Chapter 4

Chapter 4: I’m Hungry

It was obvious.

So Huo Zheng’s mood grew even more complicated.

Chun Zhi said: “I cleaned your wound and bandaged it, and I bought you clothes. Now you should go back to wherever you came from, right?”

She had only dragged him inside last night because she was afraid he might die on her doorstep.

Now he was awake and could get out of bed, so she felt he should leave on his own.

But after selling out her tofu at the stall and coming home, she found the man still there.

That really should not be.

His handsome face stiffened as Huo Zheng said: “I’m too badly hurt to leave for now.”

“If you’re badly hurt, then you should find a place to rest,” Chun Zhi said: “Why are you staying in my tiny tofu workshop?”

Huo Zheng said: “To rest and heal.”

Chun Zhi fell silent: “…”

[So he really thinks this place is a free inn.]

She said: “I used up all my medicine on you last night. There’s nothing left here. If you want to get better, either go home or go to a clinic.”

In short, he could not stay.

Huo Zheng said: “My home is a thousand miles away, and I don’t have silver for a clinic.”

He said “no money” as if it were only natural.

It was the first time Chun Zhi had heard anyone say it like that.

But when she cleaned his wounds last night, she had already cut off all his clothes. Other than a dark jade pendant, he had nothing valuable on him.

If he said he had no money, it was probably true.

But that still wasn’t a reason for him to stay here.

She said: “Even so, you can’t stay here.”

“Why not?”

Born to a noble status, wherever Huo Zheng went, people greeted him with respect, as if one more glance from him was a blessing for life.

And now this country girl actually wanted to drive him out.

“You’re asking a strange question,” Chun Zhi said: “I should be asking why I must let you stay.”

He said: “First, you crashed into me. Second, I saved you last night.”

The man really did have reasons.

“I did run into you,” Chun Zhi answered at once: “But I also saved you. Those cancel each other out.”

She was, after all, a small business owner. She could not do a losing deal.

He looked straight at her and said: “Then how do you count that I saved you?”

“I count that I owe you thanks,” Chun Zhi said: “How about I give you a kowtow?”

She stepped forward and bumped her forehead once against the window frame.

Huo Zheng paused: “…”

He had never seen anyone keep such exact accounts.

Say “one kowtow,” and then head-butt a window. It was truly unique.

In a small voice, Chun Zhi said: “You know martial arts, and you’re wounded all over. Who knows if you broke the law and the magistrate’s office is chasing you…”

“Who are you saying broke the law?”

His sword-straight brows drew together, and his face grew a little fierce.

Startled, Chun Zhi blurted: “Even if you didn’t break the law, you probably didn’t do anything good either… I’m just a tofu seller. I really don’t dare keep you. Hero, warrior, please don’t make things hard for me.”

She had dragged him home only because she had no choice.

Thinking it over later, picking up a man off the road and taking him home was far too bold.

Being guessed about like this made Huo Zheng unhappy, but seeing a pretty weak woman living alone, who had almost been bullied by thugs last night, he felt her caution wasn’t wrong.

He said in a low voice: “I have never broken the law.”

Chun Zhi seized the chance to ask: “Then what kind of person are you?”

“A passerby,” he said.

“I’m asking if you’re a good person or a bad person,” she said.

He didn’t answer and asked back: “If I say I’m a good person, would you believe it?”

“Not necessarily,” Chun Zhi said: “But if you say you’re a bad person, I’d believe that.”

[No harm in asking.]

Also, if he said he was a good person, she could follow by saying good people do not use favors to force others, and that way she could send off this trouble.

But he refused to take the bait.

Clearly, this man not only fought well but also had a deep mind.

Her guard went up even more.

Seeing her wariness, he said seriously: “You don’t have to guard against me like this.”

“If I don’t, am I supposed to believe whatever you say?” Chun Zhi did not think her worry was extra at all: “I know nothing about you. I don’t even know where you came from or what your name is.”

“I’m Huo Qi,” he said, using a false name. He paused a beat and added: “I came from where I came.”

“Huo Qi?” Chun Zhi said: “That doesn’t sound like a real name.”

And the second sentence was the same as saying nothing.

“I am Huo Qi,” he said.

Watching his face, she really could not see the look of a liar.

“Even if you tell me your name, you still can’t stay,” Chun Zhi said: “I only have two little rooms. One holds sacks of beans. Only one can be slept in. You and I are an unmarried man and woman. How can we share one room? Also, yesterday you called me a country girl with no shame. So why are you not ashamed today?”

She returned his words from last night to him, word for word.

He paused: “…”

[This miss really keeps score.]

“If you have no money, I can lend you some first, so you can stay at the clinic,” she added: “Pay me back when you have money later.”

She was ready to spend money to send away this trouble.

He saw right through her.

But he could not go to a clinic now. When he woke this morning, he heard dozens of footsteps coming and going outside the door. Clearly, the people hunting him were searching the area.

They knew he was badly hurt, so they would watch clinics and apothecaries most closely.

For the moment, nowhere was safer than this small tofu workshop.

“I just need to borrow a few days here,” he said: “I’ll leave once I’m healed.”

After all this talk, they were back to the start.

“No,” Chun Zhi insisted.

“I’ll live in the woodshed,” he said.

“Also no,” she said without thinking.

He glanced at the top of the wall, then suddenly changed the topic: “Your wall is so low that anyone can climb over. If I leave, are you planning to fight them with a pair of scissors?”

She turned to look at the low wall.

Her courtyard was old, and the wall was low and easy to climb.

Before, men held back because she had a fiancé with the talent to become a top scholar.

But now…

Everyone in Linshui Town knew Lu Jing Yun did not want her anymore. Last night when Zhang Hu came, Huo Qi had driven him off.

If this man left and someone else came to do something bad, she was only a weak woman. It would be hard to protect herself.

Thinking of this, her heart wavered a little about sending Huo Qi away.

Seeing her waver, he fixed his gaze on her and waited patiently without urging.

After quite a while, Chun Zhi asked: “Then how can you promise you won’t have bad thoughts toward me?”

He looked at her and said with a straight face: “I’ve seen many great beauties. In my eyes, you only have clear features and look average.”

She froze: “…”

It was the first time anyone had called her plain.

But since this man was so handsome, his mother and sisters were likely rare beauties.

So it wasn’t strange that he looked down on someone like her.

Looking at Huo Qi’s face, she suddenly felt his words were believable.

As for whether he had broken the law, she could ask at the yamen and at the posting wall and find out.

Also, Huo Qi looked strong. If he stayed to heal, it shouldn’t take long.

With him here, no matter who came at night, she would not have to panic.

In these few days she would quickly find someone to raise the wall higher. Then even if Huo Qi left, those messy men could not climb in so easily.

With that plan, she made up her mind and said: “All right. You can stay in the woodshed.”

He nodded: “Mm.”

“I’ll let you stay a few days to heal,” she said: “But once you’re better, you must leave at once.”

Hearing her chase him off again and again, his brows twitched, and he answered again: “Mm.”

She felt a little more at ease: “I’ll go tidy the woodshed now.”

The woodshed was stacked with firewood. He looked so dignified that she wasn’t sure he could bear it.

But she could not give him her own room. He would have to make do.

She turned toward the woodshed.

“Wait,” Huo Zheng called to stop her.

She looked back and asked: “What is it?”

Lowering his eyes, his voice hoarse, he said: “I’m hungry.”