Thank You, Big Fatty

Having spoken, Ning Wuxia felt that the form of address was exceptionally fitting. Moreover, it perfectly resolved the awkward impropriety of letting Big Fatty treat her wounds during an emergency, convincing her of her own quick wit. She actually let out a self-satisfied chuckle, nodding to herself. "Just call me Ah-jie. It's settled!" "Your veil came off." Xu Yao ignored the suggestion of calling her Ah-jie and pointed out her face instead. "Oh... It doesn't matter." Ning Wuxia did not care in the slightest. Tilting her small face upward, she said, "Fighting in a downpour like this, how could that thing ever stay on? My brother is a total stick-in-the-mud, insisting I keep covered..." Xu Yao could only fall silent. Not daring to stare, he turned his face away. This girl's beauty was truly peerless. Although Xu Yao had never seen much of the world, the sheer loveliness before his eyes vastly exceeded the limits of his imagination. And that was despite the dishevelment of having fought through a torrential storm and suffered severe injuries. What a pity that the flesh across her back was shredded into a mangled mess. He had no idea whether it would leave scars... Xu Yao suddenly felt a pang of concern. *If scars remain all over her body, how unsightly that would be...* Her brother's insistence that she veil herself had definitely been the best way to protect her and avoid trouble. Then again, men and women thought along entirely different lines. The single most useful lesson Xu Yao had learned from his father was to never tell a woman she was wrong. So Xu Yao chose to keep his mouth shut. Feeling as though she had won a round, Ning Wuxia settled down contentedly and began circulating her cultivation to heal, entirely failing to notice that Xu Yao had never agreed to call her Ah-jie and had deliberately changed the subject. The fury of the downpour gradually diminished, soon turning into a fine drizzle. Ning Wuxia brought her cultivation to a close, having recovered just under half her strength. With a touch of worry in her eyes, she glanced in the direction where her brother had departed. Then she rose to her feet, moved about to test her wounds, and, gritting her teeth with a quiet sigh, hoisted the corpse onto her shoulder. "Let's go," she told Xu Yao. "We're heading back." "What about Sir Ning?" "My brother will be fine." Ning Wuxia spoke with total certainty. "Still, we can't leave this corpse behind. For one, it needs to be taken back for identification. For another, if we bury it carelessly out here, it might be nourished by spiritual energy over the years and turn into a mountain demon again. And third, leaving it would implicate your people. Besides, with her level of cultivation, she can't preserve any soul remnants. She doesn't qualify." As she spoke, Ning Wuxia offered a self-deprecating chuckle. "Why, even I don't qualify yet..." "Understood." Xu Yao nodded. He thought to himself that there was no need to state the obvious: that woman's cultivation had been roughly equal to hers, so if the assassin didn't qualify, of course she wouldn't either. Feeling a pang of distress, he reached for the leather pouch at his waist. The scent of peach drifted out—the fruit inside had already been half crushed. Xu Yao felt terrible. He had saved this demon peach for his mother, but he had failed to bring it home before this happened. Soaked in rainwater, it was on the verge of spoiling and would never last until he returned home. So he took out the peach and used his dagger to carefully carve away the bruised, mushy parts, eating the scraps himself. Remembering Ning Wuxia's longing looks over the past few days, he felt a bit sheepish. Since she was seriously wounded, it was only right for her to eat some, and her brother was not around anyway... Having reasoned it out in his head, Xu Yao held up the battered peach, riddled with carved-out holes, and asked somewhat reluctantly, "Uh, do you want some peach?" "...!" Ning Wuxia's good mood instantly soured, and her mouth twisted with vexation. *When it was whole and fresh, you wouldn't give me any, but now that it's bruised into that sad state, you finally offer it—and you still look like you can't bear to part with it!