—–
Guo DaLu’s character matched his name, he truly was a very DaLu person. “DaLu” meant very straightforward, carefree, even a little dense. No matter what the situation, he would not put it to heart.

And yet Wang Dong never moves. [*Dong means motion.]

—–
Straightforward people were usually poor. Guo DaLu was especially poor, ridiculously poor.

He actually shouldn’t have been so poor.

Originally, it could be said that he was a man who had a lot of money. When a wealthy person suddenly becomes poor, there can only be two reasons: One, he was stupid. Or two, he was lazy.

Guo DaLu was not stupid, he could do a lot more than most people, and do them better. For example, when it came to riding horses, he could ride the fastest horse and the wildest horse.

When it came to swords, with one stab he could penetrate iron body armor as well as a willow catkin floating with the spring breeze.

If you were his friend, and met him when his mood was especially good, he might jump into the river and catch some carps with his bare hands as well as some wild geese, and make a dish of steamed fish and roasted duck for you to munch on. After eating his dishes, it’s guaranteed you won’t be disappointed.

His cooking skill was not below that of any of the famous chefs from the capital.

His can perform song renditions on the pipa that would make you think he had been performing since birth.

Some people believe that other than giving birth, he could do anything.

He was also not lazy, not only that but he would constantly be searching for something to do. And the things he has done have not been few. So how could a person like him become poor?

The first thing he tried his hand at was escorting goods.

When he first made his debut, his parents had just died and he either sold or gave away the family’s dwelling and properties. He wanted to rely on his own talent, and enter the martial world.

Of course he wasn’t a very good businessman, nor was he ever interested in being a good businessman, so he only made 170 liang from selling land that should have been worth 300 liang. And after adding up all the things he gave away to poor relatives and friends, what he had left wasn’t much.

But there was still enough for him to purchase a good horse, forge a fast sword, rest at the best inns, and eat at the best restaurants.

Back then it was Spring. Spring was a season when business for escort agencies were at their best. [*No, not escorts as in prostitutes. <IMG SRC=”smilies/smile.gif” border=”0″> Escorts as in the people who guard transported goods.]

When business is peaking for the escort agencies, that is also the time when business peaks for the robbers.

ZhongYuan Escort Agency’s boss was Luo ZhenYi. Although he wasn’t old, his worldly experience was, so naturally he understood how it works. Therefore when he was on the road, he was especially careful. It was Spring and the goods he was protecting was not light.

However it is not enough to be careful when you’re an escort. Your martial arts also had to be strong, and your luck had to be good.

Luo ZhenYi’s martial arts was not weak, but this time his luck was not good to have unexpectedly encountered the most troublesome criminal in the Two Rivers, the OuYang Brothers.

The OuYang Brothers were not two people, nor were they three, or four……OuYang Brothers was just one person.

Although he was only one person, he was more harder to defeat than forty people. His left hand wielded a short sabre, his right hand wielded a long sabre, and at the same time he could still fire off seven or eight different types of hidden weapons. Very few people can tell where his hidden weapons came from.

Luo ZhenYi also couldn’t tell. First he evaded three “Embroidered Headpiece Flower Bolts”, and one “Moon Chasing Meteor Arrow”, but who knew that with a flip of his sabre, OuYang Brothers shot out another pair of Mother and Child Frost Needles.

Deadly needles, even their victims couldn’t figure out where they had come from.

Luo ZhenYi’s right shoulder got hit with these needles, and although he didn’t die immediately, all he could manage to do now was wait for OuYang Brothers to come take his life.

Even if OuYang Brothers didn’t want his life, with his merchandise lost, he could only hang himself and take his own life.

At this moment, a speeding horse suddenly approached. The horse was fast, but the person was faster. Before the horse even reached them, it’s rider was already there. OuYang Brothers could only see someone fall from the air, and before he had time to release one of his seven or eight hidden weapons, his left and right arteries were already severed by this person’s sword.

This rescuer dropping from the air was naturally Guo DaLu.

Luo ZhenYi was not only grateful towards his rescuer, but also admired him. After dropping off the merchandise, he insisted on inviting him back to the agency.

Guo DaLu naturally went, as he didn’t have anything more important to do anyway.

Even if he did have pressing matters, he’d still go.

This was his first time fighting. He suddenly discovered that not only was his martial arts decent, his luck at meeting people was also good.

Luo ZhenYi was a bit perplexed and asked: “With great skills such as Brother Guo’s, why not become an escort?”.

Guo DaLu did not ask: “Why must a good martial artist become an escort?”.

He only thought that being an escort would be very prestigious, very interesting.

For a person who just entered the martial world to become the assistant boss of an escort bureau, it was sufficiently prestigious, sufficiently remarkable!

The only thing Guo DaLu was a little disappointed about was that ZhongYuan Escort Agency wasn’t the biggest escort agency in ZhongYuan. In fact, it wasn’t even counted among the top tier of agencies there.

He waited many days before he finally got his first assignment, and it wasn’t even a big assignment. Just helping someone from KaiFeng deliver a few thousand dollars to LuoYang.

The journey wasn’t far, the merchandise wasn’t big, and with such an assistant boss, the boss was naturally able to feel relieved and remained at home to comfortably recover from his injuries.

It was still Spring, early morning. The escort carts started on their way.

The year starts with Spring, the day starts with the morning, it was a good beginning.

The escort banner fluttered in the wind, the shouts of the men resonated loud and clear. Guo DaLu wore a purple vest, with a sheathed sword by his belt and riding a large white horse. The Spring sun was starting to rise, it’s rays shining warmly on his body and washing across distant jade mountains, young swallows were building nests in the trees.

His heart felt very happy and satisfied.

He only hoped to encounter some bandits. It was not entirely because he wished to prove his worth or raise his prestige. It was because he wanted to make a few more friends.

The more friends the better. He liked having friends. If he could become friends with people like that, it would be an exciting and interesting thing. And if could pursuade them to change their evil ways, that would be more wonderful than mere words could describe.

Then he really met some.

But unfortunately the ones he met were not the type of wealth sharing, hearty eating, hard drinking bandits he’d imagined. Nor did they appear to be the heroic types whose word was their bond and whom would take a few sabre blows for their fellow mates. The ones he encountered were just a group of small-time thieves, with ashen faces as if they haven’t eaten for three days. Their clothes were covered with patches, and even their sabres were rusty.

Although Guo DaLu was disappointed, he’d already met them so there wasn’t anything he could do about it. First he needed to show off a couple of his moves to stop them in their tracks, then patiently lecture them, hoping that they would turn over a new leaf, become peaceful citizens, and no longer disgrace their ancestors.

At first, his martial arts scared them so much that they were dumbstruck like chickens, but then his teachings got them so emotional, tears flowed out their eyes. Each one of them was determined to become a better person.

“But none of us have any talent, what can we possibly do? If we don’t rob, I’m afraid all of us will starve to death.”.

“Starting a small business is not bad, even if you only sell steamed buns it’s still better than being bandits.”.

“But without a bit of money, what kind of business can we start? Might as well die.”.

These people, with tears flowing out of their eyes and mucus coming out of their noses, were really a pitiful sight.

Guo DaLu was almost moved to tears as well.

“No money, that’s easy. I have money.”.

Wasn’t the merchandise carts filled with money?

You can’t really start a small business with little money, when Guo DaLu does something he does it in a big way.

“Everybody gets 100 liang.”.

Everyone thanked him profusely, and afterwards they left with cheers. Even from far away, one could hear them say: “Our benefactor is not only a brave hero, he is simply a saint.”.

Guo DaLu’s heart was also burning with emotion: “Man is inherantly good, if one wasn’t forced with no other options, who would want to become a robber?”.

By the time he calmed down, he suddenly discovered two things: One, more than half the money in the carts have been distributed away.

Two, that money wasn’t his.

The other escorts in the group all looked at him with wide eyes and gaping mouths. No one could tell what they all thought of him.

A big hero? A saint? Or a retard?

With more than half the merchandise gone, the agency naturally had to compensate for it.

When Guo DaLu returned to the agency, his heart did not feel entirely right, but he was also not too discomforted.

He had confidence that he could make up for this loss, people with talent all have this kind of confidence.

“I bought my horse for 280 liang, and I still have more than 700 liang on me, that adds up to be a bit over 1000 liang. Let’s pay them back first and talk later.”.

What about the rest?

“If the agency can help cover the rest, I can slowly pay it back with my salary as assistant escort boss.”.

For the ZhongYuan Escort Agency to have been able to hire an assistant boss such as himself, in the future it’s fame would surely gradually increase, it’s business would surely get better and better. Of course, his salary couldn’t be too small, he’d be able to repay everything in no time.

Luo ZhenYi was listening to him this whole time, listening until he was completely dumbfounded, listening in total shock.

Guo DaLu was still self-assured, because he thought the plan he came up with made a lot of sense.

He couldn’t imagine that Luo ZhenYi would suddenly kneel down.

Luo ZhenYi wasn’t kneeling to ask him to stay, it was to thank him for saving his life and begging him to leave, the quicker the better, the farther the better.

“You rescued me, I’m helping you pay your debt, let’s call it even. I’ve never seen anyone like you before, Master Guo, I can only pray that I never will again.

Therefore Guo DaLu left.

But where would he go? Right now, even though his belt still carried a sword, even though his clothes were still fresh, he no longer had his big white horse. The few remaining pieces of money he had were no longer enough to allow him to stay at the finest inns. Even if he ate steamed buns and slept on hard pallets, it would not last him several days.

Did Guo DaLu feel a little nervous, a little uncomfortable?

Nope, he didn’t care at all.

For a talented man such as himself, why should he fear that there wouldn’t be any rice to eat? How could that not be a joke?

He still searched out the best restaurant, with good wine and good dishes, and enjoyed a wonderful meal.

Any man who finished a good meal would be in an especially good mood. Besides, after having six or seven servings of wine, even the most despicable people would become lovable in his eyes.

