Chapter 38

"Alright!"

Xu Yang didn't hesitate at all and was about to leave with this woman when he heard Bao Gang's voice ring out: "Wait!"

Everyone looked at Bao Gang in confusion, only to hear him continue in a deep voice: "I am a disciple of the Tiger Roar Fist Hall, while Xu Yang is from the Weiyuan Hall. It would be safer for me to escort the Fifth Young Lady."

The implication was that he was stronger than Xu Yang.

To outsiders, this was indeed the case.

Because the ranking of the Tiger Roar Fist Hall among the many martial arts halls in Qingyuan County is far above the Weiyuan Hall.

The apprenticeship fee for the Weiyuan Hall is only two taels of silver a month, while the Tiger Roar Fist Hall dares to charge three, and it has more disciples than the Weiyuan Hall.

Xu Yang didn't speak, but looked at Zhang Bo.

He roughly knew Bao Gang's thoughts; it was nothing more than wanting to use this opportunity to get close to the Fifth Young Lady of the Liu Mansion, and then gain both the person and the wealth.

Marriage alliances between large families and Qi-gathering martial artists are the norm in the Qingyuan County martial arts world, but not every Qi-gathering martial artist can be appreciated by a large family as soon as they make a name for themselves. Many people rely on the opportunities they get while serving as retainers to gain the favor of young ladies from large families.

"No need, let this Retainer Xu go!"

Just at this moment, the voice of the woman dressed as a maid rang out.

Zhang Bo nodded and said: "Xu Yang, you go with Miss Cui'er. Remember to protect the Fifth Young Lady well and listen to the Fifth Young Lady's arrangements."

"Alright!"

Xu Yang nodded and followed the woman named Cui'er to quickly leave the Retainer Courtyard.

"Brother Zhang Bo, my strength is clearly stronger than Xu Yang's, why didn't you arrange for me to go?"

After Xu Yang left, Bao Gang was still somewhat unwilling.

"My strength is stronger, how about I go?" Zhang Bo said sarcastically.

He had served the Liu family for more than ten years and had seen countless young people who had just come out of martial arts halls, so he naturally knew Bao Gang's little scheme.

It was just that Bao Gang challenged him the first time he arranged a task, so even if Bao Gang made sense, he couldn't agree, and he wasn't arranging it randomly either.

Bao Gang's face flushed red instantly: "I... I didn't mean that."

Zhang Bo snorted coldly: "Put away your little thoughts. Although the Fifth Young Lady is not born of the main wife, she is quite favored by the head of the family. Even if she is to be used for a marriage alliance, it will definitely not be someone like you."

A look of anger flashed in the depths of Bao Gang's eyes, but he didn't continue speaking.

"Greetings, Fifth Young Lady!"

Xu Yang soon followed Cui'er to see the Fifth Young Lady of the Liu Mansion, a woman who looked like she had walked out of a painting, simply a model of a young lady from a wealthy family in ancient times.

Although she was wearing a martial arts practice suit and holding a precious sword, it couldn't hide her gentle temperament.

Cui'er stepped forward and said: "Young Lady, this is the new Retainer Xu Yang from the mansion, a talented person from the Weiyuan Hall."

Xu Yang noticed that upon hearing his name, the Fifth Young Lady's calm, water-like eyes seemed to have ripples.

She first curiously looked him up and down, then politely said: "Trouble Retainer Xu to escort me to the Pure Maiden Hall."

"This is my duty."

Xu Yang shook his head and followed behind the Fifth Young Lady with Cui'er, quickly leaving the Liu family.

He had heard of the Pure Maiden Hall, a noble martial arts hall in Qingyuan County that only accepted women. Just the apprenticeship fee was ten taels a month; people without some family background simply couldn't afford it.

Along the way, Xu Yang kept to his duties, just following behind. There was no trouble along the way, and they quickly arrived at the Pure Maiden Hall.

"The Pure Maiden Hall does not allow outsiders to enter. Retainer Xu, you don't need to wait for me here; it's very safe here. In the afternoon, you can just have the Retainer Hall arrange for someone to pick me up."

"Yes!"

Xu Yang cupped his hands and then turned to leave.

