“Master, I’m back!” Shen Chuyun pushed open the main gate and shouted as she walked inside.
The short, elderly man with white hair but a youthful face was reclining in a chair, reading a letter. Hearing her voice, he hurriedly put the letter away.
“Master, what are you hiding?” Shen Chuyun had sharp eyes and immediately noticed his little movement. She dropped the wild boar and dashed over. “Is it a letter from one of my senior brothers or sisters? I want to read it, too!”
Doudou also ran over curiously and stared at Old Man Xiao with wide wolf eyes, looking adorably silly, just like a husky.
Old Man Xiao waved his hand. “It’s not a letter from your senior brothers or sisters. I was just writing a random medicinal prescription. Oh, come on, don’t snatch it! You little rascal, why are you getting physical? You have absolutely no respect for your elders! Doudou, stop butting in for no reason. Wait a minute! Why are both of you covered in blood? Don’t get any on me!”
“A wild boar wandered into my territory and trampled my chickens to death. Doudou and I teamed up and killed it. I’ll make you a feast tonight!”
Seeing how guilty Old Man Xiao looked, Shen Chuyun immediately sensed something fishy. Without caring about his protests, she began feeling around his clothes, practically hanging off him as she tried to find the letter.
“I want to see it! I want to see it! Master, please let me have a look!”
“Oh, dear! You’re getting my clothes dirty!” Unable to withstand the relentless pestering of the girl and the wolf, Old Man Xiao finally gave in helplessly. “Fine, fine! Stop rummaging through my clothes. I’ll show you!”
He took out the letter.
“This was sent by your Sixth Senior Brother through Chiying.”
After saying that, he deliberately let out a heavy, solemn sigh.
Shen Chuyun gave him a suspicious look. She felt that the old man was acting strangely today.
She unfolded the letter and skimmed through it rapidly. The next moment, she cried out furiously.
“My brother’s leg is broken? And that scumbag of a father of mine is trying to kill him, too? I’m furious!”
She turned to Old Man Xiao, seething with anger.
“Master, I want to leave the valley!”
Old Man Xiao clutched his head, looking as though he had a terrible headache.
“I knew you’d react this way! You’re only nine years old, still just a child. The outside world is chaotic, and I don’t want anything to happen to you. How about waiting a few more years?”
Shen Chuyun stamped her foot, her eyes turning red with anger.
“If I wait a few more years, my brother will be dead! I can’t wait any longer!”
She grabbed Old Man Xiao’s arm and pleaded with him.
“Master, ever since I learned about my background, I’ve wanted to leave the valley and find my brother. But you and my senior brothers and sisters always use my age as an excuse. You keep saying that I’m still too young, that I haven’t grown strong enough to take on the people in the Marquis’s residence, and that I should stay here to learn more skills before leaving.”
“I listened to you all and stayed in the valley to train properly. No matter how exhausting or difficult it was, I persevered.”
“But Master, things have changed now. My brother is going to die! I have to leave the valley. Please, Master! I promise I’ll protect myself. Besides, my senior brothers and sisters are out there, too. If I encounter trouble that I can’t handle, I’ll ask them for help.”
“Master, please let me go!”
All these years, while learning her skills in Qingfeng Valley, Shen Chuyun had never stopped thinking about her mother, her brother, and Xiangyu.
When she was three years old, she deliberately seized an appropriate opportunity to pester her master and senior brothers and sisters until they told her about her background. Only then did she discover that they had investigated her origins long ago.
She had been born into the Ning’an Marquis’s residence in the Great Yu Kingdom as its legitimate eldest daughter. Her mother, Shen Ling, had come from a merchant family, and her older brother was named Su Linzhou, who was six years older than her.
On the night she encountered Master and Sixth Senior Brother, her mother had passed away. Overwhelmed by grief, her brother had gone mad.
There was another girl born on the very same day as Shen Chuyun. Her name was Su Yanhuan, the daughter of Xu Yuru, her father’s mistress.
The ridiculous part was that before Shen Chuyun was even born, a Taoist priest surnamed Wang had visited the marquis’s residence and declared her a bringer of calamity, while Su Yanhuan was supposedly a blessed child.
Her scumbag father had actually believed the charlatan’s words and treated his own daughter as a disaster that needed to be disposed of.
Barely a month after her mother’s death, her despicable father, Su Zhen, married Xu Yuru and granted Su Yanhuan the status of a legitimate daughter.
What nonsense about being a bringer of calamity and a blessed child! It was clearly a scheme devised by her scumbag father and Xu Yuru to frame her.
After learning the truth about her birth, Shen Chuyun had been so furious that she wanted to return to the marquis’s residence immediately, kill those despicable people, and rescue her brother.
But she had only been three years old at the time. She hadn’t mastered her skills yet, and her master and senior brothers and sisters all had their own affairs to attend to. They couldn’t help her.
