GBP Chapter 377 Master
Chapter 377 Master
Being bold is fine, but what about being thick-skinned?
"Uh……"
Ye Xinran didn't know how to respond.
The old man went on to say, "I think my apprentice has made a lot of progress by being with you. That's good, very good."
Ding Qiao secretly tugged at Ye Xinran's clothes from behind and whispered in her ear: "Master was not like this before, Master, don't take it to heart!"
"Ok!"
Ye Xinran nodded.
Returning to the old man's yard, Ye Xinran looked at it carefully.
The old man's yard was very simple, with gravel on the ground, two broken jars in the corner, and nothing else.
The old man invited them to the front hall, where there was only a wooden table with peeling paint and two chairs.
"Please sit wherever you like. Don't be polite."
The old man waved his hand, then walked through the front hall and went to the backyard.
"Ding Qiao, why didn't you recognize that this man was your master just now?"
Ye Xinran asked.
Even if he hadn't seen her for many years, he wouldn't be unrecognizable. Xiao Huaian recognized her immediately.
Ding Qiao felt a little embarrassed.
"Master, to be honest, I still feel it's a little unreal. If it weren't for the sword, I wouldn't have dared to recognize it!
Master really didn’t look like this before, he must have changed his appearance.”
“It’s not the same at all!”
Ye Xinran was a little surprised. How did Xiao Huaian recognize her at first sight?
"I see that both of you have reacted quite strongly. Didn't you know that Master came to Snow Moon City before?"
Ding Qiao shook her head and said, "When the Xiao family army encountered trouble, a group of people died or escaped.
Master Xiao had someone investigate, and found out that Master disappeared the day after the prince left Northern Frontier. At that time, Master Xiao thought he had gone out to find someone to help him, but after searching for many years, there was no sign of Master, so we all thought that Master was no longer alive."
"So that's it."
Ye Xinran nodded.
Under the circumstances at that time, this was indeed the biggest possibility.
But why did he come to Xueyue City, and how did he change from a martial arts master to an ordinary person with no skills at all?
While Ye Xinran was thinking, the old man came back from behind with hot water.
"I don't have anything here, so you can just drink some hot water."
As he spoke, the old man placed the three chipped cups on the table.
Ding Qiao looked at the simple tea set and immediately felt uncomfortable.
Back then, although the master lived a simple life, he was very particular about tea tasting.
Different teas require different water to brew, and even the tea sets are carefully selected.
At that time, in order to make her master happy, she even got up early to collect dew from the flower petals.
Now, Master has even given up this hobby.
Seeing that Ding Qiao was unhappy, Fan Qingzhou picked up the blackened kettle that was burned by the fire and asked, "What? You think my kettle is too simple and you want me to pour water for you?"
"no!"
Ding Qiao wiped his eyes and took the kettle respectfully: "Master, I'll do it."
"Wait, I have some tea here."
Ye Xinran took out a box of Longjing tea from her sleeve and put some in the teapot. "I don't know how to taste tea, so I'll put some in to enhance the flavor."
Ding Qiao shook the teapot to allow the tea leaves to fully steep, then poured a cup of tea into each person's cup.
Fan Qingzhou looked at the slightly green tea soup and felt happy: "Good tea, good tea, I haven't had such good tea for a long time!"
He picked up the cup, shook it under his nose twice, and then took a sip slowly.
"Well, the tea is good!" He said with some regret, "It's a pity that there is no stored snow water, otherwise, the brewed tea would be softer and sweeter."
"Master, when you come back home with us, I can collect all kinds of water like before. Then you can drink whatever tea you want!"
Fan Qingzhou shook his head: "Don't bother, I can drink anything now."
"Master, I want to ask you, where is your inner strength?"
Ding Qiao finally asked.
"That's all!" Fan Qingzhou said self-deprecatingly, "It's all in the past. I'm a useless person now. I feel embarrassed when you call me Master."
“Once a teacher, always a father!”
Ding Qiao refused, "Master, please stop saying such things!"
As he was speaking, there was a sudden noise outside.
When they looked outside, they saw Xiao Huaian walking in from the door, accompanied by someone, who was Zhang Qian.
Zhang Qian's face was covered in black ash and his body was stained with blood. As soon as he entered the room, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed three times to the old man: "Unfilial disciple Zhang Qian, kowtow to the master!"
