Various thoughts ran through the minds of the surrounding disciples.
“I never imagined Elder Brother Chen would make friends with someone who so easily overestimates himself.”
“He’s relying on Elder Brother Chen’s presence, like a fox exploiting the might of a tiger.” 1
“He’s looking to die!”
A sinister smile appeared on Zhou Shanyue’s face. He moved backward a few paces, contentedly watching the commotion.
Meng Hao looked as calm as ever as the middle-aged man raced forward. A slight smile appeared on his face, and he was about to step forward, when Chen Fan held his arm in front of him.
“Elder Brother Li, my Junior Brother is young and insensible. Please give me some more face, and don’t take offense. Let’s just drop the matter.” Having said this, he clasped Meng Hao’s shoulder and gazed at him warmly. “Listen to Elder Brother,” he said. When the four words entered Meng Hao’s ears, they were filled with a gentle warmth that he hadn’t experienced in a very long time. He looked into Chen Fan’s eyes and then nodded.
The man named Li stopped in his tracks, glaring coldly at Meng Hao for a moment, and then looking back at Chen Fan. Slowly, his face relaxed. A long moment passed, and then he said, “You need to help your Junior Brother learn not stop overestimating himself. If he doesn’t, he’ll end up a mutilated corpse sooner or later.” He flicked his sleeve and began to leave. Zhou Shanyue smiled mockingly and followed, along with the other Solitary Sword Disciples.
“We’ll wait for you up ahead,” came the voice of Li. “You have the time it takes an incense stick to burn to catch up with your Junior Brother.”
As they disappeared into the distance, Meng Hao looked hesitantly at Chen Fan.
“Elder Brother, I….”
“You don’t need to say anything,” said Chen Fan, his face covered with a wide smile. He embraced him warmly again.
Laughing happily, Chen Fan looked Meng Hao over, eyes filled with excitement because of their reunion. “You’ve grown up big and strong, I see! Haha! You’re not the little scholar you used to be.”
In a voice as earnest as it had always been, he grabbed Meng Hao’s arm and said, “Can you believe it? Here we are, fellow Brothers who’ve run into each other yet again in in the Southern Domain. We have to celebrate! Come come, tell your Elder Brother what you’ve been up to these past years. A while back, I heard that the State of Zhao disappeared! Ai….” He didn’t even give Meng Hao a chance to respond.
His personality had always been like this. He talked and talked, and before long, enough time had passed for an incense stick to burn. The entire time, Meng Hao didn’t have a chance to even say a single sentence. It was just like it had been back in the Reliance Sect.
Chen Fan was definitely long-winded, but even were he more so, Meng Hao wouldn’t mind. Meng Hao’s heart filled with warmth as he realized that everything Chen Fan was saying was out of concern for him. He was considerate, excited, and happy.
“That fatty Li Fugui, do you remember him? He used to follow you around all the time. Well, he’s a pretty important person in the Golden Frost Sect now. Last time I went with Master to pay a visit to the Golden Frost Sect, I saw him swaggering around. He’s definitely a darling of the Sect. If anyone dared to mess with him, a crowd of Golden Frost Sect disciples would instantly rush to help him….