Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 56: He’s Not Like Someone From This World

“Just how old are you this year?”

Inside the room, Zhao Changhe instructed the servant to fetch hot water, and while he was at it, took advantage of the opportunity to interrogate Cui Yuanyang.

He felt like the expressions everyone made as they looked at him were odd...

Cui Yuanyang blushed and said in a low voice, “A lot more than ten years old!”

“How much more than ten?”

“What do you think? I’m already five chi tall!”

“Like hell you are. Can your head even reach my armpit?”

“?” Cui Yuanyang was not willing to back off and made to walk over to see if her head could actually reach his armpit. “I’m clearly above your armpit...”

Zhao Changhe urgently dodged away and pressed against her head. “Forget it, just look at your face! It’s too delicate. You haven’t even burned off your baby fat. It’s so round!”

“Why do you care how delicate I am!”

“...What do the laws of the Great Xia say about this?”

“What laws? Even in prosperous times, nobody cares, so why do you think they’d care right now!?”

The door creaked open and the servant returned with the water. The gaze he had looking at the two of them was even stranger than the innkeeper’s.

Both of them shut up and realized that if other people heard what they were talking about, they would very much not find it normal.

“Forget it. Your age doesn’t matter to me.” Zhao Changhe waited for the servant to take his strange expression elsewhere. He could only say, “Alright, hurry up and wash yourself, then change into a new set of clothes. Don’t fall sick. I’ll be next door. Call me if there’s anything.”

“Wait—wait a moment...” The young lady lowered her head. “I—I...don’t have spare clothes.”

Zhao Changhe’s eyes went wide. “Didn’t you bring a bag?”

“It’s too small. I only packed some taels of silver and medicine. There’s no way I could fit winter clothes in there.” Cui Yuanyang looked at Zhao Changhe with a confused gaze as if asking, who’s the idiot without experience in the jianghu now? You or me?

“Fuck.” Zhao Changhe was frustrated. “You wait here. I’ll go out and see if there’s a clothing shop around. I’ll get you a new set of clothes.”

Watching Zhao Changhe once again going out and braving the rain, Cui Yuanyang’s gaze flickered.

In such rainy weather, if it was my brother, he’d just scold me and have a servant go and purchase new clothes.

How strange. Not only is he not a bandit, but at some times, he doesn’t even seem like he’s from this world. I wonder if other people have also felt this way before...

Zhao Changhe was truly frustrated. He really had no interest in a little girl that was barely 150 centimeters tall and had not yet developed enough to wear an A cup. Xia Chichi and Yue Hongling on the other hand, though—they’re tall, they have great figures, both of them are sweet, graceful, healthy, and beautiful... Eh.

Anyway, she’s cute but a real pain. The granny of the Cui Clan probably can’t hit or scold her for fear of her disappearing after being driven away. Even Cui Yuanyong thought that she should be sent home.

Whatever. I’ll just think of this as taking care of a classmate’s little sister.

There were clothing shops along the street, but they had long since closed for the day. Zhao Changhe could only climb over their walls and enter. He never thought that the first thing he would steal in his life would actually be women’s clothes!

If word of this spread, his standing with everyone would fall into the very bottom of a valley... Even though many had bad impressions of him, at least it was not this kind of bad.

Zhao Changhe swiftly grabbed a set of clothes similar to the furry clothes Cui Yuanyang wore. As he was about to leave, he thought for a moment then headed to the undergarment section to take a look. His face was flushed as he grabbed a dudou[1]. After quickly leaving a few silver pieces, he ran out of there like his life depended on it.

He did not know what sort of undergarments women in this era wore. He had never seen what Yue Hongling used, while Xia Chichi was still pretending to be a man back then and used a cloth to bind her chest. Ah whatever, in the novels they always wear dudou anyway. Shouldn’t be a problem.

A while later, Cui Yuanyang was curled up beside a brazier. She was stunned as she looked at Zhao Changhe handing over the clothes to her with his stern face; it was as red as a peach.

If you were going to buy clothes then buy actual clothes. There are so many types of underwear. Why did you get me a dudou? There are even mandarin ducks embroidered on it... He touched this dudou before, and now I’m wearing it... Ahhh...

A man and woman living together is actually this inconvenient. How strange. Just how did Yue Hongling live together with him for half a month? They couldn’t have had that kind of relationship, could they?

Zhao Changhe did not concern himself with what this idiot was thinking. He was also cold and tired. He had already washed himself and fallen asleep in his own room.

He always worked on his fundamentals regardless of rain or shine, but today was an exception to a lot of things.

I’m really unlucky.

*

Throughout the night, the rain was not very heavy but it was quite windy.

Being alone with a man outside, a young lady should have been flustered and not be able to sleep well. However, Cui Yuanyang managed to sleep soundly. She felt that not even she could have slept this comfortably back at home.

Of course, this was just an illusion. She felt that way because she was simply too tired.

If Zhao Changhe had delayed in getting her to take a warm bath, she really could have gotten sick.

Cui Yuanyang woke up lethargically and still felt a bit weak. She lazily stretched her arms and blushed as she lowered her head to look at the dudou she was wearing.

He said he’d put me in eighteen different positions, but he didn’t do anything at all. Does wearing this dudou count?

As she thought this, a sound came from outside the window—the whistling of a saber in the wind and the shuffling of feet.

Cui Yuanyang tiptoed out of bed and secretly looked out the window.

Zhao Changhe was practicing with his saber in the courtyard.

It had stopped pouring in the morning, but there was still a light drizzle. To avoid the trouble of getting his clothes wet, he had taken off his outerwear and braved the rainwater with his bare skin. His movements with his saber were strong and full of power, and his robust, distinct muscles were on full display.

