Childhood Friends

"Junior Brother Duan, someone's looking for you!" A few days later, just as Duan Xuan was about to have lunch, another senior brother shouted from the entrance.

Duan Xuan frowned. "Looking for me?"

When he reached the entrance, the corners of Duan Xuan's brows and lips suddenly curved in opposite directions.

"Brother Zhao, Chunmei, why are you back?"

More than a month ago, the two of them had bid Duan Xuan farewell before that thatched hut in Snakehead Ravine, then set off for Yellow Snake County's inner county the next day.

That day, Zhao Rui and Liu Chunmei had worn the most common tattered leather-and-hemp brown clothes of hunting families. Their hands and faces had been covered in countless chilblains.

But today, Zhao Rui wore a pair of oversized boots that did not fit him very well.

He wore a plain long robe on his upper body, while his topknot was tied high with a bright silver hairpin.

His face gleamed as though it had been smeared with lard, and the skin on his hands had improved greatly as well.

Liu Chunmei, meanwhile, wore a brand-new servant's outfit from the Wang family. Pale pink and pale white intertwined, and it looked quite proper on her.

Rather than a maidservant, she looked more like a delicate young lady from an official's family.

When serving as a menial maid in such a wealthy household, one's clothes naturally had to be neat and clean.

Otherwise, being seen by outsiders would tarnish the master's reputation.

Today, the little girl had her hair tied into two round buns. Though her face was still rosy, she looked far better than before.

However, in Duan Xuan's eyes, the greatest change in the two of them was their bearing.

Zhao Rui had always been blunt and straightforward, occasionally making mistakes because of his recklessness.

Liu Chunmei, meanwhile, had been such a timid little girl that she did not even dare catch rabbits.

Whenever the three of them were together, if anyone suddenly glared or spoke loudly, Liu Chunmei would shrink her neck in fright.

Yet in just one short month, both had changed. Zhao Rui was still straightforward, but no longer reckless. Liu Chunmei was still timid, but her eyes were far more lively than before.

The three found a cheap tea stall. One pot of chrysanthemum tea for two coins was enough for them to chat until dark.

"Today's my day off, so I thought I'd find Chunmei and come back to see you together. If you were still in Snakehead Village, we might not have been able to meet. But since you're in the outer city, it's just a matter of a few steps!"

Zhao Rui poured a bowl of tea for Duan Xuan and Liu Chunmei each, then lifted his own bowl and slowly savored it. "The tea's still too poor, but it's barely drinkable."

Liu Chunmei held her bowl in both hands and nodded. "It really is a little unsatisfactory. Compared with the tea at the Wang residence, it's much worse!"

Seeing that the two were living better and better, Duan Xuan was happy from the bottom of his heart. He said nothing, merely listened as they chattered on.

"Are you about to break through to the second threshold now?"

Duan Xuan shook his head. "How could it be that fast? I haven't even reached Bright Force yet. But it's not far off. By the end of this month, I think I should be about there."

"Brother Duan, keep it up! Brother Zhao and I are both waiting for you to become a great martial artist. Those martial artists who guard homes and courtyards are so impressive. They eat fish and meat every day, and they get heaps and heaps of allowances too."

"With the support of you two, I'll keep walking the path of martial arts. Once I have money to spare, I'll pay you back."

Zhao Rui lightly smacked Duan Xuan on the head. "What? One month apart, and you're treating us like outsiders? If we wanted that money, how could we possibly have waited until now? Just focus on your training. Once I become an official, I'll use the imperial grain to shore up your martial path. And Chunmei too—I'll have you made a titled lady then."

Duan Xuan rubbed his head.

Chunmei, meanwhile, widened her eyes and pressed him for answers. What was a titled lady? Was she a doctor with a good pulse?

The three were chatting merrily when a crisp voice suddenly interrupted them.

"Duan Xuan, Zhao Rui, Liu Chunmei?"

Following the voice, they saw a beautiful woman standing behind Duan Xuan, dressed in a scholar's skirt and radiating a literary air.

Her face was exquisitely pointed, and her large eyes slanted slightly downward.

Below that, she wore a pale blue cotton gauze dress.

Blue cotton shoes adorned her feet. This entire outfit made everyone on the street stare in amazement.

"Liu Xuan'er?"

The three stared for quite some time before recognizing who had interrupted them.

She had been their childhood playmate, and all of them had lived together in Snakehead Village.

But when they were eight or nine, Liu Xuan'er's father passed the provincial civil examination and became a juren. The whole family had risen with him and moved into Yellow Snake County's inner city.

Otherwise, the four of them might have remained close playmates even now.

What surprised them was that they would run into Liu Xuan'er here in the outer city.

Just as Zhao Rui was about to greet her warmly, he noticed that behind Liu Xuan'er stood a man who carried the same scholarly air.

Yet his bearing was exceedingly fierce.

A short sword hung at his waist, utterly out of place with his scholar's attire.

His pectoral muscles were absurdly massive, stretching his scholar's clothes until they looked bloated.

Especially those eyes—sharp enough to frighten people. He glared at Zhao Rui and Liu Chunmei.

Liu Chunmei immediately shuddered, sitting obediently in her chair without daring to stand.

Liu Xuan'er covered her mouth and chuckled. "What a coincidence, running into you here!"

"It's been years, and everyone's changed so much. Brother Zhao, you didn't become some petty clerk in the yamen, did you? Why are those boots so big? They don't fit you at all. Chunmei, you're still so rustic. Why hasn't your courage grown at all? Dressed like that, could it be you're a menial maid in the Wang family? Ah, your father really has it hard. With so many children in the family, it's already good enough that he didn't sell you off!"

Liu Xuan'er looked gentle and refined, but her words were exceedingly sharp.

She slowly turned to Duan Xuan, sizing him up several times from head to toe. Her brows lifted slightly as she turned to the man behind her. "Brother Peng, this is the hunter's mud-legged peasant I often mentioned to you. When we were children, as long as I pretended to cry, he would immediately go up the mountain and hunt wild game for me. Look at him—why is he still so shabby now? Oh, right. This good friend of mine had his father taken away by the authorities. I may have to trouble you, Brother Peng, to help look for him. But if he can't be found, it doesn't matter."

Those few brief sentences disgusted the three of them so much they wanted to vomit.

They simply could not understand it. They had all been poor people from the same nest. Yet after moving into the inner city for only a few years, how could her nature have turned so completely upside down?

More importantly, why did she have to mock them?

Because they were not dressed respectably enough? Because they were sitting at a roadside tea stall drinking tea?

Only Duan Xuan saw through Liu Xuan'er's true nature at a glance. She was like those rich young people from his previous life who studied abroad—returning home and transforming from Chinese-style ladies into American West Coast baddies, with no telling how many times they had become "worldly" behind the scenes.

"Don't worry, Xuan'er. Such a small matter won't stump me. After all, my Han family still has a place in Yellow Snake County. Looking into a mud-legged peasant couldn't be easier. It stinks too much here. Let's go quickly—my father is still waiting for us to bring the person back!"

Liu Xuan'er nodded lightly and did not look at her three childhood friends drinking tea again, as though she had never known them.

But what surprised Duan Xuan was that Liu Xuan'er and the man actually knocked on the door of the Broken Mountain Martial Arts Hall.