After Gu Can finished speaking through his tears, the woman lowered her head, trembling all over, unsure whether it was from grief or anger.

Chen Pingan gently placed his chopsticks down and softly called out, “Gu Can.”

Gu Can immediately wiped away his tears and loudly replied, “Present!”

Chen Pingan slowly said, “I will hit you, I will scold you, I will lecture you with the principles I’ve gleaned, those principles that you find utterly wrong. But I will not abandon you, I will not simply leave you behind.”

Chen Pingan never turned his head. His voice wasn’t loud, but his tone was firm, directed both at Gu Can and at himself, “If one day I leave, it will be because I’ve overcome the obstacle in my heart. If I can’t overcome it, I will stay here, in Green Gorge Island and Shujian Lake.”

Gu Can’s tears turned into a smile, “Good! A promise is a promise. Chen Pingan, you’ve never lied to me!”

Chen Pingan suddenly said, “Then today I might have to break that rule.”

Gu Can’s heart leaped into his throat. His body, which had just slightly relaxed, tensed up again, his nerves even more so.

Chen Pingan said, “Before, on the way here, at the dinner table, I only listened to you, and I said I wouldn’t speak. But after eating this bowl of rice, I feel like I have a little more strength, so I plan to speak again. Still the same rule, I speak, you listen. Afterwards, if you want to, then it’s my turn to listen. No matter who is present, the listener, the speaker, and the listener, must not be impatient.”

Gu Can smiled brightly and scratched his head, asking, “Chen Pingan, can I go back to the table? I haven’t eaten yet.”

Chen Pingan nodded, “Eat more, you’re at the age where you’re growing.”

Gu Can wiped his face and walked back to his original position, only to move his chair closer to Chen Pingan, afraid that Chen Pingan would go back on his word and leave this house and Green Gorge Island, at which point he could stop Chen Pingan.

Then Gu Can went to get a bowl of rice and started to eat, head down. From a young age, he liked everything Chen Pingan did. Eating like this, keeping hands tucked in sleeves like this. Back then, in the dead of winter, two poor wretches, one big and one small, who had no friends, liked to warm themselves by tucking their hands into their sleeves. Especially after building a snowman, the two of them would tuck their hands into their sleeves, shiver together, then laugh and mock each other. In terms of scolding and insulting, Gu Can, who still had snot hanging from his nose, was already better than Chen Pingan. So often, Chen Pingan was rendered speechless by Gu Can.

Chen Pingan looked at Gu Can, then turned to the woman and said, “Aunt, if there was another child today, lingering outside the door, would you still open the door and give him a bowl of rice? Would you still deliberately tell him that the rice isn’t free, that it has to be repaid with money from selling herbs?”

The woman carefully weighed her words.

Chen Pingan said to himself, “I don’t think so.”

“Of course, I don’t think Aunt is wrong. Even if we disregard the environment of Shujian Lake, even if Aunt didn’t do that back then, I wouldn’t think Aunt was wrong.”

“So I will never forget that bowl of rice in my life. And it made Chen Pingan feel a little more at ease, thinking that I wasn’t the beggar my mother told me never to be, but that I owed Aunt money first, and after eating the rice, I could definitely pay it back.”

The woman turned her head and wiped the corner of her eye.

Chen Pingan calmly asked, “But Aunt, have you ever thought that without that bowl of rice, I would never have given that loach to your son? You might still be in Mud Bottle Alley, living the poor and difficult life you think is so hard. So good deeds are rewarded with good, and evil deeds are punished with evil. We still have to believe in that. We can’t just believe in good deeds being rewarded when we’re living a comfortable life, and forget about evil deeds being punished.”

“Am I right to say this today?”

The woman still silently wept, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

She was afraid that whatever she did today would be bad for her son Gu Can’s future.

So she preferred not to say a word.

Chen Pingan understood this, so even though Gu Can complained about the woman’s choice regarding the loach back then, Chen Pingan still didn’t have any resentment.

