Zi Li pulled Ah Luo to stand behind him. His right hand flung out from who knows where and drew out a sword, beginning to fight with the masked men. Ah Luo watched dazedly. She had practiced karate for many years, but she couldn’t get used to the flash and glint of the swords in front of her. She could only feel that Zi Li held onto her very tightly as she slowly saw the direction that the knife was coming from. Leveraging her strength from Zi Li’s hand, she leapt up and kicked the masked man brandishing the knife with both her feet.
Zi Li glanced at her and took this opportunity to force the masked man backwards with a few swings of his sword. He pulled Ah Luo and whispered to her, “Get on the horse!” They flew up and onto the horse, the horse was hit and they left. Zi Li felt pain and numbness in his backside and fell down. The horse raised its front hooves, whinnied and Ah Luo fell off the horse as well. With no time to think about the extreme pain in her butt, she walked to Zi Li’s side, “Elder Brother, what should we do?”
Zi Li suddenly laughed, “Silly brother, why didn’t you ride away on the horse?” Out of breath with a slight tinge of green in his complexion, he said, “There was a poisonous needle on the saddle.”
At this moment, the masked men slowly approached and one of them chuckled, “Without a plan like this, how can the few of us stop you?”
Ah Luo stepped in front of Zi Li to shield him and said angrily, “So despicable, and you still dare to laugh? Give us the antidote!”
When they saw this young master in a finely-embroidered robe become angry, the few men smirked, “What a pretty little young master, it seems like our gains have been rather fruitful this time. You best move aside, otherwise the blood splashing out might scare you!”
Ah Luo glanced back at Zi Li who still had a smile on his face, “Elder Brother, hold on!” After saying this, she pulled the horse closer and helped Zi Li up with all her strength, “Elder Brother, I’ll support you, make an effort to mount the horse!”
The few masked men laughed even harder, “Young master, can you support him? Want big brother to help you?”
Ah Luo glared at them and turned her head to look at Zi Li. His face was covered in a green hue yet he still had a faint smile on his face even as his body was weak. Ah Luo knew he wouldn’t be able to mount the horse, so she let go of the reins and slapped its hindquarters to send it away, hoping that the old horse would know the way and lead some rescuers to back to them. She helped Zi Li sit down at the wall. At this time, one of the masked men smiled, “No one else will approach this alley again. Let me tell you the truth, even if you had wings, you won’t escape today.”
Ah Luo closed her eyes and leapt up. The masked man froze, unsure of what she was doing. Ah Luo moved a few steps then stopped, took off her coat and stared coldly at the masked man, “I haven’t fought for many years. Are you taking me on individually or as a group?”
A loud burst of laughter sounded and the masked men tossed away the knife, then said with a smile, “I hadn’t thought I would be so lucky, come, let big brother hug you first.” Before he could approach, Ah Luo’s foot made contact with the centre of his head, she lunged and hit the masked man’s back with her right arm. There was a cracking sound and the masked man was paralyzed.
Without waiting for anyone to react, Ah Luo charged over, punching and kicking. The training in the dojo from many years ago came surging into her mind. The masked men were taken by surprise and after another two people fell down, they raised their knives and pointed them at Ah Luo. By now, Ah Luo was already out of breath. These men had poisonous knives and Ah Luo tried to stay in front of Zi Li. The circle shrunk and she couldn’t defend against them for much longer. She thought, was this how she would die?
She tried to be as agile as possible, flashing left and right while occasionally throwing punches, however, she still felt powerless. Suddenly, Zi Li sighed and stood up, pulling her back. Arrows flew from out of nowhere and the masked men screamed as they fell down.
Right after that, a few people jumped down from the wall and knelt on one knee as they said, “We arrived late, my Lord give us our punishment!”
Zi Li glanced at them and said, “Arise.”
They stood up and moved swiftly, removing the bodies and clearing away blood stains in a well-organised manner. In just a few movements, the alley looked as though nothing had ever happened. A moment later, an attendant led the horse over and quietly waited aside.
Ah Luo watched on dumbfoundedly, still panting breathlessly with trembling hands. Seeing Zi Li turn around with that same smile from before, she asked, “You weren’t poisoned?”
A smile appeared in Zi Li’s eyes, “This kind of poison will be harmless after a while. In the end, they are the ones who wouldn’t be able to escape even if they had wings!”
Ah Luo stared at him and said bitterly, “So you were just watching me endure their knives? You have no loyalty! I’m not acknowledging you as my Elder Brother anymore! From now on, don’t say that we know each other. Just take it as me being an idiot this one time.” Having said this, she picked up her robe and started to leave.
From behind, she heard Zi Li say, “Why didn’t you ride away on the horse?”
Ah Luo turned her head to glare at him, “It’s not that I didn’t want to ride away, I was tossed off!”
Zi Li smiled slightly and said, “You could still have left, it’s not like they were after your life!”
Ah Luo became even more angry, “Didn’t you hear them call me a pretty little young master? I had no chance to leave! Go away, I don’t want to see you again!”
