Chapter 266: You

Hearing him call out her name, Deaf Granny could finally be sure that she hadn't recognized the wrong person.

*Pfft... *

*Hahahaha! *

She looked at the sloppy old man and the more she looked, the more she wanted to laugh, laughing louder and louder.

She laughed until she was doubled over, her face flushed, and she almost couldn't catch her breath.

"I didn't expect it, I really didn't expect it! The once-romantic and world-shaking Commander of the Imperial City Guard, Tie Jiumu, has actually lived to become this ghost-like appearance!"

"Funny, too funny!"

Her tone was full of schadenfreude.

Lao Tietou was speechless. Was it really that funny?

"Yes, I'm doing poorly, can't help it." He grinned. "Can't compare to you, Lady Long... oh no, now it should be Deaf Granny. From a top-tier assassin who was beautiful and world-renowned, you've fallen to being a water bandit who robs on the road. Who wouldn't praise you for being amazing?"

Come on, let's hurt each other.

Deaf Granny's laughter stopped abruptly, and her face darkened.

Sure enough, a dog can't change its habit of eating excrement; even if his appearance and identity changed, his mouth was still just as annoying.

"Fine, Tie, I won't bicker with you."

Deaf Granny waved her hand impatiently. "For the sake of being old acquaintances, I'll ask you one more time: are you going to give me that Little Lady Du or not?"

Lao Tietou was very straightforward. "No."

*Joke*, that was his mistress; was she someone he could just give away?

Deaf Granny squinted at him. "Aren't you afraid I'll go and report you to the Emperor of Da Zhao? If he knew that you, a remnant of the Qing Kingdom, were still alive, do you think he would let you go?"

Lao Tietou put away his playful face and clenched his hands into fists.

*Heh*, threats—who didn't know how to make them?

"Then aren't you afraid I'll go and report to the Moon Shadow Tower, saying that the traitor Long Qian is active in the Black Water area? Do you think they will send people to hunt you down?"

"..." Deaf Granny gritted her teeth. "You've got guts!"

She turned and walked to the edge of the deck and stood still.

"Hey, old woman, isn't that a bit much? If you can't rob anyone, you're going to commit suicide?" Lao Tietou hurriedly shouted.

"You think too much; I'm not that fragile." Deaf Granny rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you can't do anything to me today, and I can't kill you, so there's no point in continuing to fight. Let's just forget it. I'm leaving."

"What about those water bandit brothers of yours? Are you not going to care about them?"

"They're just things for amusement; kill them or cut them, do as you please."

After saying this, Deaf Granny poked her head out and looked at the rolling river water below.

She jumped.

Lao Tietou hurriedly ran over and lay on the side of the boat to look down.

There was no figure, not even a splash.

*Sigh*, he sighed.

This woman was still as stubborn as she was when she was young.

Looking at the rolling river surface, his thoughts couldn't help but return to more than forty years ago.

At that time, he had just turned twenty, came from a famous family, and his martial arts were particularly outstanding among the younger generation, so he was deeply favored by the Qing Emperor and was in high spirits.

It was inevitable that he would be a bit carried away.

He didn't know who he had offended, but some bastard had secretly spent a lot of money to contact the Moon Shadow Tower to get rid of him.

What was the Moon Shadow Tower?

That was the number one assassin organization in the world, making people terrified!

Anyone targeted by the Moon Shadow Tower would definitely die.

And the one sent to finish him off was Long Qian.

A girl of eighteen, young and looking like a human, but cold-hearted and poisonous. On a dark and windy night, she blocked him in a narrow alley.

She arrogantly told him to commit suicide, saying he was ugly and she was afraid of dirtying her hands by killing him.

He had always been proud and arrogant; how could he endure such an insult?

He was furious on the spot and rushed up to fight.

This fight was dark and gloomy, and the dozen or so wild dogs in the alley were so scared that they tucked their tails and fled everywhere.

His ending, however, was more miserable than the wild dogs.

Seeing that she couldn't kill him with knives and swords alone, the woman actually used hidden weapons in a despicable way.

