Chapter 45: 44. Gravely Injured

44. Gravely Injured

Arriving at Wen Zhiyun's room, Chen An saw that she had already packed two bags of luggage.

Gu Xinyue was on the side trying to persuade her to stay, but because she was not good with words, her persuasive remarks sounded very weak.

"Fellow Daoist Wen, you've been living here just fine, why do you suddenly want to move out?"

Holding his daughter Chen Yuejian, Chen An walked unhurriedly in front of Wen Zhiyun and asked.

Wen Zhiyun did not even lift her head, her voice cold as she said:

"I don't have the money for the shared rent anymore."

"I'll cover it for you first; pay me back whenever you have the money. These are special times, it's normal to be short on cash."

"Cultivating the Dao is already going against the heavens. I might die on the road one day. Aren't you afraid you won't get your money back if you cover the rent for a rogue cultivator like me who makes a living hunting Demon Beasts?"

"Fellow Daoist Wen has extraordinary luck, and your path of cultivation is destined to be smooth sailing; you won't die halfway."

"If my luck were truly extraordinary, I wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state today that I can't even pay the rent."

"Fellow Daoist Wen, everyone is actually the same; in life, one will always encounter difficult times."

"Alchemist Chen, I advise you to put away the thought of covering my rent. In this world, people are dying every day; I might die one day, so don't waste your money."

"I don't think Fellow Daoist Wen will die, and you might even become a Foundation Establishment powerhouse within five years. Investing in a future Foundation Establishment powerhouse by covering her rent to earn a favor is a good investment."

"Heh, Alchemist Chen thinks too highly of me."

Wen Zhiyun sneered and made a self-deprecating remark.

The answer she wanted to hear was not this one.

Chen An also knew she didn't want to hear this, but he insisted on saying it anyway.

He wanted to persuade her to stay, but he couldn't use personal feelings to do so; he had to persuade her based on self-interest.

To put it bluntly, he didn't want to be the one to take the initiative to express his feelings, and he wanted Wen Zhiyun to express hers.

Wen Zhiyun was the same; she wanted Chen An to take the initiative.

Both of them wanted to win the initiative in their future interactions.

Regarding the conversation between the two, Song Huaying, who was on the side, felt very helpless, thinking to herself that these two Immortals were being far too pretentious.

As for Gu Xinyue on the other side, she was completely confused and didn't understand what the two were talking about at all.

Soon, Wen Zhiyun finished packing all her luggage.

She shouldered three packed bundles and stood up, ready to leave this home.

Chen An knew that Wen Zhiyun didn't want to leave; she just needed a step to stay.

So he gave a wink to Song Huaying, who was good at reading the room.

Song Huaying understood instantly, immediately took her daughter Chen Yuejian from her husband's arms, and walked quickly to block Wen Zhiyun.

She said she couldn't live without Wen Zhiyun, that it was hard to take care of Xiao Yuejian alone without her, and that Xiao Yuejian really needed her godmother's care.

Wen Zhiyun said, as if acting out of spite, that sister Ying wasn't alone, that she had a husband, and that her husband was such a capable person who could surely take good care of his daughter.

In order to make Wen Zhiyun stay, Song Huaying dared to belittle Chen An, saying that Chen An couldn't compare to Wen Zhiyun when it came to taking care of children.

Hearing these words, Wen Zhiyun felt much more at ease.

She took off her bundles and decided not to leave.

Song Huaying and Gu Xinyue were both very happy.

Chen An felt the same, but he couldn't show it in front of Wen Zhiyun.

Wen Zhiyun took Chen Yuejian from Song Huaying's arms.

She then looked at Chen An and said to him, "I am only staying for the sake of my goddaughter; don't get too smug."

"Also, regarding the shared rent, I won't pay you a cent less; starting next month, I will pay it to you on time."

After saying these words, Wen Zhiyun carried Chen Yuejian to the courtyard to play.

She felt dissatisfied that Chen An still refused to take the initiative to break that barrier, and she held resentment in her heart, not wanting to see him for the time being.

