Chapter 28

Shaowei asked, "Where are we going?"

Jiang Fu: "To eat breakfast."

Shaowei: "... And after eating, where are we going then?"

"Continue heading south."

Shaowei asked with great involvement, "South to where?"

Jiang Fu rode the ox at a leisurely pace, her smiling eyes looking at Shaowei: "Just head south; when we reach where spring is warm, we'll pick a treasured spot to build a nest. You say, would that be alright?"

Shaowei felt this "you say, would that be alright" was truly inexplicable, spoken as if she could be the one to decide.

Shaowei had the self-awareness that it wasn't her place to be the master and make decisions, but there was one demand she absolutely had to make clear: "Within five years, we each take what we need; that already counts as a fair transaction. Making me additionally be your slave servant, I won't agree."

Jiang Fu seemed to think for a moment, then said: "Each taking what we need is true enough, but I only need to cure your poison for you; I don't have the additional responsibility of feeding you rice and meat, do I? Moreover, didn't you also say you owed me a favor?"

Before Shaowei could speak, she heard Jiang Fu concede a step and bargain: "It's not that you absolutely must be a slave servant either. How about this: anyway, this strength of yours going unused would be a waste; you're idle anyway, so just guard me on the side. That would repay the favor and also count as meal money. How about it?"

Shaowei thought for a while, which counted as tacitly agreeing indirectly, merely lifting her face to ask her: "Is someone trying to kill you?"

Jiang Fu smiled with eyes lowered, meeting Shaowei's gaze: "Yes, many people want to kill me. Are you afraid?"

Shaowei's expression showed neither fear nor disdain.

What did she have to be afraid of? She had legs and feet; if she couldn't beat them, she would run away herself.

This was precisely one of the reasons Shaowei was determined not to be a slave. When she was at the Feng Family, she understood the situation of slaves: a slave had to be entered into the slave registry, a contract paper bound to their body, and it would be very difficult to have freedom again.

Shaowei absolutely had to observe Jiang Fu for a while longer. Not to mention the danger the other party's enemies might bring, what if the other party was deceiving her, or had other schemes?

Therefore, although she didn't know if Jiang Fu would drag her to the Official to register a master-servant contract, it was best to eliminate this trouble that was unfavorable for running away.

Just regarding the matter of Jiang Fu's enemies, Shaowei couldn't help but inquire further: "Why do they want to kill you? Did you kill their people?"

Shaowei's understanding of hatred was still straightforward.

Just like she killed Qin Fu, because Qin Fu had killed her Mother. She killed people only because she or the people she wanted to protect were first bullied or threatened. This was almost an animal's primitive instinct.

"Even if I don't kill the world, there will be people in the world who want to come kill me." Jiang Fu sighed: "Little ghost, in the future you will naturally slowly understand this principle."

Shaowei only asked again: "Then did you ultimately kill them or not?"

Jiang Fu raised an eyebrow: "I killed them."

Shaowei wordlessly twitched the corner of her mouth.

Jiang Fu counter-asked her: "Then what about you, little ghost? Have you killed anyone?"

This shocking question, by rights, shouldn't be asked of such a small child at all. She was draped in an adult's fur coat; that was originally a knee-length half-sleeve fur coat, but on her it was so wide it wrapped around her hands and feet, leaving only a not-too-large head exposed outside.

But this child was very calm. If one truly had to find some emotion from this calmness, it would be that her tone carried a bit of confident imposing manner and pride: "Of course."

Of course she had killed people, and of course it was worth being proud of. This represented that she had the ability to protect herself and not be bullied. Not everyone has this kind of ability.

"Truly impressive." Jiang Fu praised sincerely in her tone: "When I was your age, I didn't even dare see blood."

The ox hooves trod a side street behind a residential area; few people walked about in the early morning. And further ahead, one could see the lively Morning Market, so it was no longer suitable to continue this bloody, dangerous topic that could be both punished and interrogated.

Jiang Fu sat on the ox's back, switching to irrelevant talk: "But you following me, outwardly there must be a pretext and status. Let me think... how about calling each other mother and daughter?"

Shaowei was just about to object, but Jiang Fu had already shaken her head while pondering: "I'm older than you by over ten years. Age-wise it's barely passable, but my bearing and appearance look much younger than my actual age. If I changed into bright clothes one day, saying I'm twenty-eight might not be without believers... rashly being your Mother, in the end isn't that convincing."

"..." Shaowei widened her eyes, actually revealing a hint of surprise. As expected, she had indeed never seen such a thick-faced person.