* "I don't want it!" she huffed petulantly. Xu Yao let out a sigh of relief. "Then I'll eat it." He opened his mouth and took a crisp, juicy bite. A pure, sweet fragrance instantly flooded his palate, evoking an instinctive surge of bliss. It was only bruised from an impact, not spoiled from age, so the flavor and nourishing properties were completely intact. As Xu Yao walked, he ate with immense satisfaction. Ning Wuxia trailed behind him, grumbling softly in displeasure. All of a sudden, she had the urge to beat him until he cried just to see his double eyelids... *Then again, the fellow just saved my life. Wouldn't it be terrible to beat him to tears right after?* The thought nearly made her laugh. Looking back on the past few days, a smile touched the corners of her lips. She realized she had grown rather fond of this youth's unpretentious nature. She could tell that when Xu Yao had offered her the fruit, he had genuinely meant to share it; yet when she refused, his relief was just as genuine. His reluctance to part with it had been written plainly across his face. That was not stinginess. If he were truly stingy, he never would have offered it at all. It was purely the instinct of a mountain youth: precious things were simply too rare, and the treasures he could obtain were rarer still. In his eyes, that peach represented the health of his parents, the well-being of his family, and a blessed treasure to ward off illness. He could hardly bring himself to eat it; how could he part with it lightly? If the peach had not been bruised beyond keeping, Xu Yao would definitely have taken it home. "Big Fatty, whenever you bring peaches home, how does your mother react?" "My mother? She grumbles and chides me, but her eyes crinkle up, the corners of her mouth curl, and every wrinkle on her face smooths away. That heartfelt warmth and happiness on her face is what I love to see most." Recalling his mother's expression, Xu Yao could not help breaking into a blissful smile. Seeing his beaming face, Ning Wuxia suddenly felt envious, followed by a surge of self-reproach. Reflecting on how she had grown used to receiving things from her parents and taking it all for granted, and contrasting that with this mountain youth's simple, honest filial devotion, she realized she had done next to nothing for her own family all her life. Guilt welled up inside her. He had reminded her of that truth. Ning Wuxia found herself longing to buy some gifts for her parents when she went back. Perhaps the regional fruits her mother loved from back home, or the hometown tea her father cherished most... *I want to see my mother's face light up with that same blissful warmth because of me...* "Thank you, Big Fatty," Ning Wuxia said earnestly. She spoke with heartfelt sincerity. *Thank you for reminding me what it means to be a daughter.* "??" Xu Yao was utterly baffled. He could not fathom why this young lady was suddenly thanking him. Was she... losing her mind? Or was the little glutton so cross about missing out on the peach that she had spoken without thinking? The two walked forward side by side, conversing as they went. Still, the sight of an exquisite beauty shouldering a corpse while a grown young man trailed behind with empty hands was rather bizarre. Fortunately, no one was around to see them. After they had covered several li, the rain stopped entirely. The air was moist, water dripped from the roadside leaves, and the roaring of the mountain torrents gradually subsided. The breeze blowing against their faces felt remarkably crisp, so fresh it seemed to cleanse every organ in their bodies. "Big Fatty, now that we've found what we came for, we'll be heading back soon," Ning Wuxia said, a hint of reluctance in her voice. "Mm." Xu Yao nodded. He had guessed as much long ago. "You should get quite a bit of reward silver this time. What do you plan to do with the money?" Ning Wuxia asked eagerly. "Nothing grand," Xu Yao said, scratching his head. "First thing is to fill my mother's savings box so I can save up for a bride. Then maybe buy some new furnishings and furniture for the house..." Xu Yao paused and shook his head with a rueful grin. "Actually, probably not. Knowing my father's temper, he'll likely start hoarding medicinal herbs instead." "What else?" "Well... my father likes smoking dry tobacco, so I plan to make a trip to the market town to buy him some fine tobacco leaves and a few pairs of high-top leather boots so it's easier for him to gather herbs on the mountain. I also want to buy a few bolts of cloth for my mother to make clothes with, get her that silver hairpin she's wanted for so long, and have a shiny silver bracelet made for her..." Xu Yao earnestly tallied his plans. "...Then buy some first-grade rice for the household, and fix up the low stone wall across the mountain gully by our front door—raise it higher and