Chapter 103 Paying A Visit
Ni Yinghong carried a meal box in her hand, and she unpacked the food one by one in the courtyard.
There was not much as she only brought a small bowl of porridge and some pickles, but the tempting aroma from them almost made Ou Yangming swallow his own tongue.
Ou Yangming looked at Ni Yinghong strangely as he asked, “Brother Ni, why did you bring these here?”
Ni Yinghong smiled rather proudly and said, “I’m adept in Mystery Art. I know that you’re awake after counting with my fingers, so I was well-prepared!”
Ou Yangming looked at her dubiously. ‘Perhaps this strange genius can really achieve that.’
Ni Yinghong twitched her mouth as she felt uneasy being stared at by Ou Yangming’s unrestrained eyes. “Okay, I’ll tell you the truth. Our family’s medical elder said that you’ll be awake soon, so I prepared these for you.”
“Your family’s elder?” Ou Yangming was taken aback. “Ah, young masters like you are really extravagant. Why do you have to bring an elder, who’s adept in medical skills, from the prefecture to the camp…”.
Ni Yinghong’s face changed for a split second, and she pretended like she was going to pack the food back into the meal box. “Do you want to eat them? They’re getting cold, so if you don’t want to eat them, I’ll take them away.”
“I’ll eat them, why won’t I eat them! I’d rather die on a full stomach than starve to death!” Ou Yangming quickly responded. He took the bowl of porridge and tilted his head backward to swallow the food hurriedly. Following that, he gobbled up the pickles on the small plate and commented while he chewed, “They taste good, but they’re a little salty.”
Seeing how he looked like a starved ghost that had just been reborn, Ni Yinghong was both amused and annoyed. “The prickles are meant to be eaten together with the porridge, so of course they’re salty if you eat them like a snack!”
COM
“The porridge was good, but there wasn’t much. That said…” Ou Yangming rubbed his tummy as he remarked. He pouted his lips and looked like he did not have enough, so he continued, “The porridge was really good, it tastes more delicious than the ones made from the kitchen!”
Ni Yinghong said to herself, ‘You’ve just woken up after three days and three nights, so you mustn’t eat oily food on an empty stomach. The porridge was specially made for you, which contained many restoratives. It’s considered a medicinal food, so of course, its taste can’t be compared to a normal bowl of porridge that’s cooked in a big pot.
Ou Yangming still looked like he was starving after he devoured the pickles. His eyes wandered about before he asked brazenly, “Brother Ni, do you have more?”
Ni Yinghong answered without any hesitation, “The elder said that you can only have some to fill your stomach since you’ve just awakened. You can’t eat too much!”
“Okay then.” Ou Yangming spread out his hands in despair. He later looked up at the sky and said, “Ah, the weather is beautiful, I’d like to go out for a walk so as to not waste my life away…”
However, his view was blocked as soon as he took a step forward. Ni Yinghong blocked his path and smiled faintly at him.
Ou Yangming asked in guilt, “Brother Ni, what are you doing?”
Ni Yinghong sneered. “You’re planning to look at the fine view in the kitchen, aren’t you?”
Ou Yangming could not help but feel abashed that his thought was instantly perceived. In actuality, he understood that a person in poor health could not consume too many restoratives and that he could not overeat after waking up from a long sleep.
Ni Yinghong was doing this for his own good.
Needless to say, if someone else had done the same, Ou Yangming might actually ignore the kind gesture and would perhaps leave with a dark face. After all, he was no longer the person he was before. In particular, the seven days spent trying to kill Zhang Yinli were like seven days of training that steeled him in becoming sharper and shrewder.
Nonetheless, Ou Yangming could not treat Ni Yinghong fiercely.
This was because he could never forget what Ni Yinghong had done for him throughout the appraisal task.
If Ni Yinghong had not helped him covertly by revealing some appraisal art knacks through conversations and encouraged Zheng Ziwen to perform the art numerous times, Ou Yangming could not have grasped the unique ability.
Due to the friendship shared, Ou Yangming would dismiss with a laugh if Ni Yinghong actually offended him seriously, let alone if she restricted him from eating and drinking anything he wanted.
Afterward, Ni Yinghong furrowed her eyebrows slightly when soft knocks were heard on the door. She seemed to be displeased, whereas Ou Yangming’s eyes lit up. He was feeling troubled about having to reply to Ni Yinghong, hence the knocks were undoubtedly the best way for him to get away.
He quickly hurried to the door while saying, “Someone’s here, I’ll go open the door!”
Ou Yangming was stunned when he opened the door because Fang Yihai and Xiaoxiao Sheng were outside, as well as Captain Yu Hailiang from the South Camp’s Guards, who was standing behind them.
Nevertheless, Ou Yangming only took a quick glance at them because he soon fixed his gaze on the wooden box carried by Yu Hailiang.
Although the box was of a different style from the one brought by Ni Yinghong, Ou Yangming could not care less about its appearance because he was starving; he only needed something to fill his tummy.
After welcoming the three men with a bright smile, he asked in a friendly manner, “Gentlemen, why have you come all the way here?”
Ou Yangming obviously knew they were here to convey their greetings, and he wanted to quickly exchange the pleasantries so that he could shovel down the food.
