Chapter 15

Li Miao looked at Mei Qinghe and said calmly: "I have brought the person."

"But I will not kill him directly as a favor to you."

"The two of you, speak of the grudge between you; let me hear it."

Looking at the pleading Zhao Dehua, Mei Qinghe's thoughts were suddenly cut short.

The grudge between Mei Qinghe and Zhao Dehua was, in fact, an old, cliché story.

When Mei Qinghe was small, her family were merchants; they weren't wealthy or noble, but they were well-fed and clothed.

Fifteen years ago, when Mei Qinghe was five, her mother wanted to take her back to her hometown to visit relatives.

As mentioned before, traveling long distances in ancient times was not as convenient as it is today, let alone for Mei Qinghe's mother, a weak woman traveling with a five or six-year-old child.

So Mei Qinghe's father found the local Tiger Might Escort Agency, and Zhao Dehua, who was then unknown at the agency, took the job to escort Mei Qinghe and her mother back to their hometown.

This was supposed to be a simple task; Mei Qinghe's mother didn't carry much wealth, and they weren't traveling through dangerous territory at the time. By all accounts, there shouldn't have been any accidents.

But, fortune and misfortune are unpredictable.

At that time, there was a great Ordinary Jianghu bandit who was being hunted by the Embroidered Uniform Guard in the capital and had fled to the Qi and Lu region, where he happened to run into Zhao Dehua's group.

He took a fancy to Mei Qinghe's mother and demanded that Zhao Dehua hand her over.

Zhao Dehua was a young man then; although his martial arts were not good, he was full of hot-blooded passion.

Knowing he was no match, he still stood his ground with his sword to protect Mei Qinghe and her mother, intending to delay the bandit for a while so they could escape first.

However, he had overestimated himself.

Almost in an instant, Zhao Dehua's sword was knocked away, his face was trampled underfoot, and his mouth and nose were filled with mud.

The bandit toyed with him, using his sword to cut fine gashes on his body, dislocating and resetting his limbs, and using pressure point techniques to squeeze his meridians.

He poured insects into his ears, making him listen to the sound of the insects crawling on his eardrums.

The young Zhao Dehua finally understood that so-called Ordinary Jianghu morality could not make him strong. In the bandit's eyes, he was just a fool who knew a few clumsy tricks and didn't know his place.

The chivalrous heart he thought he possessed was destroyed by the bandit in less than half a day.

He was afraid.

He began to beg for mercy.

He began to curse Mei Qinghe's mother, asking why she had to hire him, why she resisted, and why she couldn't just submit to the bandit.

He even began to hate Mei Qinghe's mother, wondering why she couldn't sacrifice herself instead of dragging him into suffering.

He hated her more and more.

The bandit told him to hold down Mei Qinghe's mother, and he did it.

The bandit told him to join in the abuse of Mei Qinghe's mother, and he did it.

He began to vent this inexplicable hatred on Mei Qinghe's mother.

Until Mei Qinghe's mother died.

When everything was over, the bandit tossed a manual of claw techniques to Zhao Dehua with satisfaction and turned to leave.

Everything that happened was seen by the five-year-old Mei Qinghe.

Zhao Dehua wanted to kill Mei Qinghe to silence her and cover up everything that had happened.

But he still had a shred of conscience left and couldn't bring himself to do it. Thinking that a five-year-old child couldn't possibly survive in the wilderness, he took all the dry rations, left Mei Qinghe alone in the mountains, and returned to the Tiger Might Escort Agency.

Mei Qinghe's father reported it to the authorities, but the Tiger Might Escort Agency used their connections to suppress it. He spent all his family's wealth searching for Mei Qinghe, but gradually there was no news; he likely died on the road.

That bandit was later hunted down and killed by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

From then on, Zhao Dehua stopped practicing the sword and, relying on the claw technique manual the bandit had given him, gradually became the pillar of the Tiger Might Escort Agency.

