Ye Erniang watched with her own eyes as Xiao Yuanshan left, yet she was powerless to do anything about it, and resentment seethed in her heart.
Curse it all—her martial arts were completely gone. Otherwise she would surely have caught this great villain who had stolen her child!
But she soon came to her senses. With the martial arts this masked man had displayed, even if the Four Great Evils all arrived together, it seemed they still could not deal with him—much less could she, stripped of her martial arts...
She heaved a deep sigh and looked toward Qiao Sanhuai and his wife, brows tightly knit.
"Brother Qiao, Sister-in-law Qiao, where did you learn your martial arts? Why have I never seen you use them before?"
Qiao Sanhuai gave an honest smile. "Hai, what martial arts would we know? My second brother taught the two of us a couple of farmhand techniques, so we could save a bit of strength while we work.
"The moves he taught me are for cutting grass, chopping firewood, and transplanting rice seedlings. What he taught your sister-in-law is for carrying meals, tending the fire, and turning food with a spatula.
"They're only good for scaring a petty manure thief like this. If we really ran into someone from the martial world, we wouldn't dare make a move."
Qiao Dasao chimed in, "That's right. Second Brother also said that, except when we're working, we should try not to use these farmhand techniques, lest people of the jianghu see them and laugh at us."
Ye Erniang: "..."
Who in the jianghu would dare laugh at you? Farmhand techniques? This was plainly mocking every master in the whole jianghu!
This Qin Zheng was a downright disgrace!
Ye Erniang cursed him once in her heart, then said, her face creased with worry, "I'll be frank with you. That man just now is the great villain who stole my son. Now that he's gotten away, who knows when I'll be able to pick up another lead on my son..."
Burning with righteous anger, Qiao Sanhuai said, "Hateful little thief! Stealing manure is bad enough, but he even steals children! Don't you worry, little sister. Once my second brother finishes his business and comes over, he'll surely help you find your son!"
Ye Erniang gave a dispirited hum, then probed, "Alas, if my child hadn't been lost, he would be twenty-three this year—already of an age to take a wife and have children.
"Brother Qiao, how old is your child this year?"
Hearing this, Qiao Sanhuai said with a touch of worry, "Feng'er is already thirty-one this year, and he still hasn't taken a wife. Your sister-in-law and I are worried to death..."
At that, Ye Erniang could not help feeling somewhat let down.
The difference in age from her own child was simply too great. It seemed she had been overthinking it.
After all, quite a few neighbors lived nearby. She needed only to ask around a little to learn the truth, and Qiao Sanhuai had no reason to lie about this.
Qiao Dasao comforted her for a while, saw her back to her room, and then went to bed.
Ye Erniang tossed and turned on the bed, and only fell asleep when it was nearly light. She did not know how long had passed before a festive voice suddenly woke her.
"Big Brother, Sister-in-law, Happy New Year! I've come half a year early to pay my New Year respects!"
"Second Brother, if you're coming, just come. Why bring things as well? Don't do this next time!"
Ye Erniang dressed and went outside, and saw Qin Zheng come into the courtyard with a chicken in his left hand, a duck in his right, and a large basket on his back.
At the sight of Qin Zheng she instinctively felt a little afraid. She hesitated a moment before stepping forward to salute. "Hero Qin."
Qin Zheng smiled faintly. "You're in for a treat today. Have you ever had seafood? I'll cook you a pot of seafood soup to try."
As he spoke, he pulled a handful of kelp from the basket and put it into Qiao Dasao's hands.
Ye Erniang was slightly taken aback. "This..."
Fine. Kelp really did grow in the sea, and it tasted savory enough...
Before long, Qin Zheng had stir-fried a plate of chicken and a plate of chives and eggs. Qiao Dasao also finished the kelp and dried-shrimp soup and set it on the table. They soaked a few dry flatbreads in the kelp soup, and the four of them gathered around to eat lunch.
"A few days ago I ran into Qiao Feng. He's on his way to Shaolin Temple now. I expect he'll be back to see you tomorrow or the day after."
"That boy Feng'er really has no sense. Why didn't he know to travel with you? There are so many bandits on the road. Isn't he even afraid you'll run into robbers?"
Ye Erniang gave Qiao Sanhuai an odd look and thought: Do you not know what this second brother of yours does?
