Chapter Six: The Dao of Square and Circle

  Looking at the place he had lived for eight years, Chen Jiu felt a little reluctant to part with it. This was where Chen Jiu's roots were in this world, and after struggling for eight years in this strange world, he truly felt lonely and isolated without any relatives.

  Chen Jiuba was previously unable to leave this dirty place, but when the day of departure finally arrived, he felt a hint of reluctance and a thread of attachment.

  "A soft sigh: 'I, Chen Jiu, am not a nobody after all, I'd better return home'."

  Chen Jiu simply packed up his clothes, only taking the most valuable items with him. As for some personal belongings, they were unimportant and Chen Jiu didn't dare to touch them. After all, these bandits were cunning. If he showed any weakness or made it seem like he was leaving and not coming back, he would definitely not be able to leave the mountain stronghold. Chen Jiu wasn't that foolish.

  After tidying up a bit, he opened the door and that burly man was already standing outside waiting.

  "Shall we go? Are you ready?" Chen Jiuxian said with a faint smile.

  The man nodded: "I don't have much to prepare either. One person eating well means the whole family won't go hungry, and we can set off at any time."

  "After saying that, he directly walked towards the outside of the mountain village."

  A simple-minded fellow followed behind: "Boss, shouldn't we report back to the master of the house?"

  Chen Ji shook his head: "No need to report, the master has long known that I will come down the mountain".

  Passing by, I met a group of busy bandits, constantly waving greetings.

  When they arrived at the gate of the village, it was still those few bandits from that day. Chen Jiu couldn't help but smile: "How come it's still you guys on duty, no shift change?"

  That fatty walked over, with a dejected look on his face: "Sigh, don't mention it. Yesterday, the master led the madam to the mountains to gather medicine and cultivate in seclusion. Coincidentally, they ran into us few lazybones, and the master got angry and punished us to guard this place for half a month."

  I have a good impression of this fat guy Chen Jiu, although he is a bit lazy and likes to eat and sleep, but he is still a man who values loyalty.

  "Alright, you don't have to guard the gate anymore either. Come down the mountain with me today." Chen Jiu said, looking at the fat man.

  No matter how the fatty chooses, Chen Jiu has given him a chance to survive, whether he can grasp it or not depends on himself. If he can't grasp it, then it's just fate, and there's nothing to be done about it.

  Fatso heard Chen Jiu's words and scratched his head in distress, the originally bald head only had a few sparse hairs, and now he scratched even more.

  On one hand, there's the boss's order; on the other hand, he wants to go down the mountain and have some fun. This really puts Fatso in a difficult position.

  Chen Jiu looked at the hesitant fatty and smiled: "If you don't make a decision, I'll leave".

  Said and sold his front paws.

  Seeing Chen Jiu was about to leave, the fat man patted his belly: "Alright, you're so close with the master, it's easy for me to ask a favor later. In this mountain and mouth, I've already lost my voice."

  Putting down his own weapon and waving goodbye to several guards, he trotted off towards Chen Jiu.

  Seeing this fat guy was really taken away by Chen Jiu, the rest of the people behind him shouted loudly: "Dead pig, you really don't care about Master's orders".

  The answer from several guards was just Fatso's constantly wiggling butt.

  Looking at that silly fellow, Chen Jiu had a faint smile at the corner of his mouth: "Brother, I don't know what to call you".

  The man looked at Chen Jiu for a moment, then lowered his head and stared at the toe of his shoe: "Just call me Zhongzi, my full name is Chen Zhong".

  Chen Ji shook his head: "This won't do."

  Seeing Chen Zhong's puzzled gaze, Chen Jiu explained: "You are older than me, even if you were my father's generation, it would be no problem to call you Uncle Zhong".

  "Alright then," said Chen Jiu, "how about I call you Uncle Zhong?"

  Chen Zhong heard this and his lips moved slightly for a few moments before he muttered in a stifled tone, "This...this isn't proper."

  Chen Jiu fixed his gaze on Chen Zhong's face: "I said it's proper to call him by his title, and it has nothing to do with being proper. This is my own volition, a sign of respect for an elder. Otherwise, would you have me address someone of my father's generation by their given name? That would also be disrespect towards my own father, although I don't know if I still have one."

  Chen Jiu's voice sank at this point.

  Chen Zhong heard this and looked at Chen Jiu for a moment, his eyes brighter than ever before, nodding: "Good".

