Yang Xiao Hai

Chapter 215: Yang Xiao Hai

“Plop.” Closing his eyes, Yang Xiao Hai buried his head heavily into the crystal-clear river water.

After shaking it vigorously a few times, he jerked it back up, a hint of relief on his face.

He had finished washing and drinking in one go.

“This water is really sweet.”

Wiping the beads of water from his chin with his hand, Yang Xiao Hai picked up a bucket and started heading back.

The training from the long journey, coupled with not going hungry anymore, had made his body no longer as thin and weak as when he was a beggar.

He had filled out, the sallow tint was gone from his face, and he had even shot up a bit in height.

“Morning, Brother Cao Cao,” Yang Xiao Hai greeted Gouwa, who was circling around a woman.

Seeing that Gouwa was too busy to pay him any attention, Yang Xiao Hai smiled and walked towards the pot.

He wasn’t a child who knew nothing. Being mature for his age, he understood why Gouwa was being so attentive.

There was no fire under the pot yet. The others hadn’t woken up; they needed to wait until everyone was awake before putting the noodles in.

Setting down the bucket, he took a piece of firewood from under the pot and walked toward Chun Xiaoman, who was formally practicing her sword off to the side.

Approaching the dancing gleam of cold steel, he raised his piece of firewood and swung it in imitation.

He was focused, just as focused as Chun Xiaoman.

Seeing this, Chun Xiaoman turned her wrist and thrust her sword towards Yang Xiao Hai.

Caught off guard, Yang Xiao Hai stumbled backward in a fluster, landing on his back in the soft grass.

Chun Xiaoman, holding the sword in one hand, spoke to Yang Xiao Hai, who was sitting on the ground. “Get up. Keep practicing. If you want to learn, you can’t do it just by practicing on your own.”

For a while back there, Li Huowang had been the one sparring with her, but he was in no state for that anymore.

Yang Xiao Hai nodded excitedly, raised his firewood, and thrust it forward.

He was happy to practice the sword and wasn’t afraid of hardship. Once he learned it, even if he went back to being a beggar, no one would dare bully him anymore.

They practiced for a good while. When they saw Bai Ling Miao come out of the oxcart, Chun Xiaoman pulled her hand back, sheathing her sword with a click. “Alright, let’s cook. They’re all awake.”

“Yeah!” Yang Xiao Hai rushed back enthusiastically. As soon as he reached the pot, his face scrunched up.

He found someone had taken his job and was already using a flint to start a fire.

It was a fat woman, one of the women his Senior Brother Li had saved from the bandit den.

Actually, back at the pass, some of them had died because of those riders. She was one of the lucky ones who had survived.

“Move!” He walked over, snatched the flint from her, and took back his position.

The fat woman wasn’t angry. She gave a shy smile and said, “Hey there, little fellow townsman, you’re here?”

Yang Xiao Hai had only casually said a few things about his hometown before, but he hadn’t expected this woman to latch on to it, saying she was from the same place as him.

He hated these women. They had no sense of loyalty at all.

Li Huowang had saved them, and they had been eating and drinking their supplies for so long. Yet back at the pass, a few of them had still secretly run off.

Worse than that, the women who were left were always subtly taking his chores away from him.

This made him find these women particularly irritating, especially this fat one with the mole on her chin.

“Don’t call me fellow townsman. We’re not from the same place.”

How was he supposed to know it would be such a coincidence that she was born in a place he had completely made up?

The fat woman smiled, a small, natural dimple appearing on her left cheek.

She started helping Yang Xiao Hai, chattering away beside him the whole time.

“Hey, little fellow townsman, what’s that fella’s name? He sure is strong.”

Yang Xiao Hai turned to look into the distance, seeing Gao Zhi Jian, gritting his teeth as he lifted a giant halberd. The veins on his neck bulged like green snakes.

“What’s it to you?” Yang Xiao Hai’s voice carried a note of irritation.

“Have I annoyed you, little fellow townsman?” Smiling, she reached out and tried to pick at a spot of grime on Yang Xiao Hai’s clothes.

“Don’t touch me!” Yang Xiao Hai’s sudden bristle made the fat woman shuffle backward. She looked hurt and said, “What did I do to you? I finally run into someone from back home, and I just wanted to get close to you.”

“I was sold off a long time ago. This is the first time I’ve met someone from my hometown.”

Seeing her like this, Yang Xiao Hai swallowed the harsh words that were on the tip of his tongue.

“Just stay put and behave yourself from now on. Don’t steal my jobs.”

“The benefactor is hurt… I… I just wanted to help him a little…”

Hearing this, Yang Xiao Hai looked over at the distant oxcart.

That was where Li Huowang was staying. All sorts of things that had happened before flooded back into his mind, and his heart grew anxious.

Senior Brother Li was their pillar of support. He absolutely couldn’t let anything happen to him.

The sparks from the flint ignited the dry grass in the pit. The flames from the dry grass then caught the firewood.

Yang Xiao Hai stood up and looked down at the fat woman. “You go get some water.”

The fat woman wasn’t the least bit angry at being ordered around by a child so much younger than herself. On the contrary, she nodded vigorously, turned, and went to get the bucket.

Yang Xiao Hai patted the dirt off his clothes and walked towards the oxcart, a look of deep worry on his face.

As he got close, he heard someone talking.

“What do you want to say? Just what is it going to take for you to leave with Peng Long Teng?”

Yang Xiao Hai walked to the other side of the oxcart and saw Li Huowang leaning against the window.

Compared to when he had been completely charred black, he looked a lot better now.

But this “better” was in a particularly horrifying way.

Half of his head had no skin, the other half did. A few black scabs dotted the surface.

The skin on his lips was scorched away, leaving two rows of stark white teeth exposed, opening and closing with a clicking sound.

Not only did he look strange, but his eyes were also staring straight at some empty space outside, muttering deliriously to himself.

“Monk, do me a favor. Go ask him for me. Ask him if he has any unfinished business.”

“I know he’s pitiful. I sympathize with him too. But why is he haunting me?”

“Shouldn’t he be haunting the one who killed him, Peng Long Teng?”

Suddenly, Li Huowang’s single eye darted sharply, fixing its gaze on Yang Xiao Hai.

This scared Yang Xiao Hai so much his scalp went numb. He almost couldn’t stop his feet from turning to run away.

He now suddenly understood why Senior Brother Li’s oxcart was always deliberately kept so far away from them.

Senior Brother Li right now was scarier than any of the evil spirits from before.

“Something on your mind?”

Startled, Yang Xiao Hai didn’t know where to put his hands.

“Sen… Sen… Senior Brother Li, are you okay?” he asked, a mix of fear and concern in his voice.

Then he saw his Senior Brother completely ignore him and continue muttering to himself at the empty air.

His heart full of worry, Yang Xiao Hai kept looking back as he walked back to the big iron pot. As he arrived, Gouwa put a hand on his shoulder.

“What’s Senior Brother Li looking like?”

Yang Xiao Hai shook his head in dismay. “I think Senior Brother Li’s sickness is worse again. Maybe we should find a doctor.”

“Pfft, what doctor could cure Senior Brother Li’s sickness? Even that old scabby-head guy could only suppress it back then,” Gouwa said, standing beside him, looking discouraged as he tried to think of a solution.

“I still remember what that thing, the Black Tai Sui, looked like that the old scabby-head gave him to eat. But where are we supposed to find that stuff now?”

(End of Chapter)