Martial Cultivator

After dealing with the matter at Luoshui Mountain, Chen Chao still did not hurry to leave this DanXiao City. Although the night was already deep and most of the common people had dispersed and gone to sleep, the streets were still brightly lit, with paper lanterns of all kinds, which could also be considered quite a sight.

Chen Chao wandered alone at night, walking slowly along the nearly deserted streets, like a lone traveler who had left home more than ten years ago.

Somewhat lonely.

Chen Chao walked and stopped, looking with interest at the styles of those paper lanterns above his head. Actually, there was not much difference between them and the paper lanterns in the other places of the Great Liang Dynasty. The only difference was that on these, they would either draw a portrait of that great Daoist master who founded Danxiao City, or a portrait of the Dao Ancestor.

Some paper lanterns even have both.

However, the wishes of the common people are the same. Whether it is the Dao Ancestor or that first City Lord in the history of Danxiao City, drawing them is naturally to pray for peace, for no illness and no disasters.

The needs of the common people have never been many. To be able to eat their fill, live their lives steadily, and have no one come and bully them, that is all.

Actually, Chen Chao could understand the rumors about Danxiao City in the past, and even its circumstances. At that time, the imperial court was practically nonexistent, and even if there was an imperial court, it did not protect the common people; it even sucked blood from them.

Therefore, the common people naturally placed their beautiful hopes in that great daoist sage who came from Daoism. Not to mention anything else, simply having that great daoist sage above their heads meant that the imperial court did not dare do anything in Danxiao City.

As for those paper boats?

That was even simpler. The imperial court now was not the imperial court of before. Especially during these past twenty years, what the world was like, the common people of Danxiao City should understand as long as they had so much as looked outside the city.

So having such things was not strange.

Chen Chao came to the upstream area. Earlier, when it was not yet so late, there would be at least a dozen gentlemen lined up here, each setting up a small stall to write letters, writing words of blessing on paper boats for those common people who could not read.

Now the night was deep, the common people had dispersed, and the gentlemen had long since closed their stalls. Now only the last gentleman remained here. His things had already been packed away, but he was not in a hurry to leave. Instead, he poured a small bowl of wine from the gourd he carried with him, sat by the river, and drank by himself.

Seeing Chen Chao walking over from afar, although the letter-writing gentleman saw him, he did not pay him any attention. He merely stroked his goatee and took another sip of the inexpensive wine, feeling that if he could live out the rest of his life like this, it would already be enough.

However, in the letter-writing gentleman’s blurred vision, that young man unexpectedly walked straight toward him without deviating at all, and in another two or three steps, he would arrive in front of his little stall.

This made the letter-writing gentleman somewhat irritated, but he still squeezed out a smile and gave two dry laughs. “Sir, you’ve come late. This old man has closed his stall.”

He had thought that this would make the young man leave after finding no interest, but who would have known that he seemed to have not heard him at all, instead sitting directly in front of him and smiling. “You’ve closed your stall, so could I ask this old sir for a cup of wine?”

Seeing that the other party had not come to have him write a letter or write something on a paper boat, the letter-writing gentleman’s expression became much better. He somewhat suspiciously sized up the young man in front of him, then took out an old wine bowl and untied the gourd from his waist. When pouring the wine, he had originally only intended to pour a small sip, but after thinking about it, he still added quite a bit more. This time, there was at least two taels.

The letter-writing gentleman’s face was full of pain. After putting away the gourd, he finally spoke. “Don’t look down on it. There’s only these two taels. There isn’t any more.”

Chen Chao glanced at the wine in the bowl. Just from the wine foam, he could tell that it was truly ordinary. As for the wine bowl, it looked even more like it had been around for many years. However, he did not mind. He picked up the wine bowl and took a sip, then smacked his lips. “This wine is strong.”

The letter-writing gentleman had originally felt somewhat regretful, but as soon as he heard the young man in front of him say this, he immediately became spirited and said with a beaming smile, “The wine isn’t expensive, but it is fiery. This old man isn’t boasting, there aren’t many people in this entire Danxiao City who can withstand it.”

Chen Chao nodded solemnly, then said regretfully, “Just drinking wine, without anything to go with it, always feels like something is missing.”

As soon as he said this, the letter-writing gentleman became extremely angry. “You brat, it’s one thing to hoodwink wine out of me, but now you’re thinking of taking advantage of me even further, this...”

Before he could finish speaking, the letter-writing gentleman saw the young man opposite him place a bag of sauced beef on the table. The young man smiled. “I bought this earlier intending to give it to my wife to eat, but after drinking old sir’s wine, I’ll take it out for old sir’s drinking. Consider it returning your kindness.”

While the letter-writing gentleman was saying that this was not quite appropriate, he had already taken out two pairs of bamboo chopsticks and handed one pair to Chen Chao. He himself had already picked up a piece of sauced beef and put it into his mouth. As he chewed it, mixed with the fragrance of wine in his mouth, the letter-writing gentleman began to feel somewhat melancholy.

Before, he had thought that being able to drink a small cup of wine every day was already the best kind of life. Now that he had meat to eat, then a life with both wine and meat was the best kind of life.

Human desires are never satisfied!

The letter-writing gentleman sighed with emotion, but in the blink of an eye he threw the matter to the back of his mind. Regardless of all that, he would finish this meal first.

Don’t think too much about things. The more you think about them, the more troublesome they become.

The two of them chatted idly while eating meat and drinking wine, and they were rather harmonious. However, when Chen Chao finished the last sip of wine in his bowl, then raised his head and looked at the letter-writing gentleman, the latter’s face was already full of pain.

“Old sir, don’t be reluctant to part with a few mouthfuls of wine.”

Chen Chao picked up a piece of sauced beef with his chopsticks and tossed it into his mouth, chewing it carefully.

The letter-writing gentleman helplessly sighed, took out his wine gourd, and simply poured all the wine inside out, half for each of them. Then he said freely, “Now that’s good. A few days’ worth, finished in one day, it’s all gone!”

The letter-writing gentleman glanced at Chen Chao. “You brat, you’re quite to this old man’s liking.”

Before drinking, he could still call him “sir,” but after drinking, none of that mattered anymore.

Brat or sir, there was no difference.

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