Martial Cultivator

Myriad Blessings Sect, relocated with their entire household.

The martial artists of the sect hired more than a dozen horse-drawn carriages for their families to ride in, while they themselves traveled on horseback.

At this moment, the carriages were stopped at the entrance of that small town. The townsfolk rarely saw such a large display, so they took a few extra looks. After looking for a while and failing to see anything noteworthy, they could not be bothered to keep watching.

In front of the leading carriage, a little girl holding a skewer of candied hawthorns, Jiang Xiao’an, looked at the black-robed young man beside her and asked curiously, “Your Excellency, does my master have a good temper? Will he scold people or hit them at the drop of a hat?”

Chen Chao’s injuries had improved quite a bit over these days, and his complexion had become much rosier. At a glance, he no longer looked like someone whose life one worried might slip away at any moment.

That said, no one would think at this point that the young martial artist before them was completely fine.

Hearing the little girl’s question, Chen Chao thought for a moment and smiled. “That guy has a terrible temper. He dares to curse anyone he sees. In this world, I reckon there’s only one person he neither would nor wants to curse.”

The little girl spoke with self-assured cleverness. “I know! That person must be you, Your Excellency!”

As she spoke, the little girl also lifted her head to look toward her own father not far away, a trace of pride in her eyes, as if to say, look, Dad, I got that right. When you reach the Divine Capital, you’re sure to rise smoothly in your official career.

Jiang Wanfu noticed his daughter’s look from afar and felt a bit puzzled, but still instinctively smiled and nodded toward her.

Chen Chao laughed. “That’s not me. If that guy wants to scold me, he won’t consider whether I’m happy or not. He’ll curse me if he feels like it.”

The little girl furrowed her small brows and muttered to herself, “So that’s how it is. Does that mean my master, whom I’ve never met, is very formidable?”

Chen Chao narrowed his eyes and smiled. “It’s just that I have a good temper. As for that guy’s abilities, it’s not considered low either.”

Hearing this, the little girl let out a chuckle, but then quickly became a bit dejected. “But Your Excellency, you still haven’t answered my question.”

Chen Chao slapped his forehead and said with a bit of apology, “Sorry.”

“That punk scolds people as regularly as eating a meal, but I think, faced with such a cute little girl, he probably wouldn’t be able to scold you. It’s fortunate you’re a girl. If you were a boy, that would be hard to say.”

Chen Chao reached out and rubbed the little girl’s head, and also found himself thinking of that little girl who was his last disciple.

This journey away from the Divine Capital, traveling from north to south, had taken quite a long time. Although news of his few disciples came in from time to time, it still could not compare to going back to see them in person.

While he was lost in thought, Jiang Wanfu had already walked over and said softly, “Your Excellency, everything is ready. We can depart at any time.”

Chen Chao nodded and said, “For this trip to the Divine Capital, I’ve already made the arrangements there. Song Lian will be waiting for you in the Divine Capital. The appointment documents can only be approved after I return to the Divine Capital, so I’ll have to trouble you to wait a bit. During these days, you can stroll around the Divine Capital and have a look. The imperial capital of Great Liang is still worth visiting.”

Jiang Wanfu nodded and smiled. “To be honest, my little girl at home has been pestering me for a long time, asking how many good things there are to eat in the Divine Capital. If we had to take up office immediately after arriving, I’d probably have to ask you for leave anyway, to take my daughter around, buy her some good food. And the wife at home needs some rouge and powder as well...”

Chen Chao nodded. Speaking of food, for some reason he thought again of that girl named Zhu Xia. It had been a long time since he last saw her. He reckoned that by now she was no longer small.

He just did not know whether her feelings were still the same.

Chen Chao let out a sigh, deeply troubled.

Afterward, Chen Chao said a few more words to Jiang Wanfu as instructions, then watched as the carriages set off.

Once the group had left the small town, Chen Chao glanced toward a street corner and said helplessly, “Come out.”

