FW (Eng)

Chapter 41: Despair

Previously, when Zhou Zishu arrived at the Pingan Bank, he could always enter straight away. Today, however, after the shopkeeper had let him into the main hall, the shopkeeper first poured him and Wen Kexing, who was peering at his surroundings like a villager from the rural areas in the city, a cup of tea each. Next, he stood to the side, all smiles as he said, "Please wait for a little while more, Master Zhou. Lord Seventh is here today, and the boss has gone in to pass on news of your arrival."

Zhou Zishu's heart leapt, his emotions suddenly in a tentative jumble at being so close to meeting an old friend once more.

Yet, Wen Kexing heartlessly commented, "Hey, didn't they say that Gu Xiang and Zhang Chengling are here? Can't they just lead those two dumb kids out? What news do they have to pass on? It's like we entered a lord's manor."

Zhou Zishu remained silent, thinking that Wen Kexing was truly a person of divinity, for every guess he made to be correct.

After a short while, Pingan walked out at a brisk pace, and said, "Master Zhou, my master and the Great Shaman are waiting for you inside."

When Wen Kexing heard the two words "Great Shaman", he was stunned. He thought: could it really be that the impossibly mysterious great shaman of Nanjiang had arrived?

--This pugilist world of the Central Plains was really becoming more and more chaotic.

Before he could muse further upon it, Wen Kexing followed Zhou Zishu into the inner hall. Pushing open an aged wooden door, a courtyard in which a row of sweet osmanthus flowers were planted lay beyond; entering, they could catch a whiff of a faint fragrance. Pingan brought the two of them into a house. Once he pulled the curtain aside, the warm air within rushed out at them. Lifting his gaze to peer in, Wen Kexing discovered that apart from Gu Xiang and Zhang Chengling, there were two other men inside.

His gaze involuntarily drifted to meet with that of the man in black. In that instant, without prior agreement, the two men nodded to each other and shifted their gazes away, as a show of cession to each other out of courtesy.

Wen Kexing regarded the other man, guessing that this man was probably the "Lord Seventh" that the shopkeeper had mentioned. At first glance, he could not help but privately gasp. He reckoned that of all of the good-looking individuals in the world, he had seen a considerable number of them. Yet, none of them could compare to this man--those eyes and brows came off as somewhat insouciant in their beauty, but were balanced by an air of affluence about him, thereby revealing only a little hint of that indefinable, loose charisma. It was like the idiom "a noble as outstanding as orchids and jade trees" had been thought up to describe him specifically.

The next moment, he heard Zhou Zishu call respectfully, "Lord Seventh, Great Shaman."

Smiling cheerily, Lord Seventh made to help him up and examined that face of his, sighing nostalgically, "After many years of not seeing you, Zishu, your tastes...are truly becoming something fewer and fewer people would dare agree with."

Zhou Zishu laughed and reached up a hand to wipe lightly at his face. Plucking the human skin mask off, he carried it in his arms and smiled wryly. "After so many years, other than young maidens, the only person I know who dares to 'hide behind' a beautiful face is that fool Jiuxiao."

That shidi who had died in the battle of the capital all those years ago, Liang Jiuxiao, was the regret of his lifetime. All along, Zhou Zishu had dared not mention him--after so long had passed, that scene was like a dream to him. But here, faced with an acquaintance from the past, he felt like he had returned to the capital of that ten-mile Moon-Gazing Riverbank[1]. Those past acquaintances and past events flashed in succession before his eyes, and, astonishingly, he had spoken that person's name without a second thought.