The two of them finally arrived in front of a wooden house. Hung Yu Fei got off the horse and carefully examined the house. It was a two-storey building, but it looked old on the outside and didn’t seem very clean.
“Sir, miss, this is the wooden house that belongs to our village chief. It’s usually used for overnight stays,” said the guard, being a proper guide to the visitors. He had a perverted look in his eyes as he said, “The chief’s daughter is usually the one who’s responsible for managing the house. She’s a goddess. The most beautiful woman in the village. Sir, you should keep a lookout for her as well…”
The guard seemed to know it was a little inappropriate for someone his age to lust after a young girl, so he quickly fixed his expression after a few seconds. He pointed at a small wooden hut beside the house and said, “Sir, there’s a stable over there. You can tie your horse there and it will be safe from the snow.”
After hearing that, Wun Fan tied the horse to the stable and carefully shut the fence. He pulled out a silver coin from his ring and flicked it into the guard’s hand with one finger. The guard was incredibly grateful for Wun Fan’s generosity. He didn’t expect to be tipped a whole silver coin just for showing them the way. A silver coin was quite a lot of money for people in this small village.
“Thank you, sir. You are truly an exceptional individual of generous means,” said the guard with gleaming eyes. He flattered Wun Fan with all he had. It was hard to imagine a middle-aged man being so subservient to an eleven-year-old boy.
Of course, it wasn’t that Wun Fan was particularly generous. Rather, the smallest denomination he had on him was silver coins.
He gave the guard a few more instructions and waved his hand to send him away.
Hung Yu Fei hadn’t waited for Wun Fan at all. She dashed into the house while he was still talking with the guard. She flung her legs and threw the snow boots off of her feet, leaving them outside the house. She took out a pair of slipper from her ring and put them on instead, making sure to keep the inside of the house clean.
The inside of the house was very ordinary. The furniture wasn’t expensive, but it wasn’t old or decaying either. She sniffed around and smelled nothing weird. The window in the living room had been opened, causing to draft to blow in when she opened the door. The room was well-ventilated and very comfortable. She touched the walls and realized that it was completely spotless. It seemed like the owner of this house worked hard to keep this place clean.
She saw stairs that led up to the first floor on her left. Hung Yu Fei quickly walked up and found two rooms on the first floor, one on each side of the building. Their rooms faced each other. Hung Yu Fei thought for a moment and picked the room with a window view of a few small trees. She then lay down on the bed and closed her eyes with a moan, “Aaaaah…so comfy. Having a bed is the best feeling ever. Sleeping in a carriage was so bad on my back.”
Hung Yu Fei lay on the bed for a long while and almost fell asleep. Suddenly, she heard Wun Fan’s voice coming from downstairs, “Hey, idiot! Do you want dinner or not?”
“Who’s an idiot?!” cried Hung Yu Fei as her eyes opened wide in anger. Her drowsiness was gone in an instant. She leapt out of bed and stormed downstairs. She pointed at Wun Fan, who was sitting on a bench in the living room and said, “I have a name and it’s Hung Yu Fei! If you don’t want to call me by my name, you can call me Miss Hung, Lady Hung or even Sis Fei!”
“Hmph! So rude,” said Hung Yu Fei as she glared at Wun Fan angrily. However, she spotted the steaming dishes on the table out of the corner of her eyes and immediately sat down. She didn’t care about table manners and started sniffing the food. She exclaimed, “Wow! I’m gonna dig in.”
“Feel free to dig in, Miss Hung,” said another voice.
Hung Yu Fei’s attention had been focused on the dining table. She hadn’t noticed a girl standing beside her at all. It was Ho Siu Nam, whom she just met this morning!
She had been standing there quietly and completely escaped Hung Yu Fei’s notice. Hung Yu Fei was surprised by her.
“Oh, it’s you? You came?” said Hung Yu Fei as she patted her chest to calm herself down. Wun Fan immediately came in with a snide remark, “You should stop patting your chest. Any more and there will be nothing left there.”
Hung Yu Fei smiled confidently and said, “What’s a kid like you know? My figure is a lot better than you can ever imagine.”
“Heh,” scoffed Wun Fan disdainfully. His mocking expression annoyed Hung Yu Fei to no end.
The two of them were about to start arguing again, but Ho Siu Nam interrupted them. She invited the two of them to sit down and said, “Why don’t the two of you have dinner first? I’m sure you’re tired after travelling for an entire day. I made these dishes myself. It’s best to enjoy them while they’re warm.”
Wun Fan glanced at the dishes on the table. There was meat, vegetables and a large bowl of soup. It was an ordinary meal for most households. Of course, it was nothing compared to Wun Siu Lan’s cooking.
He couldn’t help but miss her cooking.
The two of them agreed to a temporary truce and tore into the food, devouring every morsel.
It is rude to talk at the dinner table. However, it was their first time in this village and it was best to get some more information.