Chen An didn't care whether she had resentment or not, as long as she stayed.

From this day on, the relationship between the two gradually returned to how it was before.

Chen An no longer played hard to get with Wen Zhiyun.

But he didn't become overly enthusiastic either.

He just returned to their previous normal mode of interaction.

The only difference was that from this day on, Wen Zhiyun often left early and returned late, sometimes even going several days without returning.

Every time she returned, she looked very tired, her face full of exhaustion.

Chen An guessed that she must have gone to earn money.

He was curious about how she was earning money.

He had tried to probe several times, but she noticed it and told him to stop meddling in other people's business.

He also tried to have his wives and concubines ask, but Wen Zhiyun wouldn't even tell them.

Days passed by like this.

In the blink of an eye, it was time to pay the rent.

This day.

After Chen An finished dinner, he holed up in the Alchemy Room to refine pills and earn money.

Just as he was engrossed in refining, Wen Zhiyun's voice suddenly rang out from outside.

"Are you free? Come out and take the rent."

"Creak—"

Chen An opened the door to the Alchemy Room.

The scene that immediately met his eyes was Wen Zhiyun standing outside the door, covered in bloodstains, handing over a rent-exemption voucher and saying:

"This is a rent-exemption voucher for the Core Area; it can waive one month's rent, which is equivalent to two months of my share of the joint rent."

Chen An took the rent-exemption voucher.

He glanced at it casually before setting it aside, then turned his gaze back to Wen Zhiyun.

Blood.

She was covered in blood.

It was not the blood of a Demon Beast.

It was human blood.

But it was not Wen Zhiyun's blood.

Chen An looked into Wen Zhiyun's eyes and asked:

"Fellow Daoist Wen, did you go out to kill enemies on behalf of the Bamboo Leaf Gang?"

"What if I did, and what if I didn't? You only need to know that I can pay my share of the joint rent on time every month."

"Fellow Daoist Wen..."

"If there's nothing else, I'll be going. I need to take a bath; the smell of blood on me is too strong."

Wen Zhiyun did not give Chen An a chance to persuade her; after speaking, she turned and walked toward the bathroom.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.

During this time, whenever Wen Zhiyun went out, she would return covered in blood.

Once, Chen Yuejian accidentally saw her and, thinking she had seen some kind of monster, was so scared that she wailed and cried.

When Chen An was delivering pills to the Logistics Department of the Bamboo Leaf Gang, he asked Deacon Hong about it and confirmed that Wen Zhiyun had indeed gone to work as a mercenary.

Afterward, he tried to persuade her several times, telling her not to go because it was very dangerous.

But Wen Zhiyun dismissed it, saying that she returned unscathed every time and that the blood she was covered in belonged to cultivators from the Black Iron Villa.

As long as she worked for half a month, she could receive a voucher for one month of rent exemption.

Why wouldn't she go?

Seeing Wen Zhiyun's confident appearance, Chen An knew he definitely couldn't persuade her.

So he asked his wives and concubines to try and persuade her.

Unfortunately, they couldn't persuade her either.

Having served as a mercenary over a dozen times and returning unscathed and laden with rewards each time, Wen Zhiyun felt this was a profitable, no-cost venture.

She only needed to go up and kill a few cultivators from the Black Iron Villa to earn a rent-exemption voucher; why wouldn't she be happy to do it?

Soon, another half month passed.

This day.

During the day, Chen An dallied with his wives and concubines in their room, and at night, he holed up in the Alchemy Room to refine pills as usual.

Just as he finished refining a batch of Severing Emotion Pill, the voice of his little darling wife, Song Huaying, came from outside the door, sounding very anxious.

"Husband!"

"Something happened, something happened!"

"Sister Wen is injured! She's bleeding a lot from her chest and has collapsed in the front yard, unconscious!"

"Creak—"

Chen An immediately pushed the door open and rushed toward the front yard with his little darling wife, Song Huaying.

PS: Setting out my bowl, begging for monthly tickets and recommendation votes!