Is This Really Real Life (Part 3)

The vast night sky was filled with stars.

What they were saying was all nonsense, in fact there was nothing.

The sky, shrouded in dark clouds all day, started snowing this night. Although the snowflakes were small, they still felt cold when landing on the body.

The night was dark and cold, annoying.

At night, Zhang San got up and jumped off the cart. He took out a cotton quilt from his luggage, and quietly put it on Wang Xiaoer.

"Revenge, avenge my family..." Wang Xiaoer muttered.

It sounded like sleep talking, which made Zhang San pause for a moment.

Could it be...

"I want justice, I want justice and reason in this world."

Zhang San seemed to understand something.

Wang Xiaoer said in a low voice: "Actually, Master, those two people didn't say anything particularly troublesome, they didn't say anything that might bring us disaster, just that they were very unwilling before leaving."

Wang Xiaoer went on: "The younger one wanted revenge, the older one wanted justice."

Zhang San pulled the quilt up to cover Wang Xiaoer's neck, looked up at the dark sky, and felt the wind and snow falling on his face.

Wang Xiaoer asked: "So Master, you are so powerful and smart, you know so much, even Hei Shanke is not your opponent. What do you desire so strongly like those people?"

Zhang San was silent for a while.

After a long time, Zhang San finally said: "We make money, then live well, don't worry about so much."

Wang Xiaoer nodded: "Um."

Zhang San returned to the cart, and said one last sentence: "Let's find a good shop tomorrow, we don't have enough money to keep traveling. Let's settle down in Tian Ruo City."

That's how the master and disciple spent the night in the alley.

...

...

The next day, dawn, it was still snowing.

When Wang Xiaoer woke up, he found his master covered in snow and ice but still sleeping soundly. He marveled to himself.

The master said his iron cloth shirt was impervious to blades and fire, he didn't expect it to be cold-proof as well. It really lived up to being orthodox martial arts, even saving money on buying clothes and quilts, very much in line with the sect's 'poverty'.

However, as soon as Wang Xiaoer moved a little after waking up, the cart underneath creaked.

Perhaps it was the ability and instinct cultivated from years of being an assassin, Zhang San immediately opened his eyes.

Seeing Wang Xiaoer trying to get off the cart to move the luggage, Zhang San interrupted: "Forget it, let me handle these. I remember there was a breakfast shop on the street we passed last night. Go buy some food, those candied haws really aren't filling."

After taking a few copper coins from Zhang San, Wang Xiaoer immediately ran out of the alley, following the route he remembered yesterday to buy breakfast.

However, it was this seemingly trivial event of Zhang San sending Wang Xiaoer to buy breakfast that completely destroyed the half-month long sex education.

In short, Wang Xiaoer...fell from grace!

...

...

In a small street in the south of Tian Ruo City, there were many shops. Although it wasn't a commercial street, in the poverty-stricken south side where laborers, thugs, coachmen and other poor people gathered, this little street was already considered prosperous.

In the early morning, some breakfast shops on the little street were the earliest to open.

In fact, poor families were very busy, especially those doing hard labor. With difficulty even forming families, they got up early and worked late. They barely woke up before it was time to work again, and certainly had no time to make breakfast. So breakfast shops here did decent business.

Of course, low prices were still the main reason these shops thrived.

Wang Xiaoer walked past shops, carefully observing prices and food portions as his master had instructed, meticulously weighing which shop's breakfast could fill one's stomach the most while still being cheap.

After all, his master had said this behavior was absolutely not to save money because they were poor, but to train his eyesight through high-frequency observation.

Just as Wang Xiaoer walked past a tofu shop with some tofu snacks in front, he casually glanced but remembered his master's words - tofu was just beans and water with vinegar, simply not filling.

Wang Xiaoer thought to himself: if he bought tofu to take back, his master would surely scold him to death.

After passing the tofu shop, there was a street corner. Ahead was an even longer street, left leading to dense housing, right a fence. Through the gaps in the fence Wang Xiaoer saw a small courtyard behind, seemingly the backyard of that tofu shop.

There were a few blooming winter plum trees in the yard.

Looking at those plum blossoms, Wang Xiaoer stopped in his tracks.

To be precise, it was because of a little girl among the plum blossoms.

The girl looked about ten years old, wearing thick winter clothes patched in many places. But this did not detract from her cuteness in Wang Xiaoer's eyes.

In Wang Xiaoer's eyes:

Her tender face was even prettier than white snow, her dimpled cheeks were as round and rosy as cherries.

Wang Xiaoer thought, was this real life and not a story?

Weren't only daughters of chivalrous heroes or female protagonists in stories this cute?

Wang Xiaoer unconsciously walked closer to the yard...

What?

Zhang San was still hungry and moving luggage in the alley?

Wang Xiaoer said he really blanked at that moment, and absolutely did not immediately forget about his master after seeing his future daughter-in-law.

And he said, it wasn't like his master would starve from missing one meal, right.

In the yard, the little girl scooped up snow from the ground and gently sprinkled it on the blooming plum blossoms, though it was unclear why she did this.

"What are you doing?" Wang Xiaoer walked over and asked in a low voice.

The girl seemed startled!

She quickly turned around, only now seeing a boy in black behind her. He looked innocent enough, not like a bad person.

Besides, the girl was actually a bit taller than Wang Xiaoer, so she wasn't too scared of him. But still she asked: "Who are you? How did you get in?"

Wang Xiaoer said: "I just came in... Oh right, your fence is so low, I easily jumped over it."

The girl looked over at her so-called 'rather low' fence, which was clearly much higher than this boy. How did he 'easily jump' over it?

Seeing the girl frown, Wang Xiaoer quickly said: "I'm not a bad person, don't look at me like that. I just saw you...sprinkling snow on these plum blossoms, and thought it very odd."

The girl looked down at the snow-covered red plums around her, and laughed: "Don't you think the red plum blossoms look even better with some white snow?"

When the girl smiled, Wang Xiaoer was completely smitten.

"Your face is red. Is it too cold?" The girl asked.

Wang Xiaoer quickly shook his head. "No...no, just too beautiful."

The girl said: "I think plum blossoms are beautiful too."