Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 134 Just tell me whether you want to stay or not

"No, no, it's just two decks, not worth much, it's okay."

As the man finished speaking, the boatman quickly waved his hands, looking terrified, not daring to mention the matter of compensation at all.

Are you kidding? He's a strong man who can even break hardwood floors if he steps back subconsciously. How dare you ask him to accompany you?
It's crushed, leaving cracks in the footprints, not broken. If this happens to you, how can you survive?
You must know that the Gao family is on the boat now. They have surrendered, but the Gao family has left, so you have to return. What if they are holding a grudge and waiting here? By then, the money from just two pieces of wood will not be enough to buy the coffin lid.

Having been making a living outside for many years, the boatmen are very familiar with all these intricacies. They are all survival experiences. There are many people who are blinded by a little money on this Qingping River.

Chen Xuan took a look at the damaged area and found it was indeed harmless. It was not a critical place like the bottom of the ship, nor was it part of the hull skeleton structure or the mast. It was really nothing. Anyone with the materials and a little carpentry skills could repair it.

However, the visitor was very stubborn. He glared at me and said, "I must accompany you. Otherwise, if this gets out, people who don't know me will think I'm a bully. I don't want to have a bad reputation."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xuan felt both amused and confused. Wow, brother, your adjective is really unique. I don't know where you heard it from, but you just forced it to be used. I'm afraid you haven't read many books.

Generally speaking, martial arts have little to do with literacy, as long as you have a master to teach you.

There are many illiterate warriors in the world. Although they can't read a single word, they still have developed great skills.

Of course, this situation is mostly limited to the innate realm. It is rare for an illiterate person to reach the innate realm. If you want to climb to a higher realm, you cannot do it without being illiterate.

As he spoke, he looked at the places he had stepped on and his tough tone suddenly became a little hesitant. He said, "For those things I stepped on, five...three taels of silver is enough, right?"

The boatman panicked and said quickly, "No need, sir, really no need."

"Isn't that enough?" the man glared again.

The boatman waved his hands quickly, and said anxiously, "That's enough..."

"Then it's settled. Three taels of silver, I'll give it to you," he seemed to be relieved and said, and quickly took out a silver ingot from his waist, weighed it, broke off a part, weighed it again, and estimated that it was about right. He raised his hand and used some skill to throw almost three taels of silver into the hands of the boatman.

As the boatman frantically caught it, he added, "I'm giving you the money now, but you can't accuse me of bullying you, and you can't spread bad words about me."

Chen Xuan, who witnessed the whole process, suspected that this guy was just trying to get close to the fat man, but then he changed his mind and removed the word "suspicion". Even a normal person could see the pain in his eyes when he took out the money.

The boatman said with a troubled look on his face, "Well, my dear, I haven't finished what I'm saying yet. What I mean is, if you really want to accompany me, this amount of silver is too much. Three taels of silver at most will be enough. It's just two pieces of wood, and you have to include the labor. Three taels of silver is more than enough."

As soon as these words were spoken, the corners of that guy's mouth trembled visibly. Damn, you gave me too much. That's all my hard-earned money.

Glancing around discreetly, he thought to himself that while being bold and generous might make him feel happy, he wasn't rich at all. That was all money. So, he coughed lightly, his face agitated, not daring to look at anyone else. He said with a slight timidity, "Give me back the extra money. We won't lose out. Isn't that the truth?"

"That's right, I'll go find some scissors and cut off the excess and return it to you." The boatman nodded quickly, thinking that it was you who insisted on paying, so it's only right that I return the excess. At least you won't cause me trouble later.

The man was relieved to have recovered his lost silver. He did not care about anything else and grinned, saying, "Why go through so much trouble? Just throw the silver to me and I will grab a little bit."

"Okay, thank you for your help, sir," the boatman did as he was told.

Silver is soft in texture, and anyone with a certain level of internal strength can knead it like dough. This is nothing for people who practice martial arts. Not to mention silver, even Chen Xuan can use his fingers to grind gold into hair-sized gold threads.

But in the eyes of ordinary people, this method is already amazing. How much strength must be required to twist the head? It is probably no more difficult than twisting a red melon.

Chen Xuan and the others who witnessed this process almost burst out laughing. This guy is so interesting. He knows to hide from the rain and insists on getting on this boat. He knows when to retreat when he is being beaten. He will compensate others if he breaks their things. He puffs up his face and pretends to be heroic in front of the fat man, saying that he cares about his reputation, but he can also sacrifice his face to get the extra part back.

Well, I am a bit straightforward, but not stupid.

After they divided the money, the man looked around and said as if everyone had seen it, "Look, it was my fault for trespassing on your property. I apologize to everyone and I'll pay for the broken items. If nothing else, I'll leave now."

"Go ahead," Geng Hong nodded, actually he wanted to hold back his laughter.

Zhao Erhe and the others lowered their heads and shrugged their shoulders. He had forgotten the pain he had felt before.

Seeing that everything was fine, he turned around and was about to use his lightness skills to leave, but he was dumbfounded the moment he turned around, because in this moment, the boat did not stop, and moved another hundred feet, and was twice as far away from the dock as before he got on the boat.

