Lu Xiaofeng Book 7: Laughter of The Sword God [剑神一笑 Jian Shen Yi Xiao]

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs. Getting another fix so soon.

[Anh Nam]

Thanks foxs

[foxs]

Jaya, Ysabel. Anh, you are welcome. DongBin, too early, hence it's rather suspicious. Ycb, thanks, I'll fix it.

---

Chapter 6 – The nest the fake big robber fled to
(Translated by Foxs)

(One)

Spring came late. Although spring has arrived in Jiangnan, it was unclear when the spring would arrive in this place. But at least the earth has more or less shown the beginning of spring.

From Sha Dahu’s mansion back to the Old Wang’s grocery store, was a long yellow sandy soil street. Due to the melting snow, the sandy soil became mud. People walking on mud, each step meant a foot full of mud.

Naturally this feeling was very unpleasant.

Lu Xiaofeng was unwilling to show off his qinggong. He really wished to have a taste of this somewhat desolate, barren spring scenery. The cool and crisp air would be helpful to his thinking.

Very quickly he found a way to get the best of both worlds.

He looked for two rather coarse twigs, and using a dagger, he turned the twigs onto some kind of short walking sticks, which he fastened onto his feet and used the sticks as stilts. Hence he was able to walk happily on the mud.

It was the first time he used the dagger.

Right now it must have been around noon [orig. ‘wu’ hour, between 11am-1pm]. The breeze blowing his body seemed a little warm. Although he had so many questions in his heart that he did not have the answer, he still felt very comfortable.

He was not the kind of person who held on to worldly riches. Not at all. He never bothered to hold on to it.

He often said, “Worries are just like wealth, it is best to scatter them as soon as possible.”

(Two)

A gust of wind blew, the row of stumps by the street had not sprouted any new leaves, the vegetation was still bare.

Lu Xiaofeng did not stop to look at all, he simply called out, “Jin Qiliang.”

“Lu Xiaofeng.”

Perched atop a barren tree, Jin Qiliang did indeed look like seven taels of cotton [See Chapter 5 for explanation on Jin Qiliang’s name].

He looked down on Lu Xiaofeng and giggled, “Actually, I shouldn’t call you ‘Lu Xiaofeng’, you don’t look like a bird at all.” [Reminder: ‘xiao feng’ means ‘little phoenix’.]

“You look like a little chicken,” Jin Qiliang said.

Lu Xiaofeng also laughed. He agreed that the pair of wooden sticks under his feet looked very much like chicken feet.

“Jin Qiliang, what are you doing here? Are you running after me?” Lu Xiaofeng asked with a laugh.

“If I want to run after something, I would have run after a hen; why would I want to run after a little rooster like you?” Jin Qiliang said, “I can’t help it, I was forced to run.”

“Who forced you?”

“People can’t force me, only temper can force me to leave.”

“Whose temper?”

“Of course it’s the Big Boss’.” Jin Qiliang said, “Only Big Boss’ temper can force people.”

“The Big Boss is mad?”

“Not only is he mad, he is extremely furious.”

“What made him mad?”

“Of course he is mad at you.” Jin Qiliang said, “He has already taken care of the kitchen, wine and dishes are prepared well, yet you absolutely refused to stay and eat with him. If you were him, wouldn’t you be mad as well?”

“I won’t be mad,” Lu Xiaofeng said, “Not only I won’t be mad, I would jump in joy instead.”

“In joy?”

“I did not stay in his place to eat, his wine would be saved a bit, his dish would also be saved a bit; why wouldn’t I jump in joy? Why would I be angry?”

Jin Qiliang let out a bitter laugh, “Probably because you are not him that you can say such things. That Big Boss of ours is someone who values his face more than his life. Since Lu Xiaofeng has already entered his territory, yet was not willing to eat a bowl of rice at his place, to him, it was practically an extraordinary shame and humiliation, it was practically worse than stealing away his wife. Therefore, I could not swallow my rice either.”

“Therefore, you had no choice but to sneak out and look for me?” Lu Xiaofeng asked, “Are you thinking of asking me to treat you for lunch?”

Jin Qiliang laughed, “Originally I was thinking of treating you, but since you insist, I cannot not give you any face.”

Lu Xiaofeng also laughed, “Originally I was seriously thinking of treating you; too bad there is not a single restaurant in this place, even if I wanted to treat you, I can do nothing.”