"Definitely!"
The old man waved for someone to stand up, looked carefully around, frowned, and turned back to ask Ding Qiao: "Is this really Zhang Qian?"
Zhang Qian looked puzzled and quickly replied, "It's me, Master!"
Ding Qiao also added: "Master, this is really Zhang Qian!"
Fan Qingzhou shook his head: "I think you two are fine, but why did Zhang Qian become like this? Tsk tsk, he even has white hair on his forehead, he looks older than me!"
When Ding Qiao heard his master's teasing, he burst out laughing.
"Master, please stop making fun of him. Isn't he always like this?"
Zhang Qian also blushed and said self-deprecatingly: "Master has white hair and a youthful appearance, I can't compare to him."
When Xiao Huaian saw the old man like this, he felt a little relieved.
Judging from his condition, the master seems to be the same as before, only more sharp-tongued.
"Alright, alright. I've been busy all morning and night. Even if you're not hungry, I am. I'll go make you some food."
Fan Qingzhou said this and was about to walk to the back.
"Master!"
Ding Qiao stood up at once and said, "I am here for this kind of thing, how can I let you do it yourself?"
"Then I'll help too."
Ye Xinran also stood up and left the kitchen with Ding Qiao.
The old man’s kitchen is also very clean.
Not only the surface is clean, but the rice jar, vegetable basket, and oil jar are also clean.
"What is this for?"
Ding Qiao looked at Ye Xinran helplessly.
Ye Xinran smiled, then took out half a bag of rice, a can of oil, a few cabbages, and a bunch of seasonings.
After going through so much, Ding Qiao was no longer surprised by such things.
Seeing the dishes Ye Xinran brought out, he only concentrated on studying: "This cabbage can be fried into cabbage slices, and this pickled vegetable can be cut into a plate, and then cooked into a pot of porridge. Master, is this okay?"
"Row!"
Ye Xinran said: "I will prepare two more meat dishes."
She took out pork elbow and pig's trotter from the space.
During this journey, Leng Qingyu had already consumed most of the food she had prepared for her. However, there were still some pickles and other things that she had brought from Ye Dacheng's house in the space.
Even if there was no food, the food she had would be enough for them to eat for several months.
When the food was served, the old man was shocked again.
"You, you, you, where did you buy this elbow? We don't have such good stuff in Xueyue City."
Even if there is, it will not be the turn of ordinary people.
"Brought it from the capital."
Ye Xinran answered as a matter of course, "It tastes very good, Master, please try it!"
"Ok!"
The old man tasted a bite of the elbow meat and nodded with satisfaction.
“I haven’t tasted this flavor in a long time.”
After saying that, he looked at his three apprentices and said, “I can see that I have taught you three, but none of you is as capable as my apprentice’s wife!
"Apprentice wife, can you teach me a little bit of your skills, that trick of deception? Teach me a little bit, and I will take you as my master!"
"Master, this is unacceptable!"
Before Ye Xinran could say anything, Xiao Huaian quickly spoke up to stop her.
If Ye Xinran becomes the master's master, wouldn't that make her my master's grandmother?
This generation is so scary.
Ye Xinran found Xiao Huaian's expression amusing and deliberately teased: "Is that so? I think so too..."
"Xinran!"
Xiao Huaian gave a pleading look.
Ye Xinran smiled and said, "It still doesn't seem to work."
She looked at the old man with a hint of apology: "My master said that this spell cannot be passed on to others, otherwise it will not work."
"That's a pity!"
The old man took another bite of the pork elbow and shook his head regretfully.
"If I have the chance in the future, I would like to meet your master. I wonder if he would be willing to accept me."
Ye Xinran replied perfunctorily: "If the master sees you, he will definitely teach you everything he knows!"
"Then let's make a deal. When you see your master next time, you have to say a few good words for me!"
"no problem!"
Ye Xinran agreed immediately.
Xiao Huaian was secretly melancholy on the side: That won’t work either. If Xinran’s master accepts my master as his apprentice, then wouldn’t Xinran become my uncle?
Fortunately, Xinran’s master’s whereabouts are unknown, so it is estimated that we will not see him.
Xiao Huaian comforted himself.
