As the great sun plunged behind the western mountains, twilight deepened. Borrowing the last rays of the lingering afterglow, the scholar in the azure robe, who had been playfully chasing after the little cripple, halted. He gazed towards the southern end of the road. The little cripple seized the opportunity to punch him on the shoulder. The down-on-his-luck scholar swayed but paid no heed. The little cripple, curious, followed the scholar’s gaze into the distance but found nothing. Thinking the scholar was deliberately changing the subject, the little cripple was about to pummel him again, ensuring he would never dare to tease the proprietress again.

Suddenly, the young boy’s heart jolted. He lay prone on the ground, ear to the earth, his face grave. It was a cavalry force, and a sizeable one at that. Other than the occasional passing courier, no large cavalry troop ever showed its face in Fox Cub Town. The young men of Fox Cub Town, eager to witness the imposing Yao family iron cavalry, often traveled in groups to the distant Armor-Hanging Garrison Town, just to catch a glimpse from afar.

Iron armor, warhorses, light crossbows, war blades – these were, in the eyes of the impoverished youths of Fox Cub Town, the most masculine objects under the heavens.

The little cripple was no exception, but the other children of Fox Cub Town disliked including him in their games.

At this moment, the little cripple left the azure-robed scholar by the wayside and went to the main hall to inform the proprietress. The woman, yawning, merely said she understood. These military lords surely wouldn’t think much of their inn and Fox Cub Town; most likely, they were marching through the night to the Armor-Hanging Garrison Town in the north. No need to fuss.

The little cripple grunted in acknowledgement and immediately ran out of the inn, climbed onto the roof, shielded his eyes with his hand, and peered into the distance. Taking advantage of the still-not-completely-dark sky, he could barely make out anything. He wanted to see the equipment of the border troops up close, so that the next time the proprietress sent him to Fox Cub Town to buy oil and rice, he could show off to those peers of his.

In the distance, the dust clouds were faintly visible, and the dull thrumming on the ground grew increasingly distinct.

But the sky wouldn’t wait. The little cripple grew anxious and quickly climbed down from the roof. He went to the main hall and asked the proprietress if he could hang up lanterns. The woman glared, asking whose money would pay for the candles if they hung up lanterns so early. The little cripple patted his chest and said it would be his. If that didn’t work, they could put it on Old Hunchback’s tab. The woman nodded, and the little cripple happily hung two large red lanterns outside the inn. Just as he was about to climb onto the roof again, he saw a rider veer slightly from the main road, appearing silently outside the inn. He was clad in bright, resplendent armor, unlike the plain style of the Yao family border troops. The rider removed his helmet and held it before his chest, his face impassive. He asked, “Do you sell green plum wine?”

The little cripple swallowed and said timidly, “Replying to your Grace, we do sell green plum wine.”

The rider said in a deep voice, “Within the time it takes an incense stick to burn, have the innkeeper clear out the entire inn, then prepare five tables of food, and bring out your best green plum wine. You won’t be shorted a single copper for all expenses. If the green plum wine is truly as good as rumored, there will be a generous reward! Remember, after we enter the inn, someone will inspect the rooms. If anyone is still lingering inside, they will be killed without mercy. After we leave, all guests are free to reoccupy their rooms.”

The rider replaced his helmet, turned his horse, and sped away.

The little cripple’s face was blank. The azure-robed scholar squatted alone at the entrance of the inn. The earth dog had already returned to its kennel, but he still had no place to settle down. Seeing the boy still in a daze, he reminded him, “Hurry and tell Ninth Sister what’s happening. If you upset these dignitaries from the capital, the inn won’t be able to stay open.”

The little cripple quickly dashed into the main hall and found that the woman had already met with Old Hunchback and they were discussing the matter. As soon as the little cripple arrived, he was conveniently chosen to be the front-line messenger, to explain the situation to the guests upstairs and trouble them to leave the inn quickly to avoid any bloodshed.

