Chapter 012 Me and My Enemy Father and Brother
"Are you... the third son of the Lin's Rice Shop?"
Ning Bufan stood in front and did not notice the change in Chen Wenjian's expression. He squinted his eyes and looked at the young man for a moment, then revealed his identity.
Lin Yaoge wiped the sweat off his face, nodded to Ning Bufan, and replied coldly, "Mr. Ning, right? Aren't you going into the city to copy books today?"
Ten miles away is Huaiyang City, located at the intersection of the north and south official roads. It has a large area and many people, with shops everywhere. Merchants and tourists come and go for business and sightseeing, making it extremely lively and prosperous.
There are many bookstores in the city. Since the price of printed books remains high, there is still a large market for handwritten books, so every bookstore will hire people to copy books and pay them fairly.
Although Ning Bufan had no official title, he had a beautiful handwriting. The books he copied were very popular and he was always the object of invitation from various bookstores.
The Lin family's rice shop was next to a bookstore he often visited. The two had met several times and their faces were familiar, but they didn't know each other.
"Are you going to deliver rice to Cuiye Village? That's rare. Weren't these things usually done by the shop assistants in the past?" Ning Bufan asked casually.
"The buyer is Aunt Xu from Cuiye Village, a regular customer. She wants me to deliver the rice to her door personally." Lin Yaoge answered frankly without hiding anything, nodding at the group. "Are you guys going to Cuiye Village too? Since we're going the same way, why not go together?"
"Okay." Ning Bufan agreed immediately.
So there was one more person in the team. This time, except for Ning Bufan who offered to help Lin Yaoge move rice but was politely declined, no one else took the initiative to speak, and the atmosphere became dull and weird.
Before they knew it, Chen Yunli and Chen Wenjian were the last to arrive, talking in a voice that only they could hear.
"That person," Chen Yunli looked at Lin Yaoge's back and raised his chin slightly. "When he appeared, I saw your face change. Is there something wrong with him?"
Chen Wenjian stared at Lin Yaoge for a long while, his brows gradually relaxed, as if the doubts in his heart had been answered.
"He's a beginner cultivator." Chen Wenjian's tone was light, but firm. "An evil cultivator."
Chen Yunli was stunned for a moment, then his eyes widened: "Evil...! Is this the kind of evil cultivator I was thinking of?"
The tone of his voice rose when he uttered the first word, and it almost reached the ears of the person in front. Fortunately, he lowered the volume in time, covered his mouth nervously, and unconsciously moved closer to Chen Wenjian.
Chen Wenjian thought he looked like a chipmunk that had been caught stealing dried fruit. His eyes curved, "It's what you think."
The so-called evil cultivators refer to, first, cultivators who practice evil techniques, second, evil cultivators who act erratically and cruelly, and the third type refers to cultivators who have both characteristics.
Evil cultivators, like fallen demon cultivators, no matter which of the three categories mentioned above they belong to, are all despised by orthodox practitioners. Their names are often on the bounty lists of major sects. They dare not show their heads and live like rats in the gutter.
According to Chen Yunli's stereotype, except for a small number of people who are born with psychological distortions and excessively pursue powerful strength, most evil cultivators do not take the initiative to embark on this path in the first place.
This Mr. Lin is handsome and has a wealthy family. He is willing to personally deliver rice to an old customer's door at his request. He doesn't look like a person with a bad temper. How could he be an evil cultivator?
Could it be that he judges people too much by their appearance?
Chen Yunli scratched his head: "So what are you going to do? Take him down?"
Chen Wenjian said, "He hasn't revealed his identity to us, nor has he ever hurt us. Acting rashly would only bring trouble upon ourselves."
Chen Yunli was unsure of what he meant, so he asked cautiously, "Does this mean that although he's an evil cultivator, he's a good person?"
Hearing this, Chen Wenjian chuckled softly, as if he had heard a funny joke. His breath brushed against his ear, making it itchy, and he couldn't help but cover his ears to avoid it.
"What are you laughing at? Those who are labeled as evil may not actually be murderers."