The two of them talked with the girl and found out that Ho Village was only three hours away from the outermost outskirts of Green Sea Forest. If they got up early tomorrow, they might be able to reach the Martial Artist Guild by lunchtime.
However, Wun Fan didn’t even need to use his brain to figure out that Hung Yu Fei wouldn’t be able to wake up early. So, he dismissed the thought of reaching by noon. Wun Fan also learned that the wooden house they were staying in belonged to Ho Siu Nam’s father, the current chief of Ho Village. That meant that Ho Siu Nam was the beauty of the village that the guard mentioned earlier.
At the thought of this, Wun Fan couldn’t help but take a closer look at Ho Siu Nam. Ho Siu Nam did indeed look quite beautiful. She had a pretty face with delicate features and bright, clear eyes. Even the rough hemp clothes that she wore couldn’t hide her beauty.
That said, she was still not the most beautiful woman he had seen. In particular, there were quite a lot of freckles on her face.
Ho Siu Nam felt a little unnerved by Wun Fan’s gaze and said weakly, “Sir, do I have dirt on my face?”
Wun Fan’s actions had been noticed, but he didn’t feel awkward at all. He continued looking with clear, innocent eyes and said, “It’s nothing. The guard earlier said the daughter of the village chief was a goddess. I didn’t have a chance to take a good look this morning, so I’m making up for it now.”
Ho Siu Nam blushed and looked away shyly when she heard this. She didn’t expect Wun Fan to be so direct. She replied embarrassedly, “You are exaggerating, sir. I’m just a peasant girl. I don’t deserve to be called a goddess.”
“Mm, you are indeed not a goddess,” said Wun Fan. The sudden turn of events left Ho Siu Nam stunned. How had this young boy’s attitude changed at the snap of a finger?
“Tsk, little boy, is hitting on girls all you learned in school?” said Hung Yu Fei bluntly. She was clearly dissatisfied with the difference in Wun Fan’s attitude toward Ho Siu Nam and herself. She slammed the table and pointed at Wun Fan as she said, “Little boy, if it wasn’t for the good relations between the Hung Clan and the Wun Clan, I would have beat you up already. Hmph!”
Wun Fan gave Hung Yu Fei side-eye. He couldn’t even be bothered to reply to her and chose to ignore her instead. Hung Yu Fei started growling in response. Wun Fan was very curious. If Old Lei were to attack her, would she have any chance of defending herself?
“Wun…Hung…could the two of you be members of the four major clans?” said Ho Siu Nam. She had been muttering their names to herself and suddenly thought of the four major clans. She immediately sprang to her feet and bowed deeply to the two of them, trying to be as respectful as she could.
“Heheh, that’s right!” said Hung Yu Fei as she nodded her head proudly. Meanwhile, Wun Fan replied casually, “Mm, but don’t feel any pressure. Just act like you did earlier.”
Wun Fan knew that it would be difficult for Ho Siu Nam to treat them normally like before, but he tried to put her at ease anyway. Hung Yu Fei quickly finished her food. She wiped her mouth and stretched as she said, “Siu Nam, I want a warm bath. Help me draw some water to my room on the first floor.”
Ho Siu Nam seemed to be at a loss as she said, “Miss Hung, people in our village rarely bathe with warm water. We typically take cold baths even in winter. So…”
It was true that people rarely took warm baths in the village. Setting aside the lumber that they would need to use, cold baths were also better for strengthening one’s body. Moreover, to Ho Siu Nam’s knowledge, most martial artists who stayed overnight in the village didn’t take baths at all. As such, she had never run into a request like this.
Wun Fan was waiting for Hung Yu Fei to blow up and throw a tantrum. To his surprise, the girl said calmly, “Never mind then. Just bring me a bucket of cold water.”
“Yes, miss,” said Ho Siu Nam. She left the house and soon returned with a large barrel full of cold water. The barrel wasn’t light at all, but in Heaven’s Martial World, even ordinary people were exposed to aether. Thus, their bodies were stronger than people on Earth.
That was why even a girl like Ho Siu Nam had the strength of a first-level Martial Disciple. Moving the barrel was no big deal.
She placed the barrel in Hung Yu Fei’s room. Wun Fan grew curious and followed her into the room. He saw Hung Yu Fei take out a paper packet. She opened it in front of the two of them and revealed some fine red powder.
“Heh,” said Hung Yu Fei as she put her hands on her hips and gloated, “This is red ore powder, specially prepared for me so that I can take a warm bath at any time. Just pour it into water and it will heat up. The heat lasts for up to two hours.”
Neither Wun Fan nor Ho Siu Nam had seen this powder before. Ho Siu Nam was more excitable than Wun Fan and couldn’t help but marvel and be in awe of this strange powder. Hung Yu Fei felt very gratified and proud.
“Little boy, do you want to take a warm bath with me?” she said.279Please respect copyright.PENANATZyLdp3vJs