The little cripple was a bit hesitant. The woman waved her hand and said the candle money was waived. The little cripple immediately rushed upstairs. The first room was Chen Pingan’s. The little cripple informed the guest who opened the door of the situation. Chen Pingan didn’t mind and said with a smile that he would greet the other two rooms and asked the boy to directly inform the other rooms. The little cripple thanked him and hurried away.

Pei Qian opened her door. An oil lamp was lit on the table, and a book lay open there. She smiled and said, “I was just reading.”

Chen Pingan didn’t expose her little trick. In fact, Pei Qian had been eavesdropping on the conversation between Zhu Lian and Wei Xian through the wall. She had only taken out the book from her luggage and pretended to read when she heard the knock.

Chen Pingan asked her to pack her luggage, as they needed to leave the inn temporarily.

Next door, Zhu Lian had already opened his door and said to Chen Pingan with a smile, “Wei Xian went back to sleep after opening the door. Shall I wake him up for the young master?”

Just as Zhu Lian was about to turn around, the drunken Wei Xian had already sat up, rubbed his brows, and said to the two of them, “I’m awake.”

Ma Ping and the other three constables of Fox Cub Town, upon hearing that a cavalry force was passing through, cursed and grumbled, but still obediently left their rooms.

The girl with the ponytail stood outside the railing. She lived in the room at the very end of the corridor on the second floor. At this moment, she glared at the woman in the main hall downstairs. “Is this how your inn treats guests? This is truly eye-opening. In the borderlands, there are still people who dare to be so unreasonable under the very noses of the Yao family iron cavalry? I’m going to see just who it is that can chase people out of an inn with just one sentence!”

The girl supported herself on the railing with one hand and jumped directly from the second floor, causing Ma Ping and the other two to shudder. Where did such a tough little lady come from?

The woman smiled wryly, wanting to speak but hesitating.

Old Hunchback held his tobacco pipe and thought for a moment, “I’ll go say something. We’re in the business of welcoming guests; there’s no distinction between noble and base.”

The old man walked straight out of the inn, his figure disappearing into the vast night.

The woman said apologetically to the two groups of guests on the second floor, “Just stay in your rooms for a while. Tonight’s matter is something our inn owes you all. Afterwards, we’ll give each of you a jar of five-year-old green plum wine.”

The girl shot up from the ground, returned to the second floor, and slammed the door shut.

Ma Ping and the other two returned to their rooms dejectedly.

Chen Pingan asked Wei Xian and Zhu Lian to sit in his room for a while. Pei Qian, of course, needed no further instruction.

The woman asked the little cripple to go outside, but to have that scholar surnamed Zhong pick a room on the second floor and not wander around outside obstructing people.

The azure-robed scholar picked a room on the second floor, then leaned on the railing. The woman raised her finger and waved it at him. “Get inside your room.”

The scholar said with worry, “Ninth Sister, you’re so beautiful. Won’t those military lords and soldiers get ideas? After drinking wine, they’re even more likely to become lecherous…”

The woman laughed and said, “Then wouldn’t you be the perfect hero to save the damsel in distress? If I were blind enough, maybe I’d offer myself to you.”
He waved his hand dismissively, “Taking advantage of others’ misfortune is not the way of a gentleman. Rest assured, Jiu Niang, we scholars are filled with righteous qi and imbued with the teachings of sages. As long as I stand here, even if they drink more wine, no wicked thoughts shall arise…”

Before the woman could respond, the Yao maiden from the room upstairs flung open her door, partially unsheathing her blade with a clear, ringing sound. She glared at the scholar and spat, “Shut your filthy mouth, lecher!”

Clearly, the maiden’s blade was far more effective than the crippled boy’s fists. The scholar immediately retreated into the room without uttering another word.

This only deepened the maiden’s disappointment towards the woman below. Spending the entire year mingling with such men, offering smiles and wine, what difference was there between her and those courtesans in the brothels?

Returning to her room, the maiden collapsed onto the table, overcome with grief, and began to sob.

The woman stood behind the counter, sighed, and poured herself a bowl of green plum wine.

