Chapter 947: Today is Different than in the Past (I)

"An old friend from Jingjiang Prefecture, I am here to meet Chief Teng!"

Facing the respectful Song Yu and Leng Yiyi, Teng Sanshi sat motionless by the lake, his piercing tiger eyes staring at the calm lake surface without blinking, as if he was concentrating on fishing and did not hear the movement behind him.

Teng Cang and Teng Qin'er stood aside expressionlessly, letting Song Yu and the other man look at each other in embarrassment, but they ignored them and said nothing.

As the saying goes, "It is a great pleasure to have friends coming from afar."

Once upon a time, when people from Jinjianwu visited Xiangxi, Teng Sanshi would welcome them with great courtesy. Not to mention Song Yu and Leng Yiyi, who were Jin Fuyu's trusted confidants, even if the visitor was just an ordinary Jinjianwu disciple, Teng Sanshi would not dare to neglect them easily.

After all, they were not representing themselves, but Jin Fuyu and Jin Jianwu. Teng Sanshi had to weigh the matter carefully.

However, today, Teng Sanshi knew who the visitors were, but he did not go out to greet them, nor did he greet them with great courtesy. He did not even move his butt. He directly ordered Teng Qiner to bring Song Yu and the other two to Baicui Lake to accompany him to "fish".

Such neglect itself was somewhat unreasonable. However, when Song Yu and Leng Yiyi suppressed their inner dissatisfaction and came to the Baicui Lake, Teng Sanshi was unmoved by their enthusiasm. His attitude was cold and arrogant, and he had no courtesy to treat guests.

"Teng..."

"Cough cough!"

Leng Yiyi couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to question her, but was stopped by Song Yu in time.

After a moment's hesitation, Song Yu bowed to Teng Sanshi again and said, "Song Yu and Leng Yiyi from Jinjianwu are here to pay a visit to Chief Teng on the orders of the owner of the wu. We apologize for disturbing you."

Hearing this, Teng Sanshi, who was as quiet as a wooden sculpture, frowned and asked without turning his head, "The Teng clan and Jinjianwu haven't been in contact for a long time. What are you two doing here?"

"I am here to pay you a visit on the orders of my master."

Teng Sanshi's attitude was beyond Song Yu's expectations, but after careful consideration, it made sense. So after a moment's hesitation, he quickly answered, still speaking respectfully.

"After the martial arts conference, it's rare that Master Jinwu still remembers me." Perhaps it was because of the saying "Don't hit a smiling person", Teng Sanshi slowly turned around, looking at Song Yu and Leng Yiyi with a meaningful look, and said indifferently, "You two came from afar, and I didn't greet you. I hope you can forgive me for not coming to greet you."

"We dare not!" Song Yu said hurriedly, "We came here uninvited and disturbed Chief Teng's leisure."

"How is Master Jinwu these days?"

"Thanks to Chief Teng, the owner of the Wu has been doing well." Song Yu said with a smile, "The owner of the Wu said that he and Chief Teng have been close friends for many years, and they often talked about the world together in the past. Recently, he was entangled in trivial matters, so he was unable to drink and chat with Chief Teng, and he missed him very much."

"I am also very concerned about your master."

Teng Sanshi waved gently to the Teng clan disciples waiting in the distance, and someone immediately brought two bamboo chairs and placed them behind Song Yu and Leng Yiyi. The two hurriedly thanked him and sat down.

"I just caught a few mandarin fish. I'd like you two to try some later."

"Thank you for your hospitality, Chief Teng. We will both enjoy a feast today."

"Ha ha……"

Facing the shrewd and adaptable Song Yu, Teng Sanshi laughed out loud, which gradually eased the tense and depressing atmosphere.

"The owner of the village knows that the elder of the Teng clan is still an old horse in the stable and has great ambitions, but he is very worried about his health. Therefore, he sent people to purchase more than ten hundred-year-old snow lotus from Tianshan Mountain, as well as ginseng, deer antlers and other nourishing things, and ordered the two of us to bring them together."

"Crack! Crack!"

Before Song Yu finished speaking, Leng Yiyi clapped her hands gently, and more than a dozen disciples of Jinjianwu who had been waiting in the distance came in one after another, each holding a wooden box in their hands.

As they opened them one by one, boxes of priceless treasures appeared before everyone.

Seeing this scene, Teng Cang and Teng Qin'er couldn't help but secretly sigh: "Jin Fuyu is as generous as ever."

"Master Jinwu is too polite." Faced with a gift that was enough to make people salivate, Teng Sanshi remained calm and said, "I will not accept gifts without merit. You can take them back!"

"If Chief Teng refuses to accept it, he will treat our owner as an outsider. We will go back... I am afraid we will not be able to report to him." Song Yu said in embarrassment, "It is just a small gift, not a sign of respect. I hope Chief Teng will accept it with a smile and don't embarrass us."

"In that case, I would rather obey your command." Teng Sanshi did not act pretentiously. He waved his hand and more than a dozen disciples of the Teng clan hurried forward to take the gifts.

"I will prepare some small gifts for Master Jinwu in a while. Please take them back."

"This……"

"They are just some local products from western Hunan, not worth much, you don't have to shirk responsibility."

"Okay!" Song Yu reluctantly agreed and bowed to Teng Sanshi, "I will first thank Chief Teng on behalf of the owner of the village."

"It's just a small matter, no need to be polite." Teng Sanshi waved his hand nonchalantly, and then changed the subject and said bluntly, "You are the right-hand men of Master Jinwu, and you have always come to visit me for no reason. Tell me! What advice do you two have for me this time?"

