Chapter 28 Peers of Excellence

Everyone in Jianghu knows that the patriarch of the Liu Family in Wangxian County is a tough old man.

Blessed with limited talents, what others achieved at seven, he managed by ten; the martial arts skills that others mastered at ten, he'd barely grasp at twelve or thirteen. He hardly ever won a fight in his life, but when it came to escaping, he seldom lost.

By the time he was seventy, most of his contemporaries had been worn down by him, and when he reached eighty, his martial power had reached what most people would only achieve in their seventies. How many in Jianghu can boast the skills of a seventy-year-old? Just like a pitiful young wife turns into an old lady, Patriarch Liu finally earned the title of a venerable elder.

With great satisfaction, he built Liuxu Villa, spending who knows how much silver, until he finally managed to secure the rights to host the fledgling phoenix banquet. Thus, over these past five years, the Liuxu Villa had been bustling with construction; not to mention the precious shrubs at the foot of the villa, but up around the villa itself, one could see places where the owner takes meticulous care and money is being flaunted, with expensive materials piling up before your very eyes.

"Brother Wang, what do you think of this Liuxu Villa?"

Xiahou Xuan walked on the floor paved with blue-patterned stones, admiring the lively and beautiful scenery around him, and casually struck up a conversation with Wang Anfeng, who, dressed in a dirty blue gown, showed no timidity walking on this path paved with silver, and after some thought, shook his head and said,

"I don't like it, this villa feels too...too hasty."

"Hasty? Good way to put it."

Xiahou Xuan smiled faintly, folding his fan and propping it up against a cluster of exuberant flowers beside him. The flowers were originally subtle and elegant, but in his eyes, they seemed rather distasteful, and even the unseen face of Patriarch Liu of the Liu Family seemed inevitably unpleasant from within his heart, preferring the presence of the disconcerted youth by his side. He closed his eyes, inhaled the fragrance of the flowers gently, and said with a laugh,

"Calligraphy indeed displays strokes, pauses, presses, and flicks; but the magic often lies in the white space. Painting indeed depicts mountains, rivers, trees, stones; but the charm often lies in the ethereal space. The same principle applies to garden landscaping; he's indeed too hasty."

"The more people lack something, the more they try to express it. It seems that even a man who has lived for seven or eight decades can't see through this."

Having said all this, he suddenly shook his head again, tapped his head with the folding fan, and with a trace of insincerity in his apology, said,

"Never mind, never mind, speaking ill of our host in his own home is not a good thing. It wouldn't be nice to be chased out by a beating. Brother Wang, Xiahou is off to look for a good friend. If you're free, why not join me? I think he will likely favor your temperament."

"A good friend?"

Wang Anfeng paused slightly, and from his reaction, Xiahou Xuan saw what he wanted to know. He smiled and gestured forward with his hand, saying,

"Yes, a good friend. Xiahou's visit to Wangxian County this time is to catch up with him. I heard he had gone to Heavenly Capital City, but it turned out to be a wasted trip. Luckily, I found out he was coming to this fledgling phoenix banquet, so I wrote to Patriarch Liu to let him know and hurried over, lest he run off again."

Upon hearing this, Wang Anfeng felt a vague sense of familiarity, but before he could ponder, he simply replied,

"This friend of yours sounds quite interesting."

Xiahou Xuan nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and said, "Of course he's interesting. The lad, though somewhat handsome, is forthright and unrestrained. His family has passed down saber techniques for generations, yet he has a penchant for fist techniques, especially fond of wine. Once on the road, he chased a respectable girl just to get a whiff of the wine she carried; truly a headache."

Wang Anfeng was slightly stunned; the sense of familiarity in his heart grew stronger and more apparent.

A forthright nature, skilled in fist techniques.

Loves roaming around, just passed through Heavenly Capital City.

Extremely fond of wine...

Suddenly, an image of a handsome young man appeared in his mind, smiling and saying to him, 'You and I are destined to meet again someday.' His heart became clear as if a mirror had been wiped clean, and a strong sense of joy at this reunion welled up inside him, thinking to himself,

"So that's how it is... He guessed right away that I was going to attend this fledgling phoenix banquet, hence why he said we were destined to meet again..."

And amidst the joy, he couldn't help but laugh. At that time he thought the boy's way of asking for a drink rather presumptuous, but since he would chase after a young lady just to smell the wine, asking a grown man for a drink was perfectly normal.