“There is a way,” Jin Qiliang quickly said, “As long as you are willing to pay, I have a way. If I can’t even spend other people’s money, then my name is not Jin Qiliang, but Jin Tugou [lit. dirt dog, a mole cricket/ Gryllotalpa].”

He did have a way. By handing over ten taels of silver to Wang Dayan, in less than two hours wine and dishes were set up on the table in Lu Xiaofeng’s room.

(Three)

Although there was nothing special with the wine, but the dishes were done very well, especially the simmer-fried chicken, the chicken was cooked very fresh, tender and tasty. Even Lu Xiaofeng, who was usually very picky with his food, was very satisfied, “I did not expect the lady boss actually has such a good culinary skill.”

“This is not the lady boss’ handiwork, it’s Boss Wang’s handiwork.”

With a warm, yet mysterious expression Jin Qiliang looked at Lu Xiaofeng, “What’s more, he seems to eat anything.”

Lu Xiaofeng had his eyes fixed on the chicken.

Jin Qiliang looked at him. At first he seemed to be nearly smiling, but in the end he sighed deliberately and said, “When others stole one egg in his shop, he could see it clearly, but when others stole his wife, he did not even notice.” Jin Qiliang went on, “Do you know that there is a very popular old joke in this town?”

Although Lu Xiaofeng really wished that he was deaf at the moment, he could not ignore him, “What joke?”

“Zhao Xiazi [lit. blind, see Chapter 3] has a pair of shifty eyes that can see everything, Wang Dayan [again, see Chapter 3] has a blind open-wide eye.”

Jin Qiliang deliberately laughed aloud again, as if he had just told the funniest joke on earth. Too bad before he could laugh too long, he already had to stop laughing. Because Lu Xiaofeng stuffed his mouth with a piece of chicken drumstick.

Whenever lady boss was mentioned, Lu Xiaofeng immediately wished to change the subject; to his dismay, however, this time the one changing the subject was not him, but Jin Qiliang.

“Lu Xiaofeng, let me be honest with you, although the number of times we met is not many, but I always regard you as my friend,” Jin Qiliang said, “Even if you don’t consider me as a friend, I still consider you as my friend.”

His drinking capacity did not seem to be too big, after drinking a few cups, he already appeared a bit tipsy.

“I know you must be wondering, you feel strange that I would flee to this place,” Jin Qiliang said, “The world is big, I, Jin Qiliang can go to any place, anywhere I go, people would treat me as honored guest, would regard me as a wealthy man; why would I want to come over here to take shelter under that arrogant and conceited alive mole cricket who would rather die than lose face?”

Several cups of wine entered his tummy, a burst of heroic spirit arose in his breast; all of a sudden the Big Boss became ‘alive mole cricket’. Lu Xiaofeng had heard about it many times before, Lu Xiaofeng had seen things like this too many times before.

However, the question Jin Qiliang had just asked him, even if he did not want to comment, he had to ask, “So why did you come here?”

“Because of a snake, a viper that is a hundred times more poisonous than scarlet-line serpent,” Jin Qiliang replied.

Obviously this snake was not a real snake, because there is simply no snake in the world that is a hundred times more poisonous than scarlet-line snake; therefore, Lu Xiaofeng immediately thought of something, “The snake you are talking about, most probably is not a real snake, but a person.” Lu Xiaofeng said, “The person you are talking about, most probably is the Snake Cavalier.”

(Four)

Snake Cavalier should not be young anymore, twenty-five years ago, seven southern and sixty-three northern provinces’ escort agency alliance’s Head Escort ‘Steady As Mount Tai’ Kong Taishan already issued a call to the wulin world to hunt and capture him, more than that, to kill him at all cost.

This matter was widely known around Jianghu. What they did not know was: why was Old Chief Kong so angry toward a young man who had just made his debut?

But people believed that someone like Old Chief Kong would not take any action without a strong reason. Anybody who managed to reach the ‘Old Chief’ position like him would not do anything without any strong reason. If he wanted to kill Snake Cavalier, it must be that Snake Cavalier really deserved to die.

“Not only this person is most venomous than snakes, he is even more slippery than snakes. I have been trying to track him down for seven, eight months, until finally I learned that he appeared on this road.” Jin Qiliang said, “I also heard that this place is Big Boss Sha’s territory, as long as it is a friend who has a bit of name in Jianghu, as long as he came here, it did not matter how big the criminal case against him, Big Boss Sha would definitely offer shelter.”

