The Scum Is A ***

Hujing. 

"Raise the bet! Raise the bet!!!" a loud voice yelled together with the cheering and booing drunkards on the side of the street. 

"Come on, mister! It's no good doing that! I'll lose more than I'll gain!" the dealer spoke. 

"It's fine! It's fine!" the man spoke as he grinned. "I'll pay for you if you'll lose!" he told him. 

The dealer and the other people. "…" but, wouldn't it be just paying yourself? They thought as lines covered their faces. 

"If you won't do it, then let me be the dealer!" the man spoke and was about to pick up the dice and the cup on the board when they suddenly heard two soft thuds followed by the sound of something breaking. 

Before they could react, they saw the man suddenly sank! 

"Whoa!" the man exclaimed when he felt his body falling backwards after his chair sank when its hind legs were broken! 

But, before he could fall, someone caught the back of his chair, at the same time saving him. Because he was startled and he flailed, the wide hat covering his head fell and his long, white hair fell like the snow raining. 

"Oh." The man muttered as he blankly stared at the familiar juvenile face who was wearing a scowl while holding the back of his chair, preventing him from falling. Meanwhile, his other hand caught the man's hat before it could fall to the ground. 

"Crap! He's here again!" the drunkards suddenly became sober when they saw the familiar teenager and immediately ran away, leaving the board, the cup and the dice behind. 

The man sighed as he watched them away. "There they go." He said and rose from his seat, ignoring the teenager behind him and took his hat from him as if he's a clothes rack. Then, he walked away, looking around to find someplace to play again. 

"You still want to play?" the teenager asked as he followed behind him. 

"You still want to stop me?" the man asked back. 

The teenager frowned. 

The man sighed and then entered a gambling inn. "In order to raise you, this shifu of yours also need to raise money." The man told the teenager after he sold a bottle of liquor to the person beside him. "Raise! Raise! I'm raising the bet!" he shouted while the dice was being rolled. 

"..." you don't have to sell liquors and tobaccos and had to gamble. With your skills, one bottle of magic pill of yours you can raise me for a hundred years. The teenager thought as he stared at his shifu. The Xinfaxian Sect, after it prospered, doesn't lack money, either. You're just using me as an excuse for your vices. He glared at his shifu's back. 

"Er zi1. You don't understand the pain of an adult while raising a child." His shifu spoke as he bet on all the money that he had just earned from selling a bottle of liquor. "Much less raise them from their infancy." he added. 

"…" shifu, you didn't raise me from infancy. Don't create false memories, please. The teenager thought as he speechlessly looked at his shifu's back. 

"Oh! Master Cheng had spoken!" someone said and grinned at the teenager. "Er zi. You're still too young. You shouldn't ask so many questions to an adult." he told him as they continued to gamble. 

"..." I am young, that's why I had to ask as early as I can. The teenager thought as he blankly looked at his shifu that has fallen to a disgrace. Maybe because he had fallen to a disgrace that he became like this - more unrestrained in his actions? He thought. 

However, looking at the people laughing together with his master, the teenager felt warm in his chest. The people don't care whether his shifu is a disgrace or not. They know him well, thus they can also act unrestrained with him despite being an elder of a prestigious sect - Xinfaxian Sect. 

Yes. His master is none other than Cheng Sheng – the Jixu1 Peak master. And he is his only disciple. 

Cheng Sheng saw his disciple fell silent. He was about to speak when someone suddenly spoke. "But, why did master Cheng name your disciple like that? Master Cheng still can't forget his lover?" he heard him asked. 

He's obviously drunk. They call him as 'master Cheng' if Cheng Sheng is out for unofficial business. 

The whole inn had fallen silent. He's courting death! They all thought as they glared at the drunk person. Even if Cheng Sheng will forever be in Golden Core Stage, but he's still formidable! They thought, having an unwavering belief in Cheng Sheng. 

Cheng Sheng just stared at the drunk blankly. This is what he wanted. To be hurt, and continue to be hurt until he becomes numb from the long wait for Fei Yin to come back. He promised him to come back. 

"Er zi." he called. 

"Yes, shizun1?" his disciple answered after he ignored the drunk's words. 

Cheng Sheng's brow twitched. "That's 'shifu1' to you!" he said as he hit his disciple's head with a fan. "You know what to do." he told his disciple. 