Cui Yuanyang’s heart began beating faster and soon, she turned around and did not dare to continue looking.

You’re so hardworking. With the way you look, you must’ve already been training for a while now. But we’re just staying at an inn. Do you really need to train like this? Even my brothers never trained this hard despite being whipped and chastised by our elders... Is there anyone whipping you right now?

Cui Yuanyang’s cultivation was lacking, but she had learned a lot about her clan’s martial arts and could still pick out a thing or two with her own eyes. She could see that, while practicing with his saber, Zhao Changhe was trying to incorporate the Eight Trigrams Step he had seen in his duel the day before into his own footwork. But how should I put this... Other people’s footwork techniques are part of a system. What can you hope to take away from what they display in a dangerous battle?

Cui Yuanyang had a little sympathy for Zhao Changhe. She could get whatever martial arts she wanted, but she did not learn them properly. On the other hand, Zhao Changhe’s circumstances were truly horrible as he had to make do with the garbage martial arts of the Blood God Cult. Whatever little bit of martial arts was revealed to him, he regarded it as treasure.

Why didn’t Yue Hongling teach him any footwork or movement arts?

As she thought this, her expression gradually began to change.

She could see that Zhao Changhe’s shaky footwork was becoming smoother and smoother. He was not trying to steal the Eight Trigrams Step, but rather was merging its strengths into his footwork to perfect it.

No wonder Yue Hongling didn’t teach him any whole movement art. He absorbed her teachings into his own footwork and has long since deviated from the footwork of the Vicious Blood Saber Art. If he continues like this, he’ll end up with his very own footwork technique.

Is this something someone who’s only been training for four months should strive for? How ambitious.

Cui Yuanyang suddenly felt like she had wasted all fifteen years of her life away.

“S—sir.” The servant stuck his head into the courtyard entrance from outside. “Your white pork and eight-treasure congee are here.”

“Oh, leave it over there first.” Zhao Changhe stopped his training, wiped off the sweat and rainwater from his body, and walked in the direction of Cui Yuanyang’s room. “I’ll go and see if that pig has woken up yet.”

Cui Yuanyang suddenly rushed to the side of her bed. “Wait! I’m not dressed yet!”

Zhao Changhe: “...”

The servant: “...”

*

“What’s with that face?” While they ate, Cui Yuanyang asked Zhao Changhe in a strange tone, “Why did that servant get a nosebleed? Did you hit him?”

“No, you hit him.” Zhao Changhe ate his porridge with a blank expression. “It’s not just him, either. I almost got a nosebleed from your attack. It’s a good thing that my imagination isn’t as good as his.”

“I’ve never learned any attacks that allow me to damage someone from afar.”

“You don’t need to learn it. It’s a natural talent.” Zhao Changhe raised his head and threw her a look. The corner of his mouth twitched as he continued eating his porridge.

I wasn’t paying attention when I picked out those furry clothes and that hat last night. Why are there rabbit ears on this hat?

After a certain level, cuteness was a crime. Yet, Cui Yuanyang did not feel that there was anything strange about it. She must be used to wearing clothes like this.

She ate her porridge and said in a soft voice, “Whether it’s saber arts or footwork, you’re slowly figuring everything out by yourself... Why don’t you just ask me for some secret manuals? The Cui Clan’s martial arts are really great. It looks to me like you’ve never even considered doing this.”

Zhao Changhe burst into laughter. “It’s not like you can pass them to me. You can only give me ordinary things. If I was willing to die by the hands of orthodox forces, I could just steal them from you right now.”

Cui Yuanyang pretended not to hear the latter half of his reply and said softly, “Yes.... Under no circumstances am I allowed to leak them. Unless, of course, you...uh.... Anyway, even if I give you some ordinary ones, everything I have is much better than whatever Eight Trigrams Step....”

“I don’t want it.”

“Why?”

“Young lady, you’re naive. But I’m not. I have no intention of being indebted to anyone from the Cui Clan and have no desire to get even more intertwined with the Cui Clan and become even more restricted.”

“But—but with your knowledge and experience, it’s not enough for you to merge disparate martial arts you learn by yourself. It’s too early.”

“I’ve never once thought about merging together things I’ve learned. I’m still at the beginning stages of accumulating experience. To be honest, though the Cui Clan’s martial arts might be excellent, it’s not enough. It’s also about the one using them. Whatever your older brother has learned is without a doubt superior to whatever Yue Hongling knows, but he still lost to her. This is proof.”

Cui Yuanyang did not speak. That feeling of him not belonging to this world arose once more. Even though his reasoning was correct, who in this world would believe him? Wouldn’t a good martial art help you develop your intuition much better than stubbornly trying to figure things out by yourself? Even if someone knows it’ll bring them some trouble, they wouldn’t be so indifferent to the prospect, not even Yue Hongling.

Zhao Changhe said, “In fact, I feel that if the people of the Cui Clan keep wallowing in the greatness of their own martial arts, they’ll eventually begin to decay like the Great Xia.”

Seeing Cui Yuanyang’s unwillingness to back down from the expression on her small face, Zhao Changhe did not say anything more and stood up. “Let’s go. Traveling the jianghu doesn’t necessarily mean we have to deal with demons and monsters. The road ahead isn’t all that filled with bumps. I only hope that when we arrive at Qinghe, your clan won't turn out to be one of these bumps.”

1. A traditional Chinese undershirt. It looks like this: https://gw.alicdn.com/imgextra/i2/724072507/T26q2GXalXXXXXXXXX_!!724072507.jpg_Q75.jpg_.webp ☜

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