Gao Peiyao

In a private room overlooking the street on the second floor of the Welcoming Inn, Chen Jianghe sat by the window, holding a cup of tea and savoring it. His gaze rested on a figure in the street-Yu Daniu.

After a year apart, he had grown taller again, looking to be just over two meters tall. He stood a head above the others on the market street, making him quite conspicuous.

Chen Jianghe watched Yu Daniu for a quarter of an hour. He kept lingering around the Welcoming Inn, but still did not come inside.

Presumably, the unpleasantness at last year's gathering had left him hesitating over whether to keep honoring their three-person arrangement.

That time, Old Gao had scolded him harshly. Yu Daniu had already been seething over being cheated out of his spirit sand by Wang Kui, and being young and hotheaded, he had naturally started trading insults with Old Gao.

Chen Jianghe sipped his tea, showing no impatience as he waited for Yu Daniu to make his decision.

The bond between the three of them was hardly unbreakable. They had only come together because their waters adjoined one another, and because Old Gao was a Mid Qi Refining Stage cultivator who could offer them a little guidance in cultivation.

If neither Yu Daniu nor Old Gao came, Chen Jianghe would not insist on keeping them. Their arrangement would simply end here.

About another quarter of an hour passed before Yu Daniu seemed to make up his mind. He stepped through the doors of the Welcoming Inn and came to their agreed-upon private room.

"Brother Jianghe."

"You're here, Daniu."

Chen Jianghe smiled and invited Yu Daniu to sit, poured him a cup of tea, then waited for Old Gao to arrive.

"Old Gao isn't here yet?"

Yu Daniu sounded dejected, his gaze evasive and his expression guilty.

"No." Chen Jianghe nodded.

"Brother Jianghe, I was too rash that time. I actually knew Old Gao meant well. Wang Kui had just made me so angry that I lost my head and started trading insults with Old Gao. I regretted it afterward."

Two meters tall, Yu Daniu hung his head like a child who had done something wrong and asked cautiously, "Could I have made Old Gao so angry that he won't come?"

Hearing this, Chen Jianghe guessed that Old Gao had not written to tell Yu Daniu about his trip during the fish dormancy period. For the moment, he could not tell whether Old Gao was angry with Yu Daniu either.

"Don't worry. It'll be all right."

That was all Chen Jianghe could offer by way of reassurance.

Although Old Gao had written to Chen Jianghe when he left, he had not told him what he was leaving Mirror Moon Lake to do.

After the two-month fish dormancy period ended, Chen Jianghe had written to Old Gao, but received no reply. He did not know whether Old Gao had returned either.

If Old Gao still had not arrived by evening, there would be two possibilities.

First, Old Gao had left and never returned.

Second, perhaps he really was no longer honoring their arrangement because of Yu Daniu.

While Yu Daniu was feeling guilty and Chen Jianghe was lost in thought, the door to the private room opened, and Old Gao walked in.

Old Gao's face had aged considerably again. His eyelids drooped, his eyes were cloudy and dull, and his aura was weak and unsteady. His allotted years would probably run out within the next year or two.

"Jianghe, Daniu."

The moment Old Gao saw Yu Daniu, a kindly smile appeared on his face.

"Old Gao." Chen Jianghe nodded with a smile.

Looking at Old Gao's increasingly aged face, Yu Daniu stepped forward to apologize. "Old Gao, I was young and foolish last time and let your good intentions go to waste. Please forgive me."

"Haha, it's all right. I spoke too harshly that time too."

Old Gao patted Yu Daniu's arm, dissolving the rift between them, which had never amounted to much in the first place.

Chen Jianghe was glad to see this. There were still benefits to keeping their group of three together.

"Old Gao, who's this?"

Chen Jianghe looked behind Old Gao. A girl in a faded light-blue cloth dress was hiding behind him and peeking out. Loose strands of hair that had not been tied securely hung at her temples, her almond-shaped eyes held a timid look, and her thin lips lightly bit a strand of hair.