Therefore he gave all the money he had left to that lovable waiter. Therefore when he stepped out the door, his wallet was washed clean.

Where would the next meal come from? He didn’t have a clue.

But how was that of any concern? Now the only thing that mattered was finding a comfortable place to sleep.

“Tomorrow is another day”. No matter what the situation may be, come tomorrow there is always a solution. To worry about tomorrow’s affairs right now would be pointless.

Guo DaLu yawned, and sauntered into the city’s best inn.

He only forgot one thing.

Although an inn’s door was always open and it was very easy to walk in, when it comes time to walk out, it gets much harder. If you didn’t have any money in your pockets, they will not let you saunter out.

Of course Guo DaLu wouldn’t just slip out or bring shame upon himself, so how would he manage?

During this time he became a little worried and paced a few circles around the courtyard. Suddenly he spotted a red strip of paper attached to a wall that said: “Urgently hiring chefs.”.

So Guo DaLu became a chef.

With the escort job, from start to finish, he still managed to last half a month.

As a chef he lasted three days.

During those three days, he used up more than twenty catties of oil, dropped more than thirty bowls, and broke more than forty plates.

The only reason they were patient with him, was because the dishes Guo DaLu prepared were actually quite decent. Sometimes finding a good chef was much harder than finding a good wife, but when Guo DaLu dropped a pan of sweet and sour fish on a customer’s face they just couldn’t take it anymore.

That customer only criticized his fish as being too bland and asked that he put more salt on it. Guo DaLu’s temper flared up and he pointed at the man’s nose scolding loudly: “Have you ever eaten sweet and sour fish? Have you ever even eaten fish? You can’t make sweet and sour fish too salty, don’t you know that?!”.

If every chef was that ferocious, would anyone dare come in anymore?

At this point, even if they had allowed him to stay on, he no longer felt like continuing anymore. After three days of being a chef, his only reward was that his entire body had another layer of grease and smoke, and his pockets were still empty.

Of course, Guo DaLu wasn’t concerned at all. He was willing to do anything, why should he be worried?

The question was, what should he do?

Guo DaLu started to think and pondered for half a day before suddenly realizing that most of the things he could do required spending money — riding horses, drinking wine, giving flowers, giving orders. Can these things earn him any money?

Luckily there were still a couple of things that could earn him some money, for example, singing.

When he sang in the past, people usually applauded him. One person even asked him: “Did you learn how to sing in your mother’s womb?”.

And someone else said: “With that voice of his and further musical study, if he really decided to become a singer, all the other performers won’t have anything to eat.”.

Although Guo DaLu didn’t want to take other people’s food, his belly started to sing a song of emptyness.

Therefore he went to a restaurant he has never been to before, and prepared to sing.

As soon as he went upstairs, all the waiters immediately surrounded him, laughing with him, pouring tea and handing out towels and asking: “What would Master like to eat today? What would you like to drink? Today’s fish was especially delivered here on a fast horse from JiangNan, do you want us to freshly kill one to accompany some thirty year old ShaoXing wine?”.

With such a stylish man like Guo DaLu, if the waiters didn’t suck up to him, who else would they badger?

Guo DaLu’s face reddened as if he’s already had the ShaoXing wine, “I’m here to perform songs”, how would he even be able to say something like this now?

After a long pause, he finally started to say: “I’m actually looking for someone……” before he finished his sentence, he was quickly shooed downstairs and out the door like he was being chased by whips.

Of course he couldn’t blame the waiters, he could only blame himself for not being able to look like a song performer.

“Alas, it seems that if someone looks too good he can also lose out, maybe it’d be better if I were uglier.”.

Although Guo DaLu was sighing, he had the sudden urge to go look in a mirror.

If he can’t sing, what should he do now?

“The Heavens granted me this pair of clever hands, theres gotta be something I can do.”.

Guo DaLu has always been happy with his pair of hands.

He stared at his strong fingers, and suddenly thought of something that had always been a part of the martial world.

“Yes, I’ll sell my skill on the streets, with my martial arts who wouldn’t be able to appreciate it?”.

Guo DaLu was so happy he even forgot about the hunger in his belly, and wondered why he didn’t think of this great idea two days ago.

Although the sky was dark, the streets were still very crowded.

Guo DaLu picked the busiest corner, and prepared to perform.

But before starting, it felt like he should first give some kind of introductory speech.

What should he say?

Guo DaLu didn’t have any problems talking when he shouldn’t, but when it came time for him to say something, he couldn’t come up with anything.

“It’s not big deal if I don’t say anything, besides people will be coming to see me perform not listen to me talk; Just as soon as I reveal my skills theres no doubt that people will start crowding around to watch.”.

So Guo DaLu pulled back his sleeves, tucked in his shirt, and started performing his flashiest fist techniques.

When he punched, his fists looked like wild tigers leaping from the forest. His kicks were like dragons entering the sea. Images of his fists flew everywhere, the force of their wind whoosed in the air. Naturally, every move was a display of true kung fu.

But not only did people not crowd around, they moved far, far away. Even some of the more courageous people, only dared to stand behind the corner of a building and sneaked peeks.

“That person on the street started swinging his fists for no reason, what’s his problem?”.

At first, Guo DaLu still thought everything was cool, but then he gradually realized that something was not right.

Luckily he caught on to this quickly.

“What I’m displaying is true kung fu, no fancy stuff. Of course these ordinary people can’t appreciate that. Fine, I’ll just show them something startling to get their attention.”.

After realizing this point, Guo DaLu suddenly spun his body around and “BANG!”, with one punch he smashed a big hole in the wall behind him. “BANG!”, with one foot he kicked down a stone pillar they use to tie horses to — of course, his pants ripped while he was doing this.

With screams of terror, everyone on the streets scattered. A few shops even locked their doors, all because of this lunatic out on the street who must have taken the wrong medicine. So this was the result of Guo DaLu’s attempt at showcasing his martial arts talent, all the time he spent practising his fists and displaying his earth-moving strength and all he ended up with was some ripped trousers.

Why wasn’t his story as interesting as those soul-stirring heroes?

Can’t be helped, there are many things in this world that sound great when you listen to them, but isn’t so great when you’re experiencing them.

That evening, Guo DaLu had no choice but be hungry and slept on an altar in a run-down temple.

Of course, he could have gone and eat at the best restaurants and sleep at the best inns and worry about the consequences later, but although our hero is a bit dense, he was not a scoundrel. Even if he died, he wouldn’t do anything disgraceful.

“Even if I need to steal, I’ll be a famous bandit, not some small-time chicken or dog thief.”.

During afternoon of the following day, Guo DaLo suddenly decided on becoming a bandit.

He didn’t know where this decision came from — probably from a stomach that was fast becoming worn out.

“Being a bandit isn’t too bad, there were a lot of righteous bandits who rob the rich to help the poor, weren’t their stories passed down across time within the martial world?”.

Therefore Guo DaLu decided to become a bandit, a righteous big-time bandit of course.

This time he was determined to succeed and not fail.

“To do something well, one must have a good plan before starting.”.

To become a thief, what should he need to consider?

Number one, he needed to find the right house to rob of course, the owner needs to be a very wealthy person, as well as someone who is ruthless in obtaining wealth. If it was a corrupt government official, that would be even better.

If you take money from this kind of person, others will not only not blame you, they’d actually clap and cheer for you.

Guo DaLu got alert, and started to look around in all directions. After searching for a long time, he finally found the right house.

It was situated on a mountainside, it was very large and extravagant.

That meant the owner must be very wealthy.

The house was very far from the urban areas, it was very isolated and remote. You can almost say it was in the wilderness, it’s closest neighbor was a cemetery.

This meant the owner must not be an honest and upright person, honest people don’t live in places like that.

It all matched his criteria perfectly, now all he needed to do was wait for the perfect time to strike.

The perfect time was naturally during the night.

But Guo DaLu couldn’t wait that long, at dusk he rushed into the house.

The first thing he laid eyes on was a bed.

The bed was huge and very, very comfortable.

On the bed laid a man.

Other than this, he didn’t see anything else.

This house was very large, it was constructed magnificently. From end to end, it must have had at least thirty rooms, the biggest one could hold more than ten tables of liquor.

But all the many rooms in the house were empty, even the kitchen was empty.

Guo DaLu paused.

The man lying on the bed wasn’t sleeping, his eyes were wide open this whole time, but even though Guo DaLu had been running back and forth searching the place, this man completely ignored him.

Finally, Guo DaLu couldn’t help but rush up to the bed to ask him what was going on.

This man actually asked first: “Have you found anything of worth yet?”.

Guo DaLu could only shake his head.

This person sighed and said: “I already knew you wouldn’t find anything, I’ve already searched for three days, even the last rusty saucepan has been taken by me to exchange for some biscuits. If you could still find something, your talent must not be small.”.

He wasn’t bad looking, just a bit emaciated, it appeared as if he barely had enough strength to speak and definitely looked like a person who has been starving for several days.

But the bed he was lying on was actually a good bed in every sense.

How can this empty house still have this kind of a good bed? Why was this person resting on this bed?

Guo DaLu suddenly asked: “What kind of place is this actually?”.

This person said: “Regarding this manor’s master, he really is very famous.”.

Guo DaLu: “Famous? How so?”.

The man: “Have you ever heard the name of Wealthy Manor? This place is Wealthy Manor.”.

Guo DaLu abruptly called out: “Wealthy Manor? This desolate place is actually called Wealthy Manor?”.

The man: “That’s absolutely correct. If a fat man can become very thin, Wealthy Manor can also become very poor, what is so strange about that?”.

Guo DaLu: “Then what kind of person are you? What are you doing in this ghostly place?”.

The man cleared his throat and said: “If I don’t stay here then where should I stay? I am the seventh generation master of Wealthy Manor.”.

Guo DaLu paused again.

The man’s eyes had been riveted to Guo DaLu’s sword this whole time, and suddenly said: “This sword of yours appears to be well crafted.”.

Guo DaLu: “It is well crafted.”.