That was the "Cotton Endless Hate Needle."

The most hateful thing was that the needle was coated with poison!

He couldn't dodge in time and was turned into a hedgehog on the spot, fainting in a corner where no one was around.

Long Qian probably thought he was dead for sure, so she didn't check carefully and fled under the cover of night.

However, his life wasn't meant to end.

After the wild dogs returned, they were unhappy that he had occupied their territory, so they dragged his "corpse" away and threw it onto the street.

Just like that, with only one breath left, he was sent into the palace.

The Qing Emperor urgently summoned all the imperial physicians to diagnose and treat him, but faced with the rare poison on the needle, the physicians were also helpless.

Just when he was despairing and waiting for death.

The Empress recommended someone, a folk doctor named Si Zhu Xian.

It was said that he had received guidance from gods in his dreams and had learned superb medical skills, capable of bringing the dead back to life and regrowing flesh and bones. Not to mention curing poison, he could even reattach severed limbs, and they would function as before.

The Qing Emperor immediately summoned Si Zhu Xian into the palace.

Si Zhu Xian lived up to expectations, saved his life, and was kept in the palace as the Chief Imperial Physician.

And he also became friends with Si Zhu Xian because of this.

Hearing that he was alive, that damned woman Long Qian came to the door again, assassinating him several times, each time trying to kill him, as if they had a feud of killing fathers and stealing husbands.

Although she didn't succeed, it made him terrified and unable to sleep peacefully.

On his body, there would be a few more cuts from time to time.

With injuries, he naturally had to see a doctor. Si Zhu Xian was really tired of it, so he simply threw a martial arts manual to him, telling him to practice according to it, saying it was specifically to restrain the "Cotton Endless Hate Needle."

That technique was called the Copper Skin Technique.

He hid in a secret room and spent half a year, finally achieving success.

The first thing he did when he came out was to find Long Qian for revenge.

Actually, he didn't need to find her; he had just come out of seclusion when Long Qian came.

That woman... *heh*, she was really stubborn.

This time he didn't suffer a loss; not only did he not suffer a loss, but he also slapped Long Qian until she spat blood.

Unfortunately, she still managed to escape in the end.

After this, Long Qian finally stopped, and for a long time, there was no news of her.

It wasn't until two years later that he accidentally learned that Long Qian had betrayed the Moon Shadow Tower for a man and disappeared.

He didn't expect to see her again on this broken boat.

God... just loved to tease people...

Du Ruo had just walked over and saw Lao Tietou leaning against the edge of the deck in a daze, his face full of melancholy.

He didn't even notice her when she was so close.

"Uncle Lao Tie? Uncle Lao Tie?" Du Ruo waved her hand in front of him. "Are you okay?"

Lao Tietou woke up from a dream and hurriedly stood up. "Oh, oh, I'm fine, I'm doing great."

He smiled. "Mistress, don't worry, Deaf Granny has been beaten away by me and won't come back."

Du Ruo breathed a sigh of relief.

That was good.

Her gaze fell on Lao Tietou, and she raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why is your clothes torn from the fight?"

Lao Tietou looked down. "..."

He forgot he was still shirtless.

He hurriedly covered his chest and ran toward the cabin where he lived. "Oh, the old man is freezing to death; the old man is going to find clothes. Mistress, please feel free!"

Watching Lao Tietou's fleeing back, Du Ruo shrugged.

Fine, since all the threats had been removed, everyone had been nervous for so long, so it was time to rest.

Just as she was about to turn and go in, her gaze inadvertently swept across the front, and she suddenly froze there.

*Oh no! *

She hurriedly ran into the dining hall and said loudly, "Everyone listen to me, it seems we are about to enter a thief's den!"

The noisy dining hall instantly became silent enough to hear a needle drop.

Everyone looked at each other.

Master Yan looked grave and asked, "Lady Du, what do you mean by that?"

Du Ruo didn't know how to explain it, so she simply called everyone to the door and let them see for themselves.

The sky was gradually getting dark, and a thin layer of mist rose on the river.

