Chapter 203 — The Trustworthy Old Man
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 4
"No," said Master Huo.
Shen Mu's heart ached a little. The Lame Elder laughed. "You're living much more comfortably than we are. Why would we come to see you? You're someone we picked up by the roadside. Would we travel ten thousand li just to see you? Don't flatter yourself."
"Then you definitely came to see me!" Shen Mu snapped.
The Lame Elder shook his head. "I've only come to have you put my leg back on. Take a look and tell me — is that leg of mine still alive?"
"I won't."
The Lame Elder was furious. "You little wretch, have your wings grown hard? We are NOT here to see you!"
Master Huo coughed and said unhurriedly, "If you're not here to see him, then why didn't you take your leg to an alchemist instead? No need to tease him — look, he's about to cry."
"I am not about to cry!" Shen Mu said, stiffening his neck.
"All right, all right, don't get red-eyed. I did come to see you. I've just come back from the Imperial Preceptor's mansion. I stayed there for a while and helped myself to a few things on my way out. Did you see the leg in the furnace?"
The old man was bursting with pride. "My leg! I took it back from the Imperial Preceptor's mansion, and there wasn't a thing the Imperial Preceptor could do about it. He could only stand and watch me take away my own leg!"
Shen Mu was silent for a moment, then showed an artless smile of his own. "Grandpa Lame, the Imperial Preceptor and I have just come back from away. The Imperial Preceptor inside his mansion — which Imperial Preceptor is that?"
The Lame Elder stared at him with wide eyes, and Shen Mu, not giving an inch, stared back with wide eyes of his own. The smiles on their faces were almost equally artless, giving a man the sense that they were trustworthy — that even if they thrust a knife into him, he would still find them perfectly, wholly trustworthy.