Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 319 A word is settled
At noon, the sun was scorching brightly in the sky. Chen Xuan was alone and staring quietly at the direction of the mountain, without taking his eyes off for a long time.

"Whether you remember or forget, it doesn't matter. I remember and I care."

He murmured in his heart that it was a happy thing to meet old childhood friends, but he wanted to laugh, but he couldn't.

After standing there for a while, Chen Xuan retracted his gaze and walked towards the table to sit down again. The scorching sun was his companion, and the breeze slightly messed up his hair. He drank silently by himself, but there was no one to raise the glass with him.

Lifting the wine bowl, he made a dry gesture towards the other side of the table, but his eyes were looking down the mountain, and he whispered: "Come and drink, a bowl of wine to toast the past. Everything that happened yesterday has become the past. Flowers may not bloom forever, but people are always there. Why mention the past again?"

He drank it in one gulp, raised his sleeve to wipe the wine stains from the corner of his mouth, poured another bowl, raised it and said: "Come again, to celebrate our meeting, drink and be merry, this gentle breeze and bright sun are a celebration."

He drank again and poured more, then raised his wine bowl and said: "Tomorrow will be better, it will be better."

Then he stopped talking and drank bowl after bowl of wine. After a jar of wine was finished, Chen Xuan felt a little tipsy and inexplicably irritated. He kicked the jar of wine and smashed it into pieces. He spat and cursed, "This stupid copycat, they were all a bunch of rubbish before. They have no taste. The wine they drank was too crude. Not only did it choke my throat, it was also fucking irritating to my eyes. Damn it, I killed them too quickly before. It was easy for them. Otherwise, I would have slaughtered them all over again with this rubbish!"

That being said, even though this 'bad wine' was not very palatable, he still kept drinking it. Later he simply lifted up the jar and drank it all in one gulp. The wine spilled everywhere and he was soaked all over, as if he had just scooped it out of a wine vat.

He kept drinking, emptying the wine jars one after another, and throwing them away after he finished drinking, making them smash to pieces.

He forgot about his worries and sorrows and thought about nothing. Even Gao Jingming was temporarily forgotten. He just wanted to drink and get drunk, but he couldn't get drunk. He was a little distressed that his cultivation was too high and it was difficult for him to get drunk.

He couldn't get drunk, with a stomach full of alcohol, and he felt suffocated. He simply lifted up his clothes and took off his pants to relieve himself. Who cares? I just do whatever I want!

Afterwards, he slumped in the chair, his legs swaying on the ground, his eyes staring silently at the sky. The sunlight was a little dazzling.

There was a lot of food on the table, including wine and meat, but it tasted bland, like chewing wax. Was my memory messed up? Why did that half piece of cake taste so sweet?

Damn, I must have remembered it wrong.

Haha, with a large puddle of urine beside him, Chen Xuan finally laughed, a loud laugh, so much so that he crawled on the table and slapped the surface, making a loud clapping sound. Wasn't this just a replay of yesterday? At that moment, in the dog cage, excrement and urine were his companions.

After laughing enough, Chen Xuan glanced at the completely silent village, his eyes boiling with murderous intent. He sneered, "The dog knows too much about the village. I'll burn it to ashes later. I think it might be useful to keep it for now."

Anyway, at this moment, he was dissatisfied with everything in the village, especially the dead people. He always wanted to kill them again. They were already dead? He still wanted to kill them and even wanted to scatter their ashes, but he restrained himself.

He follows the natural way and will not hide his emotions. He will express them when necessary, but he will not let his emotions control his thinking.

After about an hour, the sun began to set and Chen Xuan regained his composure, as if nothing had happened.

He stood up and took a look down the mountain. He smiled slightly and found the two best horses in the stronghold. The rest of the animals were untied. They were "free", free, and no longer had to work hard for those vicious guys.

Although it was a bandit's den, Chen Xuan still couldn't do anything so bad as to scatter egg yolks.

Then all the looted gold, silver and valuables were packed up and carried by a horse. Although the items were worth hundreds of thousands of taels and were heavy, they were all valuable items and not many, so a horse could carry them all.

After that, he led the two horses slowly down the mountain...

On the official road a few miles down the mountain, the former Erdan, now Zhao Heihu, stood there a little confused, not knowing where to go. At this time, he had regained his composure. There were traces of blood on his palms, which were caused by his fingernails that had pierced his palms unconsciously when he clenched his fists.

The road was right under his feet, but he didn't know where to go.

The stronghold is gone, the bad guys are dead, he no longer has to worry, no one bullies him anymore, and no one will force him to go down the mountain to rob every day, and he probably won't get new injuries.

It was something he had dreamed of for over a decade, and now that it had come true, he felt lost and at a loss. Where should he go? Where could he go?

