Chapter 38: New Year

Chapter 38: New Year

Innocence was relative.

At the start, Zhao Changhe had not felt that he was an innocent boy at all. When he was made to stand outside the classroom as punishment, he did not comply. Looking back, however, he realized that his civilized personality had been replaced by an utterly bandit-like temperament. He uttered profanities whenever he spoke and heads fell to his saber like rain.

Compared to the way he was now, how could he not be considered innocent back then?

When Yue Hongling asked her question, Zhao Changhe could roughly figure out why she still stayed in this desolate place even today.

She was afraid and unsure if she had saved a demon back then, and so deliberately remained here to observe him.

As for the results...uh...how should I put this... The Zhao Changhe now differed from her initial impressions of him, but he was not a demon. On the contrary, he was able to restrain the mountain stronghold and did not harm innocents. I don’t have any idea what she thinks of this, but she should be at least a little relieved, I guess.

She feared losing face, in other words, and she had come to seek shelter here after being injured.

If I really lost all my morals, would I take the chance now to claim her as my stronghold mistress? Nah...forget it. I can’t even claim her. She can enter my room without a sound even though she’s hurt. She could take my head just as easily? There’s no way she’ll let me rough her up.

“I’d suggest that you don’t trust me. The entire stronghold knows that there’s nothing we lack today, except for a stronghold mistress.” Zhao Changhe casually placed the medicines and bandages by the window and lowered his gaze. “Can you apply it yourself? You travel the jianghu, so something this small shouldn’t be a problem for you. I’ll head outside and keep watch for you.”

The two lines Zhao Changhe said had completely different implications. Yue Hongling was a little speechless and did not know how to interpret what he said...

If only she knew what a tsundere was.

“I can apply it myself. Thank you.” She did not respond to what he had said about a stronghold mistress and grabbed the medicine. She looked at Zhao Changhe. Her expression was clear: “I’m about to apply the medicine, so can you please?”

Zhao Changhe strode out the entrance. He did not even peek with the Back Eye and walked far away.

She could even hear his commands outside. “There’s no need to set up any more traps here. Do it a little further from here at that plaza over there. It looks similar to our training grounds. No one will expect us to lay traps there. Once you guys are done we can call it a day. Tonight, we feast!”

Yue Hongling grinned and lowered her head, biting her lip. She lightly raised the clothes covering her abdomen.

There was a sword wound there. It looked gruesome.

She had actually already applied some basic treatment to the wound. The bloodstain was not from blood seeping out now, but from before. Discover new chapters at novelhall.com

She had medicines of her own which were of a better grade than what Zhao Changhe had, so she did not need to use his medicines. She only wanted to find a relatively safer location to begin recovering at ease. After all, she had not just suffered an external injury. There was also sword qi running rampant in her body. Things were not as simple as this though.

What she had to guard against was not her opponent. She had great respect for him. What she wanted to guard against were the outsiders who witnessed her battle. Who knew whether there was someone around who had sinister ideas? By herself, it would be difficult to defend against others’ schemes. At the very least, she needed someone trustworthy to watch out for her.

The kinds of people who would plot against her were not very strong, so Zhao Changhe’s strength would be enough to deal with them.

In other words, she really was here to seek shelter with Zhao Changhe. Just a few hours ago, she never thought that things would develop to this point.

Zhao Changhe’s response to Yue Hongling told her that she had not judged him wrongly.

“Are you done?” Zhao Changhe’s voice came from outside.

Yue Hongling carefully tied the bandage around her and let down her clothes. Thinking about how her skin was exposed while a man stood outside, she blushed slightly, but she quickly composed herself. “I’m done.”

Zhao Changhe went back inside. She looked delicate and powerless as she leaned against the window. He felt that this was not like Yue Hongling at all and found himself frowning. “I have a feeling your wound isn’t so simple. Do you have any internal injuries?”

I don’t care whether heaven has a dao. I follow my own heavenly dao!

Her choice had been the correct one. Zhao Changhe had a dao in his heart. No ordinary bandit could compare to him.

What do I call you? How am I supposed to know?

She supported herself with the chair and stood up. She briefly felt the sword qi running amuck in her body and thought that her condition was still alright then carefully jumped through the window to the courtyard behind the building.

Since she still needed to eat, naturally, she also had other things she needed to do... For example, even heroines needed to pee.

How can I shamelessly ask where his toilet is? Of course I’ll go and settle it in the mountains.

However, the moment Yue Hongling exited the courtyard, she felt that there was something off about the ground she stepped on. Her heart thumped as she was about to leap into the air, but the stabbing pain in her abdomen from the sword qi made her hesitate and she plopped into a trap.

Yue Hongling was both frustrated and panicked. Zhao Changhe, are you crazy? Who lays a trap next to their courtyard wall? Aren’t you afraid of accidentally falling into it while training!?

Her qi would be tangled up for the next few moments. She could not jump out!

“There’s an intruder!”

“It’s behind the boss’ courtyard. Let’s go and take a look!

“For fuck’s sake, there’re still people who don’t have eyes and come to court death!”

“Hold on. Where did that come from? I think I heard it behind Boss’ hut!”

In just a short moment, groups of them came running from all directions.

Very soon, there were some who stuck their heads into the pit to take a look. Yue Hongling covered her face.

“Hey, it looks like a woman... Eh, from Boss’ hut...”

“Get out of the way!” Zhao Changhe rushed back, grabbed the ones who stuck out their heads, and threw them behind. “What’s there to see? Is it so strange for the stronghold master to hide a stronghold mistress? Piss off!”

Yue Hongling almost scratched off her face.

The bandits all felt a mix of sadness and indignation.

Should’ve known. This bastard had a record for this. First, he hid Luo Qi in his room, and now he’s doing it again with another woman. Why fuckin’ bother? You’re so powerful now. No one’s gonna take her away. What are you doing hiding her away!

Someone rushed to the pit and shouted, “Sister-in-law, the boss is a good man, but he likes concealing his women for some reason. It’s the new year, everyone’s here. We’re gonna have a feast by a bonfire soon, why don’t you come out and celebrate with us?”

What fucking sister-in-law!? What fucking celebration!?

Yue Hongling wanted to die.

She was simply too famous. There were even some places where people were selling portraits of her. In the jianghu, there were many people who recognised her—like Wang Dashan, who had immediately recognised her when she had bumped into Luo Qi’s group.

Her face was as sour as a human face could be. By tomorrow, will the rumor that I’ve entered a bandit’s nest of a mountain stronghold to become the stronghold mistress spread across the lands under heaven?