Going to the marquis’s residence alone would have been no different from walking straight into a trap.
She couldn’t rely on others for everything. She needed to become strong on her own.
So she swallowed her anger and endured, deciding to master her skills first before seeking revenge and rescuing her brother.
Over the years, Sixth Senior Brother had periodically sent Chiying to deliver news. Among those messages were updates about the Ning’an Marquis’s residence.
Knowing that her brother wouldn’t be in immediate danger allowed her to concentrate on her training in peace.
But now her brother was in danger. She couldn’t afford to wait any longer.
“Have you really made up your mind?” Old Man Xiao asked, looking extremely reluctant to let her go. “Your master is getting old and can’t handle too much trouble. I can’t accompany you, so you’ll have to go alone. Do you still want to go?”
Shen Chuyun held on to his arm.
“Master, I want to go, but I’m also worried about you. You’ve been having your episodes more and more frequently over the past two years. What if something happens when you’re having an episode and I’m not here to help you?”
“Pah, pah, pah!” Old Man Xiao lightly tapped her little head. “Nothing is going to happen to me! Whenever I have an episode, it’s other people who end up in trouble. When have I ever been the one to suffer? Alright, stop making that face. I know you’re worried about your brother. Fine, go ahead. Once you’re out there, you must take good care of yourself.”
“Your Sixth Senior Brother is also in the capital. If anything happens, go to him.”
“You must keep the tokens your senior brothers and sisters gave you safe. And memorize the secret signals and addresses they told you about. Otherwise, you might need help while you’re out there and won’t even know where to find them.”
As he spoke, Old Man Xiao went inside to pack his belongings.
“Gold, silver, and jewelry are too inconvenient to carry around. Just take some loose silver and banknotes. Those banknotes have been sitting in the valley for years. It’s finally time to take them out and spend them!”
“Once you’re outside, don’t be stingy with yourself. If you run out of money, go to your Sixth Senior Brother. If he dares to let you go hungry, I’ll break his legs!”
“Oh, right! Take Doudou and Yaya with you.”
“…”
Shen Chuyun listened attentively to Old Man Xiao’s endless stream of instructions. But as she listened, something began to feel wrong.
She frowned.
“Master, weren’t you supposed to help me pack? Why are you packing all your own things?”
Old Man Xiao blinked innocently.
“When did I ever say I was helping you pack? I’m packing my own belongings!”
Shen Chuyun was confused.
“Why are you packing your own things? Are you leaving the valley, too? But didn’t you say that you have too many enemies outside and would be hunted down if you left? You said you hated the trouble and wanted to stay in the valley forever. Just now, you even said you were too old to accompany me to the capital!”
Old Man Xiao played dumb.
“Huh? Did I say that? You must have misheard me. What I said was that staying in the valley is too boring. Your master wants to go out and broaden his horizons. Once you leave, I’ll be all alone here. Do you want me to die of loneliness and old age?”
“Then come with me to the capital and broaden your horizons, Master!”
“No way! I’ve finally raised you, and I don’t want to spend all my time running around after you anymore. I’m going to find your Eldest Senior Brother and make him take care of me in my old age!”
“Master, I can take care of you, too!”
“Master, have you forgotten? Ever since Sixth Senior Brother left, I’ve been the one cooking for you!”
“Have you? I don’t remember.”
“Oh, fine. Then you won’t get any wild boar meat tonight!”
“Don’t, don’t! I was only teasing you! Hehehe! My good disciple, it’s not that I dislike you. It’s just that you’ve spent several years taking care of an old man like me at such a young age. You’ve worked hard enough. It’s time to let someone else take care of me. We can’t let your senior brothers and sisters sit around doing nothing, can we? Tonight, I want braised wild boar meat!”
After the master and disciple finished packing, they went into the courtyard to butcher the wild boar. They selected the best cuts for braised pork and barbecue, leaving the remaining meat for Doudou and Yaya.
Yaya was a crow with a small appetite. After pecking at a few bites, she stopped eating. Doudou dragged all the remaining meat and internal organs into the mountains to share with his wolf brothers.
After eating their fill and resting for the night, the master and disciple rose early at the Mao hour, around five to seven in the morning. With the white wolf and a water buffalo carrying their luggage, they left the mountains.
Once they reached the outside world, the master and disciple parted ways at a fork in the road.
One headed toward the capital of the Great Yu Kingdom, while the other set off to travel around and enjoy the scenery, while also finding a disciple to support him in his old age.
Riding on the wolf, Shen Chuyun faced the rising sun and gazed toward the east.
“Ning’an Marquis’s residence, get ready to welcome your legitimate eldest daughter!”
“Caw!”
Yaya flew past overhead, her cry loud and piercing. Under the sunlight, her outstretched wings displayed a dazzling, iridescent black that shimmered with every color of the rainbow.