Chapter 02 – Lesson

Except for Xiao An, everyone in Yong Ping’s group was skilled in martial arts.

They clearly saw that the long rod slid past the man’s arm like a serpent, before suddenly twisted around the man’s arm and entered under his armpit.

For that scholar, this process was just a blur in front of his eyes, and suddenly his arm was twisted, there was an irresistible force under his armpit. He lost his center of gravity and was lifted into the air before falling sideways onto the tea table.

The cups were overturned and the plates were broken.

On the other hand, the brocade-clothed man at the other table cheered before the others.

It happened so suddenly that the arrogant scholars were dumbfounded. The cheers woke them up.

One of them shouted, “You —” and rushed forward without thinking. Some people were clear-headed and realized that the girl in front of them was probably not to be trifled with. They hurriedly retreated and shouted for help, “Guards! Guards!”

When the master was in trouble, the servants would rush to intervene.

Xiao An wanted to rush forward to help, but “Yong Ping” held him down. Xiao An was so anxious that he scratched his ears and cheeks, “Brother Yong Ping!”

“Yong Ping” did not speak. He stared over there with his dark eyes.

As soon as the fight started, the customers got up and fled in all directions. Some took the opportunity to slip away without paying for the tea. The shopkeeper and shop assistant could not stop the customers who slipped away. They could only cry, “Stop fighting, stop fighting!”

The girl did not need anyone to help her. These arrogant scholars were nothing more than scholars without the strength to truss a chicken. Their servants were only a little stronger or had learned some superficial martial arts.

However, the girl had already started. Although she did not intend to hurt them, she did not intend to be merciful. She wrapped, circled, blocked, grabbed, pounced, poked, and pushed with her long stick. Soon, these people were all lying on the ground moaning.

“Humph!” The girl stopped and the long stick hit the ground, creating a hole and sending dirt flying. She said in a low voice, “Since you were born as a human, can you speak human language in the future?”

“You … you dare …” One of them covered his swollen face and crawled back. He stood up with the help of the servants. “You know who I am. I am from the Xu family of Xiang Tan …”

“I don’t care who you are!” The girl interrupted him, “If you don’t know how to speak human language, don’t blame me for being merciless!”

With that, she fiercely slammed the stick on the ground again, creating a deeper hole.

That arrogant scholar was terrified. Although their families had some prestige in their hometown, a wise man knew better than to fight when the odds were against him. After leaving behind a few threatening words such as “Just you wait!”, they fled with the help of their servants like the wind.

The shopkeeper wanted to stop them, but the servant’s face was swollen. He was grimacing in pain, and his eyes were fierce. The shopkeeper was so scared that he didn’t dare to stop them. He could only watch as the group boarded the carriage without paying for the tea and fled in panic.

When he saw that the troublemaker also turned around to pick up her bag and leave, the shopkeeper hurriedly rushed over and cried, “Miss! Miss! You can’t leave. Look at my … It’s not easy to run a small business … I have parents and children …”

The young girl looked at the mess around her and said with an ashamed expression, “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault.”

Bullying the kind and fearing the evil was human nature. He didn’t dare to stop the fierce one just now, but he couldn’t let go of this guilty one. The shopkeeper cried even louder, “These bastards, they didn’t even pay for the tea. When you started fighting, they all ran away. Everything I did today was in vain, and I also lost a lot of money for the tea and pastries …”

The young girl was embarrassed and hurriedly said, “Uncle, please don’t cry, I’ll compensate you. How much is it …” As she spoke, she put her hand into the cloth bag to take out the money.

The shopkeeper had already calculated the losses in his heart. While crying, he reported a number while secretly looking at the young girl.

