Chapter 653: Who Can Claim to Surrender All Under Heaven First
Li Baoping led her horse along, visiting a fellow townsman and elder, a chess friend of her grandfather's, one who claimed to be undefeated in chess on Fortune Street, the other who boasted to be the number one master of Peach Leaf Lane. The two would play chess together, each time with great ceremony, as if betting the reputation of their respective streets. However, Li Baoping did not enjoy chess. Whether the two elders were good at chess was hard to say, but their excuses for taking back moves changed every time. They couldn't compare to Teacher Qi.
Back then, the old man's ancestral home was at the end of Peach Leaf Lane, not far from Fortune Street. Of course, for the little girl in the red cotton-padded jacket at that time, there was no place in the small town that was far away. She would go to the Immortal Grave to find crickets and katydids, to Old Porcelain Mountain to huff and puff picking up fragments, to Dragon Tail Creek to catch fish, shrimp, and crabs, to someone's front gate to look at the high-hanging mirror, to Dragon Riding Lane to jump down the steps. From afar, she could smell the fragrance of peach blossom cakes and hear where a nest of sparrows had suddenly chirped especially loudly.
For the young Li Baoping, every tomorrow seemed filled with endless fun things to do. Her daily schedule was always packed. So the little girl had to keep running fast, like a cartwheel turning without rest. It seemed that by running too fast, she had left her childhood years behind her. When people grow up, childhood stays in place. Occasionally, when she looked back, it grew farther and farther away, blurry and indistinct.
From the thatched cottage, a gaunt old man in a tall hat and wide sash walked out, laughing as he called out "Ping girl" and quickly opened the brushwood gate. The old man's face was full of relief.
"It seems like in just a blink of an eye, little Baoping has grown up so much. Truly, a girl changes eighteen times before reaching womanhood. And she has become much more demure."
"Is this still that lively little girl who liked to jump over walls and sprain her ankle, who you couldn't tell if she had caught crabs and brought them home, or if the crabs had caught her and moved her along with them?"
But even so, the old man still sincerely liked this younger generation. Some children always had a special affinity with elders. Little Baoping of Fortune Street, and also Zhao Yao, who had once been Teacher Qi's book boy, were both such children.
Li Baoping led her horse quickly to the door, bowed in greeting, then straightened up and smiled, "Grandpa Wei."
The old man's surname was Wei, given name Benyuan. He was the former clan head of the Wei clan, one of the four clans and ten surnames of the small town in years past. Before the Splendid Pearl Cave Heaven shattered and fell, he had exchanged letters with the outside world. The messenger at that time was a boy with clear eyes wearing straw sandals. Though Wei Benyuan had only met him once, he remembered it deeply. Sure enough, that boy from the humble alley, after growing up, had not yet reached twenty years, but had already established a great enterprise and had become Little Baoping's Junior Uncle. Such a thing as fate was wonderfully indescribable.
After seeing Li Baoping, Wei Benyuan's smile never faded. He said, "No need to tie up the horse, just let it loose."
Li Baoping then let go of the reins and gently patted the horse's back. The extraordinary steed went to the stream to drink water.
Li Baoping asked, "Where is Sister Taoya?"
"Not at a good time. In previous years, she went to train in the Fox Kingdom and obtained a small fortune. She needs to temper her Dao heart. If she really becomes a Qi practitioner at the Ocean Observation Realm, I'll have her accompany you on your travels through landscapes later."
Li Baoping didn't say any polite words. Of course, she was not very willing to travel the martial world with Sister Taoye. Being close to Sister Taoya didn't require them to be together every day.
Being a good person is not the same as being a pushover. Nodding and saying yes every time, never refusing anything, it's actually hard to be a good person who can take care of oneself and also take care of others.
Moreover, from childhood to adulthood, Li Baoping didn't like being restrained. Otherwise, when she went to the school to study back then, she wouldn't have been the one to go the latest and leave the earliest. But this didn't prevent