South, Jiangzhou.
After many years, Zhang Yao returned to his hometown.
After traveling around the world for twenty years, he rarely returned to Jiangzhou and deliberately avoided this place to avoid having his identity revealed.
Until this time:
The old immortal who went to Yunzhou to wait for Zhennan Prince's Mansion ran out of life and might have to wait for decades, so he took a slight detour and came to Jiangzhou.
"The changes are really big..."
Zhang Yao was riding a horse, wandering on the bluestone official road, feeling a little sad in his heart.
He had just left Jiangdu, but this time he did not take a boat to Baihe City, but returned to Changping by land.
Jiangdu has changed a lot.
He still remembered that decades ago, the three major forces in Jiangdu stood together to check and balance each other and jointly protect Jiangdu.
Shi Yong, the former military governor of the four counties, and Huo Luanshan, the military governor who later occupied the four northern counties, were all afraid of this situation and did not dare to take action against Jiangdu.
But after twenty years of turmoil, everything has changed——
Li Xiaofeng of the Cao Gang failed in his hopes and failed to cultivate a new grandmaster until his death. As a result, the Cao Gang, which had no successors and lacked a grandmaster, was severely suppressed by the government and the business alliance.
The final outcome was that the entire Li family was wiped out, and the Cao Gang's vitality was severely damaged, and it has been unable to recover since then.
But before the local aristocratic families and business alliances could be happy for a few years, the situation in the world suddenly changed, and the army of King Pingliang from the north arrived.
The controllers of Jiangdu originally wanted to rely on the natural dangers of the river to temporarily block King Pingliang's troops and seek greater bargaining chips to negotiate with King Pingliang.
Unfortunately, their fate was the same as those in the seven northern states.
Overnight, all the old masters of the Jiangdu family and the new masters worshiped by the merchant alliance died in mysterious circumstances. At the same time, all the high-level officials suffered heavy casualties and were almost completely wiped out.
The order of Jiangdu collapsed overnight, and the chaos lasted for more than a month, until King Pingliang's army came to the city and Jiangdu opened the city gates and surrendered.
"The Cao Gang, the aristocratic families, and the merchant alliance, there is no winner, they are all losers!"
"Who would have thought of all this twenty years ago?"
Zhang Yao recalled all this and could only sigh that things are impermanent.
…………
Half a month later.
South of Jiangzhou, Changping City.
After nearly fifty years, Zhang Yao returned to his hometown.
He deliberately changed his appearance and became a middle-aged man in his forties. With a hint of emotion, he looked at the scene in Changping City.
Fifty years have passed.
The reputation he had back then has long since been blown away by the rain and wind, and I am afraid that not many people still remember the Zhang Yao he once was.
"Jinding Martial Arts School..."
Zhang Yao came to a familiar location and was pleased to find that the Jinding Martial Arts School was still there.
He raised his head and could even make out the same plaque as before, but it had been repainted with red paint more than once.
"Um?"
He suddenly frowned and found something inharmonious.
He remembered that his master Zhou An said that when the museum opened, he hired a calligraphy master to write the plaque and spent a lot of money to create it. The four words "Jinding Martial Arts Hall" were gilded and used a lot of money. Twenty taels of gold.
But now, the gold on the plaque has long been scraped off, leaving only the red paint.
"...the martial arts school is still in decline."
Zhang Yao was silent for a while and then realized that there were no disciples guarding the gate in the martial arts hall.
He walked into the martial arts hall and saw that the once spacious and grand martial arts performance ground had many broken stone slabs and weeds sprouting from the gaps, making it look a bit deserted.
More than a dozen teenagers, under the leadership of a young man, were practicing their postures one by one, accompanied by shouts from their mouths.
But their movements were extremely non-standard. Several of them were just trying to put on a pose, and their shouts and shouts seemed to come and go in a very irregular manner.
The young man was helpless about this and could only try his best to correct it, but the effect was not good.
"Um?"
The young man noticed Zhang Yao, walked over and asked:
"Who are you? What's wrong?"
Zhang Yao looked at him a few times and found that his facial features were a bit unfamiliar, so he asked:
"Meng Zongwei and Zhou Hongxiu, are they still there?"
The young man was startled for a moment before he answered:
"My grandfather passed away more than ten years ago, and my grandmother has been gone for seven or eight years."
Hearing this answer, Zhang Yao sighed, but he was not too surprised.
Meng Zongwei is twelve years older than him, and he must be over eighty by now, but he practices foreign martial arts, and it is difficult for him to live to such an old age.
The same goes for Zhou Hongxiu, who also practiced the true teachings of Hongyun Martial Arts School, and his lifespan is not long.
"So, Zhou Tong is your mother? Then she is still here, right?"
Zhang Yao asked again.
"Um?!"
The young man's brows furrowed, his eyes showed a trace of vigilance, and his tone became a little more impolite:
"May I ask who you are? I'm afraid it's not good to ask about my family affairs as soon as you come up?"
"Boy, you are worrying too much."
Zhang Yao smiled and said, "I am your elder, Meng Zongwei is my senior brother, and my name is Zhang Yao."
"If you don't know, talk to your mother, she will definitely know."
"Zhang Yao..."
The young man repeated the name and felt that he had some impression, but the impression was very vague.
"Then wait, I'll ask my mother."
He obviously didn't believe Zhang Yao's words, so he turned around and hurriedly left the front yard.
"Isn't this kid going to get a weapon?"
Zhang Yao guessed his vigilance and couldn't help but laugh.
With his eyesight, he could naturally tell at a glance that this young man's cultivation was only the Golden Cauldron Kung Fu, and he could not exert much power of the Great Vajra Fist.
At this stage, if you want to fight someone, you must either wear armor or grab a weapon.
A moment later:
The young man did come back with a long spear, and beside him was an old woman in her fifties, with a weathered look and a slow body.
"Mother, he calls himself Zhang Yao and says he is grandpa's junior brother."
The young man whispered, his expression still full of alertness.
"Zhang Yao...Uncle Zhang? Impossible!"
The old woman looked at him a few times, shook her head repeatedly, her voice was a little hoarse:
"Your grandparents said that your Uncle Zhang left Changping decades ago. If he were to live to this day, he would be over seventy years old."
"This person is probably a liar, don't come here to blackmail us..."
"fraud?"
Zhang Yao looked at the old woman, suddenly laughed and said:
"Tongtong, there is a birthmark near your right creak, like half of the dark cloud has been chewed, isn't it?"
"you?!"
When the old woman heard this, she immediately looked like she had seen a ghost, and subconsciously took two steps back:
"How do you know... No, who exactly are you?"
This is her private matter. Apart from her parents and husband, she doesn't even know about her son. How could this person know so clearly?
"Hahaha……"
Zhang Yao laughed loudly: "You little girl, I hugged you back then, of course I know."
"You were only one or two years old at the time, and you still liked to cling to me and refused to leave. Of course you can't remember it now."
The old woman was immediately dumbfounded, and the young man beside her was also confused.
"you……"
Zhou Tong hesitated for a long time, looked at Zhang Yao carefully, and then asked doubtfully:
"You are really Uncle Zhang, but how come you are so young..."
