With the Golden Bell Shield's inner strength circulating within him, Wang Anfeng rested on the plain ground for a moment and had already recovered from the unsettling sensation in his chest and abdomen. The group got up and followed the official road towards the city center, while the servants naturally took care of packing up the stove and wine cups.
Wang Anfeng held the reins in his left hand. Having only visited two county towns, he already found them extremely prosperous, yet they still could not compare with State City.
Qin Fei saw his demeanor and began to describe the scenery of the city.
The End of Year Festival was not merely a gathering of high officials and nobles, acting dignified and solemn, but more like a citywide revelry. A cheerful atmosphere enveloped the entire city, with merchants hanging up brand new red lanterns and loudly hawking their wares, making one unconsciously merge into it.
Qiu Ruoshui quietly listened behind the two young men as they talked.
Qin Fei had already introduced their names to each other. That youth named Wang Anfeng had a fine demeanor, yet he seemed as if he had never been to a bustling place before, showing great interest even in ordinary scenery.
But the magnificent horse behind him was a rare breed that many high officials and nobles could not obtain.
On one side, Qin Xiao held a Mo Family mechanism, watching the two young men in front of him, frowning tightly and pouting as he muttered.
"What if brother likes a man..."
Qiu Ruoshui, proficient in musical tones and able to use them in her martial arts, naturally had extraordinary hearing. Hearing this, she couldn't help but laugh, lightly patting the child's dark hair, thinking how such a young child could have so many thoughts.
Looking at his delicate and handsome features, she wondered how many daughters he would trouble in the future.
Just then, a mix of noises suddenly came from the bridge ahead, quite jarring in the worldly atmosphere, prompting Qiu Ruoshui to look over.
From a distance, she could only see a small stall surrounded by two circles of people; on one side were officials, presumably from some place, while on the other side were individuals in red clothes, covered with silver armor protecting their vitals, likely descendants of the Military Family from the west side of State City.
Every End of Year, many tourists and high officials gathered.
They enjoyed themselves, and the city's vendors were even happier, selling off their unique goods accumulated over the year that were hard to sell on normal days.
Qiu Ruoshui withdrew her gaze.
It must be some dispute over an item, she thought, and soon an officer in charge of managing the marketplace would come to resolve the dispute.
Wang Anfeng also heard that noise and instinctively turned to look. Despite the distance of several hundred meters, he saw a pair of clear, pure eyes looking quietly in one direction.
Those eyes seemed to sense something and turned towards him. Even though he only saw a pair of eyes, Wang Anfeng clearly perceived the faint emotion within them—initially startled, then radiating a brilliance like that of glazed clouds in the sky.
The young man's voice suddenly stopped.
Qin Fei was walking when he noticed Wang Anfeng had stopped and paused as well, asking curiously:
After calling several times, Wang Anfeng returned to his senses and said:
"It's nothing, I just thought I saw an old friend..."
Before he could finish speaking, although he hadn't looked in that direction, the young man could still feel the loss in those eyes, like a quiet kitten that had been abandoned. A strong sense of guilt emerged in Wang Anfeng's heart, and he couldn't continue speaking. He opened his mouth, bowed with a bitter smile, and sighed:
"Brother Qin, please wait a moment... I need to lend a hand..."
Qin Fei was slightly startled, then saw Wang Anfeng turn around and stride purposefully in a certain direction, as if pausing for a moment would be agonizing. Curious, he turned to look at the equally stunned Qiu Ruoshui and said:
"Miss Qiu, if you don't mind, shall we go and watch too?"
The lady nodded and softly said:
"I will follow the young master's wishes."
Wang Anfeng made his way through the crowd and, sure enough, saw the little girl dressed in pinkish clothes, fuzzy for the sake of warmth, quietly watching him with clear, pure eyes. Yet, for some reason, Wang Anfeng felt a hint of temper from her.
As if she were saying, weren't you not coming?
The young man couldn't help but smile bitterly, looked up to find the little girl's mother, nodded slightly, then crouched beside the little girl and gently stroked her soft hair, comforting her:
"It was my fault, I should have come directly..."
"At that time, I was just greeting Brother Qin."
"But you clearly were angry."
"Of course what I said was true..."
Wang Anfeng had not noticed that an imposing middle-aged man beside them had his expression slightly change, staring intently at the youth's palm as he tousled the little girl's hair, almost as if he wanted to tear it off.
When he heard Wang Anfeng talking nonchalantly, and the little girl showed no sign of dislike, it was as if his heart was pierced by a thousand arrows, his face instantly turning pale and perplexed, as if he had suffered a devastating blow in some realm.
His fingers were trembling slightly.
By this time, the youth had figured out the cause of the episode under the strange gazes of the surrounding people and looked up at a group of young men and women to his side, saying,
"It's about something we both wanted, and neither of us would back down..."
The youth across, in red clothes and silver armor, with lively expression, was not overbearing but simply smiled and said,
"The little girl is lovely and really, should be given way. But our sister from the Military Family is also precious indeed, heh, can't really concede, brother..."
He then winked at Wang Anfeng and made a knowing look, Wang Anfeng was slightly startled, his gaze falling on a charming Military Family girl nearby, and he got the hint, nearly laughing out loud.
At that instant, the crowd parted, and a skinny youth, leading a robust man dressed in official robes, walked over. The surrounding vendors all bowed their fists in greeting as 'Ti Xie', because they had already heard the story along the way, and upon looking, there was an additional youth. After finding out the full story, the burly official laughed heartily.
With a casual toss, he threw a piece of silver on the vendor's stall, and effortlessly grabbed up the small object, looked around at the crowd, and loudly said,
"Since this is a matter among the youth, let's resolve it in the youth's way. Fussing and fighting, what a sight we are making!"
"Everybody step back, let's stick to the rules and fight it out."
Because it was common for martial artists to covet the same item, and as long as it wasn't through malicious robbery or an urgent situation, everyone had their reasoning. The arbitrator, 'Ti Xie,' often let the martial artists decide through competition, so this type of competition was not unusual.
Consequently, the locals skillfully cleared the area to make a circle, and the robust 'Ti Xie' looked at Wang Anfeng and Qin Fei and Qiu Ruoshui who had stepped next to him, and smiled,
"Lucky us, since there are three of you, let's make it best two out of three."
"You can fight continuously."
With that, he tossed the jade pendant in his hand and said cheerfully,
"Whoever wins, this trinket will be my festival gift to you."
"Just wish me a Happy New Year in return."
The guiding youth at his side, hearing this, laughed first, yelling, "Ti Xie, I can wish you 'Happy New Year' ten times, maybe you can give me some money for wine?"
"Dream on, you rascal!"
"You're not a pretty girl!"
Ti Xie glared fiercely, then kicked him playfully, causing the youth to stagger but then burst into laughter, saying,
"If you manage to wish everyone here 'Happy New Year' ten times, today you'll have the best wine and meat, and I'll make sure you can't crawl out from under the table."
The surrounding people laughed out loud, and Wang Anfeng bent down to tousle the little girl's hair once more, then turned back to Qin Fei and said,
"Brother Qin, Miss Qiu, this fight is unrelated to you, better not get involved..."
Qiu Ruoshui was still hesitating, but Qin Fei knew his skills and also wanted to see Wang Anfeng's capabilities, so he smiled and said,
"Then I will be eager to see Brother Wang's skills."
The youth nodded slightly, raised his right hand, inner strength surged beneath his physique, flowing through his limbs and bones.
It was as if the clear sound of bells chimed but was quickly drowned out by the laughter.