The man: “It looks like it should be worth a bit of money.”.

Guo DaLu called out: “A bit? Do you know how to judge quality or not?”.

After a while, he sighed: “You’re telling me to go pawn my sword and buy some food and wine for you to eat?”.

The man laughed: “You finally understand.”.

Guo DaLu: “Do you realize what I’ve come here to do?”.

The man: “Of course, you’re here to steal money.”.

Guo DaLu stared at him: “You know I’m a thief, but you still want to take advantage of me?”.

The man laughed: “Although you’re a thief, I’m just a poor ghost. When a thief encounters a poor ghost, he can only resign himself to having bad luck.”. Guo DaLu looked at him, and suddenly realized that this person’s laughter was very charming.

He couldn’t help but laugh as well: “Even if you want to take advantage of me, the least you could do is take my sword, pawn it, and buy some food and wine yourself to bring back for me to eat.”.

The man said: “If you’re going to do a good deed, you might as well do it to the end. It’s best if you take the trip.”.

Guo DaLu: “What about you? You’re too lazy to even move?”.

The man sighed: “Think about it, if I weren’t lazy how could I have become this poor?”.

Guo DaLu paused for the third time. He had truly never seen anyone like this before, he didn’t have any means of dealing with this type of person.

He really did go exchange his sword for some food and wine and returned.

After putting a duck leg and half a catty of wine in his belly, the man finally sat up on the bed and smiled: “I’m drinking your wine, and I don’t even know your name.”.

Guo DaLu said: “I’m called Guo DaLu, the ‘da’ in straightforward, the ‘lu’ in road.”.

The man said: “DaLu — you are really worthy of your name, you really are very straightforward.”.

Guo DaLu: “And you? What’s your name?”.

The man: “I’m called Wang Dong. The ‘wang’ in king, the ‘dong’ in motion like rabbit.”.

Guo DaLu looked at him, and after looking for a long time he suddenly laughed loudly: “I think you should really be called Wang BuDong. [*BuDong means motionless.]”.

—–
Only a dead man could be completely motionless.

Although Wang Dong wasn’t a dead man, he didn’t move much more than one.

Before reaching the critical point, he will not move.

When he doesn’t want to move, nobody can make him move.

If a pitcher fell in front of someone’s face, everyone would reach out to grab it, but Wang Dong would still not move. If a precious treasure suddenly fell from the sky, no matter who they are they would pick it up, but Wang Dong would still not move. Even if the world’s most beautiful woman stripped naked and sat on his lap, he still wouldn’t move.

But there were times when he did move, in fact when he did it was a startling thing. One time he flipped 382 somersaults nonstop just to permit a little child whose mother recently died to smile a bit.

One time he traveled 1450 li for over 2 days and 2 nights just to see an old friend for the last time.

His friend had already died earlier.

One time in the space of 3 days and 3 nights, he fought with 274 men, killing 103 of them because they were bandits who killed Zhao family village’s Old Man Zhao and kidnapped his three daughters.

He didn’t even know Old Man Zhao or his three daughters.

If someone bullied him, or even spat in his face, he would still not move. If you said he was strange, well, he really was a little strange.

If you said he was lazy, he was surprisingly lazy, ridiculously lazy.

And now, he unexpectedly became friends with Guo DaLu. Putting two characters like them together, if they weren’t poor who would be poor?

Although they were poor, they were still happy.

Because they have never wronged another person, and never wronged themselves.

Because they did not resent the Heavens, nor make grief for others. No matter how many hardships they encountered, no matter how many setbacks, it would never get their spirits down. They do not fear experiencing difficulties, but rather, they understood the exhileration of overcoming them.

Even if they failed, they would not be discouraged much less lose heart.

Because they understood how valuable life was, and also understood how to enjoy it.

Therefore their lives will always be colorful. They did many things that were unexpected, maybe you might think the things they did were very stupid or very funny.

But you can’t deny that the things they did were things that nobody else could do.

Not even you. Therefore I believe you will certainly enjoy listening to their story.

End of Prologue I

—–
With two people like Guo DaLu and Wang Dong, their deeds should already be enough to hold people’s interest for a long time, how can one also add in Yan Qi?

Yan Qi’s deeds alone are already more colorful than 300 other men combined, how can one also add in Guo DaLu? Also add in Wang Dong?

But Old Man Heaven still insisted that the three of them get together. How will this ever do?

—–
Guo DaLu and Wang Dong weren’t poor every day. There were times when they had money, but nobody knows when these moments occured, nor did they know where their money came from.

Even they didn’t know.

Their money always came unexpectedly, even they were a little mystified.

Perhaps this was because the way they spent money was the same.

Autumn was fast approaching, the trees in the courtyard behind Wealthy Manor suddenly contained large and sweet pears that could be plucked down and fill several baskets, which could be sold for twenty to thirty liang.

As soon as the pears had started ripening, people would come and inquire about the price, and even picked the fruits themselves. [*I thought their manor was in “No-Man’s Land”, ah well, best not to think too much when it comes to GL stories…] From start to finish, they didn’t need to spend any effort nor help anyone out.

It was just as if this money fell from the skies, so of course one had to go celebrate.

In order to celebrate, you can’t do without wine. If you have wine, you also can’t do without meat.

“Comes into favor, gamble it all away, left with nothing”, only “eating” is the most rewarding, this was Wong Dang’s rule to live by and also his greatest enjoyment.

In the beginning, he would eat lying down. After eating until he was happy, he would sit up. But when he got tired again, he would lie back down and continue eating.

Therefore his bed was simply greasier than a kitchen table, no matter which area you touched with your hand, you would brush up against one or two pieces of leftover meat, three or four unfinished pieces of bone.

Although Guo DaLu was never one to be too picky about cleanliness, he would rather sleep on the floor, than dare to lie on this bed.

Wang Dong was happy his belly could enjoy this bed, this bed was not only a place for him to sleep, it was also his living room, his garden, and his dining table.

The strangest thing was, he could lie on this bed and drink wine. First he faced the wine jug towards his lips, and then “GULP, GULP” he drank it down, not spilling a single drop of wine.

Guo DaLu admired this very much and also wanted to learn it himself, but he had some doubts and couldn’t help but ask: “You can still drink wine while lying down?”.

Wang Dong said: “Of course you can drink it.”.

Guo DaLu said: “Wouldn’t it spill out your nose?”.

Wang Dong: “Of course not, even if I drank hanging upside down it still wouldn’t come out the nose.”.

Guo DaLu: “How do you know?”.

Wang Dong: “I’ve tried it.”.

Guo DaLu laughed: “You’re too lazy to even sit up, how did you manage to dangle yourself?”.

Wang Dong: “If you don’t believe me, why don’t you try it yourself?”.

So Guo DaLu got himself upside down, and then brought the wine jug up to his lips slowly drinking it gulp by gulp. By the second mouthful, wine started to spurt out his nose.

It was at this time, that he saw Yan Qi — well, the first thing he saw was Yan Qi’s legs.

Yan Qi’s legs wasn’t much different than anyone else’s, but the boots he wore were very special indeed.

His boots were made of leather, the craftsmanship superb. There was a flower pattern on top, and it could compare with any boots that a prince might wear.

This wasn’t anything strange.

The strange part was, these boots had everything except the soles.

The clothes he wore were originally very fine and well suited, but now it was ripped to shreds, there wasn’t a single area that was neat.

Only the hat he wore on his head, can still be seen as attractive.

His person was not very tall, but his arms and legs were long.

His face was very refined, almost like a young woman’s. Large eyes, a small mouth. When smiling two dimples can be seen, but when not smiling his face would become very cold, turning a bit pale-green, causing others to feel somewhat afraid of approaching him.

His clothes seemed like it used to be a light green color, but now there were traces of red and yellow.

The yellow was obviously from the dirt, but what was the red?

Could it be blood?

Two people happily drinking wine at home and suddenly seeing someone like this charge in would be startled no matter who they were.

But as for Guo DaLo and Wang Dong, one was still sprawled, the other still hanging. It’s as if they haven’t even noticed this person.

If you entered a room, and saw someone lying on a bed drinking wine, and another hanging upside down drinking wine, I’m afraid you’d think you just entered a mental institute; even if you didn’t run away in fright, you’d start getting goosebumps.

But this person didn’t seem to find it scary at all, as if drinking wine hanging upside down was a very normal affair and doing it sitting down should be the strange thing.

This person was Yan Qi.

Guo DaLo’s legs were hanging on a crossbeam.

Yan Qi suddenly flipped a somersault, and hung two legs on top of the crossbeam, his face turned towards Guo DaLo’s face as if he was going to say something.

But he didn’t say a single word.

Guo DaLo began to think that this person was interesting, and suddenly squinted his eyes and made an ugly face.

Yan Qi also squinted his eyes, and made an ugly face.

Guo DaLo said: “How are you?”.

Yan Qi said: “Good.”.

Guo DaLo shifted his eyes and said: “Want some wine?”.

Yan Qi: “Good.”.

Guo DaLo immediately passed the wine jug over, he purposely wanted to see what it would look like to have wine going into his nose.

Who knew that this person’s skill was much better than his, “GULP, GULP”, with one swallow he drank down more than half the wine in the jug, and not a single drop leaked out.

Guo DaLo watched until his eyes widened: “You drank wine like this before?”.

Yan Qi: “A few times.”.

He suddenly laughed and continued: “I wanted to try and see if it was possible to drink wine like this.”.

If a person has tried to do something like this, there must be very few things he hasn’t done.

Guo DaLo suddenly laughed: “What else have you tried to do?”.

Yan Qi said: “Anything that you can speak of, I have pretty much tried already.”.

Guo DaLo smiled: “There can’t be many other things in this world as hard to take as drinking wine upside down, is there?”.

Yan Qi: “Theres still are a few.”.

Guo DaLo: “Still? Then what would be the most uncomfortable thing there is?”.

Yan Qi: “The most uncomfortable thing is letting yourself be nailed inside a coffin, and buried underground.”.

