Mountain Lord Tai Sui

Gao Jin rested in the mansion for three more days. After confirming that his injuries would not affect his mobility, he prepared to go straight to the Great Monk's place early in the morning.

He'd had enough of these past three days. Although the crazy woman had stopped yelling and threatening him, his affection for her had plummeted, like a bungee jump.

If anything displeases her, her favorability rating plummets to negative levels; if it pleases her, it skyrockets back up. She behaves this way whether Lin Chong and Lu Zhishen are present or not.

It gave Gao Jin a sense of absurdity that this woman "had no one she cared about in this world".

Only Gao Jin could see the favorability rating, so he could only stare intently at Chen Liqing, fearing that she might suddenly go crazy and embarrass the old Taoist priest.

For the past three days, he couldn't enjoy his drinks or food, and he racked his brains to come up with bizarre and fantastical stories for that madwoman...

These past three days felt like three years to him. But the nightmare is over now; Gao Jin can move again, and there's hope for the future.

"Lang li ge lang..." Gao Jin hummed a little tune as he leisurely walked out of the mansion. He wasn't going to ride a horse; his buttocks were still a bit sore.

He froze as soon as he stepped out of the mansion gate. A pretty figure wearing a blue veil stood outside the gate, followed by a maid.

[Chen Liqing's favorability rating: 45.]

"Gao..." Before the crazy woman could finish speaking, Gao Jin rubbed his forehead and walked back, muttering, "He's probably still asleep. I'll go back and lie down for a while..."

[Chen Liqing's favorability rating: 40.]

Gao Jin turned around and said, "Oh, isn't this Aunt Chen..."

[Chen Liqing's favorability rating: 38.]

"...Young lady Chen. Why are you up so early?"

[Chen Liqing's favorability rating: 40.]

"The story of Daiyu's battle with Xiao Yan that Brother Gao told yesterday has piqued my interest, so I got up early and unfortunately bumped into Brother Gao."

"Speaking of which, where is Brother Gao going?"

Gao Jin thought about it for a moment, realizing that this couldn't go on, so he simply said, "I haven't been to a karaoke bar in a long time..."

[Chen Liqing's favorability rating: -10.]

"Brother Gao, listen to me. Brothels and entertainment venues are not places for a good man."

Gao Jin scratched the back of his head, pretending to have joked earlier: "Just kidding, actually I went to see the monk to see what that mountain king is capable of."

[Chen Liqing's favorability rating: 41.]

"I knew it! How could Brother Gao be a man who frequents brothels? Why don't I go with him? He can tell me what happens next."

"Alright, alright, please, sister." Gao Jin took the reins from Chen Liqing, and the two walked side by side toward Suanzao Gate, with the maid Yang'er leading the donkey behind them.

[Chen Liqing's favorability rating: 42.]

.....

When the two women led the maid to Lu Zhishen's courtyard, the monk was indeed still asleep, and the entire courtyard was filled with his snoring. Helpless, the two women could only chat under the locust tree while waiting for him to wake up.

A moment later, a man appeared outside the low wall and called out loudly, "Is Master Lu home?"

Gao Jin turned around and saw that the man was over seven feet tall and had broad shoulders.

His face was tinged with a purplish-red hue by the mountain winds and scorching sun, his cheekbones were high, but his eyes shone like cold stars, and when he looked at people, they had the sharpness of a mountain eagle hunting for prey.

What's most striking is the several white, old scars visible through the open front of his coat, the deepest of which runs from his collarbone down to his ribs.

He had a greasy old blue cloth headscarf wrapped around his head, with the corners pulled diagonally to hold down his messy hair.

He held a steel fork upside down in his hand. The fork shaft was black and shiny from the sweat on his hands, and the five iron teeth were polished to a bright shine.

He was holding a wine jar in his other hand.

Gao Jin cupped his hands in greeting: "May I ask who you are, and what business do you have with my brother?"

