Chapter 82: Clear Sky Day Chapter 61: I'm Still Very Useful

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Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

In the ninth month, the South still had mosquitoes pestering, so bed curtains were still hung.

This curtain was transparent as cicada wings, and under the autumn sun shining through the window, it gave off a faint clear light.

Through this layer of faintly swaying clear light, the cross-legged Liu Qi reading a book raised his head to look at the girl inside the curtain who had shouted and woken from a stupor.

She was an exceptionally vivid person; even through the thin curtain, the expression on her face could be seen clearly. She sat with hair loose, face turned outward, eyes brimming with tears, yet she gave not the slightest sense of fragility; on the contrary, even this startled, tearful appearance was fierce.

The only other emotion worth mentioning was perhaps a wisp of bewilderment, but this wisp of bewilderment was also wrapped and surrounded by countless anger.

Her breathing was still somewhat uneven, clearly still enraged by the events in her dream. At this moment she twisted her face to stare at him, not saying a word; she ought to be buffering, sorting through the information in her mind.

Once the buffering was done, she still did not speak, only moving her eyeballs and head to survey her surroundings, as if she had strayed into unfamiliar territory, instinctively vigilant, scanning the environment.

After scanning the environment, she lowered her head to check her own "fur," and only then opened her mouth, turning her head to ask him: "Where are my original clothes?"

When she spoke there was no procedure whatsoever; when she needed to speak she spoke directly, with no polite inquiries about time or place, no preamble of cause and effect.

Liu Qi had truly never seen such a person, so he had no experience to draw on; at this moment he could only subconsciously explain: "The doctor nü changed your clothes when she cleaned and medicated you."

Shaowei immediately said: "Where were they taken? Give them back to me!"

Only then did Liu Qi fully react — she was asking about her original clothes simply to ask about the clothes, with no intention of questioning anything else through this.

Escaping from death's door, the moment she opened her eyes she wanted to find her tattered blood-stained clothes; this behavior certainly could not be called normal, but Liu Qi did not inquire further, only saying: "Fine, I'll have someone go fetch them shortly."

"I need them right now!" Shaowei frowned, tone urgent and unkind: "Send someone immediately, otherwise if there's a delay and they get thrown away or burned, what then?"

Hearing this urgent command, Liu Qi set down the bamboo slip in his hand: "They're already ruined clothes that can't be worn again; so what if they're burned? I'll just compensate you with a few more sets."

A faint sound of hackles rising came from inside the curtain: "I want my own original ones!"

Seeing this, Liu Qi said no more and shouted: "Deng Hu——"

The door was pushed open; a figure entered quickly and saluted: "Your Highness."

Liu Qi: "Hurry and find A Ya, bring back her original clothes."

At first, hearing the Sixth Prince even use the words 'hurry hurry,' Deng Hu had already braced himself and stood ready solemnly, but the latter half of the sentence he heard was unexpectedly relaxed, as if he had already raised a cattle-slaughtering knife with both hands, but was suddenly told to play cat's cradle——

Deng Hu reacted for a moment, glanced at the figure sitting inside the bed curtain, sensed the oppressive urgency emanating from that figure, and only then responded "Yes," retreating quickly.

Seeing the other party cooperate, Shaowei's rising hackles settled. She assessed the injuries on her body, then said straight to Liu Qi: "You took a pill that temporarily suppresses the onset; there'll be no major issue for three days. Once I recover a bit, I'll give you the life-saving prescription."

Liu Qi revealed a smile of uncertain authenticity: "Many thanks."

Shaowei suspected he was being sarcastic, so her tone doubled in disdain: "You needn't thank me, and I won't thank you either; I never asked you to lend a hand."

She had originally been running perfectly fine, had already taken the blood-stopping pill, and was preparing to hide in a hidden cave she had scouted in advance; at that time she would avoid those people, and Zhan Zhan would afterward help her contact the family slaves.

"Mm, I know; I never thought to make you thank me." Liu Qi said: "But I absolutely must thank you, because you severely wounded Zhu Zhi."

Hearing this, Shaowei knew he had a source of information, and immediately asked with a solemn expression: "He didn't die?"

Liu Qi: "News came back a quarter-hour ago; to save his life he severed half his right arm himself; for now he still hasn't breathed his last."

Shaowei bit her back teeth unwillingly.

Jiang Fu had also taught Shaowei to make some poisons for self-defense; this poison was made by Jiang Fu previously; it was a virulent poison, so poisonous that Shaowei initially refused to carry the pill that could temporarily suppress the poison's onset, and the family slaves absolutely would not agree——

Deep in Shaowei's heart she harbored extreme thoughts of 'you die, I live'; she thought that carrying the medicine on her person would merely leave the enemy a chance at life; if she succeeded but was then captured and the enemy searched out this suppressing medicine, wouldn't all her effort be wasted, appearing utterly stupid?

