Chapter 253

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

On the other side, Liang Yan carried a bundle on his back and held a food box; although his back and hands were heavy, his heart was quite happy.

First, he understood where the problem lay; as long as the misunderstanding was explained clearly, most likely everyone would no longer continue to treat him and Zhu Zhan with their former attitude.

Second... there's ice jelly!

The ice jelly Song Jiejie made had particularly good texture, and the sour sugar water she prepared was both thirst-quenching and delicious; this time she even brought ice, so later he could drink it down with great satisfaction...

No! Can't think too much, otherwise he won't be able to walk — just endure a bit more, once he returns he can eat, and then he'll give half a bowl to Zhu Zhan!

What else could he think about besides ice jelly?

The bundle was so full, so heavy; he didn't know what delicious things Jiejie had packed for him!

The martial hall only gave one day of rest every ten days; this holiday, he had to go back to Song Ji and split more firewood, carry more water, and also grow up quickly, so he could earn money; earning money, he could hand it over to Song Jiejie and Aunt for household expenses, otherwise wouldn't that be equal to eating for free?

Last time Zhu Zhan really liked those amber walnuts; he didn't know if there were any in the bundle this time.

— Right, he also asked him to help ask if the food shop sold them, saying he wanted to save up his own money to buy some to give to someone; aiya, just now he was single-mindedly focused on the stove and forgot to ask! He really deserves a beating; he should have drummed up more business for Jiejie!

He was walking here, yet he didn't know that at this moment, inside the Xu Family Wuguan, things were in an uproar.

It turned out that Zhu Zhan had waited for half a day without seeing Liang Yan return, and couldn't help feeling uneasy.

He had always felt that the people in the martial hall excluded the two of them, but because he was carefree from childhood and had a companion, he fundamentally couldn't be bothered to argue; this time, hearing the news that Liang Yan had gone back with Yang Mian and would only return in the afternoon, the more he thought about it, the more wrong it felt.

He had heard that in some martial halls with bad atmospheres, disciples often fought and brawled at the slightest disagreement, and there was bullying of the weak.

Although this Xu Family Wuguan had a good reputation outside, it couldn't guarantee that all the martial disciples inside were good.

Those evil people who took a dislike to you needed no reason at all; what if they really bullied Liang Yan...

He really couldn't set his mind at ease; after eating, during the noon rest he lay on the bed but couldn't sleep at all, tossing and turning, so he simply climbed up to find the person who had brought the news earlier, intending to ask until things were clear.

He searched and searched, and found the drill ground; with one glance he saw the person.

The other party was surrounded by a group of youngsters, speaking loudly.

"Who knows what got into Yang Mian, he actually brought that thief brat back home; could it be he was coaxed and deceived by his words?"

A group of people at the side chimed in with seven mouths and eight tongues, all echoing agreement.

"In my opinion, driving that Liang Yan out of our martial hall as soon as possible is the proper thing to do!"

"Exactly, dragging down our reputation!"

"He won't leave; with a father that disgusting, he doesn't see it at all, doesn't feel the least bit ashamed; all day he still puts on a show, striving to be first in everything; last time Shifu asked us what we practice martial arts for, he actually dared to say loudly it was to 'uphold justice' — it made people want to vomit; if it were me, I'd be too embarrassed to open my mouth!"

"What Liang Yan, clearly he should be called Yan Yan — truly shameless, even changing his surname! So he actually knows his father is shameful!"

Zhu Zhan listened, baffled.

He couldn't help stepping forward and saying loudly: "What are you talking about! What Yan Yan, what disgusting father? When did Liang Yan become surnamed Yan??"

That group across from him heard the questioning, each one looked over; seeing it was Zhu Zhan, some were embarrassed, but others instead spoke to him in a harsh tone: "You don't know? Aren't you in and out with that Yan Yan every day? Wasn't he living at your house back then? How could you not know? What are you pretending for!"

"Exactly, Liang Yan's father is surnamed Yan, that traitorous villain who helped the kidnapper ringleader escape, called Yan Yuan — they all found this out from the mouths of the officials who went to Hua Prefecture; who are you trying to fool!"

Hearing this, Zhu Zhan knew in his heart that there was definitely a misunderstanding somewhere, and hurriedly explained: "You've got it wrong! Liang Yan is surnamed Liang; he's my grandma's younger brother — my great-uncle's relative, my cousin! He has nothing to do with that Yan Yuan!"