So long as he doesn't go off to rob travelers himself, there can't possibly be any bandits along the way!
Qiao Sanhuai grumbled a few words of reproach about Qiao Feng, then said, "Second Brother, that manure thief you mentioned stole from our house yesterday. I scared him off.
"You might not know this, but he stole Little Sister's child as well!"
Qin Zheng was startled. "He's already been here? You and Sister-in-law weren't hurt, were you?"
Still frightened after the fact, Qiao Sanhuai said, "Hurt, no. But it's true he gave me and your sister-in-law a bad scare. That manure thief jumped high and ran fast. With a whoosh he was up on the wall. At the time I was afraid I couldn't beat him."
"Good that you weren't hurt. Next time you see him, just take a sickle and cut him down. Don't waste words with him, or he'll sweet-talk you out of your silver."
When he finished, Qin Zheng slurped a strip of kelp into his mouth, and a brilliant smile spread across his face.
Three years ago, he had come to Shaolin Temple to offer incense, and taken the chance to borrow scriptures from the Scripture Library.
After reading secret manuals in there for two days, he grew bored, came out for a stroll, and met Qiao Sanhuai and his wife plowing by the roadside.
By then Qiao Feng had already become Beggar Gang Chief. The silver he had respectfully provided the couple was already enough for them to want for neither food nor clothing, but the couple were used to poor days and could not bear to spend money on an ox, so Qiao Sanhuai plowed the fields alone.
Qin Zheng remembered that the two of them would one day fall to Xiao Yuanshan's murderous hands. A clever idea struck him. He wanted to give Xiao Yuanshan a surprise, so he ran to Jade Cave, fetched the Beiming Divine Skill, absorbed a batch of mountain bandits' inner power, infused it into the husband and wife, and, in the form of farm work, taught them a few martial moves.
Sure enough, just as he had expected, Xiao Yuanshan must certainly have received a great big surprise yesterday!
Alas—come to think of it, he really did feel a bit sorry toward those elders of his sect. He was a perfectly good heretical cultivator, bearing the heavy task of reviving the Heavenly Heresy Sect. How had he taken up work that brought people joy? It was truly a disgrace to the sect's ways...
Oh. He had nearly forgotten that those sect elders had long since been buried by him. Then it was fine!
Ye Erniang watched him suddenly break into a wicked cackle. A chill ran down her back. She swallowed the flatbread in her mouth and asked, "Hero Qin, what are you laughing at?"
Qin Zheng looked puzzled. "Was I laughing just now? How come I didn't know? Could I have been poisoned by the Old Freak of Xingxiu's Thrice-Laughing Carefree Powder?
"This sorcerer has actually learned to poison people from a distance!"
Xingxiu Sea.
At this moment the Old Freak of Xingxiu was sprinting for his life, doing everything he could to shake off Jiumozhi, who was chasing behind him. That air of an immortal sage was long gone. His clothes were in disarray, his hair a tangled mess, and he looked thoroughly bedraggled.
That day he had not provoked a soul, when a foreign monk from the Western Regions barged into his sect's stronghold and demanded the Northern Darkness Rebirth Art of him.
Worse, this foreign monk's martial arts were formidable, and he knew the Xiaoyao Sect's Minor Formless Skill.
This frightened him badly. He thought a disciple of the Xiaoyao Sect had come to clean house. Without another word he threw every trick at once, hidden weapons and poison both, yet he simply could not bring Jiumozhi down.
By now Jiumozhi had been hunting him for three days and three nights, as if he never tired. Who knew what power that Northern Darkness Rebirth Art held, to make him pursue so desperately.
Seeing Jiumozhi close the gap a little more, he swept his right hand backward, flung out a handful of poison powder, and roared, "How many times have I said it? There is no rebirth art here!
"And damn it, severed limbs growing back? If a technique like that existed, it wouldn't come around to you. The eunuchs in the imperial palace would have fought over it until they went mad long ago!"
The moment Jiumozhi heard this, his pace surged madly, and he roared with blood-red eyes, "You old scoundrel, how dare you humiliate me! Today I'll chop off your hands and feet, and see whether you really know the Northern Darkness Rebirth Art!"
The Old Freak of Xingxiu was briefly stunned. "Ah? When did I humiliate you?"
Chapter 28