The family slaves told her, however, that those who walk the jianghu carrying antidotes and the like — this thread of survival is in most cases not left for the enemy, but left for oneself — if one accidentally poisons oneself yet cannot self-rescue in time, ordinary stupidity becomes ten-thousand-fold stupidity.

That dagger had been repeatedly poison-coated by Shaowei; she considered a moment, and in the end heeded the family slaves' advice.

In short, this poison was no ordinary thing; without a suppressing or antidote medicine, the poisoned person could not survive twelve hours; the poison's onset time is the process of the poison spreading; once the poison damages the heart meridian, death is certain.

Zhu Zhi must have understood this point; he dared not risk delaying, and promptly chose to sever his arm to survive.

The order to sever the arm was given by Zhu Zhi personally to his subordinates; the hot wine was poured over it, and the blade used to sever the arm was precisely the treasure blade Zhu Zhi had used to chop off the green ox's front hoof.

One stroke severed the bone; the cut was neat.

Shaowei felt vexed in her heart, but thinking that at least she had severed one of his right arms — for a martial artist, a right arm equals half a life — it wasn't a wasted effort.

While thinking about how to act next time, she said to Liu Qi: "I killed him because I wanted to kill him; it has nothing to do with you; this makes it even less necessary for you to come thank me."

Liu Qi neither agreed nor disagreed for a moment; he looked with some curiosity at that girl who seemed by nature to disdain order.

The disorderly are mostly chaotic and unclear, yet her bearing was firm and clear; Liu Qi pondered a moment, gained a slight insight, and felt that although she did not follow the common order of this world, she had her own set of rules for conduct; therefore her outward appearance was firm, and within she also possessed an inner world of hills and valleys.

A moment later, Liu Qi rose from behind the desk and said: "But even setting aside the matter of Zhu Zhi, I still must thank you."

He slowly straightened up, inexplicably appearing much more solemn than before.

Moreover, he walked toward Shaowei.

Through the gauze curtain, Shaowei looked at the approaching youth with doubt and vigilance; her gaze fell for an instant on his left leg, which walked differently.

Shaowei tried hard to recall the scene before she fainted; at that time this man pulled her to flee, but the night was pitch black, the ground uneven with mountain rocks and dead branches, his figure originally unsteady, and on top of that her senses had dulled from weakness... for a moment she actually could not distinguish whether that leg was truly lame or feigned lame.

If truly lame, yet still able to go out and set an ambush to kill, with good skill and reaction, and not slow running either... that would count as a top-tier lame person of extraordinary will; if released into the jianghu, he'd likely become a number-one noisy legendary figure.

Shaowei objectively evaluated this in her heart without emotion.

The approaching Liu Qi had already stopped and stood firm before the bed, outside the curtain.

Whether standing or sitting or lying, no leg ailment could be seen on him; looking closely through the curtain, his figure was tall and slender, thin but not frail; the wide, common robe of kongqing color was of superior quality, fittingly outlining straight, proper shoulders and back.

Shaowei asked doubtfully: "What random thanks are you giving this time?"

Her voice had not fallen when she saw Liu Qi raise a hand and push aside the fine gauze curtain, like clouds and mist.

The hand that pushed the curtain was clean and long; his movement was composed, without a shred of frivolous offense; one who offends does so to peek at the person inside the curtain, but the feeling he gave Shaowei was clearly that he was letting Shaowei see his appearance clearly.

Shaowei indeed subconsciously looked up at his face.

The two locked eyes, only to hear him say: "We've met before; I recognize you. Surely you don't fail to recognize me?"

Shaowei remained expressionless as she countered: "Is that so? When did we meet?"

Liu Qi lowered his gaze to look at her, his pupil light gathering slightly, slowly uttering eight characters: "The day you return to the capital, calamity of extermination arrives—"

Shaowei's heart trembled, yet her face grew even more devoid of expression.

Liu Qi: "These eight characters serve as a warning left by you, correct?"

Shaowei had no idea how he had determined this; precisely because she couldn't fathom it, she found this person all the more difficult to see through and grasp.

In her previous life, apart from their intersection as Yellow Springs Road Companions, Shaowei naturally had some contact with Liu Qi on the journey back to the capital with Ling Ke; at that time, the Liu Qi in her memory was unrestrained and at ease, sitting on horseback and laughing loudly with the soldiers, his sense of humor was strange, and he often laughed until he couldn't straighten his waist; Shaowei sometimes heard some of it from the carriage, feeling completely bewildered, truly unable to understand what was funny.

But the youth before her now seemed like two different people compared to then; between his brows and eyes seemed to be wrapped in a layer of cold ghost qi, icy cold, true and false indistinguishable; even if he laughed loudly now, it would only make people think he harbored ill intent, mocking and ridiculing.

