Chapter 415: Reflections

By then, the people of Panlongcheng will have all left; will the storefronts here still be worth anything? Will it still be possible to collect so much rent? In the face of such a massive upheaval, will the Panlongcheng authorities still be as sticklers for the rules as they were before?

He He Lingchuan knew this fellow had a sharp nose for news and would surely want to jump ship early, which was why he had come to discuss the rent. He smiled, stood up, and said, "Then let's wait until the relocation order comes down before we talk."

Having said this, he strode outside, ignoring the thin man's attempts to make him stay.

The fatty sighed and groaned behind him.

Today, the area outside Ring No. 7 was still a sea of people, and He He Lingchuan spotted the thin man at first glance. This fellow was carrying a burlap sack, his face beaming like a flower.

Two hours passed without any dangerous incidents, and He He Lingchuan remained the ring master, though his face had more bruises, his clothes had a few more holes, and his chest and abdomen felt uncomfortable; because he had been kicked a few times and punched twice there, it hurt to breathe.

He took some medicine and regulated his breathing for half an hour before it eased somewhat.

When the thin man was splitting the money with him, He He Lingchuan took the opportunity to ask: "Have you heard any rumors?"

The thin man was concentrating hard on counting silver taels and copper coins: "What?"

"News from the Xiluo Kingdom?"

"Collecting money like this, with all these odd amounts, is just too inconvenient." The money around the ring was easy to earn, and he had built up some seniority. Most importantly, now everyone knew he was the ring master's friend! Others didn't dare snatch his business, so the thin man was thinking about making the business bigger and stronger. "Should we make betting slips and let everyone place their bets?"

"You mean, chips?" Didn't casinos already have that stuff? "Ah, yes." The thin man only came to his senses after finishing counting a bag of money. "What did you just say, news from Xiluo? I have. I heard the internal separatist wars are getting more and more intense. The capital is completely unable to suppress them."

Because it had insisted on opening up to foreign trade, Panlongcheng's news channels had become much smoother over the last few years compared to four or five years ago, and domestic intelligence could also reach here—it was only a matter of time.

"Who doesn't know that?" Weak nations are prone to turmoil; anyone who dares to follow the example of the Between Beijia Kingdom is on a path to death. "Anything else?"

The thin man looked blank: "Haven't heard."

"Fine." He He Lingchuan patted his shoulder, took his share of the money, and went home.

It seemed the news hadn't spread yet.

On the way, he stopped to buy some tuckahoe cakes.

With a creak, he pushed the door open and entered. His courtyard—or rather, the light well—was still as small as ever, but He He Lingchuan could still sense a difference.

He had only been away for a few days, but above the water vat, on the outer wall of the kitchen, a row of shelves had been put up, and three small pots of flowers were placed on them.

One pot of apricot-colored ranunculus, one pot of sunset-red anemones, and a third that He He Lingchuan truly couldn't recognize; the drooping, snow-white flower clusters looked like falling snowflakes, or like the beaded curtain on a bride's veil, almost brushing the surface of the water in the vat.

The courtyard was small, and he usually had to practice martial arts, so the three extra pots of flowers were placed where he wouldn't bump into them.

He He Lingchuan sniffed.

His courtyard had never smelled this fragrant before.

Walking into the inner room, it was spotless, and the clutter that used to be piled everywhere was gone. A dark brown clothing chest had appeared by the bed. A vase sat on a chair, with two wild-looking gerberas stuck inside; they must have been picked in the countryside.

He opened the chest, and sure enough, all the messy things were inside, categorized and sorted.

Placed right on top were the gentleman's reading materials he had brought back from the general store, several volumes neatly stacked in a pile.

At this moment, there was movement at the courtyard gate, and someone pushed the door open and entered.

He He Lingchuan hurriedly slammed the chest lid shut with a "clack" and walked out to look: sure enough, it was Sun Sun Fuling who had come.

She put down the basket in her hand: "Won the ring defense again today?"

