Some things needed no teaching; they came entirely from instinct.
Xu Xiao's advances left A Zhu helpless, but with her acupoints sealed, she could not resist.
A Zhu had no choice but to accept it, and great tears kept sliding from the corners of her eyes.
Sealing acupoints was not like some immortal's immobilization spell that kept a person from even blinking.
It merely blocked the flow through a person's vessels, leaving their whole body limp and unable to move.
Small actions like crying and blinking were not restricted at all.
But just as Xu Xiao's instinctive Anrokuzan's Claw was about to move elsewhere, ready to give his instincts free rein in broad daylight, he heard an angry roar:
"Halt! Where did you come from, scoundrel, daring to run wild on the Murong Family's turf!"
The voice arrived before the man, accompanied by a hidden weapon aimed at Xu Xiao's head.
But an attack like that was no more than a tickle to Xu Xiao.
With a slight stir of Telekinesis, the hidden weapon thrown at him was stopped more than ten meters away.
It was a copper coin commonly used in the Great Song, though it was somewhat warped all over, apparently from the excessive force with which it had been thrown.
Xu Xiao stopped savoring A Zhu's charms and turned to see a sturdy middle-aged man rushing over from nearby with lightness skills.
Oh, someone had come to spoil his fun.
Xu Xiao held A Zhu in his arms and frowned slightly at the man approaching with lightness skills.
The next second, the man had just landed three zhang in front of him and had yet to draw his saber to attack.
With a buzz, a black shadow flashed past, and a brilliant flower of blood burst from the man's chest.
The scene happened to be witnessed by another woman in green hurrying over from afar, and she burst into grief-stricken, furious sobs:
"Third Brother Bao!!"
Oh, so it was Bao Butong. I was wondering who had the nerve to provoke me.
Hearing A Bi's cries, Xu Xiao understood whom he had just killed.
Bao Butong, Murong Fu's retainer, was a foul-mouthed man but, on the whole, a fairly decent one.
But what did that have to do with him?
He had dared to interrupt his good time, so if he died, he died.
Xu Xiao felt little about casually killing Bao Butong.
He was no protagonist in a wish-fulfillment novel who needed to curry favor and make friends with characters from the plot.
He did as he pleased, and anyone who dared interrupt his good time had only one fate: death.
Just because Xu Xiao had let Duan Yanqing go and been kind and amiable to the Dali Duan Clan did not mean he was a good man.
No, he was not. He was a man who placed his own feelings above all else.
Whether he repaid someone generously or killed them ruthlessly depended entirely on his mood.
Bao Butong had disturbed him while he was exploring the great affair between man and woman, so whether he was a hero or a brute, his only possible end was death.
"Third Brother Bao, wake up! Wake up!" A Bi had now run to Bao Butong's body.
A piece of iron had pierced straight through his chest, leaving an opening more than a foot across; even a man made of iron clearly could not have withstood it.
"Run, run..."
Mouthfuls of bloody froth poured from his mouth. Because his heart had not been damaged, Bao Butong was still clinging to one last breath to tell A Bi to run.
He had not expected the villain who came to the island this time to be so formidable. He had not even seen how the man struck before meeting his bitter end here.
Though he knew A Bi probably could not escape, Bao Butong still did what he could to warn the young woman on the island to flee for her life.
"Run? Where could she run? But if you hadn't interrupted me just then, you might not have lost your life. What a pity."
Xu Xiao heard Bao Butong's voice, and a scornful sneer curled his lips.
Turning to see A Bi crying like a pear blossom drenched in rain, he felt greed rise in his heart again.
"What a lovely woman. Since you've delivered yourself to my door, I'll gladly accept."
Amid A Bi's helpless cries, Xu Xiao drew her over with Telekinesis, then sealed her acupoints in the same manner.
After that, the three of them floated away, Xu Xiao taking the two immobilized women toward the buildings on Swallow Dock.
Bao Butong's interruption had also made Xu Xiao realize that he had been a little too impatient for pleasure.
No matter how impatient he was, he should not have made the heavens his bed and the earth his blanket.
Inside the manor
Xu Xiao picked an empty room at random and took it over without ceremony.
What followed was the part everyone enjoyed.
Heavenly thunder stirred the earthly fire. Both women were beauties, and Xu Xiao was a hungry wolf who had never tasted meat, so naturally he labored through the night.
(This part was censored and has been deleted.)
A night of passion.
Everything that was supposed to happen happened.
The next day, A Bi, still sniffling, got up and made breakfast for the three of them, apparently having accepted everything.
In this feudal society, the notion that men were superior and women inferior had long been engraved deep in their minds, to say nothing of the fact that they were only servants.
Having lost their chastity to Xu Xiao, they could either kill themselves or resign themselves to following the chicken if they married a chicken, and following the dog if they married a dog.
That was the tragedy of this era.
But unlike A Bi, who had accepted her fate, A Zhu curled up on the bed with a thin quilt wrapped tightly around her.
Her eyes held neither helplessness nor submission, but deep hatred as she stared fixedly at Xu Xiao.
The woman looked gentle and delicate, but deep down she was tougher than most men.
That morning, when Xu Xiao was not paying attention, she had resolutely tried to bite off her tongue and kill herself. Fortunately, he noticed in time and stopped her.
But A Zhu was not discouraged, and whenever she had a chance, she tried to kill herself. Left with no choice, Xu Xiao sealed her acupoints to restrain her again.
But for a woman who could not bear the humiliation and was determined to die, sealing her acupoints could restrain her for a time, but not for a lifetime.
The problem gave Xu Xiao a splitting headache.
Only after their night of passion did he realize that what he had done was somewhat improper, but if he had to do it over again, he would still do the same.
He had no desire to spend so much effort chasing women and trying to please them.
If he liked someone, he would snatch her, take her for himself!
"Feelings grow with time" could be a noun or a verb. In any case, Xu Xiao would never let the women he fancied get away.
But seeing great tears still sliding from the corners of A Zhu's eyes as she lay immobilized with her acupoints sealed, Xu Xiao could not help softening.
A Zhu was, after all, his first woman, and he could hardly be too harsh with her.
Shaking his head helplessly, Xu Xiao reached out and tapped one of her acupoints lightly, unsealing them.
"You villain! Give me back my innocence, sob..."
As soon as her acupoints were unsealed, A Zhu lunged at Xu Xiao, crying like a pear blossom drenched in rain, her slender, tender jade fingers striking straight at his face.
"Have you made enough of a fuss?!"
Xu Xiao would not indulge her. His heart might have softened, but he had no taste for letting someone climb up his nose and onto his face.
With a slight stir of Telekinesis, A Zhu froze halfway through her lunge.
Xu Xiao swept out a large hand and pulled A Zhu, quilt and all, straight into his arms.
At the same time, he pinched her cheeks between his right thumb and forefinger, stopping her from biting her tongue again.
"It's already happened. What more do you want? Isn't being with me better than being a maid? Don't worry, I'll treat you well."
Xu Xiao suppressed his anger and comforted her softly.
Where exactly did he fall short?
The raw rice had already been cooked, yet A Zhu was still bent on killing herself. Could he truly be incapable of subduing even one woman?
In this world, a wife was expected to follow her husband. Wasn't being with him better than being a maid for the Murong Family?