What kind of person Liu Qi had become had nothing to do with Shaowei; everything she did revolved around herself, and her current self made her not want to expose too much before this person, so she said expressionlessly: "You've mistaken me for someone else."

Liu Qi's gaze seemed to feel regret, but he did not admit he had mistaken her, instead saying: "If you don't remember, forget it; I originally wanted to repay your kindness."

He looked as if repaying kindness was out of reach, but Shaowei still did not succumb to the temptation, her expression unchanged.

"But we indeed met." Liu Qi looked at Shaowei, one hand still holding the bed curtain, his other hand raised near his face, his distinct index and middle fingers pressed at the corner of his mouth, asking: "You hit me; have you forgotten this too?"

Shaowei clicked her tongue this time and averted her gaze.

She naturally would not forget.

She had not only hit him, she had also killed him.

Hitting him in the snow that night was nothing hard to admit; it was just that Shaowei was too lazy to argue with words, neither confirming nor denying: "I've hit many people; how could I remember every one? If you're bent on revenge, feel free to try."

She looked utterly fearless and ready for battle at any moment, which made Liu Qi find it somewhat amusing; he lowered the bed curtain and stood straight: "When did I say I wanted revenge? I said all this only to make you remember me."

"Since you don't want to remember, it doesn't matter; it's not too late to get acquainted now." He said through the curtain: "My surname is Liu, my given name is Qi—"

Shaowei, whose qi and blood circulation was still not smooth, looked up in surprise at this person who suddenly introduced himself; who wanted to "know" who he was?

He had just done those secret dealings in Yundang Mountain; presumably it was something not to be seen in the light, he couldn't cover it up even if he tried, so why rush to reveal his identity?

A pair of smiling eyes appeared and disappeared faintly outside the curtain; he continued: "This place is my territory, the Wuling Commandery Prince's Mansion."

He finished speaking, waiting for Shaowei's reaction.

Shaowei secretly clenched her fist: "Who asked you?"

Liu Qi: "This is the way of hospitality."

"No one wants to be your guest." Shaowei suppressed her anger: "You reveal your identity, forcing me to know your secret dealings; what next? Imprison me here, or simply kill me to silence me?"

Liu Qi raised his eyebrows in confusion.

From within the curtain came words imposing and even to the point of fish dead net broken: "Even if I am gravely injured, you are also poisoned; as long as I have a single breath left, I may not be unable to kill you."

Liu Qi pushed aside the bed curtain again; this time his movement was faster; he leaned in, bringing his head closer, and suddenly stared at Shaowei.

Shaowei stared back at him without showing weakness.

Liu Qi saw her cheeks flushed and her breathing carried some heat; he couldn't help but show a look of realization: "You have a high fever; I'll have someone call a Doctor Nü."

Shaowei indeed felt dizzy, but she insisted on stating: "Even with a high fever, I have not become muddled."

Liu Qi, who was about to go call someone, had already turned around; at this moment he paused in his steps, his back to her, asking amusedly: "Since you haven't become muddled, why are you so obstinate, insisting on thinking the worst of me? When I reveal my identity to you frankly, can't it be an act of goodwill toward you?"

Immediately he heard that extremely weak yet extremely tense and stubborn person say unyieldingly: "Even goodwill is for the sake of utilization."

Seeing that her train of thought was indeed still clear, Liu Qi's tone was candid: "So what? If we cooperate, you can naturally utilize me too."

He turned his head and said: "Although I may not be able to defeat you in combat, in other matters, perhaps I am still quite useful."

Shaowei's tone was disdainful: "For example?"

Just as her voice fell, her stomach suddenly made an untimely growling sound.

Liu Qi thus called the guards in, vividly demonstrating this example: "Have someone bring rice and dishes."

"..." Shaowei, though feeling somewhat embarrassed and stifled, ultimately did not speak the stubborn words of refusing to eat; she was now gravely injured and weak, and must fill her stomach to recover her injuries as soon as possible.

She still had to wait for her slaves to come seek her; at this moment Zhan Zhan had not appeared; presumably Zhan Zhan had gone to leak the news.

Before her slaves arrived, before news about Jiang Fu was brought back, she must first stabilize this situation; best not to speak anymore, and wholeheartedly eat and drink well to heal her injuries—that was the proper business.

Shaowei made up her mind; she simply lay back down, waiting for food, waiting for the Doctor Nü, waiting for someone to bring her clothing.

Seeing her suddenly lie down and say nothing, actually seeming quite capable of bending and stretching, Liu Qi found it all the more inexplicably amusing; he said no more, only finally saying:

"My goodwill toward you is only to make you rest assured and heal your injuries. As for whether to cooperate, since you are gravely injured now and forced to reside at my Mansion, it is unfair to discuss this matter urgently at this time; you can consider it first, no need to rush to reply to me."