Zhou Qingmei was speechless for a long moment. The meat was drugged, so why was he still eating it?
Fang Shuwen not only ate it himself, but he also stopped Zhou Qingmei from having any.
He said to the head of the Sun family:
"My wife can't eat meat. If none of you are having any more of this, I'll be happy to finish it off."
Zhou Qingmei lowered her head, hiding her twitching expression.
'Who are you calling your wife? As if!'
But seeing how heartily he was eating, she figured he wasn't concerned about a little Sedative, so she let him be.
She had expected the head of the Sun family to insist she try some, but surprisingly, he didn't press the matter.
The meal passed with pleasant, idle chatter.
After dinner, a side room was prepared, and the head of the Sun family invited Fang Shuwen and Zhou Qingmei to rest there.
The two of them closed and bolted the door. Once on the bed, Zhou Qingmei finally looked at Fang Shuwen.
"Are you okay?"
Fang Shuwen smiled.
"A little Sedative? It can't do anything to me."
His Muscle Strengthening Scripture at the Great Perfection level might not grant him immunity to all poisons, but a mere Sedative was nothing to him.
"...Very impressive!"
Zhou Qingmei rolled her eyes at him before her expression grew serious.
"I thought they were just an ordinary family. I never expected them to put a Sedative in the food.
"From the looks of it, this family has probably done this sort of thing countless times.
"My master used to say that while people in the Jianghu have their own skills, common folk have their own methods as well.
"You can't underestimate anyone.
"I never really took it to heart before, but today was a real eye-opener."
Fang Shuwen smiled.
"People make a living with what's around them. Food is everything.
"But if they can't get enough to eat, they resort to eating passersby.
"It's not just the man, Sun, who looks simple but is actually vicious. Even his son is no ordinary child.
"His delight at seeing us was genuine.
"We're not relatives or friends, so for him to be that happy, there must be something in it for him.
"And since that benefit wasn't on the dinner table, it must be us."
During the meal, Fang Shuwen had placed a chicken leg on the boy's plate. It was his final test.
The boy didn't eat it. It wasn't because of his upbringing. The look he gave his father wasn't one of seeking permission... but a plea for help.
He obviously didn't dare to eat the drugged chicken leg, so he needed his father to bail him out.
"So what now? Do we act?"
Zhou Qingmei asked.
But Fang Shuwen shook his head.
"No need to rush. We've been through a lot; let's rest for a bit.
"Besides, I want to see what this family plans on doing."
Zhou Qingmei glanced at him.
"Why are you so curious? Fine, have it your way."
"Aren't you curious?"
"I am!"
They looked at each other and smiled. After all they had been through together on this journey, they had indeed developed a bit of a rapport.
Before arriving, Zhou Qingmei had been thinking about asking to borrow some water for a bath.
After so long in the wilderness, she couldn't stand the way she smelled.
Now she'd given up on that idea. She leaned back and fell asleep almost instantly.
Fang Shuwen glanced at her, a wry smile on his face.
As night fell, footsteps sounded outside their door.
Fang Shuwen lightly tapped Zhou Qingmei's shoulder, and she sat up instantly.
They heard someone outside start speaking in a low voice:
"The woman didn't eat. What should we do? She has a sword, so she probably knows Martial Arts."
The speaker was, surprisingly, the boy.
The voice of the head of the Sun family rang out:
"Don't worry. We've dealt with people who know Martial Arts before. Your mother knew some, didn't she? And look at her now.
"They look a mess. They must have just come out of the woods and have been through a lot.
"They probably fell asleep the second their heads hit the pillow. I have some knockout incense here. I'll blow a tube of it inside in a bit. I guarantee thunder wouldn't wake them then."
"You always have a plan, Dad."
The boy's voice was filled with joy.
Just then, the voice of the Sun family's grandfather reached their ears:
"Ah, you're still too green. You need to learn more from your father.
"That girl is quite a looker. We could keep her as a wife for my grandson."
"No."
The head of the family said:
"Pretty ones are hard to control. They just cause trouble.
"Same as always. We'll slaughter the man. Skin him, pull his tendons, scrape the flesh from his bones, and sell the meat in the city as wild boar.
"We'll sell the woman to a human trafficker. Merchandise like her can fetch a lot of silver. Then we can just buy the boy a wife, can't we?
"Do you want him to end up like me? Having to disfigure his own wife's face and break her leg and collarbone?
"If she weren't so obedient, I'd have killed her long ago. This is no way to live."
His words were filled with resentment. As he spoke, the window paper bulged slightly, and then a bamboo tube poked through.
Listening to this conversation, the faces of the two people inside the room had long since turned dark.
Fang Shuwen gestured for Zhou Qingmei to be silent. He reached out, gently pinched the bamboo tube, and covered the opening before any incense could be blown in.
They heard the father take a sharp breath, ready to blow. Suddenly, from the courtyard outside, came a BANG BANG BANG at the main gate.
The sudden noise made the trio of conspirators—grandfather, father, and son—break out in a cold sweat.
They hurriedly pulled the bamboo tube out and all looked towards the main gate.
The knocking was steady and unhurried, yet it carried an implicit threat: 'I will keep knocking until you open this door.'
The three exchanged a look. 'Who's knocking at this time of night? A ghost?'
The head of the Sun family gritted his teeth, walked forward a few steps, and called out:
"Who's there?"
He waved the other two over, gesturing for them to get away from Zhou Qingmei's window.
A sudden visitor in the middle of the night made him uneasy.
He had no idea who it could be. And judging by the knocking, it wasn't anyone normal.
He deliberately shouted loudly, pretending the knocking had woken him up, hoping to startle Zhou Qingmei awake as well.
Despite their malicious intent, they wanted to use Zhou Qingmei's Martial Arts as a safeguard for themselves.
But to his surprise, even after his shout, the knocking on the gate continued.
And from the room where Zhou Qingmei and Fang Shuwen were staying, there was still no sound at all.
'Are they really sleeping that soundly?'
The head of the family felt a pang of regret. If he had known, why would he have bothered with the knockout incense?
He had bought that stuff from a city gang, and it was damn expensive.
Just as he was wondering what to do, he heard a BOOM.
The gate had been smashed open.
Two figures stood outside, both clad in black robes. Their faces were ashen, their eyes bloodshot. Each wielded a Hooked Claw, which glinted coldly in the darkness.
The moment the three Suns—grandfather, father, and son—saw these two, their scalps went numb and they were scared out of their wits.
They thought that after all their wicked deeds, vengeful ghosts had finally come to claim their souls.
The head of the Sun family let out a cry of "Aiyee!" and turned to run back into the house.
But with a WHOOSH, a Hooked Claw on a chain shot through the air and clamped down on his neck.
With a sickening YANK, he was dragged back and fell into the grasp of one of the figures at the gate.
They heard that person speak in a sinister voice:
"Why didn't you open the door?"