M49S Vol 1 Chapter 23. An Old Beauty

In the small courtyard, cleaned with unusual care, a few white plum trees bloomed quietly in the lingering chill of early spring. Loose petals drifted gently in the soft wind, spinning down onto the half-opened window shutter.

Qing Gu peeked around from behind Meng Qiqi, eyes full of curiosity. The magpie on the treetop tilted its head, as if wondering where this strange little girl had come from.

The two stepped into the inner chamber. A white-haired old woman in a plain flowered cloak was seated by the window, reading. Her face was hidden in the shadows of the room, but the hand holding the scroll rested in the sunlight. The warm light traced every fine line of her skin, and when her long fingers moved across the page, they carried a quiet elegance preserved by time.

Meng Qiqi stepped forward and bowed with respect. Granny Zhu did not even lift her eyes. She asked calmly, “Where is Zhou Ziheng?”

“Little Martial Uncle is dead.”

“Oh?” Granny Zhu’s hand paused mid-turn. “Did you see it with your own eyes?”

Meng Qiqi shook his head. “Precisely because I didn’t, I choose to treat him as dead. If he were alive, with the Gushan Sword in decline, how could he still bear not to show his face?”

Granny Zhu slowly lower the book and raise her eyes. “You really are a heartless one.”

Meng Qiqi smiled. “Don’t praise me like that, Granny. I came today to ask a favor. If you keep speaking like this, I’ll feel too embarrassed to say it.”

Granny Zhu let out a quiet laugh. Truly Zhou Ziheng’s heir, far more unruly than even his letters had suggested. She waved her hand, motioning for the two to sit. The young woman who had answered the door earlier soon brought tea and, after setting the cups down, stood behind Granny Zhu to massage her shoulders.

Granny Zhu closed her eyes, speaking lazily. “Drink your tea. Since Zhou Ziheng isn’t coming, finish your tea and get lost.”

“You invited me yourself, Granny. How can you kick me out so casually?”

“When did I ever invite you?”

“You hid this address in a riddle inside the last letter you left for me. Surely that means you wanted me to find my way here. Even if it wasn’t Little Martial Uncle who solved it, all those letters I kept writing to you should count for something. Granny, you really can’t just kick me out,” Meng Qiqi said, spreading his hands in mock helplessness.

Granny Zhu smiled. “You actually solved it?”

Her gaze landed squarely on him, smiling yet sharp. Meng Qiqi’s heart wavered under the weight of it, but he kept up appearances. “Of course I did.”

“Let the little girl tell me. Did your master really solve it himself?” Granny Zhu turned to Qing Gu. The puzzle had been crafted for Zhou Ziheng alone. No one else could possibly decipher it, no matter how gifted.

Qing Gu stood up and gave a small bow. “Granny, your riddle was too hard. Master couldn’t solve it. But he threatened Uncle Lin, and Uncle Lin didn’t have a choice, so he told us the answer.”

Uncle Lin was the intermediary who had passed letters between them. An honest man, known for being nothing but good. Meng Qiqi gave Qing Gu a sharp look. “You little brat, always tearing down your master’s stage.”

Qing Gu blinked at him with a look of grievance. “Don’t scold me, Master. Granny must have guessed long ago that you couldn’t solve it. If I didn’t tell the truth, we’d be kicked out for sure.”

“Oh? And if you tell the truth, we won’t be kicked out?” Meng Qiqi said irritably.

Granny Zhu cut in, unable to watch anymore. “You two master and disciple, putting on a show together. Do you really think this old woman can’t see through it?

Meng Qiqi bowed. “Granny sees through everything.”

Granny Zhu gave him a glare, but then beckoned Qing Gu over with her hand. “Come here, little girl. Come to Granny.”

Qing Gu walked over and called out sweetly, “Granny.”

Granny Zhu straightened slightly in her seat, her expression softening. Meng Qiqi knew they had passed the test. The first threshold had been crossed. This Granny Zhu had once been a famed immortal beauty in the cultivation world. Her suitors had been too many to count. She and Zhou Ziheng had known each other in their youth, and everyone had believed they were a perfect match. But a few years later, they went their separate ways.

