Zhan Chun - Chapter 30
In this day and age, beautiful flowers are always stuck in cow dung.
"How did you get involved with that monster?" Shu Jun asked her as he ran.
Yi Chun honestly recounted what had happened, which made him shake his head repeatedly: "I thought you were pretending to be stupid, but I didn't expect you to be really stupid. How can you casually owe favors to Yan Yufei? Be careful, or he'll eat your bones in the future."
Yichun, however, didn't care at all: "I'm paying him back right now."
Shu Jun shook his head again, but remained silent. The giant followed closely behind. He was clumsy and heavy, and the cherry blossom branches grew low, constantly hitting his face and causing him great pain. Enraged, he raised his giant axe and spun it away.
The two leaped in opposite directions, feeling the sharp whistling wind against their faces, a stinging pain as the giant axe plunged several feet into the ground with a loud bang. It was unimaginable what it would feel like to be struck by that axe.
Shu Jun called out, "Hey, do you have any hidden weapons?"
Yi Chun shook her head. She and Yang Shen only learned swordsmanship and were not good at hidden weapons.
Shu Jun sighed and patted his clothes. He had gone out to meet people today, but he hadn't expected to fight someone here. He wasn't prepared at all. Looking around, he picked up a few small stones from the ground, weighed them in his hand, and smiled slightly at the giant: "Watch out for hidden weapons."
Without waiting for his reaction, she threw a pebble, which flew towards the giant's face and was easily caught by him.
He laughed mockingly: "This is a hidden weapon?"
Shu Jun suddenly showed a surprised expression, looked behind him, and exclaimed, "Ah, it's you here?"
Such a simple trick wouldn't fool anyone with a bit of experience. The giant didn't even blink, and sprinted towards Shu Jun.
Suddenly, there were several rustling sounds behind him, as if someone was parting the branches and walking towards him. The giant turned around abruptly, only to find the place empty and deserted, with only a small pebble rolling by the roadside. Realizing he had been tricked, he was about to turn around and teach the man a lesson when several vital points on his back were suddenly struck, leaving him frozen in place, unable to move.
Shu Jun walked over with a smile, bouncing pebbles along the way: "I warned you to be careful of hidden weapons."
Chapter 18
Yi Chun walked over with a hint of surprise, looked at the stiff, motionless giant, and then at Shu Jun, finding it hard to believe that he had solved the problem so easily.
Shu Jun straightened his sleeves, looked up at the sky, and said, "I guess the person I'm waiting for won't come today. Oh well, I'm off. Take care."
Seeing that he was leaving so suddenly, Yichun hurriedly said, "Um... thank you for helping me!"
Shu Jun glanced at her sideways: "I'm just returning the favor now. Thank you for the good food and wine last time. We're even now, so let's pretend we don't know each other if we meet again. Goodbye."
I see. He's not a bad person.
Yichun laughed from behind, "Don't be like that, Shujun. Can't we be friends?"
He looked her up and down, then suddenly reached out and straightened her hair, which had fallen to one side, with a serious expression: "You're too sloppy. We'll talk about it when you become a beauty."
Yi Chun asked in surprise, "Do you have to consider appearance when making friends? I didn't even mind that you look like a woman."
Well, she certainly has the ability to make people so angry they'll burst their guts.
Shu Jun asked, "Weren't you going to rescue someone?"
Before he could finish speaking, she ran off quickly, waving at him as she said, "It's a deal! Let's be friends!"
He stood there, stunned, saying, "...Don't make that decision on your own..."
Naturally, no one answered him. Shu Jun looked up at the giant, who was also staring straight at him. After a while, the giant said, "So you're the infamous Shu Jun."
So annoying.
He turned and left without a word, then suddenly seemed to remember something, turned back and gave him a mischievous smile, his eyebrows and eyes relaxing, revealing a unique kind of playfulness.
"Here's a little gift for you, so you won't keep showing off my name to others."
He threw the remaining stones in his hand, and they all hit the giant's face. The giant screamed in pain, but he couldn't move. His face was covered in wounds.
Shu Jun dusted off his sleeves, as if he had finally breathed a sigh of relief, and walked away with a relaxed expression.
****
The bamboo house was very quiet, with only the soft sounds of tea being brewed.
He was a man in his forties, in the prime of his life, but his hair was already gray, his face was sharp, and his eyes held a hint of shrewdness.
He slowly rinsed the four small ceramic cups with the first brew of boiling tea, poured out the remaining water, and then poured in freshly boiled water. The four small cups were not much bigger than a baby's fist, and the tea reflected off the white background inside, appearing dark green and exuding a refreshing aroma.
As he placed the four cups in front of each person, Yang Shen instinctively shrank back slightly, only to feel a cold knife pressed against his back.
Each of the three men had a knife pointed at his vitals from behind; any rash move would mean certain death.
Yan Yufei seemed used to this kind of thing, not even flinching. The middle-aged man then said, "Young Master Yan, you are very knowledgeable. Do you know what kind of tea this is?"
He said casually, "Anxi is famous for its Tieguanyin tea, and its Gongfu tea is excellent."
The middle-aged man smiled and said, "Impressive. My younger brother also loves to enjoy this Tieguanyin tea in his spare time. Young Master Yan is always clever, so he must already know who my younger brother is."
Yan Yufei looked at him for a while and said, "You are the leader of the Minnan Dragon Tiger Gang. You must be the elder brother of the leader, Mr. Iron-Faced Qiongqi."
Mr. Yu gestured for them to drink tea, and the three of them reluctantly picked up the small ceramic cups and drank it all in one gulp. The taste was indeed quite different from ordinary tea.
He poured boiling water into the small teapot, saying, "In order to absorb the power in the Minnan area, the Yan family bribed many gangs. With money at their fingertips, everyone was eager to do their bidding. They killed my brother's entire family of thirteen, and the Dragon Tiger Gang collapsed. But when word got out, it had nothing to do with the Yan family. This trick of using someone else to do the dirty work was indeed brilliant. The Second Young Master Yan, who came up with this idea, is a true prodigy, extraordinary."
Yan Yufei remained unperturbed, and instead smiled slightly: "Mr. Yu, you flatter me."
Yang Shen understood somewhat. At first, he thought it was Wan Hua from Bashu who was causing trouble again, but he didn't expect that the Yan family had too many enemies, and that they had actually found their way here from the Minnan region.
He turned his head slightly to look out the window, his heart filled with anxiety. Just now, Yichun had followed the marks to find them, only to be blocked by the giant, and now his fate was unknown. The worst-case scenario was that they would all die here today. He regretted not repaying the giant's favor altogether.
While he was pondering, Mr. Yu placed another cup of fresh tea in front of him.