Yingtian Ward, Stone Bridge Alley.
A canal flowed past the alley, with several old bridges connecting its banks. Willows along the water rustled softly in the wind and rain.
The two-courtyard house with white walls and dark tiles stood midway down the alley. Its lights were already out, and the big black cat was sleeping soundly in its little bed beside the cat tree.
The bedroom on the western side of the main house had wooden floors and a painted lacquer wardrobe against the wall. Beside it stood a dressing mirror and a sword stand. The canopy bed was at the innermost end, its gauzy curtains hanging down with a faint glow coming from within.
Luo Xuanqing lay flat on her pillow in a white nightdress, turning a glowing cyan throwing knife between her long fingers. Beneath her dress, her delicate feet rested one atop the other, their skin as fair as fine jade and seemingly soft enough to break at a touch.
Rustle, rustle~~
Fine rain pattered outside the window. Luo Xuanqing listened closely. Midnight had long passed, yet she could not feel the slightest bit sleepy.
After lying in silence for who knew how long, Luo Xuanqing was almost at a loss for words. She muttered inwardly:
Luo Xuanqing, oh, Luo Xuanqing, what the hell are you waiting for?
You have to report for duty tomorrow morning. Why are you lying awake in the middle of the night, letting your thoughts run wild?
You're not a little girl. The facts are plain as day, yet you're still hoping for a pleasant surprise?
No wonder the senior Taoist nuns back on Mount Jiuhua were always scolding you for not purging your worldly desires. How could you reach First Rank with a mind like this?
But this brat is always full of surprises. What if...
She mulled it over back and forth, but there was still no movement outside. Gradually, Luo Xuanqing drifted into a state between sleep and wakefulness. After who knew how long, her ear suddenly twitched:
Creak~
?
Luo Xuanqing's eyes snapped open. She tightened her grip on the throwing knife and looked toward the window.
Tap, tap...
Deliberately muffled footsteps entered the inner courtyard without even waking the sleeping black cat.
Then the footsteps passed outside her window and reached the side wing, where faint noises followed:
Rustle, rustle~
Splash, splash~
?
What is this brat doing?
A little puzzled, Luo Xuanqing rose silently from bed. With her long hair hanging over her shoulders, she went to the window and quietly peered out.
Rain pattered outside. There was no movement in the bathroom in the eastern wing, but a faint light shone in the open corridor outside it. She could see a man's silhouette, bent over and doing who knew what. There was also a faint smell of blood.
Luo Xuanqing's slender brows drew together. She pushed the window open a little farther and leaned out to look.
The Black Banner Saber stood against the wall, and a soaking-wet robe had been tossed onto the steps.
The tall, powerfully built man had not gone into the bathroom. Instead, he was bent over the washing basin built of gray bricks outside the door, scrubbing his face with his hands.
His thick chest and back muscles flexed slightly with his movements, while his solid abs glistened with water in the lamplight. Farther down were red trousers, and as he bent over to wash, his hand grenade swung back and forth...
?!
Luo Xuanqing's heart gave a violent jolt. Her face turned scarlet in an instant, and she raised her throwing knife to give the brat a good one.
But in that fleeting glimpse, she also noticed that all his bandages were gone. There were scabbed bite marks on his arms, and his formerly handsome face was a sight too dreadful to behold. Both eyes were red and swollen, as though he had been stung by hornets.
"Ye Xingge?!"
"Holy mother-!"
Ye Xingge had been too filthy to go inside, so he was washing his eyes outside. They had been smoked and scorched, and lime had been thrown in them to boot.
In the dead of night, an ethereal, mature woman's voice suddenly rang out beside him, scaring him so badly he nearly jumped. He hurriedly turned:
"Sister Luo? Why are you awake? Huh?"
Tap, tap, tap...
Creak-
A door slid open, and footsteps drew nearer.
Before Ye Xingge could finish his sentence, he saw the cool and regal beauty in a nightdress rush in from outside.