The people across sneered and said: "You just make it up! There are people who saw it; in spring, that traitorous villain Yan Yuan was walking around outside with Liang Yan, and even said he was his son; it can't be that they all saw wrong and heard wrong, right?"

Zhu Zhan froze for a moment, then immediately said: "Liang Yan merely followed the surnamed Yan into the Capital; because he..."

He spoke to this point and suddenly paused.

The people across saw this and laughed loudly, saying: "He what? You say it! You can't even make it up anymore!"

"Just rotten people! Rotten father, Liang Yan this son is also rotten!"

"A rat's son will dig holes; who knows, maybe Liang Yan will also help kidnappers escape in the future! He might not necessarily become a kidnapper himself!"

Seeing the other party's every sentence targeted Liang Yan, Zhu Zhan for a moment also couldn't care about so much; words chasing words, he couldn't help blurting out what he had overheard.

He said loudly: "Hey! Clean up your mouths! Liang Yan's father is an escort guard; because he saved the surnamed Yan's life, the Yan family wanted a good reputation, so they pretended to want to acknowledge him as an adopted son, but actually they never acknowledged him..."

The group of youngsters across all sneered.

"You make it up! Keep making it up! Staring wide-eyed and telling lies!"

The one who had spoken most harshly just now, with the fastest mouth, cursed: "Shut your dog mouth — Liang Yan's father is fundamentally a pus-flowing maggot! This Liang Yan's whole family should die!"

"I told you to clean up your mouth! It's been said they're not one family! You curse Yan Yuan if you want to curse, don't drag Liang Yan into it!"

"I'll curse, I'll curse! Liang Yan, Liang Yan's whole family! Pus-flowing maggots! Pus-flowing maggots!!"

Zhu Zhan burning with rage: "I speak nicely and you don't know how to listen; only a beating will make you listen, right?? I'm going to use my fists!"

"You use them! If you have the guts hit me, if you don't hit me I lose!"

Seeing the other party was despicable to the extreme, ears like they were deaf, every sentence provoking, Zhu Zhan could endure no longer; gripping his fist, he fiercely rushed forward, pounced on the other party, pinned him down, sat on him, raised his fist and smashed down, cursing: "You curse again! I said Liang Yan has no relation with the surnamed Yan! Why do you curse his father!"

The person across froze for a moment; after all, a martial practitioner, he hurriedly dodged his face, barely dodging the straight punch, but still got half his face grazed by the fist wind; a moment later he reacted, shouting with his mouth but his hands not stopping, bracing his arms, with a flip he threw Zhu Zhan onto the ground.

The two rolled around on the ground, wrestling.

The two youngsters were similar in age; among them, Zhu Zhan had grown up in a butcher shop since childhood, had enough meat to eat, so he grew big-shouldered and fat-faced; the other had practiced martial arts for half a year more.

One relied on weight and brute force, one relied on technique; at first the one with technique had the upper hand, but as they fought, time dragged on, the importance of strength showed, and instead Zhu Zhan flipped over and pinned the other down.

Since ancient times, evenly matched opponents most easily ignite true anger; the group of people at the side at first watched the excitement, but as they watched, they suddenly felt something was wrong.

Zhu Zhan had one eye black and blue, that was fine, but their own person also had a bruised mouth, face full of blood, unknown where he was injured; only then did everyone panic and rush forward, wanting to pull them apart, but with no way to get a hold — the two were baring teeth and grinning fiercely, rolling too intensely! They wanted to grab but couldn't find a handle!

Just at this moment, someone from behind shouted: "Stop fighting! Cheng Shifu is here!!"

Everyone panicked at once, hurriedly shouting: "Quick! Quick, stop!"

But it was already too late.

The Xu Family Wuguan had a rule: fellow disciples could not spar privately; once they fought, at least one Jiaoxue instructor had to stand by, with the understanding that it was point-to-stop.

Seeing the two in such a state, when Cheng Shifu approached, he sensed something was wrong and shouted angrily: "What are you doing! Stop this at once!"

As he spoke, he stepped forward several paces and again berated those around: "Why are you standing there? Just watching them fight and brawl? If something really happens, not one of you will escape—I'll put you all in confinement!"

At once everyone surged forward like a swarm of bees, and strong men pulled the two apart.

Zhu Zhan covered his eyes, while the man opposite wiped his nosebleed; still unwilling to let each other go, even while being held apart they kicked at one another with their legs. Cheng Shifu struck each of them twice with a stick before they finally behaved.