What should be appreciated should be appreciated for a lifetime.

Whatever happened later, right or wrong, couldn’t overshadow the earliest kindness, just like a heavy snow fell in his hometown, and the snow on the muddy road in Mud Bottle Alley was thick, but after the spring thaw, it was still the familiar road in front of every household in Mud Bottle Alley.

The only difference was that Chen Pingan had traveled a long road and learned not to force his principles on others.

So earlier at the dinner table, he was willing to carefully listen to all of Gu Can’s reasoning, all of the little snot’s current inner thoughts.

Chen Pingan forced a smile, “Aunt, don’t worry, I won’t force Gu Can to listen to me. I don’t need to do that, and I don’t have that ability. I just want to try to do something, to do something that both Gu Can and I think is ‘right’ now. I’m staying here, I won’t delay Gu Can from protecting you, and I won’t ask you to give up your hard-won wealth.”

Chen Pingan asked, “Is that okay?”

The woman hesitated, and finally nodded with difficulty.

Chen Pingan just sat there, not reaching for the pot of Crow Cry wine on the table, nor taking off the Sword-Nourishing Gourd from his waist, and softly said, “I’ll tell Aunt and Gu Can some good news. Uncle Gu, although he’s dead, he’s not really dead. He’s still alive, because he’s become a yin spirit, but this is still a good thing. The reason I came to Shujian Lake this time is that he told me at great risk that you’re here, and it’s not ‘worry-free’. So I came. I don’t want Gu Can’s actions to cause your family of three, who finally had a chance to be together, to suddenly lose that chance one day. My parents once said that Uncle Gu was the man in our nearby alleys who was most worthy of Aunt. I hope Uncle Gu, such a good person in Mud Bottle Alley back then…”

“…the man who wrote beautiful Spring Festival couplets, a man who didn’t look like a peasant at all, but more like a scholar, is also sad.”

The woman covered her mouth, and tears burst out all at once.

This time, it was the most sincere, the most irrelevant to right and wrong.
Chen Ping’an slowly said, “Auntie, Gu Can, and myself, the three of us have all tasted the bitterest of injustices. None of us were born into comfort and security, nor were we from families where learning was easily accessible. Auntie and I have both faced moments in our lives where we were nearly unable to survive. Auntie undoubtedly lived only for Gu Can, and I lived to make my parents proud. We both gritted our teeth and persevered. So we understand the meaning of ‘difficult’ more than anyone. However, in this aspect, Gu Can, being the youngest, has had it even harder than the two of us since leaving Ni Ping Lane. Because at his age, he already lives a more precarious life than me or his mother. Because me and Auntie, no matter how poor or difficult our lives were, we never had to worry about death every single day like Gu Can does.”

“But that doesn’t stop us from asking ‘why’ during the most difficult times in our lives. But no one would explain ‘why’ to me, so after thinking about it, we often got slapped in the face the next day. Over time, we stopped asking ‘why’ because thinking about it was useless. When we were just trying to survive, even thinking a little seemed wrong—wrong for ourselves, wrong for others, wrong for the world. The world gives me a punch, why shouldn’t I kick the world back? Everyone who has lived through such hardships seems unwilling to listen to others’ ‘why’ when they become the unreasonable ones of the past. Because they become indifferent, feeling that any moment of weakness will cause them to lose what they have, betraying the hardships they’ve endured! Why do tutors favor children from wealthy families? Why do my parents have to be looked down upon by the neighbors? Why can other children afford kites while I can only watch from the sidelines? Why do I have to toil in the fields while so many people enjoy comfort at home, and when I meet them on the road, they don’t even glance at me? Why is it that what I earn with such difficulty, others are born with, and they don’t even cherish it? Why can other families have a reunion every Mid-Autumn Festival?”

