After dinner, the three of them continued on their journey. The influx of jianghu martial artists made the city a tumultuous place. The three of them did not want to attract trouble, so they preferred not to stay in Xiangxi for too long.
Recently, the people of the jianghu had been somewhat restless, like agitated fish swimming for their lives in a churning, stormy lake.
Nightfall did not stop the three of them. They maintained a steady pace until they finally found a small village to rest in. Ye Beizhi and his companions weren’t in a hurry to press on after they learned about how messy the jianghu had become. Even martial artists with strong abilities were unwilling to travel all night, so the trio decided against camping in the wild and travelling all night.
Ye Beizhi didn’t say anything, but he roughly knew that the unrest in the jianghu was connected to the Qihuang Society.
The village they found wasn’t large, only consisting of about ten households. Since the sky had darkened, most of the doors were tightly shut.
The three of them led their horses, knocking on door after door.
Some residents opened their doors, only to be surprised by Fang Dingwu's somewhat intimidating appearance. Upon seeing the three of them dressed like martial artists, the villagers waved their hands and shut the doors. Some didn’t even want to open the door and instead shouted through it, urging them to leave quickly.
"This is a mess," Fang Dingwu complained with a gloomy expression. "People aren't what they used to be!"
Ye Beizhi glanced at Fang Dingwu’s full beard and then at the twin swords hanging at his waist but said nothing.
Later, the task of knocking on doors was handed over to Chi Nanwei, as she had a kind and approachable face, more suitable for the job at hand.
It didn’t take long for Chi Nanwei to knock on a door. The door opened a crack, and behind it stood an elderly woman with graying hair. Her appearance suggested that she was easy to get along with.
The elderly woman seemed to have poor eyesight. She squinted, leaned in, and looked up and down at Chi Nanwei. She hesitantly asked, "Miss, who are you looking for?"
Chi Nanwei held onto the door and quickly replied, "Auntie, I'm just passing through and would like to stay the night."
The elderly woman didn’t see Ye Beizhi and Fang Dingwu outside and assumed it was only Chi Nanwei. After thinking for a moment, she said, "You want to stay overnight... That's fine. It's not safe for a young girl to travel at night. If you don't look down on my little home, you can stay."
Chi Nanwei was overjoyed.
Fang Dingwu was equally excited from where he hid behind her. After wasting so much time, they had finally found a place to stay. Without waiting for Chi Nanwei to speak, Fang Dingwu took a step forward, and squeezed into the doorway with a smile. "Thank you, Auntie!" he said gratefully.
The elderly woman was startled by the sudden appearance of the burly man. She pointed a trembling hand at Fang Dingwu and asked, "You... who are you?"
Chi Nanwei awkwardly said, "This is my... older brother."
The elderly woman looked troubled. "So the two of you want to stay?"
Ye Beizhi also stepped forward, met the elderly woman's gaze, and said seriously, "... Three."
The elderly woman's gaze shifted back and forth between Ye Beizhi and Fang Dingwu’s weapons. Her lips trembled, not daring to speak. After a while, she seemed to snap out of it and called inside, "Hey! Hey! Come here quickly!"
"What’s going on?" someone hollered from inside, "Who is it?"
An old man with a full white beard hobbled out, his back bent.
The old man looked up and immediately saw the people outside. Fang Dingwu, fearing the elderly woman would shut the door again, held onto the doorframe and squeezed his head inside.
"Uh..." The old man trembled slightly, nervously asking, "What brings you... esteemed guests, out here so late at night?"
Fang Dingwu flashed a smile, saying, "Old man, we’re just passing travelers. Seeing that it’s getting late, we were hoping to stay the night."
The old man, his eyes filled with fear, stared at the sword at Fang Dingwu’s waist and said, "This... this might be difficult. We... we don’t have any extra beds here..."
"Don’t worry, old man." Fang Dingwu chuckled accommodatingly. "We can sleep on the floor!"
Seeing the old man’s hesitation, Chi Nanwei quickly added, "Don’t worry, we mean no harm. We’ll only stay one night and leave at dawn."
The old man and woman hesitated in silence. Seizing the moment, Fang Dingwu waved a silver ingot, and said, "Money isn’t an issue!"
In the flickering candlelight, the silver reflected an enticing cold glow. The old man glanced at the silver, then at the elderly woman who was still trying to hold the door, and finally gritted his teeth and nodded, "Fine! Just for one night!"
The elderly woman finally let go. Even if she didn’t, she wouldn’t have been able to stop Fang Dingwu from pushing the door open anyway.
Chi Nanwei was the first to step inside. She smiled and thanked the elderly couple.
Fang Dingwu and Ye Beizhi followed behind. Just as they were about to enter, they noticed the door of the neighboring house opening. A thin man stepped out, holding a basin of water.
The man was silent and his appearance was quite ordinary, but there was an aura of authority about him as he moved, one that commanded respect without fear. Ye Beizhi barely raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing him closely. Unexpectedly, as soon as Ye Beizhi glanced at him, the man seemed to sense something and immediately turned his face, locking eyes with Ye Beizhi.
The two men's gazes met in the air, neither yielding to the other. After a moment, they both turned away at the same time, as if nothing had happened.
The man poured the water onto the open ground in front of the door, then turned and entered the house. Before closing the door, he cast a final wary glance at Ye Beizhi, then slammed the door shut.
Fang Dingwu licked his teeth and whispered beside Ye Beizhi, "He’s a trained martial artist... his stance is very stable."
Ye Beizhi nodded noncommittally, seeming not to mind either way, and stepped inside first.
Fang Dingwu followed inside. As he turned around, he saw the old man still waiting by the door, his eyes scanning Fang Dingwu’s waist.
Fang Dingwu understood what the old man meant and took out a silver ingot. Weighing it in his hand, he estimated it was about ten taels of silver, and shoved it into the old man’s hands. "Old man, keep this. If you have any food, please get us something. If there’s wine, that’d be even better!"
The old man took the silver, which seemed to ease the fear in his heart. He forced a smile and said, "Well... esteemed guests, please go ahead and rest inside. I’ll prepare something for you to eat."
Fang Dingwu waved the old man off, then turned around to see Ye Beizhi standing by the wall of the small yard.
As Fang Dingwu walked over, he understood what Ye Beizhi was looking at. From the top of the wall, the tip of a spear was peeking out from the neighboring house. The spear tip was smooth and glossy, clearly well-used and polished, with intricate patterns along the blade like writhing serpents, easily recognizable as an extraordinary weapon.
"The person next door..." Fang Dingwu had some thoughts, but didn’t seem overly concerned.
Ye Beizhi didn’t respond.
Fang Dingwu stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I don’t know which side he's from... It’s always best to avoid trouble, and as long as no one interferes with us, everything’s fine. But if someone comes looking for trouble, we certainly won’t be afraid."
Ye Beizhi nodded in firm agreement.