"My apologies, my apologies." Song Yan smiled.
The old man rolled his eyes at him, took the wine flask, and gulped down two mouthfuls, only to suddenly break into a violent coughing fit.
Xiao Ju hurriedly patted his hunched back, but the old man waved her off and laughed. "Fine wine, fine wine. For the sake of this wine,
"I'll let you off this once."
"It's only because I'm old and easygoing. If you'd run into one of those hotheaded, difficult anglers, you'd be paying silver, I tell you."
Song Yan agreed repeatedly.
The old man took another swig and squinted at Song Yan. "Young fellow, judging by your accent, you aren't from Yingjing, are you?"
"My name is Song Yan, courtesy name Ye Sheng. I come from Qi Province."
Song Yan took the flask back and asked with studied casualness, "How should I address you, sir?"
"... Hmm, my name is..."
The old man suddenly froze, then sank deep into thought. "I... what was my name again?"
"Heh, look at this memory of mine. I can't even remember my own name."
"Xiao... Xiao Ming."
"That's right, that's right. My surname is Xiao, and my given name is Ming."
The old man wiped the wine from his beard. "I really am old now..."
Song Yan's hand paused slightly around the wine flask.
"Xiao Ming?"
Wasn't that the name of the Chu Kingdom's late great general?
A meritorious servant of the Chu Kingdom, a great general who had spent his life on horseback at war-even Li Yi had served under him as an officer and personal attendant before entering the Dao.
Li Qingfeng had clearly said that Old General Xiao had reached the natural end of his life half a month ago and passed away.
Hearing the young man before him