Notes on Longevity

Chapter 235 Zheng Di's Nonsensical Tales of the Jianghu Cause Chaos in Huangzhou

"Enjoy the spring moon with a cup of clear tea, admire the beauty with a pot of turbid wine."

"A half-burnt candle illuminates the red curtains, and the pleasures of lovemaking are hard to find again."

In Huangzhou City, there were elegant scholars recounting the pleasures of the previous night, chivalrous figures discussing the grand events of the martial world, and a young storyteller recounting the martial arts alliance leader election two months prior in a way that shook heaven and earth, especially the battle between the universally acknowledged number one martial artist, Lu Ya, and the rarely seen Murong Fuyou, which he described with such eloquence that the heavens seemed to tilt in its wake.
"At that moment, Murong Fuyou's swift blade forced Lu Ya, who was wielding a sword, to retreat repeatedly, nearly falling off the high platform. Of course, since Lu Ya could be called the number one in the world, he couldn't have held that title so firmly without real strength. Just then, at the critical moment, Lu Ya bent down, reversed his grip on his sword, and used his unique skill, the Swift Step, to return to the center of the platform. Seeing this, Murong Fuyou quickly turned around and placed the back of his blade on his arm, facing Lu Ya defensively. Then, the two of them remained still, observing the situation."

"Then what?"

"When the wind picked up, the wind chimes on Lu Ya's body rang again, and Murong Fuyou took the initiative to launch an attack. The two fought for hundreds of rounds, one making moves and the other parrying, both searching for the other's weaknesses. The battle raged on until dusk, and it was still difficult to determine a winner. However, at the last moment, Murong Fuyou was clearly struggling, and Lu Ya seized the opportunity, defeating him in one move. Thus, the battle for the title of Martial Arts Alliance Leader came to an end, and Lu Ya rightfully ascended to the throne, becoming the new Martial Arts Alliance Leader."

At this point, someone asked the storyteller, "Who do you think is more skilled between these two?"

Someone nearby said firmly, "Is there any need to say more? Lu Ya is naturally the better choice."

There was a flurry of discussion, but the storyteller banged on the table and said, "In my opinion, neither of them is very skilled."

"So who's better?"

The storyteller nodded, a wicked grin spreading across his face. "If you ask me, nobody in the martial arts world these days is really that great. Whether it's Li Chengru, Lu Ya, or Murong Fuyou, in my eyes they're just greenhorns."

"So what, you're really that great? I don't think you're anything special, just a greenhorn."

As soon as the storyteller finished speaking, the audience raised their hands and punched, stretching their muscles. Seeing that the situation was not good, the storyteller quickly tried to salvage the situation: "I am just a storyteller. However, whoever can beat Yang Tianqian back then, I will consider them the best."

"Haven't you noticed that since Yang Tianqian, the only people with a resounding reputation in the martial arts world are young people? What about the old guys? They were all killed by Yang Tianqian."

The storyteller's words immediately ignited a fervor of anger among the crowd, prompting many listeners to throw punches. Only after cries for mercy had filled the air did the crowd finally stop. However, upon closer inspection, they realized the person being attacked wasn't the storyteller, but one of the listeners. Speechless, the scene fell silent; no one could understand how the storyteller had vanished, right under their noses.

On a rooftop not far away, Zheng Di lay panting heavily. Sitting beside him were Lu Ya, Wu Ke from the Hidden Weapon Pavilion, Wang Huai, the hermit, and Sun Cheng, the bandit leader. Wu Ke squatted down, looked at the panting Zheng Di, and chuckled, saying, "You really aren't afraid of getting beaten to death? How dare you say such things?"

Zheng Di was still in shock. He gasped for breath and said, "Who knew? I was just saying things to them, but they insisted on attacking me. I was so anxious that I blurted it out."

It turns out that the storyteller just now was Zheng Di: "Besides, Lu Ya just defeated Murong, so naturally I have to tell him about it. This will also let people in the martial arts world know more quickly that the current leader of the martial arts alliance is Lu Ya."

"Hey!" Wu Ke was so angry he couldn't speak. "You little brat!"

Sun Cheng, standing to the side, gently tapped his head with his toe and said, "I think you're just making things worse for Lu Ya."

Wang Huai, a freelancer, also joined in the fun, laughing and saying, "If Lu Ya's reputation was tarnished that day, then you must be the culprit."

Zheng Di looked up at Lu Ya, who smiled helplessly and replied, "Don't look at me, I don't care. Anyway, my reputation is ruined, so I'll just have to pay with your life."

"Hey!" Upon hearing Lu Ya's words, Zheng Di immediately became restless: "Didn't you tell me to say that?"