“Hence you deduced that that snake must be hiding is Sha Dahu’s place to seek refuge from the enemy.”

“Anybody would think the same thing.” Jin Qiliang said, “You must also be thinking that those two people, one man, one woman, must be fugitives who seek shelter under Big Boss Sha’s roof.”

“That’s right.”

“But you are wrong.”

Lu Xiaofeng immediately asked, “How did you know I was wrong? How did you know that the people I am looking for are not fugitives in that place?”

“Because they really believe that I killed Little Tian, they all believe that Eighth Grand Master Tian absolutely wanted my life; therefore, they did not conceal anything from me.” Jin Qiliang said, “They already consider me as one of them, nobody has any idea that it is just a front.”

[ycb5959]

Thanks for a new update!

[LuDongBin]

Thanks foxs.

Small typing error here?:
“Jin Qiliang, what are you doing here? Are running after me?” Lu Xiaofeng asked with a laugh.

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs, its a long chapter today.

[Anh Nam]

Thanks foxs

[foxs]

ycb, Jaya, Ysabel, Anh, you are welcome. DongBin, thanks, I'll fix it. Seems to me I made more mistakes lately, perhaps it's time to quit ...

---

“The one you want to kill is a b@stard, so you have to become a b@stard first. You want to sneak into a pile of turtles to pry into their secret, naturally you have to become a turtle first.”

“Big Boss Sha has always loved to be told about other people’s deepest secret, in his house he shelters a number of big robbers, fugitives of the Jianghu, occasionally he would pretend to be careless and leak out several names.” Jin Qiliang said, “The names he mentioned are indeed sensational.”

He continued, “Watching the reaction of other people when he mentioned those names, Big Boss Sha always feels very happy.”

Lu Xiaofeng laughed, “To be able to provide shelter to those big caliber criminals with impressive reputation in his house, it is indeed a serious matter.” Lu Xiaofeng said, “Not only he himself gets a kick out of it, other people would also feel that he has a serious face.”

Jin Qiliang sighed, “Big bosses always want a lot of face, it’s just that this Big Boss Sha’s craving for a face is a bit excessive.”

“How excessive?”

“The way he wants a face is almost as if he has no face.”

“Why?”

“Because those big caliber criminals he is harboring are all fake goods.” Jin Qiliang said, “Those people knew the Big Boss’ temper, therefore, they adapt to his taste. Some claimed they have run amuck around such-and-such places around Huai River, some said they killed people like scything flax under so-and-so’s banner.”

“And the truth is?”

With a wry smile Jin Qiliang said, “The truth is that they all are no more than some third-rate small-time thieves; not only there is no character of the Snake Cavalier’s caliber, basically there is no one with crime worth mentioning at all.” And then he asked Lu Xiaofeng, “Among those small sons of a b1tch who talk nonsense and eat and drink indolently, how could there be the persons you are looking for?”

Lu Xiaofeng was dumbstruck.

Hearing this kind of matters, of course he found it to be funny, yet right now he could not even laugh.

These fugitives were originally his biggest suspects, as well as his most important clue; but now it was broken.

The killer who murdered lcf seemed to have completely disappeared, so much so that they did not seem to exist at all.

Evidently Jin Qiliang understood his mood very well; he picked up the cup and downed the wine first, “Lu Xiaofeng, you don’t have to feel bad. Speaking about feeling bad, I feel worse than you do.” He poured a cup for Lu Xiaofeng, “We seem to be in the same boat, this time we tool a wasted trip; we’d better go home together now!”

Lu Xiaofeng suddenly laughed, “This place is so fun, how could I bear to leave?”

This time it was Jin Qiliang’s turn to be dumbstruck. “You said this place is fun?”

“Of course it is fun.” Lu Xiaofeng said, “It is very fun.”

He did not lie. The more dangerous the situation, the more fun it was for him. The more unexplainable the problem, the more interesting it was to Lu Xiaofeng.

It was Lu Xiaofeng’s usual style.

But when he said those words, perhaps even in his dream he would not expect that very soon he would die in that place.

By this time, however, Lu Xiaofeng did not know that he would die, and he had not given up all hope either.