After a few steps, Zi Li caught up with her, “Do you want to learn how to ride a horse?”
Ah Luo ignored him. Zi Li spoke again, “Want to eat all the delicacies of Feng City?”
Ah Luo continued ignoring him and Zi Li sighed, “I just wanted to see your martial art skills. When I pulled your hand, I felt that your palm was thicker and realised you knew martial arts. If you really were in trouble, I would definitely have acted. Even if I didn’t, my servants would have acted. How about this, tell me what you want and I’ll do it as long as I have the ability to.”
Ah Luo stopped, “Really?”
“Really.” Zi Li smiled.
Ah Luo asked again, “Are you rich?”
Zi Li frowned, “I’m considered to be!”
Ah Luo said with a smile, “Being rich is enough. Can I ask, how much money will it take to buy Qian Feng Lou?”
Zi Li laughed, “You want Qian Feng Lou?”
Ah Luo shook her head. Zi Li thought for a while, then said, “One hundred thousand silver taels.”
Ah Luo asked him, “Then to buy a house in Feng City and live for the rest of your life, how much money would it take?”
Zi Li laughed and said, “For an ordinary family, 50 to 100 taels will be enough to live on for a whole year.”
“Then the few dishes we just ate cost as much as a year’s expenses for an ordinary family?” Ah Luo felt that the gap between the rich and poor here was really too large.
Zi Li was still smiling, “A maid only costs 20 taels.”
Ah Luo said, “I want one thousand silver taels, can you give it to me?”
Zi Li asked her curiously, “What do you need a thousand taels for?
Ah Luo said, “Consider it repaying me! Saving your life has made me exhausted to death! Surely your life is worth a thousand taels!”
His attendant shouted angrily, “How dare you insult my Master!”
Zi Li glanced at him and the attendant lowered his head silently, although he still had an angry expression. In a strange manner, Ah Luo said, “Resenting me for selling your Master short? Two thousand taels then.”
His attendant dared not say anything more and his face flushed red. Zi Li laughed and said, “It would be all right even if you wanted Qian Feng Lou.”
Ah Luo smiled, “I’m not greedy. Two thousand taels, we’ll make our trade and no longer owe each other.”
Zi Li gave her a deep look, “Are you still angry that I was prepared but didn’t make a move?”
Ah Luo smiled, “I know martial arts and we only just met, so it’s normal for you to be suspicious. However, I dislike it.”
Zi Li stretched out his hand and his attendant drew out a stack of silver notes and Zi Li gave them to Ah Luo without looking at them. Ah Luo accepted them, took out two thousand taels, then returned the rest to him and turned around to leave.
Just when she was about to walk out of the alley, she heard the sound of hooves. An arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her up onto the horse. Zi Li said, “I’ll take you back. Where does your family live?”
Being completely exhausted, Ah Luo was fine with having a free taxi and said, “It’s enough to send me back to where I saw you.”
Zi Li said nothing more and spurred the horse down the street through the east gate. They rounded on the riverside.
Ah Luo dismounted from the horse and began heading off when Zi Li held onto her. He untied a jade pendant from the silk belt around his waist and gave it to her, “If you have any problems in the future, take this to the Xing Yuan pawnshop in the city centre and ask for the shopkeeper. Say that Young Master Zi Li gave it to you.”
Ah Luo thought about it for a while and accepted it.
Zi Li galloped away on the horse. Ah Luo walked to the wall of the Xiang residence, checked that her surroundings were clear of people, then took out her flute and played the secret signal. Half a moment later, Xiao Yu appeared on the wall.
Back inside her home, Ah Luo lost all her strength and just wanted to take a hot bath. Seventh Mistress saw how tired she was and didn’t question her much.
Ah Luo felt very comfortable in hot water. She kept wondering who Young Master Zi Li was, seeing that he had quite a bit of talent in managing his subordinate. She was still angry that she had fought unnecessarily, being treated like a monkey, it was lucky that she knew karate. Zi Li wouldn’t have sat there waiting to die. Everyone here was shrewd, none of them were simple.
She was happy to have earned another two thousand taels and had also obtained a jade pendant with a promised reward. This was a treasure and perhaps there will come a day when she would need a favour from Zi Li.
After she finished her bath, she gave the silver notes to Seventh Mistress for safekeeping. Seventh Mistress asked in surprise, “How is it possible that you can bring home so much money from going out for just one day? San’er, you didn’t knock someone out and rob them again, right?”
Ah Luo grinned widely and said, “I knocked out several people today and saved one person, this is his thanks. This money is absolutely clean. Mother, can we buy a house outside? I think we have enough money.”
Seventh Mistress said, “This isn’t a bad idea, if we were to leave the Xiang residence one day, we will have somewhere to settle down. By the way, I heard that the Empress sent an imperial decree today, it appears that the mistress and the young ladies are invited to view the moon together on the fifteenth. It’s likely that she wants to take a look at Qing Lei, and choose the Crown Prince’s wife.”
Just as she said this, someone came to deliver the message that Master wanted Seventh Mistress and Third Young Miss to go over.
