stepped back of his own accord.

The warmth that had been so close these past several days suddenly receded. Madam Su swayed without meaning to, nearly taking a step toward him.

But she caught herself the next instant.

The color drained from her flushed face. An emotion she could not tell was shame or anger shook her so deeply that the jade hairpin in her coiffure trembled.

Chen Haoyan had given her that hairpin.

She disliked it, but she had never dared take it off. Every time she did, Chen Haoyan grew angry. Like this estate, it was part of the cage that held her.

"It's a pity,"

Wang Ping's voice interrupted her thoughts again. "I don't know many martial arts. Archery takes considerable strength, so it isn't suitable for you yet. My saber art was bestowed by the imperial court, and I'm forbidden to pass it on. All I can teach you are these little tricks for strengthening the body. I hope you won't mind."

"...Is that so?"

Madam Su blinked, then spoke before she could stop herself. "If that's the case, sir... Before Chen Haoyan died, he hid several manuals in a butcher's shop in the west of town..."

"Hmm?" Wang Ping turned to her.

Only then did Madam Su realize what she had said. Color returned to her delicate, fair face, making her breathtakingly beautiful.

She hurried to explain:

"I-I'm only lending them to you for now, because you said you had nothing else you could teach me... Once you've learned them, you must come back and teach me."

There seemed to be nothing wrong with that sentence, and yet everything was wrong with it.

She had known about those martial arts manuals but had never considered telling anyone. She had meant to retrieve them secretly after securing her businesses and see whether she could practice them herself...

How did I become like this?

Unable to bear staying there, Madam Su covered her face and hurried away. On her way, she saw the mourning hall where Chen Haoyan's coffin rested.

Was it still there?

Had the seventh day after his death arrived? How many days remained before the burial? These past days had passed like a dream. She could not remember, and for the moment, she could not work it out.

"Forget it. It doesn't matter..."