*Thump!*

The woman looked up to see the scholar had leaped from the second floor, landing heavily on the ground. After picking himself up, he walked to the counter and said with a smile, “Jiu Niang, just treat me as your accountant. I cannot rest easy when I’m far from you.”

His smile was gentle.

The woman was taken aback, then replied, “But you’re so ugly. If you’re too close, I’ll feel disgusted.”

The scholar was struck as if by lightning, crouching on the ground with his head in his hands.

So those tender affections between talented scholars and beautiful ladies, those romantic words with predictable patterns, were all lies, nothing but empty talk!

The hunchbacked old man was the first to enter the inn.

Behind him followed a group of people. Perhaps they were somewhat reasonable, as they neither evicted the guests upstairs nor crowded around the five tables all at once.

Leading the group was a middle-aged man in a scarlet python robe, clean-shaven and exuding an imposing aura.

Behind the python-robed man were two others: one clad in silver armor engraved with cloud patterns, the iron plates clanking as he moved; and an elderly man, perhaps in his seventies, wearing brocade robes and a tall crown, radiating an air of immortal transcendence.

The following seven or eight people were likely trusted attendants.

The python-robed man and his two companions occupied one table, while the remaining attendants sat at two others. Among the attendants was an unremarkable young man with a jade pendant hanging from his waist. He smiled at the woman after noticing her.

Outside the inn were seven or eight hundred elite cavalry and a dozen carriages. Each carriage held a prisoner, guarded by two individuals. Without exception, all the guards were Qi refiners of the Middle Five Realms from the Great Quan Dynasty.

The hunchbacked old man frowned.

He never expected so many people.

This group of guests wasn’t showing respect for a frail old man, but rather for the Yao family. However, even the prestige of the eighty thousand Yao iron cavalry and the Grand General of the Southern Expedition only amounted to reducing the group from five tables to three. As for why they didn’t evict the upstairs guests, it was because one of the young attendants casually suggested that more people would make the drinking livelier. The arrogant eunuch in the python robe then agreed with a smile.

The general in silver armor looked towards the woman and ordered, “First, bring us the green plum wine. And hurry with the food.”

The hunchbacked old man lifted the curtain and hurried to the kitchen.

The crippled boy began to deliver wine to the three tables.

The atmosphere in the inn’s common room was tense.

Almost the only sound was that of pouring wine.

Suddenly, someone raised his hand, greeting the woman with a smile, “Boss Lady, trouble you to personally pour a bowl of wine for us brothers. We’ve heard that your green plum wine is made with your ancestral method, brewed by your own hands. Of course, it must be poured by you personally.”

With the young man taking the lead, the attendants at the table immediately lost their restraint and roared with laughter.

The woman picked up a jar of green plum wine and smiled, preparing to pour the wine.

But for some reason, her body tensed. In her many years running the inn, she had seen all kinds of people from the various walks of life, even immortal Qi refiners from the mountains. However, when she met the gaze of that young attendant, she felt a sense of dread, as if a common mortal had encountered something evil, meeting a ghost in the dark, causing a feeling of powerlessness to rise from the depths of her heart.

The scholar in the azure robe suddenly grabbed the woman’s arm and said loudly with a laugh, “Jiu Niang is feeling unwell today. I, her accountant, will pour wine for our esteemed guests. Is that alright?”

The young attendant seemed to hear the funniest joke in the world, looking around at everyone. “Brothers, what do you say? Is it alright?”

Everyone said no.

The young attendant then looked at the scholar in the azure robe. “If it’s not alright, what should we do? Or should we let the Boss Lady pour wine personally? It’s just pouring wine. It’s not like your Jiu Niang has to accompany us to the Guajia military garrison, right?”

The eunuch in the scarlet python robe remained indifferent.

The elderly immortal master with the tall crown smiled slightly.

The maiden, Yao Lingzhi, opened the door, her face ashen, and said, “No!”

The young attendant stood up, appearing somewhat taller than everyone else.

He looked up and asked with a smile, “Why?”

Just by meeting his gaze, the maiden felt a sense of unease and subconsciously gripped the hilt of her blade, blurting out, “This is Yao territory!”

