劍問蒼天 - 第99章 故人情 - 清風書屋

Zhou Yixuan shook his head vigorously and said with earnest gravity, "Little Wan, I ask you—have you no idea how old you are? Why do you still act like a little girl, so fond of these candied haws?"

Little Wan spat lightly toward the roadside, ejecting a small hawthorn seed, then turned to Zhou Yixuan with a coquettish smile. "But I like them!"

Zhou Yixuan was left speechless. He sighed. "More than ten years ago, in He yin City, with all those cakes and pastries to be had, why did I have to go into a little side alley off the road and buy you these candied haws?"

With that he shook his head and sighed without end. Little Wan smiled and said nothing, delicately savoring the treat in her hand. Perhaps under the influence of the candied haws' bright red skin, a touch of vivid color seemed to have come to her lips as well.

Zhou Yixuan sat a while longer, and feeling his strength gradually return, he meant to call little Wan and go on. But he had no sooner turned his head than the corner of his eye caught sight of something before him—a pair of human feet had suddenly appeared.

Zhou Yixuan was greatly startled. He thought: Can it be that I've been careless, and that wretch Wild Dog has seized the chance to attack? That would never do! It seems I truly cannot trust the girl's words. I've roamed the world for over a hundred years—am I to trip over a turtle and capsize in a gutter today?

While these wild thoughts raced through his mind and he was about to call little Wan to her feet, he heard the man before them say, in a gentle, calm voice, "Are you still reading physiognomy for people?"

Zhou Yixuan and little Wan both rose and looked up. Before them stood a middle-aged man, with fine brows and a square face, refined in feature, his eyes bright and piercing, his forehead full and smooth—cultured, and withal carrying an air of authority that came without anger. He wore a scholar's robe, and at his waist hung a pale purple jade pendant, exquisitely carved and faintly imbued with an auspicious air. It was very fine indeed—by no means an ordinary piece.

Yet at his temples and sideburns, out of keeping with his appearance, there was a great deal of white hair, which lent him an added air of having weathered the years.

Zhou Yixuan's face suddenly turned strange. He stared fixedly at the man before him, and beneath his sleeves, where no one could see, his hands clenched tightly into fists. Yet on his face, after the initial shock, there was a faint stirring of excitement, a faint gladness, and a faint sense of the world's vicissitudes.

Little Wan's gaze circled the man's face once, then returned to her grandfather, and she at once noticed that Zhou Yixuan's expression seemed off. She was about to say something when Zhou Yixuan suddenly spoke. "Little Wan, step aside for a bit. Wait until I call you, then come back."

Little Wan was taken aback—such a thing had never happened before. But Zhou Yixuan's face was grave, and he did not look to be joking, and from the look of the two men, they seemed to be old acquaintances. So she answered, turned, tidied her bundle at random, and walked off behind them.

As she walked, she kept glancing back, and saw that her grandfather and the middle-aged man were still standing face to face, seemingly still not speaking. She felt a little uneasy. She had only just met the man for the first time, yet in that brief moment, for some reason, she had felt a kind of fear of him—a dread that rose in her for no reason at all.

For more than ten years she had followed at Zhou Yixuan's side, and never had she known that her grandfather could be acquainted with a man of such commanding presence!

As she mused, her thoughts drifting, she walked on without noticing how far she had gone, until suddenly she saw another figure before her. She hastily stopped—nearly colliding with the man—and looked up to see Daoist Wild Wolf. She hurriedly said, "Forgive me, Daoist."