The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 177 Returning to Xiangyang
In Xiangyang City, as soon as the city gates opened in the early morning, there was a tall, thin, handsome young man with fair skin in the line of people entering the city. He was sure to attract the shy glances of girls as he walked down the street, and some of the bolder ones would even slip him a handkerchief.

Unfortunately, despite receiving such treatment, Wu Chengyu looked somewhat embarrassed. He was wearing clothes that were twice the size of his body, and he swayed as he walked, which was quite comical.

In the morning, those queuing to enter the city were villagers from villages outside Xiangyang. They carried loads on shoulder poles and pushed out carts, filled with fresh vegetables picked before dawn, still covered in dew. They were waiting to enter the city to set up stalls or deliver them to restaurants, as this was related to the livelihood of their entire families.

Wu Chengyu didn't want to compete with these poor people for the right of way, so he obediently joined the queue.

The queue was very long, and when passing through the city gate, the people had to give the guards two copper coins. The common people felt a little pain when they took out the money, but they had no choice but to bow and scrape to the guards.

Just as they were getting impatient, a dozen or so horses suddenly rushed out of the city. These people were armed and riding tall horses. They did not slow down when passing through the gate and almost bumped into people. But the common people did not dare to say a word, and the guards did not dare to offend them.

Wu Chengyu watched their backs as they left, but he could still hear one of their words: "That Zhou family left before the city gate last night. We can catch up with them if we ride fast. We must be quick and not delay the young master's important business."

Wu Chengyu was unaware of the situation and didn't take it to heart. Such things were common in this era, so why bother getting involved if you didn't know the inside story?

Some of the guards whispered among themselves, saying that these were the governor's household guards.

Once Wu Chengyu entered Xiangyang City, the scene shifted, and the handsome young man with the comical clothes from before was gone.

Simply step into a clothing shop and spend a little silver, and you can restore Wu Chengyu to the image of a handsome young man amidst the chaos of the world.

He wore a dark satin robe with silver openwork hibiscus trim, and underneath was a white scholar's robe made of cotton, which was comfortable and elegant, and was also embroidered with light yellow bamboo patterns.

She wore a light ink-colored leather belt around her waist, blue silk shoes with cloud patterns on her feet, and her hair was tied up with a white jade hairpin. It was just a pity that she was missing a gold-flecked folding fan in her hand.

Wu Chengyu was extremely satisfied with his current appearance. From the moment he grew up, he had been a tall and imposing man with broad shoulders and a thick waist. No matter what clothes he wore, he could only exude the aura of a local tyrant or a bandit leader. In short, when he walked on the street, ordinary people would unconsciously avoid him.

This is the demeanor that Wu Chengyu believes an ancient knight-errant should have. Whether he can fight or not doesn't matter; he just has to look handsome.

Wandering the martial world, if you save those chivalrous women, if they are handsome, you will repay them with your life and accompany them on their journey; if they are not handsome, you will repay them with kindness and be their servant in the next life.

As you can see, there are many fighters in Gu Long's novels who are more capable than him, but with just the phrase "Chu Xiangshuai treads the moon and leaves fragrance," he can instantly kill all the other masters.

He's good at fighting, but not handsome? The only ones who explicitly expressed interest in Wu Chengyu before were Sister Niu and that old monster Guihua.

Once he was dressed up, he couldn't go out in the dark. In Xiangyang City, the only person he was familiar with was Manager Zhou of Zhenxianglou. Wu Chengyu had stayed in Xianshan for several months, eating roasted meat every day and going hungry for forty-nine days. Now, thinking of the delicious food at Zhenxianglou, it smelled so good.

After walking a few steps, Wu Chengyu arrived in front of Zhenxianglou and was immediately taken aback. Although it was not lunchtime yet, Manager Zhou was always diligent and opened for business early every day. He not only cleaned Zhenxianglou thoroughly, but also splashed clean water on the street every day to keep the area in front of the store clean.

Especially after obtaining Wu Chengyu's three recipes, the restaurant was packed with customers for several months. Many gourmets would arrive before the restaurant even opened in the morning, just for a taste of snake soup.

