CHAPTER 156: CHAPTER 103: BORN WITH A LOWLY FATE, UNABLE TO DIE NO MATTER WHAT! _2

Nozawa didn’t have time to bother with him right now, so he yelled straight at the cart: "Ah Man!"

The straw pile didn’t respond. Nozawa’s heart sank slightly, and he called out again, louder: "Ah Man!"

At last, there was some movement in the straw pile. A pair of hands reached out and clumsily pawed around, pushing away some straw. Then Ah Man’s drowsy voice came out: "Is it time to eat?"

Only then did Nozawa’s pounding heart slow down. He was feeling all kinds of complicated inside, with wild ups and downs—he’d been so excited to see Ah Man, almost not daring to believe she actually made it back. But when he first called and she didn’t respond, he thought they’d hauled back a corpse.

By now, Ah Man had recognized his voice. She pawed away more straw, and shouted with delight: "It’s you! You finally found me! What are you doing running all over the place all day? I thought you were dead! Quick, come help me up, my wound hasn’t healed yet, I can’t sit up on my own!"

Nozawa hurried forward, but the man shoved him aside and barked again, "Pay up first!"

"Don’t be rude!"

Nozawa’s borrowed Lang Faction cronies weren’t just for show. He’d brought them along exactly for protection in the wild, so they didn’t get wiped out by a random bandit gang. Now, seeing Nozawa get shoved, they immediately leveled their long spears, stopping the man’s rude move.

Nozawa quickly waved a hand, signaling them to chill—he didn’t want an actual fight breaking out. Steadying himself, he was just about to ask the man what money he was even talking about, when Wen came running over, Copper Ring Stick in hand. She must’ve caught sight of the commotion while she was busy at camp, and worried something had happened to him, so she rushed over to check.

She knew Ah Man even better than Nozawa did. Even now, with Ah Man’s feet pointing their way, still buried in a pile of straw with just her arms waving at random, Wen recognized her at a glance, stopped dead in disbelief, and asked dazedly, as if afraid she was dreaming: "Sister? Sister... you’re not dead?!"

She’d spent ages searching back at the Little Riverside, couldn’t find Ah Man’s "body," and had been heartbroken for a long time afterward. She never imagined Ah Man would suddenly come back to life; now her mind was pretty much blank.

Ah Man was delighted to hear Wen had arrived, and though she couldn’t move, that didn’t stop her from spouting nonsense. Launching into some serious hindsight bravado, she burst out in wild laughter: "Hahahahaha! Of course I’m not dead! See, didn’t I say so? I was born with a cheap life, I just can’t die! Look at me, I told you so!"

"Sister!"

Wen finally couldn’t hold back her tears, eyes brimming as she rushed for the cart, wanting to get a closer look at Ah Man. But the man showed zero sympathy, threw his arm out, and shouted: "Have you talked enough? I said it already, money first, then you get her!"

Wen dodged aside reflexively, ready to whack him with her stick—at this moment, nobody was going to stop her seeing Ah Man. But the little short-sleeved girl beside the man finally spoke, softly: "Don’t do that, Hutaro. Let them have a look first."

The man called Hutaro hesitated, stepped aside, but still stood by the cart holding his sword hilt, like he was scared they’d snatch Ah Man and bolt.

Wen didn’t bother arguing, just went over, pulled the straw aside, and used her own body to shield Ah Man from the chilly sea breeze, gently helping her sit up. Ah Man gritted her teeth in pain and complained, "Can you be a little more gentle?!"

"Okay, sister!" Wen was totally obedient for once, her hands growing even gentler.

Nozawa was finally able to come over. Seeing Ah Man’s familiar dotted eyebrows, thinking back on the past year together and her risking her life to save him, he really wanted to hug her tight—but this wasn’t the time, so instead he crouched down and asked, "Are you badly hurt?"

"You’re always asking useless questions!" Ah Man never bothered with politeness. She started complaining and bragging all at once: "I fought a hundred people alone, cut down twenty or thirty of them, got so exhausted, then they shot like a hundred—no, dozens—of arrows at me from seven or eight paces away, blood spraying everywhere. I looked like a bloody gourd by the time I broke out! You telling me I’m not badly hurt?"

She cut down twenty or thirty people, my ass...

Nozawa was speechless. All that reunion excitement faded away a bit.

Wen was stunned too, hesitated a bit, then said softly, "Sister, Tao Liulang and Jing Qilang were saved a few days ago."

Ah Man was shocked. "They didn’t die? What’s the Lin Family doing, can’t even finish those two off?"

"Sister, it’s complicated, but really—they’re alive."

"I see..." Ah Man scratched her cheek, glanced at Wen, then at Nozawa. Even with her thick skin, she looked a little embarrassed, mumbling, "This whole breaking-out-alive story, I’ll tell you the details later. Anyway... I really am badly hurt, this was a total narrow escape! If I weren’t so smart, someone else would be dead for sure!"

Nozawa didn’t want her to feel too embarrassed. He could understand wanting to brag after surviving death, so he immediately said, "Of course! What matters is you made it back—nothing else is important!"

"Yeah, sister, just glad you’re back!" Wen chimed in again and again.

With them saying that, Ah Man grew unhappy, lifting her dotted eyebrows and insisting, "I’m not exaggerating! Anyone but me would be dead. Only I could make it back alive, not just a matter of luck!"

"We believe you!"

"Seriously, I survived because of my skills!"

They could’ve just kept on jabbering, but Hutaro, still hovering by the cart to keep them from grabbing Ah Man, finally lost his patience and shouted at Ah Man, "Haven’t you said enough? We brought you here like we agreed. Where’s the money?!"

After yelling at Ah Man, he saw Nozawa stand up and look his way, so he shouted at him too: "This chick—we pulled her out of the river. She promised that if we brought her to you, you’d give us a thousand kanwen! No cash, no Ah Man!"

Ah Man paused, suddenly remembering about paying up. She really had promised to cough up a thousand kan for her life—honestly, floating in the river holding a bladder, half a breath from death, if someone had come to save her, she’d have promised a thousand, ten thousand, even a hundred thousand kan without blinking. Later, afraid the two might dump her by the roadside instead of treating her wounds, she’d kept repeating her promise, just in case...

But now that it was time to actually pay up, a thousand kan for her worthless neck... seemed kinda steep. Even chopped up and sold by the piece, she’d never fetch a thousand kan.

She twitched her dotted brows, saw Nozawa and Wen both right there, with five or six armored Lang Faction men standing around. In a flash, her eyes flashed murderously—maybe they should just hack these two people to bits and bury them, problem solved. But just as the murderous glint appeared, she remembered these two had saved her life. Killing your own rescuers—that’s a bit much...

Murderous glare flickered in her eyes—can’t bear to pay, but can’t ruin her reputation either. Just then, that little short-sleeved girl spoke, sharply scolding Hutaro in a low voice: "Don’t say things like that. Saving someone’s life is the right thing to do. You can’t demand a reward just because you did a good deed."

Then she turned to Nozawa, raised her little face and asked with a sweet smile, "Lord Nozawa, wouldn’t you agree?"