Chapter 186: Neighborhood Daily Life
Immortal Spirit City, Ping'an Lane.
In the early morning, it was as lively as usual. The sunlight lazily spilled onto the ground, and the cries of street vendors rose and fell.
In front of Chen Chang'an's fortune-telling stall, a scholar in a faded Confucian scholar's robe was pouring out his miserable romantic history with snot and tears.
"Sir! You must be the judge!" the scholar slapped the table, his heart aching, "I write her poems every day, bring her breakfast, I've even fed the dog at her door until it knows me! But what about her? Yesterday she actually told me—'You're a good man'!"
Chen Chang'an slowly waved his folding fan, glancing at him: "Oh? And what do you want to divine now?"
"Divine my romantic fate!" the scholar said through gritted teeth, picking up a brush and writing a large character for "qing" on the paper. "Sir, please take a look. Will this sincere heart of mine finally be able to move her?"
Chen Chang'an stared at the character "qing", pondered for a moment, and suddenly laughed: "Look at this character, 'qing'. On the left is 'xin', and on the right is 'qing'—your heart has turned green, and you still don't understand?"
The scholar was stunned: "Ah?"
"Qing means green." Chen Chang'an knocked on the table meaningfully. "I'm afraid your beloved is already enjoying moonlit strolls with someone else, and you're still here pining so hopelessly?"
As if struck by lightning, the scholar's face turned deathly pale: "N-no! Impossible! She clearly said she didn't want to talk about marriage for now!"
"Yes, she doesn't want to talk about marriage with you for now." Chen Chang'an sighed. "Wake up. In the end, all that pining gets you nothing."
The scholar sat there dazed for a long while, then suddenly slapped his thigh, his face streaming with tears: "Sir, you're right! I'll go back and burn all the love letters I wrote for her! From today on, I will be a proper scholar who stands tall!"
Chen Chang'an nodded in approval: "Good."
However, just as the scholar stood up, prepared to turn over a new leaf—
"Young Master! Young Master!" a bookboy rushed over, out of breath. "Miss Liu is back! She said she wants to see you!"
The scholar's expression changed in an instant, his eyes widening: "What?! Liu'er is back? And she wants to see me on her own initiative?"
The bookboy nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: "Yes! She even asked about the poems you've been writing lately!"
"Heavens! She must have me in her heart!" The scholar was overjoyed. He grabbed the paper with the character "qing", stuffed it into his robe, and turned to run. After taking two steps, he turned back, pulled out a handful of broken silver from his sleeve, and slapped it on Chen Chang'an's table. "Sir! You're right! The character for love must be written with the heart! I'm going to go back to pining for her!"
Chen Chang'an: "...?"
Before he could even speak, the scholar had already vanished like a wisp of smoke, leaving only the bookboy standing awkwardly in place, scratching his head and saying: "Um... Miss Liu actually wanted to ask the young master to borrow some silver. Her fiancé's business suffered a loss..."
Chen Chang'an held his forehead and let out a long sigh: "Such a hopeless case of pining, truly beyond saving."
Ah Li leaned against her general goods stall, watching the scholar's retreating figure, and said with a shake of her head and a smile: "This man is clearly deeply rooted in love. What's the use of advising him?"
Chen Chang'an packed up the ink and brushes on the table and said faintly, "There are too many wretched people in this world. If I can save one, I will."
Ah Li raised an eyebrow: "But when it comes to love, it's like drinking water; only one knows if it is warm or cold. Since he is content with it, why must you force him?"
Chen Chang'an stopped his movements and looked up at her: "To know it is bitterness, yet to drink poison to quench thirst—that is not devotion, it is foolishness."
Ah Li chuckled lightly: "Then what do you consider to be clear-headed?"
Chen Chang'an pointed to Auntie Wang, who was selling tofu at the street corner: "Look at Auntie Wang. She has been a widow for twenty years, raising her son to adulthood with her own two hands. I heard a few years ago her son obtained an immortal destiny and joined a sect several hundred miles away. A good life must be waiting for her."
Chen Chang'an concluded: "So... to not be dependent, to not be deluded—that is what it means to be clear-headed."
Ah Li followed his gaze and said thoughtfully, "But in this world, how many people can be as resilient as her?"
Chen Chang'an put the last brush into its case. "That's why I must advise. If I can persuade one, that's one. If I can't, at least my conscience is clear."
"If one day you find yourself obsessed and unable to see reason?"
Chen Chang'an smiled. "Then I'll have to trouble Miss Ah Li to give me a sharp wake-up call and scold some sense into me."
Ah Li couldn't help but smile.
Just then, a commotion came from the end of the street. The two followed the sound and saw the scholar clumsily helping a young woman pick up fallen scrolls, his face plastered with a fawning smile.
Ah Li sighed, "It seems your word 'save' is no match for his word 'love'."
Chen Chang'an was unconcerned. "It doesn't matter. The cause planted today might bear the fruit of awakening someday."
Ah Li glanced at him sideways. "You are quite the optimist."
Chen Chang'an picked up his fortune-telling banner. "In this world, if you don't learn to be a bit more optimistic, you'll be made sick by these love-struck fools sooner or later."
Just then, a sudden disturbance came from the street corner.
A young man dressed in a moon-white, cloud-patterned brocade robe strode over. A long, jade-green sword hung from his waist, the spiritual stone on its tassel gleaming with a moist luster in the sunlight.
Spiritual energy faintly flowed around him, and his robes fluttered without wind as he walked, showing he had clearly reached the Profound Connection Realm.
"Mother! I'm back!" the young man's voice was clear and bright. In a few steps, he crossed over to Auntie Wang's tofu stall.
Chen Chang'an raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself that it was truly a case of speak of Cao Cao and he arrives.
The young man's face was seven-tenths similar to Auntie Wang's, but his entire bearing was completely different from that of a mundane person.
Especially his eyes; deep within his pupils, spiritual light seemed to flow, a clear sign of successful cultivation.
The neighbors immediately gathered around, offering congratulations in a clamor:
"Hey, isn't this the Wang family's boy?"
"With this attire, he's truly a disciple of an immortal sect!"
"Auntie Wang has finally made it!"
After all, in a world where immortals and mortals lived together, everyone had long speculated about Auntie Wang's future life. However, no one was envious, because although Auntie Wang could be a bit shrewd, she was also charitable, and everyone respected her.
The tofu knife in Auntie Wang's hand fell onto the cutting board with a clang. She wiped her trembling hands on her apron, her eyes already red. "Son, you... you've come back this time..."
The young man straightened his back, a reserved smile on his face. "Mother, I came back this time to say goodbye. The elders in the sect have already permitted me to cultivate in the inner sect. From now on... I won't be coming back."
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire street fell silent in an instant.
The smile on Auntie Wang's face froze, and the ruddy complexion from moments ago visibly drained of color.
The neighbors looked at each other in dismay; no one had expected to hear such words.
Old Man Li, who sold sugar figurines, held his sugar spoon suspended in mid-air, the syrup dripping onto the charcoal fire with a sizzling sound.
Even the normally clamorous teahouse boy forgot to shout his wares, standing dumbfounded in place with his mouth agape.
Auntie Wang's hands unconsciously tightened on her apron, her knuckles turning white. She opened her mouth, as if to say something, but said nothing.
She never thought that the son she had raised by hand, whom she hadn't seen in years, would give her such a huge "surprise" the moment they met.
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