Her skin was a little sallow, as though she were malnourished, but her features were fairly delicate. She looked about thirteen or fourteen. Yu Daniu also noticed the girl behind Old Gao just then and looked curious.

"This is my granddaughter, Gao Peiyao."

Holding the girl's hand, Old Gao brought her forward. "Little Yao, these are the two older brothers Grandpa told you about, Chen Jianghe and Yu Daniu."

Gao Peiyao kept her head lowered and stole a glance at Chen Jianghe and Yu Daniu.

"Brother Jianghe, Brother Daniu."

Her voice was barely audible, and after speaking, she hid behind Old Gao again.

"Little Yao grew up in a village. She's shy and timid, so please don't mind her," Old Gao said, stroking Gao Peiyao's head to put her at ease.

"Little Sister Peiyao is quiet and sweet. How could we mind?"

Chen Jianghe said this with a smile, then invited everyone to sit and called an attendant over to serve the dishes.

It was his turn to pay for the wine again this year.

The budget was still one grain of spirit sand: four dishes and a pot of ordinary Immortal Spirit Wine.

At first, even after the food and wine arrived, Gao Peiyao did not dare pick up her chopsticks. Only when the aroma made her stomach growl did she cautiously take some food.

Perhaps seeing Chen Jianghe and Yu Daniu chatting and laughing so happily with Old Gao made Gao Peiyao a little bolder.

Added to that, she was very hungry and had never eaten such fine dishes before. Before long, she had swept all four plates clean.

Chen Jianghe spent another thirty taels of silver to order four more dishes.

"Jianghe, I've put you to some expense."

Knowing that Chen Jianghe had always been frugal, Old Gao spoke apologetically.

"This is my first time meeting Little Sister Peiyao. It's only right that I treat her to a meal," Chen Jianghe said with a chuckle.

He was thrifty, but not to the point that he could not spare thirty taels of silver.

From his conversation with Old Gao just now, he had learned that Gao Peiyao, who was still a mortal, was not only Old Gao's granddaughter but very likely the successor who would inherit his mantle.

This frail-looking, somewhat malnourished little girl actually possessed a four-element false spiritual root.

Her aptitude was better than both his and Daniu's.

Chen Jianghe suspected that Gao Peiyao was not Old Gao's granddaughter at all, because that did not match what Old Gao had said before.

He had come to the Yun Household as a Fisher-Farmer at fifteen or sixteen and had not left Mirror Moon Lake for seventy or eighty years. Where had a granddaughter suddenly come from?

It seemed very likely that Old Gao had left during the fish dormancy period because he sensed his allotted years drawing to an end, and had gone out to find a promising seedling with a spiritual root to inherit his mantle.

After working as a Fisher-Farmer for the Yun Household for seventy or eighty years, even a Junior Fisher-Farmer would have accumulated some savings.

Generally, once Qi Refining Stage cultivators passed sixty, if they were still at the Early Qi Refining Stage, they would stop wasting resources on themselves.

So Old Gao had savings, and possibly quite a substantial amount.

Still, going out to find a promising seedling to inherit his mantle like this had truly been somewhat rash of Old Gao, because it was all too easy to be targeted, ambushed, and killed for his wealth.

Fortunately, he had come back alive, and had even brought back a promising seedling with a four-element false spiritual root. He had truly stumbled into tremendous luck.

Of course, it was also possible that Gao Peiyao's own profound fortune had led Old Gao to discover her and bring her onto the path of cultivation.

"Brother Jianghe is right. Next year, I'll make sure to treat Little Sister Peiyao properly too," Daniu chimed in loudly.

Old Gao thanked them on Gao Peiyao's behalf.

He also asked Chen Jianghe and Yu Daniu to look after Gao Peiyao in the future, bringing this little year-end gathering to a close.

(End of chapter)