“Other than those bunch of fake big bandits, others are born and bred in this place?”

“Seems like it.” Jin Qiliang thought for a moment before adding, “I think only one person is not.”

“Who? Who is not?”

“Gong Susu.”

This was the first time Lu Xiaofeng heard this name. The name is clearly a very noble, elegant and beautiful name, it can definitely arouse men’s interest, anybody would not associate this name with a lady who sells pork at the market. Therefore, Lu Xiaofeng immediately asked, “What kind of person is she?”

“She is a woman whose elegant demeanor is extraordinarily well, her scholarly knowledge is also unusually good, her view is distinct, her style of conversation is also very graceful. Not only that, she lacks none of the four arts of the Chinese Scholar [i.e. zither, Go, calligraphy, painting].” Jin Qiliang deliberately sighed, “Only in one area she is lacking.”

“Which area?” Lu Xiaofeng eagerly asked.

“She likes to drink,” Jin Qiliang slowly and deliberately said, “There was one time I saw it with my own eyes, during meal she drank a whole jar of white wine. Finished drinking, her face did not even change color.”

Lowering his voice, he continued spoke to Lu Xiaofeng very mysteriously, “If you ask me, someone like her, why would she want to live in this kind of place?” Jin Qiliang went on, “Well, I’ll tell you, she did not come here on her own account, rather, she can’t leave even if she wanted to.”

“Why?”

Jin Qiliang lowered his voice even more, “Because she was originally a beloved concubine of a prince of the reigning royal family; because she committed a crime, offending the Prince, she was banished to this place.”

Lu Xiaofeng’s four eyebrows started to droop. He sighed and said, “I know it, I know you are trying to harm me.”

“I’m harming you?” Jin Qiliang appeared to be deeply hurt, “How could I harm you?”

“You obviously know that when I found out that there is such woman in this place, if I don’t see her, I won’t be able to sleep well tonight.” Lu Xiaofeng said, “And now, what do you want me to do?”

“What to do? It’s very easy.” Jin Qiliang said, “You want to see her, I’ll take you there. Not only that, I’ll ask her to invite you for a drink.”

When they left the grocery store, the lady boss’ countenance looked like a piece of iron panel, she looked at Lu Xiaofeng with cold eyes, as if she wished to strangle him right then and there.

Lu Xiaofeng did not even look at her.

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs. Small grammar mistakes are no big deal. We get the gist of the story. Hoping you would be translating more books NOT less ...

[Anh Nam]

Thanks foxs

[ycb5959]

Wah - foxs - don't quit just because of minor mistakes

Even professional authors have editors and publishing houses to proof-read for them.

Even the last few books of "Magician" (Raymond Fiest) have many glaring errors, despite being proof-read.

[LuDongBin]

Haha foxs is only kidding. You are not the type to quit like this. As ycb5959 said even the best authors have an army of proof readers at theri command. Awaiting the next next installment ....

[foxs]

Jaya, Anh, you are welcome. Ysabel, then summary will be fine. ycb, Dongbin, it's just that sometimes more errors are sign of fatigue ... But you are right, I won't quit, not just yet. At least this book has to be finished.

---

Chapter 7 – Fairy of the Ninth Heaven descending to mundane world
(Translated by Fox)

(One)

Bamboo fence, a gate made of twigs, half a courtyard of plum blossom. Looking past the bamboo and plum blossom, Lu Xiaofeng could vaguely see three or two pomegranate wood buildings.

In his imagination, even though an imperial concubine has fallen from grace, her residence ought to be a lot more lordly from this place.

Evidently this prince’s wife was not someone who paid particular attention to show of extravagance, unlike that Big Boss Sha who valued face more than his life. As long as she could pass her days in peace and comfort, she was perfectly contended.

Therefore, before Lu Xiaofeng even saw her, he already had an extremely favorable impression on her.

An exiled prince’s wife, a plum-blossom-like body with flesh of ice and bones of jade, a past that no one knew about, unforgetable old dreams flowed in her bosom; how mysterious, how romantic.

Even though Lu Xiaofeng was not drunk, he seemed to be drunk. All along Jin Qiliang paid a close attention to his expression; he suddenly sighed. “Now I realize that I should not have brought you here,” Jin Qiliang said.

“Why?”

“I am really afraid that as soon as you see her, you’ll forget your manners.” Jin Qiliang said, “In front of someone like her, you need to say only one wrong word for someone to die.”

