The Hwangbo Clan’s Beloved Live-In Son-in-Law - Chapter 66
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 66
Thump. Thump.
The war drums beaten by the bandits pierced through the thick cabin door and struck their ears.
Rain poured outside, and wind scratched past the windows.
The floor rocked incessantly.
As they waited, the ship’s speed decreased.
There must have been no path to break through.
“I’ll go.”
“No, I’ll…”
The two people who met each other’s eyes stood up without either taking the lead.
Then they looked at each other silently.
Hahee hesitated as if she had something to say.
But in the end, she couldn’t get the words out.
The staff head she had hastily grabbed dropped with a thud, then
rose up.
The moment both their eyes turned toward the door,
Bang!
The door burst open with a thunderous sound.
A dirty foot suddenly entered.
“Hand over all your treasures…!”
Before their eyes could even meet, Hahee’s staff shot out like a storm.
Thwack!
There was no time for words to be exchanged.
As Hahee’s staff struck the head of the first bandit who entered, Xie Baowei lifted Yingying along with her blanket.
Thwack! Crack! Thud!
Argh! Urgh! Ahhh!
In an instant, sounds of skulls cracking echoed in succession.
The bandits who had followed in without knowing what was happening screamed and collapsed.
They left their luggage as it was.
They weren’t the type to be defeated by such scum.
However, the enemy’s reaction was fiercer and faster than expected.
Unless they were pirates of the sea, it was proper etiquette to exchange greetings first!
“Yeonghil!”
“Yes!”
When Lüli shouted, Hwangbo Yeonghil immediately responded from the room right next door.
Soon several bandits came flying out of the cabin where he was staying.
“Lady Peng!”
Looking around the chaotic surroundings, he could see merchants and guests with their hair grabbed by bandits, along with sailors and some guard warriors still continuing to fight among them.
The sound of rainwater hitting the cabin ceiling mixed with screams.
There was no news from the cabin where Peng Sohui and Dangyeonhwa were staying.
As soon as Hahee shouted, Hwangbo Yeonghil knocked down the surrounding bandits like straw and headed toward the cabin.
“Ugh. I’m fine…”
But before he could reach them, Peng Sohui staggered out with a pale complexion.
She looked like she would collapse at any moment, and soon she covered her mouth and fell to the floor.
“Lady Peng!”
Blegh.
Fortunately, it seemed to be because of seasickness.
Moving recklessly was bound to cause problems.
Dangyeonhwa walked out boldly behind her, but she couldn’t hide the slight trembling of the throwing pellets in her hand.
“Behind me!”
While pushing Dangyeonhwa back and taking care of Peng Sohui, Hahee and Hwangbo Yeonghil ran wild like beasts released among sheep.
Every time their staffs flashed, bandits fell with sounds of breaking and shattering.
“Mon, monsters! Fall back!”
Even though there were only two of them, if they showed such an overwhelming difference in skill in such a narrow space, wasn’t individual martial prowess capable of handling even hundreds?
Since both terrain and momentum were on their side, defeating the enemy was also instantaneous.
“Report to the chief, report to the chief!”
The bandits retreated like an ebbing tide.
Those who had endured without being dragged away gathered behind the group.
“Th, thank you!”
“We’ll lend our strength!”
Among those who bowed their heads, the spirited ones picked up weapons and joined in.
Hahee nodded.
Because this couldn’t be the end.
“Wei-lang.”
“Hee.”
Xie Baowei answered worriedly at the war clouds in her voice.
On the route to Chongqing, there were many flat paths along the wide branches of the Yangtze River, but there were also many treacherous places called Longmen.
When passing through the winding alleys of small islands and sheer cliffs, even boatmen who had sailed countless times would nervously grip their oars and ropes tightly.
Naturally, there were many shipwrecks, and many bandits who targeted the goods from those wrecks.
Usually they were scum who lurked at major passages, avoiding naval ships and just collecting tolls.
