The Jianghu of Feng Qingcheng and Mo Xibei

Chapter 86

One wrong step leads to another, or perhaps none of them are wrong, just slow. Once you're slow, you can never catch up again. Chu Junfeng wondered when he would be able to catch up after that slow step, and when he finally did, would he still be himself?

The small bottle of liniment was repeatedly gripped tightly in Mo Xibei's hand until the liniment inside was finally warmed by the warmth of her palm. After that, Mo Xibei always felt that the small space separated by the light blue gauze curtains where she lived also had the smell of liniment. However, no matter how much she tossed and turned, she could not fall asleep. Not only could she not sleep, but she could not even control her mind and stop thinking about certain things.

This was the first time this month that she had seriously reflected on everything that happened that day.

That sunny morning, on a whim, she went to watch people shoveling clams. Suddenly, a servant from her household came to report that someone from a neighboring county had sent word that they had seen a young man dressed very much like the young master Mu she had been searching for. She had received far too many such pieces of information over the past year, each time going with joy only to return disappointed.

Without hesitation, she took the reward money and rode a fast horse to the neighboring county with her weapons and silver.

Volume 3, Chapter 13 (Part 2)

Having experienced so many disappointments, Mo Xibei had long understood that even if she were disappointed again, it wouldn't matter; her mental fortitude was already incredibly strong.

Following the messenger's directions, Mo Xibei rode his horse, winding his way through a small village. In the distance, he saw a pond where three or five boys, around seven or eight years old, were swimming and playing, shirtless. Hearing the sound of hooves, they all turned their heads. When they saw that it was a young woman approaching, they all hugged themselves and quickly dove into the water. It took them quite a while before they surfaced, their little heads neatly peeking out.

"Excuse me," Mo Xibei found the boys' reactions amusing. He had originally intended to go into the village to inquire further, but now he changed his mind. He dismounted, stood by the pond, and asked, "Excuse me, has any young man stayed in the village in the past year?"

"I don't know." The children looked at each other, blinking nervously. Finally, the strongest child glared at all the children with a fierce expression before raising his head with a hint of arrogance and answering loudly.

"Don't know?" Mo Xibei had already observed the children's reactions. She hadn't believed the clue even slightly before, but now she was suspicious. However, she wasn't in a hurry, simply smiling and saying, "That's right, you're just kids who only know how to play. How could you know if someone from the village comes?" "Who said we only know how to play... mmm..." Hearing Mo Xibei say they were just kids who only knew how to play, the boys became unhappy. Farm children mature early; even at only seven or eight years old, they could do most of the farm work. No one treated them like children. Therefore, one boy immediately looked up in dissatisfaction, but before he could finish speaking, the strongest boy forcefully covered his mouth and pushed him underwater, making a muffled sound. "Our village doesn't welcome you, you'd better leave." Seeing his companion flailing his arms and legs underwater, the strongest boy quickly let go, but even though he released him quickly, his companion still swallowed a couple of mouthfuls of water.

"Iron Hammer, you think you're so great just because you're strong?" The boy floated up, coughed twice, and got angry. He reached out and shoved the strongest boy, Iron Hammer.

"I didn't mean to," Iron Hammer said, letting the boy push him twice. "Iron Egg, I'm doing this for your own good. Didn't your mother tell you not to talk to strangers? She might be trying to trick you into being sold."

"But she's so pretty, she looks like a good person." The boy called Tiedan was a little unconvinced, wiping the water droplets from his face and glancing at Mo Xibei.

“Bad guys don’t have words written on their faces, what do you know?” Hammer’s voice was loud. “Just listen to me and you won’t go wrong.” “Iron Egg, don’t listen to him, why should you listen to him?” The two children argued, and the children swimming nearby also became noisy, chattering away.

"Don't be afraid of him!" a child shouted.

"Beat him up!" some children said.

"If you keep arguing, I'll beat you up." Iron Hammer quickly got angry from the shoving and yelled, "There's been so much going on at work lately, meetings every day until after 9 pm, and when I get home my eyelids are drooping, so frustrating... I'll have to slow down my updates these next few days and try to catch up on Sundays."

Volume 3, Chapter 13 (Part 2)

Mo Xibei hadn't expected that his unintentional remark would cause a group of children who were playing happily to start arguing. However, the more adults intervened in children's quarrels, the more likely they were to escalate. So Mo Xibei had no choice but to step back two steps, take the reins of his horse, and prepare to enter the village. Before he knew it, Tie Dan suddenly shouted in a shrill voice behind him, "Besides scaring us with your fists, what else can you do?"

Next, there was a splashing sound behind him, and some water even splashed onto Mo Xibei's clothes.

Mo Xibei shook his head and quickened his pace, but then he heard the child's shouts behind him change tone. A hoarse voice shouted, "Let go! You'll suffocate him!"

In the end, he couldn't help but turn around. When he did, he was startled. It turned out that the boy named Iron Hammer had actually pressed Iron Egg's head deep into the water. Iron Egg's legs were gradually losing strength and he could no longer kick the water. The other children were dumbfounded. Apart from shouting and swimming to the shore, no one dared to go forward.

"Let him go!" Mo Xibei sighed, taking two steps back. She flicked her riding whip, lashing out with a sharp slash aimed directly at Tie Chui's wrist. Her whip was specially modified; pressing the spring extended it several extra feet. Although her strike wasn't powerful, being pricked by the whip tip felt like being stung by a needle. Sure enough, Tie Chui's hand trembled, and he released Tie Dan. Mo Xibei flipped her wrist, the whip coiling around Tie Dan's body. With a shake and a pull, she forcefully lifted Tie Dan's body out of the water.

