"I can't take this anymore."
Watching Chen Xiaofei getting all cuddly with Yiyi again, Niu San felt a surge of wicked irritation rising within him.
"Where are you off to, my brother?"
Seeing Niu San's resolute back as he headed out the door, Chen Xiaofei called out from behind.
"You two go play by yourselves. I'm heading downstairs to have some fun."
Once the door closed again, Yiyi whispered in Chen Xiaofei's ear: "My lord, it's just the two of us now..."
The courtesan's words nearly made Chen Xiaofei lose his mind: "What are you thinking? My good girl, you and I are strictly in a business partnership. Are you seriously craving my body?"
"My lord, could it be that Yiyi's willow-like charm is beneath your notice?"
The courtesan's eyes were already swimming with tears, looking utterly pitiful.
"No! I cannot let our relationship lose its purity. I am a man of pure romance."
Chen Xiaofei said righteously, and to prove his stance, he rubbed his face against the courtesan's chest.
"You are the supreme leader of the Martial World, my lord. Why do you bully a weak woman like me?"
The courtesan pushed his head away from her chest, sat to one side, and wept bitterly.
"When have I ever bullied you? Don't talk nonsense."
The courtesan's tears flowed endlessly: "Yiyi is merely a courtesan from a pleasure house. It is my honor to let you toy with me, my lord. It's fine, I won't be sad."
"When have I ever toyed with you?"
The courtesan stood up and straightened her disheveled clothes.
Chen Xiaofei couldn't take it anymore. He considered himself a man of honor whose word was set in stone: "I know you're in a rush, but don't rush. Just tell me, what do you want me to do this time?"
Thinking better of it, he quickly added, "Aside from craving my body."
"This humble girl simply likes you, my lord..."
The courtesan looked deeply wronged.
"If you're not going to say it, I'm leaving."
"This humble girl would like to ask you to investigate someone for me, my lord."
"No." Chen Xiaofei refused flatly.
"Huh?"
The courtesan was stunned.
"An intelligence network as massive as your Qin Pavilion wants me to do the investigating? Something's fishy, extremely fishy."
"Our Qin Pavilion is just a group of vulnerable women trying to huddle together for warmth. There are always times when we are powerless. Are you really unwilling to lend a hand, my lord?"
Looking terribly wronged, Yiyi stepped forward and buried her head in Chen Xiaofei's arms.
"Stop acting, just stop acting. I was fooled by this exact routine six years ago, and it got me into some bizarre brawl with Mount Qingcheng."
Chen Xiaofei was completely rational now and would never easily compromise.
"My lord~"
"Investigate who?"
"I knew you still had feelings for us, my lord." The courtesan wiped the tears from her face and broke into a smile.
"You'd better keep crying. If you smile like that, I'm going to take back my word."
"My lord~"
"Investigate who?"
"Marquis of Wencheng—Xie Yi."
"Imperial court people? The imperial court doesn't interfere with the Martial World, and neither do martial artists. Your Qin Pavilion is playing with fire." Chen Xiaofei narrowed his eyes.
"How could I possibly lead you into danger, my lord? The Qin Pavilion's branch in Wencheng was wiped out overnight. The only piece of intelligence that managed to get out was this name. Afterward, we sent people into Wencheng multiple times, but they all vanished without a trace."
"You know how it is, my lord. All of us in the Qin Pavilion are lonely, helpless women. We really have no way to find out what's going on in Wencheng."
As she spoke, the courtesan burst into tears once more.
"Wow, and you call that not dangerous!"
"My lord~"
"Fine, I'll go."
Before the courtesan could express her gratitude, Chen Xiaofei added a twist: "However, I said six years ago that you are not to investigate me anymore. Yet now you can track me down to Wencheng, which means you must know my itinerary. Are you treating my words as wind past your ears?"
Seeing the dangerous expression on Chen Xiaofei's face, the courtesan was baffled: "How could that be, my lord? For these past few years, we haven't even dared to check whether you were alive or dead."
