Immortal Travel of Longevity

The Great River was named Sheng, taking its meaning from the rising sun—an auspicious character.

Years ago, the Imperial Court marshaled the nation's strength to excavate the Grand Canal. This was primarily to resolve the long-standing divide between north and south, and secondarily to address their economic disparity. Factoring in the situation of scholars in both regions at the time, stabilizing the north and south also allowed the world's qi destiny to rise another level.

Along the Sheng River lay another Market Town known as Yingshan District. It sat at the foot of Mount Ying, which gave the town its name.

As a border district under the prefecture's jurisdiction that sat right next to the Sheng River, this place had been bustling in its early years. However, ever since the Grand Canal was sealed off and tensions rose across the lands, business here had noticeably thinned out.

Looking around, inns and taverns made up the bulk of the town. These businesses had originally sprung up to provide lodging for traveling merchants. Now, however, they sat completely empty. Though some still had their signboards hanging, they had long stopped taking in guests or serving food.

"Little brother, we don't run an inn anymore. Go ask somewhere else."

They asked at two places in a row, but both were dead ends.

Finally, they reached a small inn at the corner of the street. A young woman sat behind the counter. Seeing their group, she asked, "From out of town?"

Chen Changsheng nodded. "You could say that."

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"Just a few days."

The young woman thought it over. "All right. But our place isn't cheap. You have to be able to afford it."

"What's the price?"

"Half a silver tael a night."

Chen Changsheng was straightforward; he simply handed her a silver tael.

The young woman's eyes lit up, and her attitude instantly turned warm.

"Come, come, come! I'll prepare the best rooms for you."

And so, Chen Changsheng and Yunxiang, bringing Yu Hongjin and Mao'er along, settled into the inn.

The inn was named Anhe.

In truth, this young woman wasn't the one in charge here. Her parents were temporarily out, so she had taken it upon herself to accept the guests. As far as she was concerned, who wouldn't want to make some money?

But when the two elders returned from plowing the fields and heard what she had done, they went pale with fright.

"Foolishness!"

Father Song glared at her, quickly pulling her aside. "What kind of world do you think we live in right now?!" he hissed. "We don't even know who these people are! If they turn out to be vicious thugs, what will happen to our family of three?!"

The daughter's name was Song Bao. Seeing her father speak with such gravity, she finally realized she had made a mistake.

"Dad, I just thought... I just..."

Song Bao grew anxious, tears spilling down her cheeks.

Seeing her daughter cry, Mother Song immediately grew defensive and scolded him, "You old fool! You can talk to her without being so fierce!"

"Agh!"

Father Song let out a heavy sigh, rubbing his head. "Have you forgotten what happened to your Fifth Uncle? Why do you think so few families in Yingshan District are running inns and taverns these days? It's exactly because we're afraid of those murderous bastards!"

Panicking, Song Bao said, "Then... then I'll tell them to leave. I'll make them leave right now."

"Get back here!"

Father Song hastily stopped her.

"Dad..."

"Just let them stay for now. If they really are thugs and we go up there right now, what if..."

Song Bao's eyes were red, and she was completely at a loss for what to do.

She bit her lip and lowered her head, not daring to speak another word.

Right as they were talking, Chen Changsheng walked downstairs.

"Innkeeper."

Father Song looked up. "Ah, valued guest! Is there something you need?"

Chen Changsheng asked, "Can we order food here?"

Father Song paused for a moment. "We do have food, but since we haven't had guests in a long time, the dishes will inevitably be a bit plain."

"That's no problem. As long as there's something to eat."

Chen Changsheng's gaze drifted over and noticed Song Bao's red eyes, looking exactly like she had just been scolded. He asked, "Did the young lady make a mistake?"

"Ah, she's just being foolish. She needs to be taught a lesson now and then," Father Song said.

With that, Father Song shot a look at Song Bao. "Hurry up and get to the back. Don't be an eyesore for our guest."

Hearing this, Song Bao left with red, teary eyes.

In truth, Father Song was only thinking of her safety. While his daughter couldn't compare to a noble lady, she was still quite pretty. Nowadays, very few outsiders were decent people; it was best not to let her show her face.

Seeing this, Chen Changsheng didn't pry. He simply asked them to prepare a few dishes and returned to his room.

Yunxiang and Yu Hongjin were staying next door, while Chen Changsheng and Mao'er shared the room on the other side.

Mao'er let out a yawn; it was always sleepy during the day.

"Lihua is sleepy. Lihua wants to sleep."

Chen Changsheng chuckled. "Then just sleep. Why do you need to remind This Chen?"

"But Lihua hasn't eaten yet. My stomach is growling."

"So you want This Chen to wake you up for food."

"Nonsense. How could Lihua possibly wake up? Lihua wants Chen the Good Man to save some food for Lihua to eat after waking up."

Hearing this, Chen Changsheng gave a helpless smile and gently patted its head. "Then you're not allowed to sleep. Eat first, then sleep."

Lihua shook its head. "No. If I sleep right after eating, I'll turn into a pig."

"And if you eat right after sleeping, you won't be a pig?"

"Hmm..."

Lihua pondered for a moment before saying, "Chen the Good Man makes a lot of sense."

"So you should still eat before you sleep."

"It's the same either way, so I might as well sleep first and eat later."

Chen Changsheng sighed helplessly. He truly felt that Lihua was getting lazier and lazier, though he supposed that was normal—all cats were lazy.

Not that he thought Lihua was a lost cause. The fact that it could at least figure out both options were the same meant Lihua was already much smarter than before.

The inn's food was just as the innkeeper had warned—very plain.

It was just a few rustic side dishes along with some meat from a freshly slaughtered chicken.

Father Song was genuinely afraid. His heart was in his throat. Not knowing the character of his guests, he didn't dare offend them, so he slaughtered one of the family's few remaining chickens. Even though it pained his heart, he knew perfectly well that it was better to lose a chicken than their lives.

Father Song waited off to the side as the savory aroma of meat drifted through the inn.

Waiting by the back door, Song Bao smelled the meat, and her stomach immediately began to rumble.

She wanted to eat, too.

"Mom, why didn't we save some for ourselves?" Song Bao asked softly.

Mother Song replied, "There are strict rules about these things. Years ago, something happened at another inn right here in our district. A guest ordered a chicken, and after it was slaughtered and cooked, that guest picked out all the pieces of meat and pieced them together, only to find one wing missing."

"When eating out, running into something like that is considered bad luck. The innkeeper apologized profusely and ended up paying a hefty sum of silver taels to settle the matter. But times are different now. If we actually did that and were caught, it wouldn't be as simple as paying silver taels and apologizing."

Song Bao swallowed hard and forced herself to drop the thought.

It had been a long time since she had tasted meat.

Yu Hongjin wolfed down her food, stray grains of rice sticking to her face. Traveling all this way, it had been a long time since she had eaten a full meal.

Yunxiang took a sip of the Chicken Soup and remarked, "The innkeeper seems to be a little afraid of us."

Chen Changsheng nodded. "He is. Perhaps the people who came through here before weren't very friendly."

In this day and age, one had to cherish their life.

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