Chapter 283

In truth, this woman had already made up her mind; one strike would be enough to tell whether Jia Cong was the real deal or not.

If he were merely a showy fraud, she wouldn't go so far as to kill him; at worst, she would just teach him a lesson.

Seeing the woman's fierce approach, Jia Cong hurriedly raised his saber to parry. The two blades clashed like a string of pearls, emitting a rapid, crisp sound of impact.

Jia Cong discovered that the woman's saber technique was extremely strange, unlike any saber style in the Central Plains.

A long saber in her hands was incredibly agile, spinning like a rotating wheel and circling her entire body, dazzling to the eye.

Sometimes she would even toss the long saber from her right hand to her left to slash; she wielded the single long saber as if it were a pair, capable of striking any part of Jia Cong's body.

This saber technique was less of a martial art and more of a saber dance.

Jia Cong watched her slender waist sway, the saber light flashing and silver radiance wrapping around her; it was almost pleasing to the eye.

Yet, he dared not show the slightest slack; amidst such dense and rapid slashes, a moment of carelessness would mean he would fall under her blade.

Her saber technique was inherently best suited for mounted combat, usually killing the enemy in a split second; even when fighting on foot, she always aimed for a quick, decisive victory within a few moves.

Suddenly, Jia Cong blocked her incoming slash with his curved saber, retreated violently a few steps, and jumped out of the combat circle.

Seeing the situation, the expression on the woman's face instantly turned ugly.

How could it be like today, where she had tangled with Jia Cong for a hundred moves and still couldn't determine a winner?

After all, she was a woman, and her natural strength was inferior to a man's; her arms were already beginning to ache and go numb. If this continued, she would surely lose.

Almost without thinking, she slashed her blade behind her like lightning!

Then she heard the woman exclaim: "Stop!"

……

She clutched the gyrfalcon to her chest, heartbroken, stroking and comforting it incessantly.

A 'pop' sound was heard, and then a white mass flew horizontally through the air. Before hitting the ground, it suddenly flapped its wings and landed on the floor.

She had fought Jia Cong for the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, yet they were still evenly matched, and she was already feeling anxious.

Jia Cong smiled and held his curved saber against Zhou Zhou Suqing's neck: "If you insist on pestering me, I will kill him with one strike, and you won't be able to do business either!"

Moreover, Jia Cong's curved saber had some weight to it; not only was the blade heavy and powerful, but his moves were also extremely bizarre.

The woman hurriedly stepped forward to check, discovering that her pet was not injured; it had just been swatted away by the back of Jia Cong's blade and seemed to have been knocked unconscious...

The woman glared fiercely at Jia Cong, then suddenly pursed her cherry lips and blew a sharp whistle.

Just now, taking advantage of the time she was fighting that brat, his two subordinates had already controlled Boss Chen.

Guo Guo Zhigui, standing to the side, watched the two of them fighting with their blades, his eyes wide. Wasn't the Cong Sanye a scholar? When did he learn such high-level martial arts?

That woman's saber was already formidable enough, yet the Cong Sanye was not the least bit inferior when facing her.

Jia Cong said helplessly: "You can't blame me. If it had clawed my head just now, would I still be alive? I used the back of the blade; otherwise, your hawk would have been dead long ago."

The woman glared at him, her deep blue eyes hiding tears: "I only let it scare you, not really hurt you. Did you have to use so much strength!"

Jia Cong suddenly felt a chill behind his head. A flash of lightning crossed his mind as he thought of the gyrfalcon that had flown into the tree just now.

It was indeed that woman's gyrfalcon, but after landing, it seemed a bit dizzy, swaying and unable to stand steady.

The moment the woman faced Jia Cong, she found it far beyond her expectations. This brat, who looked as pretty as a young lady, had surprisingly good skills.

Jia Cong asked curiously: "You let it scare me—can it understand that meaning?"

The woman replied: "My hawk-slave understands everything except how to speak; she is smarter than you!"

Jia Cong's eyes lit up, ignoring the sarcasm in the woman's words, and asked: "Then can it deliver letters?"

The woman's expression was somewhat disdainful, as if she thought Jia Cong was making a fuss over nothing: "Delivering letters is nothing; it can even catch fresh prey every day."

But Jia Cong's attention didn't seem to be on the hawk catching prey at all. He continued to ask: "It only listens to you, so how can it deliver a letter to another place?"

The woman replied impatiently: "Hmph, why should I tell you!"

