In the desert of Da’an county, a man with wounds all over limped towards a house. His hair was disheveled and his clothes were slashed and ragged. The blood on his body had been dried for days. He looked more than confused. His thighs and ankles were too painful for him to walk on, forcing him to pause every few steps.
After walking for an unknown number of days, he finally saw the house in this sandy world. There was smoke rising from its chimney, people walking in its yard and many horses standing in its stables. Since it was early in the morning, most customers of Longmen Inn were still sleeping. Only a few workers were busy feeding the horses and preparing food. Among them, a man called “Idiot” noticed the injured man.
Idiot was startled by the newcomer’s awesome height and the blood on his body. He thought this man must have come to take revenge on a customer, as often happened in this inn. After all, most customers here had special backgrounds. They were either tomb robbers or criminals who wanted to escape to the border areas. Just when Idiot was about to report this to Jin Xiaoyu, the injured man suddenly fell into the sand. Idiot’s mind went blank.
Longmen Inn was run by a group of gangsters. Sometimes they even sold buns made with human flesh, especially that of the customers killed by their enemies. The inn welcomed anything that was called meat.
Idiot went up and found that the man had barely any breath. As he touched the man’s strong muscles, his eyes lit up with excitement at once.
“Oh my god! If the buns are stuffed with his flesh, they would surely taste better than beef buns. Miss Jin will definitely praise me for being so smart”, Idiot thought.
He made up his mind and tried to carry the man on his shoulder. But the man was so heavy that Idiot found it hard to do it alone. Therefore, he had to go inside to ask another person for help.
…
At that moment, Idiot and Fool were staring greedily at the man lying on a large chopping board. The man had been stripped naked, revealing his full, bronze muscles. His flesh was so resilient that even their prodding fingers would bounce off.
Idiot drooled uncontrollably. Last month, they had found a body with muscles only on his chest and the meat had tasted pleasantly chewy. As such, the one this time could undoubtedly be a finer dish and be sold at a high price.
Fool urged his brother, “Hurry up! We should chop him up before he wakes.”
Idiot snorted, “He’s been badly injured. What can he do even if he wakes up?”
“What if he’s difficult to deal with?”
“I don’t think so. He’s dying.”
“Anyway, it’s time to make lunch. If we butcher him now, we’ll have meat to eat.”
“Okay!” As the chief cook, Idiot picked up two knives and went to hack away at the man’s heart.
Just then, the man’s eyes suddenly opened. He turned over immediately and evaded the first cut.
Idiot couldn’t believe his eyes. But then, he said, “Oh, you’re fast, aren’t you! But you’re my prey now. I won’t let you escape!”
After saying this, he hacked at the man with the knives again. Though seriously injured, the man maintained his strong fighting capacity. The next second, he knocked Idiot’s knives out of his hands and kicked him two meters away.
Idiot was astonished. How could a dying man have such strength? He picked up the knives and rushed at the man again. Seeing this, Fool hurried to offer help.
Once again, instinctively the man knocked Idiot and Fool to the ground in just a few seconds.
“Who dares run riot in my place?” A cold, harsh, feminine voice came from outside.
Idiot and Fool hastily asked Jin Xiaoyu for help. “Miss Jin, this man hurt us! Please help us teach him a lesson!”
“Miss Jin, please be careful. He’s very formidable.”
The man turned around and saw Jin Xiaoyu, but he did not immediately attack her.
Just then, Jin Xiaoyu also saw the man’s face and figure. Suddenly, she took on a sweet look and asked, “Oh, what an extraordinary body you have! Who are you? What’s your name? Where are you from?”
What was his name? Where was he from?
The man didn’t know. He had come a long way over a mountain before he had arrived here.
“Why don’t you talk? Are you a fool?” Getting no answer, she turned to Idiot and Fool and asked, “Who is he?”
Idiot replied, “I don’t know. He was lying in the desert alone. I guess he was escaping his enemies.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Jin Xiaoyu said angrily.
“Just let me see how formidable he is”, she thought as the man stared blankly at a corner.
