Chapter 79: Old Friends |
Several days had passed, and the turmoil from the Blue Scale Assembly had gradually subsided.
The Gaolin Merchant Guild, however, was proceeding with great vigor.
Before anyone realized it, the year's end was approaching.
Chen family's small courtyard.
Chen Qing stood in the courtyard practicing through-arm boxing. His movements flowed like clouds and water, with shoulders, elbows, wrists, and finger joints all connected in sequence. Every joint seemed to transform into a soft channel for transmitting force, without the slightest stiffness or obstruction.
His arms maintained a strange "softness," as if they were not flesh and bone but leather whips filled with mercury.
At the beginning of exerting force, his movements even appeared somewhat "sluggish," but when his arm reached its highest point and was about to fall and explode, the rigid strength hidden beneath extreme softness suddenly erupted.
"Crack!"
A crisp explosive sound, like a whip tip cracking through the air.
His shoulder blades moved like living fish beneath his clothing, his spine undulated like a great dragon, and all his joints seemed to become precise pivots, circulating power between hardness and softness, contraction and release.
The occasional explosive air cracks demonstrated the terrifying penetrating power contained within.
After completing a full set of boxing forms, Chen Qing slowly concluded his stance and stood still.
His complexion remained normal, his breathing steady and long.
In his mind, golden light appeared.
[Heaven Rewards Diligence, Success Guaranteed]
[Through-arm Boxing: Perfection (1/5000)]
"My boxing technique has also reached the perfection realm. Now if I encountered Qu Yaohui again, I could defeat him within ten moves. Against Shi Wenshan who has achieved great mastery in transforming strength, the difference shouldn't be too great. If Toad Fishing Force could reach the third realm, I'd have complete confidence of victory."
Chen Qing contemplated silently.
Both through-arm stance work and boxing had reached perfection. Combined with the second realm of Toad Fishing Force, his strength shouldn't differ much from experts who had achieved great mastery in transforming strength but it still wasn't stable enough.
Lady Han emerged from the kitchen and asked, "Ah Qing, there's a donation ceremony at Dragon King Temple today. Will you go?"
"I'll take a look."
Chen Qing responded, then simply tidied up and changed clothes before leaving the courtyard for Mute Bay.
He knew this place all too well. Just over a year ago, he had been a poor boy eating chaff and swallowing vegetables. Now as he stepped through this frozen mud again, the frost flowers crushed under his heels seemed like half a lifetime's worth of time being ground away.
The wind from Mute Bay carried the salty tang of sea air, making the banners in front of the old Dragon King Temple flutter loudly.
In previous years at this time, there would be only a sparse dozen or so fishing households in front of the temple. This year, however, it was packed solid.
Chen Qing could see from afar that paint-chipped Eight Immortals table and a merit box.
At this moment, Liang Badou was calling out names with his voice raised, "Old Zhang, five wen! Good deeds in the family bring abundant joy!"
"Master Chen, you've arrived."
Liang Badou had sharp eyes. Upon seeing Chen Qing, he quickly approached with two steps becoming three, bowing so low his waist nearly touched the ground.
Chen Qing then took out a small cloth bag from his chest and handed it to Liang Badou.
Liang Badou untied the bag opening and looked inside. His eyes immediately widened, his voice trembling slightly, "Chen Qing, Master Chen! Ten taels of silver!"
"Ten taels?!"
"Good heavens!"
"Ten taels of silver?! How many fish would you have to catch for that?"
"As expected of a master who passed the martial examination, his generosity is different..."
The crowd erupted instantly.
Ten taels of silver! This amount was astronomical for most fishermen who depended on heaven for their livelihood and barely scraped by.
Liang Badou carefully stored the silver, quickly found a seat for Chen Qing, then poured him a cup of tea.
Just then, a man and woman squeezed out of the crowd, walking forward somewhat awkwardly.
The woman was Er Ya, wearing a half-worn but clean floral cotton jacket. She quickly glanced at Chen Qing then hurriedly lowered her head.
When she raised her hand as if to smooth down loose hair by her temples, her wide sleeve slipped slightly, revealing a striking purple bruise on her wrist.