"Yeah. It's getting harder to fight, but I still won." He He Lingchuan stretched, but it pulled at the injury on his ribs, and he let out an "ouch." "There are too many strong experts in the Great Wind Army; next time, it might not be certain."

His left rib had been struck by a challenger's staff; it was at least a hairline fracture, right? Today's opponent was exceptionally cunning, feigning weakness several times in an attempt to land a fatal counterattack.

Of course, he was eventually kicked off the ring by He He Lingchuan.

"Where is there an undefeated general? Standing in that position, sooner or later you'll be knocked down." Sun Sun Fuling said nonchalantly, taking two jugs of fine wine, two plump roasted chickens, three large chunks of spiced beef shank, and bundles of pig trotters from the basket. "Celebrating your victory. This is 'Apricot Blossom Spring,' newly sold by the Apricot Blossom Restaurant this year."

Practitioners of the Dao have abundant blood and qi, and their appetites are also large.

"What if I lose?"

"I'll pour you a drink to drown your sorrows."

She carried the roasted chicken and braised pig trotters into the kitchen to cut them into pieces, grabbed a kitchen knife and sharpened it a few times, then casually performed a flourish with the blade.

Seeing such a delicate young girl gripping a thick-backed, large kitchen knife, the cold, gleaming edge spinning between her slender fingers, made He He Lingchuan feel ashamed.

With a dozen "thud-thud-thud" sounds, the roasted chicken and pig trotters were obediently cut into pieces.

He He Lingchuan noticed that there weren't even many new knife marks on the cutting board, showing how precise her blade work was; not a single bit of strength was wasted.

One had to know that chopping pig bones was strenuous; who could be so precise? "And you said you couldn't cook?"

"I can't. These are all ready-made." She pointed to the roasted chicken and pig trotters. "These were gifts from students."

She pointed to the spiced beef: "This is from the Apricot Blossom Restaurant."

"I only handle the knife." Sun Sun Fuling laughed. "Don't you start practicing martial arts by slicing paper and tofu?" Having said that, she grabbed the spiced beef, and as her hand rose and fell, only a blur of shadows could be seen.

The spiced beef was cut, each slice as thin as paper, translucent.

It was as uniform as if it had been cut by a machine.

These were all set out in the courtyard, and after washing her hands, she took out a small jar, the kind that could only hold three taels of wine.

"What's this again?" He He Lingchuan feigned refusal. "It's too lavish, I can't finish it!"

Sun Sun Fuling burst out laughing: "Why don't you try eating one and see?"

She held the jar and poured into a chipped porcelain cup, pouring out a mass of thin, long, hair-like, but bright red, wriggling—

A cluster of worms.

Sun Sun Fuling held the cup up to his mouth: "Want some?"

He He Lingchuan jumped three feet away in a flash: "What the hell is that?"

It wasn't that he hadn't eaten bugs before, but this thing just didn't look appetizing.

It looked like a parasite.

"Red worms. Are you the only one who needs to eat?" Sun Sun Fuling casually poured the cup into the water vat, and He He Lingchuan heard the sound of water.

He leaned over and saw the goldfish swimming to the surface, scrambling to eat the snacks.

He took the opportunity to count them: one, two, three, four, five, six... wait, all nine fish were actually there?

Not only were they lively, but their colors were even more vibrant.

This required sufficient sunlight and nutrition. He He Lingchuan asked himself, the fish had been home for seven or eight days, and he seemed to remember feeding them only twice? Where did the water plants and shells at the bottom of the vat come from? And the snails clinging to the vat wall—they couldn't have grown there by themselves, could they? He He Lingchuan also saw something flicker at the bottom of the vat, blue and ghostly. Looking closely, he realized it was a small shrimp, its body almost transparent.

Raising fish in the open air wasn't easy; there were many magpies and herons in the city that often came to steal food. For these nine fish to maintain their formation, how much luck must that take? "You've put a lot of effort into this tank of fish." Originally, he had caught them to please a girl, never expecting that in the end, she would be the one raising them for him.

