Chapter 141 - 105: Repaying a Favor (Part 2)
She could, of course, blame them for their negligence, but that would be pointless.
Anything more said now would be a waste of breath.
Ultimately, the one to blame for the Ye family’s calamity was Tong Wanli.
Tong Wanli was already dead, beheaded by Jiang Ran.
And so, the matter was closed.
As this thought crossed her mind, a sudden emptiness washed over her, and for a moment, she didn’t know what to do.
Just then, Jiang Ran’s gaze fell upon her, and he asked:
"Shuang’Er, what are your plans for the future?"
Ye Jingshuang glanced at Jiang Ran and suddenly smiled.
"I want to stay by your side."
At these words, everyone, including Shi Miao, turned to look at Jiang Ran.
Li Tianxin narrowed his eyes, his gaze shifting between Jiang Ran and Ye Jingshuang with an unreadable expression.
Jiang Ran, for his part, was taken aback.
"Why?"
"To repay my debt, of course."
Ye Jingshuang said softly:
"Brother Jiang, you’ve saved me from disaster time and time again. Without you, I would have died countless times over.
"And now, you’ve helped me plot and lay a trap to avenge the massacre of my family.
"With Tong Wanli’s death, I have finally answered to my parents and all the members of the Ye family who were wrongfully killed.
"I can never repay such a great debt. I want to stay by your side always, to serve you and tend to your every need as repayment."
"Miss Ye is clear about her debts and grudges. It’s admirable."
Before Jiang Ran could speak, Li Tianxin raised an eyebrow.
"However, you’ve always lived a life of luxury. You’re of noble birth.
"You can barely take care of yourself, can you? How could you possibly take care of someone else?"
"Hm?"
Ye Jingshuang gave Li Tianxin a strange look.
"Brother Li, why would you say that? No one is born knowing how to do things.
"But you can always learn, can’t you? If I’m willing to learn, is there any reason I can’t?"
Li Tianxin was silent for a moment, realizing he had no good rebuttal.
He glanced at Jiang Ran.
"Can you really bear to have such a delicate young lady at your beck and call?"
"None of your damn business."
Jiang Ran shot him a look.
"..."
Li Tianxin had the urge to draw his saber and kill someone.
After shutting Li Tianxin down, however, Jiang Ran turned to Ye Jingshuang.
"Have you really thought this through?"
"Yes."
Ye Jingshuang glanced at Jiang Ran.
"Or is it, Brother Jiang... that you don’t want to take me in?"
"That’s putting it too strongly."
Jiang Ran shook his head.
"This talk of repayment really isn’t necessary. However, if you’re suggesting we travel the Jianghu as companions... I couldn’t ask for more."
"Alright."
Ye Jingshuang didn’t dwell on whether it was about repayment or not. Hearing Jiang Ran’s words, she nodded at once.
"Then let’s travel the Jianghu as companions!"
After saying this, she didn’t forget to glance at Li Tianxin.
"See? Brother Jiang doesn’t need me to serve him. Looks like I won’t need to do all that learning."
"..."
The list of people Li Tianxin wanted to kill with his saber grew by one.
Finally, he curled his lip.
"None of my damn business..."
He then cradled his saber and huddled off to the side, turning his head to watch the raindrops outside the cave.
Liu Wenshan looked at Li Tianxin, then at Ye Jingshuang, a hint of confusion on his face.
He finally shook his head, not trying to understand it all, and simply said:
"It’s wonderful that you’ll be traveling the Jianghu together... However, before that, you should return to the Ye family estate."
Ye Jingshuang glanced at Jiang Ran, seeking his opinion.
After a moment of thought, Jiang Ran said:
"Tomorrow, I have to go somewhere else. I’ll give you an answer when I get back."
He had to go to Wenxiang Forest.
The clue about Wenxiang Forest was too obvious. It was clearly a setup—most likely a trap.
And if it was a trap, Jiang Ran had every reason to spring it.
Not only would he go, but he also had to make the Young Manor Lord go as well.
It was just that after the whole affair in the Valley of Rebirth, he figured the man would no longer trust Chang Nian.
When the time came, it would probably take some extra effort.
After that, not much else happened. Jiang Ran consulted with Ghost Thirteen, asking for the names of the people from the Heartless Ghost Mansion and whether any of them had bounties.
Ghost Thirteen was intimately familiar with this group’s background.
As he spoke, notifications began popping up one after another for Jiang Ran.
However, some of them had bounties, while others did not...
Among the eight from the Heartless Ghost Mansion, a total of four had bounties on their heads.
Specifically, Baojing for five thousand taels, Liao Chengfeng for five thousand five hundred taels, Zeng Quanli for four thousand taels, and Guan Zisheng for two thousand taels.
Baojing and Liao Chengfeng needed no introduction. Zeng Quanli was the sallow-faced man, who was also the little old man at Tiger Leaping Gorge that day.
As for Guan Zisheng, Jiang Ran had only met him once.
He was the unlucky fellow who had been thrown out of the mist earlier, only to be beheaded by Jiang Ran in a single strike.
Aside from them, there were far fewer noteworthy individuals from Heterodox Manor.
There were six of them in total.
Their bounties were small, with the highest being no more than seven hundred taels, showing they were hardly a threat.
Jin Sanding and Lady Wu, on the other hand, were not so simple. The problem was... back then, after being sent flying by Baojing’s punch, the appearance of Sovereigns Yang and Yue had captured everyone’s attention.
While Jiang Ran and Ye Jingshuang went after Tong Wanli, and with no one paying attention to those two, they had actually managed to slip away.
Thinking it over, Jiang Ran felt he had every right to curse that liability, Li Tianxin.
He had been told to stand guard, but instead, he had insisted on following him.
Fortunately, even so, Jiang Ran’s haul from this trip was still quite substantial.
It far surpassed his gains from the Heroic Assembly in Cangzhou Prefecture.
Also worth mentioning were Sovereigns Yang and Yue.
These two had no bounties on them.
At least, no one present had ever heard of them having any...