The next second, she darted at the man. As she was about to succeed, the man suddenly turned to her and stretched out a hand to strangle her. But he didn’t use much strength and just looked at her quietly.
She struggled free at once and leaped to another side, planning to attack him from the rear. However, it was as if the man had eyes in his back. Without turning around, he parried her blow and gripped her wrist. When she kicked at his head, he dodged easily and grasped her ankle.
She was then held by the man in an embarrassing and humiliating posture. Irritated, she lifted another leg and swept it at him. The man dodged to one side and held her even more tightly.
She was totally pinned down. In theory, a man acting this way would then flirt with her, throw her onto the bed and do whatever he wanted on her. However, the man in front of her didn’t have such ideas. Preoccupied with his own thoughts, he just threw her aside as if she was trash.
Jin Xiaoyu became even angrier. Not a single man had ever dumped her when he’d got her!
The man ignored her and walked straight to the door. He hobbled as he felt the sharp pain from the wounds.
Why was he so powerful even with such a miserable body? Jin Xiaoyu was not weak at all!
Standing at the door, Idiot and Fool stiffened with fear as the man stumbled towards them. But taking a step out of the door, he paused and then collapsed to the ground, his eyes closed. Everyone present was stunned.
Idiot walked to him cautiously and gave him a kick. Then, he announced with excitement, “Miss Jin, he’s fainted!”
Fool suggested, “Let’s kill him before he wakes up.”
Jin Xiaoyu went up and turned the man over. She brushed away the hair on his forehead, studying his facial features carefully. He had thick brows, a straight nose, lips that were dry from dehydration, and dark skin. If his wounds were healed, he would look very handsome and glamorous.
She couldn’t help smiling at the thought. “Don’t kill him. Keep him alive.”
Idiot asked, “Why? He may kill all of us after he wakes up.”
“If he wanted to kill us, he would have done so just now.”
“But he threw you onto the ground!” Fool reminded her.
She snorted, “That was because he’s a gentleman. If he were a nasty man, he would have held me in his arms. I haven’t met a gentleman in a long time.”
Idiot and Fool exchanged confused looks at one another.
She stroked Xiao Baoshan’s face gently as she ordered, “Help him take a bath and then put him in my bedroom.”
Idiot and Fool understood her meaning at once.
Miss Jin has taken to this man and wants him to be her pet. But does she have enough charm to subdue him?
…
Xiao Baoshan slept for a long time, until the evening. He dreamed of a woman whose face was blurred. She was sometimes naughty, sometimes gentle, sometimes clingy and sometimes sulking. Besides, she was very ingenious and able to make many delicious delicacies.
Who was she? His mother? Or his sister?
When he wanted to ask who she was and who he was, he heard a feminine voice, “Are you awake? Did you sleep well?”
He opened his eyes slowly and found a woman sitting in front of him. Was she the one who had fought with him? Or the one in his dream? Or was the woman in his dream merely imagined? She didn’t exist in real life?
“Why are you looking at me that way?” Jin Xiaoyu asked with a pout. “Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?” Her voice sounded very gentle.
But when she stepped out of the bedroom, she became rather fierce. She shouted downstairs, “Mrs. Jin, bring a bowl of pork congee to my bedroom!”
After a while, a maid showed up in her bedroom with a warm bowl of congee.
Jin Xiaoyu’s voice became soft again, “I don’t know what you like to eat, so I asked the cook to make some congee in the afternoon. It’s been heated several times before you woke up.”
Xiao Baoshan looked at the bowl in her hands and then the minced meat. Suddenly, it occurred to him that he had been almost killed like a pig on the chopping board.
She knew what he was thinking and explained immediately. “Don’t worry. This is not human flesh. It’s pork. The locals seldom eat pork, so it’s not easy to get a pig here. Try some and you’ll see, I’m not cheating you. It’s delicious.”
He hadn’t eaten anything for days, and had only drank some river water. Knowing that it was not human flesh, he took the bowl and gulped the congee down in a few seconds.
She was utterly amazed by the way he enjoyed the congee which was wild but not ill-mannered. He was so tall and masculine with big hands and long fingers.
When he finished, she took the bowl and asked sweetly, “Could you tell me your name?”