Ugly Hero - Chapter 16

Lu Nanzhu remembered something, and her heart filled with incomparable relief. Fortunately, she treasured that jade hairpin and had not worn it in her hair. Otherwise…

She could not help sighing again, secretly sizing up Xia Qinyi while holding her chopsticks and lightly tapping the plate before her again and again.

Four dishes and one soup…

Lu Nanzhu had lived below Tianshan since childhood. Because supplies were scarce, life had been very poor. Even when her parents were still alive, their meals had been simple. This meal before her was the first time in her seventeen years of life that she had eaten something so abundant…

In the end, the temptation of delicious food defeated everything. Lu Nanzhu pulled down the veil covering half her face, picked up a piece of sunflower-cut braised pork, and placed it into her mouth. The texture was soft and glutinous, and the fragrance of meat filled her mouth. Lu Nanzhu narrowed her eyes.

Simple people were always easy to satisfy and easy to make happy. Who could have imagined it?

The currently famous Ugly Hero would feel such ease and satisfaction because of an ordinary dish.

Lu Nanzhu soon immersed herself in the food, and the heart she had been holding up unknowingly relaxed.

By sheer accident, this produced an unexpected effect. Seeing the green-robed girl go from strange at first to calm afterward, Xia Qinyi silently withdrew her attention from her.

This girl carried a literary sword. Perhaps she was not a person of the jianghu. Unlike jianghu women, who were carefree and unrestrained, unmarried daughters of ordinary commoner families often covered their faces with light gauze.

Perhaps she had been startled because two men were following behind Xia Qinyi…

After Lu Nanzhu finished eating, she pulled up her veil again, lifted the wooden box onto her back, took her sword, and went upstairs.

Once she entered her room, she locked the door, patted her chest, and said, “Truly… enemies meet on a narrow road!”

The night passed peacefully.

The next day, Xia Qinyi left with her people. Lu Nanzhu had just finished washing up when someone knocked on her door.

Lu Nanzhu opened the door and saw the innkeeper standing outside with an apologetic expression.

“Miss… this is the room money you paid in advance.”

“Innkeeper, what do you mean by this?”

The innkeeper gave a bitter smile. “Miss, you may not know, but last night, more people died in town. The corpses of two Tianqiong Sword Sect disciples were dumped at the street corner. Ai… Miss, I am sorry. I truly cannot hold on anymore. I am preparing to close the inn for now and hide outside for a while. Once the storm passes, I will come back. I will waive last night’s room fee for you. What do you think…”

Lu Nanzhu nodded in understanding. “Innkeeper, just return the room money I paid in advance. I will pack my things and leave.”

“Miss! That will not do!”

Lu Nanzhu insisted on not taking back the waived portion. The innkeeper thanked her, then said again, “Miss… I see that you do not seem like someone from the jianghu. Please listen to a word of advice from me. Leave this place of trouble! Ai! My family has lived here for generations, and this inn is our ancestral property…”

When the innkeeper reached this point, a trace of sorrow flashed across his face. He waved to Lu Nanzhu, then turned and left.

Lu Nanzhu looked at the innkeeper’s departing back and felt a surge of sympathy. When the jianghu fell into chaos, disaster spread to the common people. Where, then, was there a peaceful land where one could settle?

She could not help recalling her own childhood, spent fleeing day after day. Then she thought of Shiyin Village. Although the foot of Tianshan had been poor and bitter, it had at least sheltered her childhood and allowed her to stop drifting from place to place.

Xia Qinyi brought Qingzhu and Piaoxue to the main hall of the Tianqiong Sword Sect.

“This junior, Xia Qinyi, greets Uncle Situ.”

“Please sit quickly. Young Miss Xia, you have had a tiring journey.”

“This junior heard that the Demon Cult has been rampant and has repeatedly harassed your esteemed sect, so I specially came to offer what little strength I can.”