"You're right, but he's not included." Chen Wenjian narrowed his eyes, with both agreement and a hint of coldness in his eyes.
He has always been a man of few words, so he didn't know how to accurately describe what he saw to Chen Yunli.
In his eyes, Lin Yaoge at this moment was not in human form, but a twisted and wriggling ghost, like the resentful spirit that only appeared at night outside the Sealing Sword Tower, but there was an extra circle of blood-red light around his body, unlike those resentful spirits.
The unusual shape of his body was a distinct characteristic of an evil cultivator, though only cultivators could see it. However, the thick bloody light surrounding him had nothing to do with evil cultivation, but rather indicated...
"Many lives have been lost on his hands. Those bloody traces are the karma he has accumulated from killing innocent people."
Chen Yunli gasped: "Really?"
Chen Wenjian nodded and pointed at Lou Zhixi: "He is proficient in divination and can see the cause and effect of people. He should have discovered the true situation of Mr. Lin by now."
Chen Yunli followed his gaze and saw Lou Zhixi walking on the other side of Ning Bufan, far away from Lin Yaoge. Although there was nothing unusual on his face, he looked up at the sky and down at the ground, refusing to even look in Lin Yaoge's direction.
Among the crowd, only Ning Bufan knew nothing about Lin Yaoge's identity, and Chen Yunli didn't know how to remind him.
After much thought, Chen Yunli tugged at Chen Wenjian's sleeve and asked, "If he suddenly attacks and hurts someone, can you handle him?"
Chen Wenjian curled the corner of his lips, and a hint of blunt disdain flashed in his deep black pupils.
"He is no match for me."
It was just a simple sentence, but when he said it, it sounded so confident as if it was a truth universally recognized by the world. It was no exaggeration to say that it also made Chen Yunli's heart firm.
He smiled, strolled forward, and pretended to casually walk between Lin Yaoge and Ning Bufan, separating the two.
Ning Bufan didn't think there was anything wrong with it, so he moved aside.
At the same time, Lou Zhixi cast a ghostly look over there.
Is this guy even as strong as a country goose? No? If not, how dare he approach the evil cultivator?!
Lou Zhixi looked at Chen Wenjian again - you won’t stop him?
Chen Wenjian ignored him and didn't even move forward. He just walked in his original position and stared at Chen Yunli's every move.
In just this short moment, Chen Yunli had already shown his ability to be very friendly and started chatting with Lin Yaoge.
"How much is Mr. Lin's rice? I live in the mountains, and it's not easy to come down. If it's cheap, I'll buy a few more bags from you. It would be best if I could eat it until the New Year, saving me the trouble of going down the mountain every now and then to buy it."
As he spoke, he curiously observed the rice bag on Lin Yaoge's shoulder, his eyes lively, with a hint of innocence.
Lin Yaoge glanced at him, clearly unguarded against him. "When we get to the client's house, I can ask her to open the rice bag and show it to you. The Lin family's rice has always been well-known for its quality. Mr. Ning often goes to the city, so he must have heard of it."
Ning Bufan, who was still looking at the big black carp in the fish basket, was suddenly called upon and agreed perfunctorily.
"Ah, yes, yes, I've heard that."
Chen Yunli smiled, and suddenly seemed to notice something, so he leaned over to the bag and sniffed, "Huh?"
He has the temperament of a small animal, which always reminds people of the innocent and cute furry creature, making people feel not on guard, and Lin Yaoge is the same.
He didn't doubt whether Chen Yunli had discovered his identity or secret, and asked casually, "What's wrong?"
"Why does your rice...smell like flowers?" Chen Yunli rubbed the tip of his nose.
He was not making this up. There was indeed a floral fragrance in the rice bag, which was dry and slightly bitter. It smelled fragrant but also felt smelly, which was very strange.
Hearing this, Lin Yaoge's eyes flashed with an unnatural look, and she switched the rice bag to the other shoulder: "You smelled it wrong. There is no floral fragrance in my rice. You smelled the scent of my clothes."
"Yeah?"
