Simultaneous travel: I am rampant in the domestic area

Chapter 328 Outside the Courtyard, King Meets King

Chen Ping'an had walked the road home countless times.

I used to wish the road were shorter so I could get home faster, but today, for the first time ever, I wish the road were longer, and that I could just keep walking like this forever.

Throughout the journey, Ning Yao did most of the talking.

She said her hometown is called the Great Wall of Swords.

All the most skilled swordsmen in the world would go there to hone their swordsmanship, and even Chen Ping'an's master, Russell, was no exception.

She left the Great Wall of Swords behind her parents' and grandfather's backs, wanting to emulate Bertrand Russell's past actions and travel thousands of miles with her sword.

Lizhu Cave Heaven was her first stop.

Once she received the sword from Master Ruan, she would continue her journey, returning to the Sword Qi Great Wall only after she had traveled ten thousand miles.

Chen Ping'an felt that Ning Yao had lofty ambitions; the farthest distance he had ever traveled in his life was only from one side of the town to the other.

Although he didn't feel much hesitation about traveling.

But lacking experience in long-distance travel, he didn't have much of a concept of the distance of 100,000 li.

But in reality, the distance from the Sword Qi Great Wall to the Lizhu Cave Heaven is more than 100,000 li.

Sword cultivators born in the Great Wall of Sword Qi are born with the identity of convicts.

Even though Ning Yao is highly regarded by many, the rules still need to be followed.

She has already committed a grave offense by sneaking out, so we can't let her do whatever she wants.

The idea of ​​traveling far and wide with a sword that she spoke of was nothing more than a girlish sentiment unique to her.

However, as far as she was concerned, since Chen Ping'an didn't know the truth anyway, she could just bluff as she pleased.

She talked on and on, and he listened on and on.

Walking and stopping, stopping and walking, the road came to an end, and the unfinished thoughts also came to an abrupt end.

……

In the long-established sword-forging workshop on the southern bank of the stream outside the town.

Ruan Qiong, with his chest and belly exposed, was hammering iron. With each strike, sparks flew and the room was filled with light.

Countless tiny sparks of light danced wildly throughout the empty room, creating a dazzling and spectacular sight.

Opposite the man stood a petite girl with a neat ponytail. She wore a cowhide robe to protect herself from sparks.

Ruan Xiu also wielded an iron hammer, but her movements were far more ferocious than her father Ruan Qiong's.

Each time he struck the hammer, the sparks he produced were larger and more dazzling than those produced by Ruan Qiong.

"Working so hard today, are you still thinking of going to find that kid Chen Ping'an?"

Just before an old sword was about to be completed, Ruan Qiong spoke up in an annoyed tone.

These words immediately shattered Ruan Xiu's initial momentum, and the force in her hands became uneven.

There was a snap.

The sword blank, which was about to be formed, broke in two.

Seeing this, Ruan Qiong knew perfectly well that he had guessed his daughter's thoughts again, and he snorted angrily.

He had been racking his brains for almost ten years, but he just couldn't understand what was so good about Chen Ping'an.

What is it that his Xiuxiu cares about so much?

All he does all day, besides eating, is think about Chen Ping'an.

This is driving this old father crazy with worry.

"Dad~ It's all your fault, I was almost done with it." Ruan Xiu angrily tapped the anvil with the hammer in her hand, her big eyes immediately filled with tears of grievance.

"Sigh, Xiuxiu, don't cry. Dad will do whatever you want..."

Seeing his daughter on the verge of tears, even the dignified eleventh-level military expert panicked and hurriedly tried to comfort her.

"Can I go find Chen Ping'an?" Ruan Xiu asked softly, rubbing her eyes and her vision blurry with tears.

Ruan Qiong's expression changed: "This won't do."

"Hmph! I'm not talking to you anymore, Father." Seeing that playing the victim was useless, Ruan Xiu pouted and stopped looking at Ruan Qiong, then started smashing a piece of new iron.

Ruan Qiong chuckled and scratched the back of his head. As long as his little darling didn't go and give away his prize for nothing, he wouldn't mind even if his daughter hit him with a hammer.

"Ruan Xiu, why are you still here forging iron?"

The clanging and banging sounds from the sword forging workshop had barely begun when Ruan Xiu was interrupted by Wang Zhu's shouts.

After more than seven years of getting to know each other, the two can be considered old acquaintances.

Upon seeing Wang Zhu arrive, Ruan Xiu immediately asked, "Did Chen Ping'an come to see me?"

"All you ever do is ask Chen Ping'an," Wang Zhu said with a sneer, putting her hands on her hips. "He's not in the mood to care about you right now. If you don't go find him soon, he'll be snatched away by some bad woman from outside."

