Zhou Zishu’s mouth twitched; he knew that this man could never stay serious for long before reverting back to his lecherous ways. He chose to ignore him.

Wen Kexing propped himself up on one elbow, looking up to Zhou Zishu all smiling, “Seeing that you adore my late parents that much, you should just follow me from now on. We can travel across jianghu together and then retreat to somewhere just like them, no need to be thinking about dying tomorrow. I don’t mind being with you at all, so what do you say?”

Zhou Zishu’s expression remained unchanged. “Apologies, but I don’t really deserve such appreciation from Brother Wen.”

Wen Kexing cackled, and in a degenerate fashion enjoyed very much that Zhou Zishu seemed terribly annoyed with him – to the point of breaking the wooden fire stick in his hand – but had to resorted to the silent treatment as there was no outlet to vent the frustration. He felt incredibly good about himself, having shamelessly delighted in other people’s misery.

The next morning, Zhang Chengling returned the robe to Zhou Zishu with a tiny voice. “Thank you, shifu.”

Zhou Zishu took it and spared him a look. “Come on, we’re going back to the Gao’s.”

Zhang Chengling stopped walking, then continued to follow him like a scorned young bride.

Wen Kexing ignored that and consoled him. “Your shifu seems pretty determined to mingle with those heroes and be in cahoots with them. He’s still staying with the Gaos at the moment, so for now you should just follow Sir Zhao, you can still look for him whenever you want.”

He quickly added, “Of course, you can always seek me out too.”

Zhou Zishu spoke up while staying ahead of them. “When did I ever say that I want to mingle with those people?”

Wen Kexing rubbed his chin, simpering. “So you’re not staying?”

Zhou Zishu frowned. “Not staying.”

Wen Kexing threw Zhang Chengling a glance. “For real?”

“For real…”

Unprompted, Zhou Zishu looked at Zhang Chengling. The boy was staring at him unblinkingly, his eyes similar to that of a skittish rabbit, face showing restrained hope. The moment their eyes met, his lips thinned as he feigned seriousness. At a loss for words, Zhou Zishu merely grunted and kept walking.

Wen Kexing, eager to add fuel to the fire, patted the boy’s head and exclaimed, “Hey Ah-Xu, do you think we look like a family of three?”

Zhou Zishu’s steps quickened.

With a serious father-like charade, Wen Kexing’s said to Zhang Chengling gently, “Since journey is long and there’s nothing to do anyway, how about I tell you a story?”