In the previous life, Luo Longwen was killed when his household was raided after the Yan faction’s downfall, losing his head on the same execution block as Yan Shifan. Actually, Luo Longwen hadn’t done anything particularly heinous. On the contrary, he had risked danger by penetrating deep into the wokou nest to negotiate Xu Hai’s surrender, contributing to anti-wokou efforts.
Therefore, both publicly and privately, Wei Caiwei felt she should save his life.
Luo Longwen’s trembling hands accepted the gold bars and household registration: “May I ask Doctor He’s honored name? You’re sparing my life—I can’t not even know your real name.”
Wei Caiwei smiled bitterly: “You might not believe it, but ‘He’ is indeed my real surname. As for my given name, my father died early and didn’t have time to give me a formal name.”
Luo Longwen said: “I believe you.”
Luo Longwen shouldered simple luggage, wore a bamboo hat, and leaned on his walking stick, chanting as he walked: “Raising banners on the sea, alone claiming supremacy, for a concubine’s sake surrendering at the weapon’s gate. If ten li of heroic souls are not confused, they shall accompany you in smoke and moonlight at dusk.”
It was Wang Cuiqiao’s final poem. However, while Wang Cuiqiao died for love, Luo Longwen didn’t wish to die for his patron Yan Shifan. He boarded the Shunfeng merchant ship again, sailing smoothly to Hangzhou, and from then on disappeared without a trace.
Wei Caiwei watched Luo Longwen’s figure vanish into the rainy night. Just as she was about to turn and leave, urgent hoofbeats came from the long rain-soaked alley. Wang Daxia in red clothes on a white horse galloped over. His hair bun had become disheveled, several strands had come loose and were soaked by rain, dancing and flowing with the horse’s leaps.
They hadn’t seen each other for nearly a month—how he’d missed her. Wei Caiwei hurried to meet him. The two met on a small bridge. Wang Daxia leaped from his horse, and they embraced, treating the surrounding flames of war as fireworks.
After a brief tender moment, just as Wang Daxia was about to pour out his heart, shouts and killing sounds came from the waterway—the Qi Family Army and Yu Dayou’s forces were pursuing and surrounding the fleeing wokou.
Xinghua City had a dense network of waterways with residents living along the water. The wokou paddled small boats, desperately fleeing toward the small bridge.
Wei Caiwei immediately pushed Wang Daxia away: “Think of something—we can’t let them escape.”
Wang Daxia leaned over the railing to look. At this moment, the best method would be to blow up the bridge and block the waterway, but he had no explosives—no one carries explosives to a romantic meeting.
Wang Daxia drew his twin swords, flipped over the railing, and as the wokou boats were about to pass under the small bridge, jumped directly from the bridge!
Generals Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou rode horses along the shore pursuing the wokou. Seeing a red-clothed figure fall from the bridge, they thought it was a violated woman committing suicide by jumping into water, making them even more furious.
The moment Wang Daxia jumped onto the boat, the wokou were about to attack, but seeing his appearance, they were shocked: “It’s Madam!”
“Madam! We’re all on the same side! Why are you attacking your own people!”
“King Ming is dead—it was an inside job. We had no way to save him and could only flee first.”
Wang Daxia smiled coldly, saying nothing and offering no explanations. With two swift strokes, he harvested the heads of two rowing wokou.
Seeing Madam attack first, the wokou came to their senses—Madam was also a government spy. What a honey trap!
The wokou drew their swords and slashed at Wang Daxia.
“I always suspected this enchanting slut!”
“She was always by King Ming’s side—King Ming was probably killed by her.”
“Kill the spy! Avenge King Ming!”
Over this year under Lu Ying’s training, Wang Daxia’s martial arts had greatly improved. No longer possessing the three-legged cat skills of street brawling, every strike drew blood. His form ghosted through the narrow boat cabin like a cold-blooded killing machine, twin swords harvesting lives like lightning. The wokou fell like cut leeks.
By the time the small boat passed under the bridge, Wang Daxia had completely eliminated all eight wokou aboard. He immediately sheathed his swords, took the helm, turned the boat around, and positioned the small vessel across the waterway.
The city’s waterways were narrow, unlike the broad canal. With this small boat blocking the channel, the wokou boats behind couldn’t steer around it in time. The foremost boat crashed directly into the middle of the small vessel.
At the moment of impact, Wang Daxia on the crosswise boat sheathed his twin swords, grabbed a bamboo pole, thrust it into the riverbed mud, flipped from the boat to the riverbank, and jumped into waist-deep water. He pushed over the nearby small boat with both hands, sending the eight wokou aboard into the water.
Now both boats had capsized, completely blocking the waterway. Seeing the water route impassable, the wokou boats behind pulled ashore to escape.
