You have mastered the art of thunder and you tell me that it is in a strange world?

Chapter 117 Old Man Tang
When Caiyi tried to stop the woman, she was almost hit by the broom.

It was not until Zuo Chen took out a small piece of silver that the woman's expression immediately took a 180-degree turn.

"Young man, if you want to eat chicken, just tell me directly. I have some wild mushrooms just picked from the mountain. They taste great when stewed over firewood. As for this old thing..."

Seeing that the woman looked at the old man with an unfriendly expression, Zuo Chen took out another small piece of silver.

"Just now I was just fooling around with this old man. It's nothing serious, nothing serious."

After handing over the two silver pieces, the woman no longer cared about her chickens. She even grabbed a white-feathered one, tied it up with a hemp rope and handed it to the old man. She then took a small bunch of mushrooms from the house and went back to her house excitedly to count the money.

After taking the chicken and the mushrooms, the old man's face turned slightly red and he looked at Zuo Chen quite embarrassedly.

Also looking at Caiyi.

It was hard to tell whether the look in his eyes was one of joy, nostalgia, or confusion and bewilderment. All these complex emotions mixed together and eventually turned into the words he murmured with his open mouth, which came out of his mouth with a slight tremor:

"Caiyi... Aren't you in Qingzhou? Why did you come to Youzhou? It's so far..."

While speaking, he hid his body backwards, as if he didn't want Caiyi to see him in such tattered clothes.

Caiyi's eyes also fell on the old man, and her expression was like a pot of mixed soup, full of complexity.

She seemed like she wanted to cry, and had a lot of complaints in her voice. All the words were stuck in her throat, and she had difficulty uttering any words. She could only stammer and couldn't utter a word for most of the time.

In the end, Caiyi, who was usually eloquent and fond of showing off, could only look up at Zuo Chen, her eyes full of help.

"The county town is just ahead. Let's find a place to rest first."

Zuo Chen said.

Seeing that someone was finally talking, Caiyi and the old man breathed a sigh of relief.

The few of them continued to move forward. Caiyi simply got off the cart and walked side by side with the old man, as if she was afraid that the old man would run away again.

The old man also looked uneasy, his eyes drifting towards Caiyi from time to time, then looking away, as if he didn't dare to speak to Caiyi.

The silent and depressing atmosphere continued into the town. Zuo Chen found a small shop where few people were around and asked the old man to give the chicken and mushrooms to the shop owner to stew in the backstage. He ordered a pot of wine and some soup noodles. When all the dishes were served and everyone sat down face to face, Caiyi and the old man still did not speak.

Zuo Chen sighed, then took the lead in bowing to the old man:

"My name is Zuo Chen. Currently... Cai Yi is my registered disciple. Greetings, Senior."

“Oh…oh! Hello, Taoist Priest Zuo! Hello, Taoist Priest Zuo!”

The old man came back to his senses, and returned the greetings to Zuo Chen repeatedly. He then looked at Cai Yi and said with emotion:

"This girl is so lucky. She is lucky to meet a good person like the Taoist priest who accepts her as a disciple. Even if it is just a nominal one, it is better than following me."

"Old man, what do you mean?" Caiyi was obviously a little angry: "I haven't asked you why you left me!

“And…and!

"And he took away all the few cents we saved together! What does that mean?"

The old man showed an embarrassed expression:

"At that time, you had learned most of my skills, and I thought you could make a living in the underworld. It was not a good idea to follow an old man like me, so I ran away secretly...

"Besides, I was planning to go to Xuzhou, where I was completely unfamiliar with the place. Caiyi, you can't expect an old man to go to a completely new place without spending any money!"

"So where did you spend the money in the end?" Caiyi glared at him.

"I went to the restaurant and got a pot of good wine..."

Caiyi was so angry that she showed her teeth and claws.

Zuo Chen coughed lightly, and Caiyi sat back angrily.

This also made the old man look at Caiyi twice more:

"You weren't so honest when you followed me before."

"That depends on what you are like." Caiyi said: "The Taoist priest is as gentle as jade, and his style of doing things is upright. Whatever he says must be right, and I will naturally listen to him."

"...As expected, you are still not honest. I have raised you to this age."

The old man glanced sideways, picked up the wine on the table and took a sip.

The atmosphere between the two finally eased a little, no longer as heavy with awkwardness as when they first met.

"Cai Yi, can you introduce yourself to me?" Zuo Chen asked.

Caiyi nodded, looked at the old man, and sighed:
"This is my former master, who is also my adoptive father. He has no name, but a surname, Tang. I usually call him Old Man Tang. He is from the Beggars' Gang and studies acrobatics."

"Your introduction..." Mr. Tang laughed twice, then looked at Zuo Chen with a respectful tone:
"What the girl said is indeed true. My real name is Qi, my full name is Tang Qi, and I am originally from Yuzhou. Later, I drifted to Qingzhou. On the way, I met a town that was attacked by soldiers and bandits. I picked up this girl from there. Since then, I have been living with her.