But today, Zhenxianglou was closed. There was no one at the entrance, and many people who passed by lowered their heads and quickened their pace, not daring to stop at all.

Something happened? Wu Chengyu narrowed his eyes slightly, looking around, but found no clues around Zhenxiang Tower.

In Wu Chengyu's heart, Manager Zhou had an excellent impression. When he tasted Taishi's Five-Snake Soup, he admitted that it was inferior and thought Wu Chengyu was trying to cause trouble. He immediately declared that he would not sell snake soup again. Such magnanimity is not something that ordinary restaurant managers have. Later, when he made an agreement with Wu Chengyu, although it was an exchange, it was clear that he had put his heart into it. He not only fulfilled the agreement very well, but was also polite and considerate in his daily life. Most importantly, Manager Zhou took the initiative to find a famous doctor from Xiangyang to treat Wu Chengyu, and finally took out his family's 20-year-old wild ginseng.

These things were beyond the scope of his agreement with Wu Chengyu. Although they were useless to Wu Chengyu, Wu Chengyu still had to admit that he owed Manager Zhou a favor.

Wu Chengyu has always been in the habit of repaying favors. He came here today hoping to teach Manager Zhou two more dishes, but he never expected to see this scene before him.

Now that Wu Chengyu has fully recovered his strength, his martial prowess is even greater than when he assassinated Shi Miyuan, so we naturally cannot sit idly by.

Just then, Wu Chengyu saw a familiar face. It was the old snake catcher who had given him the clues about the Bosqu snake. The old man had a worried look on his face and was carrying several bamboo cages, all of which were filled with snakes he had caught.

Wu Chengyu quickly stopped the old man: "Old man, do you still remember me?"

When Wu Chengyu first arrived in Xiangyang, he was a skinny bamboo pole nearly 1.9 meters tall, sickly, with a sallow face, looking like he could collapse and die on the street at any moment. Now, he is a slightly shorter, handsome young man. How could the old man possibly recognize him?

Wu Chengyu pulled the old man to the street corner and recounted their previous meetings, including the several times they met after the old man helped Wu Chengyu catch the Bodhi snake. Only then did the old man look him up and down with some skepticism and reluctantly believe him.

"So it's Young Master Wu. It's only been a short time since we last met, but you've completely changed. This is hard for me to believe."

"Don't be alarmed, sir. It is indeed I, Wu. I have something to ask you today. I haven't been to Xiangyang City for many days. I wonder what happened at Zhenxiang Tower?"

The old man's eyes widened in panic when he heard the words "Zhenxianglou". He looked around and, finding no one paying attention to him, leaned closer and whispered.

"Young Master Wu, you've really ruined Manager Zhou's family! The recipes for those three dishes you gave Manager Zhou were good, but they were way too good."

Over the past few months, Zhenxianglou has been making a fortune, attracting the covetous eyes of many. Others may not care, but Manager Zhou has been able to protect himself in Xiangyang City for many years.

Who would have thought that the eldest son of the Xiangyang Prefect's Mansion also coveted the recipe and kept suppressing Zhenxianglou. He even found a pretext to drag Manager Zhou into prison and torture him severely. Manager Zhou had no choice but to hand over the recipe.

But the eldest son of the prefect's mansion was not satisfied with the prescription and ordered that Manager Zhou and his family be forbidden from ever appearing in Xiangyang again.

Sure enough, yesterday, Manager Zhou and his family left overnight. It's a pity that their years of hard work have been destroyed in an instant.

Wu Chengyu immediately felt a sense of foreboding. Recalling the group of retainers from the prefect's mansion who had just left the city gate, he realized that this so-called eldest son clearly intended to exterminate Manager Zhou's entire family.

"Does the old man know where Manager Zhou and his family are moving to?"

"I heard they were going to Hankou to stay with relatives."

　Yesterday, besides making up for the shortfall from the day before, I only wrote four chapters. This morning, I finished the fifth chapter. It feels so good to publish five chapters at once.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)