I Am Xia

After the new county magistrate finished patrolling the streets, calm returned to the streets once more.

Zhang San returned to his counter, while Wang Xiaoer continued wiping the tables. As for Xiu Wangchou, he stared blankly at the retreating procession in the street, unconsciously clenching his fists.

Zhang San noticed all this but didn't say a word.

Wang Xiaoer sized up Xiu Wangchou for quite a while before finally plucking up the courage to walk over to him and ask, "Big brother, what's the matter?"

Xiu Wangchou looked back to see such a handsome little boy and smiled, "Nothing."

"Big brother, are you a chivalrous hero?"

Xiu Wangchou asked, "What makes you say that?"

While listening to their conversation, Zhang San frowned slightly.

Wang Xiaoer was clever yet simple-minded. He had better not fail to draw Xiu Wangchou out and instead end up being strung along by him.

However, Zhang San's worries were clearly unnecessary. Wang Xiaoer said in all his childish innocence: "You asked my uncle just now if he needed help driving away those bad guys."

Xiu Wangchou laughed and said, "So he's your uncle! But even if your uncle had said no, I, Xiu Wangchou, would still not have let those scoundrels off. You're right...I'm a hero, but I'm still far from calling myself a grand hero."

Wang Xiaoer's face lit up in delight. "Big brother, you really are a chivalrous hero!"

"Just an ordinary wandering hero, not a grand hero," Xiu Wangchou corrected.

However, Zhang San secretly thought to himself: Nonsense, what ordinary wandering hero has at least an intermediate level of martial arts skill?

Wang Xiaoer continued, "I'm called Wang Xiaoer. I've always wanted to be a wandering hero too. But people say there's no money in being a hero."

Xiu Wangchou burst out laughing at this naive yet interesting remark. He walked over and ruffled Wang Xiaoer's little head, smiling as he said, "Little one, money isn't everything. Heroes eliminate evil and help the good; grand heroes ensure peace and safety for the country and people. I have limited capabilities so becoming an ordinary hero will do. I don't need money."

Wang Xiaoer pouted. "Then what do you eat? From the looks of it, big brother, you probably can't even afford a painting."

But Xiu Wangchou wasn't angry in the least. He laughed. "Sometimes after driving away some bullies, people give me food or even money. Don't you worry about whether your big brother will starve."

Wang Xiaoer said, "Then big brother, you must protect us. I'll give you food in the future. But you won't be leaving our county too soon, right?"

Xiu Wangchou pinched Wang Xiaoer's cute little face and laughed. "No, I'll probably stay for one or two months more. After I finish my business here, I'll definitely protect you guys from being bullied by scoundrels. Alright?"

"Alright!" Wang Xiaoer nodded vigorously, then just stared at Xiu Wangchou admiringly without another word.

Xiu Wangchou bowed with fists clasped towards Zhang San before leaving the art shop.

...

"Master, Master, how did I do?"

"Not bad, you've got some skills."

The whispered conversation between master and disciple revealed that Wang Xiaoer's childish chatter with Xiu Wangchou earlier was no innocent exchange arising from a child's admiration for heroes.

Instead, Wang Xiaoer had designed everything he said earlier.

Zhang San watched the departing figure in the distance and said to Wang Xiaoer, "A sworn hero bent on eliminating evil who purposely came to my little shop to observe when the new county magistrate was patrolling and plans to stay in the county for a significant period... it looks like there'll be some chaos in this little county town in the days ahead."

Wang Xiaoer folded his arms and sighed while mimicking his late father "Gray Lion", "Nowadays, ten out of ten officials are corrupt."

Zhang San took one look at Wang Xiaoer before throwing a punch at him!

Clutching his head in pain, Wang Xiaoer complained, "Master, why did you hit me again?"

"Don't talk like adults."

"Oh...alright," Wang Xiaoer reluctantly agreed.

While still rubbing his head, Wang Xiaoer added, "But what that guy said sounded a lot like my dad."

"What did he say?"

"Ordinary heroes eliminate evil and help the good; grand heroes ensure peace and safety for the country and people. My dad said the exact same thing before and made me memorize it."

On hearing this, Zhang San stared down the street, muttering to himself, "Looks like there'll be some chaos in this little county town for some time to come..."

Upon saying this, Zhang San froze briefly.

He recalled the hoodlums who came earlier to collect "protection fees" followed soon after by the county magistrate brazenly striding down the streets.

But no matter how chaotic things became, just how chaotic could they get?

This was what Zhang San wondered to himself.

...

Not far away on the street, Xiu Wangchou garbed in white halted and glanced back in the general direction of the art shop.

He murmured to himself, "Was it my imagination? But from my observations, that art shop owner doesn't seem capable of any martial arts. Yet for some reason... he appeared to be blocking the view for me at that time while pretending to just be an onlooker."

"And why did his gaze when asking about the grass ring..."

The hero bent on righting wrongs and eliminating evil, Xiu Wangchou lacked Zhang San's cunning wit. No matter how much he wracked his brains, he couldn't figure out anything odd about Zhang San's words and behavior earlier.

Instead, Xiu Wangchou began suspecting he was being overly sensitive.

How could he harbor misgivings about an ordinary scholar?

Yet there was one remark during his decidedly ordinary conversation with Zhang San that Xiu Wangchou couldn't get out of his mind.

"Four rings interlinked with floral calyx in the center—quite an exceptional craftsmanship."

This was a braiding technique passed down through generations in a tiny village that had vanished in the northern Dawu Country. While it probably wasn't peerless in all the world, one glimpse was enough to tell it demanded exceptional technique—those who could recognize it were likely few and far between.

Xiu Wangchou muttered to himself, "But everyone else died that year, and I should have been the only survivor..."

Xiu Wangchou was twelve years old at the time. He had hidden in the grass and watched his clansmen murdered one by one...

How could there possibly be any other survivors aside from him?

Perhaps everything really was just a coincidence. That scholar just happened to be familiar with that braiding technique. After all it was merely a small village. Some people who left to work could have brought the technique with them. That would make perfect sense.

Consoling himself thusly, Xiu Wangchou gradually departed.

That night, inside the secret chamber in Zhang San's room.

"Wow, Master! You actually have a secret chamber! I've only ever seen them in storybooks!"

"What's so strange about that? Doesn't your dad have one too?"

Wang Xiaoer candidly admitted, "Why would my dad have something like that? My house is so small and I know every corner of it."

Zhang San frowned slightly then asked, "Then where does he do his missions?"

"Missions? He just carries them out as per normal—puts on a mask, grabs a blade, heads out, and comes back when it's done."

On hearing this, Zhang San—a man who had lived his life cautiously, even going so far as to take aromatic trichome powder when killing ordinary people—couldn't help sighing, "Your dad is pretty fierce."

Thinking it was praise for his father, Wang Xiaoer proudly proclaimed, "Of course! My dad is a high-level expert of the intermediate stage!"

Zhang San shook his head. He pulled out a large chest from below his counter full of all kinds of hidden weapons, poisons, disguises and other materials. "From today onwards, you'll read these books."

Curious, Wang Xiaoer asked, "Master, what kind of books are these?"

"Martial arts manuals," Zhang San replied.