“I don’t know why things are like this. I don’t know what it was like a hundred years ago, or ten thousand years ago. I don’t even know if the world is getting better or worse. I’ve read many books and learned some principles, but the more I know, the less certain I am that the principles I’ve figured out are correct, or that they can make life better for myself and those around me. Before coming here, around a little girl, I thought I could make life better. But after seeing Gu Can, I think I might be wrong. That little girl can only live a slightly better life by being with me; it’s not necessarily because the principles I taught her make her life easier or better.”

“Who doesn’t want to live, to live well, to have every tomorrow be better than today? I want that too! I wanted it in Ni Ping Lane, on the way to the Great Sui Academy, in Old Dragon City, in Upside-down Mountain, in Tongye Continent, in Lotus Root Blessing Land, and on the way back home. I’ve always wanted it, always thought about it! But there’s no ultimate truth in the world, there should at least be a bottom line of right and wrong, shouldn’t there? Even if we’ve done many things we had to do in order to survive, there’s still right and wrong, isn’t there?”

Gu Can stopped eating and fell into deep thought.

The woman looked at Chen Ping’an, then at Gu Can. “Chen Ping’an, I’m just an illiterate woman who doesn’t understand much, doesn’t think much, and can’t care about much. I only want Gu Can to live well, for us to live well. It’s because we’ve lived like this that we have the opportunity today to have you, Chen Ping’an, tell us that my husband, Gu Can’s father, is still alive, that there’s still a chance for a family reunion. Chen Ping’an, can you understand this? Won’t you think I’m a foolish woman?”

Chen Ping’an nodded and said, “I understand. I won’t blame you, Auntie.”

The woman looked into Chen Ping’an’s eyes. She poured herself a cup of wine, finished it in one gulp, then poured another and drank it. “You came to find Can’er, and no matter what you said, Can’er was very happy. I want to drink one because you told us this news, I also want to drink one, we are both happy.”

The woman poured a third cup of wine, and after drinking it, her eyes welled up with tears. “Seeing you, Chen Ping’an, grown taller, grown up, safe and sound, Auntie wants to drink even more, just to be happy for your parents too.”

Chen Ping’an picked up the wine pot, poured himself a cup, and drank it in one gulp.

Inside a high building in Pool Water City, Cui Chan clicked his tongue and said, “A foolish woman? This woman from Ni Ping Lane is extraordinary. No wonder she could partner with Liu Zimao and raise a kid like Gu Can.”

While Chen Ping’an followed those two carriages into the city, Cui Dongshan pretended to be dead. But when Chen Ping’an appeared and met Gu Can, Cui Dongshan had already opened his eyes.

After that, everything, like Cui Chan, Cui Dongshan saw and heard.

Cui Chan smiled and said, “What Chen Ping’an is saying is futile. Even though they both come from Ni Ping Lane and initially knew the taste of hardship, Gu Can and Chen Ping’an are completely different people now. It’s not just that their positions are different, but also the way they view the world… the fundamental threads are very different. Chen Ping’an can empathize with Gu Can because Chen Ping’an has traveled a longer road, while Gu Can hasn’t. For him, his hometown of Ni Ping Lane, and then the Book Brief Lake, is the entire world. Moreover, Gu Can’s nature is such that he likes to split hairs and is naturally prone to extremes. Let alone Chen Ping’an, even Gu Can’s father, Gu Tao, standing in Chen Ping’an’s position now, wouldn’t be able to change Gu Can’s nature. The interesting thing is precisely this: Gu Can’s extremity makes him feel deeply for Chen Ping’an, which is why he said, ‘Even if you beat me to death, I won’t fight back.’ These are the inner thoughts of this devil king, how rare? Chen Ping’an knows this, so he’s even more pained. Chen Ping’an even heard the dying Liu Xianyang say to him before he died, ‘Chen Ping’an, I don’t want to die, I really don’t want to die.’ So now Chen Ping’an is even more anguished.”
Human nature is such that even a frog at the bottom of a well will croak in discontent. To those who have left the well, any道理 (dao li – principle/reason) is mere empty talk to those still stuck below. Deep down, they tell themselves that such lofty principles are like spring snow, not meant for those who wallow in the mud. To truly heed them is to court death. But Chen Ping’an has already realized this.

