“Don’t worry, I won’t tell!” Ao Qi said with a perfectly straight face, sounding utterly sincere.
“Sister Ao Qi, you’re the best!”
Ao Qian was deeply moved. She immediately pulled all sorts of snacks, sweets, dried fruits, chocolates, and drinks from her storage treasure, piling them high on the table.
“Sister Ao Qi, eat!”
Lu Zheng exchanged glances with Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying, and all three shook their heads helplessly.
Before Ao Qi could react, Yan Hongxia let out a delighted yelp.
“Brother Lu’s chocolate! I’ve missed it for two whole years! I can finally eat it again!”
In the two years Yan Hongxia had been away, the thing she missed most was this dark thing called chocolate.
It didn’t look pretty, but it tasted divine!
When she had left Lu Zheng’s home, she had packed an entire bundle of snacks, at least a third of which was chocolate. She had nearly cleaned out Liu Qingquan’s entire stock.
She still remembered Liu Qingquan tearfully helping her pack while looking utterly pitiful. If Lu Zheng hadn’t promised there would be more later, the girl would have burst into tears.
Even Yan Hongxia had felt a pang of guilt at the sight, but then she glanced at the chocolate-filled bundle and turned away to chat with Liu Qingyan instead.
That bundle had lasted less than half a month. After that, chocolate had lived only in her dreams.
Two years! Finally, she could eat it again!
Yan Hongxia appeared in a flash, snatched two Ferrero Rochers, peeled off the gold foil, and popped one into her mouth.
One bite, and her mouth was filled with creamy milk and crunchy hazelnut pieces. Pure bliss!
Watching Yan Hongxia, dressed in full ancient garb, blissfully devour a Ferrero Rocher in two bites, Lu Zheng scratched his cheek.
Well, he’d seen this kind of anachronistic scene plenty of times before. He was used to it.
On the other side, although Ao Qi knew Yan Hongxia was a foodie, she was still shocked by this display.
Even the feasts of the Dragon Palace hadn’t made her this excited.
“Hongxia?”
“Here, try one!”
Yan Hongxia had already unwrapped another Ferrero and was holding the chocolate ball out to Ao Qi.
Ao Qi looked up to see Yan Hongxia beaming with excitement, Ao Qian looking on expectantly, and, a little further away, Liu Qingquan swallowing hard.
Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying, however, remained perfectly calm. These snacks were rationed for the little girls, but not for the adults.
“Thank you!”
Ao Qi smiled, accepted it, sniffed it (didn’t seem that special), and put it in her mouth. She bit down just like Yan Hongxia had.
Two bites later, her eyes lit up.
She glanced at the mountain of snacks on the table, subtly swallowed, then calmly looked away and nodded gracefully. “Yes, it’s quite good.”
“Right?!”
Yan Hongxia said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Then she unwrapped another Ferrero and, under Ao Qi’s faintly hopeful gaze, popped it into her own mouth.
Ao Qi: ???
Yan Hongxia: ^o^
…
Lunch was soon ready.
Everyone moved to the dining room, where a round table was already laden with twelve perfectly balanced meat and vegetable dishes.
Thanks to the fresh vegetables, fruits, and seasonings Lu Zheng kept stocked at Peach Blossom Manor, and the fact that Xiao Cui had studied cooking under him for some time, her dishes (while nowhere near his level) were still far better than the average chef.
One meal was enough for Ao Qi to understand why Yan Hongxia missed this place so much, ranking it second only to Ascending Cloud Mountain.
It also explained why Ao Qian refused to return to the Eastern Sea.
Thank goodness! I still have self-control!
Ao Qi silently congratulated herself, then reached for another piece of braised pig trotter.
…
After lunch, everyone moved to the courtyard.
A pot of tea was brewed, the table was piled high with Ao Qian’s snacks, and Xiao Cui brought out some crisp pastries. Then she took the peach blossom fairies and the two little girls off to play Chinese checkers.
Yan Hongxia watched for a moment and clearly wanted to join, but she held herself back to listen as Ao Qi subtly probed Lu Zheng’s background.
“With Young Master Lu’s level of cultivation, you remain merely an outer lay disciple of White Cloud Temple?”
“I’m just too lazy. I can’t manage morning and evening lessons, and I have beautiful companions. Being an outer disciple suits me perfectly.”
“You speak with such literary talent. Have you never considered taking the imperial examinations?”
“Being an official is exhausting. Where would I find time to cultivate and seek immortality?”
“Young Master Lu has never travelled the jianghu, only staying in Tonglin County to cultivate?”
“Running around everywhere is troublesome. You run into all sorts of incidents. Here in the county I can listen to storytellers, watch operas, cultivate when I feel like it, rest when I don’t. Isn’t that perfect?”
Ao Qi: “…”
She finally understood. Lu Zheng was a thoroughly unambitious playboy. How had someone like this reached such a realm?
From what Ao Qian had told her earlier, she knew he could ride clouds and mist. At his age, that meant he was guaranteed to become a future patriarch of White Cloud Mountain’s back mountain.
Ao Qi simply could not comprehend it. He wasn’t a demon, he had no bloodline inheritance…
What she didn’t know was that Lu Zheng had only learned cloud-riding last year. Nearly another year had passed since, and with his terrifying progress, he had long surpassed his master and was charging straight toward a thousand years of cultivation.
People often joked that three thousand years was “millennium,” eight thousand was “millennium,” and one thousand was also “millennium,” but the differences were enormous.
Yet the millennium threshold was genuinely difficult to cross, just like the five-hundred-year mark. Few could manage it.
For most, aptitude and state of mind had limits. The closer one got to those limits, the slower progress became, following a logarithmic curve that eventually flattened.
But Lu Zheng…
For the past year, his growth had remained a steep linear function.
Terrifying!
While Ao Qi probed and Lu Zheng deflected with nonsense, Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying could only exchange amused smiles. They pulled Yan Hongxia aside and asked how flying on a sword felt.
After all, they had only ever ridden on Lu Zheng’s clouds, never Yan Hongxia’s sword light.
“I’ll take you both for a spin!”
Yan Hongxia’s eyes sparkled. With her current astonishing cultivation, she very much wanted to show off a little to her good friends, and Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying definitely counted.
With a point of her finger, sword light appeared out of thin air, instantly enveloping the two women. Whoosh, they shot out of the hall and up into the sky.
They flew around for a while before descending again.
“Riding clouds feels like standing on them, but sword flight has the sword light protecting you. It’s really different.”
Yan Hongxia laughed heartily. “But my sword flight is definitely faster than Brother Lu’s!”
Though riding clouds had its own advantages…
Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying exchanged a knowing smile.