“Brother Ou, the attack took place because of my lack of consideration. Ah, you almost got killed, it’s all my fault,” Fang Yihai expressed after clearing his throat, then stood up to bow at Ou Yangming.
Ou Yangming’s face quickly changed. The man was the South Camp’s commanding general, who had an extremely noble status in the camp as he was only second to Deng Zhicai. On the contrary, Ou Yangming was only a Military Fire Blacksmith. Even though he had been performing greatly of late, as a simple man, he never intended to be a dominant character. Therefore, Ou Yangming panicked when the general humbled himself to extend a formal apology to him.
At the very least, Ou Yangming was no longer aggrieved and suspicious.
On the other hand, Ni Yinghong, who was watching coldly aside, sighed. ‘When you know what happened, you won’t be thinking that way anymore.’
Once the two men sat down again, Fang Yihai gestured to Yu Hailiang with a wave to present the box to Ou Yangming.
Ou Yangming’s eyes glowed and he thought, ‘You should’ve given it to me long ago. Isn’t it tiring to beat around the bush? I’m starving already!’
However, Fang Yihai said with a stern face, “This incident was caused by me, so I must give you an explanation.”
He asked in all seriousness, “Brother Ou, can you please take a look and tell me if you’re satisfied?”
Ou Yangming was dumbfounded. ‘What does he mean?’
When he noticed the grim expression on the three men’s faces, he somewhat guessed that the wooden box did not contain any food.
After pondering for a while, Ou Yangming moved forward to open the box. Once he saw what was inside, his stomach jerked such that he almost vomited the hot porridge that he ate.
Sure enough, no food was found in the wooden box as it contained a person’s head instead. While the head was not bloody, nobody would feel comfortable after being presented with a person’s head.
Ou Yangming was no longer hungry at all. Even if delicious dishes were placed in front of him at the moment, he could not bring himself to swallow any food.
That being said, he had personally killed someone, chopped his enemy’s head off, and cut the person’s body into pieces. He was more courageous than he was before, so he uttered after identifying who it was, “Zhang Yinfan…”
“Yes, Zhang Yinfan is the culprit behind everything,” Fang Yinhai said with a deep voice, “I guarantee that this matter has come to an end, and nobody will cause you trouble anymore!”
Ou Yangming asked after some thought, “I heard that the Zhang family is quite formidable in the capital?”
Fang Yihai could not help but laugh. “The capital is the capital while the prefecture is the prefecture. No matter who comes to the prefecture, we’ll make sure they bear all the consequences!”
As the saying went, a mighty dragon could not crush a snake in its old haunts. Being one of the well-known tyrants in the prefecture, Fang Yihai could definitely afford to say something like that.
Ou Yangming slowly closed the wooden box and said, “Since you’re so certain, General Fang, the case is closed.”
He understood what the general meant. The Zhang family could never set foot in the military camp anymore, and the Fang family would remember this lesson from now on. Nonetheless, if Ou Yangming was still not resigned to the outcome and wanted to take revenge on the Zhang family in the capital, the Fang family’s hands were tied.
As said by Fang Yihai, a local snake in the prefecture was authoritative enough to suppress a mighty dragon from the outside, but once he was outside his territory, he would be rootless duckweed that would not be feared.
It was evident that Fang Yihai was relieved. He glanced meaningfully at Ni Yinghong before he assured, “Brother Ou, don’t worry, Zhang Yinfan was sentenced to death. Before he died, he was crippled by our furious brothers from the South Camp, so much so that he couldn’t talk anymore.”
Ou Yangming suddenly looked up and curled his lips into a smile. “I understand, thank you, general.”
Ni Yinghong raised her eyebrows and sneered. ‘Fang Yihai is obviously being ironic, I wonder what Zhang Yinfan has told him, but since he said that, it’s clear that he’s determined to keep the secret hidden forever.’
Xiaoxiao Sheng expressed all of a sudden, “Master Ou, there’s something that I couldn’t figure out, so I’d like to inquire about it.”
Ou Yangming dared not be negligent, so he quickly replied to him, “Senior Xiaoxiao Sheng, please.”
“I’d like to know how exactly Zhang Yinli died in the forest. Who killed him?” Xiaoxiao Sheng asked seriously.
“What do you think?” Ou Yangming hesitated before he replied with another question.
Xiaoxiao Sheng responded slowly, “When I arrived at the scene, though Zhang Yinli’s corpse was already devoured by the wild beasts in the forest, I could at least deduce that his body was chopped into pieces. Heh, there aren’t many people who have the ability to slice a Yang Grade powerhouse’s dead body into pieces…”
Ou Yangming answered after some thought, “Senior, I can only tell you that I was the one who killed Zhang Yinli. Please forgive me for not disclosing more information about that.”
If Ou Yangming was still the helper he was in the past, Fang Yihai could simply seize him because of what he said and could interrogate him with torture. Nevertheless, the general only smoothed things over when Ou Yangming refused to give Xiaoxiao Sheng a full explanation.
The three men left after 15 minutes.
Subsequently, Ou Yangming was faced with a pair of clear and limpid eyes when he turned around. The eyes were full of curiosity, which gave Ou Yangming a splitting headache.