Chapter 437 Extra: Ge Quan x Fang Jinrong 6

Chapter 437 Extra: Ge Quan x Fang Jinrong 6

A tall figure emerged from the depths of the cave, carrying a lantern that cast a faint glimmer of light into the pitch-black cave. Fang Jinrong covered his nose and mouth to look up at her, seeing her in plain hemp robes, her white mask already off. She was booking it toward them like a ghost was on her tail, the lantern light swinging wildly, shadows on the cave walls lurching every which way. Fang Jinrong couldn't hold onto Ge Quan's neck anymore and started sliding down.

"Rong'er?" Ge Quan loosened his grip on the red-mask guy and turned his attention to Fang Jinrong first.

The red-mask guy was banged up bad, but with his life on the line, he broke free the second he got the chance and tried to bolt.

But Ge Quan's palm strike beat him to it. One blow packed with brutal inner force—just the wind from it slammed the wounded red-mask guy into the wall. He clutched his chest, coughed up a mouthful of blood, and collapsed—out cold, dead or alive, who knew.

Ji Wunian jumped. "Damn, haven't seen you this vicious in a minute."

Ge Quan was all about Fang Jinrong. He crouched, held him, and said urgently, "Cut the chatter. Check Rong'er out for me."

Ji Wunian had been hustling, but with the threat gone, she slowed down. "Tsk tsk, Rong'er? That's pretty cozy—he your little boyfriend or something?"

"Ji Wunian, if you don't wanna stay, I'll find another way to send you packing." Ge Quan's face went dark, and he spat the words out fast.

Ji Wunian blinked. "Well, damn—even you, Mr. Straight-Shooter, can throw threats around?" She dropped the teasing and went to check Fang Jinrong's pulse, figuring if she kept yapping, Ge Quan might actually clock her with two palm strikes.

"No biggie. I set poison in the cave, and some leaked out. Won't touch pros at your level, but regular folks who breathe it in are done for." Ji Wunian fished a little bottle out of her robes, popped the lid with a soft *pfft*, and waved it under Fang Jinrong's nose. His scrunched-up brows did ease, but he was so wiped out he didn't come to right away.

Ge Quan breathed easier, cradling Fang Jinrong carefully, and asked Ji Wunian, "You handled everyone inside?"

Ji Wunian slapped her thigh. "Ha! These guys came outta nowhere, tons of heavy hitters. Good thing you showed up and took out those red-mask pros—otherwise I wouldn't have dared make a move."

She pointed deeper into the cave. "The ones deeper in are just regular folks, plus a bunch of innocent young guys they grabbed."

Ge Quan strolled deeper in. "So they got snatched. What about you? After my master saved you, why didn't you wait for me to come get you?"

"Don't even go there!" Ji Wunian griped about her bad luck. "I figured I already had enough enemies, and your master's got even more. Stick around Yangzhou any longer, and I'd get dragged into his beefs. So I ducked into a small town to wait for you, and then I ran smack into this crew of weirdos."

Ji Wunian was a whiz at medicine, but her martial arts were straight-up amateur. Facing these weird mask-wearers, she couldn't tip her hand on her fighting skills, and she couldn't poison a whole crew of pros at once. So she played it cool, biding her time until she heard the clash of battle, then seized the moment and poisoned the pink-mask crew.

The deeper they went, the wider it opened up. Just like Ji Wunian said, white-mask guys were sprawled all over the floor. That nasty weird smell still hung in the air, and Fang Jinrong, on Ge Quan's back, let out a soft groan. Ge Quan backed up two steps. "Forget it. Grab the ringleader. Have Fan Er get folks to send the innocent ones home."

"Fan Er?" Ji Wunian blinked, looking more like a startled butcher than a doc.

"He's the one who's been yelling about killing me. How'd you get mixed up with him?"

That's when Ge Quan thought to ask, "So did you poison the Green Gang boss?"

"Like I've got nothing better to do!" Ji Wunian hollered at full volume.

Fang Jinrong got jolted awake by her racket and realized she was the doc Ge Quan had been hunting for. He hadn't pegged her for this kind of personality—rougher than his family's crudest maids, totally at odds with her fancy name.

But Ge Quan was used to it. He carried Fang Jinrong out, reading from the guy's breathing that he was awake. He asked as he walked, "You doing okay?"

Fang Jinrong's voice came out all soft and weak. "Tired. Head's spinning."

Ge Quan hoisted him up higher. "I'll get you down the mountain and set you up somewhere."

Ji Wunian watched, clicking her tongue. She'd known Ge Quan for ages—he seemed above it all, but wasn't he really just cold as ice?

The higher you climb, the colder it gets—top fighters live for the solitude.

She pursed her lips, hustled to catch up, and muttered as she walked, "Seriously, Ge Quan, this change in you is way too much. Don't tell me this kid's put some kinda voodoo on you?"

Ge Quan kept walking, just saying flatly, "Not your problem. Worry about how you'll explain yourself to the Green Gang."