“Young Miss Xia can take the safety of the righteous martial world as your own responsibility. This is truly Huaxia Manor’s good fortune. I have already arranged guest rooms on the rear mountain. Recently, many fellow martial artists have come to Tianqiong Mountain, and all the separate courtyards are already full. I hope Young Miss Xia will not mind.”

“Uncle, why say such a thing? This junior does not intend to stay on the mountain. Today, I came only to pay a visit. Later, I will go down the mountain.”

Situ Kong glanced at the Phoenix Blood Saber in Qingzhu’s arms and nodded. “That is fine as well. At present, all sorts of people are mixed together within the sect. Below the mountain may be better.”

Xia Qinyi smiled without agreeing or disagreeing, then took her leave from Situ Kong and left the main hall.

They had not walked a hundred steps when someone called, “Junior Sister Xia, please wait!”

Xia Qinyi turned around. The person who had come was Su Mubai.

Xia Qinyi cupped her hands. “Senior Brother Su.”

Su Mubai looked at the attendants behind Xia Qinyi and asked, “Junior Sister Xia, may we speak somewhere private?”

“Qingzhu, Piaoxue, go wait for me at the mountain gate first.”

“Yes.”

After the two walked far away, Su Mubai’s gaze softened. “Junior Sister Xia, when I saw you last time, there were so many things I wanted to say to you. Unfortunately, the Demon Cult fiends ruined everything.”

Xia Qinyi looked at Su Mubai. When she was young, her father had once sparred with the sect master of Tianqiong Sword Sect and brought her to stay on Tianqiong Mountain for a while. That was how she and Su Mubai had met. But ever since that parting, the two of them had not seen each other for ten years. Looking at the old acquaintance before her, Xia Qinyi did not know what to say for a moment, so she merely nodded.

Su Mubai smiled and said, “Junior Sister Xia has grown up. When I saw you last time, I almost did not recognize you… You are not staying on the mountain?”

Xia Qinyi shook her head.

“Now that the Demon Cult fiends are rampant, the mountain is safer.”

“It is precisely because Tianqiong Mountain is easy to defend and difficult to attack that I have no need to stay on the mountain. If I stay in town, I can fight the Demon Cult at any time.”

Hearing Xia Qinyi’s words, a trace of shame flashed across Su Mubai’s face. “Junior Sister Xia… you truly are a heroine among women. Why don’t… I report to Master and go down the mountain with you? That way, we can look after each other.”

“There is no need. Senior Brother Su is different from Qinyi. As a disciple of Tianqiong Sword Sect, you should be guarding the mountain gate. If Senior Brother Su has nothing else, Qinyi will take her leave.”

“Then… I will see you off.”

No matter how many times Xia Qinyi tried to dissuade him, Su Mubai insisted on escorting her to the inn. The four of them arrived at the inn entrance and saw two carriages parked outside. The innkeeper had already nailed wooden boards over the final window.

“Innkeeper, are you closing for business?”

The innkeeper cupped his hands apologetically. “Miss, I am sorry. I plan to stay with relatives for a while. Please find another inn.”

The four followed the street westward, searching for another inn.

After turning a corner, they saw several people gathered together, all wearing the clothing of Tianqiong Sword Sect disciples.

Su Mubai walked at the front. When the three saw him, they called, “Senior Brother.”

“What happened?” As he asked, Xia Qinyi and the other two came closer and saw that the person surrounded by the Tianqiong Sect disciples was precisely the green-robed girl she had met once before.

“Senior Brother, last night, two fellow disciples died in town and their bodies were dumped at the street corner. We found two poisonous needles in their hair. It is exactly the killing method of the Demon Cult’s Jade-Faced Fox. This woman’s attire is identical to that Jade-Faced Fox’s, so the three of us stopped her and were just about to lift her bamboo hat to verify her identity.”

