Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 52: Cui Yuanyong

The waiter was relieved of his distress of losing an arm by also having his head removed.

The patrons had all run away. Zhao Changhe looked around and his mouth twitched. “There was even someone just now who said he’d treat me to a drink. He ran away faster than a rabbit.”

He went to grab the unpoisoned food and drink at the other tables and feasted in the center of the inn. I’ll just think of this as their treat.

Someone laughed heartily outside. “After a conflict in the jianghu with corpses strewn around, no normal person would dare sit down here to eat. How about I treat you?”

Zhao Changhe did not even raise his head to look at the newcomer. “So, Young Master Cui, are you abnormal as well?”

Cui Yuanyong sat across from him and smiled. “Maybe I am.”

“So who’s treating who now? For a child from a big family to freeload food—you really aren’t a normal person.” Zhao Changhe casually poured his interlocutor some wine. “Where’s your sister? Why are you by yourself? She should be the one I’m treating. Treating you to a meal seems pretty odd.”

Cui Yuanyong grinned. “What’s wrong? Are you interested in her?”

“Now, now, stop right there. I have absolutely no interest in idiots.” Zhao Changhe rolled his eyes. “However, that idiot is a cute little girl. She’s nice on the eyes. Also, you’re almost as handsome as me. I don’t like that.”

Cui Yuanyong could not help but break out in laughter. “Are you trying to stir something up because you suspect that there’s some relationship between me and Yue Hongling?”

Zhao Changhe chewed his beef and sized up Cui yuanyong for a while. He suddenly smiled and said, “I don’t know if you like her, but I do know that she’s not interested in you. There’s no reason for me to stir up anything with you.”

Cui Yuanyong was rather curious. “Oh? How are you so sure? Is it because you believe the person she’s interested in is none other than yourself?”

“Nope.” Zhao Changhe shook his head. “Her heart belongs to the jianghu. I have no idea if she’ll ever have any thoughts about returning home. Anyway, she doesn’t belong to anyone right now. Not you, not me.”

Cui Yuanyong smiled. “Why do I feel like that’s the case with you as well? Regardless of whether it’s with Xia Chichi, or Yue Hongling.”

Zhao Changhe put on a blank expression. “If the one to understand me this much was your sister, we might have been able to work something out. Why do you understand me so well? What are you planning? I heard you powerful families do this thing with their young daughters where they...”

Cui Yuanyong stared at Zhao Changhe’s eyes. He did not know if the latter agreed with his judgment or if he was being perfunctory. Cui Yuanyong did not intend to find out and only smiled. “This practice isn’t just limited to powerful families. A lot of mountain strongholds also do the same thing. Perhaps Stronghold Master Zhao is more familiar with this?”

“...Fuck.”

Cui Yuanyong finally raised his wine cup. “Anyway, good to finally meet you. My name is Cui Yuanyong.”

“Nice to meet you.” Zhao Changhe raised his own cup to toast him as a show of friendship.

Prior to this, he had wanted Yue Hongling to recommend him to Cui Yuanyong. Zhao Changhe did not wish his interactions with everyone to be so tense. These powerful families were related to his future path of pretending to be the crown prince, and they were also closely related to unraveling the mysteries of this world. He hoped to be able to have friendly interactions with them, especially with someone like Cui Yuanyong, whom he truly did not dislike.

Cui Yuanyong fought nobly with Yue Hongling. Both of them knew when to stop and left having appreciated the other’s talents. When he thought that Yue Hongling slipped up and was captured by bandits, he even came to save her despite his injuries. And after learning that Yue Hongling was the stronghold mistress, he did not go around spreading rumors. Zhao Changhe had a good impression of him.

Furthermore, Cui Yuanyong helped him deal with something, whether intentionally or not. He rounded up everyone in the Beimang Mountain Stronghold, sent them to the government office in the city, then proclaimed that the authorities there accomplished a great deed by wiping out the mountain bandits.

This whole incident could, admittedly, make some people believe that Zhao Changhe was working with the Cui Clan and killed Fang Buping for them. All the same, however, the Cui Clan took the fall for his grand plan. The Blood God Cult and even the Four Idols cult now had their sights on the Cui Clan, and other people who wanted to deal with Zhao Changhe now had no choice but to consider how the Cui Clan would react.

Ever since he had stepped on this path, Zhao Changhe had only met scheming rats. Never had he bumped into any decent people—partly owing to the incident with Fang Buping and the Cui Clan. The matter regarding him being the crown prince, for now, only existed in his and Xia Chichi’s heads. Other people did not necessarily think that far. In reality, decent people were worried about the Cui Clan.

Currently, the whole world knew he set out from Beimang and were clearly aware of his position. If other people wanted to block him, they had to block the roads all around Beimang to catch him. This was why his journey so far had been so full of thorns. But the further he traveled, the less certain others were of his position. If he got Cui Yuanyong to help him cover his tracks, then he would no longer have to be as tense as he had been the past few days. If he had to be this careful around every beggar or waiter he met, there was no way he would last.

