“Pah!” The beggar spat in the direction the two had left, cursing under his breath. “I'm a beggar, not a trash can! Throwing just anything into my bowl... Now I can't even use this bowl anymore!”
Just as the beggar was hopping mad, a voice rang out.
“Master, I brought you some meat buns.” A man with only a left eye walked over. It was Yan Xie, whom Jiang Moran had met in the city that day.
“My good disciple, you're finally back!” the beggar laughed, rushing forward to hug Yan Xie—or rather, the meat buns in his hands.
Yan Xie's mouth twitched. He now highly suspected that his own lunatic nature was a direct result of his master's influence.
Watching the beggar stuffing buns into his mouth with both hands, no one would ever suspect that this was the Beggar Gang Leader, who had risen to great fame in the jianghu over the past five years.
He was one of the Five Heroes of the Jianghu, just like Hu Mei'er, whom Jiang Moran's group had met on the road.
All beggars in the world looked the same, so very few could recognize him as the Beggar Gang Leader. However, rumors in the jianghu spoke of the “Plain-Robed, Bamboo-Caned Beggar Gang Leader,” describing his typical appearance of wearing plain cloth robes and carrying a bamboo cane...
“Wait... Master, where is your bamboo cane?” Only now did Yan Xie notice that both of his master's hands were occupied with buns.
There wasn't a trace of the bamboo cane to be seen.
“The bamboo cane... Oh, right, I forgot it.”
...
“Brother, why have you been holding that bamboo cane all this time?” he asked, looking curiously at the bamboo cane Jiang Moran had somehow acquired in his hand.
“It's a secret.”
“Uh, alright.” The man shrugged, then introduced himself, “I am Xiao Yu, a wandering martial artist of the jianghu. And you, brother?”
“Jiang Buran, just an ordinary person.”
An ordinary person? Xiao Yu blanked for a moment. He sized Jiang Moran up from head to toe. This temperament, this attitude of looking down on everything, this luxurious fox-fur coat on his shoulders...
He understood perfectly. This was clearly some noble heir or young master out on a leisure trip!
With this thought in mind, Xiao Yu finally led him to a stall where an elderly lady was selling meat-stuffed flatbreads.
“Auntie! Two flatbreads, please!” Xiao Yu called out.
The elderly lady clearly knew Xiao Yu. She didn't show the disgust that others did and smiled warmly. “Coming right up! Two flatbreads, was it?”
Jiang Moran teased Xiao Yu, “You're quite the charmer, aren't you? Even this auntie has a soft spot for you.”
“Cough, cough, cough!” Xiao Yu choked on his own spit and explained hastily, “It's not that I'm charming. It's just that the martial artists who come to this city keep causing trouble, making the locals extremely resentful of outsiders.”
As they spoke, the elderly lady finished the flatbreads, and Xiao Yu handed one to Jiang Moran.
He took a bite. The dough was thoroughly soaked in savory meat juices, giving it a unique and delightful flavor. To say the least, it was dozens of times better than that frozen fish.
Jiang Moran leaned against a nearby cypress tree, eating slowly.
“This tree doesn't look like it has many leaves, yet there isn't a single patch of snow beneath it.”
The elderly lady overheard and explained with a laugh, “Of course a tree can't block all the snow on its own. It's just that there's a stubborn old man who sweeps away the snow underneath it every single time.”
Jiang Moran nodded. Leaning against the tree, eating the flatbread, and washing it down with a sip of his newly bought plum blossom wine—it was incredibly cozy.
Unfortunately, before he could finish the flatbread, trouble came knocking. The Beggar Gang Leader had followed their trail all the way here and finally caught up to them.
“You brat... How dare you steal an old man's cane!” the Beggar Gang Leader panted, catching his breath.
Yan Xie looked at Jiang Moran's silhouette and found it a bit familiar. As he got closer, he realized it was an old acquaintance, and his hands instinctively clutched his stomach.
No, wait, my master is right here with me this time!
Yan Xie's hands had moved faster than his brain, but his brain quickly caught up. If my master wasn't here, I'd be scared. But my master IS here, so why the hell should I still be scared? Wouldn't that make bringing him completely useless?
With that thought, Yan Xie immediately straightened his back, wearing his trademark sinister smile.
“Brother, do you know these two?” Xiao Yu asked curiously.
