Chapter 71 - See If There Are Any Trees Around Firs

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The six to seven muscular men at the entrance of the alley looked around with shifty eyes. After they were certain that there was nobody there, they quickly charged inside. After they got to the door of the courtyard, they drew out a dagger. One of them knocked on the door lightly.

“Excuse me, is anybody home?”

Master Cha was in the yard practicing with her sword. After she heard the knock on the door, she glanced at Mr. Shen who was laying on the chair with his eyes closed, pretending to be sound asleep. Mr. Shen’s mouth curled slightly upwards. “Sounds of daggers being unsheathed.”

Master Cha nodded. She went over and opened the door. The men charged in immediately. However, Master Cha moved aside and did not stop them.

After they entered, Master Cha closed the door, and slid the bolt on it.

The six to seven men were somewhat stunned, as this situation was rather different from the previous times they took out their targets.

Mr. Shen opened his eyes and looked at the men. He shook his head. “Mu Xiaofeng’s men are too rash and careless - they should have investigated more before sending people over.”

Master Cha walked over to the side and picked up her wooden sword before she continued to pierce through the metal ring that was hung on the tree. It seemed as though she had absolutely no regard for those men, who were emitting a thick murderous aura.

Uncle Chen walked out of the house with the help of the yellow pear wood walking stick; when he saw the fellas with daggers in their hands, he was entirely taken aback. Instinctively, he wanted to go back into the house to hide. However, when he saw that Master Cha was the closest to those men, he panicked immediately. He lifted the walking stick and staggered down the steps. “Cha’er, quick leave!”

Mr. Shen got up and supported Uncle Chen. “It’s fine. Sit down and take a rest.”

He supported Uncle Chen and sat him down on the deck chair. He poured a cup of tea and sat on the steps, sipping slowly. “I’m giving you a chance to go back and bring more people here.”

The leader of the group scoffed. “Of course, we know that you were the one who taught Shen Leng martial arts. We did not underestimate you either. This courtyard is currently being surrounded by our people. Don’t be too cocky - in a while, you will kneel and beg for mercy.”

Master Cha seemed to be rather impatient, as she continued piercing her wooden sword through the metal ring.

Mr. Shen smiled and nodded. “Yeah, so hurry up.”

The leader yelled and the two men behind him headed towards Master Cha, while the other few pounced towards Mr. Shen.

Uncle Chen was so frightened that he went pale. He gripped his walking stick tightly. He was just an ordinary fisherman. Even though he had seen water bandits killing people before, it was natural for him to be afraid seeing those ruthless looking people with daggers in their hands at such close proximity.

In the next second, he realized that his worries and fears were unfounded…the two men who tried to attack Master Cha - the first one tried to stab her with his dagger but before it reached her, she turned around and glared at him. That glare of hers almost made his heart stopped.

She was such a beautiful girl - how could she have such a chilling and murderous look in her eyes?

Smack!

Master Cha’s right hand was still piercing through the metal ring with the wooden sword; she lifted her left hand and slapped that man. That slap made him spin a couple of times. When he finally stopped spinning, he tried to stab her, but quickly realized that he was in the wrong direction. His back was now facing Master Cha, causing him to miss.

The second man charged towards Master Cha, in an attempt to stab her in the throat. Master Cha moved her head slightly to the side to dodge the attack. Thereafter, she grabbed that fella’s hair with her left hand and pulled it downwards. With his face facing downwards, his head rapidly sank and he looked on helplessly as Master Cha’s knee swung up towards his face, causing his nose to be broken upon impact.

Both of them were so frightened that they quickly retreated. On the other side, the four killers, who tried to attack Mr. Shen, had already fallen to the ground. There was no blood, but the four of them were no longer breathing. As it all happened too quickly, nobody saw how Mr. Shen attacked them. Nobody knew what happened in that brief moment.

The leader went pale. He lifted his head and yelled, “Why is nobody attacking?”

