My Cheap Grandson

"It could be considered a promise."

Chen Guan suddenly smiled.

"In a few days, I'll be heading out. Before I go, if the opportunity presents itself, I'd still like to clear a few things up.

By then, Constable Yan, you'll understand everything."

About the fact that he was the Black Bear Spirit.

Chen Guan had actually wanted to tell him.

After all, "If you return home in glory but never show it, it's like wearing fine clothes to walk in the dark."

But more importantly, the Scroll spoke of "karma."

So Chen Guan wanted to set a few things straight and tell Constable Yan that he hadn't actually broken his promise all those years ago.

It would also settle a bond of karma with a Knight-Errant from the jianghu.

Of course, he definitely couldn't mention the Scroll.

Chen Guan knew what was important and what wasn't.

He could return home in glory, but he couldn't reveal everything.

Evening.

He arrived at Yanhe Pavilion.

Bandit Brother wasn't there; he still hadn't woken up.

But Chen Guan and Constable Yan already carried considerable influence here.

When they arrived,

the waiter and the accountant behind the counter came out to welcome them, delighted.

Then the waiter led them to a private room on the fifth floor.

Chen Guan hadn't just come to eat. He had also booked a room in the inn's rear courtyard.

He planned to stay here for a while.

At night, he could even "follow" Bandit Brother home.

That way, when his grandson came looking for him, he could find him right away.

Yet it was precisely Chen Guan's decision to book a room

that made Bandit Brother, who arrived at the restaurant half an hour later, so excited.

"You're saying... Young Hero Chen booked a room at our restaurant?"

Bandit Brother had been wondering how to deepen his relationship with Young Hero Chen.

Now Young Hero Chen was staying under his roof. This was a promising start!

"Yes, Shopkeeper!" the waiter said, gesturing for him to go upstairs. "Not only did Young Hero Chen come, he came with Constable Yan."

"What? The constable came too?" Bandit Brother paused on the stairs.

Constable Yan's name alone was enough to make him nervous.

He usually avoided seeing him whenever he could.

Even though twenty years had passed, he was still afraid the constable might recognize him.

Especially since Young Hero Chen had come with the constable today. It was all rather baffling.

"What on earth are those two up to?"

Bandit Brother slowed his pace and glanced at the waiter, who was half a step behind him.

"Who showed them upstairs? What did they say?"

"I was the one who brought them up," the waiter replied. But when he saw a few guests coming down the stairs, he fell silent.

"Shopkeeper!" The guests clasped their fists in greeting one after another.

"Brother Lin, Shopkeeper Heng..." Bandit Brother had something on his mind, but his smile was warm and genuine, not at all perfunctory.

After exchanging greetings, they didn't linger.

Only after they had gone downstairs did the waiter continue. "From what I heard, Constable Yan and Young Hero Chen were very polite to each other. They spoke as if they'd only just met and had come here to drink."

"Mm..." Bandit Brother nodded. After thinking it over, he decided to go see them.

Tap, tap—

He climbed the final few steps.

Then he reached the private room.

The door was open, and from outside he could see Chen Guan sipping tea in the seat of honor.

Since Constable Yan was the one treating them, he had taken the host's seat.

"Two rare guests! Forgive me for not welcoming you sooner!" As the host, and seeing the door open, Bandit Brother warmly stepped forward and personally picked up the teapot to refill their cups.

"Thank you." Constable Yan felt no particular fondness for Bandit Brother.

They were barely more than acquaintances.

"Shopkeeper, have a seat." Now that Chen Guan understood why he'd felt awkward, he no longer felt awkward at all. Instead, he smiled and invited Bandit Brother to sit.

After all, who would get angry at bait?

And if the bait was good, he'd only be happier.

In Chen Guan's eyes, Bandit Brother was now both bait and a ready-to-claim inheritance of talent.

"Once my grandson finds him, I'll open this Treasure Chest Monster." Chen Guan looked Bandit Brother up and down, his smile growing wider with every glance.

Meanwhile, seeing Chen Guan nod and smile at him, Bandit Brother was delighted.

"Could it be that all the help I've given his family over the years has finally touched this young man?"

Bandit Brother was genuinely thrilled.

"Just as I thought! Perseverance pays off!

I've worked so hard to warm Young Hero Chen's heart. Even a cold stone would melt under such sincere, tireless effort!

Now that Young Hero Chen seems to feel kindly toward me, I need to strike while the iron is hot.

Once I bring Young Hero Chen over to my side as my new hired hand,

even if that Flying Thief returns, with Young Hero Chen here, the thief will be as good as dead!"

Bandit Brother thought it over and felt everything was falling into place.

"Why are they both smiling at each other the moment they meet?" Constable Yan raised his teacup, partly hiding the way he was sizing them up.

"Their smiles... Their relationship seems rather unusual..."

As the thought crossed Constable Yan's mind, he recalled some people's unusual preferences and discreetly scooted his chair back.

"This meal looks like it'll be hard to swallow. I'll have to find a chance to... leave early..."

Whoosh, whoosh—

The cool late-autumn breeze swept fallen leaves across the ground.

At that moment,

in Liuqi County, four hundred li away,

"Quick, look at that Knight-Errant..."

"That young man is so handsome..."

Amid the whispered conversation, several young women stole glances at him.

Outside the county,

a young man who looked to be around twenty was walking toward them.

The setting sun bathed him in its glow.

Though he wore simple white robes without any adornments, he had a strong brow and handsome features.

There was also an indescribable serenity in the way he walked.

But in truth,

Chen Changhong was already thirty-three.

"On the way back, I got tangled up with several demons and lost many years..."

Now,

Chen Changhong looked calm on the surface, but inside his feelings were a tangled mess. He was almost afraid to go home.

He had joined his sect twenty-five years ago.

At the time, his grandfather, Chen Guan, was already over fifty.

Now he was afraid that if he went home, something terrible would have happened.

However,

his sect had invested plenty of resources in Chen Changhong. They wouldn't let him recklessly "return to the mortal world" without first ensuring he was mentally prepared.

If he returned too soon, before his mind was steady, all the foundations he'd built might be ruined.

That was why he hadn't been allowed to return before.

His sect had forbidden it.

On top of that, the two places were separated by a distance of five hundred and twenty thousand li.

He couldn't simply come and go as he pleased.

The sheer distance, the trials of entering the mortal world, and the dangers along the way—

without some cultivation, Chen Changhong might not have survived the journey.

After all, he'd been taken into a cultivation sect as a child and had little experience of the world.

But on the road home,

after being caught up in the schemes and treachery of demons, ghosts, and the jianghu,

he had grown, though it had cost him several years.

"Twenty-five years have passed before I even realized it..."

Chen Changhong arrived in the county he'd once known and looked at everything, strange yet familiar.

In his hand, he clutched a bottle of pills he'd obtained only after enduring countless hardships on the road. They were called Life-Extending Pills.

An ordinary person who took one could reverse the decline of their life force and extend their "natural lifespan" by fifteen years.

"I'm back..."

Fear and excitement mingled in Chen Changhong's heart. His gaze seemed to pass through the entire county, reaching a small courtyard in a village ten li away.

Then, without realizing it,

amid the startled cries of the people in the street,

Chen Changhong, his emotions surging, inadvertently used a spell to shrink the earth beneath his feet, covering a hundred zhang with every step.

"Grandfather... You must be waiting for me... I've brought you a divine elixir to extend your life... And today, I'll also pay my respects to the City God here and swear to extend your lifespan in the underworld by fifteen years...

Grandfather... Hong'er is home..."