Volume 1: Jiangpu Merchant Son-in-law Chapter 59: Young and Weathered

  When Tai Xū groaned and struggled to get up from the ground with a blue nose and swollen face, the diners in the great hall of Zui Xian Lou had already run away.

  Xiao Fan, who was wailing non-stop, suddenly stopped and exclaimed with joy: "Dao Zhang, you're okay? I'm so happy..."

  "Shut up! I... Ah, I'd like to execute you on heaven's behalf, you demon spawn! Ah, it hurts so much, Master Dao is going to die!"

  Xiao Fan's eyes sparkled with admiration: "The Taoist priest suffered such a severe injury, yet he still lives on vigorously, it really makes me admire him greatly. The Taoist priest is indeed getting more vigorous with age, and can be called an immortal god. I worship you..."

  Tai Xū's old face turned red with rage: "You scoundrel, taking advantage of my carelessness to secretly plot against me..."

  Xiao Fan innocently said: "You martial artists always emphasize the importance of being aware of one's surroundings, with eyes that see six roads and ears that hear eight directions. So how can you not see such a big teacup?"

  Tai Xū's anger intensified: "You understand nothing! I was using the Lightness Skill, Tī Yún Zòng, relying solely on internal energy to lift my body into the air. You suddenly threw a teacup at me, just as I was halfway through switching breaths. How could I not fall down?"

  Xiao Fan blinked and said with a sigh, "Can't even catch a teacup, it seems that apart from jumping high and running fast, there's no other use for lightness skills."

  "Nonsense! Lightness Skill is the most superior martial art in the world, how can it be useless? What kind of martial art can compare to Lightness Skill?"

  "It's just jumping a bit higher and running a bit faster, how did it become the most superior martial arts?"

  "Haven't you heard that in the Art of War it is said: 'Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, retreat is the best'? As long as one can retreat quickly, it is the most brilliant martial art in the world!"

  Xiao Fan's eyes widened: "Dao Zhang's eloquence is really good, it's obviously a fallacy, and even the art of war has been used..."

  To be honest, Xiao Fan still felt guilty towards Tai Xu. The fact proved that Tai Xu didn't deceive him, and the old man's words were trustworthy after all. In that case, when he said he was 130 years old, this statement must also be reliable. Thinking that he almost murdered a centenarian in public earlier, Xiao Fan felt a chill run down his spine, and his whole body was covered in cold sweat.

  At the age of one hundred and thirty, if this old man were to be known by Zhu Yuanzhang in the imperial palace, he would definitely be ordered to be arrested by the brocade-clad imperial guards, treated as a human auspicious sign, locked in a cage every day for Old Zhu to admire. Who knows, there might even be severe torture and interrogation, asking him what kind of medicine he took wrong, to live so long...

  Or maybe Old Zhu wasn't very interested in him, but would still interrogate and torture him to ask about his senior fellow disciple's whereabouts, because he said that his senior fellow disciple Zhang Sanfeng was already 150 years old...

  But being too naive is also not right, at his age, he's still so lacking in wisdom, Xiao Fan lets him fly and he flies, over a hundred years old and still jumping around like a fool, has the life of someone over a hundred years old all gone to the dogs? How can he have no sense of self at all? It's just as the saying goes: "The Star of Longevity hangs from the beam - tired of living."

  Tai Xū gritted his teeth and rubbed his chest, groaning in pain. His face was twisted in agony as he glared at Xiao Fan, who was staring at him absent-mindedly. Tai Xū suddenly became alert and said: "What's with that expression? Your gaze is impure, your heart is not right!"

  "Old Shouxing...... Ah, no, Old Daozhang, you... are really one hundred and thirty years old?"

  "Of course, when have I ever deceived you?" Tai Xuzi responded with a humph, clearly still angry.

  Xiao Fan looked at Tai Xū with concern: "Dao Zhang is indeed a auspicious sign... a living fossil of humanity. However, Dao Zhang, in the future when calculating fortunes, don't just tell people you're 130 years old, it's very dangerous. You wouldn't want to be caught and locked up in the palace for the emperor to admire, would you?"

  Tai Yu was taken aback, and then cried out in frustration: "What on earth are you thinking? Would the Emperor treat a poor Daoist like this? In the 17th year of the Hongwu era, the Emperor issued two edicts summoning my master to enter the palace for an audience. The language used was very polite and respectful. My master was traveling far away at the time, so he didn't see the Emperor, but the Emperor wasn't angry about it either. How could you suddenly lock me up in a cage?"