Lu Ya laughed and said, "I just asked you to casually mention Senior Yang, but no one makes people hate him more than you do."

Wang Huai, a freelancer, patted Zheng Di on the shoulder and explained on Lu Ya's behalf: "What he meant was that it didn't matter if it brought him trouble, the most important thing was to make people forget about Senior Yang, rather than saying, 'Where are those old guys? They were all killed by Yang Tianqian.' Wouldn't that make you even more of a target?"

"So, you should stay away from those brothels. Look at you, your brain is getting worse every year." The bandit leader, Sun Cheng, also added fuel to the fire from the side.

Zheng Di, however, disagreed: "What's wrong with going to Yanliu Alley? Haven't you ever been there?"

Wu Ke was speechless upon hearing this: "You! In the end, we just chatted about love and drank a little wine. Unlike you, who acted like you were at home as soon as you entered the brothel, touching this person's hand and patting that person's 'head.' In the end, once you were inside, you didn't come out all night. If you're not crazy, who is?"

"Wu Ke, you're really irritating! Haven't you ever touched it? Or have you never been inside it?"

Just as Zheng Di was about to have a showdown with Wu Ke, Lu Ya spoke up, "Stop arguing. Look at those people, aren't they Cheng Han and Yun Chu?"

Looking around, the group saw Yang Chenghan and three others dressed in brightly colored clothes looking around the street, seemingly searching for something.

"That's strange. My brother should be sleeping in his hut at this time of day. Why haven't I seen him?"

Wan Dou put on the new light blue dress that Zhao Yun Chu had made for her, her rosy little face full of confusion and disappointment at not being able to find her brother.

Zhao Yunchu and Lihua comforted Wandou, saying, "Don't worry, the floor was covered with wine jars when we came in, but the smell of wine wasn't strong. They must have gone to get some more."

“Miss is right. Anyway, it’s still early, so it’s not too late to delay a little longer.”

Yang Chenghan then asked, "Do you know where the best restaurant is nearby? Since Wan Dou's brother likes wine, he will naturally go to the best restaurant to buy it."

Zhao Yunchu thought it made sense and was about to lead the group to look for it, but when she saw the novel trinkets being sold on the street, she couldn't resist. She picked out a few of the best items from the pile, paid for them, and gave Yang Chenghan, Wandou, and Lihua each a sachet, while she took a string of amber-colored jade beads for herself.

"Miss, aren't we going to a restaurant?" Pear Blossom asked, holding a sachet and looking at the delighted Zhao Yunchu.

Zhao Yunchu said shyly, "I'm just leading the way. Let's go."

Faced with Zhao Yunchu's shy demeanor, Lihua was helpless; after all, she was the young lady.

Just as Zhao Yunchu turned to lead the way, she bumped into someone, and the jade bead she had just picked up fell to the ground and shattered. Although the bead wasn't worth much, Zhao Yunchu really liked it. Looking at the broken jade bead, she looked up and, ignoring whoever was in front of her, began to curse them without saying a word, even threatening to roll up her sleeves and start a fight.
"You idiot, can't you watch where you're going? Didn't you see someone in front of you? Tell me, how are you going to compensate me for this jade bead necklace? If you can't afford it, am I going to beat you up?"

When Lihua saw her young mistress bump into someone, she instinctively wanted to protect her. However, when she saw who it was, she stopped in her tracks. She even tried to stop Zhao Yunchu from cursing, but Zhao Yunchu's fierce nature was revealed, especially when she started hurling insults at the person in front of her. Lihua's desire to stop her vanished instantly, and she even wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into, because she couldn't bear the humiliation.

Wan Dou stared dumbfounded at the person being scolded by Zhao Yun Chu, and for a moment she couldn't tell who she should help.

As for Yang Chenghan, this was the first time he had seen Zhao Yunchu like this. He had originally planned to find an opportunity to confess his marriage plans to Zhao Yunchu, but the scene before him truly terrified him. He imagined refusing the marriage and being verbally abused by Zhao Yunchu, who would say, "What? You look down on me? Am I not good enough for you?"

Thinking of this, he broke out in a cold sweat and immediately dismissed the idea. As for the marriage, he would first follow the elders' wishes, and the future could only be discussed later.

However, as Zhao Yunchu continued cursing, she began to feel that something was amiss. Why did the person in front of her look so familiar?

Isn't this Wu Ke?
Zhao Yunchu was startled. She looked at Wu Ke, whose face was dark with disbelief and helplessness as he stared at her. At this moment, Zhao Yunchu's loud cursing attracted many passersby. Zhao Yunchu felt even more ashamed and quickly covered her face and hid behind Lihua.