If Zhao Changhe had not read so many wuxia novels and paid more attention to all this, he would have long since fallen into someone’s trap.

That was why, in spite of Cui Yuanyong’s self-introduction, this was not actually their first meeting. He and his little sister had been following Zhao Changhe for a few days already. Many times, Zhao Changhe was able to spot Cui Yuanyong’s face with his Back Eye and did not know why the latter never approached him.

They clinked wine cups and gulped down their drinks. Cui Yuanyong took out a handkerchief and leisurely wiped his mouth. “We’ve been following you for the past few days, watching your battles of wit and strength as you cut your way through the thorns on your journey. Do you find it strange that we never approached you to talk and only appeared now?”

Zhao Changhe looked at his handkerchief and his mouth could not help but twitch. He could only reply, “Indeed, I am quite curious? What do you guys want?”

Cui Yuanyong sighed. “If I said it was to let my little sister learn a few tricks of the jianghu, would you believe me...”

The twitching of Zhao Changhe’s mouth got to the point where it looked like he was having a seizure. He kept silent for a while before saying, “As a matter of fact...I really do believe you.”

Cui Yuanyong laughed. “Well, that is the truth. When I brought her out, we never once had any encounter with danger. The only time something happened was when we were held at your blockade. In the end, you didn’t even stop us and you let us go. From then on, we had favorable intentions toward you.”

“...so the two travelers back then were none other than you two. I already forgot what they looked like.”

“In my family, everyone in my generation is a guy. We only have one sister, so I think you can figure out that she’s been pampered to no end since she was a child. She has never seen the dangers of the human heart or the evils of the jianghu. She’s too naive. She’s incredibly talented but doesn’t want to put in the hard work and she only does what she wants to do. Obviously, nobody is willing to scold her like she deserves. She disobeyed me, selfishly went to attack the stronghold at night, and ended up in your hands. It’s fortunate that even though you are known as a mountain bandit, you’re actually a person of noble character. She’s lucky it was you and not someone else, otherwise she would have learned her lesson the really, really hard way.”

Zhao Changhe took a sip of his wine. “Indeed... She’s a bit dumb...”

“Stronghold Master Zhao, you upheld virtue and released her, and even received condemnation from the branch master after the fact. She was worried sick when your life hung by a thread.” Cui Yuanyong smiled and cupped his fists. “I feel like she’s grown no small amount after that one night. You’ve let her have an experience valuable to her growth. For this, I thank you.”

Zhao Changhe could only say, “All this means that she’s naturally pure of heart... I have to also thank her for the pill she gave me.”

“Indeed. Though my little sister is more than a bit spoiled, she is good-natured,” Cui Yuanyong said. “That’s why after she saw you leave Beimang alone and in somewhat of a weak state, she kept pestering me to go protect you. I told her: a fierce tiger has left the mountain. A flood dragon is now entering the sea. How could it need anyone to protect it? Why would I protect you when I could let her broaden her horizons? If I told her to learn from anyone else, she’d probably groan. But since it was you, she was rather compliant.”

Zhao Changhe: “...”

Cui Yuanyong drank another cup of wine and sighed. “Anyway, do you know why I’ve come to talk to you today without her?”

Zhao Changhe shook his head.

“She’s seen you weather so much treachery on your journey. She’s seen you encounter situations where if she was in your shoes, she would have died many times over. Yet, you’ve cut down every monster in your way like a god that descended from the heavens... Because of this, I feel like the way she looks at you has changed. If this goes on, I’m afraid she won’t just develop her mentality and abilities, but also...something else. Long story short, I asked someone to drag her back home. She threw quite the tantrum about it.”

Zhao Changhe coughed dryly and drank his wine in silence.

The Cui Clan had a good few masters on the Rankings of Heaven, Earth, and Man. Cui Yuanyong himself was at the eighth layer of the Profound Gate; he was the 3rd Hidden Dragon, known throughout the lands under heaven. For the daughter of the Cui Clan to look upon a brute at the trivial third layer of the Profound Gate as if he was some deity that just descended to the world of mortals.... Cui Yuanyong felt like puking blood. However, Zhao Changhe had done nothing wrong; on the contrary, he was even his little sister’s benefactor. He could not cut Zhao Changhe down and even had to help him out a bit.

Cui Yuanyong felt that a great injustice had befallen him. While they were still on the topic, he finally sighed and said, “Since my little sister has returned, I feel that I should sit down and have a drink with you. Let’s be friends and all that. I want to ask you, what are your plans for the future?”

Zhao Changhe said, “Don’t tell me the Cui Clan really wants to recruit me?”

Cui Yuanyong shook his head. “Zhao Changhe belongs to no one. We both know there is no point talking about that. What we want to know is, what in the world is your relationship with First Seat Tang?”