Jiang Moran looked at the duo. The beggar was wearing ragged, plain cloth robes, appearing to be only in his thirties and looking rather pitiful.
As for the other one, Jiang Moran had a slight impression of him. His black clothes stood out starkly against the white snow, and with that smile of his, he looked incredibly stupid.
Jiang Moran immediately shook his head, indicating he had no idea who these two idiots were.
Seeing him shake his head, the Beggar Gang Leader instantly grew displeased. Cursing, he said, “Well, aren't you something, you brat! Stealing someone else's stuff, and now you're pretending you don't even know me!”
Jiang Moran looked at him with an innocent expression, fumbled around his own person for a moment, and finally locked his gaze onto a certain bamboo cane.
“Is this yours?”
“Well, duh!”
“Oh, oh, my bad,” Jiang Moran said, making a gesture to hand the bamboo cane back to him.
The Beggar Gang Leader blanked. He hadn't expected this person to be so easygoing with a beggar. Seeing the youth's luxurious fox-fur coat and fine clothes, he had assumed he was some noble young master who would surely make things difficult.
Who would have thought... Ah, he had truly judged a noble heart with a petty mind.
Just as the bamboo cane was about to return to his hand, Jiang Moran suddenly hurled it into the distance. The cane spun rapidly through the air before plunging straight into the dirt a hundred meters away.
“Go fetch it.”
?? The Beggar Gang Leader was dumbfounded, clearly caught completely off guard by Jiang Moran's sudden move.
At the sight of this, Yan Xie laughed hysterically inside. This guy has thoroughly crossed my master. The bamboo cane was his master's absolute treasure. Although his master was usually forgetful and constantly misplaced things, it didn't mean he didn't care about them.
Sure enough, the smile on the Beggar Gang Leader's face vanished completely, replaced by a dark look of indignation.
His internal energy surged like a tidal wave, causing the falling snowflakes to instantly vaporize into mist the moment they drifted within half a meter of him. At this moment, he was like a dormant volcano on the verge of eruption.
Feeling the fluctuations of this internal energy, Xiao Yu's heart turned cold. Having roamed the jianghu for so many years, he had never encountered such a terrifying aura!
Coupled with the other party's beggar attire, Xiao Yu's heart sank. Could this be one of the Five Heroes of the Jianghu who have risen to fame in recent years?
—The plain-robed, bamboo-caned Beggar Gang Leader!
This time, it's not just my brother... even I am in deep trouble...
“To dare humiliate me like this, you are the fir—”
Slap! Before the beggar could even finish his sentence, Jiang Moran delivered a powerful slap across his face.
Tsk, I really was too nice to this guy. It was one thing for the beggar to kick away a fish given out of goodwill, but now he was even making up excuses to come over and pick a fight. Did he really think Jiang Moran was a pushover?
“Go fetch it for me,” Jiang Moran said calmly, his tone terrifyingly placid.
At these words, everyone present sucked in a cold breath, and Yan Xie's eyes bulged even wider.
His master, one of the famous Five Heroes of the Jianghu, had actually been slapped in the face, and yet that guy was still provoking him!
The Beggar Gang Leader moved. Channeling his internal energy, the surrounding snow began to churn violently as his hand curved into a claw, lunging straight toward Jiang Moran's chest.
Yet, Jiang Moran was even faster. Just as the clawed hand was an inch away from his chest, the Beggar Gang Leader's wrist was firmly caught.
The Beggar Gang Leader's expression changed rapidly. He felt Jiang Moran's hand clamping down like an iron vise, completely impossible to break free from.
“Heh.” A soft, mocking chuckle drifted into his ears. Instantly, an excruciating pain shot up from his wrist, followed by a loud, crisp crack of breaking bones. The sound was so loud that Yan Xie and Xiao Yu could hear it clearly from several meters away.
By the time Jiang Moran released his grip, the Beggar Gang Leader's wrist hung limply, the bones inside having been ground to powder by that terrifying physical strength.
“Oh dear, it looks like you won't even be able to hold your bamboo cane now,” Jiang Moran chuckled, his words piercing the Beggar Gang Leader's heart like daggers.
The Beggar Gang Leader stared tremblingly at his right hand. When he finally looked up after a long silence, his eyes were brimming with pure, murderous intent.
Seeing his master's expression, Yan Xie's heart immediately turned cold. He had never seen his master look like this before; he had never seen his master want to kill someone so badly.
“Today, I will have your life!”
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