Pear Blossom looked at Wu Ke innocently and said incoherently, "Young Master Wu, it's been a while. Have you eaten?"

As soon as Li Hua finished speaking, a burst of laughter rang out behind Wu Ke. Zheng Di rushed up to Wu Ke, his eyes scanning back and forth between Zhao Yunchu and Wu Ke behind Li Hua, and laughed loudly, "Wu Ke, who told you to insult me ​​just now? How about it, karma's coming your way!"

Wu Ke didn't dare say anything to Zhao Yunchu, after all, he was also a member of the Zhao family. But Zheng Di was different. Wu Ke slapped Zheng Di on the head and said, "Do you believe I'll throw you into the river?"

"What? You want to bully the weak?" Zheng Di said defiantly.

Just then, a commotion suddenly arose in the crowd: "That guy called Ti Xiao Mo Tou is here."

Zheng Di looked over upon hearing the sound and saw a group of martial arts practitioners wielding swords pointing at him with barely suppressed rage.

Seeing that things were not going well, Zheng Di quickly ran away, leaving Lu Ya and Yang Chenghan's group standing there.

The group of martial arts practitioners originally intended to continue chasing Zheng Di, but when they saw Lu Ya behind Wu Ke, they quickly clasped their hands in greeting and said, "Young Master Lu! What are you doing here?"

Lu Ya looked at Wu Ke and Li Hua opposite him and said indifferently, "Watching the excitement of the marketplace? What are you doing?"

"Young Master Lu, just now a young boy made some outrageous remarks, thinking that we hadn't seen you and was therefore slandering you and some senior figures. We are looking for him!"

Lu Ya feigned ignorance and asked, "Have you found that person?"

"He was standing right here, but when he saw us, he ran away!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Ya turned around and looked in the direction Zheng Di had fled. Then he turned back to them and said, "Go after him before he gets too far!"

"Yes!"

Having received their orders, the martial arts practitioners perked up and quickly followed Zheng Di's trail. Meanwhile, the onlookers, seeing that Lu Ya was no ordinary person, scattered and dared not look at him any longer.

Once the crowd had dispersed, Wu Ke's dark face finally regained some color. He stared at Zhao Yunchu behind Lihua and said, "My dear young lady, you're too..."

But when the words reached his lips, Wu Ke found himself unable to say them, and in the end, he could only give up helplessly.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yunchu peeked out from behind Lihua and smiled awkwardly, "Brother Wu, I really didn't expect it to be you, otherwise how could I dare to talk to you like this?"

Wu Ke took a deep breath to calm himself down. At this moment, Lu Ya walked out from behind Wu Ke, looking at Yang Chenghan and the other three with a smile on his face, and asked, "Chenghan, where are you going?"

Yang Chenghan stepped forward, bowed to Lu Ya, and said, "I have some free time today, so I'll accompany Wan Dou to meet her brother."

"Oh?" Lu Ya asked, intrigued. "Little Wan Dou has an older brother?"

“That’s right,” Zhao Yun’s awkward expression vanished instantly upon seeing Lu Ya. She jumped out from behind Li Hua and laughed, “And Wan Dou’s brother is also a martial artist. It’s said that his martial arts skills are quite good, but I think he can’t compare to our new martial arts leader, Brother Lu Ya.”

Lu Ya was somewhat embarrassed by Zhao Yunchu's words. He walked up to Zhao Yunchu and said, "Actually, I only won by a narrow margin. If Murong hadn't made a mistake in his last move, it would have been uncertain who would have won between us."

Yang Chenghan was puzzled upon hearing this, and he stepped forward to ask, "But isn't Young Master Lu the undisputed number one in the world today?"

At this moment, Wang Huai, a recluse, came to Yang Chenghan's side and said, "There are always people better than you, and mountains beyond mountains. Most of the famous people in this world are those who frequently show their faces in public, while many more live in seclusion in the mountains or in the bustling city. Take that guy who escaped from us three months ago, for example; we still haven't found any trace of him. So, just listen to what he says and don't take it too seriously."

"I see," Zhao Yunchu said upon hearing this. "However, that doesn't change the fact that Brother Lu is the best in the world in my heart. But what happened to Brother Wu and Brother Zheng? I thought they seemed..."

Zhao Yunchu didn't know what to say, but Lu Ya just smiled and said, "These two have hit a nerve."

"Let's put that aside for now. Since we're taking Xiao Wandou to find her brother, let's get down to business first."

"Okay, I'm going to find my brother." Wan Dou was overjoyed when she heard that she was going to find her brother.

Zhao Yunchu then led them toward the best restaurant in Huangzhou City.

(End of this chapter)