Immortal Travel of Longevity

Master Jin San let out a long sigh. "The affairs of the world are impermanent. Back then, you were just a worker at the tea house, and I was a wealthy young master. Later, you took up storytelling, and my home was raided. Fortunately, we met Mister Chen."

"Years passed. You became the world-renowned Mister Cao, and the books I wrote are now known to everyone."

"Everything got better."

Master Jin San let out a breath. "But Shopkeeper Zhuang is gone, the Jin Manor is no more, and Qingshan City has changed. The funny thing is, over the decades, even the Imperial Court has changed its face. It's a new look every year."

Cao Fa sighed softly at his words. "You always overthink things. How can you live comfortably like that? At your age, you should take it easy."

Master Jin San chuckled. "You're a storyteller, and I'm a writer. I'm bound to think a little more than you do."

Cao Fa grinned and waved a hand. "Alright, don't torment me. These days, I avoid thinking about the past whenever I can. The more I think about it, the less I want to keep living..."

Yet Master Jin San seemed determined to twist the knife, asking, "You don't think about Zhishu either?"

Cao Fa froze for a moment, then grabbed his teacup as if to throw it at him.

Cao Fa didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Only because it's you. If it were anyone else, this teacup would have been smashed to pieces by now."

"Don't I know you by now?" Master Jin San said, lowering his hands. "You're a storyteller. Hardly a word out of your mouth is the truth. You say you don't think about her, but deep down you miss her to death. If someone brings her up, you're actually thrilled."

He then added one more remark.

"Especially Zhishu."

"You're still talking!"

The teacup looked like it was about to come crashing down.

Master Jin San hastily waved his hands. "Alright, I'll stop, I'll stop. Let's just listen to the story."

Cao Fa smiled helplessly. In truth, Master Jin San's words had hit the mark.

He really was exactly that kind of person.

Zhishu was gone...

She was probably the only woman Cao Fa had ever truly cared about, aside from his mother.

"The affairs of the world are impermanent..." Cao Fa sighed.

Master Jin San quickly grabbed a handful of kidney beans and shoved them into his hand. "Eat your kidney beans and don't say another word."

Cao Fa nodded and dropped the subject. He popped a kidney bean into his mouth and started chewing.

Master Jin San drifted off for a moment, his gaze shifting toward the back.

But just that one glance made him freeze.

"Huh?"

Master Jin San paused, then fully turned around.

His gaze fell on someone walking out of the tea house.

The person was dressed in a green robe, though only their back was visible.

Master Jin San couldn't help but rub his eyes. For some reason, that green-robed figure felt incredibly familiar.

He couldn't see the face, but even if he could, he might not have been able to recall it. After all, so much time had passed.

"What are you looking at?" Cao Fa asked.

Master Jin San opened his mouth and said, "Someone just walked out. That back... it looked so much like Mister Chen."

Cao Fa paused in surprise. "Are you getting old and losing your sight?"

Master Jin San rolled his eyes at him. "I've seen demons and ghosts, and I can spot them with a single glance. How could I be wrong? Do you think I'm as senile and blind as you are?"

"Maybe they just look alike," Cao Fa said.

Master Jin San nodded. He thought the same.

He assumed that would be the end of it.

But as Master Jin San returned his attention to the storytelling, the more he thought about it, the more something felt off.

"Ah!"

Master Jin San let out a sigh.

Cao Fa looked at him.

Master Jin San said, "The more I mull it over, the more identical it seems. I feel like that man really was Mister Chen!"

He lifted his head, opened his mouth, and then declared, "No, I have to go find him! I have to see that person's face!"

With that, he stood up.

Seeing this, Cao Fa said, "I... forget it, you go. My body is in no condition for that."

Master Jin San glanced at him but didn't say much else.

"You just sit here and rest."

With that, he ran out of the tea house.

He began searching the streets. Not knowing which way the man had gone, he wandered all over Qingshan City.

...

There were many Baixiang Noodle Shops along the streets.

You could always find one or two on any given road. To the people of Qingshan City, noodles were a meal for morning, noon, and night; they never grew tired of eating them.

Chen Changsheng walked toward Wang Xingsheng's noodle shop. In his memory, the shop was indeed just up ahead.

But when he arrived, there was no signboard in sight.

The shop was now selling the Four Treasures of the Study.

The clerk manning the shop was sitting inside, dozing off.

Chen Changsheng stepped forward to ask him.

The clerk woke up and said, "You mean the noodle shop that used to be here?"

"Yes, the noodle shop run by the Wang Family," Chen Changsheng said.

"They stopped running it a long time ago," the clerk said. "His family moved on to a different business."

Chen Changsheng nodded, then asked, "Might I ask where their home is?"

The clerk gave him a look. "What's your relationship to them?"

Chen Changsheng paused for a moment and said, "This Chen is somewhat acquainted with the young master of the Wang Family."

"You're joking, right?" the clerk chuckled. "The young master of the Wang Family is only three years old."

Chen Changsheng was stunned for a moment before he realized what the man meant.

"He already has a child?"

"You must be talking about Wang Xingsheng, right?"

"That's right, that's him."

"Just how long has it been since you last saw him? You didn't even know he had a child?"

Chen Changsheng said, "It has been quite a few years. This Chen cannot remember clearly anymore."

The clerk smiled. "If you're looking for him, it's actually close by. Go straight for fifty or sixty paces, take a left into the alley, and it's the third house. That would be his home."

"Many thanks."

"It's nothing."

After Chen Changsheng left, the clerk propped his chin up and went back to dozing.

He followed the clerk's directions to the alleyway.

After going in, he turned left and found the third house.

He paused for a moment, then knocked on the door.

But after knocking for quite a while, no one came to open it.

Chen Changsheng thought for a moment. 'No one is home?'

Seeing that the door remained closed after a long time, Chen Changsheng left it at that, thinking he would just come back next time.

He had only wanted a bite of noodles anyway.

Truth be told, Hundred-Fragrance Noodles could be eaten anywhere, but they still weren't quite the same.

Today was a wasted trip.

Chen Changsheng sighed, then turned around and headed back.

He walked all the way toward Chuanfeng Alley.

Out on the streets, Master Jin San was looking back and forth, searching for that familiar figure.

But purely by chance, separated by the crowd, the two of them brushed right past each other.

Chen Changsheng seemed to sense something and looked back.

But Master Jin San's figure was obscured by the pedestrians on the street.

Master Jin San asked anyone he came across.

"Excuse me, might you have seen a man wearing a green robe?"

"Haven't seen him."

"Many thanks."

"Excuse me..."

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