Then she turned to the young boy and began scolding, “See, little brat, this sister is only passing by, and she helps you out of pity for your situation; so don’t even look at her like she murdered you entire family or something. Try and avenge him if you want relief that much. How nice of you to only know how to cry over a dead body and bully this good, patient sister!”

This girl might be clever, but she certainly wasn’t kind.

Zhou Zishu, for lack of better options, was about to console him briefly; but to his surprise, the boy after being stupefied by her words suddenly wipe away the tears with all his might and knelt down. He audibly banged his head into the ground twice, voice tiny, “You were right to educate me, miss, I have greatly wronged you.”

He looked a little more sharp-edged with his teeth gritted way too tight, stretching out his face muscles. In contrast, Gu Xiang was dumbfounded, retreating half a step, blinking her large almond eyes, “I- I didn’t say that to make you kneel to me, stand- just stand up, quickly.”

Zhou Zishu bent down a little to help him stand without the boy even noticing. He suggested, “First we should have a burial for… for Old Brother Li. He trusted me to take care of things, so I’m gonna escort you on your journey. But if you two are not in a hurry, you can rest here for a bit and tell me what happened.”

The boy muttered his assent, so Zhou Zishu helped him find a place behind the shrine to bury the old man. Gu Xiang, after observing and finally feeling her heart stirred, brought them a piece of wood, pulling out a dagger around her waist to carve it into a simple headstone. “What’s his name?” she asked.

The boy thought about it for a bit before shaking his head. “He only told us his last name’s Li, and that he owed my father something, so he risked his life to help us escape. I just call him Uncle Li… I don’t really know what his real name was.”

Zhou Zishu exhaled; people in jianghu repay debts and exact vengeance as they see fit; is there ever a need to leave a name?

Gu Xiang had hear head down, engraving “For Uncle Li the Chivalrous” on the wooden headstone. She looked it over, giving to Zhou Zishu once satisfied. “What do you think?”

Zhou Zishu saw the word “Uncle” missing a stroke the moment he glanced at it, feeling both amused and sorrowful. He added the missing stroke with his finger before putting it in front of the simple grave.

The young boy knelt down, kowtowing three times while trying to quell down the tears. Then he stood up, his back straight.

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Footnotes

1 The acupuncture point in the center of the chest.