Chapter 147 – A chance encounter
Chapter 147 – A chance encounter
(Friday’s regular release.)
Jun Wu Yi’s eyes were half shut since he felt a bit intoxicated after clearing his nephew’s doubt. Jun Wu Yi had grown accustomed to being corrected by his young nephew nowadays, and this was a rare event where he had gotten a chance to lend his experience to his nephew.
“Let’s go and watch the show.” Jun Mo Xie squinted his eyes. The three princes were definitely up to no good, and no matter what the king had in mind, he didn’t trust the three princes to do anything favorable for the Jun Family.
The seven brothers of the Dugu Family cheered in unison; Dugu Xiao Yi also nodded while still holding Little White in her arms and then slowly leaned closer to Jun Mo Xie and whispered in his ear: “That whole scene was our secret, right? I will not speak about it to any, and I won’t ask you to either.”
She paused for a second and then continued: “But if there’s anything at all, you will tell me, right?” Jun Mo Xie turned around to look at her. As he looked into the eyes of the young maiden, he sensed a delicate trace of shyness and affection in them, but her eyes still looked firm: I am determined to never harm you, and nor will I ever embarrass you. Her eyes were clearly expressing these words.
At this moment, the warmth of a strange feeling softened Jun Mo Xie’s heart, and he raised his hand to stroke her hair, but didn’t speak anything in reply. There was no need for words here!
Pop! Jun Mo Xie suddenly felt a force on his hand as a big hand slapped his palm aside; Dugu Chong was staring at him red-eyed: “Boy, you think you can treat my sister cheaply whenever you feel like it? If you touch her again then I’ll cut your hand off!”
That mild feeling of warmth which had just smoldered in the hitman’s heart suddenly vanished.
Dugu Xiao Yi watched the sharp transformation in his expression, but could only apologetically smile at him in compensation.
As they moved through the crowded street of the capital, the Dugu Brothers intentionally kept themselves positioned between Jun Mo Xie and their sister. Jun Mo Xie was moving very quickly, and was constantly switching directions, and soon managed to put a distance between himself and the others; soon enough, he disappeared into the crowd.
The young maiden continued to look for Jun Mo Xie for a while, but couldn’t find him; she helplessly glanced over at her brothers and pouted in disapproval. Little White on the other hand, had already gone off to sleep in her arms by now. Even though the young cub seemed full of energy after his successful evolution, he was actually very tired since the process had been very difficult and painful. However, since he was very excited, he couldn’t help jumping about; but now that things had calmed down from his perspective, he fell into a deep sleep like any other child; a very deep and special sleep.
After successfully blending into the crowd, Jun Mo Xie couldn’t help but feel a sense of relaxation. Even though he was only walking forward aimlessly, but he felt as if a great pressure had been lifted off his shoulders since he no longer had that little girl around to bind him down.
Little did the amateur realize that his silhouette had already been imprinted into the mind of the young maiden; and even though that impression wasn’t the best, it had certainly left a very deep imprint!
“So, it’s that kid again huh. Ha ha, the last we met, you abused me, and then you turned around and left. But today you can’t leave.” A familiar voice sounded from Jun Mo Xie’s left hand side. Jun Mo Xie turned around and saw a middle aged man walking towards him with a smile on his face; the man was being followed by two bodyguards. The man raised his hand to pat Jun Mo Xie’s broad but thin and slender shoulders.
The Jun Mo Xie who had previously occupied this body had already damaged the physique of this body to such an extent due to his eating, drinking and ‘entertainment’ habits that this raw body wasn’t worth more than garbage after his exit. After the hitman had taken the command of this corporeal body, even his extensive training and the support of the Hongjun Pagoda were only able to tune the muscle structure of the body. As far as general appearance was concerned, his body still looked very similar to the one which had been left behind by the debauchee.
Jun Mo Xie flashed backwards and escaped his hand. The hitman wasn’t accustomed to being touched by random strangers without notice, and was quite surprised to realize that he hadn’t acted to launch a reflexive counter attack in return. Jun Mo Xie raised his eyebrows and said: “Neither can you.”
Although he had only seen a glimpse of the man, the hitman was quickly able to recall that this was the same man who he had met on that rainy mid-autumn afternoon, when he had ventured out to the little shop. As chance has it…. that was day when Jun Mo Xie had acquired the Peak level Nine Xuan Core.
Today, that very same peak of level nine Xuan Core had attracted a strong external interference, putting the Tian Xiang City in a delicate situation; and coincidentally, he had bumped into that very same man again. Jun Mo Xie just sighed deeply as he wondered, the world really is round… and small…..
“I don’t want to.” The middle-aged man didn’t seem to take any offence to Jun Mo Xie’s movement, and laughed: “I wonder why we have met again in world full of so many people, little brother. It seems that we are destined to meet each other by fate.”
Jun Mo Xie sensed a hilarious contrast in this situation; he had always used ‘destined to meet by fate’ phrase to charm Dugu Xiao Yi in order to extract undue advantages, and now this big man was suddenly using the same phrase on him to make unwanted advances; in fact, he almost felt as if he was being molested by this big man. Jun Mo Xie finally understood Dugu Xiao Yi’s perspective; but why is a middle-aged man saying this to me? Is he interested in young boys….?
