The Little Demonic Cultivator in the Courtyard: Borrowing 100,000 Japanese Pirates to Heal

Jia Zhangshi was stunned.

"Your wife?" She blinked, her face scrunched up with fat. "When did you get a wife?"

"The engagement was arranged back in our hometown," Xu Jiande said without changing his expression. "Because of the chaos of war, my wife came here ahead of time. I just picked her up."

Madam Jia opened her mouth, recalling the sounds she had heard through the crack in the door.

The woman's muffled cries prompted Xu Jiande to say something like, "Just bear with it."

Having been through it all, she understood immediately.

The young couple was being affectionate inside, and he came running to bang on the door. Anyone would get scolded for doing that.

"Oh dear, well... I'm so sorry, Jiande," Jia Zhangshi said with an awkward smile, taking two steps back. "I didn't know your wife was here. When I heard the noise, I thought something had happened. You're busy, you're busy."

Xu Jiande looked at her and said, word by word, "You have indeed disturbed us."

That's really direct, quite different from the original owner's words.

Then the door was closed.

As Jia Zhangshi walked towards the public restroom, she wondered to herself: When did Xu Jiande get engaged? She'd never heard him mention it before. What's with this sudden appearance of a wife?

But then I thought, with the chaos of war, there are plenty of people fleeing, and it's not impossible that they might come from their hometowns to seek refuge here.

Besides, the taste of Xu Jiande's slap from last night was still fresh on her face, and she didn't want to be slapped again.

He spat on the ground and hurried to the public restroom.

I almost peed my pants while chatting with Xu Jiande.

……

On the other side, Xu Jiande closed the door and made sure that Jia Zhangshi's footsteps had faded into the distance before returning to his bedroom.

Bai Ling was still leaning against the headboard, her clothes were already on, her face was even paler than before, and her forehead was covered in cold sweat from the pain.

"Who is it?" Bai Ling asked.

Her voice was still a little hoarse, but much better than it had been in the park.

My left rib area still hurts, but it's much better than before.

It feels sore and tight, like muscle soreness after strenuous exercise.

"It's nothing," Xu Jiande said. "I managed to fool my neighbors in the courtyard, Jia Zhangshi and Zhang Cuihua."

Bai Ling immediately recalled Jia Zhangshi, whom Xu Jiande had introduced before, and had a preliminary impression of this person.

Afterwards, Xu Jiande checked Bai Ling's wound again and said, "Get a good night's sleep tonight, the swelling should go down by tomorrow. Don't get the wound wet for three days, and let it rest for another half month, it should be healed."

Bai Ling nodded happily. She felt that the pain in the injured area, and even in her left rib, had indeed lessened a lot, although it still hurt when she breathed deeply.

However, the food was so painful, it was definitely not just ordinary pain, it was extremely painful.

"Thank you," Bai Ling couldn't help but say.

Xu Jiande looked at Bai Ling leaning against the headboard. Although her face was still a little pale, it was better than before.

Thinking he had to leave soon, he asked, "Honey, are you hungry?"

Bai Ling glanced at him and nodded somewhat shyly.

She was really hungry.

She hasn't eaten a single grain of rice since the mission last night. Her body is even more exhausted after being injured, and she was knocked unconscious by Xu Jiande's roar just now. When she woke up, her stomach started growling, but she kept quiet about it.

I've just finished treatment and I'm really hungry.

Xu Jiande said that he had rice at home and would go make some.

Then I started washing the rice and cooking, and also stir-fried a dish.

He brought the food to the table, served Bai Ling a bowl of rice, and set out the chopsticks.

Bai Ling slowly walked out of the bedroom, her movements still a little stiff.

She sat down at the table, picked up her rice bowl, and ate in small bites at first, then gradually increased her speed.

Xu Jiande also filled a bowl and sat down to eat. Neither of them spoke; the only sounds in the room were the clinking of chopsticks against bowls and the occasional chewing.

It has a similar meaning to the saying "one should not speak while eating".

The meal was eaten very quickly; in less than fifteen minutes, all the food was gone.

Xu Jiande put down his bowl and said to Bai Ling, "I still have some things to take care of, so I have to go out for a bit, otherwise it will be quite troublesome."