"Back at the Retainer Hall, someone wanted to scramble to escort you. I saw that this Xu Yang is quite handsome, so I let him come. Young Lady, how is my eye for people?"

After Xu Yang left, the serious-looking Cui'er immediately became lively.

The Fifth Young Lady also changed her previous demeanor and laughed: "He is quite handsome. In the future, you should get closer to him. If it works out, I'll ask my father to set you free."

Cui'er shook her head: "He even refused the marriage alliance in the mansion; he wouldn't take a fancy to me."

The Fifth Young Lady's face stiffened, and she said: "Since you know, why are you still acting like a lovesick fool here? Why don't you hurry up and go?"

Cui'er stuck out her tongue and hurriedly followed her into the Pure Maiden Hall.

Xu Yang returned to the Liu family, and everyone in the Retainer Hall had gone out, even Zhang Bo was not there.

He followed Zhang Bo's instructions and didn't cultivate, just conserving his energy in the Retainer Hall.

Near lunchtime, the people who had gone out began to return one after another.

"How is it? Is that Fifth Young Lady beautiful?" Wang Yun came over with a lewd smile.

Xu Yang thought for a moment and said: "Like someone from a painting."

Wu Yongfeng laughed: "The Sixth Young Lady I escorted is also like a fairy."

Wang Yun exclaimed: "Why doesn't such a good thing fall to me? I patrolled the periphery of the Liu Mansion for half a day."

Bao Gang's face was a bit gloomy; he also didn't get the task of escorting the Liu family's young ladies and had been patrolling the Liu Mansion until now.

After eating at the Liu Mansion, another shift came to change shifts. Xu Yang told Zhang Bo about sending someone to pick up the Fifth Young Lady in the afternoon and returned to the Weiyuan Hall with Wu Yongfeng.

He saw that the inner courtyard, which used to be quite lively, now only had two people in it. Sun Tao, Lu Ren, and Jiang Ping and these people seemed to have agreed not to come to the Weiyuan Hall today.

These two people were none other than Zhang Yong and Zhang Hong.

"What's going on? Why are there only the two of you?" Wu Yongfeng asked curiously.

Zhang Hong stopped his stance practice and said: "It's all because of that Jade Butterfly's trouble. All the senior brothers have been summoned back by their respective factions to protect the purity of the women in their respective factions."

A day passed quickly, and Xu Yang didn't hear any more news about the Jade Butterfly.

The next day, he arrived at the Liu Mansion and heard the latest news about the Jade Butterfly. Yesterday, another young lady from a wealthy family in the outer city fell victim to the Jade Butterfly's poison; it was the Huang family, and it is said that she was harmed at home.

The Liu family also made adjustments because of this: until the Jade Butterfly is caught, no young lady is allowed to go out.

So this day, Xu Yang didn't escort the Fifth Young Lady to the Pure Maiden Hall again, but was assigned by Zhang Bo to patrol a corner of the Liu Mansion. Even the other shift of retainers responsible for the daytime was transferred over, and the two shifts patrolled together to prevent the Jade Butterfly from sneaking into the Liu Mansion.

This day he couldn't go to the Weiyuan Hall, and it wasn't until dark, when the retainer martial artists responsible for the Liu Mansion's nighttime safety came to take over, that today's patrol ended.

Stepping through the moonlight, Xu Yang left the inner city all the way and hurried home.

When he was about to reach White Stone Square, he saw a person lying in the grass by the side of the road.

This person was half-lying, head down, and he couldn't see what he looked like. He thought it was a fellow villager from White Stone Square who had an accident and fell here, so he immediately stepped forward to see who it was.

As he got closer, he smelled a bloody scent. Looking carefully, he discovered that next to this person, there was a pool of vomited blood, in a sprayed state.

This blood hadn't dried yet, and it looked like it had been vomited not long ago.

"Brother, wake up!" Xu Yang stopped three steps away, not daring to approach rashly.

He shouted a few times, but the person lying down still didn't react, so he immediately secretly raised his true qi and continued to approach.

Just as he took two steps, the person on the ground suddenly sprang up, his five fingers hooking towards his neck like eagle claws.