El mundo de las artes marciales es un pozo

Capítulo 9

After a while.

“I am, after all, a man,” Li You finally sighed. “Isn’t it too shameful for a man to run around barefoot?”

Yang Nianqing was dumbfounded.

"Does not wearing shoes make me look good?!"

Book One: Why Look for Reasons? The Killer's Fairness

Night had fallen, but the docks outside the city remained bustling with activity, a constant stream of boats coming and going. Among them, an ordinary-looking passenger ship was moored on the shore, a string of lanterns hanging high on its mast, swaying gently in the cold night wind.

In the center of the cabin, a coffin was placed prominently, its presence accentuated by the flickering lights, creating an atmosphere that was both desolate and mysterious.

Two people were sitting on chairs next to the coffin.

Nangong Xue still looked as gentle and elegant as ever. He looked outside the door and suddenly said in a soft voice, "'The autumn wind is blowing gently, the waves of Dongting Lake are rippling and the leaves are falling.' I visited Dongting Lake once this March. I imagine it must be a different scene now."

He Bi coldly replied, "What's so interesting about a piece of water?"

Nangong Xue shook her head: "Water is different in different ways. West Lake is beautiful whether it is lightly or heavily adorned, or the Yangtze River is surging and turbulent. Each has its own unique flavor, but the water of Dongting Lake is only particularly beautiful in autumn."

“It’s all the same whether it’s water or not,” He Bi glared. “It’s even worse when there’s a dead person in it.”

Nangong Xue finally gave a bitter smile: "Brother He..."

Before he could finish speaking, a burst of laughter suddenly erupted outside the cabin door, and it seemed that someone was also sighing.

"We'll find out what the scenery of Dongting Lake is really like tomorrow. Brother Nangong, please remember, next time you talk about the scenery, it'd be best to find a cow first."

A person was already standing in front of me. No, to be precise, there were two people—one person holding the other.

Yang Nianqing looked at He Bi, her stomach almost aching from laughing.

Nangong Xue looked at the two of them, paused for a moment, and then showed her usual kind and elegant smile: "What do you mean by that?"

Yang Nianqing suppressed a laugh: "You're talking to a brick wall."

“No good,” Li You interjected, glancing at He Bi’s sullen face. “As for the scenery, that’s fine. But when it comes to playing the zither, I would rather play for a cow than ask him for help.”

Before she could finish speaking, Yang Nianqing burst into laughter again.

Nangong Xue couldn't help but shake his head with a smile. When he saw the bare foot, he immediately looked away—a woman's feet shouldn't be looked at; he wasn't Li You.

However, He Bi remained unfazed, coldly scrutinizing them for a long while before slowly saying, "Only took off one shoe? That's truly strange. Was there no time to even get her to put her shoe back on?"

Upon hearing this, Li You glanced at Yang Nianqing, who was staring blankly in his arms, frowned and sighed. He placed her on the coffin lid, then found a chair and sat down, pouring himself a cup of tea.

He didn't even try to defend himself.

Yang Nianqing was stunned for a long time before finally coming to her senses. She jumped off the coffin lid faster than a rabbit: "Hey, stop thinking nonsense! My shoes are all his fault!"

Blame him?

Wouldn't this only lead to more misunderstandings? A hint of amusement appeared on He Bi's usually indifferent face, and Nangong Xue coughed twice, seemingly blushing slightly.

These men on YY are all thinking dirty thoughts! Sure enough, men are all driven by their lower instincts; there are very few pure ones... Yang Nianqing finally realized something was wrong, sighed inwardly for a while, and then remembered that she should get angry.

He slammed his hand on the table: "It's not what you think! My shoes are..."

It took about ten minutes to finally explain the whole story.

She snorted coldly: "Look, thank goodness I had my shoes, otherwise another person would have died!"

To her surprise, He Bi looked at her and his disdain deepened. Although he didn't say anything, his expression clearly showed that he didn't believe her.

Yang Nianqing was really annoyed. She pointed at Li You and said, "Why don't you ask him?"

He Bi glanced at it in the direction she was pointing and then ignored it. She paused, then looked over too—Li You was leisurely sipping his tea!

"Hey!" She jumped over, snatched his teacup, and slammed it down on the table. "Why didn't you say anything!"

Li You was quite puzzled: "What did you say?"

"What did you say?" Yang Nianqing was almost fainting. "You...you didn't see they misunderstood? Why didn't you explain? We didn't do anything at all..."

He wasn't in a hurry: "Didn't you already explain it?"

Yang Nianqing was speechless.

Look at He Bi, he still has that look of amusement on his face.

“It’s no use explaining,” Li You finally sighed. “Didn’t you realize that he was just saying that to see me get angry?”

After saying that, he looked at He Bi again: "Do you really think he misunderstood?"

Yang Nianqing was stunned.

Li You glanced at her, then leisurely took a sip of tea: "He was just deliberately trying to annoy me. There are plenty of women with your looks, and you're so wild and shrewish. Even if my taste were terrible, I would never stoop to such a level."

Silence.

He Bi was still looking at him, but her expression had changed to one of sympathy.

"Either erupt in silence or die in silence." This saying is so true! With a loud bang on the table, Yang Nianqing finally erupted—

"You think you're handsome?" She looked down at him with an overbearing air, pointing a finger at his nose, her face full of disgust and a cold smile. "Fair-skinned, with eyelashes longer than a woman's, a pretty boy, a boy with feminine features, you wouldn't even carry my shoes. Do you think I, your older sister, would like a pretty boy like that?"

“No,” Li You said with a wry smile, leaning back in his chair, touching his ear, and muttering, “So it turns out that women really do age faster when they get angry. Every time I get angry, I gain an older sister. If I keep getting angry, I’m afraid I’ll have to call her an old woman.”

