Joy of Life

Chapter 375: The Night Of The Building Opening And Murder

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Just as Fan Xian often said, no matter what happens, life will always continue.

When time slowly crept into the fourth month of the sixth year of the Qing calendar, there was not much change in Jiangnan compared to previous years. The Ming family property case, which had caused such a momentary sensation, was still ongoing. After the palace treasury opening, the various royal merchants began the work of collecting the goods and selling. The officials were still secretly collecting silver, and the people of Suzhou were still discussing matters of country, home, and love.

There were some small changes. Since the Ming family property case had gone on for too long, both sides had repeated this for too long, and it gradually lost its original feeling of freshness and excitement. Every day, the crowds that stood outside the Suzhou government to watch became fewer and fewer. The Suzhou Zhizhou and two litigation masters could not hold out much longer in this marathon-like torment. The daily opening of the court became once every three days and now, the court had not opened for six days.

Song Shiren and Chen Bochang, with the help of their respective powers, were still buried in piles of ancient paper and moldy Qing laws in search of evidence beneficial to themselves. However, the focus of the Ming family and Xia Qifei had already moved on from the case.

The Ming family knew they couldn't allow the imperial envoy to put all their attention on the family property trial anymore. They forcefully strengthened their spirits and began to manage the palace treasury business that was certain to be a cost this year. They only hoped they could limit the loss.

Xia Qifei also needed to start learning how to run a business. With his swift change, he had become the biggest royal merchant in Jiangnan, besides the Ming family. The route to the North that had been used by the Cui family had already mostly been taken by him. He had to create a new path through the various provincial security measures to connect with the merchants in the North. Although he had Fan Xian behind him to help, it was still a complex job.

The day before he left Suzhou, Xia Qifei, with the identity as the Seventh young master of the Ming family, invited the giant Jiangnan merchants still in Suzhou for a meal. That night, it was a gathering of powerful figures, and there was an endless stream of carriages. The merchants coming and going were imposing in their wealth and noble air. They frankly stole 70 percent of the noble air in Suzhou.

All of this noble air gathered at the place Xia Qifei invited his guests—the Suzhou branch of the Baoyue Brothel.

Although delayed by many days, the Suzhou branch of the Baoyue Brothel finally opened for business. The building had originally been the Ming family's Zhuyuan Restaurant, which was in the liveliest area in Suzhou. Shi Chanli had taken the 50,000 liang silver and cleaned up everywhere. All levels of the government had given Fan Xian plenty of face and waved their hands to allow them to go ahead. Once the renovations were done, it was supposed to open for business at once. However, because some issues arose, it was delayed.

An issue had been that the Baoyue Brothel did not have a presentable girl to headline. In this world, everything needed the effect of a brand. Although Shi Chanli had bought some prostitutes from the bosses in the romance industry, he had not found someone whose name rang through Jiangnan as the lead role.

Without a lead role to support the endeavour, Baoyue Brothel, which wanted to make a bang in Jiangnan, definitely did not dare to open like this. So they had delayed until Sang Wen reached Jiangnan. Using her jianghu position in the profession, they managed to attract a few jianghu master musicians. Shi Qing'er of Jingdou's Baoyue Brothel taxed herself in body and mind to invite a recently emerged performing prostitute from the Liujing River as well as a West Lake beauty that the Great Prince had taken from the West Lake. She sent these two girls to Suzhou two match with those famous musicians. Only then did Shi Chanli have the confidence to officially open for business.

Tonight, Xia Qifei laid out a feast for the giant merchants of Jiangnan on the second floor. The red lanterns were strung higher, and the music was gentle. Coincidentally, it gave the opening of the Baoyue Brothel a beautiful start.

They didn't widely invite guests for the first day of the opening, since they only invited the richest people in Jiangnan to come. Once this reputation got out, those young masters who thought of themselves as romantics would soon all come leaping to them like dogs with their tongues out.

The newest performing prostitute to emerge in the Liujing River in Jingdou was Liang Diandian, who was no more than 16 years old. She had a natural romantic air. Between her still childlike brows floated soul-stealing charm, but there was also a hidden thread of coldness. The moment she began her career, she stole the attention of tens and thousands in the field of love. She was said to be—after Yuan Men and Si Lili, who had become a legend of the brothels—the one with the most potential and steadiest of girls in a lead role.