Zhao Dehua was kind to others, polite to Ordinary Jianghu people, and fair in his dealings. The Tiger Might Escort Agency flourished under his leadership and gradually grew and developed.

Zhao Dehua thought everything was in the past; his daughter had good aptitude and was now somewhat accomplished. In a few years, she would take over his position, and he could enjoy his retirement at home, playing with his grandchildren, and the petty squabbles of the Ordinary Jianghu would no longer have anything to do with him.

He thought the events of fifteen years ago were over; he thought he had forgotten Mei Qinghe's mother.

Until this very moment, when he saw Mei Qinghe's face clearly.

Mei Qinghe looked very much like her mother; he recognized that face at a glance.

Cold sweat broke out on Zhao Dehua's face, his hands trembled uncontrollably, and his ears buzzed, as if insects were crawling on his eardrums, making a rustling friction sound.

That face, which had appeared in his dreams countless times alongside the young Zhao Dehua, questioning him, mocking him, and cursing him, had finally appeared before him again.

That beautiful face was now under the moonlight, looking at him with eyes full of hatred.

And the Zhao Dehua of fifteen years ago seemed to have returned to him.

Zhao Dehua fell to his knees with a thud and began to kowtow repeatedly to Mei Qinghe.

"Madam Mei, Madam Mei, I was wrong, I was wrong!"

"Rest in peace, rest in peace, I beg you, rest in peace!"

"It was my martial arts that were poor, I couldn't beat him, I just didn't want to die, I had no choice!"

Mei Qinghe watched Zhao Dehua and slowly walked toward him.

Seeing Mei Qinghe approach, Zhao Dehua fell backward and began to crawl away using his hands and feet.

"Don't! Don't come over!"

"Madam Mei, don't come for me, go find him; he forced me!"

"I wanted to protect you too, I told you to run, it was you who were too slow! Don't blame me!"

"I didn't want to do those things to you either, but he forced me!"

Zhao Dehua crawled to the wall, with nowhere to retreat, and began to weep uncontrollably.

"He tortured me, it hurt so much! He cut me until I was covered in blood, he is not human, it's his fault!"

"He put insects in my ears, those insects were crawling in my ears!"

He slammed his head against the ground and began to dig into his ears with his fingers.

"Get out! Get out!" It was as if the insects were still in his ears.

Seeing Zhao Dehua acting as if he had suddenly gone insane, Mei Qinghe turned to look at Li Miao, who was standing to the side with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall.

Having heard the story Mei Qinghe told and what Zhao Dehua said, Li Miao had roughly figured out the origin of their grudge.

He smiled and took a packet of medicinal powder from his robes and threw it on the ground.

"I told you, you couldn't outplay him."

"Your martial arts are indeed better than his; he is second-rate, you are barely first-rate. If you used a sword, he wouldn't last thirty rounds against you."

"But if you had gone to find him tonight, the thing he prepared would have been used on you."

In Ordinary Jianghu duels, aside from formal arena matches, martial arts are often not the deciding factor.

Traps, sleeping incense, poison, and hidden arrows—any one of them can take an expert's life.

Zhao Dehua had been ambushed by Mei Qinghe last night; how could he not be prepared tonight? He had long since set up mechanisms in the room, just waiting for Mei Qinghe to deliver herself to him.

He had also prepared mind-altering poison, intending to use it on Mei Qinghe so she would reveal her background and the reason for her grudge, so he could prepare countermeasures.

But it was used on him by Li Miao instead.

Li Miao said calmly: "I am no hero, but at least I hope my subordinates have some bottom line."

"Your loyalty to the Huashan Sect is good. But if you only have loyalty, I don't have much interest."

"It just so happens he prepared this stuff, so let him tell the truth, and I can hear who is right and who is wrong."

"Now I have pretty much understood."

"How you want to take your revenge, you decide for yourself."

(End of chapter)