Lu Nanzhu tightened her grip on the literary sword in her hand. When she returned to Shiyin Village, she would definitely have to flip through the almanac and see whether this year was unlucky for her. First, she had been stopped by three people and suspected of being some “Jade-Faced Fox.” Before she could even explain, she saw Xia Qinyi walking over from a distance. Afraid that some clue might be heard in her voice, Lu Nanzhu could only keep her mouth shut.

After Su Mubai finished listening, he looked the green-robed girl up and down. The “Jade-Faced Fox” these three disciples spoke of was the elegant title given to Gongsun Qing by people of the Demon Cult. Lu Nanzhu’s current attire did indeed bear some resemblance to Gongsun Qing’s appearance at the Demon-Slaying Assembly. Su Mubai cupped his hands. “Miss, I am Su Mubai of the Tianqiong Sword Sect. These three are my junior brothers. Recently, Demon Cult fiends have been rampant. May we ask Miss to remove your bamboo hat so that we can verify your identity?”

Lu Nanzhu did not speak, nor did she move. Through the light gauze, she stared unblinkingly at Xia Qinyi, weighing things in her heart.

If she immediately used qinggong to escape, Xia Qinyi definitely would not be able to catch her. But… the two men standing behind her seemed difficult to deal with. Moreover, if she was holding a literary sword yet knew martial arts, this identity could no longer be used either.

If she took off the bamboo hat, she could avoid trouble for the moment, but there might be hidden dangers later…

Lu Nanzhu’s silence, in the eyes of others, looked more like soundless resistance.

“Senior Brother, why waste words with her?” As one of the disciples spoke, he reached out with the back of his hand toward Lu Nanzhu’s bamboo hat.

Sensing the danger in advance, Lu Nanzhu’s body dodged by conditioned reflex. Her heart jolted, and she gripped the literary sword in her hand tightly, forcing her body not to move.

But the motion of dodging and then stopping happened too quickly. To others, it looked more like her body had merely trembled.

Xia Qinyi saw it and felt unable to bear it, but it was already too late to speak and stop him. With a “pa,” the bamboo hat on Lu Nanzhu’s head was knocked away. The light gauze swayed, and the hat spun once in midair before falling to the ground behind her.

Every man present drew in a breath.

Although this green-robed woman had only revealed half her face, she was already so beautiful that people could not look away. Especially since she still wore a veil beneath the bamboo hat, giving her a hazy beauty like “still holding the pipa, half hiding the face.” No wonder she wore a bamboo hat!

Lu Nanzhu’s chest tightened. Helplessly, she looked at Xia Qinyi.

If I had not run into you, what could the three of them have done to me?

In Xia Qinyi’s eyes, that gaze carried a trace of resentment. Swept by such a look, Xia Qinyi felt regret in her heart. If she had spoken earlier to stop them, perhaps this could have been avoided…

Xia Qinyi could not help looking at the green-robed woman a few more times. Huaxia Manor received guests like drifting clouds, and Xia Qinyi had also seen many beauties, but this green-robed girl was the most beautiful.

Lu Nanzhu stared silently at the person who had knocked off her bamboo hat, her gaze deep and dark.

The man’s face reddened. He turned his gaze away and stammered, “M-Miss, I… I am sorry. I was reckless.”

Author’s Note:

Today’s update is here. I still owe one chapter. Yesterday, I was too sleepy. When I woke up today and looked at yesterday’s update, I found several places where the wording felt uncomfortable. I will revise them later.

I still owe one chapter. Please don’t wait. Go to sleep early. It may be very late, probably around two, three, or four o’clock before I update…

Mm. Little Lu and Little Xia have just met like this!

A preview: In the next chapter, Little Xia thinks Little Lu is a helpless girl with no strength even to bind a chicken, no relatives to rely on, and unable to speak. O(∩_∩) She takes care of her in all sorts of ways.

Little Lu: There is something I do not know whether I should say…

Jun Moxiao: Aren’t you mute? Don’t speak!

Little Lu: &@#*@&#……!