"There's a huge age gap between us. I usually ask her to call me grandpa, but this damn girl is stubborn and there's nothing I can do."

Zuo Chen nodded, probably knowing the relationship between the two.

Born in a place like the Beggar Gang where there are many all kinds of people, Caiyi can still maintain such a mentality. I'm afraid it is inseparable from Master Tang.

It's not that there aren't any good people in the Beggars' Gang, it's just that the number and proportion are too low. When a person doesn't even have the ability to eat steadily, then his morality and bottom line will decline at an extremely fast speed, and in the end, he will turn into a demon in human skin, more cruel than the big evil creatures he raised.

As for Xuzhou, there is no need to say much. As long as Zuo Chen delays for another year or two, even if there are living creatures in Xuzhou, they will probably be ferocious people and elephants. By then, King Kang will have a powerful army of humans and animals and will be able to have dinner at the table.

"So, old man, you haven't told me yet why you want to go to Xuzhou. Don't think you can get away with just a few words!"

Caiyi snorted:
"If nothing happened, would you have left Qingzhou for that peaceful life? The troupe was almost ready to start. If you left like that, I would have been in big trouble!"

After hearing what Caiyi said, Mr. Tang was obviously a little helpless. Caiyi looked like she didn't want to bother him anymore, so Mr. Tang could only answer her question helplessly:

"I went to see your senior brother."

"Senior brother? Ah? I have a senior brother?"

This time it was Caiyi's turn to be stunned.

This was something she had no idea about.

"Of course, you were already fifty-one when I adopted you." Mr. Tang said helplessly, "You started your career at sixteen, and it's been thirty-five years. You can't be my only disciple. I also organized a troupe before. But...something went wrong."

When he said this, his eyes were a little evasive, as if he didn't want to go on.

But seeing that Caiyi was staring at him, he could only squeeze out a few more words:
"When I was with your senior brother, I didn't do things properly, which led to that kid going astray and going further and further away. At that time, I heard in Qingzhou that there seemed to be some changes in Xuzhou, so I thought it might be that kid causing trouble, so I hurried over.

"Later, Xuzhou was in a state of famine. I knew I couldn't stay there any longer. I wanted to go back to Qingzhou, but I found that the border had been guarded by soldiers. Anyone who dared to go over would be shot to death with arrows. I had no choice but to cross the entire Xuzhou and arrived in Youzhou before it completely turned into a living hell.

"But I'm old now, and my tricks are not as fun as those of the young. I wanted to catch a monkey to play with, but I couldn't find one in Youzhou after searching for a long time, so I decided to just walk. Today I'm hungry, and I don't have much money, so..."

"Stealing chickens?"

"He went to steal chickens."

Caiyi pressed her temples on both sides with the index and middle fingers of her left and right hands.

Although this experience sounded outrageous, when she thought about the fact that it was Old Man Tang, she felt that it was not so outrageous.

"So girl, you are traveling around the world with the Taoist priest now?"

As Old Man Tang said this, his eyes couldn't stop jumping from Caiyi and Zuo Chen.

Caiyi blinked, not understanding what was going on, and nodded:

"Yes. The Taoist priest is very powerful. I was lucky enough to catch up with the time when he was willing to teach me some skills. So I shamelessly followed him and learned a little from him."

"that's all?"

"That's it."

Caiyi didn't know what Mr. Tang was talking about.

Mr. Tang looked at Zuo Chen again, and felt that he was too extraordinary. He really didn't have any relevant feelings, so he could only sigh.

"Everyone always blames their grandsons for not being smart, so why is it that my granddaughter is not smart either?"

Caiyi: “?”

What is the old man talking about?

"Where are you going next? A little further ahead, there are a few villages and manors, and then there is the Yangguan Road specially opened by Youzhou, which leads directly to Jingzhou."

Elder Tang asked, "Do you want to build a Taoist temple in Jingzhou? Jingzhou Chang Wang is not a good person. He said he doesn't care about the world and only wants to protect the imperial city. However, he secretly recruited soldiers and got a lot of elite soldiers. I'm afraid he will rebel in two years and lead his troops to cross the border.

"Why don't you stay in Youzhou and build a Taoist temple far away from Kyoto? This way you will live in peace and you two won't be disturbed by the chaos."

"Old man, you just want a place where you can eat and stay." Caiyi rolled her eyes at him.

Mr. Tang immediately smiled awkwardly:
"I am indeed a bit old, it would be a good thing if I could have a place to eat..."

"What a pity. Old man, we were planning to go to the Great Jungle and take care of some things there."

"what?"

When Mr. Tang heard what Caiyi said, his eyes widened:

"What are you doing there? It's so dangerous!"

He was a little excited and wanted to say something else.

Suddenly, a group of people walked into the outside of the restaurant.

Leading the group was a young couple. The man looked around and his eyes fell on Caiyi.

He was overjoyed and immediately knelt down in front of Caiyi.

"Aunt, please help me!"

Caiyi: "???"

(End of this chapter)