"I am Li Yan, a hunter from these mountains, nicknamed 'Mountain Lord Tai Sui'..." Li Yan looked Gao Jin up and down, then suddenly said, "Could this hero be Master Lu's brother, the playboy Tai Sui Gao Jin?"

"I am Gao. I have long admired the reputation of the Mountain Lord Tai Sui. Today, I have seen him and he is indeed extraordinary."

"So it really is the Gao brothers. They are indeed tall and robust. I thought the master was joking with me."

The snoring in the courtyard stopped too. "Brother, are you healed today? Wait a moment!"

Gao Jin quickly beckoned to Li Yan, "Brother, come in and have some drinks."

"Then I shall respectfully accept your offer." Li Yan stepped over the low wall into the courtyard, placed the wine jar on a stone, and said, "I happened to bring some homemade liquor, the Gao brothers, please have a taste."

Lu Zhishen carried a wine jar out of the house. "Brother, now that you're healed, you should try the good wine I've brought you. Brother Li Yan, you can have your murky wine later."

Upon hearing this, Li Yan put the wine jar he had brought down from the stone and said with shining eyes, "There's actually good wine from the city! I'll have to drink a lot."

The maid laid out the meat she had bought on the road on the stone, the monk placed the wine jar next to the stone, and then went to fetch a gourd ladle to fill everyone's cups.

The two women drank beverages they had bought along the way, and the group began to eat, drink, and chat.

Gao Jin kept talking to Li Yan and urging him to drink, and soon his favorability rating rose to 20 points.

Li Yan seemed to be enjoying his meal, and then he began to recount to everyone the scene of fighting the tiger that day.

"You gentlemen do not know! That day, it was time for that beast to be beheaded! When I was patrolling the mountain, I suddenly heard a fierce wind and knew that the tiger was coming."

"In the blink of an eye, that beast lunged at you, baring its fangs and claws..."

"So you may know that my skills are not for nothing! I ducked down to let those bastards pass, and then, with a quick twist and thrust, I threw this fork at the tiger's throat! Ouch! Blood spurted out..."

Gao Jin was confused, so he asked, "My brother told me that Brother Li Yan used a spear and club when he fought the tiger, didn't he?"

Li Yan paused for a moment, then said, "Hey, Brother Gao Jin, you don't know this, but my skills aren't limited to just that one bug. I'm talking about another one now!"

Gao Jin looked at Li Yan with a puzzled expression. Seeing that Li Yan was tall and strong, he figured that taking down a few big tigers would be no problem for him. So he raised his bowl and apologized, "I misheard. I'll punish myself with a bowl." Chen Liqing chuckled beside him.

"Hey, Brother Gao Jin, you have a good capacity for alcohol. Come and try our homemade wine, it's strong. The wine in the city is so weak and tasteless." Li Yan took out his small wine jar and filled it for Gao Jin and Lu Zhishen.

"Please have some, Master."

Gao Jin stared at the liquid in the bowl, unable to bring himself to drink it. It looked like the beverage from his third brother's past life, with some flocculent matter floating in it.

I caught a glimpse of the empty bamboo tube that Chen Liqing had been drinking from. It was a free gift from a drink she bought on the way, specifically for holding drinks.

Taking advantage of Li Yan's inattention, Gao Jin poured all the wine from his bowl into the bowl. Chen Liqing caught a glimpse and burst into another round of silvery laughter.

"Brother, why don't you return to the city earlier today?" Lu Zhishen suddenly said.

"What's wrong? Is your brother disgusted with his older brother?" Gao Jin asked curiously.

"When I returned yesterday, the house had been ransacked. It seems there have been bandits around lately, and my brother drank too much and went home too late, so the journey wasn't peaceful."

Li Yan, standing nearby, asked curiously, "Was there any loss? I recently heard from the villagers that it seems like a group of bandits came."

"I carry all my money with me, but a lot of the wine and meat in the house have been wasted..." Lu Zhishen gritted his teeth and drank the wine in his bowl in one gulp. "...Those thieves are truly hateful, daring to waste food."