  Chen Jiuzhan smiled and turned around, just then a shout came from behind: "Little boss, wait for me!"

  The two turned their heads and saw a meatball on the mountain shaking towards them, it was really unexpected that this guy would be so fat.

  Looking at the panting fat man, Chen Jiu chuckled and teased: "What's wrong, aren't you afraid of Master Da's punishment?"

  The fatty crouched down, panting for a while, before looking at Chen Jiu with an idiotic expression: "Aren't you the one who lured me down the mountain?"

  Chen Jiu: "I..."

  A moment of speechlessness, Chen Jiu somewhat despised the shamelessness of the fatty.

  Watching Chen Jiu's stunned expression, Fatso burst out laughing loudly, startling a flock of birds into flight.

  Chen Jiu looked at the fatty and then shook his head helplessly: "Now that we're going down the mountain, this title needs to be changed. If you call me Little Head, aren't you afraid of revealing our identity as mountain bandits? As soon as we enter the city, we'll probably get caught."

  The fat boy sat on the ground because this circle of flesh was really cumbersome and had been tired for so long after running such a distance.

  "So what should I call you?" asked the fatty, his breathing slightly calmer.

  Chen Jiulüe thought for a moment, looked at Chen Zhong and Pangzi, then pointed to Chen Zhong: "Call Uncle Zhong".

  "They call me Xiao Jiu because I like drinking."

  Finally, he took another look at the fatty's round and round fat, shook his head helplessly: "As for you, choose one between dead pig and fatty pig".

  "Ah", Fatso's mouth grew bigger, and he shook his head violently: "I won't choose either".

  "That's why they call you Fatty" Chen Jiuyi said with a bang.

  The three of them didn't move very quickly and only descended the mountain at noon, by the time it got dark they were just over ten miles away from the foot of the mountain, right on the road they had come from.

  In this desolate place with no village in front and no store behind, the three of them briefly discussed and started a bonfire, roasted several wild game after hunting.

  Chen Ji picked up a pheasant and started kneading the mud continuously.

  The fat guy on one side said strangely: "Why do you want to live in mud, ah, ah, ah, how can you waste food like this?"

  Chen Jiu saw that the mud was wrapped around the mountain chicken's body.

  A stout fellow was just getting angry when a burst of footsteps awakened several people. A young man in white clothes, looking extraordinary, appeared clearly under the firelight.

  "Excuse me, may I ask where Qinglong Village is?" The voice was as smooth as jade, making people feel like they were soaking in a warm spring.

  Chen Jiu watched as this person crossed the mountain alone, walking in the dark of night, and yet not fearing Qinglong Village. His heart suddenly skipped a beat.

  Then Chen Jiu was like he had encountered something fearful: "Do you have a relationship with the evil Qinglong Village?"

  Assuming a defensive posture while speaking.

  On one side, the fat man and Chen Zhong, although they said they didn't know why Chen Jiu was saying this, but both of them were cunning people, taking advantage of the situation to stand by Chen Jiu's side, putting on a defensive posture.

  The man in white smiled lightly: "You've misunderstood, Qinglong Village owes me something, I'm just going to go and get it back. Please inform them for me."

  Chen Ji shook his head: "No, those Qinglong Stronghold are all extremely evil people. You're alone and I can't tell you, or it would be like sending you to your death."

  Chen Qi relaxed his spirit and lowered his guard, putting on a look as if he was about to offer some advice.

  The white-clothed man casually swung his arm and sliced off a corner of the giant boulder in the distance: "Brother, take a look at this sword of mine!"

  The three of them swallowed their saliva, Chen Jiu made a gesture of swallowing his words, and pointed in the direction of Qinglong Village.

  The man in white nodded and said "thank you" before turning into a stream of light.

  As the man walked away, Pangzi and Zhong Shu were about to speak when Chen Jiu glared at them fiercely and said: "This guy is going to find trouble with Qinglong Village, haha, Qinglong Village's scourge will finally be eliminated, it's really refreshing. Otherwise, this young master would have personally eliminated Qinglong Village, saving us three people from trouble."

  In the distance, a man in white clothes showed a disdainful expression: "It's really unknown what they're talking about. They're lucky to have met me, otherwise these three fools wouldn't even have any leftovers after entering Qinglong Village."

  After finishing speaking, his figure disappeared in the distance.