"What!?"

"what?!"

The same two words express completely opposite meanings: one of surprise, the other of astonishment.

"The girl has already been taken home by Chen Ping'an. If you don't go now, be careful, your childhood sweetheart might not be able to withstand a sudden arrival," Wang Zhu continued to threaten.

"Oh! What are you saying, little girl? Chen Ping'an has found a good match, this is a good thing!" Ruan Qiong almost burst out laughing, and had already decided to add two more dishes and drink a couple more glasses of wine tonight to celebrate.

He leaned forward, feigning a serious expression, and patted Ruan Xiu's shoulder earnestly, as if he had long since seen through the boy:

"Xiuxiu, did you see that? The thing that can reveal a man's true nature to you the most is when he meets other women. That kid Chen Ping'an, I've always thought he was a wicked little devil since he was a child. Now, his true nature has been revealed, hasn't it? But don't be too sad. It's better to see through him sooner rather than later, so you won't suffer losses later."

“No, I don’t believe it. Where are they now?” Ruan Xiu asked anxiously.

"Judging by the time, we've already arrived at Chen Ping'an's house."

……

"Ping An, who is this young lady?"

In Chen Ping'an's courtyard, Chen Shuyuan was chatting and laughing with Li Er's wife when she suddenly saw her little Ping'an leading a strange girl home. Her heart skipped a beat.

Xiuxiu's situation isn't even settled yet, so why did she bring back another girl?

"Mother, this is Ning Yao, Miss Ning. She will be staying with us for a while these next few days."

Chen Ping'an happily introduced it to his mother.

"Auntie," Ning Yao greeted her with a smile.

"What a pretty girl," Li Er's wife remarked, quite envious.

If my own daughter were here, I could definitely dress up just as well as this girl.

Originally, she intended to marry Li Liu to Chen Ping'an.

After all, the two little ones work in the same shop and are not too far apart in age.

Thanks to Chen Ping'an's hard work over the past few years, the Chen family has gradually become wealthy. Most importantly, both Chen Ping'an and Chen Shu are the best people imaginable.

Li Liu will definitely not suffer any loss by marrying into this family. It's also close to her parents' home, so if she misses her daughter, she can come over for a visit.

It's just that heartless Russell, an old bull who took advantage of a young girl, actually tricked her daughter into eloping with him.

Hmph! But he can run away, he can't hide. She didn't believe that Russell wouldn't come back.

If she ever sees anyone surnamed Luo in the Lizhu Cave Heaven again, she will definitely curse his ancestors for eight generations to the heavens.

Don't doubt the truthfulness of what she said.

She did indeed do that.

Russell had no idea where this tiger woman got all these words and complex sentences from; even a modern person bombarded by the internet would be driven to despair by them.

"Alright, I'll be leaving now since you have guests. Please think about what I said."

Li Er's wife greeted Chen Shu and Chen Ping'an, then hurriedly left the courtyard.

"Mother, what did Aunt Li say?" Chen Ping'an asked warily.

You know, the last time Aunt Li came over to discuss something with his mother, it was about his marriage to Li Liu.

"They said they wanted Li Huai to recognize his mother as his godmother." Chen Shu didn't know what Li Er's wife was thinking, but obviously now was not the time to dwell on it. She looked at Ning Yao earnestly and said gently, "Miss Ning, please sit for a while. The guest room has been empty. I'll go and tidy it up."

"Thank you for your help, Auntie." Ning Yao replied, and only after Chen Shu entered the room did she lean close to Chen Ping'an and whisper, "Your mother is so beautiful."

Chen Ping'an's lips curled slightly: "I suppose Miss Ning's mother is no less impressive."

"You've never seen her, how do you know?" Ning Yao retorted, but Chen Ping'an replied earnestly, "Because Miss Ning is very beautiful."

Ning Yao opened her mouth, but it took her a while to manage to squeeze out four words: "Glib-tongued."

"That's the truth," Chen Ping'an smiled at Ning Yao and thought to himself.

"By the way, now that I'm staying at your house, I should fulfill my promise to teach you how to fight. I don't know to what extent you mean by not knowing how to fight, so I'll start with the simplest things."

Ning Yao stopped, took a deep breath, and her playful expression vanished instantly, replaced by a rare sharpness in her eyes.

She looked at Chen Ping'an and said crisply, "Watch carefully, I will only demonstrate once. This is a set of boxing techniques that my elders simplified based on battlefield combat techniques. It emphasizes intent over form, but the most basic stance must be solid in order to generate power smoothly and avoid injuring yourself."

Chen Ping'an immediately held his breath, nodded emphatically, and didn't blink.