"Why are you laughing, Brother Wang? Do you also find Xiahou's friend quite amusing?"

Xiahou Xuan, seeing the faint smile on Wang Anfeng's face, asked with a hint of pride, to which the latter shook his head and laughed, "Indeed amusing. It seems I have encountered him a few times... He once approached me in a cool tea shop, wanting to buy the bottle of wine from my waist."

"A tea shop for wine?"

Xiahou Xuan grew speechless, then helplessly shook his head and said,

"Indeed, that's something he would do."

With no other choice, he looked at Wang Anfeng and his eyes became somewhat more peaceful.

For a noble clan son, friends were indeed a luxury, and he had fewer friends than other noble clan sons, so he valued them more. Since that drunkard had sought him out several times, it meant the lad wasn't bad, and he counted as a friend. Naturally, the drunkard's friends were also his friends.

When others did something, it was a provocation, but what was it when a friend did the same thing? A provocation?

No, no, no, that was a fun joke between each other.

Back then, just because the son of the Prefectural Governor was disrespectful in words, he had played a trick on him, stripped him naked, and hung him up at the brothel for three days and three nights, beating anyone who pleaded for mercy. Yet, the drunkard got him so drunk he tumbled under the skirts of the girls, and the next day continued with rouge all over his face, drinking and listening to tunes together, tossing out a thousand silver as if it were nothing.

Generous!

As the two walked together, Xiahou Xuan, being clever and quick-witted, wanted to bring them closer. They hit it off well and when passing by a small pavilion, Xiahou Xuan's eyes lit up, broke into laughter, and loudly called out:

"You wretched drunkard, you wretched drunkard, haha, I finally found you!"

Wang Anfeng was slightly startled and looked up, only to see an unfamiliar face turning towards him. The boy was about fifteen or sixteen, with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, a gallant nose, and a stray lock of hair on his forehead adding a touch of casual elegance. It seemed he had been drinking, as his gaze was somewhat blurry, but as Xiahou Xuan got within three steps of him, he shuddered all over, covered his face, and screamed:

"Pretty boy?! You... you... what are you doing here! We agreed, I absolutely won't marry your sister, if you pressure me again, I'll drown myself in alcohol!"

"Hahaha, it's alright, it's alright, just look who I've brought to you?"

Xiahou Xuan laughed heartily, put his arm around the young man's neck, and without giving an answer, just pointed at Wang Anfeng. However, the boy shook his head like a rattle-drum and protested, "It's bad enough you saw me in this sorry state and you brought someone familiar too?!"

"Sorry state?"

Xiahou Xuan was slightly taken aback and asked, "Did you lose again?"

The boy rolled his eyes at the question:

"Can we not mention 'again'?"

Xiahou Xuan couldn't help but chuckle wickedly as he looked at his good friend and asked, "You've already competed with him in fist technique, what did you compete in this time?" Hearing this, the boy sighed again, looking upset:

"Alcohol."

"I thought I could drink like an ox. I couldn't beat him in a fight, I didn't expect I couldn't outdrink him either."

"I really can't beat this Thirteen..."

Wang Anfeng, who had come up beside them, was slightly taken aback and asked in wonder, "Thirteen?" The young man gave him a glance, assuming he was Xiahou's friend, and thus, seeing him as potentially a friend of his own, he replied without hesitation:

"Yeah, you don't know about the famous Master Thirteen?"

Wang Anfeng's face heated up and he scratched his head, saying, "I've never been out ... really don't know."

The boy looked astonished, scratched his own hair into a mess, obviously a bit agitated, but still patiently explained:

"He wasn't originally called by that name—what normal family would name their child Thirteen?"

"It's only because he excels at the four arts of the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting, as well as machinery, hidden weapons, lightness skills, Inner Strength, fist and palm techniques, and blades, swords, and flexible weapons, not to mention his extravagant capacity for alcohol. That's why we call him Master Thirteen. In private we call him Lord Thirteen."

Wang Anfeng's pupils slightly dilated, finding it hard to believe such a person existed. As he counted quietly—qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, mechanisms, hidden weapons, lightness skills, Inner Strength, fist, palm, knife, sword, flexible weapons, and alcohol—he couldn't help but say:

"But that totals to fourteen, why do they call him Master Thirteen?"

Xiahou Xuan sighed and said, "Because when we compare among our generation, he's still lacking in one thing, hence one less."

"What's he lacking?"

"Invincibility."