Chapter 68: Leaving Fengyi City

Lian Li was even more baffled by Yun Huizhou’s sudden action of closing the window. After staring at Yun Huizhou’s face for a good while, a look of sudden realization dawned on Lian Li’s features.

“Do you dislike Su Jun?” Lian Li asked. “No, that’s not right. You suddenly started disliking Su Jun. Before this, you didn’t have any feelings toward him one way or the other.”

Yun Huizhou paused for a moment. Instead of answering Lian Li directly, he said, “Don’t you think Su Jun is being a bit excessively nice to you? If you hadn’t interrupted him earlier, he probably would have tried to gift you a house.”

“…” Lian Li said, “You also think he was planning to give me a property? I thought it was just my imagination.”

The corner of Yun Huizhou’s mouth twitched as he said, “On the first day of the martial arts marriage competition, when you came out dressed in your finest female attire, Su Jun muttered under his breath at the gate: ‘How is he not a girl?'”

Lian Li: “Huh?”

Was Su Jun… actually charmed by his cross-dressing?!

Wait… he had stayed with Yun Huizhou for a year while dressed as a woman, and Yun Huizhou never acted like that. Su Jun was hooked after just one look?

No wonder on the day Double-Bladed Steel attacked, after Su Jun told Master Su and Madam Su to hide, he came over to tell Lian Li to hide as well—and he even grabbed his hand!!!

Su Jun! Don’t go down the wrong path! Don’t fall for a femboy; there’s no future in it!

Both of them knew exactly what that mutter meant, especially given Su Jun’s subsequent behavior.

The two fell silent for a while. Yun Huizhou reached out and pinched Lian Li’s chin, tilting his head up slightly. He stared at Lian Li’s face for a long time, only letting go when Lian Li started pushing him away.

He said, “Su Jun only became like this after seeing your female appearance. If he truly has feelings, they are for the ‘you’ in women’s clothing. He still likes women, and you are a man…”

“Therefore… the one he likes isn’t the real you.” After Yun Huizhou reached this conclusion about Su Jun, he added another sentence: “Don’t be fooled by his sweet talk.”

Lian Li: “…Sweet talk can’t fool me. Only money can blind my eyes.”

Just as Lian Li finished speaking, there was a knock on their room door. The voice of a Su Mansion servant came from outside: “Great Heroes, the Eldest Young Master has ordered me to deliver your reward.”

Yun Huizhou: “Heh! Here comes the money.”

Lian Li: …Young man, you are being very snarky.

***

After leaving Fengyi City, Lian Li sat on his horse and patted the four hundred taels in silver notes tucked against his chest. “Who would have thought that a year ago, when I first met you, I didn’t have a single cent on me? Now, my savings are enough for me to find a place to settle down and live a lifetime without working.”

Yun Huizhou nodded and said, “True. If you don’t want to roam the Jianghu anymore, you could find a place to live as an ordinary person and never worry about food or drink for the rest of your life.”

“A pity,” Lian Li said. “I think roaming the Jianghu is quite interesting. I’m not planning to retire yet.”

The two traveled along the path for a while before Lian Li suddenly remembered that Yun Huizhou had mentioned taking him to suppress the bandits Su Shan had gathered.

However, he didn’t know how many of those bandits were left after the night raid on the Su Mansion, or if they would still be in the same place.

As for those people seeking revenge on the Su Mansion, they weren’t worried. The Guihai Sect, the sect Young Hero Zheng belonged to, could provide protection.

Thus, Lian Li asked Yun Huizhou, “What about Su Shan’s group? The remaining ones shouldn’t be a threat to the Su Mansion anymore. Do we still need to go bandit suppressing?”

“Yes,” Yun Huizhou said without hesitation. “Taking you to suppress bandits didn’t have much to do with the Su family in the first place. It’s mainly so you can practice more. Besides, it would be a waste not to take the bandits’ money. The only trouble now is whether they’ll still be there after losing so many men.”

Lian Li touched the soft whip at his waist and asked, “Will the Su family ask Young Hero Zheng to organize men to wipe them out?”

Yun Huizhou thought for a moment and said, “Unlikely. After all, that group was in league with Su Shan. No one knows what Su Shan told those people about his relationship with Su Fu. Since the Su family has already aligned themselves with the Guihai Sect, those people can no longer threaten them. There’s no need for the Su family to take the risk of damaging Su Fu’s reputation.”

Hearing the word “reputation” again, Lian Li sighed. If it weren’t for that thing, the Su family wouldn’t have been so constrained at the beginning, and they wouldn’t be in a position where it’s difficult to seek revenge now.

“Then what if they’ve moved away and we don’t run into them?” Lian Li asked again.

“Who cares? We’ll just keep following this road. The imperial court doesn’t manage anything these days, so bandits are everywhere. If we meet evil ones, we’ll just suppress them,” Yun Huizhou said nonchalantly.

“Are bandits divided into evil and non-evil ones?” Lian Li asked, catching the key point in his words.

“Yes,” Yun Huizhou explained to him. “As I said before, the court doesn’t care about anything now. Officials in many small places act recklessly, finding excuse after excuse to collect taxes from the commoners, forcing many to the brink of death. So, the young and strong in some villages unite to resist. They occupy mountains and call themselves bandits, but in reality, it’s just to deter those officials from acting out of line and to give the people in nearby villages a way to survive. We generally don’t interfere with those.”

“As for the evil ones, those are the ones who burn, kill, and pillage. Those are the ones we primarily suppress. The leaders of that type usually have some martial arts skills.”

Listening to Yun Huizhou’s explanation, Lian Li realized that the world was truly in quite a chaotic state.

The two traveled intermittently for four or five days before preparing to enter a small town to rest for the night.

Lian Li grew lazy and stopped sitting properly on his horse. Instead, he slumped forward and tugged at the hem of Yun Huizhou’s clothes as the latter rode on another horse.

Yun Huizhou expressionlessly snatched his hem back from Lian Li’s hand and asked, “What do you want now?”

Lian Li pulled his hand back and gripped the reins, saying, “Senior Brother~ let’s play in the small town for a few days.”

Yun Huizhou felt a shiver run through him at that melodious, wheedling cry of “Senior Brother.” Although they were fellow disciples, they didn’t usually call each other “Senior Brother” or “Junior Brother” in daily life; they just used their names.

“Speak properly.” Yun Huizhou shuddered, then paused before adding, “No acting spoiled.”

Lian Li looked bewildered. How was he acting spoiled? You must have some kind of misunderstanding about what acting spoiled means!

He thought about it seriously and decided it was a problem with his current posture—slumped over the horse’s back, he could only look up at Yun Huizhou.

From Yun Huizhou’s perspective, it indeed had a bit of a “pitiful” flavor to it.

Thus, Lian Li sat up straight again, adopted his most serious posture, looked at Yun Huizhou, and said, “Great Hero Yun, let us rest in the small town for a few days.”

Seeing him change his demeanor instantly, Yun Huizhou scratched the bridge of his nose. Then, lowering his voice, he replied as steadily as possible, “Mm. Since you’ve put it that way, let’s rest in the small town for a few days.”