As the sky gradually darkened, Shen Yi knocked on the door as usual and pushed it open.
Lin Baiwei, as always, was hiding in the backyard.
She only poked her head out when she heard his voice.
Unlike her drenched appearance from the day before, the woman had changed into a white outfit today.
The long, fitted robe fluttered gracefully, giving her an ethereal aura.
If only she could control her gluttonous expression and stop salivating so often, she might truly resemble an immortal.
"Hehe, I smell meat. Did you get your salary?"
She reached out to take the earthen jar and lotus leaf package from Shen Yi, eagerly placing them on the table and opening them.
Shen Yi glanced at her profile, feeling a hint of envy.
Whether she was eating simple roasted meat or a lavish feast, she always wore the same joyful smile.
If he had possessed such a mindset in his previous life, perhaps he wouldn't have struggled so much.
"You're covered in blood again. Every day you go out..."
Lin Baiwei teased him casually, but as she unwrapped the lotus leaf and opened the jar, her brows furrowed slightly, and her expression cooled.
Shen Yi noticed the change in her expression but didn't know what had caused it.
Still, he didn't care much.
Eat or don't eat—it was up to her.
He sat down at the table, grabbed a goose leg, and took a bite.
The crisp skin and savory juices burst on his tongue, masking the otherwise slightly bland flavor.
Lin Baiwei's nose twitched.
She closed her eyes and hugged her arms tightly.
"It's so greasy! I have no appetite at all."
Shen Yi rolled his eyes at her and took a swig of huadiao wine directly from the jug.
Lin Baiwei cracked open one eye, her eyelashes fluttering slightly as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
She bit her red lip and said, "If you don't like roasted meat, tomorrow I'll buy some fresh meat and soy sauce. I'll cook for you, okay? There's no need to steal from others..."
"You know how to cook?" Shen Yi looked up, surprised.
"If I didn't know how to cook, I'd have starved to death long ago. Not every place has restaurants... Are you even listening to me?"
Lin Baiwei counted on her fingers.
"A pound of pork costs about twenty coins. If you save a bit from your monthly salary, you can afford meat almost every day, including firewood, rice, oil, and salt. I can also sew, so you don't need to buy new clothes or shoes when they get torn."
In the dimly lit room, Shen Yi silently watched her as she meticulously calculated the costs.
He thought about how easily Lin Baiwei's father had casually handed over eight hundred taels of silver.
"Are you really the Lin family's young lady?"
"Are you deaf?" Lin Baiwei was exasperated.
Why couldn't he understand?
A decent government official like him, receiving a salary from the court, shouldn't be mingling with demons or bullying ordinary people.
What a waste of his talent.
In the past, she would have yanked his ear off.
The woman's pouting expression was oddly endearing.
Shen Yi averted his gaze and pulled out a few pieces of broken silver from his waist, tossing them onto the table to interrupt her incessant chatter.
"Your father gave this to me."
At those words, Lin Baiwei froze.
Her eyes darted between the silver and the bloodstains on Shen Yi's clothes.
"You went to see her?"
Without waiting for his reply, she suddenly stood up, leaning in close to his face, her expression anxious.
"Do you have any idea how serious this is? They're not as simple as you think. The North Cliff Fox Demon has an elder who's currently wandering nearby. The only reason they haven't entered the city is because they fear my identity! But if you actually kill one of their juniors and provoke them, no one will be able to protect you!"
She was clearly genuinely worried.
Shen Yi felt the fragrance of her breath as she leaned in, but his expression remained calm.
"So, what is your identity?"
Hearing this, Lin Baiwei's words abruptly stopped.
After a long silence, she muttered, "Of course, you'd focus on that."
Shen Yi also stood up, his face expressionless as he ruthlessly suppressed the faint stirrings of emotion in his heart.
This woman was definitely hiding something.
The trouble surrounding her was far greater than he had imagined.
"Let's eat."
Shen Yi returned to the bed and sat down.
"I'm not a bad person, okay?" Sensing his distance, Lin Baiwei sat back down and poked at the yellow croaker with her chopsticks.
This time, she truly had no appetite.
After a long while, she whispered, "Is my father okay?"
"For now."
Shen Yi roughly understood her current state of mind.
"The fox demon isn't at your home, but it brought other demons into your house."
"Thank you."
The bloodstains on Shen Yi's clothes and the silver on the table had already explained enough.
Lin Baiwei tried to steady her trembling hands as she sipped the fish soup from the jar in small gulps.
She took deep breaths, gradually calming her emotions.
Shen Yi recalled her earlier words—she had to survive...
Now he understood more clearly.
Even if her parents' lives were in danger, she still had to live.
In Lin Baiwei's words, even the fox demon's elder feared her identity and didn't dare enter the city.
"I want more money."
"What?"
Under Lin Baiwei's surprised gaze, Shen Yi carefully wiped his scabbard with a cloth.
"I said, two beginner-level martial arts manuals aren't enough. I want two from the Jade Liquid Realm. And I want one in advance as a deposit."
Since her identity had changed, the price naturally had to change as well.
Lin Baiwei silently stared at him, surprisingly accepting this "extortion."
She picked up her chopsticks and began eating the fish again.
"I can only remember one. Get me paper and a brush. I'll give it to you in three days."
The woman chewed the fish vigorously, using it to mask the委屈 welling up in her eyes.
She wasn't used to showing weakness in front of anyone.
Suddenly, that cold, annoying voice sounded in her ear again.
"Does what you said earlier still count?"
"What did I say?" Lin Baiwei stuffed another piece of sweet, tender fish into her mouth, her cheeks bulging and oil smeared on her lips.
She didn't want him to hear the tremor in her voice.
"Cooking."
Shen Yi hung the cleaned scabbard on the wall.
Even though the woman was as cryptic as a riddle, he had roughly pieced things together.
The fox demon feared her identity and hadn't killed her, but it had casually tossed this defenseless woman to his former self.
No matter how powerful these foxes were, could they really guard her day and night?
They probably just wanted to use his former self to get rid of her.
So, what made him special?
After some thought, Shen Yi could only come up with his identity as a government official.
From there, it was easy to deduce the truth Lin Baiwei had been trying to hide.
Tsk, the Lin family sent their only daughter out to study, only to end up sending her to the Demon-Suppression Bureau, huh?
What she feared wasn't the fox demon—it was him.
If she were killed by a government official, the fox demons could easily wash their hands of the matter and shift all the blame.
If he had made even the slightest mistake back then...
If he had truly killed this woman, slaying someone from the Demon-Suppression Bureau with his own hands...
Just the thought of being hunted by the entire Great Qian Dynasty sent a chill down Shen Yi's spine.
He cursed his former self in his heart—that lustful fool!
What kind of woman did you think you could mess with?!
"..."
Lin Baiwei had no idea about Shen Yi's many thoughts.
She swallowed the fish, sniffed her slightly red nose, and said in a hoarse voice, "Fine, I'll cook!"
It's just cooking, right? I'll stuff you to death!
Her small hands gripped the chopsticks tightly, making them creak.
Once she survived this month and found a way to break the seal...
She would definitely prepare a huge pot of dishwater and force it down his throat.
Thinking of this, Lin Baiwei's mood improved slightly.
She grabbed the wine jug and gulped it down in one go.
(End of Chapter)