He said: "How did the fight start? Say it clearly right here!"

The man opposite spat a mouthful of bloody foam and said: "Instructor, I'm not wrong! Liang Yan's father helped kidnappers escape, and even wanted to change his name and identity. I look down on such a coward! I only spoke a few true words, and Zhu Zhan came to hit me. I'm so wronged!"

Once these words were spoken, the whole field fell silent, and everyone watched Zhu Zhan with schadenfreude.

Cheng Shifu said nothing, turned his head, and also looked over.

People surrounded them on all sides, every gaze filled with condemnation, mockery, and contempt. Zhu Zhan grew angrier the more he thought about it, and felt more wronged for Liang Yan, felt indignant for himself, and was annoyed at the stupid people opposite, who were even wronging a good person.

He was only an eight-year-old child after all—how could he endure? He immediately shouted: "What true words are you saying? You're talking nonsense! Liang Yan's surname is Liang, not Xiang!"

"Then why did he go to the Capital with thieves, and the thieves said he was their own son?"

"It's said his father was an escort guard who lost his life protecting the cargo! Why won't any of you listen? Why won't you believe it?!" Zhu Zhan was furious to the point of death. "His father saved the life of that Xiang thief and died himself! Left him with no father and no mother! The Xiang family took him in only because they feared people would point at their backbone! They didn't even raise him well—claimed to recognize him as an adopted son, but were reluctant to give anything at all!"

He jumbled together everything he had secretly overheard from the adults, even recounting how Xiang Yuan had forced Liang Yan's father to return to the bandit circle for someone else's banknote, indeed causing the father's death, and how they had neglected the orphan and widow until the widow died of illness. After having nightmares and encountering misfortune, he had no choice but to bring Liang Yan home—he learned all of it and recited it in a jumble.

Zhu Zhan was not eloquent, his speech logic was not very coherent, and it was even a bit topsy-turvy. In a moment he was so anxious his face was covered in sweat, and with one eye bruised black and blue, he looked rather comical.

But everyone present could see his anxiety and hear his indignation, and not one person laughed.

"Liang Yan's father and mother are both gone. He finally recognized an adoptive father and thought he had a home. Being bullied in his new home was bad enough, but the man surnamed Xiang is still the enemy who killed his father. His father was so righteous, and he and his mother were so pitiful—yet you still gossip behind his back and curse him! Curse his father! Curse his whole family! Are you even human? Do you have no conscience?!"

Zhu Zhan shouted and shouted, his voice first growing louder and louder, then smaller and smaller, more and more indistinct—his nose suddenly turned sour, and tears and nasal mucus poured out, even flowing into his mouth. He could only carelessly wipe them and cried out: "Do you have no conscience?!"

The fellow disciples in the field were all silent, and could only turn their heads away, not daring to meet his gaze.

Cheng Shifu sighed, turned his head, and shouted: "Wang Dalin! Who did you hear those words from behind his back?"

Wang Dalin, who had rolled on the ground with Zhu Zhan for half a day, held his half-stopped nose, hemmed and hawed for a long while, and pointed at someone.

That person hurriedly said: "I heard it from Xiao Sun!"

Xiao Sun: "Ah? I heard it from Zhang Shixiong!"

Zhang Shixiong hurriedly cleared himself, also saying he had heard it from some certain person.

They passed the buck back and forth, and by the end it seemed clearly a muddled mess. But then someone behind stood up with a pale face and said: "I... I in the springtime, went out to deliver goods with my parents, and often saw that Xiang thief walking around outside with Liang Yan. Everyone knew he had a son, so I thought Liang Yan was his son..."

"He has his own son! His son is named Xiang Lin, and he's fatter than me! He's always bullying people, always annoying!"

"I... I don't know, I thought..." The speaker was so anxious he was at a loss. "What should I do... I really didn't think that much. I thought I was doing the people a service!"

By the time the matter was questioned to the end, the answer was already on the verge of emerging—it turned out to be entirely a misunderstanding.

At once everyone looked at me, I looked at you, all wishing they could bury their heads in the ground.

"The last time Liang Yan greeted me, I didn't even acknowledge him..."

"Sigh, he specially picked up arrows for me, and I didn't acknowledge him either!"

Cheng Shifu then pointed at Wang Dalin and Xiao Lin opposite and said: "What are you standing there for? Go apologize to Zhu Zhan first!"