With such a wide distance, he couldn't get back even if he used his lightness skills, and he would definitely fall into the water.

At this moment, he felt like crying but couldn't. What the hell was going on? He came here to avoid the rain, but he paid money and ended up falling into the water. He might as well have stayed on the shore, where at least he had an umbrella. However, he wasn't welcome here, and he couldn't fight them. What else could he do? He could just fall into the water. At worst, he could swim across. He hoped they wouldn't look at him after he left, and that no one would see his miserable side.

"See you later," he said in a cool and heroic manner, taking a deep breath and preparing to use his lightness skills to leave.

Gao Jingming was probably amused by his previous actions. It was rare to meet such an interesting person, and there was no threat, so he said from the second-floor window: "Uncle, please stay."

Chen Xuan was not surprised. He felt that the other person was quite "pitiful" and wanted to give him a ride, but Xiao Gao did not ask for his opinion, so he did not speak up and take the initiative to do him a favor.

But no matter what, he should not relax his vigilance in secret. You can't judge a person by his appearance. The accident with Lao Liu taught him a hard lesson, and he never wants to make a similar mistake a second time.

The guy had just taken a breath and was about to perform his Qinggong when Gao Jingming spoke, nearly giving him a stitch in the side. He turned around and said anxiously, "I can't beat you in a fight, and I've already paid for the broken things. What else do you want?"

From the tone of his voice, Chen Xuan was afraid that he would say something like "I really want to beat you to death" the next moment.

I guess he really thought so in his heart.

Gao Jingming pointed to the sky and said, "Uncle, it's raining, and it's getting heavier. As the saying goes, 'No fight, no acquaintance,' and meeting each other is fate. Why don't you stay and rest your feet to avoid the rain? Although the boat is crowded, you still can squeeze in a little bit. What do you think?"

He was speaking up for Geng Hong and the others. After all, they had said before that the boat was crowded, but in fact it was very empty and could accommodate dozens more people.

The man hesitated for a moment, very tempted, but embarrassed, and said stubbornly, "If you don't welcome me here, why do you keep me here? He just said there's no room for me up here."

As he said this, he pointed at Zhao Erhe.

Big brother, your brain must be made of steel. Just take advantage of the opportunity I give you. Chen Xuan has made me lose my temper.

Gao Jingming didn't care, pointing ahead and said happily: "Look, we have entered the canyon, you can't go back."

Indeed, the boat was now four or five hundred feet away from the small pier. He couldn't go back with his lightness skills, so falling into the water was inevitable. If he wasn't careful, an accident might happen. After all, it was cold in spring, and people consumed a lot of energy in the water.

The guy said with a dark face: "It's all because of you that I wasted time. Otherwise, where would I be able to go back?"

Meeting this kind of person is fun, but sometimes it is tiring. Gao Jingming simply said, "Then just tell me whether you want to stay or not. If you want to leave, I won't stop you."

"If I stay, I can go feed the fish. I, I will pay the boat fare, but you can't cheat me with a random quote." He nodded immediately. Although he was arguing, he was very sensible.

Probably because he had learned his lesson from his previous outrageous behavior, he also remembered to remind people not to charge random ship fares.

At this time, Chen Xuan was not sure whether he was really stupid or just pretending to be stupid.

That's it, why do you have to make everyone embarrassed? Gao Jingming said with a smile: "Let's go back to the cabin, Master Geng, please help him find some dry clothes, and everyone can go in to avoid the rain, they are all wet."

"No, I won't take your clothes for free, but I can't bear to spend money to buy them," he shook his head, and immediately his internal energy circulated. Water mist rose from his body, and his clothes became visibly dry.

He originally thought that everyone would look at him differently if he showed off his skills, but it turned out that everyone except the boatman seemed to be used to it, which made him feel a little embarrassed.

Internal energy is so magical that it can achieve different effects when used in different martial arts. Of course, if you insist on using your icy internal energy to perform fierce martial arts, the effect will be greatly reduced, if not better than nothing, but it will still be effective.

The same internal force exhibits different characteristics, depending on the meridian route through which the internal force of martial arts flows. For example, if it is of a fiery nature, the meridian route through which the internal force flows must pass through the heart. The heart belongs to fire, so the martial arts performed will have a scorching effect.

Anyway, according to Chen Xuan's understanding, internal force is energy, meridians are circuits, and the human body is hardware. Energy passes through different circuits and can exhibit different characteristics under the influence of hardware. It is truly magical.

As they entered the boat one after another, Gao Jingming turned around and said excitedly: "Come on, Xuan, let's go meet this person. This is my first time meeting someone from the underworld."

It seems that this is why you kept him. Could it be that you were influenced by your childhood hobby? It has been so long since you read the White Horse Swordsman's Adventures. Why are you still so curious about the martial arts world?
Xiao Cai and the others had never shown up in the house, but they knew what was happening outside. They couldn't help but worry and said, "Master, I'm afraid this is not appropriate. After all, this person's origins are unknown."

After a moment's hesitation, Gao Jingming also knew the seriousness of the matter, but quickly said: "It's okay, Master Geng and the others are here, and I am not a pushover either."

“It’s better to be careful.”

"Well, I know my limits..."

(End of this chapter)