Chapter 5: Negotiation

Sure enough, Mu Feng picked up a wooden stick and quickly attacked the wild wolf.

Seeing the attack from the prey, the wolf jumped up and bit fiercely.

The wild wolf opened his ferocious mouth and bit one of Mu Feng's arm. Mu Feng suffered from pain, and hurriedly gathered his internal strength on the stick, and slammed it at the wild wolf's head.

With a sound of "ka cha*!", the wooden stick was broken, and the wolf was just beaten and lay on the ground.

* 咔擦(kā cā); It's onomatopeia, which describe the sound of things breaking, such as the sound of pen tip, chopsticks, etc. when it breaks.

The wild wolf lay on the ground and howled fiercely. It bared it fangs at Mu Feng. Immediately, he got up and jumped into the grass a few meters away from Mu Feng to hide.

Mu Feng didn't expect this wild wolf to be so ferocious, it was hurt by his internal strength, and it still could get up.

Although he had only used two levels of power, but he pulled the wound on his body and the original injury become more serious.

If he couldn't kill this wild wolf with a single blow, perhaps he would no longer have any strength to continue fighting with it.

He knew that the wolf was just hiding, not fleeing. He was attentively waiting for the wolf to strike again. This time, he must kill it with one blow.

But after waiting for a while, the wild wolf not likely to make any movements.

The wild wolf was hiding in the grass, with eyes fixed on Mu Feng. It wanted to attack him, but it was a little timid, so it instantly shifted the target of the attack and ran to Liu Jin quickly.

When Liu Jin saw this, her heart trembled and hurriedly ran away.

But with her speed, how can she beat a wild wolf.

Soon, she was thrown to the ground by the wolf.

"Ah!" Liu Jin was pressed on the ground and couldn't move, with both hands tightly resisting the big mouth that was close at hand.

She gritted her teeth and tried her best to break free from the wolf's claws.

She can't die, absolutely can't die!

She hasn't gotten revenge yet!

She hasn't let her mother live a prosperous life!

Watching this scene, Mu Feng's eyebrows tightened, and he walked quickly towards Liu Jin.

When he passed the back basket, he found a sickle inside, quickly picked it up, and chopped it towards the wolf's neck.

With this one cut, he had exhausted all his strength, just saw that the wild wolf's head let out a squeaked* sound, and it was chopped off by the sickle, fell to the ground.

* 咯吱(Gēzhī); (onom.) creakgroan

The blood of the wild wolf sprayed into Liu Jin's face, making her vision blurred.

She wiped off the blood and looked at Mu Feng in disbelieved. She was not dead, it was him who saved her.

Mu Feng stood there, spitting out a mouthful of blood, his body was shaky like autumn leaves.

Liu Jin hurriedly went to support him.

"Gong Zi*, how are you doing?" Liu Jin asked worriedly.

* 公子(Gōngzǐ); son of an official; son of nobility; your son (honorific).

Mu Feng was lying on Liu Jin's body, and said weakly, "Won't die."

The corner of Liu Jin's mouth twitched, this person's words were really...cold.

But looking at his serious injury, she won't argue with him.

"Gong Zi, the wound on your body has been bleeding. I'll send you to the county town to see the doctor ba." Liu Jin suggested.

Mu Feng shook his head, "No, I can't go to the county town for the time being. You help me go to your house to heal my wounds."

He didn't know if the assassin of that cheap woman was in the county town at this time. If it was, wouldn't he tread in dangerous ground*?

* 羊入虎口(yáng rù hǔ kǒu); lit. a lamb in a tiger's den (idiom); fig. to tread dangerous ground

Liu Jin was taken aback, he was going to go her house to heal his injuries?

How can this work!

He saved her, and she thanked him from the bottom of her heart.

But it was really impossible to let her take him in to recuperate in her house!

She and her mother were the only two in her family. Her mother was also a widow. If he were to be taken in, people in the village would probably gossiped about them.

She didn't want her mother to be like in her previous life, to be talked about and being pointed at.

Besides, she didn't know his identity at all, and if she took him back, it will definitely bring a murderous disasters to herself and her mother.