Bai Ling raised her head, wiped her mouth, and a knowing look flashed in her eyes.

She recalled that when she followed Xu Jiande before, he did seem to be busy, and it was her sudden appearance that interrupted his schedule.

Now that I've settled myself in, it's time to get down to business.

Bai Ling nodded and said, "Then go ahead, be careful on the road."

Xu Jiande stood up, clearing away the dishes as he told her where he was going.

Bai Ling is now nominally Xu Jiande's wife, and it's necessary to let her know where he is.

After clearing away the dishes, Xu Jiande gave Bai Ling a few more instructions.

"After I leave, stay inside. Don't go out. Don't go to meet the people in the yard yet; we'll talk about that when I get back. If someone knocks on the door, you can open it or not; it's up to you."

Bai Ling nodded and said, "I'm your wife. You must be scared to be home alone. I won't open the door."

Xu Jiande glanced at her and nodded slightly. Bai Ling was indeed a professional; he didn't need to say anything more.

He thought for a moment, then added, "Jia Zhangshi might come to test the waters. She's a gossip, so be careful."

Bai Ling said she understood.

Xu Jiande then opened the door and went out.

The sunlight in the courtyard was even more intense than before, making the bluestone slabs in the courtyard scorching hot.

The three pools of blood had been covered by yellow earth, and a few footprints could be vaguely seen on the earth, but it was unknown who had stepped on them.

The entire courtyard was quiet, and all the doors of every household were tightly closed. There wasn't even a sound coming from Jia Zhangshi's room.

Xu Jiande walked out of the courtyard gate, turned into the alley, and headed towards the Dafu Rice Shop main store in Shangcheng District.

The street scene was completely different from when I left home in the morning.

In the morning there were at least a few hurried passersby, but now the whole street is deserted, as if it has been licked clean by something, leaving only broken bricks and tiles on the ground and newly posted martial law notices on the walls.

The only living people you could see on the road were Japanese soldiers.

Groups of Japanese soldiers patrolled the street, their leather boots making a rhythmic clattering sound as they stepped on the cobblestones.

Bayonets gleamed in the sunlight, and occasionally a Japanese soldier's gaze would fall on Xu Jiande, with a look of scrutiny as if he were examining prey.

It's like judging whether someone walking on the street in broad daylight is a law-abiding citizen or a resistance fighter.

Xu Jiande walked with his head down, maintaining a moderate pace. He dared not walk too fast, as that would be too conspicuous, nor too slow, as that would be even more suspicious.

At the same time, he observed his surroundings out of the corner of his eye.

After turning two alleys and getting closer to the headless alley, the number of Japanese soldiers clearly increased.

A makeshift roadblock was erected at the entrance of the alley, with two sandbags piled up to form a bunker about half a person's height, and a machine gunner crouching behind it.

Two Japanese soldiers, armed with Type 38 rifles, stood beside the roadblock, checking passersby.

Looking further into the distance, the alley was already filled with ordinary people.

These people weren't all driven out of their homes by the Japanese.

One or two hundred people were gathered in the open space in the middle of the alley, men, women, the elderly, and children, like a flock of sheep being herded into a pen.

Most people had their heads down, shoulders hunched, and eyes fixed on their toes, not daring to look around.

They dared not look at the Japanese soldiers.

A middle-aged man was holding a three- or four-year-old child, who was so frightened that he kept shrinking into his arms.

The woman next to the man was pressed tightly against him, one hand clutching the hem of his clothes, the other unconsciously gripping her own collar, her knuckles turning white and blue from the force.

At the other end of the open space, several Japanese soldiers were interrogating a young man.

The young man, his back hunched, was sandwiched between two Japanese soldiers. His tall body appeared particularly thin in the shadow of the two rifles.

His voice trembled as he spoke, and his cloudy eyes kept glancing at the two corpses on the ground.

Xu Jiande appeared very angry and wanted to wipe out all these Japanese devils, but now was not a good time to make a move.

We'll have to wait until tonight.

So they continued walking forward.

At this moment, a Japanese soldier saw Xu Jiande and walked over with his gun in hand.