Two large black clumps flew towards Mo Xibei along with Tie Dan's flying body. The children who had been scattered around looking for someone stopped and covered their mouths, chuckling.

Mo Xibei instantly understood the children's trick. Accustomed to teasing others, she wasn't about to be fooled by a few children. She immediately whipped herself, simultaneously pulling a folding fan from her waist pouch and unfolding it with a whoosh. She gently fanned herself in front of her eyes.

"Yes, there is!"

"Pooh!"

"ah!"

"It stinks!"

Different sounds came from different angles. Tie Dan was thrown back into the pond, landing squarely on Tie Chui. The two of them sank in the water and immediately floated back up, just as Mo Xibei casually slapped the clump of mud that Tie Dan had thrown at her back. Both of them ended up with mud splattered on their faces, and even the children watching didn't dodge it.

"See, I told you she wasn't a good person." Iron Hammer washed his face in the pond and pointed at Mo Xibei, speaking to Iron Egg with a righteous indignation.

"I never said she was a good person. I should have known better than to throw that stinky mud at her." Tie Dan was also washing his face, looking very regretful. Mo Xibei glanced around and realized that when he was rescuing the child and shaking off the mud, one of the children playing in the pond was missing.

"Didn't your parents teach you to stay away from bad people? Never provoke them, right?" Mo Xibei gently waved her folding fan, observing the child's strange behavior. Suddenly, a thought struck her. Almost simultaneously, a feeling of helplessness, a mixture of joy and sorrow, quietly welled up within her. It was as if a premonition was telling her that something was about to happen.

"What are you going to do?" Iron Hammer's expression clearly changed. Without being told, several children began to move behind him, assuming a posture that seemed to be preparing to attack, or perhaps to make it easier to escape.

"On behalf of your parents, I'll teach you how to treat guests." Mo Xibei casually made up a sentence, quickly recalling the topographical map of the area he had seen before coming here. The small village should be backed by a cliff, with only one passage.

"Don't scare us!" Tie Dan shouted, peeking out from behind Tie Chui.

"Don't shout, form a formation!" Iron Hammer frowned, then suddenly shouted, and his whole body leaped out of the water, rushing straight towards Mo Northwest.

The children set up a simple Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams formation, but they hadn't been familiar with formations for long, and with insufficient manpower, the formation was barely functional. As for martial arts, they were even less capable; each of them had only learned the basics. However, the boy nicknamed "Iron Hammer" was incredibly skilled, his punches were powerful, and his landings were solid, indicating he had clearly put in several years of practice.

Mo Xibei naturally had no energy to play with the children. He dodged the muddy hand of the hammer, raised his arm and extended his finger, probing the child's arm. The child's arm immediately went limp and could no longer be lifted.

"Young lady, why bother arguing with a child?" Mo Xibei withdrew his finger, just about to ask Tiechui what he was trying to do by holding him back, when a clear voice suddenly came from behind him. The speaker arrived very quickly, almost at the same time as the voice arrived behind Mo Xibei.

A single sentence, a dozen or so words, struck Mo Xibei like a thunderclap. No, thunder could only describe the shock she felt at that moment, but it was insufficient to describe her feelings. This sentence was more like a spring rain, drizzling and seeping into the depths of the parched earth, nourishing everything silently.

"Criticism" Mo Xibei suddenly turned around. Two or three steps behind her stood a young man dressed in coarse cloth. At this moment, Tiechui rushed to his side, saying anxiously, "Brother-in-law, didn't I ask Mutou to take you to his house? Why are you here?"

The young man seemed not to hear Iron Hammer's words, but stared intently at Mo Xibei. His dark eyes were filled with turbulent emotions, and flames flickered within them. However, his expression remained stiff and indifferent.

Mo Xibei was also looking at him. Apart from the familiar gaze, the person in front of her had ordinary features, simple and rough clothes, and a wooden and indifferent expression. But she just knew, she just knew, that this must be the person she was looking for.

"Fei Nan, I knew you weren't dead." She smiled, though tears welled in her eyes. Amidst the astonishment of the adults and children who had gathered around, she leaped forward and embraced the person before her.

Lacking the familiar softness of silk garments, Mu Feinan's clothes were rough, chafing his skin until it felt tight. However, the scent remained the same—a faint, sun-kissed fragrance that gradually calmed his restless heart.

Mo Xibei never knew he could cry so hard. His tears were almost uncontrollable, flowing out and soaking a large part of his clothes.

Mu Feinan's hands remained stiffly hanging at his sides. Mo Xibei couldn't see that his tightly clenched fists trembled as he raised and lowered them repeatedly. All she knew was that after a long time, Mu Feinan's hands finally landed heavily on her waist, and then those hands slid down to her arms, using great force to pull her body out.

"Feinan?" Mo Xibei asked in surprise, vaguely hearing Tiechui shaking Mu Feinan's clothes and nervously calling him brother-in-law. For a moment, she suddenly wanted to burst out laughing. Was it that Mu Feinan had lost his memory and then accepted a new identity given to him by someone else, and even got married? Was this kind of clichéd modern soap opera actually playing out in front of her? "Don't tell me you have amnesia, that you don't remember who you are, let alone who I am?"