Chapter 27 (2/2)
To be honest, whenever the Longevity Dinner in Wudang was held every year, it was held ceremoniously each time. Even though it had become a grand occasion among the martial artists, it lacked some freshness.
After everyone present congratulated LingYun DaoZhang in order, they each started to chat about this and that with their familiar friends.
Ji WuDi was bored sitting at the main table, so he dragged Yuan AoCe to seek shelter from the table where Fan JiJing was at.
Fan JiJing's table was extremely lively already. Lu QingYi and Cheng ChengCheng were both sitting here. With them joining, there wasn't much s.p.a.ce left for the others to cut into the conversation. Soon, the other people there all tactfully moved over to other tables.
Ji WuDi suddenly came up with a wild idea, ”How about we find another day to hold weddings together?” He paused for a second and supplemented, ”This way we could earn three shares of congratulatory gifts with one wedding reception. It's really amazingly cost-effective.”
Yuan AoCe glanced at him, and asked, ”Aren't you just trying to join the fun?”
”I'm going to join the fun too. But Ah-Ce, you know how stingy Ah-Zuo is. He held such an impressive wedding reception last time, and yet he still got mad at me and even deducted my monthly salary. It's all because he didn't profit enough from the congratulatory gifts!”
…Was it because he didn't profit enough from the congratulatory gifts?
Yuan AoCe was speechless as he drank his wine.
Seeing Yuan AoCe ignore him, Ji WuDi turned to Fan JiJing for support, ”Fake Idiot, what do you think?”
Fan JiJing didn't make any comments on the ”fake idiot”. He simply smiled, ”I listen to Cousin.”
Before Ji WuDi could ask, Hua HuaiXiu had already nailed his decision, ”Don't even think about it.” It was no wonder why Fan JiJing had become like this. It was probably because he had spent too much time with Ji WuDi, and one tended to take his colors from the surroundings. Hua HuaiXiu made up his mind that he must not let Fan JiJing be too to Ji WuDi.
Ji WuDi then looked at Cheng ChengCheng and Lu QingYi.
Cheng ChengCheng lowered his head and coughed lightly.
Lu QingYi glanced at Cheng ChengCheng, then replied lazily, ”Wait after you've convinced Hua HuaiXiu.”
Hua HuaiXiu: ”…” These foxes!
Fortunately, the Lanyan League had been wiped out already. The pugilistic world was quiet peaceful lately, and there wasn't any major event that needed to be discussed. Therefore, the next day after the birthday dinner, each sect returned to their respective homes one after another.
Hua HuaiXiu was so annoyed by Ji WuDi that after dragging Fan JiJing to say goodbye to LingYun DaoZhang, they became one of the first guests to leave.
After traveling to the foot of the mountain, they saw an extremely luxurious carriage stopping in the middle of their only way out.
Fan JiJing saw Hua HuaiXiu slow down his steps and his eyes gradually becoming red. He had guessed who was sitting in this carriage. He grabbed Hua HuaiXiu's hand backhandedly, then dragged him forward.
The carriage door opened, and Hua YunHai slowly walked out. Seeing their hands firmly together, his face couldn't help but stiffen. But he soon turned his head to the side, shouting coldly, ”The two of you sure don't avoid anything even in broad daylight!”
Hua HuaiXiu tried to pull back his hand, but Fan JiJing had grabbed it tightly. He smiled, ”In front of Uncle, what do we need to avoid?”
Because of what happened in the past, Hua YunHai always felt shorter when facing Fan JiJing. He simply ignored him and directly asked Hua HuaiXiu, ”Your mother, let me ask you, are you coming back home in Mid Autumn Festival next year to take a look?”
Hua HuaiXiu blinked a few times as if he didn't believe it.
”Just to stay at an inn nearby so the two of you can meet each other.” After Hua YunHai finished, he turned back and went inside the carriage, then ordered the coachman to drive it up Mount Wudang. The reason he came late was his reluctance to face Hua HuaiXiu and Fan JiJing.
Hua HuaiXiu stared at the carriage direction respectfully. The corners of his eyes were slightly wet.
Fan JiJing stood by him in silence. He had always faced predicaments by himself ever since he was young, so he didn't know how to comfort others. All he could do was leave the other person with enough s.p.a.ce and time to adjust themselves.
The carriage gradually disappeared into the mountain forest.
Hua HuaiXiu threw back his head and blinked hard to make his tears flow back, then finally said, ”Let's go.”
”I'll accompany you when you go back next year.”
”…”
Extra 2: Rumor in Jiuhua
s.h.i.+ JiZhong couldn't figure it out.
In terms of appearance, he could only be considered to have some good-looking features. Not to mention Hua HuaiXiu, even comparing himself to zhangmen or eldest s.h.i.+xiong would make him feel ashamed of his inferiority. In that case, how did he made a little girl cry like h.e.l.l while following him after a trip down the mountain, as she claimed that she would marry no one except him?