reinforce it so nobody falls..." He pondered for a long moment, then concluded, "That's about it." "All that, but what about yourself?" "Myself? Isn't saving up to marry a wife for me? Besides, my job is here at the Mountain Guard Compound. I'll slowly build up merit points and work my way up step by step." Xu Yao's eyes shone with aspiration. "Once I become an official member and get issued uniform attire and tools, that'll save another huge sum. When we've saved enough, my father won't have to trek up the mountain for herbs anymore; he can just sit at home and wait for people to bring them to him. Life will slowly get comfortable." "Doesn't anyone bring them to him now?" "They do, but we dare not accept them. We can't open that door. If everyone starts bringing them, our family won't have enough silver to buy them all. If we open that door and then have to turn people away, we won't be able to stay in business. Besides, anyone who treks across the mountains to sell herbs usually has an urgent need for money at home, so you can't refuse to pay... Our family has it a bit better than most ordinary households right now, but we're still far from that level. We'd need at least a thousand taels of silver in reserve to manage that..." Xu Yao spoke of these matters as if reciting the contents of his own pockets. Clearly, he had turned these calculations over in his mind countless times. Every small detail was woven into the fabric of everyday life. Ning Wuxia felt a pang of envy, for everything Xu Yao spoke of was tangible, solid, and not beyond reach. She also knew that given Xu Yao's current circumstances, achieving those goals would be difficult. Yet this youth was advancing toward his chosen life goals one step at a time, with grounded, steady strides. Every step was within his grasp. "Setting aside getting rich, do you know how far you are from becoming an official?" Ning Wuxia asked leisurely. For some reason, she felt an urge to give Xu Yao a proper explanation before leaving, so that the youth could see the road ahead clearly. "How far?" Xu Yao was intensely interested in the question. "You belong to the Great Qin Empire's Mountain and River Prison, under the Demon Suppression Bureau. The Mountain and River Prison is an institution independent of both the civil and military branches of the Great Qin Empire. Below it are two major divisions: the Demon Suppression Bureau and the Martial Suppression Bureau. "Both are separate systems that do not meddle in each other's affairs. In other words, since you are in the Demon Suppression Bureau, you can only climb through its hierarchy. All other paths—civil, military, or administrative—are essentially closed to you, with cooperation possible only in specific matters. Nor is it feasible to cross over to the Martial Suppression Bureau; that, too, is limited to cooperation." Seeing Xu Yao listen in silent attention, Ning Wuxia continued her explanation along the road. "The Mountain Guard Compound, as the name implies, is merely an outlying brigade at the very bottom tier of the Demon Suppression Bureau. It isn't even part of the lowest-level county Demon Suppression Inspection Office. "Only your brigade captain, Chen Chong, likely holds the status of an inspection warrior within the Inspection Office. That is to say, only once you reach your brigade captain's level do you barely earn an ironclad government stipend and gain eligibility to enter the Inspection Office. From there, the Inspection Office consists almost entirely of inspection warriors, divided by rank, deputy posts, and duties. It's only when you reach the head of a county Demon Suppression Inspection Office that you are considered a banner officer—meaning you officially draw an official's grain salary from the Demon Suppression Bureau and cross the threshold to become an official of the Mountain and River Prison's Demon Suppression Bureau. "Above that, I won't even begin to describe. From the Bureau and its Institutes down through the circuits, prefectures, subprefectures, and counties, it might look like a simple ladder, but broken down in detail, there are thousands of tiers and thousands of bottlenecks. Many people remain stuck at a single bottleneck for their entire lives, never advancing to the next step. "Now that you've learned the Purple Mansion Qi Circulation Art, if you remain diligent throughout your life, I think..." Ning Wuxia pursed her full lips and said, "Reaching a Demon Suppression Office at the subprefecture or county level is possible. But if you wish to climb any higher..."