Ji Wunian shrugged it off. "With you there, they'll actually hear me out. Those meatheads, zero brains—always ready to kill and brawl."

Fang Jinrong had spent a few days with Fan Er and Hong Ying. The couple had been good to him since he was young, so compared to them, this Ji Wunian—who'd sent them on a wild goose chase—was the real stranger. So he shot back weakly, "If you're not a brute, then you're some kinda heroine? Then how come you keep getting caught and need saving?"

Ji Wunian laughed. "Hey, you little—"

"If you wanna climb up on your own, keep running your mouth." Ge Quan cut in flatly, and Ji Wunian shut up real quick.

Fan Er had been waiting up top forever, about ready to jump down himself. Then came noise from the cliff, and Ge Quan vaulted up with Fang Jinrong on his back. "Watch Rong'er for me."

He set Fang Jinrong down, hopped back down, and in no time came up hauling a tall woman.

Fan Er glared at her through gritted teeth. "Ji Wunian, you really made me hunt all over for you."

Ji Wunian tried to duck behind Ge Quan, but he sidestepped, leaving her to take Fan Er's heat solo. She mumbled sheepishly, "Bro, it's a misunderstanding! Total misunderstanding!"

The crew finally made it down to the village at the mountain's base, and it was damn near dawn.

Hong Ying used silver to rent a room from a farming family. Fang Jinrong and Fan Xue lay on the bed catching up on sleep, while the rest, being martial artists, each sat on chairs to rest.

Throughout the journey, Fan Er had held back for Ge Quan's sake, but now that the surroundings were quiet, he finally couldn't contain himself and demanded harshly, "Ji Wunian, why did you poison my boss!"

Ji Wunian wasn't about to take that blame. She spoke in a rough voice with a northern accent, "What do you mean I poisoned him! I went out of my way to your crappy gang to cure your boss, and instead of thanking me, you dare to wrong me!" With Fan Er, she wasn't nearly as polite as she was with Ge Quan.

Hong Ying was more observant. She studied Ji Wunian's expression carefully and saw that her gaze was sharp and unwavering, not like someone lying. She gently shook her head at Fan Er.

The Green Gang leader had indeed been cured, and Ji Wunian had been courteously escorted out the front door—only for the leader to drop dead right after. It had all happened too suddenly, and with everyone being a bunch of hotheads, no one had really thought it through. Fan Er's purpose in coming was to get the truth. He calmed himself and asked again, "Then how exactly did my boss die?"

Ji Wunian's brain wasn't much sharper than Fan Er's. She clutched her head, messing up her long hair. "Yes, I admit I was careless back then. He actually had two layers of deadly poison counteracting each other. I only neutralized one and thought all was well. Who could have guessed that without the suppressant, the other poison would take effect immediately!"

Fan Er stood up, stunned. "How could that be!" He had considered many possibilities, but never that his boss had been poisoned with two layers from the start.

"In any case, both poisons are extremely rare. Even if I hadn't coincidentally dealt with one of them, your boss's death was only a matter of time." Ji Wunian felt somewhat guilty. At the time, she hadn't figured out how the Green Gang leader had died—she only understood the cause later while on the run. She certainly didn't want to admit that her medical skills weren't top-notch and that she'd made such a serious mistake, or how would she continue to make a living in the martial world?

Ge Quan sat by Fang Jinrong's side, tucking in his blanket. "So the question still comes back to the same point—how was the leader poisoned in the first place?"

The Green Gang members had already gone over this several times. Hong Ying remembered it well. "My boss had two mortal enemies—one has gone missing, and the other is far away in the northwest. As for factions with grudges against the Green Gang, there are three: the Yangzhou Canal Gang, the Beihai Blue Sea Gang, and the martial sect Hundred Refinements Gate."

It was a mess with no way to trace it, so the Green Gang could only grab onto Ji Wunian as their closest lead, trying to get something useful out of her. Fan Er slumped in dejection.

Ge Quan pondered for a long while. "Setting aside mortal enemies for now—the Green Gang's business revolves around river transport. Why not spend some silver at the Yangzhou Canal Transport Office to ask around?"

Martial artists tend to act straightforwardly. Even with mortal enemies, unless one's parents and family had been killed, they still preferred to fight openly and honorably. The Green Gang dealt most with water transport, meaning they had the most contact with the government. The most likely scenario was that they'd offended someone in business or gotten in someone's way.

"Then I'll go back to Yangzhou and ask." That was all they could do. Fan Er wearily wiped his face.

The misunderstanding between Ji Wunian and the Green Gang was barely resolved through Ge Quan's "mediation." Next came his own business. Ge Quan said to Ji Wunian, "The reason I came to find you is to ask you to accompany me to the northwest."

Ji Wunian was puzzled. "Why does everyone want to go to the northwest?"

"Who else is going to the northwest?" Ge Quan asked in return.