Guo DaLo stared even harder: “You’ve tried doing this before?”.

Yan Qi: “I haven’t tried this very often, maybe around two times.”.

Guo DaLo suddenly somersaulted down and stared at him.

Yan Qi’s face didn’t show any reaction.

After a long time, Guo DaLo sighed and said: “If you’re not the King of Boastfulness, then you must be a weirdo.”.

Wang Dong suddenly said: “He is a weirdo.”.

Yan Qi laughed: “Touche, touche.”.

Guo DaLo clapped his hand and laughed heartily: “That’s right, that’s right. Everyone here is a weirdo, otherwise we also could not arrive here.”.

He continued: “The first time I showed up here, was to be a robber. What about you?”.

Yan Qi said: “I don’t want to become a robber, because I’m already a robber.”.

Guo DaLo looked him up and down a few times, and abruptly laughed: “A robber that looks like you, must be a stupid robber.”.

Yan Qi: “Not stupid, just ran into some bad luck.”.

Guo DaLo: “Ran into some bad luck?”.

Yan Qi sighed: “If not for running into bad luck, why would I rush to this place?”.

Guo DaLo: “That’s right, what did you originally come to do here?”.

Yan Qi: “I don’t want to do anything, just wanted to find a place to hide out.”.

Guo DaLo: “Why do you need to hide?”.

Yan Qi: “Because once again theres somebody who wants to nail me inside a coffin and bury me underground.”.

Guo DaLo: “Who is it this time?”.

Yan Qi: “Ma Yi [*The Ant].”.

Guo DaLu’s mouth gaped so wide his chin almost fell off and said: “What……what did you say?”.

Yan Qi: “I said Ma Yi.”.

Guo DaLu: “Ma Yi?……”.

He suddenly laughed until he was bent over and panted for breath: “If you’re even afraid of an ant, you must be very couragous.”.

Yan Qi sighed and shook his head: “Looks like you’ve never mingled in the martial world, you unexpectedly don’t even know what ‘Ma Yi’ is.”.

Guo DaLu: “Since I was three, I’ve known what an ant was.”.

Yan Qi: “What is it?”.

Guo DaLu: “It is very, very tiny. An insect that crawls all over the ground. Wang Dong’s bed has quite a few, I can catch some for you to look at any time.”.

Yan Qi: “I’m not talking about that kind of Ma Yi, I’m talking about a person.”.

Guo DaLu paused: “A person? An ant is a person?”.

Yan Qi: “It’s four people. These four people are the Ant Lords, they also have many ‘ants’ under their command.”.

Guo DaLu: “Oh?”.

Yan Qi: “These four people, one is called Golden Ant, one is called Silver Ant, one is called Red Ant, one is called White Ant.”.

Guo DaLu couldn’t help laughing: “If theres already a red ant and a white ant, then there really needs to be a black ant.”.

Yan Qi: “There used to be one, but now he’s already dead.”.

Guo DaLu blinked his eyes and said: “Since they’re obviously men, why are they called Ants?”.

Yan Qi: “Many people have nicknames.”.

Guo DaLu: “Even if one adopts a nickname, he should choose a more prestigious name, such as “Winged Tiger” or “Golden-Maned Lion” or almost any other name will do, why pick a tiny ant?”.

Yan Qi: “Because they are very short, all of them are dwarves.”.

The more Guo DaLu listened, the more ridiculous it sounded, and he couldn’t help laughing again: “What’s so scary about dwarves?”.

Yan Qi: “Not only are these dwarves scary, they are extremely frightening, I’m afraid there are not many in this world who are more fearful than them.”.

Guo DaLu: “Oh? Could it be that their skills are very great?”.

Yan Qi: “Each of them has a very special kung fu, even E Mei Sect’s number one fighter died at their hands.”.

Guo DaLu: “Since they are this fearful, why do you still go bothering them?”.

Yan Qi sighed and said: “Because recently I’ve become poor, and ran afoul of some bad luck, in the past half month I’ve lost fifteen games, I had to sell the soles of my boots and take the money to pay off some of my gambling debts……”.

Guo DaLu cried out: “What? You said you sold the soles of your boots to repay gambling debts?”.

Yan Qi: “That’s right.”.

Guo DaLu: “How much do you owe?”.

Yan Qi: “Around seven or eight thousand liang.”.

Guo DaLu: “How much did you sell your boot soles for?”.

Yan Qi: “The two boot soles together got me 1300 liang.”.

The more he spoke, the less sense he made. Guo DaLu still wanted to listen to what more he had to say, so he stifled his laughter and said: “Then that still leaves 6700 liang.”.

Yan Qi: “It’s precisely because of this, that I needed to take advantage of others.”.

Guo DaLu: “Since you are a robber, why didn’t you go steal it?”.

Yan Qi: “Do you think a robber like myself would go steal from just anyone?”.

Guo DaLu: “You were still picky?”.

Yan Qi: “Not only picky, but selective to the extreme. If one is not a corrupt official, I would not steal from him. If one is not a shady merchant, I would also not steal from him. If one is not a robber, I also would not steal from him. I will not steal if the target is not right, or if the location is not right.”.

Guo DaLu: “So a robber like you would steal from other robbers?”.

Yan Qi: “That’s right, this is called black eating black.”.

Guo DaLu: “Therefore, you decided to go take advantage of those Ants.”.

Yan Qi: “That’s right, I happened to know they did some big transactions during those several days, so I went and asked to borrow 10000 liang.”.

Guo DaLu: “Did they agree to this?”.

Yan Qi: “Agreed to, yes, but there was a condition.”.

Guo DaLu: “What kind of condition?”.

Yan Qi: “They wanted me to sleep in a coffin, and be buried underground for two days to see if I would eventually die or not.”.

Guo DaLu: “But you’ve done this sort of thing before.”.

Yan Qi: “Although I’ve done it before, it was still not something I’d enjoy tasting again.”.

Guo DaLu: “Therefore you did not agree.”.

Yan Qi: “I agreed, because any debt can be owed, but a gambling debt cannot be owed.”.

Guo DaLu: “You promised them but didn’t follow through, is that why they are chasing you?”.

Yan Qi: “That’s absolutely correct.”.

Guo DaLu: “What is your name?”.

Yan Qi: “Yan Qi.”.

Guo DaLu: “You have six brothers and sisters [*Qi means seven]?”.

Yan Qi: “No.”.

Guo DaLu: “Since you aren’t the seventh child, why are you called Yan Qi?”.

Yan Qi: “Because I have already died seven times.”.

Guo DaLu: “If you die one more time, then would you need to be called Yan Ba [*Ba means eight obviously]?”.

Yan Qi laughed: “Yan Qi is a good name, I don’t want to change it anymore.”.

Guo DaLu suddenly doubled over, laughing loudly, laughing so hard tears came out of his eyes, and pointed at Yan Qi saying: “You’re not a weirdo, you’re the King of B.S. in every sense of the term.”.

Yan Qi: “You don’t believe what I’m saying?”.

Guo DaLu: “Not a single word, even a three year old child wouldn’t believe what you’re saying.”.

Yan Qi sighed: “I originally didn’t plan on speaking the truth, I’ve always known that it was much easier to make people believe lies than the truth.”.

Guo DaLu laughed: “If you were speaking the truth, I would crawl on the ground and……”.

Suddenly someone said: “Then crawl.”.

This voice was sharp and high pitched, although not loud it caused one’s earlobes to ring.

Guo DaLu lifted his head, and saw a person.

The person was standing on the window sill, but still wasn’t as tall as the window.

On his body was a set of glistening golden clothes, if his face didn’t have a beard and the corners of his eyes didn’t have wrinkles, anyone would think that he was a five or six year old child.

Guo DaLu paused for a moment, and then exhaled slowly: “So you’re Golden Ant?”.

Golden Ant said: “That’s right, therefore I can testify that everything he said was true and not a single word false.”.

Guo DaLu sighed again and said with a bitter smile: “Since Golden Ant has arrived, where is Silver Ant?”.

Before the sentence was finished, another person appeared on the window. Although this person was a bit taller than Golden Ant, at most he was only taller by two or three inches.

On his body was a set of sparkling silver clothes, his face was wearing a silver mask that looked like some kind of terrifying spirit creature.

Even Guo DaLu felt a bit creeped out, and muttered: “I guess Red Ant will be wearing red clothes.”.

Only to hear someone laugh seductively: “You guessed right.”.

The laughter was very charming, no matter who you were you don’t get to hear such a nice sounding laugh very often. As soon as you hear this laughter, you’d imagine that the person laughing must be very attractive.

Red Ant was really very attractive.

A dwarf’s body wouldn’t normally be very symmetrical, but she was an exception.

She was wearing skin tight red clothes, the areas that should be slender were not thick, the areas that should be fat were not thin. She had a nice oval face, her eyebrows were like wispy distant mountains, her eyes like clear spring water, and her smile was sweet.

Guo DaLu couldn’t help looking at her.

That pair of spring water eyes were also staring at Guo DaLu and she laughed charmingly: “Those eyes of yours don’t look very honest.”.

Guo DaLu sighed: “I am originally not an honest person, from head to toe there isn’t an honest spot.”.

Red Ant laughed: “Haha, could it be that you’re a pervert?”.

Guo DaLu: “Not entirely accurate but close, it’s only a pity……”.

The smile on Red Ant’s face suddenly disappeared: “Only a pity what?”.

Guo DaLu: “It’s only a pity I can’t shrink myself, otherwise I wouldn’t mind becoming a Yellow Ant.”.

Red Ant bit her lips, the corners again revealing a sweet smile: “You dare to flirt with me, your courage is really not small, aren’t you afraid my husband will be jealous?”.

Guo DaLu: “Who is your husband? White Ant? ……I hear white ants can fly.”.

Red Ant laughed tenderly: “You’ve guessed correctly again, you’re really talented.”.

The laughter sounded like silver chimes, and in the midst of it something flew in from outside the window.”.