Lu Xiaofeng patted his shoulder, “Don’t worry, what kind of person have I not seen?”

Yet Jin Qiliang was not convinced, he still sighed, “I know that you have met not a few people, all kinds and sorts of people you have seen. It’s a pity that the one you are about to see is practically not a person.”

“Not a person? Then what is she?”

“A fairy of the ninth heaven being banished down into the mundane world.”

(Two)

There was a string of bells hanging on the underside of the eaves above the door. The bells have been rung for a long time before someone came out to answer the door.

The one answering the door was not a boy, but an old woman, the entire hair on her head was white, in fact, her entire body has withered, the number of teeth remaining inside her mouth was at most only three or five. Yet Jin Qiliang spoke to her in a very respectful manner, “Popo [grandma], I am surnamed Jin, I have been here before, I am sure you still remember me. Last time it was also you who opened the door for me.”

The old woman looked at him with squinted eyes; it was not clear whether she still remembered this kind of man, it was not clear either whether she even heard what he said, so much so that perhaps she did not even see this man.

But Jin Qiliang acted like he was very familiar with the old granny; pulling Lu Xiaofeng’s shoulder he said to her, “This is my friend, his name is Lu Xiaofeng; I am taking him here to see your gongzhu [imperial empress/milady, see Book 6 Chapter 9 for more on ‘gong zhu’].”

Jin Qiliang said, “I am sorry to trouble you, please tell your Gongzhu that she must invite him for a nice dinner, and some nice cups of wine.”

The old lady who answered the door was still looking at him with a bewildered, totally-lost expression, yet Jin Qiliang acted as if he had accomplished great success. He actually said to Lu Xiaofeng, “Lu Xiaofeng, you must take a good care of yourself, pay attention to everything, I am sure we’ll meet again someday.”

It was as if someone had just whipped Lu Xiaofeng on the buttocks with a chain; his entire body seemed to stiffen and was about to jump. “You mean, you are leaving now?” he asked Jin Qiliang.

“That’s right.”

“How can you go now?”

“Why can’t I go now?” In a right and self-confident manners Jin Qiliang said, “You wanted to see Gong Susu, and now I have brought you here. Not only that, I have asked her to invite you for a dinner, for a drink.”

He went on, “I have done everything I promised you; if I don’t go now, what am I waiting for?” He said he would go, and indeed he left; not only that, he left very quickly.

With a bitter expression and squinted eyes the old lady was still standing at the door, she did not show the least bit of sign that she was going to let Lu Xiaofeng in.

If the one blocking the door was an eight-feet tall, intimidating and powerful looking burly man, Lu Xiaofeng had at least eight hundred ways of how to deal with him; but toward an old lady, whose teeth were about to fall off completely, Lu Xiaofeng could not think of even one way to deal with her.

The old woman seemed to be determined not to let Lu Xiaofeng in. It’s not that she did not hear Jin Qiliang, it’s just that she considered everything he said dog fart.

Lu Xiaofeng understood this fact.

In this kind of situation, any sensitive or tactful person would just leave. It’s not that Lu Xiaofeng was not sensitive or tactful, rather, he was a man who would not stop until he reached the Yellow River [idiom: persevere until reaching one’s goal].

Moreover, he always considered himself as an expert in dealing with women. When women saw him, they would become like Zhu Bajie [pig-like character in Journey to the West] eating ginseng, became muddleheaded that they could not distinguish east, west, north and south. Women from the age of eight to eighty were just the same.

Right now he raised his own spirit, ready to deal with this old woman, and he had high confidence in his heart.

Dealing with an old woman, it would be best to consider her to be a little girl. Precisely like when you are facing a little girl, never say that she has not grown up yet.

Naturally he had already thought about a plausible story to tell. But suddenly he discovered that there was another person standing at the end of the garden path, staring at him with fiery eyes.

It was a woman, her age probably twenty-six or twenty-seven years. According to the norm at that time, she could not be considered a young woman anymore, the distance between her current age with the criteria of youthfulness of jade-maiden was already too far.

But Lu Xiaofeng was convinced that when the woman was fifteen, sixteen years old, nobody would possibly consider her because of her character and mean demeanor; her face always carried an expression as if everybody in the world owed her money and did not pay.

