“Uncle He, is everything okay?”
When Su Li saw the restaurant was full of diners, she asked. He Shi smiled loudly, “Thanks to you, the restaurant business is pretty good. I earn more money than before…”
“That’s good. I am here today for nothing else. I heard that Fang Yuan has a sister. The place where they live is not very safe. I see that a lot of helpers’ rooms are empty. I want to arrange a single room for them.”
After He Shi heard these words, he was shocked and happy, “I see. That’s the reason why Fang Yuan wants to go home every day. I thought he was lazy. You care about the restaurant helpers, and the restaurant will be prosperous in the future… Without further ado, I’ll call him here.”
“Sorry to trouble you.” Su Li nodded and thanked him.
After a while, He Shi smiled and walked to her together with Fang Yuan, who was confused.
“Miss, I am back to work. The kitchen is busy.”
He Shi left after the greeting. So only Su Li and Fang Yuan stood beside the door of the courtyard. Fang Yuan stood in silence, but his heart was beating fast. He Shi did not say anything to him, so he did not know what Su Li would ask him to do.
Seeing Fang Yuan was nervous but pretended to be calm, Su Li smiled and said, “Fang Yuan, I give you half a day off today. Lead the way.”
“A day off? Where are we going?” Fang Yuan looked puzzled.
“Where you live.”
Su Li took it for granted. Instantly Fang Yuan became more puzzled. Their relationship was not that close. To be exact, he had some complex feelings. But he never thought that one day Su Li would take the initiative to meet him.
After two and a half minutes, Fang Yuan led Su Li to the road of the South Street. His blush hadn’t faded away.
“Damn it… How can I have that idea?”
Su Li paid his wages to him before, which satisfied his urgent need. His sister did not have to stay hungry. He was working hard to earn more money and find another residence. Unexpected, Su Li took the initiative to help them.
“Fang Yuan, I gave you five hundred tales of silver.” Su Li was surprised and asked, “Why do you live in the South Street?”
Fang Yuan felt ashamed and honestly said, “As an inferior, I am so sorry to tell you that all the money was stolen. So, my sister and I had to live here. It’s really embarrassing… to lead you to such a place.”
“You don’t have to call yourself an inferior in front of me.” Su Li gently said, “I can see that you pretend to grovel. As a proud person in your heart, you temporarily bear it in order to live. Personally, I don’t really like to be a superior. Can we make friends?”
Fang Yuan was a little shocked. Seeing Su Li’s pure and transparent eyes, he was stunned.
Did she want to make friends with me? Could I…
“Ah!!!!”
Suddenly, a scream echoed in the sunset glow.
This was a normal sound in the South Street but it made Fang Yuan change countenance suddenly. He rushed to the direction of the scream.
“Sister!”
Su Li squinted and immediately followed him.
Fang Yuan instantly burst out of his full strength passing a street and turning to an alley like a ghost. He rushed into a big house in the end of the alley.
“Boom!!”
Two heavy wooden doors were kicked open by Fang Yuan. They saw a large crowd of rascals with messy clothes. In the middle of rascals was Fang Ling who was stripped with only underwear left.
“Brother!”
Fang Ling screamed with a hoarse voice. She was so ashamed that she even wanted to die. Her limbs were pressed and she could not even cover her eyes.
Fang Yuan’s eyes almost cracked and were red. He looked at a dozen of big-eyed men in the courtyard and gnashed, “Damn you all!”
“Ha ha ha ha…”
The leader in naked upper body suddenly pointed at Fang Yuan and laughed heavily. “Brothers, did you hear what he said? The little boy said that we were damned?”
Other rascals immediately felt interesting. They put Fang Ling down and walked slowly to Fang Yuan and surrounded him.
Seeing Fang Yuan’s height only reached his shoulder, the leader smiled and bent down. He patted Fang Yuan’s face and said arrogantly, “I am here, boy. Kill me. Do you dare to kill? Did you kill anyone before? It’s so funny. Even a little boy dares to provoke me…”
Sniggered!
“Uh…”
The leader stared with his eyes widened and looked down the dagger inserted in his heart. The feeling of cold and pain was full of his body in a twinkling. This boy… dared to kill me?
“Damn you all!”
Fang Yuan quickly pulled out the dagger and the blood splashed on his face. When other rascals were still in fazed, he easily inserted the dagger to the heart of another person.
At this time, a dozen of remaining rascals reacted and were frightened. They never saw such a murderous boy. But because they were the rascals who saw blood before, they didn’t run away but showed cruelty. They pulled out their broadswords one by one and rushed over.
“The elder brother and the fourth brother were dead. We should avenge them!”
“One versus sixteen, don’t be afraid!”
“Kill him!”
Fang Yuan looked cold like a weapon without temperature. He shuttled in the crowd and his dagger was like a snake biting through those rascals’ throats in his movements. Every time he killed one, the bloody smell quickly spread in the courtyard.
Crash!
The broadsword collided with the dagger, making a clear sound. A rascal’s thenar space was bleeding because of vibration. But he sneered.
“Brother, be careful!” Fang Ling saw the shadow behind Fang Yuan and suddenly screamed in horror.
Fang Yuan knew the situation was not good but it was too late to dodge. He was held by the rascal behind him and could not move. The rascal in front of him immediately stabbed him!
With a bang, a sword was inserted in his flesh!
With a sharp pain, Fang Yuan’s pupils constricted. In a flash, he escaped from the arms of the rascal behind him and passed through the front rascal’s crotch. At the same time, he threw away the dagger and pierced the necks of the two rascals.
Crash! Pit-a-pat!
With falling sound of the dagger and corpses, the yard returned to silence.
