novelraw Chapter 10 : Chapter 10
Chapter 10 : Chapter 10
Chapter 10
The young man held chopsticks in one hand, while his other hand rested beneath the table, making him look like nothing more than an ordinary tea-drinker.
“Since you know me, why are you meddling?” Shi Sansha sneered. He disliked the young man’s smiling face, and a savage light showed in his eyes.
His hand gripped the sword. His thumb pressed against the guard, pushing the blade out by an inch. Sunlight flashed off it, stabbing the eyes. Three grooves ran along the blade, and each groove had once carried the blood of many people.
He was not using the sword merely to intimidate.
Many customers were already frightened, quietly rising and moving toward the stairs.
The young man seemed not to notice Shi Sansha’s menace at all. Still leaning back lazily, he said, “I know you, but do you know me?”
“The hell do I care who you are!” Shi Sansha’s arm twitched as he tried to draw.
His hand had already closed around the hilt.
But then his vision blurred. Pain flared across the back of his hand. The sword he had drawn three inches was forced back into its sheath.
The young man had somehow crossed the two zhang of distance and was standing right in front of him. The tail end of his chopsticks pressed down on Shi Sansha’s drawing hand.
Shi Sansha tried to draw twice more on instinct, but the chopsticks were as heavy as a mountain. They did not tremble in the slightest.
No matter how displeased Shi Sansha had been, he had calmed down now.
He looked at the young man’s other hand—the hand that had been hidden under the table.
That hand was now visible to all, holding a sword as well.
Shi Sansha did not recognize his face, but he recognized that sword. His face turned deathly pale. “The Frostflight Sword… you are…”
“Ah, what is the point of names?” The young man lifted a brow, cutting him off, and smiled. “Since we all recognize each other, if you keep getting rough, that would be too ugly, would it not?”
Shi Sansha released the hilt. The way the man spoke to him so pleasantly somehow made him feel as though he had been given face. His expression eased. “Fine. I will give you face.”
The young man kept smiling. “Then please give me another bit of face, and compensate them for their loss.”
“What loss?” Shi Sansha asked.
“You frightened away quite a few customers on the second floor. Is that not their loss?” the young man said lightly. “If those customers did not pay for their tea, you should repay the shopkeeper. And if the shopkeeper is afraid you will come again to cause trouble and forbids them from singing here, that loss would be far greater. How could your two little silver beans ever make up for it?”
Shi Sansha’s face turned thoroughly ugly. At last he understood: from beginning to end, this man only wanted to make trouble for him. Yet he did not want to fight this young man.
“Fine,” he said harshly. “I will pay—if they can bear it!”
The old man with the erhu bowed repeatedly, forcing a terrified smile. “No need, no need. It is our blessing that you gentlemen are willing to listen to our singing.”
Shi Sansha let out a cold laugh. “See? They do not want it!”
“Then let us speak of my loss,” the young man said.
“And what loss do you have?” Shi Sansha’s face was stiff and cold. Ferocity flickered in his eyes again, as if he wanted to draw, yet he still did not dare.
“I like this teahouse, and I like their music,” the young man said. “Right now, as long as I am here, I can enjoy both. If I come here in the future and can only enjoy one of them, how will you compensate me for my loss?”
“What do you want?” Shi Sansha growled. His hand closed on the hilt again.
“Compensate me,” the young man said with a smile.
Shi Sansha took several heavy breaths, gripping the hilt so hard his knuckles whitened. After a long moment, he said, “Fine!”
He pulled out a money pouch and threw it onto the table, then turned and left, as though he could not bear to remain for even half a moment.
Lang Qingyun reflexively wanted to stand again.
He saw Shi Sansha, after turning away, cast a vicious look at the singing grandfather and granddaughter. There was killing intent in that gaze.
The young man had won compensation for them, but if Shi Sansha was allowed to leave like this, he would surely vent his anger on them afterward.
“Do not be angry,” the young man laughed again. “I told you, I know you. I not only know you are the famous Shi Sansha, I also know you have three shops in Changwei City, an estate in Qingyun Township, a lover in Tannan and another in Jinyang, and a few small houses in Zhoupu and Yongyi.”
When he spoke the first place name, Shi Sansha stopped. With each additional place, Shi Sansha’s expression worsened. By the time the young man mentioned the last two, he could not endure it any longer. With a roar, he tried to draw again.
The young man’s figure flickered. He was already in front of him. With a casual push, he shoved the sword back into its sheath again.
After striking twice and still failing to draw even once, Shi Sansha was no longer angry. He was terrified. Cold sweat beaded on his face, and his voice trembled. “What do you want?”
The young man still wore that smile. “You can ask the owner. I have been coming to this teahouse every day for half a month, and I plan to continue. As long as every day I come, I can still enjoy the two things I like, why would I run all over the place to find you and demand compensation?”
“And if one day the old man himself falls ill and does not want to come?” Shi Sansha asked.
“I dislike trouble,” the young man said calmly. “So I only trace to one source. Even if the old man goes home, gets frightened, and runs a fever, I will treat it as though you climbed over his wall in the night and drenched him with cold water. Then I will have no choice but to invite you to take a swim in the lake below.”
Shi Sansha ground his teeth. “I understand.”
He ran down the stairs three steps at a time. This time, the young man did not stop him.
Lang Qingyun could not help exhaling in relief. Even though he already knew these were only shadows of the past, he still could not help feeling happy.
Lang Qingyun turned back and saw Shuang Wenlü withdraw his gaze as well, smiling faintly at him.
“You seem unable to fully control your killing intent,” Shuang Wenlü said.
Lang Qingyun tensed instantly.