Zhuolu

Before Zhu Xingli could say anything else, his apprentice was pulled by his hot-blooded elder brother and taken straight to the refining room.

Mrs. Jing also wanted to join in the fun, and followed up with all four legs, but was shut outside the Jinshi Gate with a “bang”, she was very angry, so she kept scratching the door vigorously, and screaming at the top of her voice.

“Okay, okay, sister-in-law, stop meowing.” Zhu Xingli picked up the cat, looking worried at the golden stone gate full of formation patterns.

“A Xin is just curious for a while, Second Uncle don’t blame him.” Shen Lou rubbed his Yu Yuan Sword with one finger. Since Lin Xin still wanted to go this way, then Zhu Yangai promising to make a sword for Lin Xin was a good thing. The sword Zhu Yangai made would at least not hurt its master, much better than the ancient demon sword given by the emperor.

This kind of reassurance didn’t help at all, and Zhu Xingli still frowned, “If my brother goes crazy, he might not leave the refining room for seven days and seven nights. Xin’er is still growing, it’s not good to be hungry.”

After that, he held up the cat and knocked on the door, “Brother, you locked my sister-in-law out!” Mrs. Jing struggled to slap him with her armpits pinched.

The golden stone door opened suddenly, and the long arms in red silk stretched out, grabbed Zhu Xingli’s lapel, pulled him in together with the cat in his arms, and threw Lin Xin out along the way.

Lin Xin staggered two steps, saw Shen Lou standing at the door, and threw himself on him with a cry of “Ouch”, “My uncle is so energetic.”

Shen Lou put his arms around his waist and helped him stand, “Why did you come out?”

“I don’t know the art of controlling souls, and my uncle thinks I don’t know much,” Lin Xin said helplessly, but his eyebrows and eyes were raised, “Let’s go out and play.”

He was a young man who had not even tied his hair yet, so it was not good to talk too much. With Zhu Yangai’s intelligence, he only needed to tell him a few words. As for his master who could control the soul, it was half sale and half give away, let the brothers cultivate their relationship.

Shen Lou didn’t ask any more questions and let Lin Xin drag him out of Yinian Palace. Zishu and Huang Ge who were waiting at the door followed immediately, and the four of them headed for Bodhi City in a mighty manner.

The central city in the southern region was called Bodhi. The ancestors of the Zhu family believed that the way to cultivate immortality lied in the state of mind. One thought could make you a demon, and one thought could also make you a Buddha. It was said that they also found a lot of Buddhist scriptures to read, and thus named this city Bodhi.

The southern region was rich and prosperous, so Bodhi City was lively all year round. Even if there was no rally, the main street was full of people walking side by side, or singing and dancing.

“Lychees, fresh lychees!”

“Rat poison!”

“The newly opened peach blossom wine, ten cents a pot, give it a try!” The wine seller held a bamboo handle and poured the wine into a small bamboo cup, and handed it to Lin Xin for a try.

Lin Xin reached out to take it, but Shen Lou snatched it, “You haven’t tied your hair yet.”

“I’ll just have a taste.” Lin Xin said pitifully, grabbing Shen Lou’s hand. All these years after being reborn, his master forbade him to drink a single drop of wine. He also knew that a cultivator who drank too early would hurt his spirit veins, but it was always okay to taste it.

Sticking out his tongue, he took a quick lick. The sweet peach blossom fragrance spread on the tip of his tongue. Lin Xin couldn’t help but bend his eyes and lift his eyelids to look at Shen Lou.

Shen Lou’s arm suddenly froze.

Lin Xin took the opportunity to hug his hand, and gulped down the wine. The light peach blossom color quickly diffused to the end of his eyes, and he finally had the true appearance of peach blossom eyes. He had a good capacity for alcohol, but when it got to his face, the corners of his eyes turned red after just drinking a glass.

“Just buy a jug if it tastes good.” The wine seller enthusiastically handed a covered bamboo tube to Shen Lou.

Shen Lou looked at Lin Xin who was still licking his lips, and took it over, then motioning Zishu to go forward to pay the bill, he dragged Lin Xin hanging on his arm to continue walking.

“Tumi, Tumi,” the florist hawked in a southern accent, with a bit of ancient rhyme, “Spring is coming, the flowers are all blooming, and you must be interested in holding Tumi.”

The Tumi Festival was coming soon, and the streets were full of flower sellers everywhere. This was a unique festival of the Southern Region, and it was the last day when Tumi flowers were in full bloom. After Tumi festival, they would enter midsummer.

