Senior, Let Me Help You

After dinner.

Tongzi Ward, a shabby little temple.

Su Xinghe found the boy washing clothes at the entrance to the side hall.

"Boss, you're here."

With Liu Laizi's gang wiped out, Little Beggar's workload immediately dropped by more than half. Other than a few specially assigned tasks, he could relax a little most of the time.

A candle was lit inside, its faint halo spreading across the stone steps before the hall.

Su Xinghe was led into the room.

Perhaps his sense of smell had become too sharp after Inner Tempering, but he kept feeling that a woman's scent lingered within. The room was quite clean, nothing like the den of a little beggar.

Could this kid really have found himself a girlfriend?

Wasn't that a little too early...

"Boss... please sit first. I... I'll pour you some tea!"

Little Beggar was clearly nervous. He had no idea how to entertain his boss.

After all, this was the first time his little nest had received a guest.

Su Xinghe raised a hand to stop him, glancing around. There did not seem to be anything in the room to drink from.

He noticed that the little "girlfriend" was not here today.

Never mind that. Business first.

"No need. What was it you wanted to tell me just now?"

He had originally planned to send the boy outside the city again tomorrow morning, but he had not yet heard today's report.

The moment he heard it was a work report, Little Beggar straightened his attitude at once.

"Boss, Old Madman might really be done for. I haven't seen him leave his house for days, and there hasn't been any sign of him lighting a fire to cook at night either."

"Oh?"

Su Xinghe froze.

He had been busy practicing his fists lately, and so much had happened over the past two days that he had forgotten about bringing warmth to the community.

After some thought, he decided to make a trip over first and take a look.

If the old man was already dead, then he could search the house.

"Then we'll go now."

"Okay, Boss..."

"However... because Third Master Lu is taking a concubine, quite a few strangers have come into the city. The Sky-Patrolling Raven's inspections are very strict. Should we... go a little later?"

As a beggar, how could Little Beggar afford a Travel Pass Talisman? Even now that Su Xinghe had given him money for living expenses, he was still extremely frugal.

Someone like him would only get a glance even if constables from the Public Security Office came by. They were regulars at the office; everyone knew perfectly well whether there was any oil to be squeezed from them.

But tonight was different. They had a task to carry out.

If they drew the Sky-Patrolling Raven over, the plan would go down the drain.

"Then we'll go in an hour. Fewer people will make things easier."

Su Xinghe readily took the advice. Little Beggar was more professional than him in this regard.

An hour later.

The two met again at the mouth of the alley, tacitly keeping a distance of one zhang between them, one in front and one behind.

Whenever he went to see Old Madman before, he had to prepare some poison first, then bring the kitchen cleaver from home.

That way, if the old man went mad, he would have something to defend himself with.

But there was no need for that now.

He already had true martial arts, and he had successfully stepped onto the path of martial cultivation.

He was no longer desperately eager for whatever true martial arts might be hidden on that mysterious old man.

If that fellow dared go mad again, then he could not blame Su Xinghe for being ruthless and merciless. With the strength of Inner Tempering, dealing with a Martial Warrior who was terminally ill and had gone hungry for days should not be a problem.

With a different mindset, Su Xinghe was in an excellent mood. He only brought a chisel for self-defense.

Thinking that the old man might have been hungry for several days, he stopped halfway to buy some cooked snacks and carried a jar of yellow wine as well.

Like two guests paying a visit to an old friend.

Courtesy before force. Su Xinghe felt that when visiting an elder, the proper formalities had to be observed.

Old Madman's rented house was even more secluded than Little Beggar's ruined temple.

This place was close to the base of the city wall, with a stinking drainage ditch behind it. Even the children playing nearby stayed far away from this area.

Because they had come an hour later, the alley was now utterly deserted and pitch-black.

In the silent dead of night, only their hurried footsteps remained.

Suddenly, Su Xinghe, who was walking in front, whipped around.

"Why are you walking so close?"

The boy behind him was practically pressed against his back, nearly stepping on his heels several times.

"Ah!"

After a muffled cry, Little Beggar pointed tremblingly at the foul ditch not far away.

"Boss, I... I'm scared..."

"Scared?"

Su Xinghe was taken aback, then suddenly understood.

The foul ditch in Tongzi Ward held more than dead rats. It also held the infants who had died young in the ward. Those pitiful children who had starved or died of illness had no one to buy them burial plots outside the city, so they were carelessly tossed here beneath the city wall.

