Xie Jiang handed him another leg. "Why are you being so polite with me? If it weren't for saving me, you wouldn't have ended up in this state."
"Then we're even."
"How can we be even?"
"I saved you, you took care of me, so naturally we're even."
"If you hadn't taken that arrow for me, I might be a wandering spirit right now."
"What is an 'a piao'?"
"A ghost."
"..." That's quite descriptive.
"A life-saving debt can't be repaid by just taking care of you for a few days. The storybooks say that a life-saving debt should be repaid by offering oneself..." Xie Jiang said while eating, contemplating, "How about I offer myself to..."
Xu Hengyan didn't know how the conversation had turned to this. He quickly interrupted her, "You know that's what storybooks say. How can you take storybooks seriously?"
"Xu Hengyan, you clearly risked your life to save me, yet you look down on me and won't let me be your brother-in-law, you..."
Xie Jiang jumped up in anger, her finger trembling as she pointed at Xu Hengyan.
Xu Hengyan was silent for a moment upon hearing this. "Did you just say you were going to offer yourself to my... sister?"
Xie Jiang replied, "I offered myself to your sister, but your sister's husband wouldn't agree either."
Xu Hengyan shot her a glare, forbidding her from speaking carelessly. "Marriage is a major life event and should not be treated lightly. It's not impossible for you to be my brother-in-law, but you'll have to wait until you're a couple of years older and a bit more mature before we discuss it."
Look at yourself, what you've become day by day!
"What's not mature about me?"
Speak after looking at yourself.
Xie Jiang seemed to hear his inner thoughts and truly looked herself over. "Where am I not handsome and dashing?"
Xu Hengyan said, "Young Master Xie should establish himself first, then settle down."
Xie Jiang snorted and broke off another piece from the rabbit, offering it to Xu Hengyan.
"Eat as much as you can manage. We don't know when our next meal will be."
Xu Hengyan ate two wild duck eggs and two rabbit legs. He wasn't full but didn't have much appetite. However, thinking about the uncertain situation ahead, he forced himself to eat half a rabbit.
Before Xie Jiang had finished eating, a sudden exclamation came from outside. The two immediately exchanged glances.
It was likely the bandits she had dealt with earlier. Having lost contact, the nearby bandits were heading this way.
Xie Jiang put down the remaining rabbit, wiped the oil from her hands on a blade of grass, grabbed her dagger, and stood up.
"You shouldn't go out. It might worsen your injuries. From the sounds, there aren't too many of them, and I can handle it."
Stopping Xu Hengyan, who was preparing to follow her, Xie Jiang looked at him seriously and nodded.
As she disappeared into the cave entrance, Xu Hengyan picked up two suitable stones and slowly moved along the mountain wall to the cave mouth.
Even though she told him she wasn't pushing herself, he couldn't be at ease.
More than half of the dozen or so bandits had already been taken down by her.
Her movements were so fast they were almost invisible, her dagger leaving trails of afterimages.
The notorious and wicked Yellow Orchid Mountain bandits, in the eyes of ordinary people, were nothing more than clumsy amateurs in front of her.
Two bandits spotted Xu Hengyan at the cave entrance and charged towards him with their sabers.
Xu Hengyan calculated the distance and threw the stones in his hands.
The two stones, one after another, whistled through the air and hit one bandit squarely in the face. The bandit cried out and fell straight down.
The other bandit looked down at his companion's bloody and mangled face and felt a chill. But the opponent had no more stones!
Just as Xu Hengyan dodged a saber aimed at his shoulder and was about to strike with his hand, a cold glint shot towards him. The bandit let out a thud and fell heavily to the ground.
What had pierced the bandit's head from behind was Xie Jiang's dagger.
Xu Hengyan quickly turned to look. He saw Xie Jiang, unarmed, locked in combat with the remaining five bandits. Even without a weapon, she was still powerfully suppressing her opponents amidst a flurry of sharp saber light.
After dealing with the last bandit, Xie Jiang's stance became unstable, and she staggered back a couple of steps.
"How are you?" Xu Hengyan's heart tightened, and he strode towards Xie Jiang. "Are you injured?"
Xie Jiang's throat was filled with the taste of rust. She coughed twice and shook her head, flicking the bloodstains from her arm. "I'm fine. It's all other people's blood..."
"Do you have internal injuries?"
Her combat skills were unexpectedly good, but now her breathing was clearly unstable, and her face was frighteningly pale.
When did this happen?
He had been with her for so long and hadn't noticed?
"Ah, it's an old problem. I've been trying to manage it, but it doesn't get better. It always holds me back at crucial moments."
Xie Jiang looked annoyed, her brows furrowed tightly, appearing very uncomfortable.
Xu Hengyan grabbed her shoulder and supported her.
Xie Jiang leaned on his uninjured shoulder to recover for a moment, then quickly stepped back and stood up, suppressing the discomfort in her heart.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm okay."
But she didn't look okay at all. Xu Hengyan said worriedly, "Do you need to rest?"
Xu Hengyan was about to ask if she had any medicine when he remembered the pill she had put in his mouth in the cave earlier.
"We need to leave here quickly and find another place to rest. Staying here any longer won't be good."
Xie Jiang walked to the cave entrance, pulled the dagger from the back of the bandit's head, wiped it clean on the bandit's body, and then put it back in her boot.
Xu Hengyan now desperately wished to get out of these vast mountains as soon as possible.
Xie Jiang went back into the cave and placed the remaining roasted wild duck eggs into a bamboo tube.
She then tore off a strip of her hem, twisted it into a rope, threaded it through a small hole drilled in the opening of the bamboo tube, and carried the two bamboo tubes.
The other bamboo tube contained boiled and cooled water, which she had to carry in her hand.
"Alright, let's go."
Xie Jiang emerged from the cave and said to Xu Hengyan at the entrance, "Wishing us good luck on our journey."
Xu Hengyan took the bamboo tube of water from her. Seeing that her complexion had improved, his heart finally settled back into his chest.
With food and drink, if it weren't for their injuries and disheveled appearance, they might have looked like they were out for a picnic.
"What are you smiling about?"
"I think you can survive well in any situation."
"If I can't survive well, I'll find a way to survive."
"Yes."
Afraid the wild duck eggs in the bamboo tube would fall out, Xie Jiang casually grabbed some wild grass, rolled it up, and stuffed it into the bamboo tube to secure it.
After all, the road ahead was uncertain, and she didn't know when their next meal would be. This was all the food they had left.
The two of them walked together again to the high slope in front of the cave.
"Which way should we go?"
Xie Jiang was not familiar with the terrain here at all.
Xu Hengyan had always wanted to suppress bandits and must have studied the area extensively in the past.
Xu Hengyan observed the mountain range's trends and roughly determined their direction. "We'll continue downstream along the river."
"I'll follow your lead."
As they walked, Xie Jiang asked, "How long will it take to encounter villages and settlements?"
Xu Hengyan remained silent.
Xie Jiang understood. She had to be strong.
o(╥﹏╥)o