When the young girl heard the amount, she was stunned and couldn’t pull her hand out of the cloth bag. Her neck turned pink, “That …”

The shopkeeper’s heart thumped, and he hurriedly said, “If you’re short on cash, you can leave something valuable as collateral …” As he spoke, his eyes swept over the young girl’s head and hands. But he was disappointed to find that she had a simple hairstyle. There was no hairpin on her head, no bracelet on her wrist, and only a pair of small silver lilacs on her ears, which didn’t look worth much — it might not even be worth as much as the long rod.

The shopkeeper’s eyes looked at the long rod, “You …”

The shopkeeper didn’t guess wrong. This was the first time the young girl had left home, and she sneaked out. She didn’t have enough experience and didn’t bring enough money. Just now, when her hand touched the cloth bag, she felt the remaining coins. She didn’t know if it was enough for the return trip.

The young girl took back her hand and held the long rod tightly. Her face was red, “I can’t pawn this to you!”

The shopkeeper started sobbing again, “I have parents and children …”

“I’ll give you all the money! Don’t cry!” The young girl’s scalp was numb. She hurriedly reached out to untie the purse at her waist and wanted to take out the little money left in the cloth bag.

But a hand stretched out to stop her.

The young girl turned her head slightly and saw a young man wearing fine clothes who was about the same age as her. His face was beautiful, like that of a woman. The young man chuckled. With a wave, he threw something to the shopkeeper, “Take it.”

The light flashed, and the shopkeeper hurriedly caught it. It was a silver ingot.

“Is it enough?” Xiao An asked.

The shopkeeper gritted his teeth and hurriedly nodded, “Enough, enough.”

Xiao An waved his hand, and the shopkeeper tactfully retreated.

Even though the young girl didn’t have any traveling experience, she understood that the young man was compensating for her loss. She hesitated for a moment and said, “This Young Master …”

An turned his head, “Hmm?”

The young girl cupped her fists and said, “Thank you for your help, Young Master. It’s just that I’m short on cash today, so please leave your name and address. I’ll return it another day.”

She had a childish look on her face, but when she spoke, she had to pretend to be an experienced person. Xiao An chuckled and waved his hand brightly, “You don’t need to worry about a little money, big sis. My name is Xiao An. What’s your surname and where are you from? From your accent, you don’t sound like a local.”

Earlier, he had called her “little girl”, but now that he was in front of her, he called her “big sister”. He was used to it. He had been castrated ever since he was a child, no one had ever treated him as a man. He called every woman in the inner courtyard big sisters.

He had never thought of himself as a man, so naturally, he didn’t feel anything. However, to this young girl, a stranger who looked older than her didn’t call her “Miss”, but directly called her “Big Sister”. Moreover, he called her so affectionately. It was rather frivolous.

The young girl’s face tensed up, “Young Master is generous and chivalrous. I respect Young Master, but please mind your manners.”

Only then did Xiao An realize that something was wrong. He knew he wasn’t a man, but others didn’t know. He coughed and said awkwardly, “It’s a habit of mine at home, Big … Miss, please don’t be offended. But, it’s just a small amount of money, let’s not worry about it when we’re traveling. Miss, you don’t have to worry about it.”

He knew his mistakes and corrected them. Although he was a little frivolous, he didn’t seem like a bad person.

When the young girl was at home, she often yearned for the stories of the heroes in the storybooks. They traveled the world with a sword and treated money like dirt. How cool was that? She smiled broadly, “Since that’s the case, thank you, Young Master An. My surname is Wen, and I’m from Qingzhou. It’s an honor to meet Young Master today. However, I still have something to do, so I’ll take my leave. The green mountains don’t change, and the green water flows forever. Young Master, please take care of yourself.”

Xiao An was a servant in the manor and was the youngest among his companions. Although there were people who fawned on him because of his status, no one really treated him as an equal adult. This was the first time that someone treated him as an equal and treated him with respect.