Thus, the things he spoke on the way to Gu Can’s mansion were vastly different from what he said at the dinner table after the meal. It’s a pity that Gu Can was too young back in Muddy Lane. He never truly saw Chen Ping’an’s circumstances at his own age, nor did he witness the hardships and tribulations Chen Ping’an endured on his travels. What Gu Can saw was Chen Ping’an carrying a sword and gifting a jade pendant to the little loach; Chen Ping’an understood so many principles. As for how Chen Ping’an reached this point, he doesn’t understand, and perhaps the child isn’t willing to truly understand. On the other hand, Chen Ping’an is willing to ponder and overthink, which only makes the tangled mess even more chaotic. If the two were reversed, if Chen Ping’an had Gu Can’s temperament and had traveled far, while Gu Can with Chen Ping’an’s nature had remained on Green Gorge Island and eked out a living, today wouldn’t be such a dead end. But then, we wouldn’t be sitting here at all.

Cui Chan said to Cui Dongshan, “Actually, your teacher has done remarkably well.”

Cui Dongshan wore a stern expression. “Can your old dog eyes still see anything beautiful these days?”

Cui Chan, unperturbed, smiled and said, “Chen Ping’an’s most brilliant moves on this trip to Green Gorge Island lie in two methods, four words, which you and I have discussed: 出劍 (chu jian – drawing the sword) on 人情 (ren qing – human sentiment)… 切斷 (qie duan – severing) and 圈定 (quan ding – encircling).”

“On the floating ship, he first identified the remaining common ground between Chen Ping’an and Gu Can and placed it before them. Otherwise, Chen Ping’an would have already lost on the ship, and you and I could have left this Poolwater City. That was to first probe the assassin, both to learn more about the hearts of the Shu Jian Lake people and to ultimately tell Gu Can that the assassin deserves to die anywhere, and that Chen Ping’an is willing to listen to Gu Can’s own principles. If Chen Ping’an had elevated his own principles too high, deliberately placing himself on the moral high ground, trying to influence Gu Can with it, then Gu Can might directly feel that Chen Ping’an is no longer the Chen Ping’an of the past, and all would be lost.”

“After disembarking, he placed the jade pendant of a sage enshrined in the Confucian Temple before Liu Zhimao, a Nascent Soul cultivator with a broad perspective, preventing this River-Intercepting True Lord from interfering.”

“At the dining table, after the meal, he extracted the woman who is Gu Can’s mother, preventing her from interfering too much and influencing Gu Can.”

“Otherwise, it would be a complete mess, and Chen Ping’an’s involvement would only make it worse.”

Cui Dongshan sneered, “Even so, is it useful? Isn’t it still a dead end?”

Cui Chan nodded. “But if Chen Ping’an cannot overcome the hurdles in his heart, whatever he does next will create new knots. Even if Gu Can is willing to admit his mistakes, so what? After all, so many innocent people died unjustly, and they will be like restless spirits, constantly knocking on Chen Ping’an’s heart, shouting their grievances, day and night, questioning Chen Ping’an’s… conscience. The first difficulty lies in whether Gu Can is willing to admit his mistakes. The second difficulty lies in how Chen Ping’an can sort through all the principles he has read in books, heard from others, and thought out himself, and find the foundation of his own principles. The third difficulty lies in whether, after knowing, he will discover that he was actually wrong, and whether he can adhere to his original intention. The fourth difficulty lies in how Chen Ping’an will act. The most difficult are the third and fourth. The third difficulty is that Chen Ping’an is destined to not overcome.”