"Do you expect me to believe that? The moment I stepped into my inn room, you came knocking with a post! Do you believe I'll march right over to the Qin Pavilion and slash you all up again?!"
"My lord~"
"Relax, I'm just scaring you."
"You really scared this humble girl to death~"
"My fault, my fault. I'll punish myself with a cup."
...
"Up so early?"
Xia Yun walked downstairs and found Chen Xiaofei already sitting there eating breakfast.
"Come grab a bite. Once we're done, we're going out to have some fun."
Hearing that there was fun to be had, Xia Yun grew immensely excited and quickly sat down. "What kind of fun?"
"Haven't you noticed who's missing?"
Chen Xiaofei wore the expression of a gossip enthusiast.
"Who? Oh, Niu San." Xia Yun finally remembered that such a person existed.
"He didn't come back all night. Do you think he stayed over at the Qinhuai River?"
Chen Xiaofei asked mysteriously.
"How would you know?" Xia Yun eyed him suspiciously, looking him up and down.
"Ahem! I figured it out using my brain, of course. The moment he finished praising how wonderful the Qinhuai River was yesterday, he stayed out the whole night. Anyone could guess it. How else would I know? Did I go with him?"
"True. You said you spent last night in your room reading the *Spring and Autumn Annals*." Xia Yun nodded in agreement, then looked righteously indignant. "Niu San is no good after all. Mother said that anyone who goes to places like that is trash."
"Right! Your mother makes complete sense." Chen Xiaofei echoed.
"So what fun were you talking about? Going to look for Niu San?"
Xia Yun decided that didn't sound very fun at all. "I'm not interested in that."
"It's already dawn, and the Qinhuai River festivities are over, yet Niu San still hasn't returned. Aren't you curious if he got detained by someone? Wouldn't this be a great chance to laugh at him for a whole year?"
Xia Yun nodded. That made sense.
By day, the Qinhuai River indeed possessed a completely different atmosphere from the night. Sunlight filtered through the willow trees on both banks, casting ripples across the water's surface.
Serene, beautiful—scenery as lovely as this was hard to surpass.
Stumbling out of the Caifeng Pavilion, Niu San leaned against the wall, feeling somewhat exhausted after spending the night entertaining two beauties.
Turning into a small alleyway, Niu San decided to relieve himself.
Just as he unbuckled his belt, a spinning wheel blade came flying straight at him.
Though Niu San wasn't fully sober yet, years of military training allowed him to react instantly to the sudden danger.
He forcefully twisted his body, successfully dodging a fatal blow. The spinning blade grazed his waist, leaving a bloody gash and slicing his belt in half.
Giving him no time to recover, the blade curved back around. With nowhere left to run and no weapon on hand, Niu San had no choice but to channel his internal energy and take the blow head-on with his arm.
*Clang!*
A sharp sound of weapon impact rang out.
"Careful with your hands."
Niu San steadied his gaze and saw Chen Xiaofei and Xia Yun standing nearby, at which he immediately let out a sigh of relief.
"What's wrong, Niu San? Did you forget to pay last night?" Xia Yun looked at him with disdain.
Niu San felt instantly betrayed and gazed at Chen Xiaofei with a tragic expression.
"Don't look at him. Chen Xiaofei is a man of honor who spent last night reading books in his room."
Niu San felt his entire world collapse. Seeing Chen Xiaofei casually whistling away, he had grievances he couldn't voice, yet he didn't dare expose him, so he could only drop a heavy hint: "What kind of books? Did we bring any books on this trip?"
"We sure did!"
Chen Xiaofei pulled a copy of the *Spring and Autumn Annals* from his chest pocket.
Niu San was on the verge of tears. *You're actually committing to this bit?!*
"Brother Chen."
Gu Chenwan stepped out holding a throwing wheel and offered a bow, accompanied by a man wearing a bamboo rain hat.