Ji Wunian, thinking about her medicine chest left at the inn in town, said, "Plenty of people. Haven't you heard about it on your way to Yangzhou?"

Ge Quan shook his head. He had only recently arrived in Yangzhou and hadn't had the chance to go out and gather information. The only martial sect he'd had contact with was the Green Gang.

Fan Er, hearing them mention the northwest, chimed in, "She's probably talking about the treasure that's supposedly appeared at the old site of the Tuyuhun in the northwest."

Ge Quan grew more confused. "What is this Tuyuhun old site?"

Ji Wunian and Fan Er couldn't quite say either, only knowing that recent rumors among jianghu wanderers said that Tuyuhun was an ancient kingdom in the Western Regions, whose king had once lived to the ripe old age of two hundred, and whose land was packed with countless treasures, the most famous being the Red Cloud Pill, which could bring the dying back to life and extend one's lifespan.

Powerful martial arts manuals would draw jianghu wanderers like moths to a flame, and elixirs that extended lifespan would be like a new lease on life for a bunch of highly respected old-timers. They wouldn't have to go themselves—their disciples would fight for it for them.

Jin Rong slept in until nearly noon, and by then he was the only one left in bed. The smell of stewed meat drifted up his nose, and Jin Rong gulped, holding his stomach as he climbed out of bed.

"Oh, you're awake." Ji Wunian came in from outside carrying a medicine box, her voice still loud, startling Jin Rong, who had just woken up.

Jin Rong shot her a look. "Not awake."

Ji Wunian raised an eyebrow. "If you're not awake, how are you standing up?"

"Sleepwalking." Jin Rong grabbed the wooden basin in the room and headed out to the courtyard to wash up.

Ge Quan was in the courtyard and instinctively stepped inside when he heard Jin Rong and Ji Wunian talking, but then stopped at the doorway for some reason. Jin Rong rushed out in a flurry and nearly collided with him standing there like a door god. Looking up, he met Ge Quan's affectionate phoenix eyes. At that moment, Jin Rong couldn't yet read the emotion in them, but being looked at like that made his face feel hot.

The group ate at the farmer's place, left some silver, and headed straight back to Yangzhou.

Fan Er and Hong Ying would first inform their gang members of the news from Ji Wunian, then find a way to inquire at the Cao Yun Office. Ge Quan, meanwhile, would first take his employer home.

Fan Xue's home was in an unremarkable alley in Yangzhou Prefecture, a modest two-courtyard house, neatly kept. The family must have been fairly well-off, or they wouldn't have spent silver to put a bounty on their missing xiaoge.

"Father! Mother! Big brother!" Fan Xue's voice trembled as he pushed the door open and walked in.

But there was no response.

"Where is everyone?" Fan Xue ran to the back courtyard to look around, and then Ge Quan, Jin Rong, and Ji Wunian heard a heart-wrenching cry.

The three rushed to the back courtyard and saw a ginkgo tree in the middle, its withered yellow leaves drifting down onto the tops of two new graves beneath it. Fan Xue knelt before the graves, sobbing uncontrollably.

Fan Xue's parents had passed away. He only found a letter left by his brother in the room, saying he had gone after the enemy to a place called Lü City.

The young man, who had suddenly lost both parents, was overwhelmed by grief and confusion. He had once thought being captured was the most helpless moment of his life, but little did he expect that after being rescued and brought home, an even more despairing situation awaited him.

Even someone as carefree as Jin Rong felt pity and sympathy for Fan Xue at the sight.

"How about we leave him some silver?" Jin Rong grabbed Ge Quan's arm.

Whether it was his intimate gesture or the "we" in his words, it delighted Ge Quan. He didn't mind at all that he hadn't earned the reward and was instead spending his own money, and readily agreed. "Alright, I still have a few dozen taels of silver notes on me; I'll leave them all for him."

"I don't want to stay." Fan Xue turned around at their words, wiped his tears, and said resolutely, "Benefactor, I know my brother entrusted you to rescue me. Could I beg you to take me to Lü City to find him? I'll make sure he repays you double the silver."

"Lü City isn't far from Jin City," Ji Wunian mused. "It wouldn't be a problem to drop him off there on the way."

Ge Quan hated trouble the most and frowned at the suggestion. "Then you'll look after him along the way?"

Ji Wunian fell silent. She was all talk and no action; taking care of someone was not something she'd agree to.

"Benefactor!" Fan Xue knelt before his parents' graves, pleading with Ge Quan. His beautiful eyes were filled with tears, like glass beads drenched in rain, radiating a fragile yet persistent quality that made one's heart tremble. When Ge Quan met his gaze, he suddenly noticed a faint hint of blue in his eyes.

Seeing Ge Quan studying him closely, Fan Xue's eyes held not only entreaty but also a trace of something else. "I know I'll be a burden, but my parents just passed, and it's just me and my brother now. I can't lose him too... Please, take me to find him. I can do any work along the way; I won't hold you back."

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