Immediately after, one by one, black shadows landed onto the ground in all four directions within the yard. However, the position in which they landed in was rather odd - none of them were standing…a brief moment after, about a dozen masked assassins were thrown down from the roof by someone. The bows and arrows in their hands were tossed down too.

On the northwest corner of the roof, there was a man decked in white robes. His face was covered with a white cloth. He was squatting on the extreme outer part of the roof ridge that was jutting out; it was very small and narrow. The way in which he was sqatting made him seem like a cat.

“Guan Tang Kou’s man,” said one of the people in white in a lowered voice.

There was another man in a white robe standing on top of the wall on the left. He was dressed in the same robe and his face was also covered with a cloth. He had two swords tied to his back - one short and one long. He stood there idly, as though everything was a hassle to him.

“Whoa…Guan Tang Kou is meddling in more and more things and does whatever it pleases. To think I assumed we have a new opponent.”

On a tree right outside the wall on the east side, another masked man in white crossed his arms in front of him, as he leaned against the big tree. He had a long sword tied to his back; there was a black tassel on the shaft of his sword - it was a rare sight.

He leaned against the tree and nodded. “Send the carrier pigeon back. It does seem like the people of Guan Tang Kou do as they please once they stepped out of Changan city. Get our people to teach them a lesson.”

Outside of the courtyard, there was someone knocking on the door. Master Cha kicked the two frightened fellas and flipped them over onto the ground, before going over to open the door in an annoyed manner. A man in white walked in, even though his face was also covered, he had a unique eye, which allowed everyone to easily recognize who he was.

That fella narrowed his eyes and lifted his hand and waved it, greeting them. Outside of the door, there were at least a dozen masked men laying on the ground disorderly.

“I remembered to knock on the door this time.”

He looked at the leader of those men in the yard and had a hostile look in his eyes.

When he looked at the man in white’s eye, his legs went weak. “Hei…Hei…”

Hei Yan went over and grabbed his hair before pulling it down. A dagger appeared in his right hand out of nowhere, slashing him in the neck. After that, he twisted his left hand, that was grabbing onto that person’s hair, causing blood to spurt out of his wound.

Mr. Shen had a disdainful look on his face.

Hei Yan let go of the corpse; it fell to the ground. After he looked at the blood that was splattered all over the yard, he quickly apologized profusely, “I’m so sorry, I will fetch some water later and wash it away.”

Shen Leng smiled. “I thought you have already returned to Changan city.”

Hei Yan shook his head. “We’re not going back for now. We still have some things left to complete.”

He gestured with his hand. The three masked men in white on the roof, wall and tree left immediately. Those fellas gave out the vibe that they were much better than everyone else; perhaps everyone in Liu Yun Sect gave out that type of vibe on the whole. Shortly after Hei Yan left the courtyard, seven to eight men in white entered and carried the corpses out. There was a chariot, with a carriage attached to it, waiting outside. After they finished loading, they did not rush off - they went to fetch some water to clean the ground of the bloodstains.

Mr. Shen sighed. “This is a very lavish service.”

In a short period of time, the small courtyard was peaceful and quiet again. When Mr. Shen went over to close the door, his vision went black before he collapsed onto the ground. Master Cha, who was at a distance away, rushed over. Mr. Shen had already lost consciousness.

After more than two hours later, before the physician left the courtyard, he instructed Master Cha, “Make sure he does not exhaust himself. This is the indication that he’s overworked himself over a period of time. As of now, it does not seem like a big deal, but if he continues to overwork himself, I’m afraid it’ll become something serious.”

Master Cha paid the physician double the fees. She turned around and looked at Mr. Shen who walked out and laid on the deck chair by himself. His mouth twitched and said, “More often than not, physicians’ words cannot be trusted - they are meant to scare people.”

Master Cha glared at him and Mr. Shen quickly shut his mouth. He grabbed a towel and folded it nicely before placing it on his forehead. “Ok, I already got it.”

