Chapter 296: Reciprocation
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
It was pitch dark the moment Gu Shenwei returned to his temporary home, which was now widely known as Residence of Dragon King. Although it was his own place, he still persisted in his old habit of quietly sneaking into a residence at night and leapt over the wall to get into the compound.
He had to be prudent since Wildhorse and Immortal Peng were not bound by the three-month truce agreement. As for the other disciples of the Joy Pavilion, who were particularly fascinated by the three-storey building, they would definitely want to take revenge on him for the destruction of the pavilion.
Gu Shenwei easily dodged the guards who were patrolling the courtyard and returned to his room. The moment he entered it, he sensed something amiss and took hold of his saber shaft.
Without his permission, no one was allowed to enter his room, but at this moment, he clearly felt that someone else was inside it.
“This person is breathing evenly, seemingly not making any effort to hide himself or herself. It looks like he or she is—sleeping.”
With this thought in mind, Gu Shenwei quietly unsheathed his saber and gently drew his bed curtain open.
Behind the curtain, there was a fully-clothed girl who curled up in his bed. Under the dim light, he could see that she was fast asleep and had a smile on her face. He guessed that she was probably dreaming of something good.
He recognized that she was one of the maids from the Great Snowmountain, but he did not know her name. “Ahem,” Gu Shenwei coughed lightly.
The young girl woke up with a start. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and suddenly saw the Dragon King standing beside her with Five Peaks Saber in hand. She was scared as well as ashamed, her cheeks turning bright red from blus.h.i.+ng. She jumped out of the bed and said incoherently, “Dragon King… I was… You… I didn’t know… Please forgive me.”
Like all the other people from the Great Snowmountain, this girl did not have the habit of kowtowing to her superiors, so she just huddled at the bedside and awkwardly begged for mercy.
“What’s your name?” Gu Shenwei asked nonchalantly while bringing his saber down, but not sheathing his weapon.
“Jiang,” replied the girl, who was frightened.
It took Gu Shenwei a minute to understand that “Jiang” was her name instead of a cry of fear. “So your surname is Long?” asked Gu Shenwei.
Most residents of the Great Snowmountain were surnamed Long, but this convention did not apply to the girl. She shook her head in disagreement while saying, “No, I’m from the Qin Valley clan of Luoshen Peak.”
Each of the five tribes of the Great Snowmountain was divided into several clans. A person from the Qin Vally clan usually was surnamed Qin.
“Qin Jiang?” asked Gu Shenwei.
“No, just Jiang,” the girl shook her head again and said.
Despite that Gu Shenwei was respected as “Chief of the Dragons and Leader of the Five Peaks”, he did not know much about the customs of the Great Snowmountain. He guessed that the probable reason this girl had such a strange name was that women were not allowed to use a surname in her clan. “What’re you doing here?”asked Gu Shenwei.
As the Dragon King spoke softly this time, the girl named Jiang did not seem to be so scared anymore, although her face was still red. She revealed a childlike smile and said, “I came here to serve you, Dragon King.”
“I’ve never asked you to come here.”
“But my tribal chief ordered me to serve you. He instructed that I should make sure that you get a good rest and…”
“I nullify all the commands that he gave you.”
“But… But…” Jiang stuttered, feeling confused. She felt that she had to follow her tribal chief’s order, but at the same time she dared not to act against the Dragon King’s will.
“Go back to your room. I’ll call you if I need you,” Gu Shenwei said in a low voice, trying his best not to sound too harsh.
“Um,” Jiang replied and then walked toward the door. After walking a few steps, she hurried back to pick up her shoes on the ground and then swiftly ran out of the room. Her face was redder than before, and it appeared that she was working hard to hold her tears back.
Gu Shenwei had decided long before that he would never keep a servant in his bedroom, for he knew that the betrayal of such a servant would lead to serious consequences. He thought of Jiang’s intrusion as an accident and did not pay much attention to it.
He quickly forgot about the girl, sheathed his saber and sat on the bed, thinking about the information divulged by Shangguan Hong.
“Using Shangguan Ru as bait to lure me into a trap indeed sounds like a plan made by Lady Meng and Shangguan Fei.”
