“Help me.” The young man saw someone approaching and immediately called out for help.

But when he saw that the person coming was Feng Jiu’er, his entire face instantly turned sour.

After a moment’s thought, however, he still lowered his voice and called out to the approaching Feng Jiu’er: “Miss, save me! This is a life-saving grace — I will certainly repay you someday!”

At a time like this, with no one else around, he had no choice but to seek help from her.

Feng Jiu’er glanced up at him once, then — this time without any response at all — stepped right past beneath him and walked on.

“Hey! Hey! How can you just leave someone to die, you — “

Abruptly, the young man spotted Nanmen Xu walking not far behind Feng Jiu’er, and immediately cried out to him: “Young Lord Xu, save me! Young Lord Xu!”

Nanmen Xu glanced up at him and likewise said nothing, continuing to follow behind Feng Jiu’er.

“Young Lord Xu, Young Lord Xu! Help me!”

Seeing that he too was about to leave, the young man truly panicked: “Young Lord Xu, as long as you rescue me, I promise that your days at the Nanmen household will be good — Young Lord Xu…”

A whooshing sound — a short blade flew out, striking directly into the rope suspending the young man’s net.

With a thud, the young man plummeted to the ground, the impact nearly splitting his lungs apart.

Nanmen Xu looked on in startled astonishment as Feng Jiu’er turned back: “My affairs are none of your concern…”

The young man in the net just now — Young Lord Yan — had been speaking of his standing within the Nanmen household.

Feng Jiu’er, however, produced a strip of silk from somewhere, walked over to Young Lord Yan’s side, and pressed down firmly on his injured foot.

Young Lord Yan let out a wretched cry and nearly lost his wits entirely: “You ugly wretch — how dare you touch this Young Lord — this Young Lord will—”

Nanmen Xu’s eyes darkened with anger: “She is your life-saving benefactor!”

Young Lord Yan’s face flushed red with indignation, but he could only glare furiously at Feng Jiu’er.

Feng Jiu’er held out the strip of silk toward him: “Come now — use the blood from your own foot and write me a promissory note. You owe Feng Jiu’er one thousand taels.”

Since he had been able to say something about making Nanmen Xu’s days within the household more comfortable, this person’s status and standing were absolutely not low.

She had saved him twice now. One thousand taels was not excessive.

“On what grounds?” Young Lord Yan huffed and turned his face away.

“On the grounds that I saved you twice, and you caused me harm once — and what you did to me just now, Nanmen Xu witnessed it with his own eyes.”

Feng Jiu’er tugged at the knotted rope of the net and smiled coldly: “If you won’t write it, that’s fine too. Don’t you believe that I could string you right back up there in an instant?”

Young Lord Yan was still tangled in the net right now. If the two of them acted against him alone — what could he do if they really did string him back up?

Though he was furious, he still wrote the promissory note. The most humiliating part of all was that the ink he had to write with was his own blood.

Feng Jiu’er retrieved the promissory note and tucked it into her bag, then picked up the short blade from the ground. A flash of the blade, and the net trapping Young Lord Yan immediately unraveled and fell apart.

She grinned, and walked away.

Nanmen Xu could not quite see through this girl. Just a moment ago she had been genuinely rescuing someone — and now she was genuinely swindling someone. Was she a good person, or a bad one?

He still walked behind her: “You saved him, and yet he felt not a shred of gratitude. Letting someone like that into the Longqi Army is nothing but inviting in a source of disaster!”

Was it really acceptable to disregard the interests of the Longqi Army just for money?

“Idiot.” Feng Jiu’er sheathed her short blade, too lazy to bother with him: “Do you really think someone like him has the ability to get into the Longqi Army?”

Dropping those words, Feng Jiu’er tapped the ground lightly beneath her feet, following the footwork the Ninth Imperial Uncle had taught her, and swiftly swept toward the mountaintop.

Nanmen Xu regarded her attitude with disdain as well. He was just about to step off in another direction when his stride suddenly pulled to an abrupt stop.

Looking again at the direction Feng Jiu’er had swept toward, he called out urgently: “Watch out!”