Chapter Thirty-Two: Idle Years

  Ye Liu Yun came and went, just like the clouds in the sky that drift away without leaving any trace. The residents of Danzhou City had no idea that one of the four great masters they often revered in their casual conversations had once come to Danzhou to drink, fight, and sing.

  Wu Zhu had some worries, as there weren't many people in this world who knew about his relationship with the young lady, but Ye Liu Yun just happened to be one of them. Moreover, he was completely inconsistent with his status as a respected master, being notoriously loose-lipped.

  Ye Liu Yun came to Danzhou, this matter is too coincidental, and he met with himself for a moment before leaving, Wu Zhu fundamentally did not believe it.

  Fan Xian believed that Ye Liu Yun was indeed just a simple traveler, and patted Wu Zhu's shoulder to comfort him: "Who says that great masters can't go on vacation?"

  It's just a very pure intuition.

  His intuition had always been accurate, and he felt that his father, the Duke of South Carolina, was somewhat problematic. The Inspectorate, assassins, and the second wife who was more venomous than a mother tiger... So he believed that his father, the Duke of South Carolina, was not as simple as he seemed on the surface, at least much more formidable than Cao Yin, a mere servant.

  But his thinking direction has completely gone astray.

  He suspected that his cheap old father might be the illegitimate son of the former Emperor Old Honest Wang, because when his grandmother was a nanny in the Honest King's palace, the emperor let her take him back to raise. Now, Viscount South is heartbroken about his own life, resentful of his half-brother sitting on the dragon chair, while he can only be a small viscount, so he pretends to be a pig eating a tiger, secretly colluding with the Censorate and all the reactionary forces that can be used, organizing a batch of private forces, wanting to accept all the family property of His Majesty the Emperor.

  As for himself, he became a product of a family interest alliance due to his mother being an important figure as well, and his existence played a crucial role in his father's rebellion.

  When he told Kotobuki about the inferences he made when he was bored, Kotobuki, who usually didn't change his expression even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him, finally couldn't help but chop the kitchen knife into the cutting board with a loud thud, showing a certain degree of respect for that young man's crazy imagination.

  It was precisely because of this that Wu Zhu decided not to take him away from Hengzhou for the time being.

  Since the crazy young man himself doesn't worry about future things, his face still maintains a shy and curious smile, ready to throw himself into the fake rebellion of Count Sounan at any time, and seems to be completely indifferent to the dangers that this absurdity may bring. What is Blind Five Bamboo afraid of?

  Wu Zhu had never worried about his own life and death, only worrying about Fan Xian. And once Fan Xian seemed extremely abnormal and didn't care at all, Wu Zhu just followed him - just like when Fan Xian started drinking heavily at the age of five - Wu Zhu was only responsible for protecting Fan Xian's safety, but wouldn't actively offer too many opinions.

  From the bottom of their hearts, this master and servant, this mentor and disciple are all very lazy and reckless individuals - they're not incapable of plotting, it's just that sometimes they feel that the military power in their hands is more powerful than schemes, so subconsciously they regard other people's plots as trivial matters, if they come then let them come, what can be done about it anyway.

  The bright moon over the great river, the clear breeze on the mountain ridge.

  ……

  ……

  Actually, Fan Xian was not Ming Yue, but a shy and reserved crescent moon eyebrow - he was still afraid of death, because he didn't have the extraordinary skill of Wu Zhu, but he knew that if he had the Monitoring Department's Fei Jie behind him and this blind servant by his side, then it wouldn't be so easy for him to die.

  After witnessing the fight between Wu Zhu Shu and Ye Liu Yun, one of the four great masters, on the cliff, he was deeply shocked in his heart. For the first time, he felt the beauty of martial arts, which was similar to the beauty of tea ceremony and calligraphy. So he temporarily stopped copying "Dream of Red Mansions" and devoted himself wholeheartedly to cultivation.

  Wu Zhuang himself didn't have any particularly impressive sword techniques or fist methods, but he had thoroughly researched how to kill a person. He emphasized speed, accuracy, directness and ruthlessness. He once told Fan Xian: "Don't believe in the theory of curved lines being smooth and flowing, advancing with ease and retreating with defense. If you want to attack your opponent, then you must take a straight line, use the fastest speed, travel the shortest distance, and inflict the most irreversible damage on them."

  Fan Xian immediately thought of the day when Wu Zhuo jumped directly from the cliff, thinking that this person had indeed taken the shortest distance. He sighed and shook his head, not knowing when he would reach that state, or what year or month it would be.

  One day after Luo Bo's lesson, Fan Xian waved his slightly sore right arm and looked at Wu Zhu who was facing away from him. He curiously asked: "According to what you said before, how many levels have I reached now?"

  "Seventh-level true energy, third-level control ability."

  Fan Xian quickly calculated the result in his mind: "An average is just a fifth rank, slightly higher than fourth rank, and can get a graduation certificate." The young man was slightly proud, with a hint of pride in his beautiful eyes.

  Wu Zhang shook his head: "If you're lucky enough, you can kill a level 7 figure. If your luck is bad enough, even a level 3 little thief might take your life."

  Fan Xian smiled and sighed, thinking that this young uncle was indeed straightforward in his words. However, he felt that his luck had always been quite good; otherwise, it would not have been possible for him to end up in this world after death.

  ————————————————————————

  After Ye Liu Yun's visit, Fan Xian's life in Danzhou finally settled down, and there were no more assassins coming to cause trouble. The second madam, who had been seriously ill, became much more subdued. In the capital, Fan Ruoruo's letters still arrived every month, while Fan Xian stayed in this small coastal city, eating tofu, copying books, occasionally wearing colorful clothes to show filial piety to his mother-in-law, going to the grocery store to drink wine, and cutting scallions for himself to drink with. His days were spent very leisurely.

  One day, a mirage appeared on the sea, and the residents of Tangzhou Port all ran out to watch the excitement. Although they were all long-time coastal residents, they were still extremely excited to see those illusory islands that seemed like a paradise on the surface of the sea.

  Wu Zhu became eccentric, closed the door of the grocery store, walked to a remote seaside, climbed alone on the cliff, and quietly "gazed" at the scene over there, as if he had thought of something that made him very unhappy.

  The mirage didn't last long and soon dissipated, but he continued to gaze quietly in that direction.

  Staring at the other side through that black cloth, as if he wasn't blind at all.

  Fan Xian climbed up the cliff, his bare upper body looking very symmetrical, having shed his thin physique. He looked at Wu Zhuo sitting quietly over there and didn't dare disturb him, so he sat down beside him, gazing at the sky in that direction which was set ablaze by the western sunset.

  After a long time, Wu Zhu suddenly asked coldly: "How old are you this year?"

  Fan Xian tied his black hair back to the back of his head, revealing a pretty face that was finally showing a hint of elegance, and smiled in response: "Sixteen."