嫩草影院地址一二三

Chapter 349: 349. Old White’s Secret

“Considering just the martial arts, Qiao Cong has a slight advantage.” Gu Ling gave his opinion.

Su Liang stated that she fully trusted Gu Ling’s judgement, “But Old Bai’s greatest strength is not his martial arts, but his poison techniques. In terms of overall strength, he is the strongest. I plan to learn all of Old Bai’s poison techniques before our baby is born. They need to finish their fight and make peace quickly.”

Gu Ling shook his head slightly, “That will take a while.”

It was May now, and their baby was just over a month old. Considering the usual ten-month pregnancy, the birth of the child would only be next year.

Gu Ling believed that with Su Liang’s wisdom and diligence, if she was not disturbed by anything else, she might be able to master all of Old Bai’s lifelong learning within two or three months, after all, it was all existing experience. The types of medicines in the world determined that the art of poison had no bounds, but what Old Bai knew was limited.

Su Liang laughed, “That can’t be said for sure, let’s see. You deal with the things outside in the next days, Great God. Meanwhile, I will be pregnant and studying. Once I have learned, I’ll teach you.”

Originally, Su Liang intended for them to study together under Old Bai, but Gu Ling insisted on taking care of her as a priority and managing the family affairs and external issues, many of which were originally handled by Su Liang.

Su Liang felt it was also fine this way. What she learned, she could teach Gu Ling. This not only helped to reinforce her own memory but also allowed them to inspire new ideas through communication, benefiting both sides. This was the process she had experienced when teaching Gu Ling medical skills.

Finally, the unconventional duel concluded when Qiao Cong knocked over Old Mu’s wheelchair first, and in a matter of seconds, Old Bai toppled Cen Man’s wheelchair.

Although there were no verbal agreements on what circumstances would determine victory or defeat, not long after the fight began, all four men agreed tacitly due to their unique and nearly balanced strength distribution. The real contest of victory lay between Old Bai and Qiao Cong. Old Bai was protecting Old Mu, and Qiao Cong was protecting Cen Man. Whoever’s protector was knocked down first would be the loser.

Therefore, the result aligned with Gu Ling’s judgment. In a straight fight, Qiao Cong had a slight advantage.

But for Su Liang, it wasn’t an all-around happy result. The reason for the fight was that Old Bai and Old Mu held prejudice against Qiao Cong due to his past actions towards Su Liang and Gu Ling and wanted to teach him a lesson. Although Old Bai and Old Mu had the dignity of martial artists, not taking advantage of Qiao Cong’s foot injury and choosing to fight from wheelchairs, their original intention was to defeat Qiao Cong and curb his arrogance.

As a result, the resentment in Old Bai and Old Mu’s hearts did not dissipate but only became stronger…

“Master, come and have some fruits.” Su Liang called out with a tone of humor.

Old Bai and Old Mu, who just got up from their wheelchairs, quickly crossed the lake’s edge in one leap, reached Su Liang first, and occupied the last two spots in the pavilion.

With a unhealed foot injury, Qiao Cong had to use a crutch if he wasn’t in a wheelchair. By the time he made it to the pavilion side of the lake with Cen Man’s help, Old Bai and Old Mu had eaten all the fruits and dessert.

Looking at Qiao Cong’s raised foot and Cen Man’s eyes covered with black cloth due to ongoing treatment, Old Mu suddenly felt relieved. He burst out laughing, “Old Bai, why are we even comparing ourselves with him? His damned grandson is giving him enough frustration! Unlike us, our good disciple is so filial!”

Qiao Cong’s face darkened, but he had no counter-arguments. Although Situ Jing had disappointed him repeatedly, he was the child left behind by his daughter, and he could not possibly let go of him. Having to deal with past misdeeds and possible future troubles, when compared with Old Bai and Old Mu, he surely lost, and that touched his sore spot…

Su Liang knew that Old Mu was a good-natured man. Though he seemed to have a sharp tongue, he knew where to draw the line when speaking. Like now, Old Mu never ridiculed Cen Man. He only pointed out Situ Jing’s problems since Qiao Cong was well aware of them.

