“Little Fellow, can you spare this one an extra carriage?”
An old man waggled his wizened fingers, his aged countenance suffused with a healthy mixture of cunning and pity.
As he spoke, his eyes flashed with a barely noticeable gleam, an unknown fluctuation sweeping past the hem of his robe.
“This… I cannot do,” the target of the elderly shopkeeper’s bullying earnestly shook his head from side to side.
“Esteemed Senior, I truly cannot provide another carriage – how is this little one supposed to cater to his future guests in such a form?”
“But you’ve yet to find yourself a second customer today,” Wang Qinian revealed a gentle smile filled with warmth and understanding.
“It isn’t that I am not trying to rob a carriage from your future customers, but that I have come to find an additional carriage from you because you have yet to find another customer for the week. Why struggle so?”
The words were not devoid of logic, and were tinged with the perfect amount of compassion and sincerity. The store manager responsible for the carriages on display felt his heart break at the moment he heard the elderly shopkeeper’s consoling words, but couldn’t find a suitable reply.
The roosters had hardly crowed for the day; of course he wouldn’t find any customers at this time!
Just who in their right mind would seek a carriage when sunbreak had yet to appear?
…and just how could this old man be so shameless and reek of righteousness as though it were as easy as eating breakfast!?
“This… this… simply cannot be done!”
The store manager’s brow dripped with beads of cold sweat, and he profusely refused the elderly shopkeeper’s requests.
Shaking his wrists with the intention of damming the river to avoid an incoming calamity, the man began to usher the two unruly customers with the long sleeves of his robe.
“The Esteemed Senior should be well aware of the circumstances of such lowly folk as us store managers! So, please, do not make such trouble for my poor little shoulders – the rules of this store dictate that customers may only purchase one carriage!”
“Then what about my young granddaughter here? She is just on her way towards her marriage – surely you don’t expect this old me to stay in the same carriage!?”
The young girl besides the elderly shopkeeper of the scam of a restaurant abruptly bristled at the unexpected remark, directing a hidden gaze of hostility onto the back of the elderly man.
Wang Qinian’s thinned body quivered with a visible fright, but could only steel his trembling heart and steadfast against the turbulent gales of a flustered store manager.
This wasn’t the first time he sold his pride; as long as he could obtain material wealth from the sacrifice of his dignity and morals, this Guardian of the Hundred Clan Coalition would not dare hesitate.
Hence, when the store manager dared retaliate…
“This Esteemed Senior, though family matters are indeed important, this small store manager must adhere to his store’s rules – they are akin to a shengzhi painted in gold! As for the matter with your granddaughter… surely her husband’s family will understand, for you are her grandfather, and thus family!”
“Family!? Have you no knowledge regarding the intricacies of social etiquette!?”
Wang Qinian burst with a ruthless remark, his shameless eyes blazing with a wizened accusation.
“My granddaughter is heading towards the most important matter of her life, and you wish her to jeopardize her future for the sake of adhering to a few storehouse’s rules? How can you have no morals – do you hold your gold to be of more importance than a woman’s eternal happiness!?”
…then go buy that second carriage from another store!
“What are you hesitating for – since only one carriage may be bought by a single customer, then my granddaughter shall purchase one as well!”
The store manager cried out in his heart, but dared not to utter such words.
With veins bulging with endless fury, the pitiful man quickly bid farewell to his ironclad faith to rules, and ushered for the servant to acquiesce to the elderly shopkeeper’s damnable wishes.
If it weren’t for the fact that his store’s carriages were the cheapest and yet most durable of the entirety of Dong Lin City, why would this old bone of bags stick to him with the undying veracity of a flea?
Alas…
“…I don’t like how you just tossed a young maiden’s marriage as though it were a discount ticket for a few coppers.”
“A-ah… Lingxue, you must realize that to those who walk upon the arduous path of cultivation, obtaining the bare necessities must be accomplished at all costs. Furthermore, pride and dignity won’t be sufficient to feed a starving belly…”
“For an old man like you who is revered and idolized by his students, how could you have ever gotten hungry in your life?”
“…but didn’t I do that for you? With your frail constitution, it would be difficult to travel the entire distance on foot.”
“Then I could have ridden that carriage, and you could have run alongside of it. After all, weren’t you a powerful cultivator that stood at the peak of Dong Lin City?”
The elderly Guardian was harshly criticized by the young girl the instant they stepped forth.
–
A week since she had begrudgingly asked for Wang Qinian’s assistance, An Fei watched the massive stone wall of Dong Lin City diminish into the size of a small pebble in the distance.
The young girl could only release an unconscious sigh filled with emotions upon witnessing the scene, a few ambient thoughts flickering through her mind.
She had only stayed in the city for about a month and a half, and had not obtained much of an impression due to remaining bedridden for at least two weeks. Furthermore, she had not managed to tour through the streets of the city purely for the sake of exploration and enjoyment.
Then, were her ambivalent emotions due to Shen Ming Yue’s actions of kindness and caring?
“Lingxue, are you thinking of something interesting?”
A hoarse voice echoed from the outside of the plain wooden carriage, filled with the perpetually ambiguous and irritating warmth and compassion. The young girl briefly shivered upon hearing the words, only daring to open the windows of the carriage when her mood had settled.
There, the wizened and smiling countenance overlapped the beautiful background with its abhorrent sincerity.
As An Fei’s lips began to draw downwards in frustration, the elderly shopkeeper quickly waved his hands to cut her off.
“Lingxue, Lingxue, you must be careful, ah.”
Wang Qinian gestured with his free hand. The elderly man flapped the reins clutched in his hand to awaken the horses from their momentary lull, returning his gaze onto the young girl’s dismayed countenance with a brilliant and soothing smile.
“Remember, the first step to maintaining a well-natured personality is to remain smiling at all times,” the old man cautioned with his ever-perpetual saintly nature.
“If you’re always smiling with a considerate and sincere intention, it will almost assuredly assure your wellbeing, even if you dare caution into dangerous territory.”
Yes, that saintly and benevolent nature was so damningly abhorrent that it utterly shook off the embers of her malevolence!
“…you must have obtained such extensive experience to be able to state such a declaration with overflowing confidence.”
The young girl grit her teeth with a visibly angered expression, and directly slammed the windows shut in response.
An Fei fumed as she peeled back the curtains covering the exit of the cabin in the carriage, the small figure of a little raven emerging into her view.
The little creature was gnawing at a gingko nut clasped within its claws, whilst retaining a baleful glare onto the horses fervently pulling the carriage at all times.
The reins were not needed; under the violent and bloodthirsty aura leaking from the little raven’s body that threatened to rip their utterly delicate and frail bodies upon the first instance of disobedience, the horses dared not harbor the thought of rebellion.
When the little creature tapped upon the end of the reins loosely hanging on an iron hook nailed into the carriage’s walls, the horses either accelerated or decelerated depending on the faint intricacies behind the movement.
Hence, the carriage managed by a little raven was far more efficient and persevering than that of an aged man skilled in the obscure art of traveling.
It was only that…
“In the end, we’re going to the same Tianfeng City that I spoke of…”
The young girl couldn’t get over the griping fact that despite his logical arguments and benevolent, saintly smile, the elderly shopkeeper had merely agreed to her conjectures from the start.