Cui Dongshan directly inquired about Chen Ping’an’s last mental hurdle, “The fourth difficulty?”

Cui Chan appeared to be deliberately mystifying, saying, “The difficulty lies in countless difficulties.”

Cui Dongshan responded with a cold laugh.

Cui Chan, unperturbed, said, “If Chen Ping’an truly has the ability to place himself in the midst of the fourth difficulty, then this difficulty, after we watch it, will clearly tell us a principle: why there are so many fools and villains in the world, and why everyone knows so many principles but still lives worse than dogs. Then they become Zhu Lus, like the Lady of Great Li, Du Mao. Why we will never be Qi Jingchun or A Liang. But unfortunately, Chen Ping’an cannot reach this stage, because reaching this stage means Chen Ping’an has already lost. When the time comes, if you are interested, you can stay here and slowly watch your teacher become emaciated and mentally exhausted. As for me, I will definitely have left long ago.”

Cui Dongshan said, “Oh, you’re leaving here, are you in a hurry to reincarnate?”

Cui Chan laughed heartily, pointing a finger at Cui Dongshan. “You must learn from your teacher to be calm, to control your anger, to restrain yourself.”

Cui Chan looked back at the painting on the ground. “I think Gu Can still won’t admit his mistakes. What do you think?”

Cui Dongshan closed his eyes again, not feigning death, but rather waiting for death.

Cui Chan muttered to himself, “There is no unending feast in the world. Sometimes the people are gone, but the banquet is still set there, waiting for everyone to take their seats again. But the table on Green Gorge Island is such that even if the people are still there, the feast has long ended. Everyone drinks their own wine. What kind of reunion is that? It’s not.”

Chen Ping’an was led by Gu Can to a magnificent room, not a separate courtyard.

It was next to one of the rooms where Gu Can would occasionally stay.

Chen Ping’an told Gu Can to spend more time chatting with his mother.

After Gu Can closed the door, he thought for a moment and didn’t go to find his mother. Instead, he went for a walk alone, soon followed by the little loach.

It told Gu Can through heart-lake sound, “When Liu Zhimao saw the jade token, he didn’t believe it at first. After confirming its authenticity, he seemed to be frightened.”

Gu Can laughed in heart-lake, answering it, “I told you, Chen Ping’an is bound to be amazing. You didn’t believe it before, how about it? Do you believe it now?”

It sighed softly.

Gu Can really wanted to slap to death right now the Golden Core woman who was imprisoned in the water dungeon.
But after talking with Chen Ping’an, he knew that killing the assassin from the Vermilion Fluorescence Dynasty was meaningless and did not help.

The source of Chen Ping’an’s anger was not those assassins.

Nor was it those hostile cultivators, but those innocent women who died by the little loach’s mouth, and those ants on various islands who were implicated and subjected to a fate akin to “extermination of nine generations.”

Those who were like the snot-nosed children and dragon kiln apprentices of Mud Bottle Lane in the past.

Gu Can suddenly asked, “I have something I want to say to Chen Ping’an, but is it appropriate for me to go to him now?”

The creature manifested in the form of a girl scratched its head, this was Gu Can and Chen Ping’an’s… it was linked to Gu Can.

Gu Can laughed, “Silly and foolish.”

It quickly retracted its hand, smiling bashfully.

Gu Can waved his hand, “Let’s go, he’s Chen Ping’an, what can’t be said!”

Gu Can looked around, feeling that the repulsive Green Gorge Island had become charming and lovely after that person arrived.

If one day Chen Ping’an wasn’t angry anymore and was willing to stay in his new home, then this place would surely be the most beautiful and scenic place under heaven!

Returning to the outside of that house, before Gu Can could knock, Chen Ping’an already said, “Come in.”

Gu Can found Chen Ping’an standing at the entrance of the study, a writing brush and paper, a carving knife, and a pile of bamboo slips placed on the desk.