Gu Shenwei snorted and continued to think, “Master Fei, you underestimate me. You consider this thing as a childish game—who’s whose friend, and who’s whose foe. I’ll never fall into your trap.”
With this thought in mind, Gu Shenwei fell into his bed, sinking into sleep with his saber in hand. He fought numerous people in his dream that night.
The next day, he had to deal with a lot of ch.o.r.es and thus did not go out.
Xu Xiaoyi came into his room to remind him that he had to find a way to replenish their capital, as they had spent a lot recently and it was hard even for any shrewd merchant to support an army of thousands with so little money.
Xu Xiaoyi also told him that someone had spotted the Joy Pavilion’s disciples in a valley outside the city and promised to find their whereabouts within three days.
When Xu Xiaoyi was reporting to the Dragon King, Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong were fighting each other with wooden sabers on the other side of the room. Tie Linglong was very talkative and kept commenting on Little Chu’s moves, as if she was his tutor. The teenage swordsman listened attentively to the girl and only made responses to her comments occasionally.
Gu Shenwei listened to Xu Xiaoyi’s report, while watching Chu Nanping fighting against Tie Linglong. Suddenly, he asked, “Chu Nanping, where do you think the Joy Pavilion’s disciples would be hiding?”
Chu Nanping thought for a moment and replied, “No, I don’t know. Even if I know, I’ll never tell you.”
Gu Shenwei believed that the youth had answered truthfully. The boy’s last sentence sounded quite blunt, but that was his style and Gu Shenwei had already got accustomed to it. “Did Immortal Peng ask you anything about your new sword techniques?” asked Gu Shenwei.
He had taught Chu Nanping some Death Scripture sword skills and was a little worried that the straightforward teenager might tell Immortal Peng all the skills that he had learned if being asked.
“Yes, he did. I told him that I learned these swords skills from you, and he didn’t ask any more questions about it.”
Upon hearing that, Gu Shenwei felt much relieved and thought, “The white-faced Immortal Peng thinks that I stole the hypnosis manual from the dwarf Immortal Peng, so he wouldn’t be interested in the swordcraft. Disciples of the Joy Pavilion are kung fu masters but they’re not smart. I don’t need to worry about them. Only Wildhorse deserves special attention.”
When Gu Shenwei was thinking about his own business, a swordsman came in and reported, “Mr. Xu Xiaoyi, a person has come to our gate and is asking to meet you for something urgent.”
Xu Xiaoyi was stunned, since his informers always met with him in secret and none of them had ever come to Residence of Dragon King to find him before. He hurriedly walked out to check the situation with the swordsman.
Gu Shenwei nodded to Chu Nanping, hinting that he should follow Xu Xiaoyi.
Tie Linglong put her wooden saber down, feeling reluctant to let her practice partner go. “Dragon King, when will you let me perform an a.s.sa.s.sination alone?”
“When you can tie with Little Chu in a fight.”
“I’ve just tied with him in our fight. Haven’t you seen it?”
“He deliberately let you win.”
“Humm, I’ll force him to take me seriously the next time,” said Tie Linglong, while brandis.h.i.+ng her wooden saber.
“Ouch!” someone suddenly screamed outside, and it sounded like Xu Xiaoyi. Gu Shenwei was startled and immediately rushed out of the room, drawing the Five Peaks Saber in hand. Tie Linglong was extremely thrilled to get a chance to fight. She swiftly picked up her saber from a corner of the room and ran out.
In the next moment, she saw a woman in a cloak grabbing Xu Xiaoyi by his ear, dragging him into the yard. Chu Nanping was walking beside them, but surprisingly, he did not do anything to help Xu Xiaoyi. The swordsmen at the gate all tensed up and grabbed their sword shafts, waiting for the Dragon King’s order, but they quickly relaxed their vigilance, as the Dragon King nodded to them to show that everything was alright.
Gu Shenwei knew for sure who this woman was. No one else dared to treat Xu Xiaoyi like that except for his own sister.
“You brat, you came back to Jade City without paying me a visit. Didn’t the Dragon King tell you that I’m still alive? And how old are you? How come you’re growing a moustache?”
“I’m 19. As for my moustache…aw.”
Before Xu Xiaoyi finished his sentence, Xu Yanwei had already torn his moustache off. “I knew it. It’s fake. Ah, Mr. Huan. What should I call you now?”