His master used to be a man of little ability, with mediocre martial arts skills, but he taught him everything. Although his master's skills were not very good, he liked reading and was somewhat incompatible with the evil people in the mountains.

His master likes to read all kinds of books, and almost all of the books he reads are stolen. It is obvious that his master is not a good person, but he always advises him to be good and not to do evil with others. He is an extremely contradictory person.

So even though he was among the bad guys over the years, Erdan really hadn't done many bad things. Peeping at the big white butts of the women in the mountains while they were bathing, and occasionally spitting in the food and drinks of those bad guys to wash their feet didn't count...

How can it be that everyone is a bad guy, and you are the only one who is clean? That's how he got those crisscrossing scars on his body. He didn't do bad things, but his master helped him do the bad things. So in the few years that the master and apprentice spent together, they were almost always either getting beaten or on the way to being beaten.

Anyway, after his master died, Erdan still refused to do bad things, especially as he grew up. He could beat or kill as he pleased, but he would not rob or kill. If they wanted to beat him, he would just squat down with his head in his hands and let them beat him to their heart's content. He silently thought that one day he would escape from the bandit's lair. If he could leave, he would find a way to cook a last meal, poison the food, and kill as many people as he could.

However, he never got that opportunity.

He would never do anything evil, but when he has the chance to kill the criminals, he can do it without hesitation. This is a good man, pure, purer than real gold.

There are probably not many people in this world who can keep themselves clean after being in the quagmire for many years. Although Erdan is nothing, he is qualified to look down on anyone and he can stand up straighter than anyone else.

But this still did not prevent him from being confused at this moment. More than ten years had passed. Although he was still young at the time and remembered many things, there were many things he really could not remember, such as... home.

"Oh, right, I actually do have a family. Although my parents sold me, they had no choice. My family had no food and was about to starve to death. But they sold me and got some money. My family was able to get through the most difficult times, and I am still alive today. But where is my home? I can't remember. Are my parents still alive? Are my brothers and sisters okay? I want to go home, but I can't find the direction of home."

Standing on the side of the road, Erdan didn't know which direction to go. Like almost everyone else, when he was most confused in life, the first thing he thought of was home.

He did not hate his family for selling him. Instead, he understood them. After seeing many evil people in the mountains over the years, he understood more deeply how painful it must have been for his parents to sell him. There was no other way. If they didn't sell him, the whole family would not be able to survive.

"Hey, didn't you say you were going to find a place to run a small stall and make some money, then open a restaurant? Why are you just hanging around here?" Chen Xuan said cheerfully, leisurely walking over with two horses. Hearing the noise, Erdan turned around, scratched his head, and smiled casually, "Shouldn't you be flying away? Why are you here?"

As he spoke, he gestured with his hands and made rapid whooshing sounds with his mouth.

He felt neither afraid nor close to Chen Xuan, as if they were two completely unrelated strangers.

Chen Xuan picked up a piece of dogtail grass and put it in his mouth, savoring the bitter taste. He squatted on the roadside and said, "That's right. Showing off is only fun when there are people watching. I've killed everyone in the mountains. Who am I flying around for? I'm showing off to you. Do you understand? Let me ask you a question."

Not understanding what "pretending to be cool" meant, Erdan hesitated for a moment, then squatted down beside Chen Xuan. He imitated him, picked up a piece of dogtail grass and held it in his mouth. He looked at Guandao and said, "I'm thinking about where to do business. I haven't made up my mind yet."

"Oh, how about I find a place for you to go?" Chen Xuan said with a smile.

Tilting his head to look at Chen Xuan, Erdan pondered and said, "You are a very capable person. Your advice must be correct. I think I can listen to you."

"Hey, I like to hear that. Don't go to big cities. There are so many troubles there. Those gangs and people in the government office are all extorting money. I'm afraid your whole stall can't feed them all. So go to a small place. How about Jiming Town? Jiming Town, under the jurisdiction of Shangyunzhou and Lanfeng County of Jingting County, is a very good place. There is a school about 10 to 20 miles away. You can go to the school gate and make money from those rich kids," Chen Xuan suggested.

Hearing this, Erdan thought for a moment and shook his head, saying, "No, it's too far away. I think a small county town would be nice."

I knew it would be like this. Chen Xuan scratched his head and said, "Is that so? Then you can go to Yang County. It's just too far from where I live. I've settled down in Wancheng, the provincial capital, and it's not convenient for me to go to your place for free food and drinks. You said before that you would treat me to a good meal, and I really took it seriously."

"Yang County? No, I plan to do some small business in the north. It's no problem for me to treat you to food and drinks. You can come anytime," Erdan continued to shake his head.

Chen Xuan knew why he wanted to run as far as possible, grinning and saying, "I think you will go to Yang County."