After dinner, Ding Qiao cleared the table, and Xiao Huaian spoke again: "Master, how long have you lived in Xueyue City? How much do you know about this city? Can you tell me one by one?"
The old man closed his eyes.
"I have been living here since your father's accident!"
"so long?"
Xiao Huaian was a little surprised. "You disappeared after my father left Northern Frontier. Did you come to Xueyue City at that time?"
Fan Qingzhou nodded: "Actually, I was forced to come here."
Xiao Huaian asked: "What happened?"
Although it has been so long since the incident happened, Xiao Huaian still feels aggrieved about it.
If he had been able to realize the emperor's intention earlier, the Xiao family would not have fallen into such a situation.
"There's a traitor in the Xiao family army."
Fan Qingzhou's tone was sad.
“At that time, our attention was all on the barbarians, and we had no idea that the team had already been infiltrated.
So when the person in the capital got into trouble, someone immediately went to deliberately anger the emperor, with the goal of catching all the Xiao family members in one fell swoop."
Xiao Huaian had figured these things out long ago.
If there hadn't been a traitor, the Xiao family wouldn't have been in such a state.
Fan Qingzhou went on to say, “When General Xiao left, he entrusted the entire military affairs to me, but the next day, someone poisoned my tea.”
Having said this, Fan Qingzhou paused and his eyes became deep.
"Those people took advantage of my unconsciousness and cut the tendons of my hands and feet. They also said they would take me to the capital to testify against General Xiao.
Later, thanks to the mute, I was rescued!
He took me with him to escape, and when we got near Xueyue City, he was shot by an arrow and could no longer hold on. I had to crawl into Xueyue City alone along the sewage canal.
Maybe it was not my destiny. After entering Xueyue City, I was saved by an old doctor. This house is where the old doctor lived before he died."
"What about your martial arts?"
Xiao Huaian asked.
"When I woke up, I found that I had lost all my internal strength."
Fan Qingzhou said it easily. But Xiao Huaian, who had also broken his tendons, knew how much pain it was to endure.
"Master has suffered so much over the years."
"It's just a little flesh wound, what's the big deal?"
Fan Qingzhou smiled bitterly, "When I woke up, it was already a month later. At that time, everyone was saying that something had happened to General Xiao.
Unfortunately, I was lying in bed and couldn't move at all. I was anxious every day and asked the old doctor to help me get some information.
But the old doctor was not familiar with what was happening outside, and what he learned was just a few words from others.
That was the most torturous time!
Another half a month passed and I was finally able to walk. Before I could leave the city, the barbarians suddenly attacked and quickly occupied Xueyue City.
After that, I never had a chance to leave.”
After Fan Qingzhou finished speaking, the room suddenly became quiet.
Everyone was sighing with their own thoughts.
"The people of Xueyue City must have had a hard time these years!"
Ding Qiao sighed.
Fan Qingzhou looked towards the yard and said, "How could it not be hard? The young people were all forced to do hard labor, and the pretty girls were all abducted by the barbarians to become military prostitutes. The people were miserable. If anyone said something disrespectful, the barbarians would hang the heads of the whole family at the door the next day."
Ye Xinran didn't even dare to imagine that scene.
"But they also have weaknesses."
Fan Qingzhou went on to say, "The barbarians lived a rough life, and gradually they became fond of the various craftsmanship of us Daliang people.
In order to use our iron, embroidery and cloth as soon as possible, they have to be polite to us.
It was with this little skill that the common people found a way to survive under the rule of the barbarians."
"Master must have contributed to this!"
Ding Qiao said affirmatively.
The master is so smart and kind, he will definitely not stand idly by and watch the lives of ordinary people.
Fan Qingzhou smiled helplessly, "What ability do I have? I was just a waste at that time. I just said a few good words for everyone when the barbarians were arresting people."
"What about that blacksmith you mentioned earlier?"
Ye Xinran remembered what the old man had said before.
"I made it up."
Fan Qingzhou said, "The blacksmith has actually lived until now. He told me the location of the secret passage just to thank me for speaking for them."
"What about the person outside the city you mentioned you wanted to find?"
"It's also fake." Fan Qingzhou said, "I just made up the name to make you believe me more."
It was at this time that Ding Qiao remembered something extraordinary.
"Master, did you recognize me the first time you saw me? You have been lying because you don't want to recognize me, right?"