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

After settling in, the sun was already nearing its zenith.

Gu Xuan was assigned to the east wing room.

The main room on the west side was occupied by Su Wanning.

Lin Ji had no choice but to compromise and move in with Liu Qingzhu and Bai Yu'er.

He suffered a lot of disdain from Bai Yu'er for this.

"Come on, I'll take you to eat something authentic." Lin Ji dusted himself off and walked out first.

The group followed him, winding their way through a narrow alley.

The alleyway was filled with the rich aroma of meat mixed with the wheat fragrance of steamed buns, making one's stomach rumble.

An old wooden sign hangs on the mud-brick house at the entrance of the alley, which reads "Old Ma's Lamb Stew with Flatbread". The curtain on the door is lifted outwards, and the heat inside is constantly billowing out.

The group entered the shop.

The shop had only a few wooden tables, all shiny and greasy, and was filled with diners, all sweating profusely as they ate.

The owner, a ruddy-faced man wearing an apron, called out loudly, "Please come in and have a seat! What would you like?"

Lin Ji spoke fluent and authentic Shaanxi dialect: "Three steamed buns for one person, one bowl of double-filling bread, one bowl of regular bread, one bowl of vegetarian bread, and three persimmons, iced."

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper chuckled: "Judging from your accent, you're from the same hometown?"

"Yes, I went south a few years ago, and I'm just coming back for a visit," Lin Ji said with a smile.

Bai Yu'er sat beside her, her eyes wide open.

Only after the boss called out to prepare the food did she come closer and whisper, "When did you start speaking the local dialect again? I didn't know that."

"What's so strange about that?" Lin Ji picked up the large bowl of tea, took a sip, and said, "Having lived for almost a hundred years, speaking with all sorts of accents, can't you even learn something this simple?"

"You old rascal." Bai Yu'er scoffed and poked his arm. "You're bragging about your age again."

Before long, the owner brought over a large bowl, and a steaming bowl of mutton stew was laid out on the table.

The soup is rich and the meat is tender. The steamed buns are soaked in the broth and topped with scallions and chili oil, and the aroma is irresistible.

The persimmons, bright red and covered with a thin layer of frost, are placed in a small dish.

Lin Ji picked up his chopsticks, stirred the food, and began to eat heartily.

Bai Yu'er also enjoyed the meal. She was originally from the north and often ate this before fleeing from war when she was a child. This familiar taste brought tears to her eyes.

Su Wanning frowned, took a small sip of soup, and put down her chopsticks.

She's from the south and doesn't like the strong smell of mutton.

Gu Xuan also ate slowly, taking small bites of the steamed bun, clearly not quite used to it.

"If you don't like it, eat less. We'll find something else to eat later," Lin Ji said to Su Wanning, then put a piece of mutton into Bai Yu'er's bowl: "Eat more."

As he was eating, Lin Ji's gaze paused slightly, sweeping across the alleyway entrance.

Several people were standing at the entrance of the alley, the one in the lead being the young master Wang from the boat, his left hand still in a sling, his face still pale.

Beside him was a fat man in a silk mandarin jacket, with a mustache, bowing and scraping as he spoke.

Young Master Wang's gaze swept over and met Lin Ji's eyes.

His face turned pale instantly, as if he had seen a ghost. He subconsciously shrank back, then suddenly turned around, tugged at the fat man's sleeve, and hurried towards another alley, his steps hurried, as if afraid of being caught.

Upon seeing this, Liu Qingzhu slammed his hand on the hilt of his sword, his eyes turning cold.

Lin Ji tapped the table lightly with his fingertips and said through his earpiece, "There are too many people around, let's eat first."

Liu Qingzhu paused for a moment, then slowly loosened the sword hilt, lowered her head and continued drinking her soup, as if she hadn't seen anything.

Ma Jinbiao, the fat man beside Young Master Wang, saw Young Master Wang's reaction.

He followed the gaze he had just seen and saw an old man with a gray beard sitting in the mutton stew shop with three girls. He looked quite ordinary.

He began to have doubts.

What's wrong with Young Master Wang?

He rolled his eyes and winked at the underlings behind him.

The younger brother nodded, then quietly slipped along the wall and crept towards the paomo (pita bread soaked in mutton soup) shop.

Lin Ji, who was in the shop, had a slight smile on his lips, as if he hadn't noticed.

He picked up a mouthful of vermicelli with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

This county town is indeed very lively.

……

It's colder in the north than in the south.

The chirping of autumn insects ceased at night.

The courtyard was quiet, and the shadow of the old locust tree was cast on the ground, stretched long by the moonlight.

Bai Yu'er went to Su Wanning's room, but Su Wanning was already asleep.

Inside the main room, Lin Ji sat by the oil lamp, flipping through the local county gazetteer that Gu Xuan had found, his fingertips slowly tracing the pages.

"Clatter".

A soft sound came from outside the wall, like the sound of a pebble falling to the ground.

Lin Ji's hands didn't stop turning the pages, as if he hadn't heard.

Immediately afterwards, four dark figures appeared on the wall. They were all masked and holding steel knives. With extremely light movements, they jumped into the courtyard with a few "thuds".

The leader lowered his voice and shouted in a hoarse tone:

"Listen up, you inside! If you know what's good for you, come out obediently, kowtow to Young Master Wang to apologize, and cripple your right hand. Otherwise, we'll burn this courtyard down, and no one—men, women, or children—will escape!"

There was no response from inside the house.

The leader snorted coldly and waved his hand: "Charge in! Chop the men down, spare the women, and send them to Young Master Wang!"

Several men, carrying knives, crouched low and crept into the main room.

Just as I reached the middle of the courtyard, the door to the side room creaked open.

Liu Qingzhu walked out, dressed in green, holding a short sword in her hand, her long hair loosely tied up, looking like a cold plum blossom in the moonlight.

"Just the few of you?" Her voice was soft, with a hint of coldness.

The group paused for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Oh, there's a little beauty here!" the leader leered. "Perfect, grab her and let her warm Young Master Wang's bed too!"

As he spoke, he swung his knife and lunged forward, the wind from the blade carrying a stench of blood, aiming straight for Liu Qingzhu's face.

Liu Qingzhu's figure swayed, and he drifted away like a wisp of green smoke.

The short sword was drawn, its cold light flashing.

"Whoosh—"

too fast.

No one saw how she made the move; they only heard a very faint sound of metal entering flesh.

The two men at the front each had a thin line of blood on their throats, their eyes wide open, knives raised in the air, when they fell straight down with two "plop" sounds, blood gushing from their throats, staining the yellow earth beneath their feet red.

The remaining three were dumbfounded.

They were all ruthless figures in the underworld, their hands stained with blood, but they had never seen such a fast sword.

"Attack together!" The leader gritted his teeth and roared, and the three of them pounced in a triangular formation, their blades flashing in a blur.

Liu Qingzhu remained calm and composed, circulating her inner energy from the Heavenly Evolution Technique. Her figure was unpredictable, and the short sword in her hand seemed to come alive, each strike precisely hitting the opponent's weaknesses.

"what!"

A scream rang out as a person's wrist was severed, and the knife fell to the ground.

Two more muffled thuds followed, and the remaining two men, each with a sword in their chest and throat, collapsed limply to the ground.

It took no more than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea.

The five thugs lay motionless on the ground.

Liu Qingzhu twirled her sword and sheathed it.

Not a single drop of blood stained the sword.

The door to the woodshed opened, and Gu Xuan walked out, glancing at the corpse on the ground with an expressionless face.