Not far away, a woman ran out from that street corner, smiling brightly. “Your Excellency, I hid myself so well, and you could still see me?”

Chen Chao tugged at the corner of his mouth. At his level, let alone this small town, even what movements there were outside the town depended entirely on whether he wanted to know about them.

Besides, were you really sure you had hidden yourself well? That pair of embroidered shoes was just exposed right there in plain sight. It was obvious you wanted to be discovered.

Although he knew this, Chen Chao did not point it out. He went straight to the point and asked, “Madam Redcloud didn’t come looking for you?”

Su Hu shook her head. “She did. Madam told me of your intentions, sir. After I found out, I was heartbroken for quite a while. I don’t even know how many tears I cried.”

Chen Chao furrowed his brows slightly.

Su Hu smiled as she looked at Chen Chao and said softly, “But Your Excellency said something very right. Since the person you like is a girl as outstanding and wonderful as Miss Xie, then your standards are indeed very high. It’s normal that you wouldn’t take a liking to me.”

Chen Chao looked at the woman before him, shook his head, and said, “Actually, you didn’t need to compare yourself with other women. Every woman is unique. There’s no such thing as who is better than whom.”

It was originally a sincere remark, but Su Hu’s next sentence left Chen Chao speechless.

“Lord Warden Commander, but I just want to compare myself with that Miss Xie in your heart. Otherwise, why is it that Your Excellency won’t like me, but will like her?”

Su Hu opened her eyes wide. They looked incomparably pure, like a stretch of clear lake water.

Chen Chao sighed softly. Most things in this world could be resolved with a saber, but the word ‘love’ was the exception. Once you became entangled in it, everything became difficult, unbearably difficult.

However, Su Hu soon broke into a bright smile. “But I know that compared to Miss Xie, I’m far inferior. In this lifetime, there’s no way I could ever compare to her. Still, I think Lord Warden Commander isn’t the type to like someone just because the other person is very good. It’s just that you met Miss Xie first, and from then on your heart couldn’t hold any other women. Among those women, I, Su Hu, am not special.”

Chen Chao nodded. He found this way of putting it rather agreeable. It wasn’t a matter of who came first, nor was it because the girl he liked was the best under heaven and therefore he liked her. Rather, his heart already held one girl, and once that was so, there was no room for any others.

By the time Su Hu reached this point, she had said everything she needed to say. She waved at Chen Chao and smiled. “Lord Warden Commander, have a smooth journey. I hope there will be a chance for us to meet again.”

Chen Chao nodded and said, “Farewell.”

After that, he turned and left the small town, though he was not returning to the Divine Capital. He planned to first go take a look at Tianqing County.

After leaving that small county town back then, he had returned once, but only briefly, coming and going in haste. This time, he intended to go back and have another look.

How was his small courtyard now?

Su Hu stood where she was and watched Chen Chao leave. Only after his figure could no longer be seen did the tears in her eyes finally spill down uncontrollably.

Madam Redcloud walked over from a distance, glanced at Su Hu, her eyes full of heartache. This woman reached out and wiped the tears from the face of the girl she regarded as her own daughter, and softly comforted her, “It’s not your fault. You fell for such a man. But who asked you to fall in love with such a man?”

Madam Redcloud thought for a moment. In the end, there were some words she still did not say aloud. That was that you, Su Hu, would probably keep this matter in your heart, finding it hard to forget for your entire life. But on the other side, it might not be the same. Perhaps he would never regard this as a very significant matter at all, and might not even remember it for long.

Perhaps one day, he would recall that there was once a woman named Su Hu who liked him.

Then, on some later day when he thought of it again, he would only remember that there had once been a woman who liked him.

And after that, he would not even be able to remember the fact that there had once been some woman who liked him at all.

This wasn’t anyone else’s fault, because from the very beginning, he had already done so well that he never gave you even the slightest chance. If anyone was to blame, it was that the person you liked had never been in the same world as you.

______