Republic of China era: A hundred-year-old still practicing martial arts? Is that right?

Bai Yu'er chased after him from inside the door and stuffed a heavy cloth bag into Lin Ji's arms.

Inside the cloth bag were four or five small porcelain bottles.

"I've already repackaged the Dragon Tiger Strength Pills." She sniffed, speaking rapidly, "Ten pills per bottle, in the inner pocket, won't get lost."

He kept rambling on and on, talking about trivial things.

Lin Ji listened quietly without interrupting her.

After she finished speaking, he reached out and ruffled the top of her head.

"understood."

"What do you know?" Bai Yu'er finally couldn't hold back her tears, which fell down in a steady stream, but she refused to back down: "You're not allowed to be reckless outside, you're not allowed to get hurt, you're not allowed... you're not allowed to not come back."

"Um."

"Sister Shen!" Bai Yu'er turned her head, "Say something too!"

Shen Jinluan leaned against the doorframe, twirling the jade pipe between her fingers, laughing carefree:

"What did I say? Old man, the girls outside aren't as good as those at home, and you're not allowed to pick the wildflowers by the roadside."

Everyone: "..."

She completely disrupted the heavy atmosphere.

Amidst the laughter and chatter, a steady series of footsteps echoed from the alley entrance.

Li Shuwen, carrying a heavy iron spear, walked in the morning light. When he stood there, the entire alley seemed to shrink by half.

"It's time to go."

His gaze swept over the crowd, finally settling on Lin Ji.

Lin Ji cupped his hands in greeting and stepped aside to let Su Wanning behind him pass: "I'm bringing a young lady along; it's on my way."

Li Shuwen glanced at Su Wanning.

Su Wanning felt a tightness in her heart when he looked at her; his gaze was like a knife, making her hair stand on end.

"Only to the provincial capital," Li Shuwen said calmly, withdrawing his gaze.

"That's enough, thank you."

Lin Ji took one last look at the alley he had walked through for a hundred years, and at the people at the alley entrance whose eyes were red with tears.

He didn't say anything more.

Turn around and take a step.

Some farewells, the more you say them, the harder it is to leave.

……

After leaving the city, we walked for more than ten miles.

On the official road, Lin Ji suddenly heard a voice trembling with sobs:

"Old man, where are we?"

It's Bai Yu'er.

The Spirit Communication Plug.

"We've just passed Shili Slope." Lin Ji smiled. "Not crying anymore?"

"Who's crying! I... I just asked if you brought your medicine."

"It's all packed, the inner pocket is sewn very securely."

Before he could finish speaking, Shen Jinluan's languid voice interrupted:

"Come on, Yu'er, who was just crying into their pillow? Old man, ignore her. I'm here, she can't cause any trouble. Just keep moving forward, if you can't beat them, run away. There's no shame in running away."

She paused, her voice softening slightly:

"...Remember to think of us."

"Yes."

The last sound to ring was Liu Qingzhu's.

She only said one sentence, clear and cold, like the water of a mountain stream:

"Uncle Lin, Yuanbao didn't cry today."

I cried.

Lin Ji paused in his steps.

The autumn sun shone on the official road, its warmth dazzling.

He touched the cork in his ear and whispered, "Wait for me to come back."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the stopper.

Immediately, three voices rang out, one after the other.

"it is good."

……

On the same day, at noon.

In the streets and alleys of Jiangcheng, wanted posters with the paste still wet were plastered all over the walls.

The wanted poster depicts an elderly man with a gun and sharp, piercing features.

The charge was that he broke into the British consulate at night and attacked and killed British personnel, which constituted the crime of banditry.

More and more people gathered in front of the notice, and their expressions became increasingly strange.

"This...isn't this Old Master Lin?"

"Old Master Lin, who raided the Japanese consulate and uncovered evidence of crimes in the dungeon!"

"He's become a bandit? Then what are the rest of us?"

"Shh! Keep your voice down!"

Someone in the crowd spat out a curse:

"Pah! What kind of world is this!"

That spit was right on the corner of the wanted poster.

Nobody bothered to clean it.

At the back of the crowd, an elderly man with white hair squeezed forward, trembling as he reached out and gently smoothed down a corner of the wanted poster that had been blown up by the autumn wind.

He bowed respectfully to the figure holding a gun in the portrait.

People around him were watching him.

No one laughed at him.

One by one, more and more people silently lowered their heads in front of that wanted poster.

The patrolmen maintaining order stood aside, saw it, but turned their faces away, pretending not to see it.

That night, storytellers in several teahouses in the city all started telling new stories, without prior arrangement.

The book is titled "Old Master Lin Killed the Consulate with Three Shots".

……

The official road leads north.

The three of them traveled for five days.

Li Shuwen was a man of few words. He traveled during the day and meditated at night, and his heavy iron spear was always with him.

Su Wanning was a little reserved at first, but she got used to it after a few days.

This northern hero may look intimidating, but he is actually very thoughtful. When they camped out, he always gave her the sheltered spot.

During their nighttime rest, Lin Ji cleaned his gun by the campfire.

Li Shuwen glanced at it occasionally and suddenly blurted out:

"A gun is an inanimate object, but intent is alive. Your gun has too much killing intent. Only by suppressing it can you go far."

It has no beginning and no end.

Lin Ji, however, felt as if he had struck gold and pondered it all night.

The next day, when he set off again, the sound of his gunshots was indeed a bit less sharp.

Su Wanning sat on the other side of the fire, unable to understand a word, yet she memorized every single one.

One night, she couldn't hold back any longer and whispered to Li Shuwen:

"Senior, where are we going?"

"Beiping"

"What are you going to Beiping for?"

Li Shuwen kept his eyes closed and did not answer.

She increasingly felt that the two people she was following were hiding a bottomless abyss within them.

On the sixth day at noon, a county town appeared at the end of the official road.

Qingyuan County.

With only two days' journey remaining to the provincial capital, the number of pedestrians and carriages on the official road has noticeably increased.

"Let's rest here for a day," Li Shuwen said succinctly.

As the three approached the city gate, Su Wanning suddenly stopped.

The city wall was covered with portraits.

One layer of paste covers another, the new one pressing down on the old.

The portrait depicts an elderly man holding a gun, with sharp, piercing features.

"Lin Ji, a bandit, broke into the British Consulate at night and killed British personnel. A reward of five thousand silver dollars will be given."

Five thousand silver dollars.

Su Wanning gasped and instinctively looked at Lin Ji.

The soldiers guarding the city were checking each person one by one, their eyes scanning the faces of passersby.

"Let's go." Lin Ji said without changing his expression.

"Uncle Lin, your face..." Su Wanning said in a low voice, her voice urgent.

Although the portrait only captured seven-tenths of the likeness, there were so many of them in the city; what if you bumped into someone with a sharp eye...

Lin Ji smiled.

He raised his hand and slowly wiped his face.

Just one.

Su Wanning watched as his face fell even further.

His skin was loose, the wrinkles on his face were deep, his back was hunched, and even his eyes were cloudy. The vigor he had just had had completely dissipated, making him look exactly like a centenarian on the verge of death.

"You..." Su Wanning covered her mouth.

Li Shuwen's pupils contracted slightly as he gave Lin Ji a deep look.

Change its appearance and restrain its energy.

He had never heard of such methods before.

"Let's go, granddaughter." Lin Ji winked at her, his voice sounding old and hoarse.