Xiao An came over because he could see that this young girl was short on money and was grateful that she spoke up for people with broken bodies like them. On the other hand, he was itching to ask this young girl to spar with him. However, he completely forgot about sparring. With his chest puffed out, he said seriously, “So it’s Miss Wen. Qingzhou produces heroes. No wonder Miss’ skills are so good. It’s this one’s honor to have met Miss. Miss, please take care of yourself.”

These two were young, but they were trying their best to pretend to be mature. Kang Shun and the others had to use all their strength to hold back their laughter.

Seeing the young girl surnamed Wen get on a chestnut horse and leave, Xiao An was still standing there foolishly. Kang Shun went over and hit the back of his head, “Stop staring, she’s gone already.”

Xiao An jumped up and wanted to hit back, but Kang Shun smiled and dodged, “What? You’ve taken fancy of her?”

“Bah! Don’t talk nonsense!” Xiao An said, “What kind of people are we? What do you mean by taking fancy of her? You’re insulting a good girl!”

When he said this, his companions’ eyes darkened.

Xiao An realized he had said something wrong and immediately corrected himself, “Unless you have the ability to be like Lord Niu, or like Eunuch Zhang and Eunuch Xu, you can marry and raise children, and have many children and grandchildren.”

The current ruler, Emperor Jing Shun of the Zhou Dynasty, was old and muddle-headed. He relied heavily on eunuchs.

Eunuch Zhang and Eunuch Xu whom Xiao An mentioned were two of the eight most favored eunuchs of Emperor Jing Shun. These eight eunuchs, together with Niu Gui of the Supervisory Council, were known as the “Eight Tigers and One Wolf”. They were the most hated by the civil officials and the people.

These nine eunuchs all had mansions outside the palace, and many of them had married wives. Two of them were palace maids bestowed by Emperor Jing Shun.

However, they were all handicapped and could not have children of their own. They had adopted children and grandchildren, so Xiao An did not say “marrying and having children” but rather “marrying and “raising children”.

The gloomy atmosphere was swept away, and his companions laughed again, “You dreamt to be a great eunuch?”

“It’s impossible for you!” Everyone laughed and patted his head. Xiao An blocked left and right, so angry that he stomped his feet.

He pushed away these annoying people and saw “Yong Ping” standing to the side, staring in the direction that Miss Wen had gone. For some reason, his expression was unreadable.

Xiao An adjusted his messy clothes and asked, “Brother Yong Ping, what are you looking at?”

“Yong Ping” seemed to have been awakened. He suddenly turned his head and asked, “She said her surname is Wen? From Qingzhou?”

“Yes.” Xiao An said. “I couldn’t tell though. Didn’t they say that the northern girls were all big and rough? I think Miss Wen is quite slender, no worse than the Jiangnan girls.”

“Yong Ping” seemed not to have heard. He stared in the direction that the girl had left, his lips moving slightly.

“What?” Xiao An did not hear what he said.

“It’s a spear.” “Yong Ping” said. “She wielded a spear.”

“Huh? Wasn’t it a stick? “Xiao An asked curiously.

“It’s a spear.” Another companion led the horse over and said, “I saw it clearly just now. Although she used a stick, she used spear techniques, not stick techniques.”

Xiao An was very impressed, “You can even tell that.” He was also annoyed, “Why can’t I see it?”

His partner laughed heartily, “You’re still inexperienced. Work hard.”

Xiao An muttered and went to lead his horse.

Only “Yong Ping” was still standing there, staring in the direction where the girl had left.

Her surname was Wen.

He was from Qingzhou.

She wielded a spear.

That’s impossible, he told himself. It couldn’t be her. It was just a coincidence.

From Shandong to Huguang, it was thousands of li away. She had already broken off their engagement, so how could she travel all the way here?

But …

“Yong Ping” clenched his fists.

Just now, the technique spear that the girl surnamed Wen Wen used was indeed the Zhen Family’s spear that his mother-in-law, Madam Zhen, had brought from the Zhen Family in Tingkou to the Wen Family!

Could she be … Yue Ya’er?