Zhou Ziheng had set off to wander the world, while Granny Zhu married an ordinary scholar. From that moment on, she vanished from the world’s eyes.

Beauty fades with time. Decades later, in a quiet home in Jinling, the once-renowned fairy now wore wrinkles and white hair. Yet she looked upon her old friend’s disciple with warmth and asked, “Your name is Qing Gu, isn’t it? How old are you this year?”

I just turned fifteen this year,” Qing Gu said, her face lifted, eyes sparkling. “I was born in the twelfth lunar month.”

“All right,” Granny Zhu said, patting Qing Gu’s head. She had clearly taken a liking to the girl.

Meng Qiqi saw how harmoniously the two were getting along, while neither spared him a glance. Wrinkling his nose, he picked up his teacup and drank on his own.

Out on the street, the match between Chen Boyan and the gathered cultivators were still underway. Tu Youqiong had rolled up his sleeves and was working the crowd. “Good! Next one! Who’s next?”

Chen Boyan had already defeated three in a row.

The third match had even ended with him voluntarily pulling back, prompting the other cultivator to concede. That opponent had come from a humble background, had no renowned master, no advanced sword techniques. His life-bound sword had barely formed after much difficulty. Compared to Chen Boyan’s Wuwang, it was like earth to sky. If Chen Boyan had not held back in time, his sword might have been broken on the spot.

The raw power of a natural sword body left the surrounding cultivators stunned. Many who had been considering a challenge gave up on the idea. It was too crushing, too hopeless. Just in a qi sword match alone, even with decades of cultivation behind them, they could not match a young man like Chen Boyan. What could they possibly say to that?

Tu Youqiong noticed no fourth challenger stepping forward. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Jiang Xie from Beidou and his eyes lit up.

“Senior Brother Jiang! Hold on, Senior Brother Jiang!” Tu Youqiong called out loudly.

Jiang Xie heard him, but he knew there was no chance he could best Chen Boyan. He had no intention of inviting humiliation.

Seeing him walk on without stopping, Tu Youqiong grinned and called out again, louder, “Senior Brother Jiang! Our Little Martial Uncle is back, you know! Weren’t you looking for him? Come on then, come on!”

All eyes turned toward them. Jiang Xie had no choice but to stop and respond.

“Junior Brother Tu, I have urgent matters to attend to. I’m afraid I cannot accompany you right now. As for our agreement with Little Martial Uncle Meng, Beidou has not forgotten it.”

Jiang Xie turned and swept his sleeve as he left. Zhao Xing, who had once fought side by side with Tu Youqiong in the secret realm, followed behind him. As he passed, he shot Tu Youqiong a fierce glare. Tu Youqiong stuck out his tongue and made a face, irritating him further.

But Dai Xiaoshan had noticed something else. With a smile, he said, “Cai Mu isn’t here.”

“Cai Mu? You mean the one who dueled me at Chanhua Tower the other day?” Tu Youqiong asked.

“Yes. Given Beidou’s way of handling things, after losing to you and shaming their name, he’s probably having a hard time these past few days.”

Tu Youqiong pouted. “If I lost, Eldest Senior Brother would just make me train harder.”

Dai Xiaoshan shook his head and patted him on the shoulder. “Junior Brother, you really don’t know how blessed you are.”

“Huh?” Tu Youqiong looked completely lost. Just then, Chen Boyan glanced over, catching the blank expression on his face.

“Youqiong, come here,” Chen Boyan called.

Tu Youqiong ran over quickly. “Eldest Senior Brother, what do you need me to do? Are we still fighting? No one stepped up yet? Let me take a look…”

As he spoke, he eagerly scanned the crowd for new challengers, hoping that Chen Boyan could take on everyone here. That way, when he walked down the street later, he could do so with his head held high.

But for some reason, he suddenly felt a chill at the back of his neck. He reached up to rub it and turned his head, only to see Chen Boyan watching him with an impassive expression.