Day after day, year after year, layer upon layer of white bones soaked at the bottom of the ditch.

Although Su Xinghe had fought more than ten times and stabbed quite a few people to death over the past half year, even he could not help feeling a chill creep down his back at that moment.

"What's there to be scared of? Why are you acting like a woman?"

Though he felt a little weak inside, he still fiercely mocked the boy. He did not even notice that his voice was a little higher than usual.

They continued onward, but the distance between them unconsciously narrowed.

The night wind blew over the city wall, carrying wave after wave of dead-rat stench straight into their faces. Occasionally, black shadows startled by their footsteps flapped their wings and suddenly darted up from beneath the ditch.

As they drew closer, the stench grew ever thicker.

"Have you come to wait for me to breathe my last too?"

An icy voice suddenly rang out from the darkness.

"Ghost!"

The boy's scream shot straight at Su Xinghe's head.

That Old Madman was trying to scare people again!

Suppressing the anger in his heart, Su Xinghe looked toward the little wooden house in the darkness.

"Get down. That's a senior."

He said this to Little Beggar, who was clinging to him.

"Oh... sorry..."

"Sorry."

"Greetings, Senior!"

Inside the low, old wooden house, a bean-sized oil lamp suddenly lit up. Its dim yellow halo seeped through the window and flickered endlessly across the ground.

Amid the shifting light and shadow, the old wooden house seemed to open a gaping bloody maw, like a beast preparing to choose someone to devour.

The dead-rat stench from before was even stronger now.

"Senior, have you eaten?"

Looking at the hunched figure with disheveled hair beneath the oil lamp, both of them felt uneasy.

"You... have you also come... to wait... for me to breathe my last?"

The hunched figure seemed not to have heard him and remained motionless where he stood.

Little Beggar panicked. He did not even dare glance over, only daring to bury his head behind Boss Su's back, his skinny body trembling without stop.

"Boss... how about... we come back... tomorrow?"

Su Xinghe shook his head.

The person inside was Old Madman. Little Beggar had not been wrong—the old man was already terminally ill and could die at any moment.

Even from several zhang away, they could smell the foul stench of death.

He raised the wine jar in his hand and gave it a shake toward the figure inside.

Smiling, he said, "This is from an old-established shop on Soy Sauce Street—ten full years of aged Daughter's Red wine."

"Senior, trade for true martial arts?"

At that, the hunched figure finally reacted. He slowly raised his head, and a horrifying smile appeared on his wrinkled face.

"Wine... wine..."

Su Xinghe nodded.

"Creak... creak..."

Heavy footsteps scraped across the floor as the hunched figure seemed to shuffle closer.

In the flickering lamplight, a hand as gaunt as dry firewood slowly reached out through the window. Not a trace of fat remained on it; only twisted, knotted veins and loose, sagging skin hung from the bones.

Yet the thick joints, bones, and bulging fascia and tendons revealed that their owner had once been someone not to be underestimated.

Now, their owner trembled so badly that even holding a wine jar was difficult.

"Give... it... here... you brat!"

He worked his long, thin neck, his protruding Adam's apple swallowing mechanically.

Su Xinghe raised his other hand.

"I also brought braised pig ears and soy-braised beef. The owner was kind enough to include a serving of vinegar sauce."

"Meat..."

The moment he heard there was meat, Old Madman suddenly went mad.

"I'm hungry. I want meat!"

"Give me meat, now!"

"Drip..."

Old Madman's cloudy saliva splattered down, smearing across the dust-covered windowsill.

Seeing that he could not reach the paper package, he flailed both arms, making the window lattice clap and crack.

"I'm starving to death. Hurry up and give me the meat."

"Liu, why haven't you brought me food these past few days..."

Seeing that he could not get out, Old Madman's arms slowly fell.

He laboriously twisted his upper body, looking as though he wanted to go outside and beat someone. But his legs seemed like wooden stakes nailed to the ground, utterly immovable.

A flicker passed through Su Xinghe's eyes.

"Liu?"

"You haven't brought food these past few days..."

So that was it...

He stuffed the two packages of braised meat and the wine jar into Little Beggar's arms.

When he turned around again, his body seemed to have grown a full circle larger.

"Senior, let me give you a hand!"