Was Chen Ping’an trying to write something?

Before Gu Can returned.

Chen Ping’an was introspecting, trying to truly put himself in Gu Can’s position and perspective, to view this Book Brief Lake.

Chen Ping’an attempted to return to the very beginning.

Starting by explaining the simplest principle.

This was the first step in order, distinguishing what comes first and what comes later.

Chen Ping’an knew that “talking to oneself” would not work.

The two sat at the table in the living room, the surrounding shelves filled with a dazzling array of precious treasures and antiques.

Those were all carefully selected and prepared by Gu Can for Chen Ping’an.

According to Gu Can’s earliest idea, this place should have been filled with women, who would then say to Chen Ping’an, “How is it? I said back then that one day I would help you pick out seventeen or eighteen beautiful girls as charming as that stinky woman Zhi Gui, and now I’ve done it!”

But of course, Gu Can didn’t dare to do that now.

After Gu Can sat down, he got straight to the point, “Chen Ping’an, I roughly know why you’re angry. It’s just that my mother was present at the time, and I didn’t want to say these things directly, for fear that she would feel it was all her fault. Moreover, even if you would be even more angry, I still feel that I did nothing wrong in the things that make you angry.”

Chen Ping’an said softly, “It doesn’t matter, this time we won’t have one person finish speaking in one breath, I’ll speak slowly, and you can answer slowly.”

Gu Can nodded.

Chen Ping’an suddenly said, “Gu Can, do you feel very disappointed?”

Gu Can shook his head, “I don’t like to hear anyone lecture me, whoever dares to nag me about these things, I used to either beat him or beat him to death, the latter more often. Anyway, you’ll find out about these things sooner or later, and moreover, you need to hear my own words, no matter what, you must ask me to tell the truth, my innermost thoughts, you can’t get angry with me because of this.”

Chen Ping’an nodded, and asked, “First, the cultivators, servants, and maids in the mansion of that tribute who deserved to die and your eldest senior brother. The little loach has already killed so many people, and still killed all of them when leaving. Leaving aside what I think, do you yourself, think killing or not killing them, really matter that much?”

Gu Can truthfully said, “It doesn’t matter that much, but it’s better to kill them. So I didn’t stop the little loach. In this Fish of the Lake, decades or centuries later, someone suddenly emerges and kills the whole family of that person from back then, leaving no one alive, this is very normal. I’ve already prepared for the possibility of being killed for no reason one day. At that time, I, Gu Can, will never beg for mercy, let alone ask those people who they are and why they want to kill me. So this year I’ve already started to prepare how to settle my mother’s future, thought a lot, but still don’t think there’s a foolproof plan, so I’m still thinking. Anyway, the only people I care about in the world are my mother, you, Chen Ping’an, and of course, now also my father who is already a ghost, although I have no memory of him at all. As long as I know that you three won’t have any trouble because of me, then even if I die one day, I’ll die and that’s it, I won’t regret it at all!”

Chen Ping’an listened attentively to Gu Can, without judging right or wrong, he just continued to ask, “Then next, when you could protect yourself on Green Gorge Island, why did you deliberately let go of an assassin, deliberately let them continue to come and kill you?”

Gu Can said, “This is also a way to deter bad people, I want to kill them until their hearts tremble and they are scared out of their wits, so that all potential enemies will have no chance of starting any bad ideas. Besides the little loach’s fighting, I, Gu Can, must also show that I am more wicked and smarter than them! Otherwise, they will be restless and think they have a chance to take advantage of me, I am not talking nonsense, Chen Ping’an, you saw it yourself, I have done this, the little loach is fierce enough, right? But even today, there are still assassins from the Vermilion Fluorescence Dynasty who are not reconciled and still want to kill me, right? Today it is an eighth realm swordsman, next time it will definitely be a ninth realm swordsman.”

Chen Ping’an thought for a while, and drew a line on the table with his finger, muttering to himself: