Back at the broken hut, it was already completely dark.
Su Jinxiu was exhausted to the point of weakness all over her body, but looking at the pile of supplies filling the room, a sense of satisfaction—like a hamster hoarding food—rose naturally in her heart. She locked the rice and flour inside a cabinet. Although the door only hung on by one half-broken hinge and could not truly stop a thief, it still provided psychological comfort.
Dinner was white rice with twice-cooked pork.
Su Jinxiu didn’t have the skill to make authentic Sichuan cuisine, but the ingredients were luxurious enough to make up for it. Thick slices of pork belly were rendered until oily, stir-fried with salt and unknown wild vegetables—the aroma was strong enough to lift the roof off.
Huo Chen sat at the table, staring at the bowl of steaming white rice in a daze.
In the military camp, he had eaten coarse food and swallowed simple vegetables. Later, when he held absolute power, he had tasted the finest delicacies in the world. Yet in this leaking, dilapidated straw hut, this bowl of steaming rice strangely gave him a long-lost sense of steadiness.
“Eat. It’s not poisoned.” Su Jinxiu filled her own bowl generously and ate without any regard for appearance, her eyes narrowing in satisfaction. “This is what a proper life feels like.”
Huo Chen picked up his chopsticks and took a piece of meat.
Fat but not greasy, with a slightly charred fragrance.
“Acceptable craftsmanship,” he commented objectively.
Su Jinxiu rolled her eyes. “You should be grateful. In these ten miles and eight villages, it’s already good enough if people can cook meat until it’s done.”
Under the dim light of a bean-sized oil lamp, the two of them ate together. Their shadows were cast on the mottled earthen wall, oddly creating a faint sense of warmth.
After the meal, Su Jinxiu began boiling water.
“Tonight I need to thoroughly clean your wound again and change the dressing,” she said while working. “Also, it might rain tonight. The roof leaks everywhere, so we need to move the bed.”
Huo Chen glanced up at the roof. Indeed, through the decayed beams, one could even see scattered stars.
“Where to move it?”
“The corner is slightly better,” Su Jinxiu pointed. “We squeeze in there. Better than waking up soaked in the middle of the night.”
Huo Chen did not object. With his current condition, getting soaked in rain would likely trigger a fever again, and then this woman would definitely force-feed him those bitter white pills again.
Together, they moved the only bed—its three remaining legs still intact—to the corner. Su Jinxiu placed newly bought cotton under the old mattress and covered it with a black cloth. Though simple, it was at least softer.
Night deepened.
The mountain wind carried moisture, howling through the cracks. As Su Jinxiu had predicted, light rain began falling in the second half of the night.
Raindrops struck the roof tiles with crackling sounds. Soon, small puddles formed on the ground where the roof leaked.
The bed was narrow, forcing the two of them to lie close together.
Huo Chen leaned against the wall, holding a newly purchased boning knife in his hand, pretending to sleep with his eyes closed. His breathing was light, his body relaxed—but every nerve remained tightly coiled.
Su Jinxiu, on the other hand, slept without a care in the world. She was utterly exhausted, both mentally and physically drained. Turning over in her sleep, one leg instinctively reached toward the source of warmth.
Smack.
A hand precisely caught her ankle.
Huo Chen opened his eyes. In the darkness, his gaze was frighteningly sharp.
“Su Jinxiu, do you not want that leg anymore?”
She groggily mumbled something and pulled her leg back, curling herself deeper into the blanket.
“Cold…”
Huo Chen frowned.
This woman was ice-cold. Chronic malnutrition had left her weak in both qi and blood, and with this drafty broken house, whatever warmth she had left had long disappeared.
After a brief hesitation, he did not push away the head that had already started nudging toward his chest.
Forget it. She could be used as a heater.
Just as Su Jinxiu was sleeping soundly, Huo Chen suddenly moved.
He sat up with extreme caution, the knife in his hand silently unsheathing.
There were footsteps outside the courtyard.
Light—but chaotic. Not like trained assassins, more like a group of sneaky intruders.
“Shh.”
A slightly cool hand covered Su Jinxiu’s mouth.
She instantly woke up. Just as she was about to struggle, she heard Huo Chen whisper in her ear:
“Don’t move. We have guests.”
Her sleepiness vanished instantly.
Her eyes widened. Under the faint moonlight, she saw Huo Chen’s sharply defined face in the shadows. He was still a crippled patient, yet his aura had completely changed—filled with a terrifying killing intent.
The door latch was carefully pried open with a blade.
Click.
A soft sound.
The door opened.
Three black shadows slipped inside.
“Boss, that woman bought so many things today—she must still have money hidden,” one voice said greedily.
“Nonsense. I’ve already checked. She sold medicinal goods for three taels of silver!” another voice replied—and it sounded familiar.
It was Su Daqiang.
“Also that cripple. Still lying in bed, right? Kill the man first, then force the girl to tell us where the money is.”
Su Jinxiu cursed inwardly.
This disgusting relative really was like stubborn dog skin plaster—impossible to shake off.
“Move!”
