Chapter 23 Memories of the Lower Jaw

  The old man did not immediately answer his question. He slowly got up, hunched over and coughed several times, then walked to the wall and took down the landscape painting that had been torn into strips by an invisible force.

  "I'm really getting old, I almost lost my life coughing while tearing up a painting."

  He looked at the tattered cloth in his hand with a treasured expression and said to Yi Tianxing, "Don't ask me if I'm from the Upper Three Days, because even I don't know if I am."

  It's easy to travel but hard to explain.

  "Because in this world I have never met anyone with the same abilities as me." The old man put away the torn cloth and continued, "And you are the first one."

  Yi Tian Xing finally understood why the old man in front of him could stand unshaken for many years in the stormy Jianghu, and even establish a vast territory in the provincial city as an outsider. Thinking that he had such a skill to launch a sneak attack from afar, it would be easy to get rid of any troublesome opponent on his way.

  The old man's voice became somewhat desolate.

  "The legend of the past three days is just a rumor, which I have spent 40 years to find out. I firmly believe that this legend really exists, but there is no evidence. Today, I invite you here to see if you are the same kind of person as me. Don't blame an old man for talking too much, after all, knowing that someone similar to myself lives in a small county town, I am excited and hope you can understand my excitement when I see you."

  Yi Tianxing naturally understood the loneliness of someone with this ability living in the world, and he looked at the old man in front of him with some sympathy. Suddenly, he thought of a rumor and asked, "Old sir, it's said that after you arrived in the provincial city, you had an extraordinary encounter, which allowed you to make a name for yourself in the Jianghu. Is this so-called extraordinary encounter related to your current ability?"

  The old man smiled and nodded, and the wrinkles on his face relaxed a bit.

  "What kind of encounter? Since it's an encounter, then the ability you have now must be acquired later in life, and someone must have taught you. If someone taught you, then you should..."

  "No one has passed on their kung fu to me." The old master sighed and shook his head, saying: "However, I believe that the Upper Three Days truly exist, it's just possible that they think my kung fu is too shallow, so they don't want to come and guide me in my practice."

  "How did you come by this skill?"

  The old man slightly raised his eyes, and at this moment he didn't look like a notorious underworld leader who had been dominating the rivers and lakes for many years. Instead, he looked like an old man basking in the sun at the village entrance, and seemed to be immersed in a melancholic mood.

  "That year I followed the old procuress from the building to the provincial city to pick up girls. Originally, having stayed in the brothel for a long time, I didn't have any special feelings towards those women's miserable appearances. But... that time was different. Was it March 1st or 2nd? I don't remember clearly, anyway, there was a big flood, and we left from Gaoyang, taking the river road to the provincial city. All along the way were houses submerged in muddy water, and everywhere were dead bodies of people who had drowned. Do you know why the procuress wanted to go at that time?"

  The old man looked at Yitian with a hint of indifference and continued: "Because every time the flood comes, many people will die, there will be many orphaned girls, of course, there will also be many families who can't make ends meet, so they will sell their daughters. The people who open brothels are all scoundrels, naturally they will take advantage of the situation when many girls are being sold at a low price to collect some women."

  Yitian hung his head slightly and listened quietly.

  "The city is so big, and there are so many people selling children, how can you see everything in one day? I was just a little tea pot back then, wearing only a short-sleeved jacket every day, following behind that old prostitute who had three catties of powder on her face... Every day, I followed behind that woman's big butt, going around to pick out girls." Old Master Gu said up to here, suddenly let out a sly laugh, and spat a mouthful of phlegm towards the corner of the wall.

  Yi Tian Xing's lips curled up into a sly smile, and a scene flashed in his mind. He thought of an old man being pinned down by a middle-aged woman with a thick layer of powder on her face, living a miserable life, and couldn't help but chuckle softly.

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  In 1931, the Yangtze River experienced one of the greatest floods of the twentieth century, sweeping away vast expanses of flat plains in central China. The provincial capital narrowly escaped disaster and was immediately occupied by refugees who had barely escaped with their lives from the floodwaters. Along the area from Wansong Garden to Qu Shui Lou, all were destitute peasants with disheveled hair and soot-stained faces, their bodies gaunt and yellowish.

  In those years, the old man was still a young boy with downcast eyes and eyebrows, following a stout middle-aged woman who walked back and forth in front of these refugees. The middle-aged woman held a handkerchief in her hand, wrapped around several silver coins. With these silver coins, she could freely choose from all directions, picking out the pale-faced women from the east household who were starving, and the muddy-faced dolls from the west household.

  Gu Ding is not a kind person, and he wouldn't share his kindness with these hundreds of thousands of refugees. Even if he had the thought, he didn't have the ability to do so. Moreover, buying this little girl, although she would be sold into a brothel, at least there was a way for her to survive, which was better than dying in this provincial city's territory.

  He still followed that big butt with his head bowed and eyes down, still roughly pinched the chins of those little girls, making them open their mouths, looking at their teeth like livestock, checking if the coating on their tongues was green or white or yellow or what color...

  He continued to do this kind of work that was both cruel and lifesaving, until his slender fingers touched the chin of a woman. The delicate sensation, like jade, made him pause for a moment, and he straightened up to take a closer look, only to discover that the girl in front of him was so beautiful, with dust covering her face but unable to hide her picturesque eyebrows and eyes. Her pale complexion, due to hunger, seemed even more elegant.

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  Yi Tianxing heard this and smiled.

  "In the prime of youth, how can one not cherish spring? When a young man from a good family meets a slave girl in the dust, that's when the story begins." He thought to himself, with a mischievous grin on his face as he gazed at the old gangster lost in his memories.

  "Don't get ahead of yourself, continue, hurry up and get to the point." He kindly reminded Old Master Gu, "Next, it must be that your old procuress took a liking to this young girl, then you had the intention to save her, so in the middle of the night, you gave her silver and let her escape. Then you were driven out by the procuress, wandered the streets, offended some evil forces, and by coincidence, were rescued by someone, and muddled your way into acquiring a set of skills?"

  Yitian Xing stroked his nose, self-absorbed in rearranging the plot of that year's events.

  The old man's face, full of wrinkles, turned bright red as he shouted: "How did you know?"

  Yi Tian Xing was shot by him and felt unbearable pain in his chest and abdomen. Later, he learned that this old guy just tried it out purely. Although it's not convenient to go and twist the neck of this smiling old fox, he still feels resentful. At this moment, hearing his awkward question, he replied with an extremely disdainful glance: "The script is all like this, with your IQ, can you even perform a different play?"

  The old man put his somewhat withered palms on his knees, gently stroking them, as if trying to recall something: "What you said is basically right. It's just that I didn't let that girl get away."

  "Oh?" Yi Tianxing was somewhat surprised.

  "I didn't let her get away." The old man narrowed his eyes, a hint of cunning in the slits, "That night, I took advantage of the madam and the thugs being asleep, stole all the silver coins from the account room, and then ran away with that girl!"

  Yi Tian Xing was stunned for a long time, then stretched out his thumb and praised: "Awesome, awesome to the point of startling the Jade Emperor, no wonder the old heaven wants to help you."

  This is the young man's admiration for the old man.

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  I have to go to the hospital tonight and I'm not sure if I can make it back in time to write, so I'll take a leave of absence in advance. The next chapter that is scheduled to be released tonight may be slightly delayed.