Vaguely, a few hundred meters ahead, there was an island in the middle of the river, with dozens of small boats parked densely by the island.

There were also three or four medium-sized, luxuriously decorated pleasure boats.

Over a hundred men holding fish spears were standing on the shore, constantly waving toward them. Although they couldn't see their expressions, they could feel their excitement and agitation.

Everyone retracted their heads, their faces pale.

Needless to say, these were the accomplices of the water bandits, waiting here to collect the spoils.

Bian Dou Dou cried with a long face and muttered, "How could this be? How could the boat be driven into a thief's den?"

Du Ruo was also stunned.

That's right, how could it be driven directly into a thief's den?

She suddenly had a flash of inspiration and couldn't help but pat her own slow forehead.

*Dizzy*, she had forgotten about the boat captain and the others!

Du Ruo hurriedly ran toward the steering cabin. As soon as she entered, she saw several men lying on the ground unconscious, including the boat captain.

And there was a man steering the boat.

Wasn't that the lackey sent by Short-Legged Tiger to steer the boat?

Seeing Du Ruo come in, the lackey was terrified and knelt on the ground. "Mistress, spare my life!"

Du Ruo kicked him. "Stop the boat immediately!"

The lackey didn't dare to resist and hurriedly obeyed.

The others also rushed in at this time and worked together to save the boat captain and his men.

It took quite a while to figure out the situation, and the boat captain looked at Du Ruo with eager eyes. "Lady Du, where should we steer now?"

"Where else could we steer?" Bian Dou Dou was the quickest to speak. "Of course, turn around and go to Fengyang Prefecture!"

Everyone nodded.

If they didn't steer to Fengyang Prefecture, did they want to crash into the thief's den? That would be seeking death.

Master Yan, as the team leader, naturally had to put the students' safety first, so he also said, "Let's go to Fengyang Prefecture first and let the government handle these bandits."

Du Ruo was about to speak.

Master Jiang, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.

"I think that's inappropriate."

Everyone looked toward him, talking all at once.

"What's inappropriate about it?"

"If we don't turn around, do we want to crash into them and fight head-on?"

"Exactly, there are only a few people on our boat with martial arts skills. Even if Uncle Lao Tie is highly skilled, he can't deal with over a hundred people!"

"Listen to me, let's just run away..."

The small steering cabin instantly turned into a vegetable market, noisy and unbearable.

Master Jiang wasn't in a hurry to argue. After the noisy and questioning voices quieted down, he said unhurriedly, "I'll only ask one thing: if you were a water bandit and saw the fat sheep about to be in your hands suddenly turn around and run, what would you do?"

"That goes without saying, of course, we'd chase them!" Bian Dou Dou blurted out.

Master Jiang smiled and said nothing more.

None of the people present were fools; a hint was enough.

Everyone finally understood.

That is to say, if they turned around and ran now, it would likely arouse the suspicion of the water bandits, and they would immediately take small boats to pursue them.

This boat was large, but it was old and broken, and it wouldn't take long before they were caught up.

By then, a fierce battle would still be unavoidable.

Running away was not an option.

Thinking of this, the hearts that everyone had finally put down were suspended again.

"Then what should we do?" Someone beat their chest and stomped their feet, regretting it. "If I had known, I wouldn't have come. It wouldn't be too late to take the exam next time..."

Du Ruo secretly curled her lips.

*Pfft*, "A hundred useless things are scholars"—this saying was really true (cough, cough, except for Third Uncle and Jiang Zhan).

Complaining was useless; they needed to think of a way.

"Don't panic, I have an idea." Du Ruo pointed to the lackey huddled in the corner. "We can use him."

The lackey's eyes widened, staring at Du Ruo in horror.

Du Ruo walked over and ordered, "Open your mouth, or I'll beat you to death."

The lackey: "Ah, ah, ah, ah..."

Very good. Du Ruo casually threw a vitamin in. "This is 'One-Day Life-Ending Powder.' From now on, whatever I tell you to do, you do. If you don't listen, in one day, the poison will take effect, and your intestines will rot and you will die." ===== CHAPTER 267 =====