With a low command, the three shadows raised their sticks and charged straight toward the bed.
In that instant, a flash of cold light appeared.
Huo Chen did not get up. He only flicked the short knife in his hand sharply.
“Puchi!”
The sound of blade piercing flesh was dull and grating.
The shadow rushing at the very front didn’t even have time to scream before clutching his thigh and collapsing to the ground. That blunt-looking boning knife had actually pierced straight through his thigh muscle!
“Aaah—! My leg!”
The other two were completely stunned by the sudden turn of events.
Before they could react, the “crippled man” on the bed moved.
Although Huo Chen’s legs were inconvenient, his hands were still as lethal as ever. He grabbed a wooden stick by the bed (used by Su Jinxiu to wedge the door) and swung it out at an extremely tricky angle.
Bang! Bang!
Two dull impacts.
Su Daqiang only felt a sharp pain in his knees and fell straight to the ground with a thud.
“Light the lamp,” Huo Chen’s voice sounded in the darkness, calm as if he were ordering tea.
Snapping out of her shock, Su Jinxiu fumbled for the fire starter and lit the oil lamp.
A dim yellow glow filled the room, revealing the chaotic scene.
Three burly men lay on the ground. The one stabbed in the thigh was rolling and wailing in pain, blood pooling beneath him. Su Daqiang and another thug knelt on the ground clutching their knees, drenched in cold sweat, looking at Huo Chen in pure terror.
Huo Chen sat at the edge of the bed, his long black hair falling loosely and covering half his face, revealing only a pair of eyes devoid of warmth.
“Su… Su Jinxiu! You… you dared to have someone injure us!” Su Daqiang endured the pain and shouted fiercely but weakly. “I’m going to report this to the authorities! I’ll accuse you of murder!”
At this point, Su Jinxiu was fully awake.
Looking at the “injured” scene, she showed no fear at all—instead, her professional habits kicked in.
She jumped off the bed and walked over to the unlucky man with the stabbed thigh, pulling out the boning knife.
“Aaah—!” Another scream erupted as blood splattered all over Su Jinxiu’s face.
She calmly wiped the blood off, clicked her tongue, and said, “Perfect placement. Avoided the femoral artery and only damaged muscle fibers. Husband, your anatomy skills are pretty good.”
Huo Chen ignored her nonsense and stared coldly at Su Daqiang. “Report us? Fine. Illegal home intrusion and armed assault. Under Great Liang law, that’s three thousand li of exile. Second Uncle wants to go see the desert scenery at the border?”
Su Daqiang felt a chill run through him under that gaze. This was no cripple—this was a monster who killed without blinking!
“You… what do you want?”
Su Jinxiu twirled the blood-dripping knife and smiled as she leaned in. “Second Uncle, we’re family after all. Reporting to the officials would hurt our relationship. How about this—”
“You scared me just now. Let’s settle it with emotional damages, disturbance fees, and cleaning costs for the floor…”
She held up a hand. “Ten taels of silver. Pay up, and I’ll bandage them and let you go. Otherwise—”
She pointed the knife at the bleeding man. “At this rate of blood loss, he’ll be meeting the King of Hell in about the time it takes to burn an incense stick. If someone dies here, none of you will escape.”
Su Daqiang looked at his pale-faced accomplice and then at Su Jinxiu’s smiling face, only feeling a chill crawl up his spine.
This woman was insane!
“Fine! I’ll pay!” Su Daqiang tremblingly pulled out a money pouch. “This… this is high-interest loan money I just borrowed… it’s all here!”
Su Jinxiu took the pouch, weighed it, and nodded in satisfaction.
“Much better.”
She turned and took out a bottle of powdered medicine from the cabinet—a previously exchanged “Yunnan Baiyao” (actually a higher-grade hemostatic powder). She casually sprinkled it over the wound and roughly wrapped it with torn cloth.
“Alright, get lost.”
Su Daqiang and the others were overjoyed and fled the terrifying courtyard while supporting each other, limping away in panic.
Su Jinxiu locked the door again, bolting it firmly and pushing a chair against it.
When she turned around, Huo Chen was wiping the blood off the floor with a rag.
“Ten taels of silver,” Huo Chen said without looking up. “You just let them go like that?”
“Then what? Kill them for real?” Su Jinxiu counted the money happily. “Murder is illegal, and disposing of bodies is troublesome. Keeping them alive means we can squeeze them again next time we’re short on cash.”
Huo Chen paused and looked up at her.
This woman’s way of thinking was strange—but extremely… practical.
“Do you still need this knife?” Huo Chen asked, pointing at the blood-stained boning knife in her hand.
“Of course!” Su Jinxiu found a sharpening stone and sat on the doorstep, beginning to sharpen it. “This is our household’s sacred weapon. Whoever dares come next time will experience the joys of surgery.”
Huo Chen watched her silhouette under the lamplight.
The sound of sharpening echoed sharply through the rainy night.
Strangely, he suddenly felt that this absurd night didn’t seem so bad after all.
At least this knife could not only kill—but also protect a home.