Fang Yuan sat on the ground and took some deep breaths holding his shoulders. He had no time to bandage the wound and limped to his sister. He took off his coat and put it on his sister.
Fang Ling stared at her brother, and tears filled her eyes. After a moment, she finally cried.
“Don’t worry. Everything is fine.”
Fang Yuan held his sister tightly in the arms. The hand which was covered with blood and never hesitated to kill was shaking slightly.
If Su Li didn’t happen to go back with him ……Oh! Su Li!
Fang Yuan suddenly woke up.
At this moment, rustling footsteps came from behind.
Fang Yuan’s mouth was full of bitterness. This footstep could be heard every day. He didn’t have to look back to know who it was.
Sure enough, people like him couldn’t become friends with her. He was a devil whose hands were stained with blood. But Su Li was an ordinary and kind-hearted girl. How could she accept this?
They were not from the same world.
“Miss Su.” He took a deep breath and said, “Maybe you cannot understand what I did… I will not hurt you. From now on, we will not appear in the Dasu Town. If you want to report to the official, just do it…”
The footsteps stopped behind Fang Yuan and there was no answer for a long time.
Fang Yuan felt distressed. What was the expression of Su Li? Fear, terror or loss? How damned was he to let her see such a terrible scene!
“Brother…”
Suddenly, Fang Ling’s voice brought Fang Yuan back to reality. Fang Ling looked up with her eye sight passing through Fang Yuan. Looking confused, she said, “Brother, look. Sister Su is laughing.”
Fang Yuan was stunned and looked back. He saw Su Li gently smiled and crouched. Her spotless skirt edge was suddenly stained with dirt. Her tone was as usual and even a little tender.
“Little fools, these people should die. Why should I report to the official?”
Fang Yuan was stunned.
No matter how imaginative he was, he did not expect that Su Li’s reaction was so unusual and almost counterintuitive. He even had a misunderstanding. Wasn’t the woman’s conception of the Dahan Country was different from that of the Nanjiang Country?
“You have a lot of questions. So do I.”
Su Li took off her cloak and tied it to Fang Ling. She said carelessly, “Everyone has a painful past. Why should we expose scars? Let’s leave it alone and help each other in the future. What do you think?”
In the cold moonlight, the courtyard was full of the corpses. The young girl’s understated proposal diluted the bloody smell.
“Help each other?” Fang Yuan frowned and looked at the corpses, “People like me…”
“Murdering can be the means to an end, but it is also troublesome.” Su Li moved forward and took a black porcelain bottle from her waist, “You killed sixteen people on impulse. This is a trouble. If the scene was found tomorrow, you and your sister would lose the stable life again and become fugitives.”
Walking to the nearest corpse, Su Li stopped and smiled with her head turning back, “You are worried about this. Am I right?”
“Yes, do you have some methods?”
Fang Yuan finally regained his thinking ability and his eyes were full of fear. In front of him, Su Li was still Su Li but was not the Su Li as usual. She was the real Su Li. She was a horrible girl who hid deeper than him.
“Let them disappear.” Su Li poured powder on the corpses. The powder smelled fragrant when it was mixed with the blood. The corpses quickly melted into clear water and even the bones were not left, “Nobody will care about the rascals who disappeared in the South Street. ”
Su Li melted the corpses with ease. Fang Yuan suddenly got the goose bumps. He opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say. In his mind, the kind and pure girl went away and couldn’t be reached. The real Su Li was more elusive.
She was born in a common family. How could she use the terrible means?
No matter how well informed he was, he felt strange about what was happening in front of him.
After Su Li cleaned up the yard, the sky was completely dark. She got up, collected the black porcelain bottle and patted the mud off her clean skirt. When she looked up and saw Fang Yuan’s shoulder still bleeding, she could not help but frown slightly, saying, “Your injury is not serious, but you need to convalesce. Go back to the restaurant after having it bandaged.”
“OK.”
Fang Yuan answered absently. With the support of his sister, the three people returned to the yard together.
Su Li lit up the oil lamp and carefully applied medicine on the wounds of Fang Yuan. Although Fang Ling was not hurt, she was frightened and fell asleep.
Fang Yuan’s upper body was naked and his face was hot. But because the light was dark, Su Li couldn’t see it, which made Fang Yuan breathe a sigh of relief.
After a period of silence, he slowly said, “I was on the battlefield and killed many people. I even killed the old and children. You don’t care about it, do you?”
Su Li looked at him and was stunned. But she immediately shook her head and chuckled, “You can’t control yourself in Jianghu. Nobody dares to say that he/she is sinless. I believe you. You don’t kill innocent people for your own desires. Right?”
Fang Yuan nodded with complicated eye sight. He did not expect that he would be comforted one day.
Su Li lowered her head and dealt with the wound. Her eye sight was peaceful and her thoughts drifted away unconsciously…
In the execution ground in previous life —
It was scorching at 12:45 a.m.
“Su Li, you damned devil. In order to practice poison martial arts, you killed two hundred thousand soldiers of the Dahan Country, which led to the enemy’s win in the war and displaced people. You committed heinous sins, which were too numerous to be listed!”
“Devil, you broke up my families. I wish to eat your flesh and drink your blood. Ha ha ha, I do not expect you will die today!”
“God has eyes. He asked you to experience all the suffering and die!”
“…”
“This is the Royal Order: Su Zipei, the titled noblewoman, was diligent and virtuous, gentle and pure. Because she punished her own relations in the cause of justice and contributed a lot to report to the imperial court, the first-rank title of noblewoman, ten thousand taels of gold, one hundred pieces of brocades and Shuxian Courtyard are hereby granted to her. End!”