The young man shook his head, saying dramatically: “You really want to see… Alright then.”
Yan Xiaohan watched skeptically as he unwrapped the package, revealing a black, nearly three-foot-long—
Firewood stick.
Yan Xiaohan: “…”
The man looked completely innocent: “I told you it wasn’t a sword, but you insisted on seeing.”
The attendants inside covered their mouths and lowered their heads, struggling not to laugh. Yan Xiaohan managed to keep his composure, saying calmly: “Hand it over, don’t bring it inside.”
Forced to compromise, the man didn’t insist, letting go, but muttering before entering: “Stingy. Can’t even let go of a firewood stick.”
Yan Xiaohan finally let him in, while feeling something was slightly off. The man looked young but carried an old traveler’s demeanor, with a subtle cunning in his straightforward eyes. Yan Xiaohan’s probes had been smoothly dodged.
He seemed to have already anticipated entering this temple, so even when Yan Xiaohan drew his sword, he didn’t truly get angry, instead constantly finding ways to mock him.
This precise, cutting way of speaking seemed very familiar.
Unlike Yan Xiaohan’s obvious displeasure, the King of Qi and his attendants were quite friendly to this chance-met young man. While Yan Xiaohan was momentarily distracted, the man had already sat by the fire, stretching and talking—to the inexperienced Prince Qi’s evident interest.
“…My surname is Ren, single character Miao, born lacking water, from Yanzhou. I’ve been traveling and doing justice since I was sixteen… Parents? My parents died early, I grew up eating from many households.”
“I lived in the capital for a while, working as a household guard for a merchant,” he laughed sheepishly, “Sometimes helping neighbors, and… falling for their young lady.”
Yan Xiaohan inwardly scoffed, but Prince Qi loved such romantic stories, more exciting than stage plays, eagerly asking, “And then?”
Ren Miao drank some hot water and continued: “Their business in the capital couldn’t continue, so they rented out their house and returned to their old home in Jingzhou.”
Prince Qi sighed, “What a pity.”
“Not a pity,” Ren Miao laughed, “Aren’t I here looking for her?”
He even turned to look at Yan Xiaohan, who thought: You’re pursuing your love, why are you looking at me?
