Cypress Boat Floating

"Itinerant doctor?" The sloppy old man waved his hand. His wrinkled face was like a crumpled paper. His whole face was wrinkled into a ball, and his face was full of distress. "This guy is really good at hiding. He has three burrows. It's harder to find him than to climb to the sky!"

"How much silver do you need?" Chi Yu, who knew the temperament of the old man in front of him, asked without hesitation. Anyway, the money would be paid by Lu Ci Qiu in the end, and it had nothing to do with him, so he had no psychological burden at all when using it.

"One hundred taels." After weighing the amount secretly in his mind, the old man quoted a price to Chi Yu.

Chi Yu snorted coldly, and the eyes that were always smiling and affectionate in front of Murong Zhixu were now full of coldness: "Do you think I'm easy to deceive?"

The old man frowned slightly, and then began to make up a story: "Wang Ren, the itinerant doctor, has no trace of his origin, his whereabouts are erratic, and escaping is his specialty. He has disappeared from the world for a month or two, so how easy is it to find him?"

"Others may be helpless, but with your know-it-all ability, is there no solution?" Chi Yu would not easily believe the old man's poor performance and excuses. In his eyes, except Murong Zhixu, no one else deserves his attention or sympathy.

"When did you, Young Master Chi, start bargaining?" The old man felt uncomfortable, but he had to say it out loud.

Chi Yu picked the dead skin on his fingers with a bored look on his face, and responded without raising his head: "You asked for too high a price." Hearing this, the old man was very dissatisfied, and his disgusted eyes fell directly on Chi Yu, but Chi Yu did not take his reaction to heart at all.

Just when he left the Xianwang Mansion, the words Ye Jianqing said to him were still clearly echoing in his ears. In fact, spending Lu Ciqiu's money was not a big deal for Chi Yu, but the problem was that this "not caring" also had a certain limit, and the one hundred taels of silver had obviously exceeded Ye Jianqing's estimated value for Wang Ren's whereabouts. If Ye Jianqing really knew that she had spent so much money to buy Wang Ren, she would definitely chase him across three streets with a knife, or ridicule him for several days in a row. Chi Yu knew very well that he could not stand such grievances, so he could only think of ways to lower the price as much as possible from the old man: "I don't want to care about these, but I can't ruin my reputation."

“Reputation!” When the old man heard the word Chi Yu, he was like a cat whose tail was stepped on. His hair stood on end, his eyes widened, and he stared at Chi Yu intently, as if he wanted to eat him alive. His voice even rose eight degrees. “Mr. Chi, do you still have a reputation in the martial arts world? Humph, if you hadn’t retired to the mountains and forests and no longer cared about the affairs of the martial arts world, do you believe that as soon as you said this, a bunch of people would come to fight you with knives!”

Chi Yu, however, had a calm expression on his face, as if he didn't care about the old man's reaction at all. He even said with a bit of disdain: "I have behaved uprightly and have a clear conscience. Why do they want to chop me down?"

Chi Yu was talking while secretly looking at the old man in front of him. To be honest, he had long lost his patience. Seeing that the sky was getting darker and darker, he was in a hurry to go home and cook. So, he decided to make a quick decision and end this boring bargaining as soon as possible.

"Okay, okay, stop talking nonsense and just tell me your lowest price." Chi Yu waved his hand and urged.

Seeing this, the old man knew that he had met a tough guy today. He sighed inwardly, but still managed a smile on his face. He carefully stretched out his right hand, made an "eight" gesture with his thumb and index finger, and said with a smile: "Eighty taels, it really can't be any less..."

"It's too high!" Chi Yu interrupted the old man without thinking and said firmly, "I can only give you forty taels at most, not a cent more!" After that, he turned around and prepared to leave.

The old man refused directly, "I can't do that! Who knows where that traveling doctor has gone? You are dreaming if you want to find a disciple who has disappeared for only 40 taels!"

"Forty-two." Chi Yu said expressionlessly.

"Seventy-nine." The old man didn't even raise his eyelids.

"Forty-three." Chi Yu's tone did not change at all.

"Seventy-eight." The old man continued slowly.

"Are you done yet? Forty-five, at most forty-five, don't be too much!" Chi Yu finally couldn't bear it anymore. Even the storyteller, who was known for his patience, couldn't stand this kind of haggling.

"Fifty, really, at least fifty, no less!" The old man looked pained. From one hundred taels to fifty taels, it was cut in half. He lost fifty taels in one stroke! But there was nothing he could do. He couldn't afford to offend the seemingly weak white-faced scholar in front of him.