“Since we’re destined to meet each other, what should I call you?” Jun Mo Xie knew that he hadn’t been in a good mood at the time of their previous encounter, and had inadvertently cursed the man.
“Hmm…. You’re trying to dodging the bullet here kid. That day when you came into the Old Song Tavern, you abused this old man, didn’t you?” the middle-aged man said out aloud: “You said that my cherished wine wasn’t good enough for you, wasn’t that an abuse? And then you said that there isn’t a man who is worthy of drinking on the same table as you! That sentence clearly indicated that I wasn’t qualified enough to keep you company…. That certainly qualifies as an abuse, doesn’t it? hmmm….”
Jun Mo Xie inwardly exclaimed twice as he stared at the face of that ‘old man’; then looked at the man’s body from top to bottom, and guessed that the man was no more than forty…. He’s claiming to be an old man? Has the word ‘old’ lost its value in this world? He’s in his thirties…. forty at best… and he’s still calling himself an ‘old man’? That’s a bit weird…..
“Finally willing to admit it?” the middle-aged man smiled slyly: “If you’re really sorry, then how do you think you should apologize for it?”
Jun Mo Xie was left speechless, is this person real? Unable to come up with anything else, he said: “I would make amends to you, but being shameless is the style at this time of the year.”
“Cough….” The middle-aged man coughed for a second and then broke into a laughter: “Only a real gentleman is capable of cursing another man without making it seem dirty. But how did a young lad such as yourself manage to get away from an old man like me?”
“Ten years could be the same as one, and one year could be the same as ten. If we meet again and I’m the father of seven or eight children by then, then I could also claim to be an old man, but would I really be old? Who can say for sure….” Jun Mo Xie snorted back.
“Ha ha ha……. So be it, but stop teasing me; come and join me for a drink.” The middle-aged man laughed heartily, and then started pulling Jun Mo Xie along.
“Do I know you? What makes you think that you can pull me for a drink so casually?” Jun Mo Xie frowned.
“When you meet someone by chance, you always stop for a drink; no matter east or west. Then, why should I care about your identity?” The eccentric middle-aged man smiled: “Since we have agreed that we were destined to meet by fate, then why shouldn’t we drink a few cups of wine?!”
“You’ve got a point!” Jun Mo Xie suddenly felt as if this this guy had an appetite for sly words and he suddenly felt as if he had met someone he could be friends with for the first time in his entire life; naturally Jun Mo Xie was interested in having a drink with that man now.
In fact, the hitman had never made many friends in his previous life either; he had always been a bit of a loner….
“Are you waiting to see Yu Tang’s state teacher, Fei Meng Chen’s entry into the city?” the middle-aged man smiled subtly.
“Why not? I think that a scene as lively as this one must be looked at; after all, the state teacher of another country is making his entry into ours… it should be a fun sight.” Jun Mo Xie smiled merrily.
“Watch the crowd? That’s good, but in the end they are all just a bunch of this Empire’s enemies accompanied by an old bastard, who will now be allowed to openly walk around the city with selfish intentions concealed in their hearts!” the man’s smile seemed to be fading at this point: “Today we are welcoming them, but no matter how enthusiastically we honor them, when the two armies come face to face in war, no one will show any leniency while killing the other! So, what’s the point of such a big charade?!”
“Yu Tang Empire’s state teacher or not, I don’t really care!” the middle-aged man seemed very dissatisfied.
“Well said.” Jun Mo Xie applauded: “That remark itself is enough to drink two cups of wine.”
“You say that the Old Song’s wine isn’t good enough? Have you ever tasted the rarest of their rarest wines?” the middle-aged didn’t seem to be mocking him, and it appeared as if he was genuinely thinking of a very rare and high-quality wine.
Jun Mo Xie chose to keep his head down, and said: “I will not dilute the argument by speaking against something I’ve never experienced; the facts always speak louder than words to a fair mind!” The middle-aged man laughed since he realized that he’d have to prove his argument, and drew Jun Mo Xie along with him.
The gates opened and the Great Prince received the Yu Tang Empire’s state teacher as the guest strode into the city with at least a dozen horses by his side, and rode to the Prince’s side through the welcoming ranks of the City’s royal soldiers, which lined up along the street to greet him. As they strode through the street, the Great Prince maintained a tall and straight posture on his horse back. Seemingly in high-spirits, the Great Prince would often talk and smile with his guest while pointing at the streets, almost as if he was introducing the city to the Yu Tang Empire’s state teacher.
The middle-aged man turned around to look at the Prince one last time, sighed, shook his head, and then turned away.
The Middle-aged man led Jun Mo Xie through some of the narrower alleys of the city, and kept turning left and right on short intervals, almost as if he was extremely familiar with the map of the city, and soon reached the Old Song Tavern. Jun Mo Xie looked at the man’s dressing and wondered, That seemed a bit weird for a man of his status, right? How’s this man so familiar with the trails of this market?
“The last time we met at this Old Song Tavern, you told me that you had tasted better wines… so now quickly bring out that better wine and show it to this old man.” As Jun Mo Xie heard these words, and the manner in which they were spoken, he suddenly felt as if he had been betrayed. His posture seems to resemble that of a hitman looking at the bounty on the head of his employer’s enemy…..
“What? What do you mean by that?” Jun Mo Xie widened his eyes as he stared at the man.