Notes on Longevity

Chapter 236 The world is full of diverse people, a strange man by the setting sun.

The group of eight wandered through the streets and alleys of Huangzhou City. Zhao Yunchu, Lihua, and Wandou were attracted by all sorts of strange and wonderful things, as well as people from all over the world and the clothes they wore.

The Miao costumes of Xifeng Kingdom, the wolf-skin clothes of Shangqi Kingdom, and the unique ink-wash and misty rain-themed clothing of the South Kingdom; the handsome and dashing men are mostly from Jiangnan, while the mighty and strong are the warriors of Shangqi. The men of Xifeng are mostly quite devoted to love, so they always look somewhat melancholy, while the women are much more lively and cheerful.

"I've heard that the Gu worms in Xifeng are particularly powerful, especially the love Gu, which makes many people linger and forget to leave."

Zhao Yunchu looked at the tourists from various countries passing by them and suddenly said this.

Lu Ya and the others exchanged smiles upon hearing this. Wu Ke shook his head and said, "You only know that the Love Gu can make someone devoted to only one person for life. Have you ever thought about what would happen if that person was unfaithful?"

Zhao Yunchu shook her head vigorously, indicating that she did not know. At this moment, Wu Ke deliberately cleared his throat and said in a low and terrifying voice, "If the love gu encounters someone who is unfaithful, it will eat away that person's internal organs and eventually burrow into the brain to suck out the person's brain marrow, so that he/she will never enter the cycle of reincarnation."

After saying that, Wu Ke grinned and said softly, "So, do you like it?"

"Ah!" Upon hearing Wu Ke's terrifying voice, Zhao Yunchu disregarded everything else and the love potion, and ran forward in a flash, shouting, "I don't want it anymore."

Sun Cheng and Lu Ya, who were standing to the side, chuckled secretly at the sight, while the free spirit Wang Huai looked sullen, as if he had something on his mind.

As Yang Chenghan followed behind the group, a question suddenly occurred to him. He quickened his pace to catch up with Wan Dou and asked, "How does your brother make a living?"

Wan Dou said, "In my younger days, my brother would cover his face and take me to the streets to perform and beg for food, but I don't know much about it after I entered the Zhao family. However, I give all my monthly allowance to my brother, so I guess his life shouldn't be too bad."

Since Yang Chenghan took over the shop, he has been familiar with the monthly allowances of everyone in the Zhao family. Personal maids like Wan Dou and Li Hua receive about fifteen taels of silver per month. According to Yang Chenghan's understanding, the cheapest liquor in the best restaurants in Huangzhou City costs four taels of silver per dou, not to mention famous brands like Shang San Gan and Zhu Yue Hua.

For a person who has been an alcoholic for many years, 15 liang (approximately 750ml) is definitely not enough, even if you disregard daily necessities like food, clothing, shelter, and transportation.

Lu Ya, who had followed, also noticed Yang Chenghan's problem. He said to Wan Dou, "In that case, we're afraid we won't be able to see your brother at the tavern."

"The best restaurant in Huangzhou City is Xianjuting. Their wine comes from the south and costs at least seven taels of silver per dou. Even if you have a monthly salary of fifteen taels and give half to your brother, it will only be a little over seven taels."

“Even if he goes to a lesser-known baijiu shop, a dou (a unit of dry measure) will cost three taels to eight hundred coins.”

Upon hearing this, Wan Dou froze on the spot. She usually relied on her mistress's monthly allowance for food and drink, so she was unfamiliar with the prices in Huangzhou City. But after Lu Ya's explanation, she looked at Yang Chenghan and Lu Ya and asked tremblingly, "Then have we come to the wrong place?"

Wu Ke waved his hand and said, "We usually drink at taverns or brothels, and the wine we buy isn't anything fancy. Four taels of silver for a dou (a unit of volume) of wine is not much. For the five of us, four taels of silver is enough to drink for half a month."

"what?"

Wan Dou stared at Wu Ke in disbelief, "But my brother isn't home either, so where are we going to find him now?"

Wu Ke waved his hand helplessly: "I don't know."

Why did you stop?

Zhao Yunchu and Lihua walked in front, but when they realized that Yang Chenghan and the others hadn't followed, they came back and looked at them with a puzzled expression.

"It's nothing, we just felt that Wan Dou's brother might not be at the restaurant."

Yang Chenghan replied.

"why?"

Yang Chenghan briefly recounted their analysis to Zhao Yunchu, and Lihua was the first to react, saying, "It seems so."

Zhao Yunchu frowned and said, "I heard from Steward Huang that whenever guests come to our house, we always go to Xianjuting to buy wine."