It was small matter she lost her life, but her mother?

She was not alone now, so she must be considerate when making any decision.

"Gongzi, my house is really inconvenient." Liu Jin politely refused.

Hearing this, Mu Feng had already guessed what she was thinking, and a sneered at the corner of his mouth: "You are afraid that taking me home will bring you a murderous calamity. Are you not afraid that I will kill you now?"

Liu Jin was taken aback, a touch of astonishment appeared on her face, but in an instant, the astonishment disappeared. She said with certainty: "You won't."

Mu Feng snorted coldly, "Really? How can you be so sure?"

"If you wanted to kill me, you wouldn't have tried to rescue me just now." Liu Jin replied.

Mu Feng said with a vague smile*: "You are right. I didn't want to kill you just now, but now it's not necessarily."

* 似笑非笑( sì xiào fēixiào); like a smile yet not a smile (idiom)

After speaking, he left her body, raised his hand to seal several acupuncture points on his body, so that blood no longer flowed from the wound.

Liu Jin frowned, with a hint of coldness in her voice: "If gongzi kills me, perhaps you will really die in this deserted mountain."

Her words surprised Mu Feng, he didn't expect this seemingly ordinary peasant girl to be a bit smart.

That's right, killing her at this time, he was indeed unable to leave here, he can only stayed here to treat his injury, and wait until the injury has improved before he can leave.

However, whether he can survive tonight has become a problem.

There were many ferocious beasts on the mountain, and if a wolf attacked again at night, he would really become the food in the wolf's belly.

Seeing that the threat won't do, Mu Feng tried another way to persuade Liu Jin to take him in.

"Miss*, to tell the truth, I look like this is because I was chased by evil person. The reason why I want to go to your house to heal my wounds is to avoid those evil people." Mu Feng said while watching Liu Jin's expression, "Miss, I just saved you, it stands to reason that I asked to go to your home to recover from the injury, and it's not an exaggeration. I know you have concerns in your heart, but I assure you that as long as you are willing to take me to your home to recover from the injury, I will definitely protect the safety of you and your family."

* 姑娘(Gūniáng); girl, young woman, young lady, daughter, paternal aunt (old). I might use these alternately, depend on the situation, or would you prefer I stick to 'miss'?

Liu Jin showed hesitation on her face. He said everything for this purpose. If she refused to take him in, wouldn't she have become a person who don't know how to repay someone's kindness?

After thinking for a long time, she raised her head and looked at him, and said: "Okay, I can take you to my house to recuperate, but what you say must be counted. You must protect me and my mother, otherwise..."

She was interrupted by Mu Feng before she could finish her words.

"A nobleman's word is his bond and we clap* to swear an oath."

* 击掌(jīzhǎng); to clap one's hands; to clap each other's hands; high five

After the words were said, Mu Feng lifted up his right hand strenuously and slapped Liu Jin's palm.

Liu Jin turned around and picked up the back basket, helping Mu Feng walk down the mountain.

"Why are you so heavy?" Liu Jin was originally carrying a basket on her back. At this time, Mu Feng's entire center of gravity was almost pressed on her, making her a little bit out of breath.

Mu Feng was silent, his face was extremely painful, his lips were pale, and he didn't have the strength to answer Liu Jin's words.

Liu Jin looked up and saw the pain on Mu Feng's face, she stopped talking, endured the heavy pressure, and carefully supported him to walk.

It was much harder to go down the mountain than to go up the mountain, following the slopes, the two of them took a lot of effort to get out of the mountain.

Wang Shi, who was working in the field, saw Liu Jin helping a man down from the mountain, her eyes were full of surprise.

"Jin yatou*, who is this? Why is the whole body covered with blood?" Wang Shi put down the hoe in her hand and asked in surprise.

* Raw 丫头; girl/servant girl, a term of endearment(in this case), but this also sometime used deprecatingly.

Liu Jin knew that Wang Shi has a good character, and had always been helpful to her family, so she stopped and replied, "Aunt Wang, I also don't know who he is. I saw him being bitten by a wild wolf and lying beside the river. So I just saved him."