"What?!"

Seeing that the two were about to start arguing again, Nangong Xue quickly coughed and showed a kind but helpless smile: "Miss Yang, why are you angry? Brother Li has always loved to joke."

A handsome man's smile is the most lethal weapon, especially one as amiable as him. No one hits a smiling face, and Yang Nianqing already had a good impression of him, so she couldn't possibly lose her temper now. Holding back her anger, she couldn't help but let out a soft "humph": "Some people forget their business when they're joking. Were you all alright just now?"

Nangong Xue shook her head.

"Have you ever seen someone who's busy sitting down and talking about scenery?" Li You casually picked up his teacup. "It turns out that when people are angry, they not only get older, but they also become stupid."

Yang Nianqing choked.

It wasn't just anger, but more of a sense of astonishment—since the murderer had spent so much effort and money hiring Hei Shiro and his gang of assassins to buy time, why didn't he make a move in the end? Had he changed his mind at the last minute?

In fact, Li You and the others were just as puzzled.

He Bi frowned and pondered: "This person's actions are really unconventional. Could it be that he is not afraid of us finding Mr. Chrysanthemum? Perhaps that poison is not uncommon."

Nangong Xue shook her head: "In my opinion, it is quite rare. Although we are not as knowledgeable as Mr. Chrysanthemum, we do know a little about poisons. Can you tell what kind of poison it is?"

Li You shook his head without even thinking.

Nangong Xue sighed again, "To be honest, I don't understand why he would spend five hundred taels of silver to keep you occupied."

silence.

Li You looked at him with interest for a while, then suddenly said, "Maybe he's like you, complaining about having too much money."

Nangong Xue was clearly used to his jokes, and couldn't help but shake her head helplessly: "I've been unfairly given this bad reputation, Brother Li, don't you think I'm unlucky enough already?"

Li You smiled too.

Yang Nianqing was stunned for a long time, then suddenly jumped over and grabbed Li You's collar: "You were arguing with Hei Silang and the others for so long, why didn't you think of grabbing him to ask him questions?"

Before he could answer, she released him again: "Since the murderer wanted to hire a hitman, there must have been clues left behind. How did they contact each other? Kuroshiro and his men must know!"

Half a day.

Li You looked at her and sighed: "You are really too smart."

Yang Nianqing was certainly not stupid enough to actually believe this was a compliment, and she just gave a cold "humph": "Unfortunately, some people were too cowardly at the time and only wanted to run away."

"I remember that someone was screaming for help even louder than before."

blush.

Yang Nianqing muttered, "But you can use hidden weapons, so why did you only think about escaping? 'Flower-Picking Prince' and 'Playboy'... what a load of rubbish!"

Li You stopped speaking.

He Bi suddenly spoke up: "He's not only undeserving of a good reputation, but he's also incredibly lazy."

Laziness? Is that even a valid reason?

Seeing her in a daze, Li You smiled and said, "If I weren't lazy, how could I have become the number one idle person?"

It turned out he wasn't just the most idle person, but also the laziest. Yang Nianqing was both amused and exasperated, and could only sit down again, fuming, "If you're so lazy, why bother meddling in other people's business!"

"I can only blame myself for making the wrong friends," Li You said, seemingly helpless. "If you were bothered by him for a day, you would know that meddling is much better than being idle."

Yang Nianqing immediately looked at He Bi.

Unexpectedly, He Bi remained calm and composed, saying, "I just think that if a person is lazy for too long and doesn't find something to do, they'll probably turn into a pig." After saying that, he looked at Li You and added, "No one wants to be friends with a pig."

Before she could finish speaking, Yang Nianqing laughed: "You are..."

Li You wasn't angry at all. He just blinked, as if he knew what was wrong with her: "We're just old friends, old friends since childhood."

Nangong Xue couldn't help but smile and explain, "No one has ever gotten any secrets out of 'Half-Pound Killer' Hei Silang, which is why Brother Li didn't pursue the matter."

Yang Nianqing was surprised: "He's so trustworthy?"

Nangong Xue thought for a moment: "Five years ago, someone hired him to kill 'Golden Winged Double Blades' Liang Jinpeng. Liang Jinpeng's wife and brothers conspired to capture him and force him to reveal his client. However, after torturing him for three days and two nights, he still did not utter a single word."

"Even assassins are so trustworthy... then how come he's still alive? Didn't they kill him to get revenge?"

"He was covered in wounds, and one of his hands was almost crippled. He was definitely going to die. But on the third night, somehow, he managed to knock all the guards unconscious and escape. From then on, no one tried to catch him."

Yang Nianqing suddenly realized.

"No wonder he wasn't wearing a mask; he wasn't afraid of being recognized at all," she said, full of admiration. "They tortured him so much, yet he didn't seek revenge; he just knocked them unconscious. It's truly rare for an assassin to act like that..."

Who knew—

“That’s not necessarily true,” Nangong Xue shook her head. “‘Half-jin Killer’ Hei Silang never does business at a loss. If no one pays him, he will naturally not kill people for nothing.”

...

Joking aside, the four dared not delay when it came to serious matters. Early the next morning, He Bi ordered them to set off, and by dusk, the boat had entered Dongting Lake.

Please don't copy when adding points, as Jinjiang will delete copied content. Comments under 5 characters will also incur a deduction. Typing is indeed troublesome, and I can attest to that. Just add a couple of chapters; I'll be very grateful. :)

Volume One: Why Look for Excuses? The Myriad Forms of the Nanshan Formation

In the vast twilight, the lake surface is shrouded in mist, as if covered by a light veil, with sails faintly visible moving back and forth, exuding a unique and hazy charm.