Liao Fang

"O-ouch! Damnit Bai Shuixian! That freaking hurts!" Zhu Jin shouted in pain.

"I was trying to wake you up. Who told you to not wake up when I pulled your hair?" Bai Shuixian said with an uncaring attitude as though she was not the one who just slapped him.

"Why the hell did you slap me? I was having a good dream," Zhu Jin stated with dreamy eyes.

"He… Is that so?" Bai Shuixian asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"You… Stay away from me," Zhu Jin said with apparent fear in his voice. "Just tell me what you want."

"Your savior is here. You should at least greet him," she told him.

"Oh," he said with a dumb face.

Coughing in embarrassment, he finally noticed that there was another person in the room and greeted, "Ah, I'm sorry about the scene. Haha… Uh, thank you for saving us. My name is Zhu Jin. May I ask what your name is?"

While Zhu Jin was asking that question, Bai Shuixian was thinking about how social he was. Clearly he said that he had not spoken to a normal human for decades. How come it looks like he can do just fine compared to her?

"My name is Liao Fang," he answered. "May I ask what this lady's name is?"

Waiting for her to answer Liao Fang's question, Zhu Jin saw that she had no intention to speak. With no choice but to answer for her, he could only sigh. Clearly he was the one with no social skills, so why did he have to speak for her?

"Her name is Bai Shuixian," Zhu Jin answered for Bai Shuixian. "And uh… Sorry about her quietness. This is just how she is."

"I see," Liao Fang said with enlightenment. "That is fine then. As long as the young lady is comfortable."

Sighing, Zhu Jin thanked, "Thank you for your understanding. I've tried years to get her to interact more, but it seems that she is yet to be comfortable with strangers."

Chuckling, Liao Fang asked, "This young lady is shy of strangers?"

"It is more so that she is unused to strangers," Zhu Jin replied.

"Ah, I understand," Liao Fang repeated again with an understanding face. "Oh right, I came here to check on your wounds."

"Check his," Bai Shuixian finally spoke after becoming mute for a period of time. "Take this."

As Bai Shuixian said so, she handed Liao Fang a salve.

"What's this?" Liao Fang asked curiously.

"Odoratus salve," she gave a curt answer. "It's better than ointment you used yesterday."

After saying that, she left the room.

"Ah, I seriously apologize about her," Zhu Jin apologized with a wry smile on his face. "I really didn't know that she would scrunch up like that once we came out."

"Scrunch up?" Liao Fang repeated with confusion.

It was the first time Liao Fang had heard someone used that term to describe a person. Usually, they would say something along the lines of "stiff" or "cold". Really, "scrunch up" is too weird of a terminology for him.

"Aigh, she was always social with me, so I didn't know that she would become so silent like the master after we left," Zhu Jin explained.

"I see," Liao Fang said. "You guys were kicked out by your master?"

"Huh? No," Zhu Jin answered. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Uh, people don't really come to this village unless they are mourning something," Liao Fang answered.

"Oh, well, anyways… We didn't get kicked out. Especially me. I have no master. But she does. Anyways, she didn't get kicked out. Her master only told her to go see the world since she was always trapped in the temple doing experiments instead of venturing out like a normal person," Zhu Jin stated.

"I see," Liao Fang repeated.

"Say, can you say something else other than, I see," Zhu Jin asked. "It's a little plain to keep hearing the same words over and over again."

Liao Fang was once again shocked by Zhu Jin's literary knowledge. Was it he who did not know about the newest trend? Or was it the injured man that did not know what the latest scholarly words were?

However, shaking his head, he decided to ignore it and asked Zhu Jin to let him see the wounds. After that, he opened up the salve that Bai Shuixian gave him and he became shocked. The fragrance of it was not the best, but it was strong.

Though it was strong, it was not painful to the nose. At the same time, he could also tell based on his skills that the salve was definitely better than what he bought or made in his house. Not only that, he remembered reading before that it was hard to make and even find the herbs to create odoratus salve.

Liao Fang did not know the identities of the two people well, but he understood that they had no simple background. Especially the lady. The way she held herself was too graceful to be a common person, but also too sophisticated to be a person from a royal family.

He had a feeling that she came from somewhere even higher than the royal family. Somewhere even harder to achieve and grasp a standing for. Although he was intrigued to find out more about the two people, he decided to put it at rest and take care of Zhu Jin's wounds.

"Sir, the young lady, I believe it is best that she had someone to protect her," Liao Fang told Zhu Jin after he finished wrapping up the wound.

"Ah, don't worry about her. No one can do anything to her," Zhu Jin replied.

Shaking his head, Liao Fang said, "It is better safe than sorry. The lady has beauty that can cause the downfall of a country. Many of the men here will want to take advantage of her."

"Really, you don't have to worry," Zhu Jin repeated with emphasis. "I'm afraid those men will run away before they even chase."

"Huh? Why?" Liao Fang asked with curiosity.

Just at that moment though, multiple loud voices could be heard while panting as though in fright.

"Seriously, is she a devil?" a voice asked panting while squatting down with his hands on his knees.

"I have no idea, but let's not go to her again," another voice answered with fear. "None of us men could lift that damn piece of rock in front of the cave, but yet she did it by herself."

"I'm about to go crazy," a gruff voice stated. "Just what in the world happened there?"

Another man's voice could be heard speaking through cries, "I seriously thought I was about to be eaten. How can she be so scary?"

"It's not only you. I still feel her glare even now," another one cried out in pain.

Hearing the multiple voices, Zhu Jin and Liao Fang headed out to the courtyard.

"What happened to you guys?" Liao Fang asked upon seeing their messed up appearances.

"Liao Fang, that lady you saved," a man started out whilst panting. "She is a devil. She lifted up that rock in front of the cave by herself!"

Scrunching his brows, Liao Fang asked, "At the waterfall?"

"Yes!" another man jumped in. "It's exactly that giant rock at the waterfall! She moved it!"

"How?" Liao Fang asked with surprise.

"I don't know how," one of them said with sad eyes. "We were asking her to marry us, but she suddenly ran towards the river, so we chased her. All of a sudden, she lifted that rock and caused all the water to flow to us! I don't even know if she's still alive! Not only that, the river's flooded!"

"Just tell me the truth," Liao Fang sighed. "You guys probably threatened her to marry you guys, but she refused so you gave chase. At the end, she was at a dead end and probably made a bet about the rock because somebody slipped out that the rock blocked the flow of water. Am I right?"

Nervously, one of the men admitted, "Well… That… We are sorry, Sir Fang."

Shaking his head, Liao Fang reprimanded, "Never do this again, or I'll never help you guys again. All females that come here have a right to marry whoever they want and have equal rights."

Bowing, all the men apologized for their monstrous actions.

At the same time, they stared at Zhu Jin and asked, "Is this the one that came with the lady?"

"Yes," Liao Fang answered.

"Sir, you're not going to worry your lady?" the men asked.

"Oh, no need," Zhu Jin waved. "She's already here."

Tilting their heads in confusion, the men asked, "Where? I don't see her."

Pointing towards a tree, Zhu Jin announced, "There!"

At a peach tree with many juicy ripe peaches, Bai Shuixian was relaxing on a thick branch while eating a peach. Clearly, even though she was sitting in a most relaxed manner, she was still eating with elegance. There was no juice leaking from the peach to her clothes and everything on her still looked clean as though she did not remove a gigantic rock.