“If you like fighting so much, then why not fight to your heart’s content,” Chen Boyan said flatly.

“E–Eldest Senior Brother?” Tu Youqiong stood frozen.

Chen Boyan turned to address the crowd. “My constitution is unique. Even if I win, it proves nothing. From here on, Gushan Sword’s other disciples will take the field. I wonder what everyone thinks of that.”

“This…” The cultivators exchanged glances. Chen Boyan was willingly giving up his advantage? But thinking about it, wasn’t this exactly the conduct expected of a true gentleman? He really was worthy of being Gushan’s eldest disciple and the heir of the Chen family.

Tu Youqiong, however, wanted to protest. He had done nothing wrong, so how had it ended up being his turn? In a panic, he grabbed Chen Boyan’s sleeve. “Eldest Senior Brother!”

But Chen Boyan remained unmoved. His eyes swept downward, and Tu Youqiong quickly let go, startled by that look. His heart trembled three times in fright.
He turned and glared at Dai Xiaoshan with bitterness. What happened to being blessed and not knowing it? Where was the blessing?

Dai Xiaoshan sighed. “When the gate burns, the fish in the moat get dragged into it.”

Watching these two foolish junior brothers, Chen Boyan turned and spoke to Song Ru. “Keep an eye on them. If they can’t win, tell them to concede. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

“Yes, Eldest Senior Brother,” Song Ru replied with a nod.

Tu Youqiong, however, refused to accept it. “Eldest Senior Brother, how could you hope I’ll lose? Admitting defeat on purpose is so humiliating!”

Chen Boyan looked at him coldly. “If you practiced more diligently on your own time, then you could say that to me.”

Tu Youqiong fell silent. He turned away, overwhelmed with grief.

Chen Boyan turned to Song Ru and asked, “Where’s Guinian?”

“Junior Brother Mu left early this morning,” Song Ru replied. She didn’t say where he went, which meant she didn’t know either. Chen Boyan nodded and asked no further.

Before long, new challengers stepped forward. Facing several of Gushan Sword’s lesser-known disciples, the cultivators regained some confidence. That was exactly one of Chen Boyan’s aims. These junior disciples were all strong in their own right, but having spent most of their time cultivating in seclusion, they lacked experience in real combat. Letting them get practice before the main competition was a sound strategy.

As for the other goal, that naturally had to do with their Little Martial Uncle, Meng Qiqi.

Using the same tactic to withdraw from the matches, Chen Boyan quickly slipped away into the crowd. Once he reached a secluded spot, he unfastened a slim bamboo tube from his waist and shook out a golden insect with wings.

The little creature circled his finger several times, then seemed to catch a scent and flew off in one direction. Chen Boyan stored the tube and followed.

Back at Granny Zhu’s small courtyard, Meng Qiqi was still sipping tea, tapping his fingers on the table, showing no trace of impatience.

Granny Zhu had glanced at him several times already. She had offered Qing Gu three different kinds of pastries before finally speaking slowly. “Enough of the act. Go on, say it. What have you come to ask me for?”

Meng Qiqi stood up at once, his expression all innocence and good manners. “It’s nothing urgent, really. I just wanted to ask Granny if the chef at Lion Tower could make me the most authentic red-braised lion’s head.”

“You call that nothing urgent? Don’t you know that the only person who makes red-braised lion’s head the right way is the head proprietor of Lion Tower himself?” Granny Zhu raised an eyebrow.

“That’s exactly why I came to ask you,” Meng Qiqi said, his smile unchanging.

“And what business do you have with my nephew?”

“I need Young Master Wang’s help with something,” Meng Qiqi said, cupping his hands.

Granny Zhu dismissed the maid, then leaned back in her chair, eyes half-lidded. “He may be surnamed Wang, but he hasn’t involved himself in the Wang family’s affairs for a long time.”

“But just last night, he took Wang Ziling in,” Meng Qiqi said, feigning surprise. The act was so transparent that even the magpie outside the window wouldn’t have believed it.

Granny Zhu stared at him in silence.

“Send that brat in here. You can get out.”