Two Old Scamps

"Good thing this child isn't your disciple. Otherwise, you'd probably lead him astray."

The master wasn't about to indulge Four Eyes.

"Pfft. He's still one of us from Maoshan, unlike someone who's halfway into the grave and can't even find a disciple."

Four Eyes looked at the master mockingly. He still had Jia Le to look after him in his old age.

"Then I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. I have a disciple now."

The master chuckled and pointed at Qingqing behind him.

"Qingqing, come and greet Daoist Priest Four Eyes, your junior brother Lin Yu, and Jia Le."

Qingqing stepped forward. "Greetings, Daoist Priest Four Eyes, junior brother. Hmph..."

When she reached Jia Le, though, Qingqing only gave a huff and turned her head away.

"Qingqing," Jia Le muttered aggrievedly.

"Master, so this is the Four Eyes you said was..."

Just as Qingqing was about to say it, the master stepped in front of her. If she said it aloud, they would probably start fighting before breakfast.

"What did he say about me?" One look told Four Eyes that the old fellow had said plenty of bad things about him.

"Master often says you're kindhearted and upright, and that you've spent your life slaying demons and devils, preferring to kill the wrong one rather than let one go."

"He also says you're attentive to your disciples in every way. When they do something wrong, you neither hit nor scold them. You just say nicely, 'I love you to death.'"

Against her conscience, Qingqing rattled off every word of praise she could think of in one breath.

"She really captured him to a T," Jia Le muttered to Lin Yu. He couldn't agree with her.

"I'm afraid only that last line, 'I love you to death,' captured him. The rest should probably be understood the other way around."

Lin Yu nodded in agreement.

"Mm!"

Four Eyes had been expressionless from the start. He was afraid the girl's praise would make him break character, so he kept holding it in.

"You've taken in a well-behaved, adorable disciple, unlike you. One look at you is enough to make people hate you," Four Eyes shot back at the master, his face expressionless.

"Master, why don't you and the master have some tea first?"

"I'll go bring breakfast out, all right?"

Standing awkwardly between them, Jia Le saw that the two were about to start arguing again and hurriedly stepped in.

"Please say yes," Jia Le said, looking pleadingly at Four Eyes.

Qingqing was the only woman he had seen in the mountains all these years. He couldn't let his master embarrass him again.

"Ahem, mm."

You tell me to say yes, so I have to say it? Four Eyes gave a forceful nod.

"I'll help." Lin Yu didn't want to be a fish caught in the crossfire, so he ran off after Jia Le.

"Qingqing, go and help too." The master wanted to bring Jia Le and Qingqing together, so when he saw Jia Le leave, he told Qingqing to go too.

"Sit!"

With their audience gone, Four Eyes stopped pretending.

He sat down, picked up the teapot, and began pouring tea. But he showed no manners at all, pouring carelessly and spilling it everywhere.

The master watched him closely, on guard against any tricks.

"Have some tea."

The master had been on guard all along, and he was a little unaccustomed to Four Eyes not causing trouble this time.

"Please."

Reassured, he reached for his teacup.

Who would have thought Four Eyes would catch him off guard, pressing down on the master's arm to stop him from lifting it?

"Drink. Why aren't you drinking?"

Four Eyes was holding him down, yet still telling him to drink.

"All right, tea it is!"

The two were competing again.

After a contest of strength, both exhausted themselves and ended it by drinking their tea with their other hands.

"Good tea, good tea." Even after drinking, the master didn't forget to take a jab at Four Eyes.

"It's been so long. I thought you'd gone to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss." Neither man could bear to see the other doing well, and both had to get a few digs in.

Four Eyes still wasn't satisfied, so he pushed hard against the table, squeezing the other man.

"I did go, but they told me to bring you along." The master reacted quickly, reaching out to brace himself while firing back.

"We're done for, we're done for. We'll have to replace another table."

Jia Le was carrying breakfast out when he suddenly saw Four Eyes and the master through the window, pushing the table and struggling against each other, darting left and right.

"What a pair of old scamps," Lin Yu remarked, carrying a plate.

"What are you talking about?" Qingqing looked innocently at the two men, puzzled by them.

"Come with me."

Jia Le didn't explain. He simply led Qingqing back into the kitchen.

"Master~ Master~ Breakfast is ready. Come on!"

Jia Le carried a table, while Lin Yu and Qingqing followed behind with the food.

The two men glanced over and let go of the battered table at the same time.

Then they picked up their stools and went over as though nothing had happened.

Only Qingqing looked in puzzlement at the mess covering the room.

"Xiao Yu, get me another talisman to use." Four Eyes held out his hand to Lin Yu, asking for a Healing Talisman.

He had accidentally sat on a cactus just now, and his backside still hurt. He urgently needed a talisman to treat it.

"Here."

"That's my good martial nephew for you." Four Eyes looked at the master smugly.

"Ooh, that feels good~" With the talisman stuck to his backside, Four Eyes sat down in comfort.

"Pfft." The master gave him a disdainful glance.

"Master, let's eat." Jia Le offered Four Eyes his chopsticks ingratiatingly, hoping he would behave himself this time.

"Mm."

Throughout the meal, the master felt ill at ease. Was this really the same Four Eyes from just now?

The master stared in disbelief at Four Eyes, who was sitting there quietly putting food on his disciple's and martial nephew's plates.

"What are you looking at? Is the food not to your taste?" Four Eyes couldn't hold back any longer and snapped at him.

"Hehe, eat. Have some more."

Now the master felt comfortable. He hurriedly took some food and began eating.

Actually, the main reason was that Lin Yu was there. Four Eyes didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of his martial nephew on his very first day.

Monk, we've got plenty of time. Just you wait.

"Why are you standing there instead of clearing the dishes?" Sitting on a stool and picking his teeth, Four Eyes saw Jia Le and scolded him out of habit.

"Oh, oh."

The meal had been so peaceful that Jia Le felt as though he were dreaming. Now that he had been scolded, he felt that his master was still the same as ever.

"Martial Uncle, where am I sleeping tonight?" Lin Yu raised a fatal question. Surely he wasn't really going to make him squeeze in with Jia Le?

His master doted on him most of all. It was always Wen Cai who had to squeeze into the chicken coop, while he slept in the big bed.

"How about squeezing in with Jia Le?" Four Eyes thought for a moment, then asked uncertainly.

"Stare~" Lin Yu said nothing, only stared at Four Eyes.

In this sweltering weather, you want me to squeeze in with Jia Le on that little bed where it's hard even to turn over?

"Then how about the 'guest room'? It's cool and quiet there." Four Eyes felt embarrassed too and continued to discuss it with him.

"If that won't do, there's only the woodshed."

"Sigh, all right." Lin Yu sighed and agreed.

It's just the "guest room." Doesn't Wen Cai sleep there every day anyway?

"Stingy."

But Lin Yu still had to vent his frustration.

"Junior Brother, why don't we swap? You can sleep in my bed."

Seeing how young Lin Yu was, Jia Le thought sleeping there would frighten him badly, so he kindly made the offer.

"No need. It's not like I haven't seen them at the morgue, and it's cool there." Lin Yu thanked Jia Le for his kindness and declined.

"Martial Uncle, do you have a study here? I'd like to read."

Now that he was here, there was nothing much to do for fun, so Lin Yu thought he would read to pass the next few days and return once things with Ren Fa had blown over.

If he could also take advantage of the plot along the way, that would be nice. After all, Martial Uncle Chin Hok had died here in the original story.

Maybe he could save him.

"Sure, I'll take you there."

Four Eyes came to a door, pushed it open, and walked in.