HNYWEF -Chapter 181 Meeting an Old Friend Again

Zhenguan Year Five, Fourth Month, Fifteenth Day.

Wagang Stronghold.

The road split off from the main highway, growing narrower and more desolate the farther they went.

The woods on both sides thickened, the trees taller than before. In a little over ten years, even a broad road fit for galloping horses could be squeezed into a winding goat trail.

Zhou Xiong rode at the very front, moving slowly.

Zhou Yi followed behind him, unable to figure out what his father was looking at.

There was nothing ahead except trees, grass, and crooked rocks scattered everywhere.

Then the stronghold walls appeared.

Not the ruined wreckage Zhou Yi had imagined—not crumbling walls swallowed by weeds and abandoned to time.

The walls were still there, only shorter now. Wild grass grew along the top, yellow and dry, swaying whenever the wind blew.

Stacks of firewood sat neatly piled against the base of the wall.

The gate still stood too, though it had clearly been replaced. It was new, the wood still pale, and faded Spring Festival couplets clung to the frame.

There were voices inside.

Chickens clucking, dogs barking, children crying, mothers scolding.

Thin trails of cooking smoke drifted over the wall and dissolved into the sky.

Wagang Stronghold was gone.

It had become a village.

Zhou Xiong stood at the gate, staring at the mud-brick houses inside, at the ropes hung with drying clothes, at the old men squatting in the sun by the walls.

He looked for a long time.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something to Zhou Yi.

About what this place used to look like.

About what the people here used to be like.

About what he himself used to be like.

But when the words reached his lips, he swallowed them back down.

Then a voice came from behind him.

“Bear Blind?”

Zhou Xiong froze for a moment.

The voice rang out again, uncertain yet strangely certain at the same time—as though saying I knew it was you.

“Bear Blind!”

Zhou Xiong turned around.

An old man was walking toward them from inside the gate.

His hair was gray-white, but his back was still straight. He wore a patched short jacket covered in layers of repairs, and in his hand he carried a blacksmith’s hammer, its handle polished smooth and shiny from years of use.

He did not walk quickly, but his strides were large. In only a few steps, he reached them.

He stopped in front of Zhou Xiong and looked him up and down once.

Then again.

Then he smiled, all the wrinkles on his face bunching together, revealing several chipped teeth.

“So it really is you.”

Zhou Xiong stared at him.

That face had aged. It was full of wrinkles now, and the hair had gone white.

But the eyes had not changed.

Still the same as before—half-squinted when looking at people, as though judging a piece of iron and deciding whether it was worth forging.

He recognized him.

When he spoke, his voice came out rough and hoarse.

“Old Liu?”

The old man’s grin widened even further.

He slung the hammer over his shoulder, turned around, and shouted toward the village at the top of his lungs.

“Hey—! Bear Blind’s back!”

The entire village instantly became lively.

Some people poked their heads out from their homes. Some ran out of the kitchens. Some even came out carrying their rice bowls.

Some of the faces Zhou Xiong recognized.

Some he did not.

Some looked familiar, yet he could no longer remember their names.

They looked at Zhou Xiong.

And Zhou Xiong looked back at them.

Standing behind him, Zhou Yi watched the scene unfold. Unable to hold back his curiosity, he leaned closer to his father and lowered his voice.

“Dad, who’s that?”

Zhou Xiong looked at Old Liu’s back for two breaths before answering.

“Old Liu. Back then, he forged weapons with me at Tiehua Stronghold for the Wagang brothers. Call him Uncle Liu.”

But Zhou Yi stared at the old man in front of him and froze.

The man was obviously older than his father. Wouldn’t calling him uncle be disrespectful to the seniority?

“Dad… isn’t the generation ranking a little off…?”

Zhou Xiong did not turn around, but his mouth kept moving.

“Back then, I taught that old bastard so much stuff I practically almost took him in as a disciple. If he really were my apprentice, even calling him big brother wouldn’t count as skipping generations.”

Old Liu froze for a second, then pointed at Zhou Xiong while shaking his head and laughing.

“After all these years, Bear Blind, that rotten mouth of yours hasn’t changed a bit. Hahaha!”

Zhou Yi had no choice anymore. He stepped forward properly and respectfully called out,

“Uncle Liu.”

Old Liu turned to look at him, studying him several times before glancing back at Zhou Xiong.

“Bear Cub?”

Zhou Xiong nodded.

Old Liu looked at Zhou Yi once more, then smiled again, the wrinkles on his face deepening further.

“Good kid. You look like your father when he was young.”

Zhou Yi froze for a moment, wanting to ask what part looked alike.

But Old Liu had already turned around, carrying the hammer deeper into the village. As he walked, he waved them over.

“Come in. Come take a look around.”

Zhou Xiong followed after him at an even pace.

Zhou Yi stood there briefly, staring at his father’s back. Then he tugged lightly on Li Lizhi’s sleeve, and the two of them hurried after them.