Zhao Yunchu's serious words made Lu Ya and the others sigh and smile wryly: "Your father's banquets are naturally different. Besides, your father is so rich and powerful that he could buy countless Xianjuting with just a handful of silver notes, let alone wine."

Yang Chenghan also spoke up, saying, "My uncle is the head of the merchants in Huangzhou, so he doesn't need to think so much about his actions. But Wan Dou's brother is different. It's not easy for him to earn a living by performing on the streets, let alone drink four or even eight ounces of good wine. So, we were wrong from the start when we started looking for him."

At this moment, the bandit leader Sun Cheng walked up to Zhao Yunchu and said, "You are a young lady, and your thoughts are different from ours. To put it bluntly, not everyone lives a life of ease and comfort like others. Of course, I'm not criticizing you. Look at Cheng Han. In terms of status in the martial arts world, we should actually call him Young Master Yang. But because of what happened back then, he and Senior Yang are now farming in the countryside. Everyone's experiences and circumstances are different, so their actions will naturally be different as well."

Zhao Yunchu understood. Her aloofness had made her overlook Wan Dou's situation. Although they usually joked around like sisters, the difference in their lives remained unchanged. If Wan Dou's brother had been able to support her, he certainly wouldn't have sent her to the Zhao family as a servant. Even if life was unpleasant, she wouldn't have become a slave to be ordered around.

“But Huangzhou City is so big, where are we going to look for him? Judging by the time, Wan Dou hasn’t seen her brother for at least four months. He must miss Wan Dou very much.”

Upon hearing this, a sudden silence fell over everyone, making Wan Dou somewhat embarrassed. She reached out and tugged at Zhao Yun Chu's sleeve. Although she also missed her brother, she said, "Miss, why don't we let it go today? Anyway, my brother said that as long as Wan Dou is still in Huangzhou, he won't leave. Although we can't see him today, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future. Besides, now that Young Master Cheng Han is helping Master with business, we have opportunities and reasons to come out more often, so there's no rush."

Looking at little Wan Dou, and seeing how sensible she was, Zhao Yun Chu felt a pang of sadness. Although Wan Dou had signed a contract of servitude the moment she entered the Zhao family, she never treated Wan Dou as a maid or servant. She felt that she, Li Hua, and Wan Dou were like sisters who had grown up together; even though Wan Dou would always be small in stature.

Seeing this, the recluse Wang Huai suppressed his melancholy. He couldn't bear to witness such a tender scene, so he stepped forward and said softly to Wan Dou, "It's alright, it's still early anyway. Let's just stroll around. We can go back to where Wan Dou's brother lives later. If we can see him, that would be great. Even if we can't, there's always another day. It's not like we're facing life and death, right?"

With tears welling up in her eyes, Wan Dou listened to Wang Huai's gentle words and remembered what her brother often said to her: "It's okay. Once we get past this mountain and around that river, we'll see the village. Then you'll have something to eat."

Suddenly, Wan Dou burst into tears. She hugged Wang Huai tightly and sobbed, "Brother."

Lu Ya and his group, along with Yang Chenghan, were all taken aback by Wan Dou's actions, because apart from Zhao Yunchu and Lihua, no one else present knew anything about her past. The brief sobs and silence allowed time to pass slowly, and before they knew it, evening had arrived.

The group of eight, each with a string of candied hawthorns in hand, strolled leisurely through the city. After walking through several streets, they exchanged their candied hawthorns for sugar figurines or other small trinkets.

Yang Chenghan glanced at the Luban lock in his hand, then watched Wan Dou carefree playing with her rattle drum, and smiled silently. As for Zhao Yunchu and Lihua, since they came out, they'd been either eating or looking for food; they'd practically tried everything—candied hawthorn, sugar figurines, pear blossom cake, and snow crisp cake. The two clapped their hands contentedly, then ran to a roadside stall, their eyes already set on something else.

As for Lu Ya, Yang Chenghan felt that he didn't seem to have the demeanor of a martial arts alliance leader. Instead, he seemed more like a common street vendor, only dressed more elegantly. At this moment, he was holding a small abacus, about the size of his palm, and fiddling with the beads, seemingly calculating something.

However, Sun Cheng and Wang Huai were quite interesting. One was tall and strong, while the other had a refined and scholarly air. Logically speaking, the two of them seemed more composed, but they got into a fight because one of them accidentally broke a shadow puppet. Yang Chenghan watched this scene with a mix of amusement and exasperation. If he told others that there was a martial arts alliance leader among them, they probably wouldn't believe it even if he were beaten to death.