"Why?" Erdan was puzzled.

Chen Xuan looked at the distant sky and said calmly: "Because your family is from Yang County!"

"How did you..." Erdan suddenly stood up, excited but nervous, then squatted down and said, "Yes, you are so capable. Although I don't know how you knew it, I am not surprised at all. On the contrary, I have long forgotten where my home is."

He really forgot.

He was clearly eager to go home, yet he still pretended to be calm. Chen Xuan felt amused, but he sighed: "Although you have forgotten the things from your childhood, I still remember some, but not much."

"About thirteen years ago, we were sold in Lanfeng County. That year, the traffickers were executed. They were all killed. I witnessed it with my own eyes. The government carefully questioned the people who handled the traffickers, and your name was among them. But they only investigated Yang County. After all, Lanfeng County is right next to Yang County, so it's normal for you to be sold there. So why don't you go to Yang County? Maybe when you encounter a familiar environment, you will remember where home is."

This was indeed all Chen Xuan knew. Mr. Yushan was a friend of Cao Liang, the magistrate of Lanfeng County at that time. He had read the case files and told Chen Xuan what he wanted to know.

After the human traffickers were executed, the whereabouts of children like Erdan who had already taken action were almost unknown, while those who had not taken action were all properly resettled by the government.

In fact, most of the children at that time were in dire straits. After the case was over, almost all the children from wealthy families who were actually abducted returned home, while the so-called resettlement of those poor children was nothing more than moving from one mud pit to another. Their lives were no better than before they fell into the hands of human traffickers, but that was already a very good result, otherwise the government would still be supporting them.

Hearing this, Erdan nodded and pretended to be calm and said, "Then I will go to Yang County. I want to go home."

Speaking of going home, he couldn't control his emotions, his eyes were red, but he paused and looked at Chen Xuan and said, "I have forgotten everything about my childhood. I don't know if I can still find my home, but I think I can find it. After all, I have some ability now. But since you still remember some things from your childhood, why didn't you go home? With your current ability, it shouldn't be difficult to go home, right?"

"I have no home and no relatives. It can be said that everywhere is my home," Chen Xuan said very calmly. He thought to himself that this guy was still as kind as when he was a child. His own affairs were still unresolved, but he cared about him subtly. After all, he grew up. He didn't know what he had experienced in the mountain village. What he expressed was implicit, not as direct as when he was a child.

After thinking for a while, Erdan said: "If I find a home, come to my house when you are free, I will treat you."

"Okay, it's a deal," Chen Xuan smiled, then stood up and said, "Go, go to Yang County, to find your home. It's a bit far, so you can go on horseback. I found two horses in the mountains. They're free anyway, so you can ride one and go. Then, aren't you going to start a business? I guess it won't be easy for you to support your family after you go home. Here, take these banknotes, about ten thousand taels, which is a drop in the bucket for me. Consider them my shares, and you can share the profits with me. Make sure the accounts are in order, because I will have to check them later. You know I'm very capable. As long as you are in Yang County, I can find you behind me. And be careful on the road, don't show off your wealth, and don't let others rob you again."

As he spoke, Chen Xuan handed him a horse, and without giving him a chance to refuse, he stuffed about ten thousand taels of silver into his pocket.

This money is Chen Xuan's own, clean money.

After that, he patted his shoulder, led another horse loaded with treasures towards Gao Jingming and the others, waved his hand and said, "Let's go, I still have things to do."

Half a piece of cake, that thing was equivalent to a life under the conditions at that time, just pay it back slowly.

I, Chen Xuan, am a real man who repays a drop of kindness with a spring of gratitude!
We are all men!

Erdan opened his mouth, looked at Chen Xuan's back, and suddenly smiled: "Okay, you'll be a shareholder. I'm going to open a big restaurant, and you'll take the lion's share."

Some things don't need to be stated so clearly, they are all implied.

Leisurely, he led his horse away. Chen Xuan didn't even look back, but waved his hand and said with a smile, "What kind of big restaurant are you opening? Who would spend money in that shabby place in Yang County? Just make the dishes smaller, with good portions, and they won't taste bad. Business will definitely be booming. Since it's our business, I'll protect it. If anyone dares to cause trouble, I'll dig up his ancestors' graves!"

"Okay, I'll go back first. Remember to come and check the accounts early," Erdan nodded, without asking Chen Xuan if there was anything else. He knew he couldn't help, otherwise it would cause trouble for Chen Xuan. He immediately jumped on his horse and galloped away. The horse's butt was left with bloody marks. He was eager to go home.

Looking back at the direction he left, Chen Xuan smiled. He was not suitable for wealth and fame, nor for fighting and killing.

A simple life suits him best...

(End of this chapter)