However, Liang Diandian hadn't even had time to show herself off in Jingdou when she was bought. Unwillingly on her side, the Baoyue Brothel forcefully sent her to Suzhou. She couldn't help but feel unhappy in her heart, but knowing the background of the Baoyue Brothel, she couldn't really fight it. After she arrived in Suzhou, the first thing she did was sign a contract, a novel idea for her, with Sang Wen. What surprised her was that the contract seemed to benefit her…how could there be such a brothel owner in the world?

The other beauty from West Lake was different to the women born in the middle plains. Her eyes were slightly sunken without any sense of it bulging. Rather, it was the intense outline that deepened the allure of her face. Her slightly dark skin did not appear to be rough, rather, it had the mysterious beauty of a black pearl. Furthermore, this West Lake beauty's figure was very full, rounded in the front and perky at the back. It made the mouths of the Qing Kingdom peoples, who were used to the light flavor of the local women, go dry.

However, this West Lake beauty's origins were even more…strange than that of Liang Diandian. This West Lake beauty, Ma Suosuo, was a princess of one of the West Lake tribes.

When the Great Prince led the army on an expedition to the West and completely defeated West Lake, no one knew how many tribes he conquered. The chief of the second biggest tribe, to show his sincerity in surrendering, presented his precious daughter to the Great Prince, with some intention of marriage. Unexpectedly, the Great Prince was a rough bloke and considered his enemy's daughter like a female slave. After marrying the Great Princess of Northern Qi, it became even more inconvenient to have the West Lake beauty stay in his manor. Once he heard that Fan Xian was missing a lead role in his opening of a Jiangnan brothel, he urgently sent her to Baoyue Tower and then Suzhou.

As these two girls were traveling from Jingdou to Suzhou, before the opening of Baoyue Brothel, the Eight Bureau had helped Fan Xian advertise sufficiently. Although the Eighth Bureau did not have many ways to use this against the Jiangnan Ming family, making these two ladies into peerless beauties that could only be found in heaven and certainly not on earth was an easy task. Shi Chanli coordinated with the rumors and guesses that circulated around the marketplace. He cleverly had the two girls make a trip to Suzhou in a carriage.

The trip was for nothing but reputation and to let those lascivious people of Jiangnan catch a glimpse of their beauty from afar. Along the way, there were countless lechers following the carriage. All around the carriage, the green plans were flattened by countless pairs of male feet and horseshoes. The so-called trip was more like flattening the land.

Thus, everyone in Jiangnan knew what kind of girls the Baoyu Brothel now had, and their appetites had been whetted.

…

…

At the opening, the two headlining girls did not come out to greet the guests. Even guests with identities such as the masters of the Quanzhou Sun family and Lingnan Xiong family did not have the privilege to have them come out and sit with them for a while.

The two were sitting obediently and quietly in a room, at the sides of a young man. They gently raised bowls and cups, feeding the young man food and alcohol. In front of him, no matter how much resentment was in these two girls' hearts, they would not dare show it at all. They didn't even dare to use the tricks they were most proficient at to bewitch men.

Their existence in this world depended solely on their appearances and their ability to meticulously guess other's thoughts. Fight now, the young man sitting peacefully and quietly between them had a delicate appearance. As for his thoughts…everyone knew that Sir Fan junior had a crystal heart. There was nothing in this world that he did not know, and there was not one person he couldn't see through.

Fan Xian shook his head, indicating to the two girls beside him they didn't need to serve him anymore. To say that the two beautiful girls beside him, whose charms were gradually becoming known in Jiangnan, did not cause him, a normal man, to have any thoughts or think about being the first to experience them, was definitely a lie. However, his mind was indeed not on matters of this kind.

He looked at Liang Diandian and sighed, wondering how could this 16-year-old girl be so alluring? Her watery eyes seemed to be able to talk. This made him think of another question that had plagued him for a long time—how old exactly was Duoduo?

Seeing the action in Liang Diandian's eyes, Fan Xian knew the girl was just being a professional and currying favor from him as a means of support. However, turning his head back to see that West Lake beauty, Fan Xian's heart began to cry out bitterly.

The slave was once a West Lake princess, and now she was helplessly stuck on this road. Ma Suosuo had probably already accepted her fate. In this world, women were nothing more than goods in the hands of men to be casually sold and bought. She had been sent by the Great Prince to Jiangnan, so Baoyue Brothel did not seem that scary. Shopkeeper Sang and owner Shi were also not cruel. Sir Fan in front of her was also very pretty. It seemed much better than being left in the manor doing hard labor and being watched coldly by the prince's wife.