Yang Chenghan smiled, put down the Luban lock in his hand, looked up at the clouds dyed red by the setting sun, and felt inexplicably comfortable. After a moment, he stopped and turned to look at Zhao Yunchu, who was talking to a vendor. He thought to himself, "The marriage... how should I tell her? Or should I wait for my uncle and the others to make arrangements?"

For a moment, I felt lost and confused.

Just as Yang Chenghan was thinking about what to do, a sound suddenly came from the crowd, and someone shouted: "Look, there are people on the roof."

"Who is that?"

"What are they doing?"

Attracted by the sound, Yang Chenghan turned his gaze from Zhao Yunchu to the rooftop, where he saw two people chasing each other across the rooftops.

Lu Ya and the others also looked over upon hearing the sound, only to hear Sun Cheng point at the latter and say, "It seems to be Zheng Di chasing after someone?"

Wang Huai looked closely and also thought it resembled Zheng Di. He said, "No wonder he didn't catch up for so long. Turns out he was chasing someone."

Wu Ke asked, "Who is he chasing after?"

Lu Ya shook his head dismissively and said, "I reckon one of those people chased him and made him angry today."

However, Lu Ya's expression suddenly changed drastically the next moment.

Suddenly, the person being chased by Zheng Di stopped, twisted, and leaped into the air, kicking Zheng Di half a zhang away. Fortunately, Zheng Di reacted quickly enough, crossing his arms in front of his chest and using his feet to stabilize himself so that he didn't fall.

Before Zheng Di could catch his breath, the man instantly rushed towards him, unleashing a flurry of punches that left him defenseless. Zheng Di noticed the opening in the man's stance and, with lightning speed, kicked in, deflecting the punches while simultaneously throwing a punch himself. Their fists collided, the intense pain causing Zheng Di to grit his teeth, while the man seemed completely unfazed, his eyes behind the black veil growing even more piercing.

Just as the two were locked in a stalemate, Lu Ya was the first to notice something was wrong. He took three steps at a time, stepping on the vendors' stalls to gain momentum and move forward. Wu Ke also threw several flying blades from his sleeve, passing by Lu Ya and heading straight for the masked man.

The masked man heard the whistling wind and glanced at the flying blades that were within reach. He no longer held back and kicked Zheng Di away. At the same time, he turned around, picked up one of the flying blades that was coming towards him, and then turned around and threw it at Lu Ya.

The wind chimes on Lu Ya's body jingled. He saw the masked man turn Wu Ke's flying blade and throw it at him. He quickly pulled out the flute that he had been carrying on his back and tapped the flying blade hard. He saw the flying blade fall straight down as if it had lost its power. At the moment the flute and the flying blade made contact, he also noticed something.

Lu Ya arrived on the rooftop, and Zheng Di, clutching his chest, staggered over to his side, pointing at the masked man and saying, "Don't let him get away today."

Lu Ya immediately understood that the person in front of him was the one who had held the gun that night.

He said to Zheng Di, "This guy is no ordinary person. You go down first and protect Cheng Hanyunchu with Wu Ke. I will deal with him with Sun Cheng and Wang Huai."

"it is good."

Zheng Di leaped down and nodded to the two men, who then took the opportunity to approach Lu Ya.

Under the roof, Zheng Di and Wu Ke stood protectively in front of the group, and the commotion attracted passersby, making the street crowded with people.

Led by Lu Ya, bandit leader Sun Cheng and freelancer Wang Huai stood on either side of him, their eyes fixed on the masked man, who, however, remained relaxed and paid them no heed.

"Before I entered the martial arts world, I heard that there were many extraordinary people and strange masters in this world. In particular, the old master Yang was the leader among them. He said, 'What can anyone in the world do to me?' which aroused the attacks of various martial arts forces and hermits. In the end, how many of them came back alive?"

Upon hearing this, the masked man said, "Although Senior Yang is a demon, he is still worthy of respect. But if you die here today, the martial arts world will become a joke, showing that anyone can sit in this position."

"You want to kill me? I'm afraid you don't have the ability." Lu Ya looked at him coldly.

"Lu Ya, I'll say it again. I'm not killing you because I want to save face for this martial world." The masked man spoke with great confidence, as if he truly possessed such ability.

"joke."

Lu Ya retorted sarcastically, but he was unsure of himself. When he struck the flying blade with his flute just now, he clearly felt a force drilling into the flute from the blade. If he hadn't reacted quickly and used his internal energy to force it back, he would have been injured before he could even make a move.

But Lu Ya was able to become the leader of the martial arts alliance and be recognized by all the people in the martial arts world, so he had his own confidence.

"Since that's the case, then I'll put you to the test today and see what you're really capable of."

After Lu Ya finished speaking, the hermit Wang Huai took the initiative to make a move.

(End of this chapter)