On the day of Tumi Festival, young men and women would take to the streets, singing and dancing around the lights. If the guy had a girl he liked, he could give the girl Tumi flowers. The more flowers she received, the more popular the girl was thought to be.

Lin Xin took a branch from the florist. The pink flowers still had drops of water on their petals, with the green skin and green calyx, they looked very delicate, and he pinned it on Shen Lou’s head, raised his chin and said, “With the flowers on, she will be my wife. It’s done.”

Shen Lou’s eyes darkened, but he let him mess around.

The young Shen Lou was good, he was so dumb as to be teased, if this was the Shen Lou who was in his twenties, he would have thrown the flowers on the ground to fight with him. Lin Xin thought happily, and when he saw Shen Lou had also inserted a branch in his hair, he couldn’t help laughing. It was really strange that Shen Qingque had also learned how to take revenge.

“After taking the flowers, you are the wife of this Shizi.” Shen Lou said solemnly, with that handsome and deep face, it sounded a bit solemn.

“Mrs. Shizi, is it like Mrs. Jing?” Lin Xin laughed, but fortunately, he hung on Shen Lou’s neck, “Shall I call you, meow?”

Shen Lou’s throat went dry for a while, and he couldn’t help sliding his Adam’s apple. The hand that had fallen by the side slowly lifted up. But before he could touch Lin Xin, that guy slid down like a loach and ran away.

He took off the tumi flowers on the top of his head, threw a few copper coins to the flower seller, curled up his thin lips, and revealed a shallow smile.

In the teahouse, the storyteller was talking about recent new things in a rhythmic tone.

The crown prince won the first prize in the hunt in Xianchi. The emperor was so happy that he rewarded the crown prince with a mulberry arch bow, but the crown prince gave it to Shen Qiuting; the war in Beimo was over, and Duke Xuan was planning to make a marriage for the crown prince.

“The army in the Northern Territory is strong, and the royal family intends to get Shen Shizi married to a princess. Everyone is guessing that Princess Yunxi is the most likely to be the wife of the eldest son! She is a rare once in a century beauty, and her mother concubine is a cousin of the Zhong family in the Western Regions, and the niece of Gu Shanhou…”

Lin Xin listened very seriously, and looked at Shen Lou, who was drinking tea with his head bowed, with his head on his elbows, “Hey, is Princess Yunxi good-looking?”

Shen Lou put down the teacup, “I’ve never seen her before.”

“If you haven’t seen her, how do you still dare to marry.” Lin Xin curled his lips, this Princess Yunxi really fell in love with Shen Lou, and when he abducted Shen Lou, the girl did not get married, and still kept waiting in the boudoir foolishly.

“Don’t dare to marry,” Shen Lou said with a smile in his eyes, “I already have a wife.”

Lin Xin’s heart was warmed by these words. He had tried every means to force Shen Lou to say such soft words before, but he had never succeeded, even if it was a joke, it could still make him happy for a long time. “That’s fine, you can tell the princess that later.”

“I don’t need to tell her, father won’t agree.” Shen Lou lowered his eyes and poured a cup of tea. The Shen family had guarded the Northern Territory for generations, and it was the city wall of Da Yong. They had always maintained a delicate relationship with the royal family, not too close nor too far away, so it was not easy for him to marry in the royal family.

Lin Xin curled his lips, and threw the leftover melon seed husks at his head, “Aren’t you quite regretful? Tsk, Da Yong’s famous beauty, one day when I’m famous, I will also ask to marry a princess.”

Shen Lou glanced at him meaningfully, then he raised his hand and called Huang Ge, “Ask the storyteller to change his story.”

Very odd.

“How can you control that storyteller? Did you open this teahouse?” Lin Xin felt strange. Immortal cultivators paid attention to governing by doing nothing, and Da Yong’s official management had always been relatively loose, so it didn’t control the people’s speech very much.

“I opened it.” Shen Lou took the ledger brought by Huang Ge and flipped through it casually.

Shen Qingque, who didn’t seem to eat the mortal food in the world, when did he start such a down-to-earth business? Lin Xin stared at him in surprise, “Why are you opening a teahouse? You even opened it to the Southern Region.”

“Make money,” Shen Lou said indifferently, and quickly read the account book. The first part of the account book was the real account, and the second half was all kinds of news that had been collected, “The price of Luli in the southern region is 10% lower than that in the northern region.”