This thing wouldn’t seem like a person in anyone’s eyes, lightly whirling around like a piece of fluffy cloud or a piece of white snowflake. Lightly floating about and then flying up and suddenly whooshing right by the top of Guo DaLu’s head.

Guo DaLu only sensed something cold near the top of his head, if he hadn’t evaded quickly, his head would probably have been the thing that was moved.

With another whooshing sound, that thing flew by again.

Of course this couldn’t be a person, a person wouldn’t have this kind of fearsome hing gung.

But it actually was a person, a person wearing snow white clothes, the sleeves were wide and long like a pair of wings, he was thin and short, no taller than three and a half feet, no wider than a foot, if you were to place him on a scale he wouldn’t be much heavier than a rabbit.

If one weren’t this type of person, how would one be able to learn this kind of hing gung?

Guo DaLu sighed again and muttered: “The White Ant actually is able to fly.”.

Yan Qi said: “White Ant’s hing gung is number one in the world, Red Ant’s entire body is filled with hidden weapons, Golden Ant can break fists and swords, Silver Ant cannot be penetrated by sabres or spears. I already said earlier, each of them has a very special kung fu, and now, you should finally believe me.”.

Guo DaLu smiled bitterly: “Do you want me to crawl now, or wait until later?”.

White Ant said coldly: “It’s best that you crawl now, crawl outside and spare yourself from being carried outside.”.

Red Ant giggled: “You see, I told you he’d be jealous, now you should believe it.”.

Gold Ant said: “Our business does not concern you, it is really best that you crawl out.”.

Guo DaLu: “I can’t crawl, it is best that you first teach me how.”.

Red Ant laughed: “It seems like bringing one coffin was not enough, we should have brought three.”.

Guo DaLu: “You guys even brought a coffin? You really want to shut him inside a coffin?”.

Golden Ant: “I had already said, every word he spoke was not false.”.

Yan Qi suddenly patted Guo DaLu on the shoulders and smiled: “This is a problem I created, no need for you to play the hero and manage this affair.”.

Red Ant laughed: “That’s right, besides you’ve already died seven times, what’s the big deal in dying once more.”.

Yan Qi said: “This is another person’s house, if I must die I still can’t die here.”.

White Ant: “Then step outside.”.

Yan Qi brushed his clothes and smiled: “Fine, outside then……guys, if I don’t die this time I will be sure to come back and drink with you.”.

Wang Dong had been lying on his bed this entire time not moving at all, now he suddenly spoke: “Wait a moment.”.

Golden Ant: “Wait for what?”.

Wang Dong: “Do you realize what this place is?”.

Red Ant giggled: “I know, this is your pig sty.”.

Wang Dong: “If this is a pig sty, I am the pig king. No matter who comes here, they must listen to me.”.

Golden Ant angrily said: “What do you want?”.

Wang Dong: “I want Yan Qi to stay and drink with me, finding someone else who could drink upside down with me is not easy, how can I allow him to sleep in a coffin?”.

Guo DaLu laughed: “You want to move now?”.

Wang Dong: “These little ants bite, I have no choice but to move.”.

Guo DaLu: “How will you move?”.

Wang Dong: “Red Ant is mine, White Ant is all yours.”.

Wang Dong is motionless, but when he does move it is amazing.

Before his sentence was finished, his entire person had suddenly shot up from the bed and threw himself into the fray.

Not only did he throw himself, his blanket followed him as well.

He targeted Red Ant.

Red Ant couldn’t even see him, she only saw a black cotton blanket curling towards her.

With a twist of her body, three or four different kinds of hidden weapons flew out, some were fast and quick, others were spinning and turning.

Because she was a small person, her hidden weapons were especially small.

Because her hidden weapons were especially small, it was especially effective at cutting through the air making it especially difficult for others to evade.

But she forgot one thing, a cotton blanket was not a person.

A cotton blanket cannot die.

Although her hidden weapons were ingenious, her techniques exquisite, it was not of any use at all.

One heard consecutive sounds of “PU, PU, PU” as 30 or 40 hidden weapons all struck the blanket, a blanket that was covered with pork grease, duck grease, chicken grease, and sesame oil.

It was like the blanket was simply soaked in grease, soaked to the point where it was slippery and resiliant, even a bow or a crossbow may not be able to shoot through it, much less these tiny hidden weapons.

By the time Red Ant realized she was tricked, she started to retreat but the blanket had already approached like a cloud of ravens.

Wang Dong is motionless, but when he does move nobody could imagine it would be this fast.

Red Ant suddenly got a whiff of some peculiar oily odor, and then her entire body was wrapped up by the blanket.

If she was a little taller, Wang Dong might not have been able to wrap her up in the blanket. But she was really tiny, Wang Dong reached around with his two hands and just like a dumpling, she was wrapped up in the middle of the bundle.

Before Wang Dong was finished, he heard the sound of the wind moving behind him, White Ant was already flying over. Even if Wang Dong moved any faster, he would still not be as fast as this flying White Ant.

In the blink of an eye, White Ant had caught up to him.

But Wang Dong wanted White Ant to catch up to him, because he knew that he wouldn’t have been able to catch up to White Ant.

As soon as White Ant reached him, he suddenly stopped, turned, and swung the blanket around.

Within the blanket was his own wife, White Ant naturally had no choice but to catch it.

This blanket was bigger than he was, and twice as heavy, as soon as he reached out and caught it, he immediately fell down. Wang Dong arrived behind him and easily sealed his acupoints.

The muscles on White Ant’s little face was twisted in anger, he stared hard at Wang Dong, eyes looking like they were going to bulge out.

Wang Dong was motionless again, and lazily smiled: “You’re not satisfied with this defeat, are you? Because I didn’t use real kung fu. I tell you this, if I used real kung fu it wouldn’t be considered as skillful. I never use real kung fu when I fight.

White Ant was so mad he simply had to spit blood.

Wang Dong really appeared as if he didn’t know any real kung fu, everything seemed to be the result of cleverness and opportunity.

But if one didn’t have first-class kung fu, how can one have that kind of opportunity? How can the timing be so precise? How can the actions be so steady?

Not only must the hands and feet contain real kung fu, the brain must also contain real kung fu.

Wang Dong was motionless, but when he does it’s the real deal.

Looking back at Golden Ant, Guo DaLu’s fist wind had already forced him into a state where he could hardly breathe.

Yan Qi was fighting with Silver Ant.

Although Silver Ant was slightly larger than the rest and practiced hard kung-fu, once his kung fu gets hard, his hands and feet gets slower.

The faster Yan Qi moved around him, the slower he became.

Suddenly, Yan Qi took off his hat and slammed it onto Silver Ant’s head. The hat was big, the head was small, with his entire head covered up he wasn’t able to see anything.

Yan Qi reached out with his leg and tripped him. There was a loud “HUA LA LA” sound. It seems like Silver Ant was wearing silver armor, once he fell down it was not easy for him to crawl back up.

He wanted to rip off the hat on his head, but he was pressed down by something very heavy. Apparently Yan Qi had planted his butt and sat down on him. Yan Qi laughed happily: “This bench is not bad, too bad it’s a little small.”.

And what about Golden Ant? He was already having a hard time breathing, and now that he became more anxious he grabbed his stomach, and without any action on Guo DaLu’s part, he fainted, white froth spilling from the corners of his mouth.

Guo DaLu sighed: “Seems like this person had some kind of rabid sickness, looks like I went after the wrong person.”.

Wang Dong said: “I actually said that White Ant was all yours, didn’t you hear?”.

Guo DaLu laughed: “You say your thing, I go after my thing, I wasn’t able to catch up to White Ant and he was also set on chasing you, so I took on this Golden Ant. No matter what, my physique was bigger than his so of course my strength and stamina wouldn’t be any less than his. Based on that, I was sure to eat him up.”.

Wang Dong also sighed and muttered: “I wouldn’t have imagined that someone like you would go for the easy pickings.”.

Guo DaLu: “I also wouldn’t have imagined that your blanket could be so useful, in the future if someone wants to learn how to defend against hidden weapons, I would definitely recommend they start eating greasy chicken in bed.”.

Wang Dong: “Greasy chicken is not enough, you need to eat roast duck as well.”.

Yan Qi suddenly sighed and said: “What I wouldn’t have imagined, is encountered two people like yourselves, perhaps my bad luck has left as well.”.

Guo DaLu laughed: “This is only because you really are a weirdo, and not the King of B.S.”.

Yan Qi: “The reason you were willing to help me, was because I was being honest?”.

Guo DaLu: “And also because you could drink wine upside down.”.

Yan Qi also laughed: “If I hadn’t seen you drinking upside down, why would I even say anything like that?”.

He suddenly sighed again and said: “Actually I still have a few words to say, but don’t know if I should say them or not.”.

Wang Dong: “Did you want to thank me?”.

Yan Qi sighed: “For something like this, I really don’t know how I should thank you.”.

Wang Dong: “If you really wish to thank me, there is something you can still do.”.

Yan Qi: “What is it?”.

Wang Dong: “Lift me back to my bed, I’m too lazy to move again.”.

—–
Nobody in whose eyes it was, Wealthy Manor would not be regarded as an interesting place. There simply wasn’t a single thing that would cause someone to want to stick around.

The strange thing was, like Guo DaLu, once Yan Qi arrived here he didn’t leave.

It wasn’t because they didn’t have anywhere else to go, it was because……

Because of what? Even they weren’t quite sure.

Some people are strangely drawn to each other, like iron to a magnet, once they meet they will be captivated by each other.

As long as these people are together, they will feel very happy. It didn’t matter if they had to sleep on the ground, or go hungry for a time, it wouldn’t even matter to them if the sky fell down.

There were very few things in this world that they could not endure, one of those things were tears.

A woman’s tears, especially the tears of a little woman less than four feet tall.

Although Red Ant was small, but her tears were really not small.

Guo DaLu suddenly discovered that the amount of a woman’s tears, was not related to the size of her body at all. Instead, the smaller the woman the more tears there seemed to be.