"A small effort." Sun Sun Fuling brushed away the hair in front of her eyes, and the dimples on her cheeks appeared again.

This girl stood in the soft light of April, smiling gently; although dressed in simple cloth and a thorn hairpin, she outshone the fresh flowers blooming in the courtyard.

She lowered her head to feed the fish, perfectly complementing the pot of drooping white flowers, like black hair dusted with the first snow, delicate and refined.

He He Lingchuan stared, mesmerized, feeling that the beauty of the world was nothing more than this, all hidden within his palm-sized courtyard.

Sun Sun Fuling tilted her head to look at him, her apricot eyes full of smiles: "What are you looking at?"

"These flowers are beautiful, and the fish love to eat." He He Lingchuan hurriedly pointed to the pot of drooping flowers. "What is it called?"

The flower stems were almost hanging down to the water's surface, and one goldfish, not getting enough red worms, simply jumped out of the water to bite the petals.

"Drooping jasmine." Sun Sun Fuling tidied it up. "I bought it from a merchant from out of town. They say it's a specialty of the eastern part of the Xiluo Kingdom; the Chipa Plateau doesn't grow these."

After feeding the fish and washing their hands, the two sat down to eat and drink.

He He Lingchuan brought out the tuckahoe cakes; now he had a staple food too.

He mentioned the Juluo tree that had suddenly appeared at the South City Gate, and Sun Sun Fuling asked in surprise: "Did it really grow in just a few days? I'll go take a look tomorrow. Juluo trees are rare; where did the seedling come from?"

"You know about Juluo trees?"

"They are wonders of the world, and I know a thing or two. Isn't this the legendary seabed wood that allows wandering souls to dwell?" Sun Sun Fuling picked up a piece of pig trotter with two fingers and gnawed on it, not caring about etiquette at all. "The oldest demon king of the Between Beijia Kingdom, the Treasure Tree King, is also a Juluo tree in its true form."

The spirit seed must have come from the Treasure Tree King, then? He He Lingchuan asked her: "I heard that the Treasure Tree King's territory is the most peaceful demon kingdom in Between Beijia, with little war."

"The demon king hasn't changed, and that old tree has always been in power; isn't that just how it is?" Sun Sun Fuling shrugged. "Not to mention other demon kingdoms, even Lingxu City has changed monarchs."

"Between Beijia has actually been a nation for six hundred... no, wait, four hundred years." That was close; he almost forgot that the Panlong calendar was different from reality. At this time, the history of the Between Beijia Kingdom was only four hundred years. "I've looked for relevant historical books in the Wenxuan Pavilion, and they all comment that its national structure is chaotic yet it stands firm. What do you think?"

The person before him was an expert in national history; asking more could save him the trouble of burying his head in books. After all, his time in the dream was also very precious.

He He Lingchuan very attentively poured wine for Teacher Sun, who raised her cup and drank it in one gulp, exhaling lightly; it really did carry the fragrance of apricot blossoms.

"The predecessor to such a large territory as Between Beijia was a dozen human kingdoms, with two small demon kingdoms sandwiched in between. Of these two demon kingdoms, one was destroyed by a human kingdom, and the other, feeling that the human race's destiny was too strong and the demon race was a scattered mess unable to compete, threw itself into the embrace of the gods, using the power of the gods to unite a group of great demons and began to turn defeat into victory, nibbling away at human territory bit by bit, kingdom by kingdom."

"Its success attracted more demon races to come and defect, and the war against the human kingdoms went more and more smoothly. This process only lasted for thirty-some years. When the last human kingdom there disappeared, the Between Beijia Demon Kingdom emerged, and the founding monarch became the first Demon Emperor. He lavishly rewarded his meritorious officials, dividing the vast territory among twelve distinguished demon kings and allowing them to establish their own vassal states. The Northern Demon Kingdom was established from then on."

(End of chapter)