  Xiao Fang suddenly felt at ease and smiled: "That's good, the Taoist is an immortal god, if you don't want to, it's likely that you won't be able to enter the cage..."

  "Are you speaking human language? Are you happy being locked in a cage?"

  He paused for a moment, and Tai Xū said: "You've seen my skills earlier. How about you follow me to practice martial arts? I'll take you in as my disciple."

  Xiao Fan hastily shook his head: "No, no, I'd rather not learn from you, qinggong is a lifesaving skill, and I don't plan on going to the battlefield, it's useless for me..."

  Tai's face turned red with rage, his mustache twitching upwards, just as he was about to lose his temper, but then saw Xiao Fang hastily handing him a towel.

  "What's wrong?"

  Xiao Fan smiled and said: "I was wrong just now, lightness skill is still useful..."

  Tai Yu turned his anger into joy: "You little brat finally has some insight..."

  Xiao Fan smiled and pointed to the beam that Tai Xu had just fallen from, saying: "Master Dao's divine skills are unparalleled, please Master Dao take the trouble again, jump up and help me wipe off the dust on the beam. To be honest with you, Master Dao, I've always wanted to sweep the beam, but unfortunately, I couldn't find a ladder that high. Today, seeing Master Dao show off his skills, it's really a case of people using their talents and things being used for their intended purpose... from now on, the responsibility for the beam's hygiene will be handed over to Master Dao..."

  Tai Yu's face turned as black as ink: "………"

  "Don't worry, this time I promise I won't use a teacup to hit you again..."

  “…………”

  No matter how Ren Tai Xu tried to persuade him, Xiao Fan shook his head very firmly and resolutely refused to practice martial arts with Tai Xu.

  A single tea cup can be smashed down with kung fu, no need to practice. Hanging steel wire can also achieve the same effect, no need to suffer through summer training in the hottest days and winter training in the coldest days.

  Every man has a martial arts dream in his heart, and Xiao Fan is no exception. He is interested in kung fu, but he doesn't have confidence in Tai Xu.

  It's strange that Tai Xu always asks Xiao Fan to practice martial arts with him. Is it that the masters of the ancient martial arts world had such a low posture when accepting apprentices? Or perhaps, Tai Xu discovered that Xiao Fan has an extraordinary bone structure, a rare talent in martial arts that appears only once in a hundred years, and thus he is eager to cultivate him, expecting him to maintain world peace after he becomes proficient...

  The guess at the back is a bit nonsense. Xiao Fan looked left and right, but didn't find himself having any extraordinary talent, running tired still panting, deep in the night still thinking about women, a typical ordinary man...

  Don't think about things that can't be figured out, it's just a high-ranking person in the world, after all. A high-ranking person's actions are unfathomable, and yet such a high-ranking person begged him to take him as his master, Xiao Fan felt very accomplished in refusing.

  The afternoon sunlight passes through the gate and shines warmly on the counter at the entrance.

  Xiao Fan yawned and lazily propped up his heavy head with his elbow, deciding to take a nap.

  The dog and the shop assistants were busy sweeping and cleaning the hall, everything was so quiet and peaceful. Life doesn't have that much passion and excitement, it's more about slowly passing through in a calm and serene manner.

  At this moment, in this quiet afternoon, just before Xiao Fan fell asleep with his eyes closed, he saw her.

  She stood timidly, far away from the door, her small head slightly poking out from the side of the door, her dull and dim eyes suddenly radiating a scorching glow when she saw the leftover cold rice in their hands.

  It was a starving beast seeing the glow of food.

  Xiao Fan's dull and confused mind suddenly cleared up when he saw her, from the moment he saw her eyes, his heart was deeply shocked.

  Whether in past lives or this life, he had never seen such complex eyes. They hid under a harmless appearance, and once they saw food, they revealed serious, scorching, and even fierce light. This kind of eye is hard to appear in adults, but now it appears on an eleven- or twelve-year-old girl. The gaze that has experienced the vicissitudes of life and penetrated worldly affairs should not belong to this small and weak girl.

  Xiao Fan could tell at a glance from her attire that she was a little beggar. Her appearance was shrouded in dirty dust, and one could vaguely make out a delicate and pretty face, but her eyes were like those of a small wolf ready to pounce at any moment.

  Xiao Fan sighed in his heart, more of it was pity. This girl, what kind of storms and hardships had she been through?

