A life of two souls traveling through time

Chapter 422: Bending and Stretching to Save My Sister

It was late at night at the Li Mansion, and everyone was asleep except for the guards who were on duty patrolling the house. A black shadow suddenly jumped out from the guest house and quickly sneaked into Qingyun Garden, and then jumped onto the attic railing silently.

The dark clouds were gone, the wind was clear, the moon was bright, and Lao Zhou's sloppy face was looking down vigilantly before turning back to continue climbing to the third floor. Because it was summer, the north and south windows of the attic where Li Yunye was were open, and the evening breeze blew in slowly, making the room cool and comfortable.

Old Zhou turned over and landed lightly in the room. The moonlight was bright tonight, and he could see the room carefully even without lighting a fire. He immediately found the bottles of wine still on the table. After a moment of ecstasy, he tiptoed to put all the wine on the table into the cloth bag he brought with him. When he turned around to leave, he glanced at the two brothers lying motionless on the bed, and immediately shook his head in disgust, muttering:

"Why are you cuddling together again? Aren't you feeling hot?"

Hearing Old Zhou jumping down from the attic, the two brothers who were pretending to be asleep in the room hurriedly sat up and looked out the window. After seeing that there was no one there, Li Yunye whispered:

"Brother Muliang really understands Lao Zhou. He really came here to steal the wine!"

"How can a cat not miss the fish?" Mu Liang smiled at his brother, then stood up and walked to the table and poured himself half a cup of cold tea and drank it.

"What if he still refuses to go to the desert with Madam Honghua tomorrow? Wouldn't we have wasted all this good wine?" Li Yunye, sitting on the bed, frowned and looked out the window, and asked worriedly.

"Just treat it as a gamble. You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb." Mu Liang handed another half cup of cold tea to his brother and comforted him softly.

"Bet? What if you lose the bet? Don't you, the great Shopkeeper Mu, never do business at a loss?" Li Yunye took the teacup and glanced at his brother, but seeing that Brother Mu Liang looked calm and composed, he calmed down. Anyway, he believed that Brother Mu Liang would not watch him being taken away by Madam Honghua.

"Sleep well, you have to get up early tomorrow." Mu Liang did not respond to his brother's words, but yawned and fell back into bed.

Seeing Brother Mu Liang closing his eyes tiredly, Li Yunye couldn't help but smile gently.

"Oh, oh, these are all good wines that I, Old Zhou, can rarely drink in my life!"

In a room in the guest house, Lao Zhou, under the moonlight, carefully placed the bottles of wine he had just stolen into a wooden box at the foot of the bed as if they were treasures. Occasionally, he could not help but take a sniff at the closed bottle caps, which made him intoxicated.

When he took out the last bottle of wine from the bag, Lao Zhou was reluctant to put it down. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to take a few sips to satisfy his craving. He continued to mutter, "Today, they said that these bottles of wine were prepared to thank me. It is only natural to take back what belongs to me. Even if I do it secretly, it is to avoid unnecessary trouble."

After comforting himself, Lao Zhou confidently opened the bottle cap in his hand, and the mellow and rich aroma of wine immediately floated out, soon filling the whole room. Lao Zhou's eyes had already revealed a greedy look, so he immediately couldn't wait to pour a small sip into his mouth, and after savoring it for a moment, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes and shake his head, smiling as if he was in a fairyland: "Walking alone between heaven and earth, traveling around Buzhou Mountain!"

"Good wine, really good wine!" Tonight they were drinking fine wine, so Lao Zhou naturally couldn't drink it as quickly as a cow like usual. Instead, he learned from the literati and savored it carefully sip by sip, praising the wine non-stop.

After drinking only six or seven sips, Lao Zhou's drinking craving was satisfied like never before. He smacked his lips and began to dislike the ordinary wine he had drunk before, which was so bland and tasteless!

A little tipsy, Lao Zhou turned his head to look at the several unopened bottles of wine in the wooden box and suddenly sighed. Could he really bear to watch his junior brother go back to the path he was unwilling to take in order to repay the Li family's kindness?

As Lao Zhou was struggling, his mind was filled with memories of his past as a teacher: when he was young, he was separated from his family due to war, and when he was dying, his master rescued him and brought him to the mountains, where he was taught martial arts. However, his stubborn mischievousness and laziness often annoyed his master, who gradually became disappointed in him. Later, a smart and studious junior brother appeared and was favored by the master.

Old Zhou has always been carefree and uninhibited, so he naturally doesn't care about the master's partiality towards his junior brother. After a few years of getting along in harmony with the master, the two brothers went down the mountain and went their separate ways. Unexpectedly, this separation would last for decades. Thinking of his junior brother's transformation from a chivalrous young man full of vigor and helping the weak to a man who only wants to be an ordinary farmer, Old Zhou's guilt deepened.