Apart from being puzzled, he was also depressed.
The reason was that despite the fact that this event was settled by zhangmen, in the end, eldest s.h.i.+xiong's att.i.tude towards him went all the way down into the drain. It changed from being the original pamperer to the ignorant and indifferent person today.
He felt he should find a chance to explain it clearly. In fact, he really had no affection for that little girl at all.
Just as he was thinking about it, he saw Guan Xing walking directly toward him. When the other person saw s.h.i.+ JiZhong, he turned away and headed towards a different direction.
”Eldest s.h.i.+xiong!” s.h.i.+ JiZhong jumped. Why did his voice sound so hoa.r.s.e?
Guan Xing paused. He slowly turned around.
s.h.i.+ JiZhong hurriedly went towards him, his three steps becoming two, grabbed his hand, and said, ”Eldest s.h.i.+xiong!”
Guan Xing pulled his hand out of the other person's palms un.o.btrusively, then replied plainly, ”s.h.i.+di.”
He had such an indifferent att.i.tude that all explanations s.h.i.+ JiZhong had originally prepared were stuck right in his throat. After a long time, he finally blurted out one sentence, ”She and I are not like what s.h.i.+xiong thinks.”
”En, I know.” Guan Xing secretly clenched his fist tightly.
”s.h.i.+xiong, you…” s.h.i.+ JiZhong wanted to ask why Guan Xing treated him this way if he had already known, but he was too thin-skinned. The words circled and rolled on his tongue, but he just couldn't voice them out.
Seeing s.h.i.+ JiZhong standing so close to him, Guan Xing was agitated on the inside. Especially when that girl came to their door that day. He even had an impulse to tear her to shreds! It was exactly because he had sensed the dark side in his heart that he had no choice but to keep a distance between him and s.h.i.+ JiZhong so as to not fall deeper and deeper. ”It's getting cold these days. I'm wondering if second s.h.i.+di and youngest s.h.i.+mei have gotten used to living in the mountain back there yet. I'll go check.”
s.h.i.+ JiZhong stared at Guan Xing's back as he fled in panic. He opened his mouth, but he didn't shout out in the end.
This deadlock had lasted for several days until a young disciple in the Jiuhua Sect brought back a verbal message.
Song BoLin frowned, ”Guan Xing and s.h.i.+ JiZhong are already married? Who let this rumor spread?”
The little disciple secretly looked towards where the zhangmen was residing.
Song BoLin was speechless. After quite a while, he waved his hand and said, ”Go copy the entire ma.n.u.script of the Xianlian Sword a hundred times.”
The little disciple was at a loss.
”You simply had too much free time. That's why your mind is set on this type of nonsense!”
The little disciple reluctantly excused himself.
Song BoLin walked around the room and suddenly flung his sleeves, saying, ”I also have too much free time! Why do I care so much about other people's business?”
By the way, ever since the rumor about Guan Xing and s.h.i.+ JiZhong flew about every corner on Mount Jiuhua, no girl threw themselves at those two anymore. The Jiuhua Sect became a lot quieter at once.
s.h.i.+ JiZhong was also pleasantly surprised that the original pampering eldest s.h.i.+xiong came back.
Hua HuaiXiu and Fan JiJing sat on the roof. They were watching Guan Xing giving directions to each move of s.h.i.+ JiZhong's martial arts at a distance, while eating peanuts and chatting at the same time.
Hua HuaiXiu asked, ”That's it?”
Fan JiJing replied, ”The master leads you to the door, and the rest is up to you.”
Hua HuaiXiu said, ”With Guan Xing's temper and s.h.i.+ JiZhong's comprehensive ability, I'm afraid the two of them will drag on like this till they die.”
“There's nothing bad as long as they are together. Besides,” Fan JiJing threw his arm around Hua HuaiXiu's waist and slowly leaned over. ”Nuzzling is a kind of dragging on as well.” [2]
”This is the roof…”
”Right. Doing it on the roof is the same as doing it on the bed…” [3]
”Um-…”
A magpie [4] flew by over their heads.
…
Another flew by.
Another flew by.
Basically, a lot flew by.
Translator’s Notes:
[1] Xiao, a chinese instrument. [back]
[2] A pun. ”Dragging on” and ”nuzzling/cuddling” uses the same verb in Chinese. [back]
[3] A pun. The verb for ”Doing it/Having s.e.x” is the same character as the preposition ”on top of”. [back]
[4] Magpie is called ”happy/lucky bird” in Chinese. Its presence is considered as a good omen. It is also the birds that appeared in Qixi, the Chinese Valentine's Day, so that it also symbolizes love relations.h.i.+p, or maybe even more lol~ [back]
<script>