Soon, Jiang Fu had another idea: "How about I call you disciple, you call me Master, and we address each other as Master and Disciple?"

Even without being a slave servant, with the age difference placed there, Shaowei would ultimately be the one at a disadvantage. This proposal right now could be considered barely acceptable, but Shaowei needed to declare: "Only as an outward perfunctory explanation; in private it doesn't count."

With only a five-year agreement, and possibly needing to run away midway, being a pair of fake Master and Disciple in name only was already more than enough.

"You little ghost even look down on me now?" Jiang Fu also imitated Shaowei's few-parts-natural-arrogance stinky posture, slightly lifting her chin: "Being my, Jiang Fu's, disciple — this opportunity is something others couldn't get even if they kowtowed until their heads broke."

Shaowei let out a small "tsk", speaking as if Jiang Fu's fame was very resounding and imposing.

Looking at her posture... perhaps a wandering knight? A Taoist priest?

But in Shaowei's memory, the only famous knight she could recall was one, so she said: "In the Jianghu, I've only heard of the knight Zhao Qie'an's fame. How do you compare to him?"

Jiang Fu "Ha" laughed, as if hearing a very happy joke, then said faintly: "He cried and begged to be my follower, and I might not even agree."

This statement was even more arrogant to no end.

Rationally Shaowei felt the other party was talking nonsense, but emotionally she couldn't help but feel curiosity. However, seeing Jiang Fu had no intention of revealing her specific origins, Shaowei secretly thought she would definitely go inquire quietly with people later. She wanted to see if the name Jiang Fu truly had anything extraordinary about it.

But after walking two steps, Shaowei dismissed this thought — if she really found out something, but also leaked Jiang Fu's whereabouts, thereby leading enemies to her, that would be very bad.

Forget it. Suppress this curiosity for now, wait for a suitable opportunity later to speak of it.

However... is she the only one with curiosity?

Shaowei secretly observed Jiang Fu, seeing her face remain calm and untroubled from start to finish, and couldn't help thinking: why has the other party never once asked about her affairs from beginning to end?

That night the bandit suppression on Tianlang Mountain made a huge commotion. Naturally it wasn't hard to guess she had escaped down from the mountain. But what about her parents, identity, experiences? The other party didn't ask a single word?

"Why don't you ask about my origins?" Shaowei directly probed.

Jiang Fu smiled looking at Shaowei: "No rush. When the day comes that you're willing to speak, me asking then won't be late."

Hearing this answer, Shaowei fell silent.

Jiang Fu's voice sounded again: "I guess you also want to ask — I clearly agreed to give you three days' consideration time, so why didn't I wait for you at the Inn? Do I have the heart to go back on my word?"

Shaowei looked at her.

Jiang Fu answered herself: "I specially took the initiative to come out and seek you... I thought in the night: what if you wanted to come back but didn't know the way? Wouldn't that be terrible?"

Shaowei was caught off guard, poked at her embarrassing truth, and immediately wanted to deny it, but then heard the other party change her tune: "But then I thought again: you're this smart, how could you possibly not know the way?"

Shaowei, who was about to fly into a rage out of humiliation, suddenly felt guilty and lost steam.

Jiang Fu continued: "Just I couldn't help but worry: you're hungry, what if you went to steal or rob, got arrested and locked up and sent to the yamen? Wouldn't that be even worse than not knowing the way?"

Shaowei glared, her anger "whoosh" flaring up again.

Yet Jiang Fu smiled watching her, and said: "Who knew you're this sensible and understanding of human nature, actually willing to trade your padded jacket for food, and never once used your extraordinary abilities to commit robbery or theft. It was I who was narrow-minded and overthought it."

"..." Shaowei's expression shifted and distorted. She only felt a canister of anger inside her body being shaken back and forth by the other party, at one moment gathering into a ball, at another shaken apart, nearly making her dizzy from the shaking. It was as if she angrily pounced over, opening her mouth wide ready to bite someone, but suddenly the other party stuffed a fragrant, freshly baked marble cake into her mouth.

——Why use a marble cake as a comparison, and why must it be freshly baked in such detail?

Because right ahead there was a marble cake stall, the aroma of baking cakes drilled into Shaowei's nose, manipulating her imagination.

Shaowei, carrying a jar of anger that was difficult to collect or release, ground her teeth and fiercely pointed her finger at that stall: "I want to eat that one!"

【Shaowei, who has not yet truly entered the world, has been played with by her master's old, treacherous, and cunning mouth until she is somewhat battered all over (へ╬)】

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(Chapter End)