The next morning, Li Yunye and Mu Liang walked slowly out of the mansion. One of them was calm and unhurried as usual, while the other was worried and had to look back every few steps:

"It's already this late, will Lao Zhou show up?"

"It's still early, let's wait a little longer." Mu Liang looked at his brother and patiently comforted him.

Just as the two of them walked out of Li's house, An Yun suddenly chased out, and hurriedly replied with bright eyes: "Sir, Lao Zhou is not in the room."

"I'm here!" As soon as An Yun finished speaking, Lao Zhou's lazy voice came from the carriage outside the mansion.

The three of them were overjoyed when they heard this, and they hurried to the front of the carriage. At the same time, Lao Zhou also jumped off the carriage. They were surprised to see that he was holding seven or eight wine bags in his hands, and there were heavy wine bottles hanging on both sides of his waist. Li Yunye and others couldn't help but stare at him with their eyes wide open. The smell of wine even made a passing yellow dog sniff and wag its tail and come forward.

"I got some wine last night. It's really good wine!" After kicking the yellow dog away, Old Zhou patted the wine pot on his waist and praised it with satisfaction. Then he whispered to Li Yunye and Mu Liang, "I have left two bottles in the room. You must keep them safe and don't let anyone steal them!"

"Don't worry, if you lose it, I'll compensate you two... Oh no... I'll compensate you a few more bottles!" Hearing what Lao Zhou said, Li Yunye laughed happily.

"Mr. Li, you are so generous this time!" Old Zhou smiled when he heard it, but then he calmed down and said seriously: "But Mr. Li, don't get me wrong, I didn't agree to risk my life to go find medicine with that vicious woman just for these bottles of wine!"

"We know that it was you, Old Zhou, who was so righteous and chivalrous that you helped the Li family. We two brothers will never forget this kindness." Mu Liang on the side bowed and smiled at Old Zhou.

"Yes, from now on, you, Old Zhou, are also a member of my Li family!" Li Yunye also bowed to Old Zhou and expressed his sincere gratitude.

"Alright, alright, I'm getting goose bumps all over my body!" Seeing the two brothers singing the same tune again, Lao Zhou shook his body in disgust, and then reminded Mu Liang: "Manager Mu, don't forget your promise from yesterday. When I come back, you have to tear up the contract and give me my freedom."

"I am a businessman and I should keep my word." Mu Liang nodded with a smile.

"But you are also a cunning fox!" Old Zhou sneered and rolled his eyes, then got back on the carriage.

"Yeah, what Lao Zhou said is right!" Seeing his brother being humiliated, Li Yunye couldn't help but cover his mouth and laugh.

"Okay, let's get on!" Mu Liang didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he had to help his brother get on the carriage.

Soon, the carriage stopped under a willow tree by Yunxian Lake outside Qile City.

Li Yunye got off the carriage and looked at the wine boat in the middle of the lake and couldn't help but sigh with emotion. More than two years had passed without him noticing.

"What are you thinking about?" Seeing his brother sighing while looking at the lake, Mu Liang asked with concern.

"Nothing. I just remembered that the first time I met Yanyu was on that ship." Li Yunye came back to his senses and replied casually.

"Really? This is where you first met?" Mu Liang frowned, unable to help but wonder.

"Uh...it's the first time we meet alone..." Li Yunye realized that he had spoken too quickly and was so scared that he quickly lied. At the same time, fortunately, Madam Honghua appeared with two horses to divert Mu Liang's attention.

"The famous Li from Jiangnan is worthy of his reputation for being established for a hundred years with integrity." Madam Honghua glanced with satisfaction at Old Zhou, who had a cold face and his nose turned towards her, then turned to Mu Liang and smiled.

"Everything is done to save Miss Xuanyu. I hope Madam..." Mu Liang bowed slightly. He was also worried that Lao Zhou would suffer from this woman along the way and be poisoned by her. So he wanted to remind her to put the overall situation first. But before he could finish his words, he saw Honghua kneeling in front of Lao Zhou with a plop.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing, you evil woman?" Everyone was stunned with shock when they saw this. Old Zhou was so frightened that he jumped half a step away and said in panic.

"Honghua is grateful to Mr. Zhou for helping us regardless of past grudges. From now on, you are our sisters' savior. Honghua will never dare to offend Mr. Zhou again!" Faced with everyone's shocked expressions, Honghua turned a blind eye and said to Lao Zhou with red eyes.

"Ahem, it's getting late, let's go." Honghua was so serious about this that Lao Zhou was at a loss for what to do. He coughed twice and then hurriedly mounted a horse and left.

"Mr. Zhou, wait for me!" Honghua also hurriedly jumped on his horse and chased after him.

"Isn't it that Madam Honghua changes her expression so quickly?" Li Yunye exclaimed as he watched the two people walking away.

"She is a good sister. She is willing to bend and stretch to save her sister." This was the first time Mu Liang showed admiration to Honghua.