Chapter 132: Is Fate Predestined? [Seeking Monthly Tickets]
"These brutes!" Qi Shan cursed inwardly, his thoughts jumbled by the sounds of fighting. Finally, unable to contain his impatience, he reached out and pulled away the window support bar. Without the bar, the window slammed shut. "Don't they let people sleep at night?"
The moonlight pouring into the room was abruptly cut in half.
The sound of closing the window was a little quieter, but it was still very noisy. The noise was like mosquitoes buzzing in her ear—not loud, but very noticeable. Qi Shan sighed and had no choice but to cast a spell on herself, "Ignore what's happening outside," to block out her hearing.
Others don't have this ability.
Suppressing his anger, he peeked out to see who was acting crazy in the middle of the night. When he saw it was Shen Tang and Li Li, he went back to his room to try to fall asleep.
Zhai Le yawned: "Brother Shen, you have so much energy."
Gong Shuwu was unsurprised: "Things will calm down after the fight."
"Time for bed, I have to get up early tomorrow."
He also wanted to see how Gong Shuwu trained his troops.
Zhai Le crawled into his blanket and closed his eyes.
Within three breaths, a soft snore could be heard.
Gong Shuwu flicked his hand, extinguishing the oil lamp.
The bandit stronghold had limited housing, and with the purchase of dozens more new recruits during the day, housing became increasingly tight. The lower-class people were crammed into a large communal room, and Zhai Le, as a guest, could only share a room with Gong Shuwu. To say "share a room" was a bit of a stretch; they were essentially sleeping on two makeshift wooden planks.
Although the conditions were rudimentary, Zhai Le knew the circumstances on Shen Tang's side, and as a martial artist with great courage, he didn't have the spoiled habits of ordinary noble families. In his youth, he had trained hard in the deep mountains, and sleeping on makeshift wooden planks was a luxury, let alone being able to lie down and take a nap.
At least now there's a roof and four walls.
The fight between Shen Tang and Li Li continued.
The situation remained deadlocked. Li Li tried various methods to break through, but failed repeatedly. Whether it was a fast attack, a slow attack, or a sudden sneak attack, Shen Tang remained at ease, adapting to Li Li's changing tactics. Li Li grew increasingly anxious and frustrated.
Finally losing his rhythm and composure, he was caught off guard by Shen Tang, who struck his wrist. The moment his "weapon" slipped from his grasp, he knew he was in trouble. Sure enough, after only three moves, she swiftly and decisively pressed the tip of her wooden stick against his throat, and he lost.
Tanuki stood there for a long time.
Until Shen Tang took back the wooden stick.
"My lord, if you've had enough fun, can you go back to sleep?" As the initial surge of passion cooled, the boiling fighting spirit in Tanuki's veins was replaced by a sense of powerlessness. He sighed deeply, suppressing the turbulent negative emotions surging in his chest, and tried to make his tone sound more amiable, "This humble servant will not keep you company any longer."
After saying that, he turned and left.
They headed not towards the room, but towards the stream near the bandit stronghold. Chen Tang hesitated for a moment, then followed.
You could hear Tanuki's roar from a great distance.
"Aaaaaahhhhhh—"
The stream water reached up to the raccoon's waist.
He furiously pounded the water, letting out incoherent roars, kicking and thrashing until he was completely exhausted, at which point he leaned back. A huge splash engulfed him, and the stream submerged him completely. He only resurfaced when he felt his chest was about to burst, as if all the air had drained from his lungs.
The coolness of the stream seeped into his body through his skin, making his swollen and feverish mind feel better, and his rationality gradually returned.
He was about to go ashore when he saw a familiar, short figure standing by the stream, quietly watching in his direction.
Tanuki tensed her jaw and pursed her lips.
"My lord, what is this...?"
Shen Tang said, "I noticed you seemed off, so I came to check on you."
Li Li asked with amusement, "Is my husband afraid that I might commit suicide?"
Shen Tang nodded honestly.
Li Li chuckled bitterly and muttered, "No, hehe. If I really wanted to take my own life, I would have done it years ago. I wouldn't be alive now."
Shen Tang asked, "Is it related to that lady?"
Li Li's expression changed slightly, but he still nodded without hesitation and admitted, "It is somewhat related to the lady, but not all of it. It's more about my own disgust... I just finally understand that, as her brother said, some things are really destined from birth."
Shen Tang asked, "What did he say to you?"
Li Li tightened his jaw and said with suppressed anger, "It's nothing much. It's just that Madam has been born with a silver spoon in her mouth. What she eats in a day is probably equivalent to what I spend in three to five years, or even ten years. Even if I could persuade Madam to go with me, I would only end up letting her down. He's right, many people are destined to rot where they are born! Even if heaven takes pity on them and gives them a natural talent for martial arts, it's useless!"
Shen Tang was almost shocked by his dejection.
Why do you say that?
With red eyes, Lili said, "I'm a perfect example. Even if God gave me a bowl, I would still starve to death..."
He clearly had such good natural talent that he could have changed his family's impoverished fate and could have raised as many younger siblings as his parents had. However, he had the opportunity but failed to seize it!
"As a child, I was often troubled by hunger. Every day when I opened my eyes, I was worried about how to fill my stomach. All my energy was devoted to how to survive."
He was unaware of his own talent, nor of his martial prowess and literary talent; his background destined him to never encounter those things. Even if he knew, it would be useless, because martial prowess and martial artists are too difficult to cultivate, something that impoverished families who struggle to fill their stomachs could only dream of.
When Lili realized what he had missed, he was confused and in pain, and the lady was the only one who patiently comforted him.
Li Li's gaze softened: "Madam is the most beautiful woman in the world, and no one has ever been as good to me as she has been."
She taught him how to hold a pen, how to recognize characters, and how to read, and even hired a martial arts instructor to teach him. He was just a gigolo, and gigolos are just playthings; why did she need to care so much?
Lili understands this principle.
He waded out of the water, sat down by the stream, took off his shirt and wrung it out, and said jokingly, "Back then I was still unconvinced. I told my wife's brother that even if I never had the courage to fight, I would never be weaker than a so-called martial artist. I could still protect my wife and bring her honor."
Relying on his youthful passion and the dignity bestowed upon him by his wife, he dared to challenge those who were high and mighty for the first time.
Just to fight for the right to stay.
Of course, the result is obvious.
He probably never forgot the look in his wife's brother's eyes that day, a look that seemed to pierce through his flesh, peering into his lowly, contemptible soul, clinging to life with a tenacious will. All these years, he'd held onto that resentment, trying to change something through his efforts…
Reality, however, told him—
"His literary talent and martial prowess are indeed unshakeable."
Shen Tang suddenly understood why Li Li was acting this way. She asked him, "Because I am a scholar with a literary heart, yet I still won against you?"
Tanuki bluntly stated, "I can't beat you."
He hadn't relaxed all these years, trying to use the methods he had learned to guide qi into his body, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't feel the existence of "qi". Even though he could kill a third-class hairpin owl with his bare hands, he knew that a third-class hairpin owl was not a true martial artist. When he encountered a martial artist of a higher level, he could only wait to die.
They can't even beat a weak scholar now.
Looking back now, he was indeed incredibly arrogant and ignorant.
Shen Tang sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation: "...You shouldn't have challenged me to a match."
Why couldn't the reference group just find her? She wasn't afraid of even an eighth-class passenger when she was drunk! You know, an eighth-class passenger can summon four hundred followers, and she dared to go head-to-head with them—haha, is this some normal ninth-rank lower-level literary scholar?
(End of this chapter)
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