The warm white nightdress was very loose, concealing her otherwise graceful curves, though a hint of collarbone showed beneath her fair neck. As she strode forward with a gust of wind, her heavy melons bounced without pause, sending up billowing waves...
But Ye Xingge did not dare admire the sight. He merely used his back to shield the jade token, dagger, and yellow strips on the washing table:
"Sister Luo, the rain's heavy out here..."
Luo Xuanqing strode up to him and said in a low voice:
"What happened to you? Who did this?"
Ye Xingge wiped the water from his face and explained:
"I just went to take care of an assignment. It's nothing serious. I only got some lime thrown at me and took a punch..."
"..."
Luo Xuanqing did not believe a word. She carefully examined the wound on his ribs and saw that the scabbed area had taken a heavy blow and split open slightly, with a dark red fist mark still visible. His eyes were also swollen like light bulbs.
Luo Xuanqing then looked at the clothes and bandages on the ground, as well as his trousers.
She had been wondering why a grown man was wearing red trousers. Only now did she realize that his robe and trousers had all been dyed the color of blood. Only places that were hard to soak through, such as the crotch, retained their original grayish white. He looked as though he had been steeped in a pool of blood.
"What assignment did you take?!"
Luo Xuanqing said in disbelief, "Could one or two people get your clothes that bloody? Were you fighting in a dyehouse?"
Ye Xingge spread his hands and gestured at his body:
"I'm really fine. I just caught the Return to Origin Cult's Winnowing Basket Water Leopard and cut down more than thirty lackeys along the way..."
"Huh?"
Luo Xuanqing froze.
The Return to Origin Cult's Twenty-Eight Stars were all on the Heaven-Observing Pavilion's wanted list. Catching just one meant a third of the assessment was already complete!
But after a moment's thought, Luo Xuanqing asked skeptically:
"How did you find Winnowing Basket Water Leopard? And there were more than thirty lackeys? Did they line up and wait for you to cut them down?"
The doubt was reasonable. People were not fools. An army would rout after losing thirty percent of its soldiers, and a gang of bandits would scatter as soon as one or two were killed.
"Sigh, it's a long story..."
Ye Xingge gave her a rough account of what had just happened.
Sure enough, when Great Beauty Luo heard how he had used himself as bait to chum the waters and lured out one of the Return to Origin Cult's Twenty-Eight Stars, her eyes filled with admiration. When she learned he had plunged headlong into the bandits' gathering, that admiration turned to worry.
And when she heard what Ruan Jinyu had said and done, her face turned livid on the spot. Before Ye Xingge had even finished, she turned with a cold expression and picked up the Black Banner Saber leaning against the wall.
"Huh?"
Ye Xingge hurried forward to stop her:
"Calm down, calm down. There's no need. I've already cut them all down and didn't leave that damned eunuch a single benefit..."
Luo Xuanqing's chest was almost bursting with anger, pushing out even her loose nightdress. She looked back at him:
"He openly made things difficult for my man. How can I, an official, let it go? Go to sleep. If I don't tear that damned eunuch's arm off today..."
"Hey~"
Though Ye Xingge felt quite good being protected by the powerful mature beauty, he still tried to dissuade her:
"Ruan Jinyu handled things without leaving a single opening. He didn't interfere or cause trouble; he only supervised and protected the civilians nearby. Even if this goes before the emperor, it'll be a messy dispute. But if you beat him up, we'll be in the wrong.
"I'm fine anyway. I cut them all down, and he didn't get a thing. I even earned merit and a reputation for nothing..."
"..."
Luo Xuanqing knew how Ruan Jinyu operated. He was full of dirty tricks but never gave anyone grounds to criticize him.
But if she swallowed this, how could she hold her melons high in front of her subordinates in the future?
After hesitating for a moment, Luo Xuanqing still wanted to go.