“Master…” Su Liang began to speak.

Except for Cen Man, the three old men all turned to look at her in unison, “Who are you calling?”

Su Liang:… actually, she hadn’t called anyone yet, there was still a “s” at the end of “master” that she hadn’t uttered. Those two letters were just too sensitive for them…

Ren Dong brought two chairs from the Yuanming Pavilion for Qiao Cong and Cen Man to sit.

Su Liang proposed to them, “To avoid misunderstandings, it’s clear that referring to all of you collectively as Master won’t do. So should I address you all as Old White, Old Mu, Old Qiao and Miss Man? Or should I…”

Hearing herself being addressed as “Miss Man”, the three old men all wore speechless expressions while Cen Man paused, then couldn’t help but laugh. “That won’t do.” It was not that she thought Su Liang was being disrespectful, it was just amusing. She was of a considerable age, yet Su Liang referred to her as a young miss.

Gu Ling understood that in Su Liang’s previous life, it was not uncommon to address elders by their names, and it did not denote disrespect.

Su Liang chuckled, “It sounds like we’re sisters. But if you find it uncomfortable, why don’t all of you discuss it among yourselves, deciding how I should address you?”

Cen Man was indeed uncomfortable but felt quite pleased after hearing Su Liang’s explanation. Throughout her life, she had no children of her own and had not formed close friendships with other women when she was young. Being with Su Liang made her feel as if she had retained her youth.

“I am the Grand Master,” said Old White.

Old Mu quickly followed him, “I am the Second Master.”

Qiao Cong was displeased, “I just won the match. I should be the Grand Master.”

Old White looked at Qiao Cong with cold eyes, Old Mu spoke up with irritation, “Do you understand the principle of first come, first serve? Who said that the martial contest earlier was for deciding our ranks? If you’re unhappy, challenge us again. Don’t blame Old White for poisoning you and rendering you useless for real this time. I haven’t even used my unique hidden weapon yet. Considering what you did in the past, it was fortunate we didn’t kill you. And now you dare to challenge us?”

Cen Man tugged on Qiao Cong’s sleeve, silently telling him to stop.

Qiao Cong understood what Cen Man meant. Indeed, the order was determined by who had come first, and he was the third to arrive. While he did not fear any martial contest, his dark past left him in deficit of good deeds, and he had no retort on this matter.

As Old Mu had said, the true abilities that both Old White and he had, which interested both Su Liang and Gu Ling, were not martial arts. One was a Poison Master, the other was a descendant of the Mu Family who had inherited their mechanism techniques. These were abilities that no one else could replace.

Therefore, Qiao Cong had no choice but to concede, “I am the Third Master.”

Cen Man smiled, “Then you should call me the Fourth Master.”

As for Su Liang’s other masters – like Lin Shuzhi – there would be no need for them to vie for rankings, nor to establish any sort of order with these old men. As for Gu Ling, who was the first to teach Su Liang martial arts, he called himself the first master, but only wanted Su Liang to know, without the need to compete with these old fellows. Su Liang loved him and their baby the most; everyone else was nothing in comparison…

This way, the “dispute” about the masters was temporarily resolved.

As noon approached, Gu Ling went off to cook again. All the others left, leaving Old White with Su Liang in the pavilion.

“Grand Master, could you tell me now, what is the matter with ‘Little Junior Sister’ and Madam Yue?” Su Liang seriously asked Old White.

When Old White didn’t want to disclose it at first, Su Liang didn’t push. But now that Madam Yue had appeared and knew Su Liang was Old White’s disciple, Su Liang needed to understand their conflict as soon as possible to decide how to deal with this development.

Upon hearing this, Old White fell silent.

Su Liang didn’t rush him, understanding that revisiting the past was not easy for him and might require time to collect his thoughts.

After about fifteen minutes of silence, Su Liang felt it was about time to broach the subject again, “Could it be that I am the granddaughter of Grand Master’s younger martial sister?”

Given Old White’s age, “daughter” would be impossible.