Fan Xian sighed sorrowfully at Sang Wen sitting opposite him."What is this? Isn't this the Great Prince being a bully?"

Sang Wen was startled, then opened her slightly wide mouth and chuckled. "Suosuo is naturally very beautiful. Only, you haven't met many of the Hu people, so you are not used to it right now. The Great Prince is not purposely deceiving you."

Fan Xian huffed. In his previous life, he had seen countless western beauties and was once an avid fan of Adjani. Of course, he was able to see what was attractive about this West Lake beauty…however, the Great Prince was someone who feared neither the heavens nor mother earth, yet he was scared enough to send this girl to Suzhou. It was clear that months after the Great Princess of Northern Qi married into the distant South Kingdom that she had finally changed herself into a lioness of Hedong. The Great Prince had sent Ma Suosuo to Suzhou because he wanted to protect Ma Sousou's life. Since it was so, it meant that although the Great Prince had no romantic interests in this West Lake beauty, he did have a thread of pity.

Under these circumstances, did Fan Xian really dare to let Ma Sousou go and greet guests? He probably had to look after her carefully in case the Great Prince suddenly became interested. What if thinking of the girl in his drunkenness and waking up to the sound of horns in an army camp, he then came to ask him for her. What would he do then?

"You're really not going to let them go out to see guests?" Shi Chanli walked in. He had probably had something to drink with the merchants. His face was slightly red, and his words were slightly unsteady. Se stared directly at Fan Xian.

Fan Xian furrowed his brows and thought for a bit. He turned to glance at Liang Diandian's thoughtful expression and knew that if he really did look after Ma Sousou, he would have to compensate Liang Diandian a bit. After steadying himself he said, "At the moment we are just making our name. There is no rush to have them go out and see guests."

He smiled slightly and said, "Just occasionally, you two should go out and play a piece and dance a little or something."

Liang Diandian was slightly startled and bowed down at the same time as Ma Sousou. Ma Sousou was not yet familiar with the way the officials spoke, but gratefulness for Fan Xian still shone out from her eyes.

"Wife is not as good as a concubine, a concubine is not as good as stolen, stolen is not as good as not able to be stolen, not able to be stolen is not as good as have people able to see it every day and feel their hearts itch but not be able to touch[JW1] …have the Jiangnan men endure for a few days and learn what it is like to distantly see but not closely touch."

He finally said to Sang Wen and Shi Chanli, "Men are a very base kind of animal. If you can understand this point, this business will be easy to run."

Hearing these words, Shi Chanli was a bit embarrassed and not happy. Sang Wen, on the other hand, covered her mouth and smiled.

"Take the two of them out to meet Xiong Bailing and his old friends. With these merchants bragging, our reputation will be even better."

Fan Xian closed his eyes and waved his hand.

Liang Diandian took Ma Sousou's hand and rose to bow sincerely to Fan Xian, and then was led out by Sang Wen.

Fan Xian had Shi Chanli come closer. He then said in a low voice, "Keep an eye on Ma Suosuo and casually put the word out to let them all know that she is the Great Prince's…woman."

Shi Chanli was surprised. "What if it gets back to Jingdou?"

"I want to let others know that my relationship with the Great Prince is good." Fan Xian licked his dry lips and took a drink from a light alcohol. He smiled and said, "At this moment, everyone is showing their hands…most importantly, why should we wipe the butt of their family business?"

He huffed through his nose and said, "I came with the Great Princess all the way south, of course I know she isn't a kind one. The Great Prince is certainly very relaxed and also knew that in this world only I…the Great Princess would give some face too. Since I have to put in the effort, of course, sacrifices had to be made."

Fan Xian's anger was pure as he thought, I am worked to death in Jiangnan while you brother princes are in Jingdou taking care of family matters. He felt the injustice in his heart.

…

…

The Suzhou branch of the Baoyue Brothel was not only used for simple matters like laundering money and earning money. It was purely Fan Xian's own business, and it shouldered the heavy responsibility of becoming his second intelligence system. Deep in his heart, he could never fully trust the Overwatch Council. Whether or not he could have the Overwatch Council was, in the current situation, still dependent on the word of the Emperor.