Ye Xingge raised a hand to stop her, but he could not hold her back at all. She slipped past him with a flash, leaving him no choice but to steel himself:
"Ugh~"
He clutched his chest and staggered.
?
Seeing this, Luo Xuanqing, her face cold as frost, did indeed stop. She quickly turned back, supported him, and felt his pulse:
"Are... are you all right?"
Ye Xingge put on a grimace:
"The wound's burning. How about putting some medicine on it first?"
"?"
Luo Xuanqing was no greenhorn in the martial world. She could tell from his pulse alone that the brat was pretending, but she also understood what he meant. After a moment's silence, she helped Ye Xingge toward the bedroom:
"Fine, I'll treat your injuries first. I'll deal with that damned eunuch tomorrow. He's gone too far..."
Creak~
Ye Xingge breathed a sigh of relief. Once they reached her private bedroom, he saw that it was spotless. He was wet all over, and his trousers were covered in blood, so naturally he felt it was improper to go in:
"The sitting room will do. I'm dirty..."
Luo Xuanqing's slender brows knitted, and she looked rather displeased:
"What? Do you take me for an outsider? You risked your life and rendered outstanding service for me. Would I really mind that you're dirty?"
Ye Xingge waved a hand. "No, it's just that my trousers are covered in blood. If I dirty them, I'll have to help wash the bedsheets..."
Luo Xuanqing was rendered speechless by that:
"Can't you take them off and cover yourself with the quilt? I'm not going to look at you..."
With that, Luo Xuanqing fetched a towel and handed it to Ye Xingge, then turned and hurried to the study opposite to get medicine.
Tap, tap, tap...
Ye Xingge felt warm inside and did not stand on ceremony anymore. He took off his soaking-wet trousers, wiped the water from his body, and sat down on the embroidered bed. Pulling the quilt over his waist, he waited quietly.
Soon, footsteps came to the door again.
Creak~
Luo Xuanqing entered with a medicine box and sat sideways on the edge of the bed. She pressed Ye Xingge back against the headboard, then dipped a cotton ball in medicinal wine and wiped his swollen eye sockets, her expression a little fierce:
"You really... don't care about your life? How many strings of cash do you even get paid a month? Why didn't you run after they threw lime at you? What if you'd gone blind?"
Though her words were a scolding, her eyes showed more concern than anything.
Ye Xingge closed his eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting:
"It was for the assessment. It wasn't easy to finally catch one. If I'd been willing to run, I'd have left when I saw Ruan Jinyu had them surrounded. Why would I have been so reckless? I used lime often before, too, so I was on guard. I shook most of it off before I opened my eyes. Most of this was from the smoke..."
"And you're still grinning? Do you know how dangerous that was?"
Luo Xuanqing's expression was stern as she warned the brat to look after his own safety, but her touch was as gentle as could be. After a moment's thought, she frowned again:
"Was it what I said earlier that provoked you? Now that you've actually made it into my embroidered bed, are you satisfied?"
Of course I am...
Ye Xingge stayed still and merely gave her a thumbs-up:
"Sister Luo, you really do keep your word. You left the door open for me, and the bed's nice and warm."
Luo Xuanqing's gaze darkened slightly, but Ye Xingge had performed one remarkable feat after another in just two or three hours, giving them hope of passing the assessment, and had fought to this extent. She did not take issue with his somewhat glib words, merely reminding him:
"You can only lie down for a little while. Once you've rested, you'll have to go out again. That's what you get for rashly saying three days. If you'd said half a month, you could have used your injuries as an excuse to lie around here for a couple of days and enjoy having your female superior serve you tea and water..."
Ye Xingge knew he could not rest for long. He chuckled:
"It's fine. There'll be plenty of time when we're done. As long as I haven't embarrassed you, Sister Luo. There are two people left. Finishing within three days shouldn't be a problem..."
"Don't rush. Today's merits alone are enough to ask for an official post. If you really can't finish, don't push yourself..."