劍問蒼天 - 第139章 偶遇 - 清風書屋

Xiao Wan, torn between laughter and worry, made to rise and look, but with a "swish" the monkey had already shot back up from the floor, hands on the ground, grinning up at her.

Seeing that the three-eyed monkey seemed unhurt, she was reassured. She reached out and stroked his head, and Xiao Hui blinked his eyes at her.

Xiao Wan pondered a moment, glanced again at Ming Li's figure, and turned to Zhou Yixuan. "Grandfather, this of his is..."

Zhou Yixuan frowned. "Could he have been wounded by a woman? With his present cultivation and the power of the Hades Sect, there aren't many women in the world capable of that. Could it be Shuiyue of the Canglan Sect? Or Sanmiao of the Devil Sect's Soul-Bewitching Faction?..."

The Wild Wolf Daoist, who had sat silently all this while, suddenly spoke. "I don't think so."

Zhou Yixuan flared up. "What did you say? You dare tell this old—er, this immortal that he's wrong?"

The Wild Wolf Daoist did not look at him. A strange expression came over his dog face as he gazed at the fallen figure and said slowly, "From what I know, he's not the sort of man to set much store by victory or defeat. And besides, there's not a wound on him..."

Zhou Yixuan gave a snort of profound disdain. "That's because your cultivation is far beneath his. If you were like yourself, with only a few cheap tricks to your name, losing every fight you picked, of course you'd set little store by victory or defeat—every day you'd be spouting, 'Victory and defeat are commonplace for a soldier'..."

The Wild Wolf Daoist was furious and about to retort when Xiao Wan glared at the pair of them and raised her voice. "Enough! Stop it!"

Zhou Yixuan and the Wild Dog fell silent at once, though they still glared at each other in anger.

Xiao Wan thought a moment, then nodded, as though she had made some decision, and said to the monkey crouched before her, "Xiao Hui, you two had better come along with us for now."

"What?"

Before Xiao Hui could react, Zhou Yixuan and the Wild Wolf Daoist had both cried out, so loudly that even Boss He in the distance jumped.

Xiao Wan glanced at them. "What is it?"

The Wild Wolf Daoist stammered a little. "He—he has too many enemies. I'm afraid there'll be trouble."

Xiao Wan said, "If I'm not afraid, what are you afraid of?"

The Wild Wolf Daoist fell silent, but Zhou Yixuan beside him would have none of it, and rounded on Xiao Wan in anger. "We're not running a charity here! Why must you take in every stray you come across?"

Xiao Wan glared at her grandfather. "He's not a stray. He saved my life in the Dead Marsh! And besides," she added, suddenly giving a laugh full of meaning, "Grandfather, do you still remember how, some dozen years ago, you tricked him into stepping in dog dung and bringing himself good luck?"

The Wild Wolf Daoist started, and Zhou Yixuan's old face went red. "What are you dredging up a dozen-year-old debt for?"

Xiao Wan gave a little huff. "So long as you remember. In any case, I can't just look the other way." That said, she paid her grandfather no further heed and turned to tend to Ming Li.

As she gently turned the man over, a wave of wine fumes struck her in the face. Xiao Wan frowned, and saw only that on that familiar face the eyes were tightly shut while the brows were drawn together—whether even in his drunkenness he was grieving, she could not tell.

Gazing silently at the man's face, she felt a memory suddenly flit through her heart: that day outside the Dead Marsh, when this man had walked up to her fortune-telling stall and murmured:

"You've grown up..."

Zhou Yixuan naturally had no idea that his granddaughter's thoughts had suddenly wandered off, but he was quite clear that he had most likely acquired himself a very large headache. In such a mood, how could he be pleased? He turned his head with a venomous glare at Ming Li and bellowed, "Boss, the bill!"

Boss He hurried over, all smiles. "Sir, won't you sit a while longer?"