There were many things with women that were like this.

The fatter the person, the less she ate. The uglier the person, the more makeup she puts on. The older the person, the more powder she puts on. The more clothes a person has, the less she wears.

“Alas, women really are a strange breed.”.

Guo DaLu sighed. Red Ant continued to cry non-stop and it reached a point where he couldn’t take it anymore.

So he had to leave.

Yan Qi didn’t want him to leave.

Wang Dong had already laid down and fallen asleep, once he falls asleep it wouldn’t even matter to him if someone died.

Yan Qi stopped Guo DaLu and said: “If you leave, what will I do with the four people we captured?”.

Guo DaLu: “This was originally your problem, not mine.”.

Yan Qi: “But if you guys hadn’t helped me, how could I have captured them? And if I hadn’t captured them, how would I have this problem?”.

Guo DaLu paused.

Yan Qi was still afraid he hadn’t explained it clearly enough, and continued: “If you guys hadn’t helped me, I would have been captured by them. At most I would have just died one more time, and then wouldn’t have any more problems. But now, I can’t kill them, I can’t let them go, how shall I manage?”.

The more he explained, the more confused Guo DaLu became.

Wang Dong suddenly poked his head out from under the blanket and smiled: “I have a good plan.”.

Yan Qi relaxed his breath and said: “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”.

Wang Dong: “Since you don’t want to kill them, and you don’t want to let them go, how about having them remain here and raising them for the rest of their lives.”.

Guo DaLu immediately clapped his hand and laughed: “That’s right, a truly excellent idea. Besides, they are so small they definitely wouldn’t need to eat very much.”.

Red Ant also immediately stopped crying and said: “Every day if I only get to eat two small bowls of tapioca rice, with a little bit of seafood, and some honeyed peaches, that should be enough for me: If there aren’t any honeyed peaches, melons will do.”.

Yan Qi didn’t have any expression, he just stood there and mumbled: “Tapioca rice? Seafood? Honeyed peaches?……This is also not difficult.”.

He suddenly turned around, dropped his head and started to walk out.

Guo DaLu: “Where are you going?”.

Yan Qi: “To find that coffin and lie down in it, and also find someone to bury it, at least it’ll still be much easier than looking for tapioca and honeyed peaches every day.”.

Guo DaLu sighed and said: “Seeing as how things are, in order to rescue you, it would be best to let them go, at least it’ll also be much easier than looking for someone else who can drink wine upside down.”.

As his lips were talking, his hands were untying the Ants’ acupoints.

They were fast in coming, and also not slow in leaving.

The three watched them leave, and then suddenly turned and looked at each other.

Guo DaLu: “You were already planning on let them go, weren’t you?”.

Yan Qi: “Oh?”.

Guo DaLu: “But you didn’t feel comfortable coming right out and saying it, because we also had a part in it, you were worried that we might not be satisfied if you just let them go, but in fact……”.

Yan Qi: “But in fact you also wanted to let them go, right?”.

The three of them looked at each other and suddenly they all erupted in laughter together.

Guo DaLu smiled: “It seems like not only is letting people go easier than killing them, it is also much more pleasant.”.

Yan Qi: “That’s absolutely right, if we killed them we wouldn’t be this happy right now.”.

Wang Dong: “But after we let them go, if they go and harm others, then that would not be so pleasant.”.

Guo DaLu shook his head, and loudly interrupted: “Definitely not, I don’t feel that they are entirely evil, even if they didn’t do very good things in the past, I think they will change for the better in the future.”.

He suddenly winked and lowered his voice: “Even if they were really bad, after listening to this speech of mine, they would feel too ashamed to do any more evil deeds.”.

Yan Qi said: “Do you think they heard you?”.

Wang Dong: “Of course they heard him, even a deaf person ten li away could hear this voice of his.”.

Guo DaLu laughed: “That’s right, my voice has always been decent. In the past, there were even many people who said I was born with a golden throat, wait until I’m in the mood and I’ll sing a few songs for you guys to listen to.”.

Wang Dong sighed: “If you must sing, at least wait until I’m asleep before starting.”.

He covered his head with his blanket again and said: “As long as I’m asleep, even if you step on a chicken’s neck I still wouldn’t wake up.”.

They were all this kind of people, the way they handled things were very unique.

They did things very correctly, and sometimes they would do things wrong.

But, no matter what, the things they did would never involve bloodshed nor make others feel disgusted.

The things they did would not only make themselves happy, they would also make others happy.

End of Prologue II

—–
Each month, Yan Qi slips out by himself two or three times. Nobody knew where he went, nor what he went to do.

Each time he returned, he would always bring a few strange things back.

The things he brought back could be a pair of new socks, or an embroidered handkerchief, or it could be some roast pork, or some rice wine.

Sometimes he would bring back a cat, or a canary, or a couple of live fish.

But no matter what, they were not as strange as what he brought back this time.

This time he unexpectedly brought back a person.

A live person.

This person was called Lin TaiPing, but after he came, not a single person’s day went by peacefully. [*TaiPing means peaceful.]

—–
Some people like Winter, because during Winter you can enjoy snow, you can enjoy plums, you can eat hot roasted meals in pots, you can snuggle under a warm blanket and read a forbidden book, and you can get a good sleep.

These few simple pleasures are all things you don’t get to experience during the other seasons.

Of course the people who enjoy Winter cannot be poor, Wintertime is the most fearful time for poor people, all poor people hope that Winter will be delayed, or better yet not come at all.

Unfortunately, the poor person’s Winter always seems inclined to come especially early.

Right now it is Wintertime.

The snow in Wealthy Manor’s courtyard is just as white as anywhere else, there were even some plum blossoms in the trees. But if a person was still wearing his flimsy Spring clothes, and if his belly was still filled with yesterday’s noodles, the only thing he would be in the mood for was to swallow something to stuff his stomach with, not white snow or plum blossoms.

Guo DaLu looked at the white snow and plum blossoms in the courtyard, and mumbled: “If those plum blossoms were hot peppers, then that would be nice.”.

Wang Dong: “What’s so nice about that?”.

Guo DaLu: “Look, the snow covering the ground looks like flour, coupled with a few red peppers, and you’d have a nice bowl of spicy hot noodle soup.”.

Wang Dong sighed: “You are really uncultured, if Lin Bu heard what you said he’d die from irritation.”.

Guo DaLu: “Who is Lin Bu?”.

Wang Dong: “You’ve never even heard of Lin Bu?”.

Guo DaLu: “I’ve heard of jerky [*Rou Fu], no matter if it’s pork jerky, beef jerky, or deer jerky, they’d all go well with wine.”.

Wang Dong: “Lin Bu was Lin JunFu and was also known as Lin HuoJing. He was a hermit during the Song Dynasty who lived in the mountains of West Lake. It was said that he didn’t leave the mountain for twenty years and the only things he did were plant plum blossoms and raise cranes, his nickname was ‘Plum-Consort Crane-Child’; A few of his stanzas regarding plums like ‘the wispy shadow hangs across the clear shallow waters, it’s hidden fragrance drifts across the yellow moon at twilight’ have been recited throughout the ages.”.

Guo DaLu said thoughtfully: “From what you’ve said, this Mr. Lin must be a very venerable person.”.

Wang Dong: “Very venerable indeed.”.

Guo DaLu: “But if his stomach was as hungry as mine, would he still be this wise?”.

Wang Dong thought for a moment and suddenly laughed: “If he was in the same condition as you are now, he probably would be more vulgar and uncultured than you.”.

Guo DaLu also laughed.

He suddenly realized that no matter how cold or hungry a person was, a laugh can make one feel much more comfortable.

At this moment, Wang Dong suddenly jumped up from his bed and said loudly: “Speaking of Lin Bu, I just thought of something.”.

If something can cause Wang Dong to jump up from his bed, it cannot be a small matter.

Guo DaLu couldn’t help asking: “What did you think of? Do you also want to take a plum blossom as your wife?”.

Wang Dong: “This plum blossom of mine is even better than a wife, it’s the wine……”.

Guo DaLu’s chin dropped down and he mumbled: “Wine? Wheres the wine coming from?”.

Wang Dong: “It’s underneath the plum blossoms.”.

Guo DaLu forced a laugh: “Regarding a plum blossom as your wife is crazy enough, I can’t believe this guy is even crazier.”.

But there actually was wine buried underneath the plum tree.

Wang Dong said: “This was something I buried more than ten years ago, that year I heard Lin HuoJing’s story and became fond of plum blossoms, so I buried some wine underneath the plum tree to enhance the fragrance of the plum blossoms.”.

No matter where you buried a case of wine, if it had been buried for more than ten years then it would definitely be very fragrant.

Guo DaLu broke off the clay seal, closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and sighed: “This isn’t mere fragrance, it’s the breath of angels.”.

Wang Dong smiled: “You should feel grateful to Mr.Lin right now, if it weren’t for him I wouldn’t have buried this wine; And if it weren’t for him I wouldn’t have just thought of this wine.”.

Guo DaLu no longer had the energy to speak, when theres wine to drink his lips won’t do anything else.

Wang Dong still stopped him: “Wait a moment.”.

Guo DaLu: “Wait for what?”.

Wang Dong: “Yan Qi had already been gone for two days, he should be returning any moment now, we should at least wait for him.”.

Guo DaLu: “Wait for how much longer? By the time he returns we could be frozen to death.”.

He didn’t have to wait long.

Yan Qi’s voice came from outside the wall: “It’s best that you guys freeze to death, that way I can enjoy this wine all by myself.”.

Wang Dong laughed: “Not only is this person’s earlobes long, his nose is long. I already knew that once he smelled the wine’s fragrance he’d be able to follow it back.”.

Guo DaLu also laughed: “I wonder what Long Nose brought back this time for us to go with our wine.”.

Yan Qi: “I didn’t bring back anything to go with the wine this time, I only brought back something that would drink the wine.”.

Lin TaiPing was definitely someone who could drink wine. When people first see him, they would never believe that he could drink that much wine.