The armies of Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou rode up and surrounded the wokou coming ashore. Wang Daxia also joined in with his twin swords. Wherever his red clothes went, enemies “fell” in droves. His fierce fighting prowess amazed even the battle-hardened Qi Family Army.
The red-clothed woman hadn’t jumped to commit suicide—she had jumped to kill wokou and prevent their escape by water.
Wang Daxia in red clothes, dancing with twin swords, was like a legendary rakshasa—beautiful yet terrifying. Blood made his red dress even redder. He killed one person every three steps, a string every ten steps. Wherever he went, his blade gleamed brighter than lightning, sharp as frost and electricity.
When the riverside battle ended, Wang Daxia was exhausted, his twin swords chipped with several notches.
Wang Daxia barely supported his body with the twin swords to avoid collapsing from fatigue. Wei Caiwei watched heart-poundingly from the bridge and quickly rode over to check Wang Daxia’s wounds.
Wang Daxia was utterly exhausted, his legs weak, breathing heavily. The two cotton padding pieces on his chest had absorbed rainwater, shrinking somewhat but also hardening, trembling with his breathing like two full lotus seed pods by a lake on a rainy night.
The hairpins and ornaments from his hair bun had been flung away somewhere during the fierce battle. His black hair cascaded like a waterfall to his waist. The rain pressed his clothes tightly against his body, revealing his slender waist and curved hips.
What a great beauty who killed like cutting grass.
Qi Jiguang admired him greatly and approached to ask: “May I ask the heroine’s honored name?”
Wang Daxia panted like an ox: “I… I… actually I… I am…”
Wang Daxia bent over, the two cotton padding pieces on his chest having been soaked by rain into heavy water balloons weighing at least four pounds. Finding the two water balls cumbersome, he immediately removed his outer robe and reached into his undergarment to dig out the water balls.
Qi Jiguang and his subordinates saw the red-clothed heroine undressing and touching her chest on the spot. They all froze, averting their eyes and not daring to look directly.
Wang Daxia pulled out one rain-soaked cotton padding piece, then reached in to extract the other. The two large water balls rolled gurgling from his feet all the way into the river.
Suddenly relieved of ten pounds of burden, Wang Daxia’s breathing smoothed, and he let out a comfortable sigh: “Much better now. Being a woman is really exhausting.”
Qi Jiguang suddenly remembered Lu Ying mentioning the subordinate Wang Daxia who cross-dressed and seduced King Ming. He tentatively asked: “Are you Captain Wang?”
Wang Daxia swept the two strands of long hair clinging to his cheeks behind his ears. While arranging his hair, he unconsciously raised his orchid finger and bowed to Qi Jiguang: “Precisely. This subordinate, Jinyiwei Wang Daxia, greets General Qi.”
Qi Jiguang thought: Indeed, seeing him surpasses hearing about him! Lu Ying didn’t exaggerate at all! There really exists such a male beauty who brings disaster in this world!
Wei Caiwei rode over, seeing several sword wounds on Wang Daxia’s body, her heart aching. She quickly extended her hand to Wang Daxia: “Come with me quickly to clean your wounds—you’re still bleeding.”
Wang Daxia cupped his fists toward the dumbstruck Qi Jiguang: “This subordinate takes his leave.”
After speaking, Wang Daxia leaped onto the horse, sitting behind Wei Caiwei. The two rode together on one mount, disappearing into the flames of war.
Returning home, Wei Caiwei immediately stripped Wang Daxia’s clothes, leaving him in only shorts, and stopped the bleeding and sutured his wounds. He had over a dozen injuries all over his body, with four places on his arms, chest, and right thigh where flesh had curled up.
Heaven knows how he fought with these wounds.
Wei Caiwei said: “Didn’t it hurt during the fighting?”
Wang Daxia said: “It hurt, but I couldn’t retreat. You were still on the bridge, and I knew you wouldn’t leave alone, so I simply stayed to help the Qi Family Army kill all the wokou. For this whole month, these wokou have been swaggering before my eyes—I’ve endured them for too long.”
Wei Caiwei’s heart ached as she sutured the torn flesh. Wang Daxia made no sound, letting Wei Caiwei tend to him as she pleased.
Wei Caiwei said: “If it hurts, cry out. It’s nothing serious—there’s no one else here.”
Wang Daxia lay on the cool bed, too lazy to move even a finger: “Cry out for what? Even if I scream my throat raw, no one will come save me. I might as well accept my fate. Do whatever you want—I’ve been yours for a long time anyway.”
Wei Caiwei thought: Still in the mood to joke despite being so injured—seems there’s no serious problem.
Author’s Note: Lu Bing in the underworld kicks over his coffin lid: What kind of creature did I recruit?