Ning Yao assumed a boxing stance. Her starting move wasn't particularly flashy, but it carried an indescribable crispness and decisiveness.

Twisting the waist, extending the shoulder, punching, blocking, side kicking... the movements are fluid and powerful.

Well, how should I put it...

Chen Ping'an felt that his heart was beating a little fast.

"call--"

After finishing a set of punches, Ning Yao stood still, her breathing even and long.

She looked at Chen Ping'an and saw him staring blankly into space. She couldn't help but feel a little smug. She curled up her lips and deliberately put on a stern face, saying, "Hey, what are you daydreaming about? How much of it have you figured out?"

"I've memorized the general movements, but I definitely didn't understand the key details," Chen Ping'an said honestly.

Despite the actions, the path of Qi circulation remains completely unknown.

"You're honest." Ning Yao walked to his side: "Now I'll break down the movements and teach you. First, show me your starting stance."

Chen Ping'an did as he was told, mimicking Ning Yao's posture from before.

Ning Yao walked around him once.

"Your shoulders are too stiff."

"Keep your back straight, yes, this is the power center, you can't be weak."

"Take bigger steps, keep your center of gravity steady, do you want someone to push you over?"

"Yes, like that... Hey, the wrist angle is wrong, it should be like this..."

Ning Yao poked him here and there, then gently kicked his ankle with her toes, and even grabbed his wrist.

Chen Ping'an's body involuntarily tensed slightly, and his heart pounded like a drum.

Is this what Master meant by the feeling of being moved?

No! That's not right! It's the feeling of "joy" and "love" burning brightly.

"What's wrong? Why are you so stiff all of a sudden?" After teaching the basic breakdown of a set of boxing techniques, Ning Yao suddenly felt that Chen Ping'an's body tensed up, and thought that he had misdirected his breathing.

But then I thought, this kind of method of circulating qi shouldn't cause problems for a practitioner at the middle fifth level.

"It's nothing, a minor issue." Chen Ping'an breathed a sigh of relief, calming himself down.

"Then you play it once first, and I'll check the situation."

Chen Ping'an played it once as instructed. Apart from a few slightly awkward details, the overall framework was already quite good, and the power he exerted was also starting to show some flavor.

Ning Yao watched from the side with her arms crossed, becoming more and more satisfied. She cleared her throat, trying to appear more authoritative: "Hmm, not bad, you've got the basics down. You'll have to practice every day from now on. As long as I'm in town, I'll supervise you every day. Even if I leave in the future, you can't slack off, understand?"

"I heard you." Chen Ping'an nodded obediently.

"Look how close these two are!"

Across the alley from Chen Ping'an's house, in a wisp of light and shadow, Wang Zhu tirelessly tended the fire.

"Isn't this just a very simple boxing tutorial? I don't see any problems." Ruan Xiu examined it carefully and comforted herself.

"You call this no problem? If I were you, you definitely wouldn't tolerate it."

"What can I do if I can't stand it? Liking someone isn't a one-sided thing."

Wang Zhu said with exasperation, "Think about it carefully. Over the years, because of your father, how many opportunities have you and Chen Ping'an missed to cultivate your relationship? It was alright before, with just you, you could slowly warm up Chen Ping'an like a stone. But if you keep delaying like this, Chen Ping'an will really be lured away!"

"Is it that serious?" Ruan Xiu was still somewhat hesitant, with a hint of self-deception in her voice.

"My dear lady, when did Chen Ping'an ever need such basic boxing techniques?" Wang Zhu was getting impatient. While shoving Ruan Xiu, she said, "Trust me! Hesitation means defeat! If you don't want to hide under the covers and cry into your pillow later, you have to act now!"

Half-heartedly, Ruan Xiu appeared at Chen Ping'an's doorstep, just as Chen Ping'an went into the inner room to pour water for Ning Yao.

As a result, Ruan Xiu and Ning Yao ended up face to face.

"็ Hello Who are you?"

Ning Yao's delicate brows furrowed slightly, as if she was wondering where this girl had come from.

But judging from his determined look, could he be the childhood sweetheart Chen Ping'an mentioned?

Hmm, judging from his expression, it seems to be a misunderstanding. Perhaps I should help him explain so as not to damage their relationship.

"I'm here to see Chen Ping'an. Who are you?" Ruan Xiu imitated the tone Wang Zhu had just taught her, speaking with a strong exterior but a weak interior.

Is this an attempt to interrogate me?
Ning Yao raised an eyebrow.

Some people are more responsive to gentle persuasion than force. If you say a few nice words, they'll consider you a friend, but if you try to be tough with them, don't blame them for sticking to their guns.

"My name is Ning Yao. Chen Ping'an is helping me tidy up my room. And who are you?"

(End of this chapter)