Nowadays, although Samuel Carter’s martial arts are only half of what they once were, his hearing is still as sharp as ever. Even though the woman was across a bustling street and spoke softly, he didn’t miss a single word.

Before he had time to mock himself in secret, the next moment, a man’s voice said, “He’s sunbathing.”

This man’s voice was very pleasant—low and deep, his words drawn out slowly, but not sluggish.

Samuel Carter couldn’t help but look up. Across the street, on the second floor of a tavern, a beautiful young woman in purple sat facing a man in gray by the railing. The man’s face was a bit pale, but his eyes were jet black, as if they absorbed all the light. The stark contrast of black and white made him seem almost inhuman. As Samuel Carter looked up, his gaze met the man’s.

The man in gray expressionlessly looked away, then turned his head and focused on eating the food on the table.

Samuel Carter couldn’t help but chuckle, thinking to himself, “In this vast sea of people, I’ve actually run into a kindred spirit.”

The girl in purple, with her big, sparkling eyes, kept glancing at him. After a while, she couldn’t hold back any longer. She said something to the man in gray, then hopped downstairs and ran up to Samuel Carter, saying, “Beggar, how about I treat you to a meal?”

Samuel Carter lazily glanced at her and shook his head. “Kind girl, you’d be better off buying me a drink.”

The girl in purple giggled, turned back, and shouted upstairs, “Young master, this fool called me a kind person!”

Unfortunately, the young master in gray acted as if he hadn’t heard her. He didn’t spare her a glance, just kept eating with total focus, as if even the end of the world couldn’t distract him from his love of food.

The girl in purple asked, “Everyone else begs for food, why are you asking for wine? What’s so good about wine—can it fill your belly?”

Because she was beautiful, Samuel Carter couldn’t help but want to talk to her a bit more, so he half-jokingly replied, “With wine, I borrow the beauty before me.”

The girl in purple was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing, unable to stop. Her laughter was like flowers swaying in the breeze. Samuel Carter thought he was lucky—there really were many beauties in Jiangnan. As he admired her, he shook his head and recited, “Tell the flourishing beauties to pity the half-old, white-haired man. Young lady, it’s not very kind of you to gloat over my misfortune.”

The girl exclaimed in surprise, “Oh, you’re quite the scholar, aren’t you?” She squatted down, quickly unfastened the wine gourd at his waist, and ran into the tavern, returning a moment later.

Samuel Carter reached out to take it, but the girl quickly pulled her hand back and said with a laugh, “Let me ask you something. If you answer correctly, I’ll give you the wine gourd and treat you to a drink. If you’re wrong, I’ll poison it and make you drink it so your guts rot.”

Samuel Carter smiled wryly. This girl was beautiful, but clearly a handful. He said, “That wine gourd—I won it from an old beggar. Who knows how many lice corpses are soaked in it? If you like it, take it. I don’t want it anymore, all right?”

The girl’s eyes sparkled mischievously. “You’re making me run for nothing. Now I’m angry, and when I’m angry, I’ll have to kill you.”

Samuel Carter thought, “Where did this little demon come from, looking like a fairy but acting like a menace?” He could only say, “Ask away.”

“I want to know, if you’re begging, why don’t you even have a broken bowl for collecting money?”

Samuel Carter raised his eyes to look at her and said, “When did I say I was begging? I’m just sitting here in the sun, that’s all.”

The girl in purple was taken aback and instinctively turned to look at the man upstairs. The man in gray clearly had excellent hearing too; he paused for a moment when he heard them talking, but made no other response, just continued eating with calm focus, as if nothing could trouble him.

The girl looked up at the bright sky, a bit puzzled. “I don’t see what’s so great about sunbathing.”

Samuel Carter smiled and shook his head, stood up, reached out, and deftly snatched his shabby wine gourd back. The girl cried out in surprise—caught off guard, she watched as he took it. She looked at him in confusion, only to hear this beggar-like man say, “Young lady, you’re still young, you have many things to do. You should hurry to eat and drink your fill, and keep up your strength. As for me, with my neck already buried in the yellow earth, all I have left is drinking and waiting to die. If I don’t sunbathe, what else would I do?”

He tipped his head back and took a swig, smacked his lips, and loudly praised, “Good wine! Thank you, young lady!”

With that, he turned and left. The girl in purple instinctively reached out to grab him. She thought her skills were pretty good, but the man she thought she could easily catch seemed to blur before her eyes, and she missed by an inch. When she looked again, the beggar had already melted into the crowd and was nowhere to be found.

She wanted to chase after him, but heard the man upstairs say softly, “Alice, not only are your skills lacking, your eyes are too. Still making a fool of yourself.”