Jinmen Prefecture City, Rongsheng Tea House.
Xu Qing was enjoying tea and storytelling in the tea house.
This tea house was once where he temporarily stayed when he passed the examination to become a Scholar. Back then, when Lord Prefect personally inscribed an eight-character phrase 'Heaven rewards diligence, aspiring ones succeed' to encourage Tian Shegong for passing the Scholar exam in his seventies.
After this event, a wave of studying and taking imperial examinations swept through Jinmen.
Many old child students picked up their books again, aiming to emulate Tian Shegong and not bow down to the passage of time.
The old shopkeeper of the tea house where Xu Qing was now was one of the members of this examination army.
A tea house shopkeeper, someone halfway buried in the ground, going to take exams to gain credentials, others considered it merely a joke, but no one expected that the old shopkeeper, at over fifty, fought his way through to become a successful candidate.
Now, at the age of seventy, the old shopkeeper still held office in the imperial court.
And this tea house was renamed Rongsheng Tea House, managed by the old shopkeeper's close friend, Guo Dongyang.
Xu Qing and Guo Dongyang were also considered old friends across generations, having known each other for twenty years. During this time, Guo Dongyang, through his various anecdotes on transcending bodies and stories only known in later generations, quickly revitalized and became a leading figure in Jinmen's storytelling circle.
Twenty years passed, and Guo Dongyang was over seventy, no longer on stage narrating, but retired behind the scenes, becoming a revered living mentor to his younger successors.
Xu Qing knew in his heart that if he didn't come to the Prefecture City now, he might never have the opportunity to see Guo Dongyang again.
His brother Wang Lingyuan, being a forensic doctor, often contacted the dead; over time, with the invasion of dead energy affecting his life span significantly.
Guo Dongyang, though not contacting the dead, was a storyteller who lived by speaking.
Cultivators often say that speaking disperses the spirit and thoughts stir cold work.
This means that when people speak, they consume energy and spirit, and excessive speech consumes one's vitality, shortening one's life.
This explains the old saying: 'Speaking a thousand words by day, harms oneself without illness.'
To live long, one must be sparing with words and nurture their energy, stay calm in mind and light in body.
Guo Dongyang clearly wasn't part of this category.
Without seeing him directly, Xu Qing could infer Guo Dongyang's health condition.
At over seventy, it was considered a long life.
In the tea house, Guo Dongyang's student, a black-faced, chubby man resembling a short winter melon in his forties, was narrating a story that had recently occurred.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Listen as I recount a remarkable story of loyalty and filial piety that moves heaven and earth. It happened in the second year of our dynasty's founding, just this March, involving a marquis by the name of Wang!
This marquis was extraordinary; in his youth, he wielded a golden spear and rode an iron horse, aiding the true dragon emperor in unifying the land!
On this day, the marquis having accomplished his merits, retired with honors, returning in splendid attire, surrounded by acclaim, immensely honored!
However, upon his return home, he searched through his hometown but did not find his relatives...
The more Xu Qing listened, the more familiar it sounded, and upon hearing about selling oneself to bury a mother and the marquis's young sister being taken in by the widow Cheng at the incense and candle shop south of the city, Xu Qing was entirely certain.
Wasn't this exactly the matter when Wang Liang returned two months ago?
No wonder Jinmen storytellers are known for their flair, barely two months past and they've already brought the marquis's story to the table.
The clapper sounded on stage, and the chubby man continued:
"The marquis personally visited the Incense and Candle Shop, and upon seeing the graying hair of Mistress Cheng, he immediately recalled the chaotic times of the past. If not for Mistress Cheng's kindness as Buddha, taking the little sister under her care, how could there be this reunion today?"
The chubby man, wiping his nose and smearing it on his shoe, continued passionately:
"Tears don't easily fall from a man's eyes, only when the heart is broken! Instantly, this iron-boned marquis, with tigers' eyes brimming with tears, fell like a golden mountain, collapsing like a jade pillar, right in that shop door, beside the candle flame—he performed three bows and nine kowtows with gratitude, saying: A great favor in this life, never forgotten! Mistress Cheng is my own mother!"
The chubby man, face red and thick-necked, snapped his fan closed with a sound like ripping cloth and said, voice resounding:
"This event rumbled like thunder, spreading throughout the court and countryside within three days. The true dragon emperor, upon hearing of it, clapped his hands and sighed, stating that Dingyuan Marquis was a model for loyalty and caring for the country; Mistress Cheng, in raising an orphan and keeping integrity, was filled with kindness, truly exemplifying perfect womanly virtue!"
"The emperor, with vast grace, moved by Mistress Cheng's righteousness, thus decreed with the Imperial Brush, issuing an edict, ennobling Mistress Cheng as a first-rank titled lady!"
"Indeed it was: Bloodstained battles won and return robed in honor, deep within candlelight finds motherly radiance. A bow at the marquis's gate astonishes heaven and earth, while the simple humble home receives imperial grace!"
As soon as the book concluded, there was a round of applause from the audience, except for Xu Qing who chuckled lightly and shook his head.
The so-called title was just nominal, Cheng Caiyun merely visited the Capital City and saw the emperor, but never stayed at the marquis's mansion to enjoy that wealth and honor.
Xu Qing asked the Incense and Candle Shop's owner, who said she had spent most of her life at the shop, that shop was her only attachment, so no matter how grand the title, it wasn't as significant as her little shop.
However, the Wang Family's Little Sister did leave Jinmen, and before leaving, she indeed joked about opening the incense and candle business in the Capital City, so henceforth wherever the Xu family held a funeral, they could buy the Wang family's incense and paper money.
Xu Qing didn't pay it much mind, knowing that Wang Yue'e's identity was special, and her return to the Capital City was due to Wang Liang's persuasion. As for the incense business...
Most likely it was a jest.
On the stage, after the black-faced chubby man finished a segment, Xu Qing approached to explain his purpose.
"Ah! So it's Mr. Xu in person, I'm Guo Baolin, in awe of the elder!"
Upon Xu Qing's inquiry, he found out that this chubby man was Guo Dongyang's adopted son.