"Okay, deal!" Chi Yu raised his lips slightly, revealing a barely perceptible smile, then casually threw fifty taels of silver to the old man and turned away. Before leaving, he kindly gave the old man a deadline: "Three days, I want to know the whereabouts of Wang Ren. If there is still no news after three days, don't blame me for being rude." After saying that, Chi Yu left without looking back, leaving the old man staring at the silver in his hand in a daze.

Chi Yu, who had gotten a bargain, walked home happily, thinking about how to use this unexpected fortune. As he walked, he passed by a delicatessen and saw a delicious roast duck in the window, which reminded him of Murong Zhixu's love for this dish.

This roast duck is a famous dish from Nanyue! Chi Yu remembered that he had bought it once for Murong Zhixu to taste, and he praised it highly at that time. However, since this roast duck is expensive, Chi Yu has not bought it for him for a long time.

Chi Yu was in a particularly good mood today as he was able to receive such a great benefit from the know-it-all. He decided to splurge and buy the roast duck to bring back as a surprise for Murong Zhixu.

When he returned to the bamboo house with the roast duck, he found Murong Zhixu sitting quietly in the middle of the yard, with the guqin next to him that had not been taken out for a long time. Chi Yu was afraid that the strings would hurt Murong Zhixu's delicate fingers, so he hurried forward and asked with concern: "Why did you suddenly want to take out the guqin today?"

Hearing Chi Yu's voice, Murong Zhixu raised his head with a gentle smile on his face. The wind blew up the white veil covering his eyes, which fluttered gently, and contrasted with the guqin in front of him, making Murong Zhixu look like the green bamboo in the mountains, noble, pure and elegant.

"Did you buy roast duck today?" Although Murong Zhixu had lost his sight, his sense of smell had improved a lot. As soon as Chi Yu approached him, he smelled the long-lost scent of roast duck.

"Wow, you are really amazing! You can even smell this." Chi Yu couldn't help but admire, with a mischievous smile on his face. He gently tapped Murong Zhixu's nose, then carefully took out the roast duck and placed it on the table in front of him.

Murong Zhixu smiled slightly, and his smile revealed a hint of tranquility and satisfaction.

"After leaving the Xianwang Mansion today, I thought a lot." Murong Zhixu's voice was low and powerful, as if it contained endless thoughts. He slowly withdrew his hands from the strings and gently placed them on the stands on both sides, as if feeling the temperature of the instrument.

"The harm done by the God's House is too great. They have been lurking in the underworld for many years, acting recklessly and harming countless innocent lives. They are ruthless and have no scruples, and they will not even let ordinary people go. I will never let such an evil force go easily." Murong Zhixu's tone gradually became firm, with anger flashing in his eyes.

He sighed silently and continued, "Before, I never dared to touch this piano, because every time I played it, it would remind me of the painful past. I tried to escape, to let myself go and live a good life. However, I still couldn't really let it go. The death of my master has been haunting me like a shadow, making it difficult for me to get rid of it.

I really appreciate your company this time to complete this task together. However, I cannot always play the role of a useless person and always rely on your help. When I came back and sat here with nothing to do, I suddenly thought of this guitar and took it out to try it again. "

Murong Zhixu kept a gentle smile on his face while speaking, but Chi Yu felt a pang of pain in his heart and his throat became dry. As someone who accompanied Murong Zhixu all day, how could he not know the contradictions and struggles in Murong Zhixu's heart?

He understood that for Murong Zhixu, letting go of the past was by no means an easy thing - a man who originally had clear and bright eyes suddenly fell into darkness and even had difficulty taking care of himself in daily life, let alone picking up his beloved guqin again.

Chi Yu has always known that Murong Zhixu has never really come out of the shadow of his failure. He can't accept the departure of his master, the reality of his blindness, and the fact that he can only rely on others. Because of this, he has been unhappy and constantly exiled himself.

"It's okay, let's take it slow, everything will be fine." Chi Yu said softly, then slowly squatted down and sat next to Murong Zhixu. He stretched out his warm hand and gently covered the back of his hand, as if to pass on endless strength and courage to him. His eyes were firm and gentle, as if telling Murong Zhixu: No matter what happens, I will always be by your side.

Murong Zhixu smiled slightly, not intending to continue the topic, so he changed the subject abruptly and asked, "How was your day? Did everything go well?"

Chi Yu knew that continuing to talk about those heavy topics would only make him more uncomfortable. So he reached out and carefully moved the guqin on Murong Zhixu's legs to one side, and began to share with him his experience outside today.

"It's going well," Chi Yu replied, with a hint of expectation in his voice, "There should be news in three days." He described in detail the people and things he encountered today, as well as their conversations and interactions. Murong Zhixu listened quietly, occasionally interjecting a few words, and the communication between the two gradually became relaxed and pleasant.