“That’s right, there are mines in the southern region, so the price is naturally low.” In fact, in the entire Da Yong, only the southern region had large ore veins. Even if there were Luli mines in other places, they were all extremely small, and they would be dug out in a few years. Therefore, no matter how bad-tempered Zhu Yangai was, the other domain owners and emperors had to greet him with smiles.

Shen Lou showed the account book to Lin Xin, “This is all my private property. If your master doesn’t give you Luli, I will give it to you. Don’t worry about not having enough Luli, don’t practice the soul-absorbing technique.”

Listening to the first part of the sentence, he was still a little flustered, but the second half of the sentence kicked Lin Xin from the clouds to the mud, then he raised an eyebrow, and sneered, “Why, you also think this is an evil way?”

He sucked soul power, but did not kill people, weak soul power may also be brought back by herbs and sun. There were too many people who wanted to kill him in the previous life, and soul power was his life-saving trick, allowing him to be surrounded by thousands of armies without fear, and he had to practice it no matter what.

The upright Shen Qingque, even though he had known him since childhood, still regarded him as a demon. Lin Xin touched the bamboo tube containing the peach blossom wine, wanting to have a glass of wine very much.

“There are three thousand roads, each has its own strengths, there is no distinction between superior and inferior in the way of immortality, I am just afraid that you will hurt yourself.” Shen Lou removed the bamboo tube and refilled a cup of tea for him.

He remembered one year when Lin Xin was fighting with others, he wasted too much, and in the end he couldn’t control his own soul power, and almost died.

….

“I don’t know if it’s because I have absorbed too much soul power. I can always see other people’s memories recently. Last night I dreamed that the room was full of red silk, and I saw the bride, who was the prince’s side concubine Zhou.”

“Qingque, let’s get married, shall we? Lest I forget you and think I married someone else.”

Lin Xin stared at him in a daze, his jaw trembling slightly, as he took a sip of tea with his eyes downcast, and said in a low voice: “I just want to try, if I can practice it to save my life, I wouldn’t normally use it.”

“Yes.” Shen Lou replied softly, turning his head to look downstairs.

“However, on the east side of the mountain, someone saw a monster with the body of a harpy and the head of a beast, and its long mouth was as black as a burnt bamboo tube. Some immortals recognized it as the Gu sculpture of an ancient strange beast swallowing souls.”

The storyteller started telling a new rumor.

“Hey, didn’t you say that the Gu sculpture was in the east of the Southern Territory?”

“This thing travels a thousand miles a day, who can say for sure!”

Lin Xin and Shen Lou looked at each other. The Gu sculpture hadn’t appeared in a hundred years, so why did they always meet with it recently?? Shen Lou asked Huang Ge to investigate, while he left the teahouse with Lin Xin.

Back at Yinian Palace, they saw a plain canopy carriage approaching slowly, seeing the logo of the Zhong family, Lin Xin subconsciously touched the sword at his waist.

“They must be here to deliver tumi wine.” The talkative Zishu had already gone up to inquire about it. During the Southern Region Tea Festival, all regions would give gifts to Zhu’s family, which was tumi wine.

Lin Xin stared coldly at the carriage, thinking that if Zhong Lu had come, he would definitely find a reason to kill him. Back then when he came to have a sword made, he met Zhong Changye and Zhong Lu who were delivering tea and wine, and they recognized him. His master was worried about his safety, so he left him with Zhu Yangai and went back to Yanqiu alone.

This was their final farewell.

The curtain of the carriage was lifted, and the person who jumped out of the carriage was Wu Zhaoyang, a member of the Zhong family’s subordinate family. The one they met at the Qiugong Sword Competition six years ago. Zhong Changye, who was already out of his wits, couldn’t come to give gifts, and Zhong Suifeng, who was in a state of desperation, couldn’t get away, so he sent his subordinate.

“Your Majesty!” Wu Zhaoyang was a well-rounded person. He remembered all the dignitaries of Da Yong clearly. He quickly walked over to salute Shen Lou. “Wu Zhaoyang, a subject of the Western Regions, has met His Majesty.”

The author has something to say:

Small Theater:

Loulou: When I said that I want you to be the wife of the prince, I meant it seriously

Xinxin: I know you are serious, meow

Loulou: Then why are you meowing!

Xinxin: Mrs. Shizi can also be a sexy little wild cat! _(:з」∠c3*)_Meow~

Loulou: (nosebleed) makes sense