“Call me Dragon King.”
“Hee-hee.” Xu Yanwei sneered and then she released her brother’s ear. She took off her hood and looked around. “Your residence looks great, but its location is not so good,” said Xu Yanwei, still refusing to refer to Gu Shenwei as the Dragon King.
Gu Shenwei had saved Xu Yanwei’s life for many times and sent her to serve Luo Ningcha in Golden Roc Fort a few years ago. “It looks like serving the cruel Miss Luo hasn’t changed her a lot. Xu Yanwei is just like before. She’s straightforward most of the time and only pretends to be amiable and mild when there’s a need to,” thought Gu Shenwei.
“I came here for you,” Xu Yanwei said to Gu Shenwei.
“What? Didn’t you tell the swordsman that you came here for me?” asked Xu Xiaoyi, while rubbing his red ear with one hand and glueing the moustache to his face with the other hand.
“That’s just an excuse for meeting you. You look great. I can rest a.s.sured now,” replied Xu Yanwei.
Among all the people in the yard, only Tie Linglong had never met Xu Yanwei before. She vigilantly looked at the woman, saber in hand.
Xu Yanwei was certainly not scared by the little girl. She gazed at her and then said to Gu Shenwei, “She’s pretty, although her eye color is a little bit strange. I’m sure clients will like her. Do you want to restart your old business?”
Several years ago, Tie Hanfeng, Gu Shenwei’s Master s.h.i.+fu, had opened a brothel under his name, but now he did not want to mention it anymore and suggested, “Let’s talk inside the room.”
The moment they entered the room, Xu Yanwei said to Gu Shenwei, “I need to talk with you privately.”
“These three people are my most trusted friends,” said Gu Shenwei. He a.s.sumed that Xu Yanwei must have come to deliver a message for Luo Ningcha, so he refused her request at once; he did not need to cosy up to the Bighead Kingpin’s daughter anymore.
“Alright, I’ve come here to tell you that Miss Ru is going to get married. What’re you going to do?” said Xu Yanwei.
Gu Shenwei was struck speechless, as he had never expected that Xu Yanwei would have come here to speak for Shangguan Ru.
“Who’re you? How dare you talk to the Dragon King like that! What does this Miss Ru’s marriage have to do with the Dragon King?” Tie Linglong blurted out.
She had been quite pleased when Xu Yanwei praised her beauty, but after a while she realized that it was not a compliment and even felt a little offended.
“Who am I?” said Xu Yanwei with her right hand supporting her waist. “He’s seen me nude and shared blood wine with me. How about you?”
Tie Linglong frowned in disbelief, but she could not refute Xu Yanwei’s argument, as she knew nothing about the Dragon King’s past. In the end, she just stuttered, “No matter who you are, now you’re… a traitor, since now you’re speaking for Miss Ru of the Golden Roc Fort.”
Upon seeing a quarrel developing between them, Xu Xiaoyi hurriedly stepped forward to stop them.
At this moment, Gu Shenwei also recovered from the surprise and said, “Xu Yanwei, no matter who sent you here, I want you to return to the Stone Castle to tell her that now I’m an enemy of the Golden Roc Fort. Now that the Supreme King and I have signed a three-month truce agreement, I’ll stick to it and keep my promise not to interfere in the internal affairs of the Golden Roc Fort.”
Xu Yanwei was surprised and irritated at Gu Shenwei’s reply, her big eyes widening further in anger. “Do you think that I come here because of someone else’s command? No, I come here of my own free will. She’s Miss Ru of the Golden Roc Fort, and she worried and prayed for you everyday during the past three years. She’s been waiting for you all this time. She even saved your life a few years ago. Don’t you plan to reciprocate her kindness to you?”
“All the people in the Shangguan family are my enemies. I don’t owe them anything. Instead, I’ll ask them to pay me back with my saber and sword,” Gu Shenwei suppressed his anger and retorted in a deep voice.
Xu Yanwei was so furious that she could hardly speak.
Although Tie Linglong was just 13 years old, she incisively recognized the change in the Dragon King’s mood. She was surprised, since she had never seen him being irritated by anyone or anything before.
She was pretty sure that this Miss Ru was not just a casual acquaintance of the Dragon King.