act23side

There's always someone better, as they say...

So... how long have you been in Yumen?

Three years.

There's someone here who promised to fight me.

He said it could take three years, five years, ten years, maybe more.

Huai Tianpei, so obsessed with earning fame, learning patience...

What's a few years here? There's no one else to fight anyway.

So you've been working at the clinic for three years.

The scent of herbal medicine covers up the aroma of the wine. There is nothing left but a bitter taste.

'Pulsatilla yanensis', 'psychotria rubra', 'zanthoxylum avicennae', 'senecio scandens'...

I spent almost a month asking the various schools, never imagining that you were right here in this clinic opposite the inn.

Debts have to be paid.

Then you know who it is you owe the biggest debt.

That's all I have to say. What about you, Mr. Liang?

Just here to see how an old friend is doing. It's not an interrogation.

Huai Tianpei has been in Yumen for three years. You've been here a while yourself. But you picked this time to visit.

It's no time to consider private sentiment, when there is unrest in the city.

In your patriotism, you won't even permit commoners like us to think of private sentiment?

What do...?

I'll sit for a while longer if you're really here to reminisce about old times.

But look at us, we've gotten to the point where we can't even talk freely?

Huai Tianpei picks up his cup, drinks it dry, and leaves the room.

Did you get the answer you were looking for, Mr. Liang?

I guess so.

As Huai Tianpei's oath-brother, or as the advisor of Yumen?

I should be used to you seeing through things by now.

Maybe you should change your habit of bringing trouble on yourself. At least don't get to the point where you don't even have someone to talk to.

There's a job he just might be the right man for...

Like how you had me handle that goblet?

Nothing that complicated.

Even when he's Huai Tianpei, he's still Waai Tinpui.

He's the hardest to change.

What about you and I?

The same flowers, the same wine, but the spirit of youth is no more.

It's precious enough that we can still sit around the same table and chat a little over a drink. It's a fool's errand to try to go back to the past.

You're trying to stop me too?

A lot has happened over the past couple of days. There's a lot happening that I'm not sure about.

If you mean no harm, I suggest you stay and help explain what's happening.

I don't have time.

Hand it over.

No!

Did they follow you?

I don't know them.

Are you the ones who been causing trouble around town?

Stupid girl—

(Was she holding back when she fought me in the ring?)

These crooks sure can bark, even if they can't bite.