When it was being renovated, the brass pipes had already been laid down like in the old building in Jingdou. The people his father had sent to be responsible for collecting the intelligence reports were hidden from the related officials and already stationed in the building before the girls came in.

The people in the building had become drunk, and their voices grew gradually louder, yet the room Fan Xian was in was strangely silent.

He rose and went to the toilet behind the bed to empty himself, then he adjusted his internal breath. He took off the common clothing he wore and took out what he had long ago labeled as "work clothes" from the cabinet. After trying it on, he found it still fit well. It looked like this half a year of noble living had not caused his figure to rapidly go out of shape.

He strangely sat down again. After confirming that he was beginning to get used to the feeling he had taken half a year hiatus from, Fan Xian finally pushed open the window in the room. His fingers dug strongly into the outside wall in the dark of night, and he slid like a gecko into the darkness below.

After the zhenyi in his body had exploded and caused massive damage, he began to be careful about this use of zhenqi. Without being in the necessary circumstances, he stopped trying to push the zhenqi to his palms and pulling it back. This kind of trick took up too much attention and zhenqi.

Both his feet landed on the ground, and he made a few turns in the complicated corridors before finding the back door of the Baoyue Brothel. He pushed opened the door and walked out. He saw the carriage that had long been waiting for him in the alley.

Deng Zi Yue sat in the driver's position with a straw hat on his head hiding much of his face.

Gao Da sat in the carriage. He lifted a corner of the curtain and peered out alertly.

Fan Xian flashed into the carriage and gently said one word, "Go."

…

…

"Sir, how is your injury?" Gao Da did not fear Fan Xian's cold gaze. His highest command was to protect Fan Xian's safety. Before he received confirmed information, he did not dare let Fan Xian go into danger.

Concerning Fan Xian's strange injury, the people under heaven could not agree on one explanation, but most believed he had recovered long ago. There were only a few people who knew the truth. Eunuch Hong was one of them, except the Emperor had Fan Xian very coldly maintained his silence. And those like Gao Da, although he had originally been fooled by Fan Xian, he had been constantly beside Fan Xian these few months and realized that the commissioner's zhenqi situation was completely different than when they were in Northern Qi.

Even with Haitang giving him the Heart of Tianyi Dao, only Fan Xian knew to what degree his injury had recovered. No else knew, including Haitang.

He lowered his head and said in a quiet voice, "I'm fine." Then he quickly added, "Have you confirmed her location?"

Outside of the carriage, Deng Zi Yue nodded. "After she escaped from Jingdou, she had stayed in Suzhou the entire time. The Council had not expected for her to be so daring. We had also not expected the Jiangnan officials to offer her protection in secret…so it was not until a few days ago that we confirmed it."

A sliver of a cold smile rose to the corner of Fan Xian's lips. "With the Ming family hiding her, of course, the Jiangnan officials had to give some face…it looks like the Jiangnan officials still do not attach much importance to me."

After all, Gao Da was the Emperor's Tiger Guard. Hearing these words, he furrowed his brow slightly and said, "Young master, shouldn't we inform the local government to apprehend her…after all, the Ministry of Justice's cases are never managed by the Council."

Since Fan Xian dare to bring him tonight, he was not afraid of him reporting anything to the Palace. He shook his head and said, "If we inform the local government we might let her get away again. After all, she is one of the Second Prince's and Hong Cheng's person. The Ministry of Justice's wanted posters have no affect on her. It is not easy to catch her openly."

"Should have brought more people," Gao Da furrowed his brows and said. "Since she is running away under orders, she must have aces with her. It will not be easy to catch her alive."

"We are not catching her alive, we are just killing her." Fan Xian leaned against the back of the chair and closed his eyes to restl. "I don't need her to defeat the Ming family, I only need to use her to pressure the Ming family. Today is the opening of the Baoyue Brothel. No one should be expecting us to make a move against her, and they will be expecting even less that…I will personally act."

Gao Da began to speak and then stopped. He began to understand Fan Xian's thoughts, but he had no way of stopping him. The purpose of Fan Xian's actions were actually very simple. Since on the path to defeating the Ming family, the Jiangnan Road officials were secretly standing against him and dared to act to protect the Ming family, then he would use tonight's incident to shock those Jiangnan Road officials.

For those officials, there was no more apparent show of the Overwatch Council's power than fresh blood and death.

The carriage sank into a deathly silence. The only sound to be heard was the wheels below rolling over the stones.

