Chapter 90: Evil Guest

That girl still hadn't eaten dinner.

Chen Wuji glanced in; she lay naked on the bed, staring stiffly at the dark ceiling in a daze.

Clearly alive, yet she looked no different from dead.

After dinner, the three of them lay on the kang and went over the matter again.

Unfortunately, after racking their brains, they couldn't come up with a good idea.

They didn't even care about Chen Wuji's threat to torture him to death and then sell him off; what idea could there be?

"Sleep, sleep, we'll see how things are tomorrow."

Chen Wuji reached out and pulled Huo Sanniang and Shen Youwei into his embrace.

Huo Sanniang suddenly pressed Chen Wuji's hand, "Wait, Wuji, do you hear someone behind the house?"

"Who's there?"

"I just heard footsteps; listen, they're coming again." Huo Sanniang said, leaning in to listen.

Chen Wuji stopped what he was doing, listened intently, his face instantly grew grave—there really were footsteps.

When he was young, living in the old countryside house, there would always be a faint footsteps sound at midnight.

Back then, the adults said it was something unclean in the house.

After several exorcisms did nothing, they later discovered the noise came from livestock near the house.

When lying down, with the night quiet, the livestock's hoof‑scraping vibrations travel through the ground and sound like footsteps.

But the house now only keeps a few flying squirrels, which could hardly make such a commotion.

There really were people moving behind the house, and it sounded like quite a few of them.

Chen Wuji jumped up from the bed, quickly dressed, and grabbed his bow and knife.

"Lock the room, don't open the door for any noise, and brace the windows!" Chen Wuji whispered to Huo Sanniang and Shen Youwei, then slipped out the door and climbed over the courtyard wall with a ladder.

The footsteps were clear, moving along the wall toward the gate.

Chen Wuji crouched on the wall, nocked an arrow, held his breath, and stared at the corner of the wall.

No one was visible, but a glint of cold light first protruded from the corner.

Under the clear moonlight, Chen Wuji could see clearly it was a knife.

Then, one after another, people crouched low and filed out, running toward the gate.

Chen Wuji hesitated not, releasing the taut bowstring.

No matter who they were, coming with knives at midnight certainly wasn't to pay him a New Year's visit.

The cold light flashed like a shadow, precisely piercing the chest of the one in front.

"Uh… there's, there's an ambush! There's an ambush!"

The man hit by the arrow let out a painful howl.

Then someone else shouted, "Over there, on the wall!"

Several others dragged the wounded man away, quickly retreating behind the wall corner.

Hearing their shout, Chen Wuji leapt onto the roof and nocked another arrow.

Having jumped onto the roof ridge, he cautiously looked down.

Good grief, what evil thing has he provoked now? Why are there so many?

Many people hid behind the house; the night was somewhat hazy, Chen Wuji couldn't make them out clearly, but there were surely at least twenty.

He's just a little hunter.

Could it be the Yuan family?

But Yuan Jintang's fields were allocated by the office; they wouldn't be so bold as to come kill him at midnight, would they?

Chen Wuji thought it over and dismissed that possibility.

The Yuan family may be united, but not to this extent.

The risk of killing someone is too great.

If not the Yuan family, who else could it be?

As Chen Wuji thought this, he suddenly released the taut bowstring, then quickly nocked another arrow.

He didn't bother to check if he'd hit anyone; taking advantage of this rare high-ground opportunity, he loosed four arrows in quick succession.

"Scatter, scatter, that bastard's on the roof!" someone yelled, "Get ready with torches, burn this scoundrel!"

"Quick, prepare the torches, burn him!"

Chen Wuji's pupils contracted sharply; ignoring the searing pain from his wounded right hand, he nocked another arrow.

Today, his arrow supply was sufficient.

He would rather ruin his right hand than go down to fight them in close combat.

With the enemy so numerous, for him to rush down would be like a lamb entering a wolf's den.

His arrows flew like meteors, swiftly streaking through the hazy moonlight.

Although not every arrow elicited a response, roughly every two shots Chen Wuji could hear a cry of pain.

But his opportunity seemed to be running out.

The enemy lit torches, and his right hand was almost useless.

In fact, the enemy lighting torches was just setting up a live target for him.

But after repeatedly drawing the three‑stone hard bow more than ten times, his right hand could no longer hold the string steady.

"I'll fuck your mother, come on!"

Chen Wuji roared in anger, threw down his bow and arrows, tore a strip of cloth from his body, tightly bound his wounded hand, and then tied it to his knife.

Immediately, he went around to the gate side and jumped down from the wall.

The wall is still much lower than the roof.

Chen Wuji lunged over.

The thieves were trying to throw torches into the courtyard; Chen Wuji felt a bit relieved that the roof was fairly high, so the two torches they had just thrown didn't land in the courtyard but were blocked back by the roof.

Without even looking, Chen Wuji grabbed his knife and charged at the torch‑wielding thief.

Go die!

With one strike he cut off an arm; Chen Wuji swiftly dodged to the side and backhanded another blow.

He didn't even look where he was hacking, just ran wildly and then slashed at random.

The enemy outnumbered him and his martial skill was average, so he had to avoid being blocked by them.

"Block that bastard, stop him!" someone shouted.

Just then, a thin figure holding a lantern suddenly appeared beside the wall.

He stood still for a moment, then suddenly flung the lantern to the ground and lunged at a thief.

Chen Wuji happened to rush to the side, his knife already swinging, when he suddenly saw a familiar face in the interplay of light and shadow.

Yuan Jinshi.

"You little brat, get out of the way—what are you rushing into the fun for!" Chen Wuji hastily sheathed his knife and shouted angrily.

Yuan Jinshi grinned, his body as agile as a monkey's, slipping under the thief's crotch; a palm‑length dagger poked into the thief's lower back with a puff, "Brother Wuji, hold on a bit longer—the scholar went to call for help."

"Stay back!" Chen Wuji shouted, waving his hand.

Yuan Jinshi grinned: "Brother Wuji, your fighting isn't nearly as agile as mine."

Chen Wuji: ……