“Hmn.” Old White looked at Su Liang, nodding his head. “You should be, given how much you resemble my Little Junior Sister.”

“Only because of our resemblance?” Su Liang slightly furrowed her eyebrows. “But appearances could be coincidental. Did Grand Master’s Little Junior Sister have something important, like a jade pendant or anything that she might have passed down to her child?”

Old Bai furrowed his eyebrows, “There was a jade pendant.”

Upon hearing this, Su Liang thought of the purple jade pendant that the original master had carefully hidden in the Su’s village.

Unexpectedly, Old Bai continued, “It was an Ink Jade Pendant, with the character ‘Shen’ carved on it.”

“Did ‘Little Junior Sister’ have the surname ‘Shen’?” Su Liang asked. The Ink Jade Pendant naturally was not the one left by the original master. However, this did not necessarily mean that the original master had no relation to “Little Junior Sister”. Perhaps the Ink Jade Pendant wasn’t passed down to the original master, or it was lost, and the purple jade pendant was given by someone else, after all, in the span of three generations and decades, many other people and events would have occurred.

Old Bai nodded, “Her name was Shen Qingxue. Her father, was my and Yue Mei’s master, Shen Zhong.”

“What was grand master’s full name?” Su Liang asked.

“My original surname was Mo.” Old Bai said, “Mo Fei.”

Su Liang: …So he used the pseudonym “Turning Black and White”…

Then Old Bai opened up, his expression nostalgic as he recalled his experiences during his youth.

He originally came from the Yin Country, his family was in business, their life was affluent, with no worry about food and clothing. When he was young, a sudden misfortune befall his family, resulting in the destruction of his family and the deaths of his relatives. He ended up drifting, and was “picked up” by the Poison Master Shen Zhong.

Later, Shen Zhong brought Yue Mei home, and hence the family had two disciples and a little daughter.

OId Bai’s childhood memories at the Shen family were happy. He treated Yue Mei like his own little sister, but his favorite was still the little junior sister Shen Qingxue. To Old Bai, she was like a flawless jade, cherished in his heart.

Soon, they grew up. Both Old Bai and Yue Mei lived up to Shen Zhong’s expectations and were gifted in the ways of poison techniques. Shen Qingxue, however, detested dealing with poison since she was young and insisted on learning medical skills.

And Shen Qingxue’s mother, Bai’s master’s wife, was a doctor.

That family, although might appear strange to outsiders, was surprisingly harmonious and content within.

However, everything turned out to be Old Bai’s wishful thinking.

Because the family he liked, the respected master and mistress, the beloved junior sisters Yue Mei and Qingxue, as well as his own fate, were all undergoing silent changes, which he only realized in hindsight.

One day, Yue Mei confessed her love to Old Bai, saying she liked him and wanted to be with him. She even proposed to leave the Shen family with Old Bai and start a new life somewhere else.

Honestly, Old Bai only regarded Yue Mei as his sister. He liked Qingxue, and as long as his master did not kick him out, he would never leave.

“I can never forget Yue Mei’s expression at that time…” Old Bai’s eyes filled with pain.

Su Liang suddenly realized that perhaps the relationship between Old Bai and Yue Mei was not as simple as just hatred.

“I confessed my feelings to Qingxue, who also liked me. We went together to our master and mistress, asking them for their blessings. Neither of them objected, but they said someone had predicted that Qingxue couldn’t get married before she turned eighteen, otherwise disaster would befall. We didn’t question it, and I was willing to wait.” Old Bai’s voice became low, and then fell silent.

Su Liang waited. After a while, Old Bai continued the story.

One day, Shen Zhong sent Old Bai out on a task. When he returned, he found that his home, all the people, had disappeared without a trace, as if they had never existed.

He searched for them like a madman, but no matter what, he couldn’t find them.

It wasn’t until several years later that Lao Bai finally found Yue Mei, who was accompanied by a skeletal child. She claimed that the child was her son and that the father was their master, Shen Zhong.

At that moment, everything Lao Bai had believed collapsed.