…

…

The carriage drove to the outside of one of Suzhou's quiet alleys and stopped. It was still a long way away from that manor.

Fan Xian touched the dagger in his boot and then gently pressed the soft sword at his waist. He had borrowed the sword from Haitang. After he had carefully checked his equipment, he opened his mouth and said in a low voice, "Gao Da, you are responsible for the outside perimeter. Don't leave anyone alive. Don't let anyone slip away."

Gao Da made a noise of acknowledgment.

"Zi Yue is the person that was sent to the governor's manor?" Fan Xian asked.

Deng Zi Yue nodded.

"Wait here for us. Be careful."

Fan Xian flashed out of the carriage like a black mudfish and quickly disappeared into the darkness below the high wall.

Tonight, there came three people. Given Fan Xian's identity, he shouldn't go alone into danger, however, today's matter had to be done secretly. A more important reason was that Fan Xian had, in the depths of his heart, always had the impulse to brave such dangers. Furthermore, he had to go through a mission to recover his confidence in his martial abilities. He needed to test what level he was at with the sword he had been practicing with in secret for the past few days.

Gao Da counted and estimated it was about time. He rewrapped the hemp rope on the hilt of the long knife and walked out of the carriage. Like a demon, he walked steadily toward the back of that manor.

Who knew how many aces were hiding in the manor in the darkness, yet they were only two people. Probably only Fan Xian and Gao Da would have this kind of confidence.

Gao Da stood silently below the back wall of the manor. His entire body seemed to have become one with the stone wall; there was little difference between them. The zhenqi in his body gradually began to circulate, and he could hear every sound inside the wall clearly.

From inside the garden came the occasional gentle noise. It was like the sound of the commissioner's favorite sharp-tipped goose feather brush slicing through paper. Without paying close attention, no would be able to notice this sound.

Gao Da knew one person had already died by Fan Xian's hands.

There was another muffled sound. It was like the sound of a sesame cake that had just been taken out of the oven and suddenly lost its air.

Gao Da's brows furrowed slightly. Had the commissioner used his palm to split open someone's head?

…

…

Fan Xian was like a specter in the dark night, moving steadily and silently through the garden. A number of bodies lay behind him. The wounds on the bodies were not obvious, and there was not a lot of blood, but they were certainly dead.

In the rooms beside him, the doors were wide open. Before the soundly slumbering people had risen, they had already been killed by him in their beds.

The servants and serving girls were also lying motionless in a room, but there were no wounds on their body. It looked like only a sleeping gas was used. Until now, no one in the garden had discovered that a killer was close to them.

Just like what Chen Pingping had once taught him, no one was able to forever defend against an assassin at the level of great grandmaster. Someone like Fan Xian, whose power was above the ninth-level and had studied the dark skills of an assassin from his youth, there were few places in the world that could defend against him.

As Fan Xian silently walked toward the back garden, he also kept an alert gaze on the high walls on either side. The Overwatch Council's intelligence report had been sufficiently detailed and had investigated the strength of this garden's defenses clearly, so there was no one hiding in the dark that could escape his cold and eagle-sharp eyes.

He walked passed a tree.

A person flashed behind the tree, and a knife chopped down silently.

Fan Xian's eyes faced the front, and his expression didn't move. His right hand was already on his waist. He drew out the sword with a soft hiss. His wrist shook out, his left foot took one step back, and the heel of his right foot turned slightly. His entire body leaned a clever angle to the left, and the sword in his hand followed his arm like an arrow from a bowstring and craftily pierced out.

With a snap, the throat of the attacker silently began to spray blood as he fell.

Fan Xian withdrew the sword. Even at this moment, he didn't pay attention to his front or back.

A door to a side room on the stone stairs opened. A person discovered Fan Xian's existence and rushed forward in a panic.

Fan Xian held his arm out evenly with his sword across his chest. It was as strange as committing suicide, yet it blocked all the openings in front of his body.

In the next moment, his feet had taken three rapid steps. The sword that looked like an invincible defense was filled, in a flash, with a ruthless intention to kill.

This strike went out, and all of Fan Xian's attention seemed to before him. All of his mind was focused on this one strike. With such power, who could block it?

Fresh blood sprayed out, and a head landed on the ground.

