The journey from Taishan to Qingchengshan was far, traversing a large part of Zhou, if they wanted to arrive within half a month, their pace could definitely not be slow, luckily everyone in the group including Zhou Yexue the young girl, was used to travelling by night, rushing, finally after ten days they passed Chang'an, arrived in Hanzhong, they still had five days left, and could now slow down, move at a more leisurely pace.
The entire way on horseback, even the horses were at their breaking point from their burden, finally a pause to breathe, everyone was happy, especially the two youth Fan Yuanbai and Zhou Yexue, they were in high spirits, Li Qingyu wasn't much older than them, but was much more solemn, his face cold and stern, since their departure to now it was the same.
News of shijiandahui had spread, along their journey they saw countless jianghu people carrying their weapons, after entering Hanzhong, there were even more of them, of all different builds, different weapons.
Where there were more jianghu people, there were bound to be more jianghu happenings. Xia used their martial prowess to resolve disputes, there were many with wugong, and could look down on commoners, from there developed a sense of pride, feeling that they were superior to others, their manners were very obtrusive, so far along their journey Shen Qiao and them had encountered a dispute at least three times.
This time they were early, entering the city at just past dawn, the inn was newly emptied, the main hall of the building was sparsely occupied.
Zhao Chiying and the rest of the group first ordered rooms, and then each sat down.
Yan Wushi's position was special, everyone in the group towards him was respectful and distant, Zhao Chiying towards this non-foe non-friend Huanyue Sect zongzhu had her reservations, but didn't want to insult him, nor did she want to be too close, the Bixia Sect disciples were all terrified of him, wouldn't dare approach him, Zhao Chiying and her two disciples, along with Li Qingyu, made four at a table, Yan Wushi was left to sit alone, no one around him, observers may have found it strange.
Shen Qiao walked over and sat down opposite him.
Yan Wushi smiled: "Qiao couldn't resist seeing me all alone, so came to sit with me?"
Shen Qiao: "The customers will grow in number, when there aren't enough seats, they'll have to turn people away, I just don't want to inconvenience the shop owners."
Yan Wushi saw him speak sincerely, looked unconcerned, poured him a cup of hot wine: "The shopowners to have a customer such as yourself, certainly derived it from three lifetimes of accumulated virtue."
Shen Qiao when he heard this, felt these words may have a deeper meaning, then again, he may have misunderstood.
Yan Wushi: "After this meal, I will have to take my leave first, won't be able to accompany you the rest of the way."
Shen Qiao was surprised: "I thought you came with us, for the purpose of going to Chunyang Sect to have an exchange with Yi Bichen."
Yi Bichen's wugong, if not considered number one in the world, then to be in the top three was no problem, Yan Wushi was always happy to fight, to not go personally and have an exchange, that would be the stranger thing.
Yan Wushi shook his head: "I can meet Yi Bichen anytime, but to be able to see other people's misfortunes, that doesn't happen everyday."
His delight-in-suffering tone was too strong, so Shen Qiao immediately thought of a person: "Dou Yanshan?"
Yan Wushi: "I've scattered the fish lure long enough, now it's time to close the net, this type of chaos, how can this venerable one not go personally take a look?
Shen Qiao: "You told me previously, Yun Fuyi and Dou Yanshan only got along superficially, eventually there'd be some movement, Yun Fuyi doesn't hold enough power within Liuhebang, so she had to rely on the Huang family and the Tujue behind them to secretly plot."
Yan Wushi: "That's right."
Shen Qiao: "You're able to know right away of their movements, probably because you're in the middle of things adding to the waves?"
Yan Wushi smiled: "Our Qiao is so smart, Dou Yanshan is a steady, suspicious kind of person, wouldn't easily allow someone new close enough to hear their secrets, it is because of his caution, that Liuhebang has been able to grow steadily in these past few years, becoming the leader of the transport business along the waterways north and south, can you guess how I broke into their defences and installed my agent there?"
Shen Qiao furrowed his brows, considered this for a moment, slowly said: "I cannot guess."
Yan Wushi smiled: "In reality it was easy, Dou Yanshan is cautious, but the people around him may not be. He has a personal assistant, that's followed him for eight years, very shrewd and capable, but has a woman he loves, that girl's family has no dignity, repeatedly asking her for money, the woman doesn't want to inconvenience her sweetheart, but remains in the dilemma, at this time I let Bian Yanmei send someone to help her, and did this one thing."
Shen Qiao: "Through her you get control of Dou Yanshan's personal assistant?"
Yan Wushi shook his head and smiled: "Qiao, you're too naive, Dou Yanshan's personal assistant is shrewd and capable, this kind of brute method, how does it suit to be used on him? Bian Yanmei only used this incident to gain the woman's goodwill, with a fabricated identity, pretending to be long-lost distant relative, gaining the trust of the woman's family, taking on the appearance of that woman's distant cousin."
Shen Qiao: "This is too convoluted."
Yan Wushi: "You shouldn't underestimate this small family connection, if it's just some unrelated stranger, why would anyone trust your good intentions, with this additional connection, is one less layer of suspicion, after some time together, the woman grew to trust her cousin, and recommended him to Dou Yanshan's assistant."
This type of trap-within-trap kind of manipulation, listening to it made Shen Qiao sigh.
This person considered the royal court, the jianghu, all a game, always looking over people's heads, arrogant and self-centred, and so accumulated a forest of enemies, in the end ambushed by five martial masters, scarcely avoided death and end-of-reputation as a conclusion, but apart from this, no one could deny his wugong skill or his cunning.
Shen Qiao: "According to what you said earlier, Dou Yanshan's assistant is shrewd and capable, how is that cousin going to gain his trust?"