"..." the disciple and the people. Crap. They thought. This man is really courting death! They thought as they looked at the drunk. But, they can't feel any sympathy towards them and just cleared the way for Cheng Sheng's disciple to act. 

The next morning, the town will see a half-naked man lying in the middle of the cold and dusty street after he was 'robbed' of all of his riches by a pair of master and disciple. No one breathed a word despite having witnessed such a 'crime'. Or else, they will also suffer the same fate like that man, who can't remember a single bit how he had become poor after one night. 

"Do you..." Cheng Sheng said as they walked away. 

It was dawn, and the fog around the town started to dissipate. He had passed out last night after he drank to his heart's content. His disciple could only helplessly watch him and, after he fainted, brought him to the room that was always reserved for him as the inn's regular. Then, he stayed up all night comforting and taking care of him. Thus, he didn't feel a hangover when he woke up. 

This has always been their routine, no matter where they went. 

"I won't ask shizun anything." His disciple immediately said. 

Cheng Sheng's brow twitched in annoyance once again. "I already told you, it's 'shifu'!" he told him. "I am your father!" he said. 

"Shizun is not my father, thus I won't call shizun 'shifu'." His disciple said. 

Cheng Sheng smiled in irritation. "It's your Li-shibo1, right? He told you I only picked you up in the streets. It was him, right?!" he asked as he held his fan tightly. The fan was gifted to him by Li Tian. 

In Mingxi Peak, Li Tian sneezed and felt a chill ran down his spine. "Oh, my god... Feng-shidi." he called. "I sense evil!" he told him as he shivered. 

"It is definitely Cheng-shidi and no one else. No one is second to him." Feng Mo said and his face was covered in dark lines. 

Back to the town, his disciple's face became blank. "Be it Li-shibo or not, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm not shizun's child." He said. "Shizun and I are not related by blood. Thus, I have no reason to call shizun as my father. I won't call shizun 'shifu'." he explained.

Cheng Sheng stopped and pointed a fan at his impudent disciple. "You... you dare talk back!" he said with his eyes wide in disbelief. Brats, no matter in which world or what era, will always be brats. He thought. 

The scum finally felt a parent's dilemma. 

In Hexie Peak, Fan Wen suddenly laughed in schadenfreude. Now, he knows how much headache I suffered from his mischiefs. He thought and grinned. He's referring to Cheng Sheng who he could foresee having a headache once again in dealing with his disciple. 

Back to the town, Cheng Sheng - the scum, won't be bested by a child. More importantly, by the disciple he raised for five years! 

"We call your shigong1 as 'shifu' since he raised us for more than a decade, even if we're not related by blood!" he said. "It's all in the feelings! The feelings!" he educated him. 

"Oh, shizun is right." his disciple said. 

"As I said, it's 'shifu'!" Cheng Sheng corrected him. 

"But, I don't feel like calling shizun 'shifu'." His disciple said. 

Cheng Sheng felt he's about to faint in anger. "NANI1?! What did you just say?!" he said. 

"Because - " Fei Yinzi said as he stared at his shifu. " - shizun doesn't look like a father. Shizun is beautiful. Shizun will forever look young." he told him. His expression serious.

Cheng Sheng was taken aback and he blushed when his disciple's words sank in his mind. "Well, that's true." the narcissist said. 

'ji xu' = to continue, to proceed. In short, he wants to move on. 'shi' = teacher, 'fu' = father, a teacher who is like a father'shi' = teacher, 'gong' = grandfather, basically the shifu of their shifu'shi' = teacher, 'zun' = respected, honorable.if you're an otaku (people who loves to watch anime), 'nani' = what.'er zi' = son. This is also Cheng Sheng's joke since 'er' is added to the name of the child when their parents call them. So, Cheng Sheng can also call Fei Yinzi 'Yin-er' or 'Zi-er', but since his lover's name is Fei Yin, so he should be calling FYZ 'Zi-er'. But, he calls FYZ 'er zi', which can mean 'son', or, more probably, to tease FYZ because he twisted 'Zi-er' to 'Er Zi', which he reduced to 'er zi'. 'shi' = teacher, 'bo' = uncle, also called martial uncle