"I dare not!" Song Yu's face changed slightly, pretending to be terrified, "We are only here to pay a visit to Chief Teng on the orders of the owner of the dock, we have no other intentions, let alone talk about 'teaching'."

"Is there really nothing else?" Teng Sanshi narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he was doubtful.

"No!" Song Yu promised solemnly.

"Well then!" Teng Sanshi stood up slowly, stretched his waist lazily, and said absentmindedly, "Since there is nothing else, you two can sit here and relax. I'm sorry to leave you."

After saying this, Teng Sanshi ignored the astonishment of Song Yu and Leng Yiyi, and resolutely walked away.

"Chief Teng, wait a minute!"

Before Teng Sanshi walked away, Song Yu's troubled voice suddenly rang out: "To be honest, we are here to visit Chief Teng. In addition... there are some small matters I would like to ask Chief Teng for advice."

Seeing that Song Yu was no longer talking about other things, Teng Sanshi laughed, turned around and walked back to the lake, teasing: "Say what you mean, no one needs to hide anything."

"Chief Teng is a quick-witted person. I admire him!" Song Yu thought quickly in his mind, repeated his words, shook his head and smiled bitterly, and said self-deprecatingly, "In fact, it's not a big deal. It's just... my master heard that Chief Teng has been holding a banquet in Xiangxi recently, inviting heroes from all over the world to gather here. However, we in Jinjianwu have been waiting for the invitation from the Teng clan... My master couldn't suppress his inner uneasiness, and even suspected that we had done something wrong to displease Chief Teng. Therefore, the master sent us to visit him to find out the reason. If it is really our negligence, the master will come in person to apologize to Chief Teng in person."

"You are too kind!" Teng Sanshi was shocked, but pretended to be calm. "What big banquet? What inviting heroes from all over the world? It's nonsense! I am just nostalgic, so I invited three or five old friends to get together to reminisce and talk about the interesting things in the past. As for why I didn't invite Master Jinwu... First, Master Jinwu works day and night and is busy with all kinds of affairs. How dare I disturb him for such a trivial matter? Second, Master Jinwu is much older than me. We 'old guys' are all half-buried and dying, and we are talking about the old things in the world forty or fifty years ago. Master Jinwu is in his prime, how can he know those old stories?"

"But we heard that many of Chief Teng's 'old friends' are from Kunlun, Kongtong, and even the Tang Sect in Shu..."

"presumptuous!"

Before Song Yu finished speaking, Teng Cang's eyes suddenly turned cold, and he said in a deep voice: "Do you know where you are? And do you know who you are talking to? Jinwu is in charge of everything, could it be that he also controls what friends my family head makes?"

"Elder Teng, please calm down. Song has absolutely no such intention..."

"We know what you mean very well. It's just the same as before. You will come to us and accuse us of any slight dissatisfaction." Encouraged by Teng Sanshi's meaningful gaze, Teng Qin'er's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and she said in a yin-yang tone, "We are all smart people. No one needs to pretend to be confused. It cannot be denied that our Teng clan and your Jinjianwu did have a close relationship in the early years... Let's just be frank. The four great families in the martial arts world were all loyal supporters of Jinjianwu. At the word of Lord Jinwu, the four great families did their best and went all out. For a long time in the past, Lord Jinwu 'led' the four great families and the Xianwang Mansion 'led' the six major sects to compete with each other, firmly occupying half of the Central Plains martial arts world. At that time, everyone's status in the martial arts world was comparable to each other, and they helped each other and restrained each other. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. In the more than ten years of open and covert struggle between the Lord of Jinwu and Luo Tianjin, he was ultimately one step behind and regrettably lost at the martial arts conference. At the same time, he also failed our ardent hopes for Jinjianwu. After the martial arts conference, Luo Tianjin, as the leader of the Central Plains martial arts world, insisted on dividing the various sects into clan levels. This move can not be said to be insidious. Although Luo Tianjin's fate was true and he died tragically, and he had not had time to break the existing pattern of the martial arts world, the clan level strategy did leave some lingering haze. At least... the six major sects are no longer a solid block, and the four major families have also become fragmented. We don't want to interfere with the future of the Jiangnan Lu Mansion, the Hexi Qin Family, and the Shuzhong Tang Clan, and we have no right to interfere. As for the Xiangxi Teng Clan, we have made up our minds to be self-reliant and no longer rely on anyone in the future, let alone... follow anyone's lead. "

Although Teng Qiner spoke frankly, she was still a little tactful.

In fact, what she really wanted to say was not "I won't follow anyone's lead", but "I won't follow Jinjianwu's lead".

Although Teng Qin'er did not point it out clearly, Song Yu and Leng Yiyi heard her implication clearly.

Thinking about it this way, Teng Sanshi's attitude towards them today is quite different from the past, which is reasonable. After all, you are controlled by others only when you need them. If you have no desires, you will not be affected by soft or hard tactics and will do whatever you want.

Although these words came from Teng Qin'er's mouth, they came from Teng Sanshi's heart.

This shows that the Xiangxi Teng tribe has decided to part ways with Jin Jianwu, and Teng Sanshi will never again "submit" to Jin Fuyu.

Although Song Yu and Leng Yiyi had made some preparations before coming here, they were still caught off guard by the fact that Teng Sanshi and the entire Teng clan had such a clear attitude and did not even intend to leave them the slightest room for maneuver.

For a moment, Song and Leng were timid and dumbfounded, not knowing how to respond for a long time.

……

(End of this chapter)