Fan Xian's expression remained calm as he took two light steps toward the right. His zhenqi flowed out through his lower back and back in from his shoulder blade. Like a spring, he flicked out with this right arm. It flicked back like the hard willow branches in Suzhou during the spring when they were pulled down heavily.

It was a flick filled with such poetic grace. His right hand was holding the sword like the last stroke of a great artist's paintbrush, and it gently dipped down.

Coincidentally, it landed on another person's throat. He had killed another person.

Fan Xian struck out three times and killed three people, what…kind of sword technique was this?

…

…

If Gao Da was in the garden at this moment, he would have gasped out loud. If Haitang saw this scene, she would understand why Fan Xian was always hiding from her these days when practicing. If Yun Zhilan, who was playing hide-and-kill with the Shadow in Jiangnan right now, saw these three strikes, he would be stunned and wonder, when did teacher accept such a young disciple?

Sigu sword.

Sigu Jian's Sigu sword.

Focusing on the front and not the back. Focusing on the left and not the right. That Sigu sword.

Having killed all of the attackers who had woken up, Fan Xian shook the edge of his sword with satisfaction and was pleased with the results of tonight's test. The Shadow assassin pierced him once and almost killed him. The compensation he finally sought from him seemed to have sufficiently made up for the injury.

Not everyone was as lucky as Fan Xian to be able to learn the true essence of the Sigu sword. The key to it was not in the strength of the sword and not in the tricks, rather it was in the footwork. Only with footwork could it concentrate one person's power into the metal sword.

Fan Xian faintly felt that footwork was not actually the most important part.

What was important was a focus on the front and not the back, a focus on the left and not the right ruthlessness. Each strike had to use all of your strength with the intention to kill at the front. It could not be stopped by spirits or blocked by the heaven. The so-called Sigu actually had no cares[JW2].

Thinking of this, Fan Xian silently shook his head. The strike the white-clothed Shadow had sent out at the Hanging Temple almost hid the brilliance of the sun. If the person in front of the sword at the time had not been him, perhaps the Shadow would have mercilessly pierced him beneath the sword.

…

…

A cold sword graced the courtyard. Everyone who could die died under this sword. Only two people escaped through the back wall, but Fan Xian did not acknowledge them. He only carried his long sword and quietly walked toward the silent bedroom.

The sound of two slashes came from outside the back wall. Gao Da drew back his knife and looked at the flesh beside him that had been chopped into four pieces. He shook his head.

The bedroom door was pushed open by Fan Xian. He saw the girl who had just awoken. She only had time to light the candle and did not have time to put on her clothes. He smiled slightly and said, "Master Yuan, long time no see."

Yuan Meng, who had been listed as wanted by the Ministry of Justice everywhere under heaven and had hidden in Suzhou, tightly bit her lower lip. She looked at the handsome youth at the door who was like a god of death. She suddenly hoarsely cried out, "Sir Fan junior…why won't you let me go?"

"Such a childish question…but I am willing to answer you." Fan Xian walked toward her slowly and calmly. "Your hands have been stained with the blood of too many innocent girls. Father has given the order and, as a child, I must be filial."

A few strands of Yuan Meng's black hair floated listlessly near her forehead as she smiled wretchedly. "The Jingdou matter, I had only been acting under orders…as for the matter of the Ministry of Justice hunting me…you should know, that brother of yours and the Third Prince that you are currently teaching, neither are very clean. If you are going to kill me, then go ahead, but don't think to use these righteous words to sicken me."

Fan Xian evenly lifted his long sword and smiled slightly. "Accept your fate. You are a bad person. If I was a good person, perhaps you would still have some chance. Unfortunately, as you know, I am also…a bad person."

Yuan Meng nervously bit down on her lower lip and was enveloped by fear. Suddenly she opened her mouth in a shrill laugh. "Haha! You want to capture me to defeat His Highness? Let me tell you, there's no chance!"

Finishing these words, she shattered her teeth and took poison to commit suicide. Her whole body suddenly tensed and fell onto the red blanket in the middle of the bed with a thump.

Fan Xian shook his head thinking, I was here originally kill you. He swung his arm, and the tip of the sword pierced through her throat.

[JW1]"妻不如妾,妾不如偷,偷不如偷不着,偷不着不如让人天天看的心痒却依然摸不到"

This makes much less sense when translated because there is a lot of play on words going on here.

[JW2]"所谓四顾,其实便是不顾" Sigu sword – translated literally is "four cares sword" so there is wordplay going on here.