Earlier on, Master Cha asked the physician what Mr. Shen was able to eat. He told her that he should eat something light. Master Cha thought about the fact that she had not made a single meal for Mr. Shen yet, and felt rather guilty. Hence, she fiercely instructed Mr. Shen to lay down and told him not to move. After that, she grabbed the vegetable basket and left.

Their residence was not very far from the market. Hence, Master Cha returned shortly after. She looked at Mr. Shen, who was tidying up the flowers in the yard, in a somewhat awkward manner. Mr. Shen quickly ran back to the deck chair and laid back down. He placed the towel on his forehead. “I’m laying down.”

Master Cha asked, “Why couldn’t I buy it?”

“Couldn’t buy what?”

“The physician said that you can only eat green eggs (Note: ‘qing dan’, which means light/non-greasy (food), also sounds like green eggs). I went to walk around the market, but regardless of whether it was chicken, duck or goose eggs, they were all white. There aren’t any green eggs. Indeed, the physician lied to me.”

Mr. Shen was dumbfounded. After a moment later, he burst out laughing. He started choking and was almost breathless.

Uncle Chen laughed out loud. “Girl, you spend your entire day practicing martial arts, you are already considered to be a celestial being. Lets go, I will bring you to the market to buy some vegetables. I will teach you how to cook later. My wife died young; even though I am not great at cooking, it is decent enough to get by.”

Immediately, Master Cha was overjoyed. “Ok, ok, ok. Uncle, come with me. Sir, you…lay here!”

Mr. Shen grunted. He smiled and shook his head.

Master Cha is still the same Master Cha after all. Could it be that I have overly doted on her and spoiled her? The last time, she casually tossed a huge sum of money to the coachman. And now, she still does not know the value of food.

However, Mr. Shen did not think that he made a mistake. Girls should be doted as much as possible - why make her suffer if he was able to dote on her? Learning martial arts and military tactics was not the same as cooking. In areas she had to suffer, she should suffer, and in areas she did not have to suffer, she should not have to suffer.

It was that simple.

As Master Cha walked, she asked Uncle Chen. “Is Leng on a completely different level from me?”

Uncle Chen replied, “That’s different. What kind of life did Leng lead when he was little? That bastard Mr. Meng had a few horses, but he refused to let Leng take the chariot when ferrying goods. He did not even allow him to use the cart. He was only allowed to carry everything on his shoulders. If Leng did not learn how to take care of himself, he wouldn’t have been able to survive for this long…”

Master Cha nodded. “Uncle Chen, teach me how to cook. When Leng comes back on his off days, I will cook for him. I won’t let him enter the kitchen the moment he’s back.”

“Why did you suddenly think of doing that?”

“Leng is already a Class A Sixth pin official, a military officer.”

Master Cha lifted her head and looked at the sky. She acted as if it was not a big deal and said, “Even though it’s not a high position that’s worthy to be proud of, it is still embarrassing if his subordinates were to find out that he cooks the moment he gets home.”

“Also, is needle work easy to learn?”

“It should be easier than learning sword techniques.”

“Oh, in that case I shall force myself to learn it then. The last time Shen Leng came back, I saw that his money pouch was already very torn and damaged. He must have mended it a few times before - it looks rather bad. In the future, after I have learned it, I will sew one for him.”

Uncle Chen laughed. There were little stars of affection in his eyes.

At this time, Shen Leng carried a crocodile that was at least a meter long in one hand, and a bag of vegetables in the other. When Master Cha saw Shen Leng, her eyes lit up. Just when she was about to run over, she saw a beautiful embroidered pouch hanging on his waist; it swayed from side to side as he walked.

The corner of Master Cha’s mouth raised slightly.

Shen Leng, who was about a dozen meters away, stood there instinctively. He looked around to see if there were any trees.

There was a strong murderous aura in the air.