Guo DaLu especially didn’t believe this when he first laid eyes on him.

Lin TaiPing was a very elegant, fragile looking, handsome person. If one can say that Yan Qi looked a bit girlish, then this person was like a girl wearing makeup.

His lips were very small, even if you used the term ‘little cherry lips’ to describe him it wouldn’t be out of place.

The first time Guo DaLu saw him, his mouth was shut tight, his lips were turning green, it took a lot of effort before they were able to pry his jaws open and pour down some wine.

He was already half frozen to death, starved to his last breath.

Guo DaLu couldn’t imagine that there would be someone else in this world who was colder and hungrier than him, he forced a smile and said: “Where did you get this person from?”.

Yan Qi: “On the road.”.

Guo DaLu sighed: “The first time you brought back a cat from the road, the second time you brought back a dog, this time you unexpectedly picked up a person. At this rate, how could you not bring back a large gorilla next time?”.

Wang Dong laughed: “Best if it were a female gorilla, that would make a good match for you.”.

Guo DaLu was not mad, and grinned: “It would be bad if it was a baby monkey, I’d have to call her Mrs.Wang.”.

His stature was very large, taller than Wang Dong by at least a head. His size was the thing he was most proud of, if someone poked fun at it, not only would he not get angry, he thought it was pretty cute.

He had always thought that this was befitting of a true man.

Yan Qi found a broken bowl, filled it halfway with wine, pulled open Lin TaiPing’s lips and poured it down.

After drinking two bowls, his pale face gradually acquired some color, but his eyes were still shut. He slowly swallowed the remaining half mouthful of wine and said some words: “This is thirty year old Zhu Xie Qing. [*A nice brand of wine.]”.

These were the first words Lin TaiPing said.

Wang Dong laughed, Guo DaLu also laughed, just based on these words they now regarded Lin TaiPing as a friend.

Guo DaLu smiled: “I didn’t think our friend here would be a wine drinking expert.”.

Lin TaiPing slowly opened his eyes, looked at Yan Qi’s broken bowl, raised an eyebrow and said: “You guys use this bowl to drink wine?”.

The way he said this made it sound like someone used his nose to eat rice, or his foot to hold chopsticks.

Guo DaLu: “If we didn’t use this bowl to drink, what should we use?”.

Lin TaiPing: “Drinking Zhu Xie Qing requires an emerald jade cup, using this bowl is simply a waste of good wine.”.

Guo DaLu laughed: “As long as you close your eyes, there wouldn’t be much difference between a broken bowl and a jade cup.”.

Lin TaiPing thought a bit and then said: “This speech is not wrong, but I would still rather drink from the wine container.”.

The wine container was in front of him, he really lifted it up, raised his head, and poured it down into his mouth.

Guo DaLu watched, mesmerized, from the side.

After half the container of wine had gone down his belly, Lin TaiPing wiped his lips and said: “Good wine, wheres the vegetables to go with it?”.

Guo DaLu: “Vegetables to go with it?”.

Lin TinPang: “Don’t you guys accompany your wine drinking with vegetables?”.

Guo DaLu laughed: “This you don’t understand, a real wine drinker takes his wine without vegetables.”.

Lin TaiPing thought a bit again and said: “These words do make sense.”.

He raised his head again, and drank down the remaining half container of wine.

If a container of wine had been buried away for more than ten years, the wine would be very concentrated, although there was only half a container left over it was more potent than two containers of regular wine.

But Lin TaiPing’s face actually hadn’t changed colors, and he said: “Do you still have more of this type of wine?”.

Guo DaLu could only force a smile: “Regrettably, not only was this wine today’s meal for the three of us, it is also all we have that’s worthwhile.”.

Lin TaiPing paused and then said: “You guys normally only drink wine, you don’t eat?”.

Guo DaLu: “Very rarely.”.

Lin TaiPing sighed: “It seems like you guys are really alcoholics, you ought to know that just drinking wine is harmful to the stomach, you should occasionally have some food.”.

He stretched, looked around, and said: “Do you guys usually sleep on this bed?”.

Wang Dong: “Mm Hmm.”.

Lin TaiPing creased his brows: “People actually sleep on this bed?”.

Wang Dong: “At least it’s better than sleeping on the streets.”.

Lin TaiPing thought some more, and then laughed: “This makes sense as well, everything you guys say all seem reasonable, it appears I am able to be friends with you.”.

Wang Dong: “Thank you, thank you. We’re honored, very honored.”.

Lin TaiPing: “But right now I must sleep, when I’m sleeping I don’t like it when people disturb me, it’s best that you all take a walk outside.”.

He sneezed, laid down on the bed, turned his body, and then fell asleep right away.

Guo DaLu glanced at Wang Dong and smiled bitterly: “It seems not only is his alcohol capacity better than yours, but his sleeping ability is also not any worse than yours.”.

Yan Qi looked at the empty wine container, paused for a moment, and mumbled: “Did I actually bring back a person, or a horse?”.

Guo DaLu sighed: “A horse also can’t drink this much wine.”.

Yan Qi: “Why didn’t you have him drink a little less?”.

Guo DaLu: “Even though I’m poor, at the least I’m not a short tempered person.”.

Wang Dong suddenly said: “I actually think this person is very interesting.”.

Yan Qi: “Interesting?”.

Wang Dong: “His life was rescued by you and brought back here, then he drank up our entire food supply and took over the only bed in this house. But not only did he not utter a word of gratitude, but seemed to think he showed us a lot of face by allowing us to become his friends.”.

He laughed and continued: “Where would you be able to find a second person like this?”.

Therefore Lin TaiPing also remained behind.

Therefore if people mentioned the words “Wealthy Manor” in the martial world, they would not merely be referring to a place near a cemetery.

As soon as you mention Wealthy Manor, people in the martial world will understand that you’re talking about a very mysterious group — an empty house and four men, the things that happened to them, their happy and lovely story, as well as the marvelous and tremendous friendship between the four of them.

—–
There existed an odd mutual understanding between these friends, that is, they would never ask each other about their past affairs, nor would they speak of their own past to each other.

But that evening after Yan Qi brought Lin TaiPing over, Guo DaLu broke this pact.

That evening, the snow had already started to melt.

Lin TaiPing was still snoring in his sleep, and Wang Dong naturally didn’t want to show that he was submissive, so Guo DaLu could only drag Yan Qi out with him to go “hunting” near the base of the mountain.

Hunting meant going out to see if there were any opportunities to make money.

There weren’t.

When snow melts, it was even colder than when snow was falling. After being full from eating, one would go to bed. That was the smartest strategy to defeat the cold. Therefore you wouldn’t even see a person’s shadow out on the streets.

Guo DaLu and Yan Qi appeared to be two lonely souls, step by step walking across the muddy ground. Guo DaLu was looking at Yan Qi’s boots the entire time.

In the end, he couldn’t help but ask: “Have you replaced the soles in your boots?”.

Yan Qi: “Mm Hmm.”.

Guo DaLu: “I’ve never asked you how the soles of your boots could be worth more than a thousand liangs, right?”.

Yan Qi: “Right.”.

Guo DaLu: “I’ve also never asked how you died seven times, right?”.

Yan Qi: “You have never asked.”.

Guo DaLu’s eyes filled with hope and said: “What if I ask? Would you be willing to respond?”.

Yan Qi: “Maybe……but I know you would never ask, because I have never asked you about anything.”.

Guo DaLu’s expression turned soured and he grinded his teeth.

Yan Qi suddenly said: “What kind of person do you think Lin TaiPing is?”.

Guo DaLu continued to frown and said: “I don’t know, nor do I want to know.”

Yan Qi laughed: “Of course we wouldn’t ask him, but it should be ok to guess amongst ourselves.”.

Yan Qi continued: “Something happened that made him leave his family, his clothes are very sparse, that implies that he came from a warm area. He doesn’t have anything on him, which shows that he left in a hurry. He might even have fled.”.

Guo DaLu: “I wouldn’t have guessed you were so thorough.”.

Yan Qi laughed: “If someone were to endure this kind of cold and hunger, one wouldn’t survive very long.”.

Guo DaLu sighed: “At most, maybe two or three days.”.

Yan Qi: “If you could only last three days, then he could only last a day and a half at most.”.

Guo DaLu smiled: “That’s right, I’m already used to it, whereas he’s just a high and mighty young master.”.

Yan Qi: “In this type of weather, after a day and a half, no one would be able to travel far.”.

Guo DaLu: “Do you mean to say that his home is nearby and not far?”.

Yan Qi: “Mm Hmm.”.

Guo DaLu: “Which prominent families live nearby?”.

Yan Qi: “Not too many, there are even less that are prominent within the martial world.”.

Guo DaLu: “Why does it have to be a prominent family of the martial world? Can that scholarly cultured person actually know martial arts?”.

Yan Qi: “Not only does he know martial arts, but it is also not weak.”.

Guo DaLu: “How can you tell?”.

Yan Qi: “I can tell.”.

Before waiting for Guo DaLu to ask again, he continued: “As far as I know, there are only two prominent martial families nearby.”.

Guo DaLu: “Which family is named Lin?”.

Yan Qi: “Both of them are not named Lin, Lin TaiPing is not necessarily surnamed Lin, if he really fled from something, why would he tell anybody his real name?”.

Guo DaLu: “Which two families do you know of?”.

Yan Qi: “One family is surnamed Xiong, their patriarch is “Students Populate The World” Xiong ChuRen, a leader of a prominent martial arts hall, although his students can be found all over the world, he is a solitary man who not only has no children but also has no wife.”.

Guo DaLu: “And the other family?”.

Yan Qi: “The other family is surnamed Mei, although that one has a son and a daughter, their son “The Stone Man” Mei RuJia has been famous in martial society for a long time, his age should be much greater than Lin TaiPing’s.”.

Guo DaLu: “Why is he called the Stone Man?”.

Yan Qi: “It is said that this family’s martial arts was very strange, all their weapons and hidden weapons were made from stone, therefore his father was called ‘The Stone God’ and he was called ‘The Stone Man’”.