Yao Lingzhi didn’t know that the moment she gripped her blade, all the attendants in the common room were filled with murderous intent.

The silver-armored general sitting beside the python-robed eunuch and the crowned immortal master was even more murderous.

The young attendant continued to stretch his neck to look at the second floor, but he seemed to see everything happening in the common room. He extended a hand, gently pressing down, signaling everyone not to act rashly. He then smiled and said, “But the entire Great Quan Dynasty is *my* territory. What should we do? Are you Yao family planning to rebel?”

The woman, carrying the wine jar, stepped out from behind the counter and first said to the maiden in a low voice, “Lingzhi, go back to your room!”

Then, she gave the young attendant a *wanfu* bow. “Jiu Niang will pour wine for this young master.”

The young attendant’s lips curled up, staring intently at the woman’s face, pointing to the maiden upstairs. “How about you two, mother and daughter, come together? What do you say?”

The woman’s face turned pale.

A room on the second floor opened, and a young man in white robes stepped out. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

The young attendant turned his head, looking at the man with a playful expression. “Oh? And who do you think you are?”

This time, someone in the common room helped Chen Pingan answer. “And who do *you* think you are?”

It was the down-on-his-luck scholar surnamed Zhong.

The young attendant sighed. “Alright, alright. Everyone is against me tonight. An inn unwilling to evict its guests, a boss lady unwilling to pour wine, a Yao maiden spouting wild words, a foreigner who thinks he’s a sword immortal just because he’s wearing white robes, a scholar who thinks he’s a Confucian sage just because he’s wearing an azure robe…”
He suddenly turned to the woman, then glanced at the young girl upstairs, and chuckled, “It doesn’t matter. Tonight, the two of you can try to save the Yao family. If I’m in a good mood, perhaps I can help pull them out of this pit of fire.”

The woman took a deep breath, as if steeling her resolve, and turned to the down-on-his-luck scholar, “Zhong Kui, this has nothing to do with you. I know you possess some skills, so if you can, leave now and don’t concern yourself with us.”

Then she raised her head to look at Chen Ping’an, just about to speak.

Chen Ping’an smiled and asked, “Madam Boss, what was that saying you had earlier?”

The woman was somewhat puzzled and remained silent for a moment.

Chen Ping’an said to himself, “The path of man is narrow, but the wine cup is wide.”

The path is narrow, so he encountered the Yao family related to that locust leaf.

The path is narrow, so he also encountered these fellows, who wished everyone else would walk to their doom.

But it doesn’t matter, the green plum wine here is delicious.

Chen Ping’an said softly, “I’ll have to trouble the four of you today.”

Before the eyes of the crowd, from the room behind the white-clad young man on the second floor, emerged four figures.

The founding emperor of the Southern Garden Kingdom walked out first, his face stern, “No need for pleasantries.”

The martial madman Zhu Lian followed, bending slightly as he emerged, standing on Chen Ping’an’s other side, his hands clasped behind his back, smiling cheerfully, “Young Master is being too polite.”

A peerless beauty carrying the “Idiot’s Love” longsword, stood beside Wei Xian, it was none other than Sui Youbian, the female sword immortal from Lotus Flower Blessed Land, her countenance cool and aloof, “Thank you, Young Master, for lending the sword.”

Finally, there was the burly founding ancestor of the Demonic Sect, Lu Baixiang, leaning on his saber with both hands, standing beside Zhu Lian, smiling faintly, “Master, this saber is not bad, ‘Lingering Snow’, a good name too.”

At the very end, a soft and frail voice rang out, “Daddy, what about me?”

Chen Ping’an was somewhat helpless and said, “Go back to your room and read!”

The scrawny little girl gave an “oh” sound, gently closed the door, and then began to read in a loud voice, the sage-like principles in the book resounding like thunder.

The scholar on the first floor listened to the sound of reading from the second floor.

On the second floor, besides the sound of reading, there were Chen Ping’an, Wei Xian, Zhu Lian, Sui Youbian, and Lu Baixiang.