Yue Mei revealed that she had been abused by Shen Zhong since she was thirteen years old. He threatened her if she dared to tell anyone, claiming he would kill both her and Lao Bai.

After enduring four years of abuse, Yue Mei sought Lao Bai, hoping to escape together. She thought Lao Bai would not refuse, but all her dedicated waiting turned out to be in vain.

At first, Lao Bai didn’t believe her, but later he questioned why she didn’t reveal the truth sooner.

When Yue Mei heard Lao Bai admitted he liked Shen Qingxue, her heart died. She hated Shen Qingxue because Shen Zhong did not sneak into Shen Qingxue’s bed at night and do disgusting things to her. Even Lao Bai, whom she had a crush on, fell in love with Shen Qingxue.

From that moment on, Yue Mei swore to completely destroy the Shen family and Shen Qingxue’s life.

When Lao Bai asked Yue Mei what she had done, she admitted to selling Shen Qingxue.

But the truth was more complex and brutal. Shen Zhong and his wife had climbed into a mysterious and powerful force. Yue Mei was even given to two men from that force to play with, and they wanted to marry their beloved daughter to the young master of that force.

“What force?” Su Liang was curious. Besides the royal family, he hadn’t heard of any great mysterious force in the world today.

Lao Bai shook his head, “I don’t know, and neither does Yue Mei.”

When they promised Lao Bai he would marry Shen Qingxue, they were just deceiving him.

Su Liang formed an uncertainty in his heart, “With their moral character, why would Shen Zhong adopt Yue Mei for her beauty, and why adopt the grand master too? For what purpose?”

Lao Bai’s fists clenched suddenly, and his face became extremely ugly. He gritted his teeth and said, “Yue Mei said I am Shen Zhong’s illegitimate son! The Mo family was ruined by Shen Zhong because he wanted to take me away without any worries.”

Su Liang was dumbfounded. Indeed, everything had a reason.

So, Lao Bai and his beloved little martial sister Shen Qingxue were actually siblings?

Su Liang could suddenly understand why Lao Bai had been living in a dream for so many years. Who could bear such a fatal blow?

After revealing the darkest secret in his heart, Lao Bai continued to tell the story of how Yue Mei colluded with the two men who had played with her, and turned the tables on Shen Zhong and his wife. After Shen Zhong confessed Lao Bai’s origin, he was brutally tortured by Yue Mei for three days before he died in front of his wife and daughter. The lady Shen was also tortured to death. Yue Mei originally wanted to torture Shen Qingxue, but was stopped by the two men. They wanted to take Shen Qingxue back to report, so Yue Mei took a copper coin from them, saying it was for selling Shen Qingxue to them…

“Was everything Yue Mei said true?” Su Liang asked, frowning.

Lao Bai nodded, his face dark, “It’s true, I look a lot like Shen Zhong. He said he adopted me because of our similarity. Yue Mei forced Shen Zhong to write a blood letter confessing what he had done, just to show me. She said if I had taken her away at that time, none of these things would have happened. So, she hates me, as long as she is not well, I can’t expect peace…”

Finally, Su Liang understood that Lao Bai didn’t fear Yue Mei, but loved and hated her. She was once like his sister, humiliated and hurt under his nose without him noticing, and the one who abused her was his biological father. Lao Bai hated Yue Mei for what she did to Shen Qingxue, but that hatred was not pure, and he hated himself and Shen Zhong couple more than hating Yue Mei. Even though Lao Bai did nothing wrong, many things were destined to be tragic from the start, and he couldn’t escape from the vortex ever since…

This also explains why Lao Bai, knowing that Yue Mei is a big problem, did not want to confront her when they met in Liang Country, and he did not eradicate her without considering the consequences, but insisted on returning.

He said Yue Mei was crazy, and he knew best how Yue Mei had gone mad, and thought he was responsible for it.

Su Liang poured Lao Bai a cup of warm water, which was shivering in his hand, “I will never let Yue Mei hurt you. If she won’t be satisfied until I die, then after I pass on all my knowledge to you, I will go find her, and we will die together.”