Guo DaLu laughed: “Then what will his future son be called? Will he be ‘The Stone Dog’?”.

This was a very peaceful mountain village, it’s streets were very narrow, and some were even a bit slanted.

The adjacent buildings’ construction was very average. Although the first nightwatch hasn’t been sounded yet, most of the lanterns were already extinguished, and most of the vendors had gone home, even if there were some lights seeping through windows and doors, they were very dim. Very few people would light two lamps in a room, even fewer would light candles because lamp oil was cheaper than candles.

Guo DaLu sighed: “This really is a poor place, people who stay here too long will not only become poorer and poorer, they’d also get lazier and lazier.”.

Yan Qi: “You’re wrong, I like this place very much.”.

Guo DaLu: “Oh?”.

Yan Qi: “No matter where I’m at, I would feel very anxious, it is only here that I would feel at peace and carefree.”.

Guo DaLu: “Because the people who live here are so poor they can’t even take care of themselves, so they don’t have the energy to meddle in other people’s business.”.

Yan Qi: “You’re wrong again, this place is not poor at all.”.

Guo DaLu laughed: “Of course not when compared to us, but……”.

Yan Qi interrupted him: “The reason you see these people as being poor, is because they don’t want to show off. For example, that one store owner Wang Dong knows, not only is he not poor, but he must be a very prominent person.”.

Guo DaLu: “What sort of prominence?”.

Yan Qi: “As far as I can tell, if this person wasn’t once a great bandit, then he must have been a famous celebrity of the martial world. I don’t know if it was to hide from his enemies or from misfortune, or if he was just tired of martial society that made him come here.”.

He continued: “There are many people like him around here, if I retire in the future I will definitely stop by this place.”.

Guo DaLu: “Based on what you said, how could this not be a region of crouching tigers and hidden dragons?”.

Yan Qi: “That is absolutely correct.”.

Guo DaLu: “How wasn’t I able to see this?”.

Yan Qi: “If someone were to die seven times, he would have experienced more than most others.”.

Guo DaLu: “But you still haven’t figured out Lin TaiPing’s origin, since he couldn’t be the Mei family’s son nor the Xiong family’s descendant, after talking for half the day, you’ve just ended up wasting your breath.”.

Yan Qi was silent for a long time, then suddenly said: “Have you ever heard the name of ‘The Terrestrial Dragon King’?”

Guo DaLu laughed: “Only a deaf person would never have heard of this name, although I may be uninformed, I’m at least not deaf.”.

Yan Qi: “It is rumored that the Terrestrial Dragon King has a villa nearby.”.

Guo DaLu: “Do you suspect that Lin TaiPing is his son?”.

Yan Qi: “Theres a possibility.”.

Guo DaLu: “That’s not possible, definitely impossible.”.

Yan Qi: “Why?”.

Guo DaLu: “In the martial world, everyone knows that the Terrestrial Dragon King is a bold and domineering seven foot tall person, how could he have such a prissy, girly son.”.

Yan Qi said coldly: “Whether or not somebody can be considered a man, it should not be dictated by his outer appearance.”.

Guo DaLu looked at him and smiled: “Of course not, but……”.

He abruptly shut his lips, his entire person appeared dumbfounded.

Originally there was nobody out on the streets, now a person was gracefully walking over.

As soon as Guo DaLu saw this person, his eyes widened.

To be able to cause Guo DaLu to widen his eyes, it had to be a young woman, a beautiful young woman.

This woman was extremely beautiful.

She was only wearing clothes made from coarse cloth, but no matter what kind of clothes she would wear, it would become very attractive. Guo DaLu had never seen a woman with such a good body before.

Her hands were carrying two large baskets, no matter who carried baskets as large as these, they would be waddling along the road like a crab.

But the way in which she walked was still that attractive, enough to make a person’s eyes widen; If she hadn’t been carrying those huge baskets, Guo DaLu’s eyes would probably have fallen out.

This girl originally didn’t pay attention to them, but then she suddenly noticed Guo DaLu’s mesmerized expression, she couldn’t help smiling and let out a charming laugh.

Guo DaLu’s heart jumped and started beating like a drum “PU KOU PU KOU”, by the time the girl had turned the corner, he was still standing there foolishly.

After a long time passed, he sighed and said: “It seems like this place is really filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons.”.

Yan Qi: “I’m afraid that wasn’t a hidden tiger, more like a hidden phoenix.”.

Guo DaLu: “Right, right, right, that’s very true, the ancients say every ten steps will contain fragrant grass, this phrase is actually not bad.”.

He suddenly straightened his posture, and said: “How do I look?”.

Yan Qi looked him up and down a few times, and replied: “Not bad, a bit tall, large eyes, a warm smile.”.

Guo DaLu: “If you were a young woman, would you be attracted to me?”.

Yan Qi smiled: “Perhaps……”.

He suddenly realized that his smile not only looked very charming, but it looked a bit like a young woman’s, and he couldn’t help but laugh: “But if you were a young woman, I’m afraid no man in this world would be able to handle it.”.

Yan Qi’s expression soured: “I’m afraid there are not many women who can stand you either.”.

Guo DaLu: “Why? Didn’t you just say that I was good looking?”.

Yan Qi: “But you are also dirty, lazy, unreliable, women definitely don’t like these types of men.”.

Guo DaLu laughed: “That’s because you’re not a woman, a real woman would like a man like myself, this is how real men are.”.

Yan Qi looked like he was about to hurl, and grimaced: “Did you think that young woman was attracted to you?”.

Guo DaLu: “Of course, otherwise why else would she giggle at me?”.

Yan Qi abruptly laughed: “A girl’s laughter has many kinds, they will laugh when they see someone simpleminded or ugly too.”.

Guo DaLu was burning up, and nearly shouted out: “You think I’m……”.

He shut his mouth again, because that young woman came around the corner and started approaching again.

The baskets in her hands used to be empty, but now they were filled with things, therefore she was struggling with them, the ground was also muddy, her foot suddenly slipped, her entire person fell forward and the baskets flew out of her hands.

Luckily she encountered Guo DaLu and Yan Qi.

Yan Qi’s reflexes has always been very fast, Guo DaLu’s reflexes were also not slow, as soon as her foot slipped, they were like arrows being shot out.

Before the baskets dropped to the ground, Yan Qi had already reached out and caught them; Before the young woman fell down, Guo DaLu had already reached out and steadied her.”.

She panted for breath a little, and then regained her composure. She suddenly discovered that a strange man was supporting her, and her face immediately became bright red.

Guo DaLu’s heart also jumped, and said: “Is the young lady ok?”.

The young woman’s face was red and she lowered her head: “I……really don’t know how to thank both of you.”.

Yan Qi had already discovered that everything in the baskets were edible, there was smoked chicken, there was beef, there were even some biscuits that were toasted golden on both sides.

He really wanted to say: “If you want to thank us that would be very easy, just give us a chicken and two biscuits.”.

But seeing Guo DaLu’s look of affection at this person, how could he make his friend look bad.

Besides, Guo DaLu had already said: “It’s a small matter, don’t worry about it.”.

The young woman suddenly lifted her head, looked at him, smiled and said: “You guys are really good people.”.

Although she was saying “you guys”, her eyes were only looking at Guo DaLu. Guo DaLu’s heart was melting, his person was feeling light, and he stuttered: “Young lady, you……you……you don’t have……have to be po……polite.”.

The young woman retrieved her baskets and abruptly turned around and gave a charming smile, before lowering her head and heading away.

If Guo DaLu’s soul was still around, this one smile probably caused it to fly high away.

Although his person seemed to be nailed to that spot, his soul looked like it was being carried away in the basket by that person.

Yan Qi said: “This is such a good opportunity, why aren’t you chasing after her?”.

Guo DaLu sighed: “Do you think I am really a pervert?”.

Yan Qi said softly: “Even if you weren’t, you’re not very far off.”.

The young woman had already walked very far, but now she suddenly stopped, turned her head and smiled: “I bought a lot of food, would the two of you be willing to honor me by accompanying me in a few drinks.”.

This kind of request came from a beautiful woman’s lips, and arrived in the ears of two very cold and hungry men. It must have sounded ten times better than the world’s best sounding music.

If someone refused this invitation, it’d be a wonder if they weren’t stupid.

Yan Qi wasn’t stupid, and neither was Guo DaLu.

Although his lips were still saying: “How could this not be a bother for you?” his pair of legs were already walking quickly over to her.

Alas, why do heroes always find it hard to overcome a beautiful woman.

Why didn’t Guo DaLu just ask this young woman where she was taking them?

It looks like even if she brought them somewhere to be sold off, Guo DaLu would still follow.

End of Prologue III

Someone once said, women are a source of trouble.

Someone once said, if there were no women, it would be very cold and quiet; With women around, there would not be a moment of peace.

Of course, it was a man who said these words. But no matter what men say, women are things this world must not have a shortage of. Out of 10,000 men, there are at least 9,990 who would rather take ten years out of their lives than not have a woman.

Someone once said, money can allow you to be divine.

Someone once said, money represents ten thousand evils.

But no matter what anybody says, money is also something one cannot have a shortage of. If someone didn’t have money, he’d be like an empty sack, never able to stand up straight.

These two things can not only cause the smartest people to become stupid, but it can also cause a best friend to become an enemy.

If four male rascals suddenly gained a woman in their midst, that situation was simply like using a chopstick to reach out for four raw eggs in a bowl, things cannot help but become messy.

Wang Dong, Guo DaLu, Yan Qi, Lin TaiPing, these four people were originally living carefree lives, because they had no money and also no woman.

They would feel happy every time they woke up, because the misfortunes of “yesterday” had already passed on by, today was filled with hope once again.

But, all of a sudden, these two things have both arrived. A horrible disaster, wouldn’t you say?

End of Chapter 1

Written by Gu Long
Translation by TigerWong
Edited and proofread by audiowuxia.

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