The man beside her appeared several years older than Er Ya, with dark, rough skin and the short work clothes of a laborer.
His face was covered with an almost obsequious smile as he bent at the waist, nervously rubbing his hands together, "Master Chen! I'm Zhao Si, Er Ya's man, working the docks at Lotus Harbor. Er Ya has mentioned you often, saying you're a most capable person."
As he spoke, he elbowed Er Ya's arm hard, the force making her stumble with pain flashing across her face as she buried her head even lower, "Master Chen, I hope you are well."
Chen Qing glanced at Zhao Si, his brow furrowing darkly.
When that gaze swept over Zhao Si, his heart jumped violently. The smile on his face stiffened as he bent even lower, "Master Chen, this girl Er Ya is clumsy with words and rough with her hands and feet. Please don't take offense. Now that you've prospered and donated so much silver, you truly have a bodhisattva's heart! If you have any work, just command me. I have plenty of strength and will definitely handle everything properly for you..."
He chattered on, his eyes full of flattery and longing.
"Mm." Chen Qing finally responded, his gaze falling on Zhao Si's face, "Having great strength is a good thing."
Zhao Si was stunned, not understanding whether this was praise or criticism. He could only laugh dryly and nod, "Yes, yes, yes, I depend entirely on strength to eat..."
Chen Qing sipped his tea and set down the cup. His movements were unhurried yet carried invisible pressure.
His gaze seemed to casually sweep over the bruise on Er Ya's wrist, then looked back at Zhao Si. His tone remained that emotionless calm, "Strength, when used in the right place, feeds the family and establishes one's foundation."
"When used in the wrong place, such as harming the hands that earn food for one's household or the walls that provide shelter from wind and rain, it becomes the root of disaster."
Chen Qing's tone remained bland, but each word struck like a hammer on Zhao Si's heart.
Zhao Si's face instantly turned deathly pale as paper, his lips trembling uncontrollably as beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down his forehead.
"Master Chen... I will definitely take good care of Er Ya! I would never dare let her suffer any grievance!"
He spoke incoherently, doing nothing but instinctively bow and scrape frantically, his body shaking like autumn leaves in the wind.
Er Ya's eyes, which had been constantly lowered, swept over Chen Qing's calm face, then showed incredibly genuine gratitude from deep within.
Seeing this, Liang Badou immediately understood and quickly gestured for the couple to step back.
Zhao Si repeatedly responded with "yes, yes, yes," then pulled Er Ya to bow deeply to Chen Qing before retreating to the edge of the crowd.
Chen Qing asked, "Where is Xiao Chun?"
Liang Badou's expression darkened slightly as he lowered his voice, "After Xiao Chun was caught, he suffered greatly and endured much hardship. When those people really couldn't squeeze any more out of him, they somehow learned he had connections with you, and only then did they let him go."
He paused before continuing, "Not long ago, he was taken away by someone, though I don't know who. Haven't seen him since."
Chen Qing fell silent, picked up the coarse tea on the table and sipped it without asking further.
"What about Li Hu?" Chen Qing set down the tea bowl, his gaze turning to the gray sky outside the temple gate, "Any news?"
Liang Badou shook his head and sighed, "Li Hu disappeared without a trace long ago. No one in Mute Bay knows where he went. We can't even get definite word whether he's alive or dead."
Chen Qing nodded, suddenly feeling that this bustling Dragon King Temple seemed even more desolate than before.
Liang Badou remained half-bowed with his head lowered.
"I have other matters to attend to. I'll take my leave."
After a moment of silence, Chen Qing stood up and patted Liang Badou's shoulder. Without looking at the various gazes around him, he walked straight out of Dragon King Temple.
Beside Mute Bay, the cold wind swirled, rolling over the withered yellow reeds and stirring up white reed catkins that filled the sky.
The snow fell like goose feathers, drifting down in abundance.
Worldly affairs are like tides, gathering and parting unpredictably.
Same time, same place, but those faces that once gathered in the reed clusters had long since scattered like stars.
No matter how good friends once were, once there's no more connection, there's less and less to say.
Even if they reunited, they could probably only talk about old times.
Comments 1