Chen Yunli tilted his head, his face full of disbelief.
Seeing this, Lin Yaoge stretched out a strangely white hand with distinct joints towards him: "If you don't believe me, smell it again."
Chen Yunli leaned over and sniffed twice, and indeed smelled the same scent between his fingertips and sleeves.
This made him wonder if he had smelled it wrong just now.
Chen Wenjian, who had fallen behind, saw this scene and immediately frowned, even more so than when he first discovered Lin Yaoge's identity. Unhappiness gripped his heart, so intense that he couldn't control his outward composure. If Chen Yunli hadn't quickly stepped away from Lin Yaoge, he probably would have stepped forward to separate them.
At this time, Lin Yaoge changed the subject and said, "You live in the mountains? If it's inconvenient to carry the rice you bought up the mountain, I can help you."
"You'll help me personally?"
"Yeah." Lin Yaoge smiled, "After all, it was you and I who made this deal."
Chen Yunli smiled brightly: "Thank you very much! After leaving Cuiye Village, please take me to your rice shop!"
Without waiting for Lin Yaoge to answer, he immediately changed the subject and talked about the hardship and inconvenience of life in the mountains. Lin Yaoge, who had been quiet before, chatted and laughed with him.
The two of them had a great conversation, not caring at all about other people's feelings - the "others" here specifically refers to Chen Wenjian.
Lou Zhixi was originally worried that Chen Yun had left, but when he saw him and Lin Yaoge getting closer and closer as they talked, he was stunned. He winked at Chen Wenjian, indicating that he should drag him back.
However, when he turned around, he saw Chen Wenjian with a cold face. The dark cloud covering his head was even scarier than Ning Bufan who had scolded him not long ago. Although he had no expression, he gave people a terrifying feeling that he could eat three children in one meal. Especially when he looked at Lin Yaoge, Lou Zhixi always felt that he would take out a kitchen knife and chopping board in the next second and cut Lin Yaoge into small pieces to make sauce to go with wine.
Frightened by his own imagination, Lou Zhixi shuddered violently.
Fortunately, at this time, they arrived at Cuiye Village, and the conversation between Chen Yunli and Lin Yaoge came to an end. They turned around and ran to Chen Wenjian.
So Lou Zhixi witnessed another unique skill of Chen Wenjian - face changing.
It took Chen Wenjian less than a breath to switch from his villainous expression, which was scolding the three children, to a gentle smile. No one present, except Lou Zhixi, even Chen Yunli, could detect the change in his mood and expression.
"Chen Wenjian, can you accompany me to Lin's Rice Shop to buy some rice later?" Chen Yunli blinked in response. The sunlight fell on his fair skin, highlighting the tiny hairs, which looked inexplicably cute.
Chen Wenjian smiled faintly and nodded: "Okay."
“…”
Lou Zhixi turned around and rolled his eyes.
"Auntie Xu, please walk slowly, don't fall."
The path leading into the village had several forks. A familiar voice suddenly rang out from around one of the corners. Ning Bufan raised his head, not even looking at the fish, and shouted, "Shao Tu!"
Before he finished speaking, Ming Shaotu happened to be helping Aunt Xu around the corner. Hearing the voice, he looked over, his eyes flashed and a smile filled his eyes.
"Brother, there's more..."
His gaze shifted three times, from Chen Yunli and Chen Wenjian, to Lou Zhixi, and then to Lin Yaoge. His smile instantly faded.
"Oh! The person Auntie introduced to you is that Lin... Lin Yaoge. How come he is with your brother..."
When Aunt Xu saw Lin Yaoge, she slapped her thigh and blurted out the words in her mind. By the time she reacted, she had almost said what she shouldn't have said.
Ning Bufan's eyes suddenly became sharp, and he glanced at Lin Yaoge coldly: "Hmm?"
Chen Wenjian was stunned: "Huh?"
Chen Yunli and Lou Zhixi devoured the melons… no, they were shocked: “Wow?”
Lin Yaoge, who was carrying rice with a simple face, said: "..."
Ming Shaotu's expression froze: "..."
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