The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

Lu Jing hurried to the courtyard, but he didn't see his master. Instead, he ran into a woman in a ruqun dress, who was sweeping the floor with her head down.

Lu Jing recognized her as He Shi, Zhang Sanfeng's daughter-in-law. Although He Shi came from a humble family and wasn't particularly beautiful, she was gentle, virtuous, thrifty, and filial to her elders.

Zhang Sanfeng didn't think much of his own son, but he was very satisfied with this daughter-in-law, often lamenting that his son was fortunate enough to marry such a wife.

Although anxious, Lu Jing politely greeted He Shi, but was immediately met with terrible news.

He Shi told Lu Jing that Zhang Sanfeng had received a letter this morning, apparently about an emergency concerning an old friend. After reading the letter, Zhang Sanfeng hurriedly hired a carriage and left the city, only instructing her to tell Lu Jing to continue practicing his stance and digest what he had learned previously if he came.

But Lu Jing was in no mood to practice his stance. If the problem in his body wasn't resolved, he wouldn't be able to calm down and practice. Although thanks to Qin Xiaotou's seven-strike pecking, Lu Jing's dantian distension was hardly noticeable, he couldn't just gloss over it.

What exactly was the thing in his dantian? Why did it make him stronger and block Qin Xiaotou's Crane Hand? And what about the warmth that had wandered through his meridians before? Although it felt comfortable, were there any side effects?

When Zhang Sanfeng taught him to identify acupoints, he made it very clear that many of the acupoints on the human body were very fragile and couldn't withstand reckless messing around.

Lu Jing had a belly full of questions but couldn't find anyone to answer them. He could only ask He Shi, "Did Master say when he would be back?"

"This…" A look of difficulty appeared on He Shi's face. She obviously didn't know how long her father-in-law would be gone, only saying, "My father-in-law didn't say when he would return, but in the past, he would return in three or two days if it was quick, or one or two months if it was slow."

Three or two days would be fine, but one or two months would be too long. Lu Jing didn't know if he could wait that long, but he couldn't do anything about it now. In this day and age, there were no phones or internet, so once someone left home, they were basically out of contact.

For Lu Jing, perhaps the only comforting thing was that, according to He Shi, the old master had left on a donkey, not by boat, so maybe he wasn't going too far. However, the scenery was good along the way at this time of year, and Lu Jing didn't know if his master would be reluctant to leave the beautiful scenery, and forget to return after finishing his business.

But no matter when Zhang Sanfeng came back, Lu Jing had no right to complain, because he hadn't even established a sense of qi after three months. The old man had taught him everything he needed to, and couldn't stay at home waiting for him forever. He could only blame his illness for coming at the wrong time, and it seemed he had to find another way.

Lu Jing said goodbye to He Shi with a disappointed look, and was about to leave when he ran into another group of people. Lu Jing's eyes lit up, hoping that Zhang Sanfeng had returned, having forgotten something important.

But as he scanned the faces of the eight people entering the door, he only recognized one of them as Zhang Jinming, Zhang Sanfeng's son. He didn't recognize the other seven, and they looked like they had bad intentions, sandwiching the pale-faced Zhang Jinming in the middle, as if holding him hostage.

His tone was polite enough, but this posture was clearly not for tea and a visit. Lu Jing glanced at Zhang Jinming, who was sandwiched in the crowd like a chick. The latter just lowered his head and kept his mouth shut, emitting a strong smell of alcohol, as if he had just woken up from a hangover.

When Lu Jing withdrew his gaze, he found that the group of people were all staring at him at some point.

Okay, that was normal enough. After all, there were only two people in the courtyard, and He Shi was just a woman. If the group wasn't staring at him, there was no one else to stare at.

"That's right, this is Old Master Zhang's residence, but he's not here," Lu Jing had to answer.

There was no way around it. Since they could find this place, how could they not know what it was? They were just asking out of politeness. There was no point in lying about this, especially since Zhang Jinming was in their hands.

"Is that so? Then may I ask when Old Master Zhang will be back?" The strong man with the iron rings on his arms frowned and continued.

"Good question. I'd like to know too." Lu Jing spread his hands, indicating that he couldn't help.

"… … … …"

After Lu Jing finished speaking, the courtyard fell into an eerie silence. Everyone stood in place, looking at each other, wide-eyed, and the awkward atmosphere was spreading at a visible rate, mainly because someone was being uncooperative.

Under normal circumstances, when a group of menacing martial artists broke into one's home, they would first ask what the other party was there for, especially since the group had a hostage in their hands.

He Shi's appearance was in line with everyone's normal expectations. Her eyes never left her husband, and her expression was both surprised and frightened, but as a woman, she wasn't in a convenient position to speak at this moment.

However, the only person who was in a convenient position to speak was deliberately silent.

It wasn't that Lu Jing had any objections to Zhang Jinming. After all, no matter how useless Zhang Jinming was, he was Zhang Sanfeng's only son, and Lu Jing had to call him "Brother". Of course, he didn't want to see anything happen to him, but what could he do? This matter was beyond his ability.

As an ordinary person who hadn't even established a sense of qi, he was obviously no match for this group of trained fighters. The leader's arm alone was thicker than Lu Jing's thigh. As for paying to avoid disaster, although Lu Jing had just received money, a mere hundred copper coins was clearly not enough to satisfy the appetite of this group. Since there was no way to negotiate, Lu Jing didn't ask what the other party's intentions were.

In addition, he fully learned the lesson from his previous visit to Qin Xiaotou, and tried to reduce his speech and conversation as much as possible. Who knew what he would say wrong and lead to some outrageous plot development, so Lu Jing was now very cooperative, honestly answering whatever the other party asked, and not saying anything else he shouldn't.