In all his life this kind of women was what Lu Xiaofeng fear the most; just at the sight of them was enough to make him wanted to fight.

The woman was bent on staring at him; she looked at him from head to toe, from toe back to his head. Her pair of black and bright eyes looked like two charcoal briquettes that have just been scooped out from an icehouse.

“Hey, you, what are you doing here?” she asked Lu Xiaofeng. Unexpectedly she spoke with a Beijing accent, it was very pleasant to the ears.

Being stared at by her, Lu Xiaofeng already wanted to explode, yet he could not not answering her, “I came especially to pay my respect to Gongzhu, I have a friend who told me that Gongzhu will definitely see me.”

“What kind of ‘thing’ is that friend of yours? And what kind of ‘thing’ are you? What made you think that you have a right to barge in here?”

“I am not a ‘thing’, I am a man.” Lu Xiaofeng sighed, “I already told people this I don’t know how many times, why do people always fail to see this point?”

“Fortunately, I have already seen it.”

“You saw what?”

“I saw that you are basically not a ‘thing’, therefore, you’d better hurry up and go away, lest I get angry.”

“I was going to go away. If you are Gongzhu, I would have gone away.” Lu Xiaofeng flashed a very pleasant smile, “Fortunately, I have already seen it.”

“You saw what?”

“I saw that you are not Gongzhu.” Lu Xiaofeng said, “On your whole body, from top to bottom, there is not the least bit of Gongzhu quality at all.”

The woman’s wooden, stiff face was unexpectedly now aglow with anger, her eyes shot fire, as if the charcoal briquette have been lit.

Yet Lu Xiaofeng was still trying to annoy her more.

“Actually, I don’t blame you at all, although all along you have been shouting and yelling at me, throwing tantrums at me, I can still forgive you.” Indeed Lu Xiaofeng’s voice seemed to be brimming with sympathy and understanding, “Because I know that if a woman your age has not yet married, the anger inside will be inevitably big.”

If Lu Xiaofeng’s reaction was a bit slower, those words would be the very last words he said in his life.

A split second more, a short dagger, one-chi three-cun long [about 15”/40cm], would have pierced his heart.

This dagger came very fast, it was even faster than Lu Xiaofeng could ever imagined.

The woman whom Lu Xiaofeng provoked to half-dead was originally standing on the flower path more than a zhang away [1 zhang is about 10ft/3m], but suddenly she had arrived in front of Lu Xiaofeng, and a dagger suddenly appeared in her hand, with the tip of the dagger suddenly arrived in front of the pit of Lu Xiaofeng’s stomach.

The way she moved the blade was not only fast, but strange as well; the way she positioned the blade was also very unusual, very weird.

Actually, very few people ever evaded this blade. Therefore, Lu Xiaofeng did not even try to evade. He simply stretched out his two fingers and gently nipped the blade.

After all, what kind of fingers were Lu Xiaofeng’s two fingers? Weren’t the fingers blessed by deities and spirits in heaven, and cursed by demons? Wasn’t there some sort of unfathomable magical power on those fingers?

No one knew.

But everybody in Jianghu knew that these two fingers worth ten times the value of diamond of the same size as the fingers. It was said that once someone was willing to spend five-hundred-thousand taels to buy these two fingers.

Because he only needed to stretch these two fingers and pinched lightly, absolutely nothing in the world that they could not clamp; even a lightning fast blade was no exception, it was clamped by these two fingers.

It was said that these two fingers had completely interlinked with his heart and mind. Nobody knew how many killer weapons in the hands of wulin experts had been caught, nobody knew how many times these two fingers had saved his life.

This time was no different. Naturally the blade was also caught.

The woman wielding the dagger plainly saw that the blade was about to enter Lu Xiaofeng’s heart. She had always had high confidence in her skill and speed in using the blade, and originally this blade was not supposed to miss.

[ycb5959]

Thanks, and nice title for the chapter!

Edit: possible errors -

1. Being stared at by her, Lu Xiaofeng already wanted to explode, yet he could not not answering her,
maybe "could not help answering her" or "could not not answer her"?

2. It was said that once someone was willing to spend five-hundred-thousand taels to but these two fingers.could it be "buy"?

[LuDongBin]

Don't quit foxs, not even after this book. Take a break by all means but come back and attack those books again.

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[theSwordoftheWest]

Thank you foxs.

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs for another update