……

Now she also knew that her business had been ruined by Jia Cong, so she took a gold ingot from her body and threw it in front of Zhou Zhou Suqing.

"I don't have the ability to earn your money; I'm returning the gold to you!"

Zhou Zhou Suqing's face was full of bitterness. She had originally thought that by fleeing to such a remote place and hiring such a capable guard, everything would be fine.

She hadn't expected to end up in this situation. It really was true that the net of heaven is vast, and what is meant to come cannot be avoided.

Seeing that this woman had lost her business and still returned the gold to her employer, Jia Cong felt she was somewhat upright and couldn't help but smile slightly.

Watching her turn to leave, Jia Cong's gaze remained fixed on the gyrfalcon perched on her shoulder.

"This young lady, please stay."

The woman turned back and looked at Jia Cong in surprise.

Jia Cong smiled: "I would like to hire you as my guard for one tael of gold per month. What do you think?"

The woman looked surprised: "You wield a saber so well; do you still need to hire a guard?"

"This border town is very chaotic; it's always good to hire one more person for protection."

The woman raised her delicate eyebrows and said: "You can hire me, but it's not one tael of gold a month—it's two taels of gold a month!"

Jia Cong was a bit unconvinced and said: "Why is it one tael of gold when others hire you, but two taels of gold when I hire you?"

The woman snorted, looking somewhat playful and moving: "Because you ruined my business and hit my hawk-slave. I don't like the look of you, so I want two taels of gold!

If you don't want to, forget it. There are plenty of wealthy Southern merchants in town; I'm not afraid of no one hiring me!"

Relying on her saber skills, this woman had never suffered a loss in town, but she felt quite unconvinced in her heart after being restrained by Jia Cong.

Moreover, she wasn't afraid of not earning this tael of gold; naturally, she wanted to use this to deflate Jia Cong's ego and vent her anger.

"Fine, two taels of gold a month it is. Tomorrow morning, come to the Military Affairs Office to wait for me. This is a one-hundred-tael silver note, worth ten taels of gold—consider it your advance commission."

Jia Cong said this and handed a hundred-tael silver note to the woman. The woman was stunned for a moment.

Two taels of gold was a price she had made up; there was no such outrageous price in town. This grinning bastard actually agreed—was he stupid?

Jia Cong asked with a hint of teasing: "I have already agreed to the price; you wouldn't be afraid to take this business, would you?"

The words "not afraid" seemed to provoke the woman. She reached out and snatched the silver note from Jia Cong's hand, saying: "If there is gold to be earned, why would I be afraid? I will definitely be there tomorrow morning."

After speaking, she tucked the silver note into her bosom and turned to leave.

Jia Cong asked at her back: "What should I call you, young lady?"

"My name is Ai Li."

Guo Guo Zhigui and Jiang Xiao Si, standing to the side, were both stunned by this scene.

Guo Guo Zhigui looked puzzled: "Cong Sanye, two taels of gold is twenty taels of silver. You are spending so much silver to hire a 'ghost woman' as a guard—this is too expensive.

I heard my mother say that the Old Lady of the Western Mansion is a First-Rank noblewoman, and her monthly allowance is only twenty taels. This 'ghost woman' is actually the same as the Old Lady..."

Jia Cong heard Guo Guo Zhigui's comparison and found it funny, unable to help but laugh out loud.

Jiang Xiao Si, standing to the side, kept winking at Guo Guo Zhigui, his expression somewhat ambiguous.

Guo Guo Zhigui didn't notice at all and asked: "Cong Sanye, you are spending so much silver—you wouldn't have taken a fancy to this 'ghost woman', would you? She looks so creepy, and her eyes are glowing blue."

Jia Cong glared at Guo Guo Zhigui: "What nonsense are you talking about? How could I have taken a fancy to her? I took a fancy to her hawk."

Guo Guo Zhigui and Jiang Xiao Si looked at each other in dismay. What was so good about that woman's hawk? Every day it just squatted stupidly on someone's shoulder.

"Guo Zhigui, how long did it take you to travel from the Divine Capital to Liaodong?"

"We traveled for nearly a month. Even if we changed to fast horses through the relay stations, it would still take more than ten days."

"She is a master at training hawks. That hawk can fly there in at most two days!"

Guo Guo Zhigui and Jiang Xiao Si were both blank-faced, not understanding what Jia Cong meant.

Because they were not Jia Cong, they did not understand how much of a huge role the speed of information transmission could play.

(End of chapter)