  The little girl still stood outside the door, looking frail and weak, but her big black eyes were scanning the surroundings, her small hands tightly grasping a bamboo stick, her tiny body slightly bent down. Her eyes only saw the leftover food in Dogzi's hand, but didn't see Xiao Fan.

  Xiao Fan stood behind the counter, quietly watching her movements. Xiao Fan knew that the little girl was already poised to strike, it seemed she had given up begging and instead planned to use her quick actions to snatch away the leftover food from Dogzi's hands.

  A flash of ferocity passed through the little girl's eyes, a determination to stake everything for survival.

  Xiao Fan spoke up: "Gouz."

  The dog turned its head, put down the leftover food it was cleaning up in its mouth, and nodded at Xiao Fan with a smile: "Boss, what are your orders?"

  The little girl's poised body suddenly stopped, a few flashes of disappointment in her bright black eyes, but she still stood stubbornly outside the door, her eyes fixed tightly on the leftovers, reluctant to leave.

  Xiao Fan inadvertently glanced at the little girl, and his heart couldn't help but ache.

  "Go to the kitchen and get two hot pancakes...". Turning his head to look at the frail body of the little girl again, Xiao Fan added: "...and also get some fatty trotters."

  The dog looked at Xiao Fan inexplicably and immediately saw the little girl outside the door, and quickly responded by walking into the kitchen.

  The girl outside Xiao Fan's door smiled kindly and didn't say anything, she just slowly walked out of the counter.

  The little girl took a step back, her eyes filled with deep vigilance, the bamboo stick in her hand slightly raised, her eyes fixed intently on Xiao Fan who was slowly approaching her.

  Seeing the girl like this, Xiao Fan had no choice but to stop in his tracks. The dog had already taken out two large pancakes from the kitchen, with a shiny black hoof wrapped inside each pancake.

  Xiao Fan handed over the big pancake, smiling and handing it forward. His face showed his most gentle smile: "I'll give it to you, don't pay me."

  The little girl took a step back in fright, looking at Xiao Fang with uncertainty. Her gaze moved to the large pancake in Xiao Fang's hand, and Xiao Fang clearly saw that the little girl swallowed hard several times, her throat moving fiercely. The fierce light in her eyes faded, replaced by a gleam full of longing.

  Xiao Fan took a few steps forward and then stretched out the big pancake again, saying "I'm giving it to you, take it."

  The little girl took a slight step back, but ultimately couldn't resist the temptation of food. Unconsciously, she took another step forward. Seeing that Xiao Fan didn't make any other moves, she finally felt at ease and continued to move forward, her small hands trembling as she carefully accepted the large pancake from Xiao Fan's hand, her serious expression as if she were holding onto her weak and dim life force.

  Xiao Fan smiled, a smile warmer than sunshine, deeply imprinted in the little girl's heart.

  The little girl's eyes finally showed a gratitude that had never been revealed before.

  Seeing the little girl let her guard down, Xiao Fan did something wrong.

  He suddenly grasped the little girl's dry and dirty small hand, softly saying: "You just sit inside and eat, we won't hurt you..."

  As soon as the words fell, the little girl suddenly showed a deep sense of vigilance again, and her face immediately revealed a frantic expression. She opened her mouth like a furious little wolf, ferociously baring her teeth at Xiao Fan and let out a loud growl. Then, with one hand holding onto the big bun, her other hand quickly shot out and scratched Xiao Fan's hand that was grabbing hers fiercely.

  Xiao Fan let go of her hand in pain, and the little girl got free, then she ran away quickly without looking back.

  The dog beside him suddenly became furious: "This stinky scoundrel really doesn't know what's good for him! Boss, are you okay?"

  Xiao Fan looked at the three bloody claw marks on his right hand, which were grasped by the little girl, and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

  "Do you think I'll be okay?" Xiao Fan glared at Dogzi with a bad attitude.

  "Shopkeeper, I'll go catch that stinky prostitute and give her a good beating!" Dogzi cracked his fists and rubbed his palms.

  "You deserve to be a shop assistant for the rest of your life, you really have no vision! What I need now is a doctor and some bandages!"

  The dog was startled and quickly went out to find a doctor. Before leaving, he turned his head back and hesitated: "Boss, that beggar..."

  Xiao Fan's gaze drifted into the distance as he said calmly, "Forget it. For the sake of survival, a person will do whatever they must. We shouldn't blame her."