Chapter 157: Horse-Whinny Stream (Part Two)

"Respected uncles, aunts, elder brothers, and sisters-in-law, this humble maiden is traveling far from home and hopes you might all show some kindness," the woman in yellow said, bowing to the crowd.

While the dark-skinned, lean man and the pure-looking young girl hardly resembled people from the Central Plains, this woman in yellow, from her attire to her speech and manners, was indistinguishable from any Central Plains maiden.

Her demeanor was graceful, her request was made in gentle tones, and her voice was so sweetly captivating that it made people flush red. Ordinarily, someone would have stepped forward by now, casting aside their own safety to yield a room or two, but...

The problem was that everyone in the inn's common hall was also without a room. In this freezing weather, those who had rented rooms had long since crawled beneath their covers; who would remain in the hall to suffer through the bitter wind and snow?

"Grandmother, there is truly nothing we can do; we are also people without rooms," the occupants of the hall said with troubled expressions, looking helplessly at the trio in a disorderly chorus.

The lean man glared resentfully at the crowd and clenched his fists, but after being reprimanded by the woman in yellow, he did not dare to act rashly.

The capital was a place where crouching tigers and hidden dragons lay, and being right under the Emperor's feet, the lean man did not dare to be overly presumptuous. Should he happen to provoke some martial arts expert into taking action, the three of them would certainly come to a bad end—take that " chivalrous hero" sitting off to the side, reading a book as if no one else existed...

"My room can be given to you, but there is only one," the "chivalrous hero" said after a long silence, unable to bear the noise any longer.

Upon hearing this, the woman in yellow and her companions were immediately overjoyed. A good person had finally appeared. Although this fellow looked somewhat unpolished at first glance, upon closer inspection, his brows and eyes were actually quite refined.

Besides, since someone was generously offering to make way, who cared whether he looked handsome or ugly?

"Many thanks to the young hero," the woman in yellow said happily, bowing to the "chivalrous hero."

Her lightning-fast gaze swept back and forth across his person, making him feel so at a loss that he waved his hands repeatedly and said, "When one is traveling far from home, who doesn't face difficulties? Lady, please stand on ceremony."

"Hahahaha," some of the people inside the inn could not help laughing at the sight.

"What are you laughing at?" the pure maiden asked, putting her hands on her hips and looking displeased.

You wouldn't give up your rooms, and now that a good person has stepped forward to yield his, you actually have the nerve to mock him? It is simply too infuriating, the maiden thought to herself.

"Young lady, do not misunderstand... that person's room is... a horse stable..." someone couldn't help but answer.

"What?" Hearing this, the pure maiden was instantly filled with righteous indignation. No wonder he was so willing to give up his room—it turned out to be a stable! Could a human being live in a horse stable?

This made her even angrier. She turned her hands back to her hips, faced the "chivalrous hero," and was so furious that she was momentarily speechless.

"Stinking wretch, how dare you toy with us?" The lean man finally found an opportunity to speak. Realizing that the "chivalrous hero" was not very old, he addressed Li Sanjian viciously.

If not for the suspicion that the "chivalrous hero" might be a martial arts practitioner, the lean man would have already stepped forward to give him a couple of slaps.

"Ha!" The "chivalrous hero" did not seem angry. He closed the book in his hand and smiled, saying, "This brother is joking. This humble person merely arrived a step earlier than you and secured a single guest room. Now yielding it to you, how can that be considered toying with you? Does this brother not understand the principle of giving one's all to help others? This is precisely giving one's all! During the Spring and Autumn period, Bao Shuya exhausted all his efforts to assist Guan Zhong, enabling Guan Zhong to become a virtuous and renowned prime minister of his generation—this is known as the friendship of Guan and Bao. Having received someone's help, do you still complain that they haven't given enough? Where under heaven is there such a logic?"

"I... I... I... when did I complain... ah?" How could the lean man match the "chivalrous hero" in debate? After just a few sentences, he was rendered speechless, stammering and unable to string together a complete sentence for the longest time.

Although the "chivalrous hero" appeared utterly rough and bold on the surface, he was currently spouting sophisticated language and clever arguments with a glib tongue, making the whole scene immensely comical.

"You weren't complaining? If you weren't complaining, why did you utter words of mockery? You are completely an ingrate who pushes for more after an inch is given! You look like a human being, so why are you such an ungrateful wretch? If I were you, I would accept this generous gift with profuse thanks, without a single word of grievance. Am I right?" The "chivalrous hero" continued his glib and relentless banter.

"Right... no... right... I—" The "chivalrous hero's" words made answering either yes or no incorrect. The lean man's face turned beet red, and he breathed like an ox, creating a puff of white vapor in front of his face that seemed to whiten his dark purple cheeks somewhat.

"Pfft!" The pure maiden couldn't help laughing out loud at the sight.

"Elder Brother Huang, you cannot out-argue him," the woman in yellow said with a slight shake of her head. "Many thanks for the young hero's kind intentions."

Ignoring the "chivalrous hero," she turned to the lean man and the pure maiden and said, "Let us simply make do by the campfire for the night."

"Not at all, not at all, you're welcome." As the two women walked past the "chivalrous hero," they brought with them two wafts of fragrance. Inhaling the intoxicating scent, the "chivalrous hero" smiled and asked, "You don't want the room after all?"