Yan Wushi, an unperturbed smile: "Profit. In this world, only a shared interest can band people together, more intimate than sibling or spouse. That assistant since he started with Dou Yanshan, sees and hears broadly day in day out, must have witnessed many extravagant settings, but he remains an assistant, do you think a shrewd and capable person could bear it? Now if that woman's cousin were to provide a way of making money, so that he could also have his own business, after some time, do you think he will consider the other as on the same side?"
Shen Qiao had a realization: "So you purposefully chose a shrewd person, because you knew he wouldn't be content with his circumstances, as opposed to a honest person?"
Yan Wushi: "Honest people also have their own weaknesses, in this world how can there be anyone with no flaws?"
Shen Qiao nodded: "That's right, if you hadn't looked down on everyone and not taken anyone seriously, then later you wouldn't have given Guang Lingsan and Dou Yanshan and the rest an opportunity."
This sentence was clearly ridiculing him.
But he didn't anticipate Yan Wushi's shamelessness, the latter merely smiled: "You're wrong, that was my weakness from before, and not my weakness now."
Shen Qiao couldn't resist laughing: "Your weakness now, is it that your face is thicker than the rocks on Taishan?"
His face often carried a smile, gentle and easy-going, but rarely did he laugh openly.
Although this moment it was not a big laugh, the corners of his mouth couldn't stop drifting upward, even his eyes brightened, like jade after rainwater, lively and colourful.
"That's a strength, not a weakness." Yan Wushi was the type of person that did whatever came to mind, as this thought appeared, his hand had already moved to cover the back of Shen Qiao's hand. "This venerable one's weakness now is you!"
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Shen Qiao shook his head, as if he'd heard something funny, wanted to pull his hand back, but it was tightly held by the other.
"Yan-zongzhu, some tricks, after they're played once grow stale, why play them again and again? A person however foolish, can't fall into the same river twice?" His words carried an inflection of what he didn't even recognize as self-deprecation.
"Do you remember the story I told you?" Yan Wushi's smile didn't waver, his eyes remained on him, not willing to release his hand.
Until now, Shen Qiao had never thought about their relationship in a direction that ought not to be thought about, once bitten by a snake, ten years will fear rope, after experiencing that "making sentiment where there is none", he had another layer of understanding towards Yan Wushi's heartlessness, knowing this person's stone heart, even if he appeared earnest now, it was probably wistful thinking, it would be very hard to move the other, in his own heart, Shen Qiao doesn't trust, his memories overly cutting, to the point he doesn't dare trust this person again, afraid to repeat the same collision course.
And yet in this moment, under the other's burning gaze, Shen Qiao's heart made a sound, felt like he had become the prey to some ferocious beast, unrelenting until it had gotten its conclusion.
"Sir, there's clearly two empty spots over there, why did you say you were full!" A loud voice carried over, distracting the two of them.
Shen Qiao took the opportunity to extract his hand, looking around, the shop had in the interim filled with patrons, the only table left was where they were seated across from each other, they each had an empty spot next to them.
The custom now was not to sit casually at the same table with strangers, and usually there was no one insisting to be seated with a stranger, but some people didn't mind, and if they had martial prowess, felt like the other couldn't refuse them, in this way invoked a jianghu dispute.
The shopkeeper obviously did not want to see this place become the site of the next dispute, hurried to apologize and explain, said that very shortly, there will be patrons departing after finishing their meal, and there would be seats then.
The loud voice however didn't accept this, the people in his group also didn't look very approachable, they hadn't just seen the empty spots next to Shen Qiao, they also saw Shen Qiao's daoist robes, friendly, easy-to-bully appearance, and Yan Wushi wasn't even carrying a weapon, they looked like crushable soft persimmons, if they were instead scary-looking, large muscle men seated there, they might not have dared.
"These people I've seen them before, they belong to Taohuawu, after Taohuawu joined Hehuan Sect, they have been strutting around, looking down on everyone, using Hehuan Sect's name to cover up mischief, bystanders because of Hehuan Sect's reputation, aren't willing to offend them."
"No wonder they're so brazen, like a dog using its master's influence…"
"Hush, careful that disaster doesn't follow your mouth, their wugong is not bad, last time even Tianshanyujianzi died by that loud voice guy's hand."
"Heh!" Another inhaled sharply, "Tianshanyujianzi could be considered a second rank master!"
"Right? Otherwise how can they be so brazen, that one with the loud voice is the younger brother of Taohuawu Sect Leader, nickname Duanliudao…"
"Oh—I've heard of him, Duanliudao Erde Ming, turns out to be him!"
The conversation of the people at the next table was not loud, but could be heard by Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao.
On the other side, loud voice guy had already tossed aside the shopkeeper, walked towards them in big strides.
Fan Yuanbai and Zhou Yexue were young and impetuous, seeing this made to get up.
Yan Wushi of course didn't need their protection, but Shen Qiao was kind to everyone, and Bixia Sect owed him a huge favour, this half year living on Taishan, he got along well with everyone, wasn't like Yan Wushi directing jiangshan at his whim, but answering every question that was asked, a patient attitude, when he was teaching his disciples he allowed observers like Fan Yuanbai, so everyone in Bixia Sect had gained a lot from his presence, Fan Yuanbai and the others treated him akin to teacher or brother, naturally couldn't watch him be disrespected.
Zhao Chiying compared to them had much more experience, she didn't move, just called out: "Sir, the lamb pot I ordered for table #6, how come it still hasn't arrived, Huanyue Sect Yan-zongzhu and Shen Qiao Shen-daozhang have been waiting!"
These two names, especially the first one when spoken out loud, instantly swept through the main hall like a piercing chill, everyone's movements had halted.
That loud voice guy had one foot frozen in the air, and couldn't finish that step.