Then to Zhu Zhan he said: "They are in the wrong, but you are also in the wrong—wasn't it you who struck first?"

After seeing Wang Dalin and Xiao Lin honestly apologize, Cheng Shifu said again: "Remember to go apologize to Liang Yan later!"

Zhu Zhan suddenly shivered and hurriedly said: "No! No!"

He was so anxious he couldn't stand it: "Don't apologize! Don't let Liang Yan find out! He doesn't want others to know his family matters, nor wants others to think he's pitiful!"

He then regretted it: "This stupid mouth of mine! How could I have said it all! Alas! Fellow disciples, can you not spread this outside, and just pretend you don't know about this matter!"

At once everyone in the field answered in unison.

"Don't worry! We absolutely won't say a word outside!"

"We definitely won't say it!"

"But if we don't say it, how will others know he isn't Xiang Yuan's son?!"

"Exactly! We still have to say it? Say it secretly, then explain it to everyone after, and make sure Liang Yan doesn't find out!"

"Do you think he's a fool!"

A group of people discussed it here and there.

Cheng Shifu then said: "Finished speaking?"

He pointed at Zhu Zhan and Wang Dalin and said: "You two fought and brawled."

Then he pointed at Xiao Lin on the other side and said: "You didn't know the inside story and just spread rumors, disgracing the reputation of our fellow disciples."

"All three are at fault. You two will sweep and mop the ground of the martial hall for these two days, wipe the doors and windows, and clean the toilet for me. Everyone else, just watching the fellow disciples fight—all of you run twenty laps on the drill ground, run immediately!"

So when Liang Yan returned, seeing that the afternoon class was about to start, the whole drill ground was full of people sprawled out, each sitting slumped under the trees wiping sweat.

He was carrying and holding things, and had no time to return to the dormitory to put them away, so he just put them aside and went everywhere looking for Zhu Zhan.

Just as he was wondering, he heard someone nearby say: "Hey, Liang Yan is back!"

"Liang Yan, are you looking for Zhu Zhan? He's sweeping the toilet in the back!"

"There's still half a cup of tea time. If you want to find him, hurry while the instructor hasn't come yet!"

"Right, Peng Shifu is always late. You're back now? Hurry and drink some water while you have a spare moment!"

Originally, even if he took the initiative to greet them, no one ever paid attention. But now everyone had changed, and was very enthusiastic.

Such a big change—Liang Yan was originally a sensitive person; how could he fail to notice?

But he didn't ask further, only thanked them, and hurried to the toilet in the back.

He had just arrived when he saw Zhu Zhan with two wads of cloth stuffed in his nose, standing at the toilet door, holding a broom in one hand and a rag in the other, looking completely at a loss.

"Zhu Zhan!" Liang Yan called out and hurried forward. "What happened to you?"

Seeing him return, Zhu Zhan was rather embarrassed and hemmed and hawed for a moment.

When he heard Liang Yan mention the change in his senior brothers' attitudes, he sighed and said, "Liang Yan, I'm sorry... I... accidentally told others about your family matters!"

He recounted everything that happened at noon one by one, and for a moment his eyes turned red again as he said, "I couldn't hold it in for a moment, so... I'm sorry, I secretly listened to my grandfather and my parents talking..."

Liang Yan was stunned for a moment, then said, "It's fine, it's not a big deal, said is said."

However, when the afternoon class came, he quickly sensed something was not right.

Others often stole glances at him, and during spars they would occasionally hold back some strength.

Even though it was a small class, there were still people who found opportunities to talk to him and show goodwill.

Liang Yan showed no reaction, just as usual.

When the great archery class came, after everyone finished practicing individually and the small test began, he took a public bow and arrows forward, drew the bow, nocked the arrow, and shot.

Swish swish swish three times, three arrows hit the bullseye at once, forming a neat pin shape.

Liang Yan had great talent in archery and martial arts; without instruction, relying only on himself, he could hit the mouth of a small bottle two zhang away with a stone on the first try, and after learning archery, not only against his peers but even against people much older than him, he won more than he lost.

His archery today was especially clean and swift, and he quickly won cheers from the whole field.

Liang Yan carried his bow, stood in the middle of Xiao Chi, looked at the people surrounding him on all sides, and said loudly, "My father says martial men deal with each other through real skill—although I am a latecomer, I hope my senior brothers will favor me with real skill!"