However, on stormy days like this or when the currents were strong, they were also cruel bastards who, like sharks that had tasted blood, could only be satisfied by devouring everyone.
Moreover.
“I may not know much, but there aren’t many who dare to carve dragons, you know.”
It wasn’t a real dragon.
It was called a flood dragon , a giant four-legged serpent and an imugi just before becoming a dragon.
And now it was the monster of the Yangtze River that those water bandits worshipped.
It was the symbol of the Yangtze River Water Route Alliance.
“It must be Chengjiang Stronghold.”
Hwangbo Yeonghil said as he approached the two.
Though they were called the same Evil Eight Heavens, they were different from the Nolim who had established themselves grandly on each mountain throughout the Central Plains and received unofficial recognition for their ‘respective’ roles and utility.
The Water Route Alliance was formed through a secret agreement among survivors who had killed each other along the long waterways, agreeing not to touch each other after the fierce internal strife.
Just hearing news of their appearance would block logistics for a while and send subjugation forces.
“They’re not ordinary fellows.”
When had he been raging like a beast? Hwangbo Yeonghil continued with a hardened face.
Though they were called mere water bandits, he had broken into a cold sweat at their venom of swinging their swords one more time even while falling, and their ruthlessness in abandoning their own comrades to survive.
They hadn’t survived all those long years for nothing. If a mere foot soldier was like this, one could imagine the level of the officers and leadership who had trampled over such people.
“It’s fine.”
Hahee said firmly.
It didn’t matter how many there were or how strong they were.
Her long contemplation was over.
“It’s fine.”
The frail soldier who had frozen at the vastness of the battlefield with nothing but her bare body and no internal energy was already gone.
Lüli, who had returned to being a seasoned martial artist of the martial arts world, looked steadily at her companion.
When had he become so dependable? It wasn’t that she didn’t have the desire to entrust everything to him and rely on everything in his embrace.
Over the past few days, she had seriously contemplated this and even resolved to make that choice.
But she knew that the wheel of life she had lived so far was not light enough to easily stop or change direction.
Throwing herself into the storms of the turbulent martial world wasn’t just because of rebellious feelings toward her family.
It was because the ‘admiration’ she had felt watching and wanting to follow the lives of her grandfather and fathers still captivated her heart.
Even after regaining her love, she resented her immature self while fearing to look at her husband who wouldn’t understand her.
Nevertheless, the steering wheel of her life was ultimately something she had to grasp herself.
“…I am, I will.”
Just as she was hesitating,
it was when Hahee squeezed her eyes shut.
“Go and return.”
Xie Baowei nodded with a strange expression.
“With weapons and all… you would be better suited.”
The current Xie Baowei had no proper weapons.
The spear shaft had been cleanly cut by Tougui, and the meteor hammer was disadvantageous on a ship like this. It was also with Chun-gil at the dock.
All he had were the black flame sword he received from the Jie Gal Family, the oddly-shaped sword used as a spear tip, and various throwing weapons, but the black flame sword was too light for this kind of chaotic battle, and the oddly-shaped sword was short.
As for throwing weapons, they’d be useless against even slightly thick armor and would only serve as distractions against decent masters.
“I’ll wait.”
Xie Baowei shrugged his shoulders.
He wasn’t unaware of her concerns. It wasn’t that he wasn’t worried either.
However, he had lived a life where everyone had to do their part to survive, and in that sense, the current choice was also an extremely efficient decision.
Hadn’t they just witnessed the recent battle?
So even when Hwangbo Yeonghil, Peng Sohui, Dangyeonhwa, and even Yingying looked back at Xie Baowei with strange expressions at his words, he didn’t care at all.
Above all, Huangbo Lüli was the first woman in his life he had felt he wanted to depend on.
Therefore, the option of not trusting her had never existed from the beginning.
Just,
“You won’t make me dream of revenge, will you?”
Because I don’t want to live a life without you again.