"Keep it for yourself to sleep in," the pure maiden said, sticking out her pink tongue at the "chivalrous hero" and making a comical face.

"Haha, it isn't really a horse stable anyway; it's just a guest room beside the stable. Making do there for a night is actually quite nice," the "chivalrous hero" laughed heartily.

"Yes... yes, the honorable guest is right. It is still quite far from the stable, and no odors can be smelled," the innkeeper chimed in, nodding repeatedly.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" The pure maiden opened her eyes wide at these words, staring blankly at the "chivalrous hero" as she asked.

If that was truly the case, resting in that room was far better than freezing in the common hall.

"You didn't ask!" the "chivalrous hero" smiled.

"Then why did they say it was a horse stable?" the pure maiden asked again.

"They say whatever they please," the "chivalrous hero" replied, pointing to the snowflakes outside the window and asking, "What is snow?"

"In the third month of autumn, the Goddess of Frost and Snow appears to send down frost and snow. Snow is laid out by the deity of frost and snow," someone in the common hall answered before the pure maiden could.

"Incorrect!" the "chivalrous hero" shook his head. "Snow is water, and water is snow! Where on earth is there any deity of frost and snow?"

"Water?" the pure maiden asked.

"Indeed," the "chivalrous hero" nodded. "Otherwise, how could snow melt into water?"

"I know snow can melt into water, but how does water turn into beautiful snowflakes? Furthermore, where does the water in the sky come from? Is it rain? And how does it turn into snow?" The pure maiden simply stopped walking, stood beside the "chivalrous hero," and asked.

"Uh... the waters of the Yellow River come from the heavens; the waters of the Yellow River are the waters of the heavens," the "chivalrous hero" found it truly difficult to explain and could only spout casual nonsense.

"Little sister, come over here." The woman in yellow and the lean man had already seated themselves by the campfire. Seeing that the pure maiden was still endlessly pestering the "chivalrous hero," she called out.

"Oh, I'm coming... Humph, a ghost would believe you." The pure maiden made one more face at the "chivalrous hero" before reluctantly leaving his side and sitting down next to the woman in yellow.

The matter settled, the "chivalrous hero" walked back to his wooden table, sat down, and while eating the food that had been brought out, resumed reading his book on his own.

"Do you all know about Mirror Lake Manor?" With some idle time on their hands, the people began chatting again, speaking with a Jiangnan accent.

"Mirror Lake Manor? Of course we know it. That place is a paradise on earth," said a guest with a Shaanxi accent.

"More than just a paradise on earth—everyone inside that manor is obscenely wealthy. Magnificent mansions, gardens, and concubines are countless," said a person with a Hubei accent.

When the crowd brought up Mirror Lake Manor, the woman in yellow and her two companions immediately pricked up their ears, though on the surface they showed no abnormality, merely poking at the firewood and listening intently.

"They are all retired high-ranking imperial officials, so of course they are wealthy. It's just ill-gotten wealth squeezed from the common people, however," a person with a local Kaifeng accent said with disdain.

"What this brother says is very true, but did you know that some strange things happened there recently?" the person with the Jiangnan accent said.

"What strange things?" the guest with the Shanxi accent asked.

"Every single person of status in the manor has fallen ill," the person with the Jiangnan accent replied.

"Fallen ill? What's so strange about falling ill? When people get old, they are bound to get sick," the guest with the Hubei accent remarked.

"All of them? Did you hear clearly? They all fell ill! The notables in the manor fell sick one after another, and they all contracted the exact same illness," the person with the Jiangnan accent shook his head.

"The exact same illness? What illness is that?" the guest with the Shanxi accent continued to ask.

"Insect gu!" the person with the Jiangnan accent replied.

"Insect gu?" a person with a Sichuan accent chimed in, "What damned nonsense! Who doesn't know about insect gu? In the dead of the third and ninth months of winter, where on earth would you get insect gu? Let me tell you, even down in our Sichuan regions, it's not like nobody has ever contracted it, but it always happens in spring or summer. How could anyone get insect gu in the winter?"

"Damned nonsense, what do you mean? Who are you calling a damned person?" the person with the Jiangnan accent demanded angrily.

"Haha, it's just an old habit of mine to talk like that, I wasn't aiming at you," the one with the Sichuan accent laughed.

"Do you even know what insect gu is like? Why couldn't there be insect gu in winter?" the person with the Jiangnan accent glared at him and asked.

"How would I know? But I do know that once you catch it, your belly swells up like a round ball—it's terrifyingly dark. After catching it, you have to invite spirits and perform sacrifices before the gu worms will go away. But you know, we haven't encountered that kind of thing in all these years. Could it be that insect gu has appeared here in the capital? That is simply too horrifying. I'm not going to the city gates anymore, I'm just going to head back home," the person with the Sichuan accent rambled on at length. His accent was quite strange, but most people still grasped his meaning.

A widespread epidemic of gu worms was indeed a terrifying prospect.

"Precisely. But for now, it's only rumored to have appeared at Mirror Lake Manor," the person with the Jiangnan accent nodded and continued. "People who contract insect gu are very difficult to cure, yet those notables at Mirror Lake Manor who caught it have actually recovered. Word has it that they were cured by an immortal fairy who came from beyond the realm."

"An immortal fairy? Does a place like our capital have such an extraordinary person? She was actually able to cure insect gu?" the person with the Kaifeng accent asked in bewilderment.