At the playfully thrown question, Hahee fell silent for a moment.
Her eyes wavered for a long while, and then finally a voice filled with something deep flowed out.
“…I’ll entrust my back to you.”
“Hmm. I hope that’s not telling me to worry.”
Of course.
Hahee straightened her shoulders. Her solid back and blood-stained staff were imposing.
“I am Pagon.”
“Indeed.”
Xie Baowei nodded as if finding her dependable.
Hahee nodded back firmly and left with the people who would fight.
Those who remained gathered closely in a relatively intact cabin.
The remaining guards and wounded held weapons and stood watch.
In the final moment, they would have to struggle desperately. There had never been an example of Yangtze River water bandits showing mercy even after drawing their swords.
“It will be fine.”
Xie Baowei said to Yingying in his arms.
Yingying seemed to have found some stability in his embrace. Though her fever still burned and her face was pale, her trembling had stopped.
Xie Baowei stroked the girl’s hair.
“Because she is strong.”
“I know.”
“Yes, she’s as strong as you.”
However, as if she couldn’t agree with those words, the child hung her head low. Using pain as an excuse, the child’s head leaned against the adult’s chest again.
Sorrow became teardrops that formed in her eyes.
“She’s different from me.”
Holding back tears, the boy spoke.
Xie Baowei chuckled softly.
“Different. Truly different. That child was allowed to grow up endlessly carefree.”
He could be as greedy as he wanted, could ponder dream-like thoughts. He had never worried about food or shelter. No, he probably rarely questioned tomorrow’s existence, right?
Well, I wouldn’t know about when he grows up.
“Still, having a strong heart is the same.”
Growing up as a wildflower doesn’t necessarily make one strong, and being a greenhouse flower doesn’t necessarily make one weak.
Each has their own weaknesses and strengths, and sometimes they overcome their weaknesses to become stronger.
He was different from that.
After much contemplation, Xie Baowei thought it was probably because of memories of being loved.
The memory of being endlessly loved, the feeling of being loved, the conviction of being worthy of love—perhaps these things prevented any storm from uprooting him.
“She is a good person. Someone who knows how to give as much as she receives. So she asked first. I was actually scolded.”
The two didn’t have as much time for deep conversation as expected.
Yingying’s presence was one thing, but they also had to consider their companions and schedule.
Still, they could talk. Even if there was no time, they made it.
It was far too long to completely mend their lengthy absence, but it was enough time to know that nothing was better than conversation for people to understand each other.
“What do you plan to do with this child?”
One deep night, in the early dawn when Yingying was fast asleep, that’s what Lüli had said.
What did I say back then?
It was probably something like “I don’t really know.” Even though it was just a few days ago, he couldn’t remember well.
That’s probably because he had spoken so thoughtlessly.
Lüli had let out a truly deep and long sigh.
“Such foolish words. How are you still like this, brother?”
Whether Xie Baowei laughed foolishly at her words spoken with a frown like in the old days,
Lüli shook her head.
“How can you speak so carelessly when you hold a child’s life in your hands?”
“Though young, he’s a child who knows how to choose his own life. …Come to think of it, that might be what makes it impossible to look away from him.”
Xie Baowei answered as if making excuses.
Lüli still shook her head and spoke firmly.
“That’s exactly why. You must give him certainty.”
Lüli’s face as she continued speaking was so lovely and radiant that Xie Baowei fell for her once again.
Xie Baowei smiled gently.
Yingying looked at that smile as if it were dazzling.
“Child. No, Yingying.”
Suddenly, Xie Baowei lifted the boy and sat him directly in front of him.
The boy’s eyes couldn’t leave Xie Baowei.
A little anxiety, a little excitement, a little trust shone in the boy’s eyes.
Xie Baowei scanned the boy’s eyes as if trying to read it all.
Finally,
“Will you come with me—no. Will you come with us?”
Like that first day they met, Xie Baowei asked.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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