Chapter 543 The Spring Festival of the New Era
Black Tortoise once said that a person’s ident.i.ty means the combination his social relations.h.i.+ps. Sometimes, “name” can reflect social relations.h.i.+ps. Lin Luoran’s parents used to call her “Inin” when she was a child. She was then called “Ranran” when she grew elder. Most friends called her “Luoran”. After she had a little achievement in personal ability enhancement, everyone called her “School Sister Lin”, and then “Lin Luoran”.
Lin Luoran met Baojia when she was a teenager, and Baojia always laughed at her weak character. Therefore, she called her “Xiao Luo”. Outsiders only knew that this was a name about the second word of her full name. No one had thought that “Xiao Luo” actually meant “a little weakness” in Huaxia language.
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of years have pa.s.sed. Lin Luoran has become a female cultivator of the Gathering Vitality period. Everyone thinks she is strong and invincible. She is not weak at all.
But what is going on now? When she sees Baojia on the crowded street, she seems to be entangled with invisible vines. She is too weak to walk on and recognize her.
The businessmen supported the artificial snow finally, and it looks like real snow. Many citizens rush out from streets and alleys. They rarely see white snow so they are very excited. This is a densely populated city, so after just a while, the streets are busier than before.
White snow falls on the wheelchair. Chiao’s eyes are innocent like a child.
Such innocent eyes form a sharp contrast with the gleaming narrow eyes of Baojia. Chiao’s eyes look ignorant of worldly affairs, but Baojia’s eyes are full of stories.
Lin Luoran sees familiar “Qin Baojia” whose narrow eyes can talk. She is weak and fears that it is just her illusion.
They accompanied each other, spending their teenage years together in the rainy town. They were both admitted to the university in Rong City and then worked in Rong City together. For a long period of time, one of them was a rebellious young girl who was bereaved in her childhood, and the other was a weak but honest country girl. They could only support each other. Although they were not connected by blood, they were even closer than blood sisters. They would never betray each other for interest.
Baojia was so important to her, but she “lost” Baojia.
Lin Luoran regrets and questions herself countless times. Is introducing Baojia to the world of cultivation a big mistake? It is wrong to insist on asking Mrs. Lin to cultivate. If she was not greed, with her ability, it would be extremely easy for her to keep Mrs. Lin and Baojia peaceful all their life.
Various factors lead to the present situation. She is now only a few meters away from Baojia, but she dares not move forward and asks—Baojia, are you back?
There is tear in Baojia’s eyes. She is not surprised to meet Lin Luoran on the street. Six years ago, she picked up the application form she had thrown away and came to the third defense city. She knew that she was so close to Lin Luoran that they would meet one day.
But she didn’t expect it to be so late.
Lin Luoran is so silly, so weak… seeing that she can only stand in the same place blankly, Baojia takes the initiative to go forward together with Chiao. She blinks and holds back her tears. Baojia smiles as if nothing happened.
“Long time no see… Xiao Luo.”
Lin Luoran suddenly feels that she has a hearing problem. After two minutes, Baojia is still looking at her with a smile.
A smile slowly appears on Lin Luoran’s face. She smiles in tears.
On the crowded street, a Bearing Essence female cultivator and a Gathering Vitality female cultivator cry forgetting anything else. Hu Ji’s eyes twitch. He thinks that women are really complicated creatures.
Bai Qingxue smiles gently. She feels happy that Lin Luoran’s dream for many years finally comes true.
She asks the old lady to make many paper-cuts of abundant grains, lotus and fish, New Year painting dolls… she has a feeling that it will be an unforgettable Spring Festival of the new era.
…
“Well, it’s better to post this New Year picture on the second floor.”
A few years ago, Qin Baojia not only came back, but also recovered her memory. Lin Luoran cries again angrily when she knows the truth. Baojia looks at her red eyes and she is totally speechless.
Although she remembered her previous life as “Qin Baojia”, she had lived as “Nolan Mancia” for nearly a hundred years. Two completely different lives and personalities resulted in a battle for control in her ocean of consciousness. She had to choose to leave at that time.
After giving up the ident.i.ty of cultivator, she has lived with Chiao as an ordinary person these years. Baojia could only fall asleep peacefully at night when she was extremely exhausted in the daytime.
Qin Baojia had thought about choosing which life for several years.
In fact, “Qin Baojia” and “Nolan Mancia” are both n.o.ble ladies. Life was hard for Baojia during her interstellar wandering.
She had personal ability, but her memory was lost. Thinking about it now, she would definitely cherish the person who helped her.
That’s why she cared about “Nolan Mancia” so much. Compared with the so-called family fortune, Baojia cared more about being able to have an ident.i.ty and live as a real person.
At that time, Lin Luoran appeared suddenly. For Baojia, “Nolan Mancia” was about to be completely destroyed, which made her panic and nervous. Therefore, she escaped again and again. She left Nami Star. Being stimulated by the fake saintess in Green Mountains, she left Dongting when her memory began to recover.
After escaping for so many years, Qin Baojia finally figures it out.
No matter what her name is, she cannot change the blood of Qin in her body. She has been “Nolan Mancia” longer. However, the distant and powerful Nami star is still not as comfortable as shabby earth.
The high red wall of the capital remains but Commander Qin is gone. However, Lin Luoran is still there.
For a long time in the future, they will support each other and continue to go forward. It is enough.
Therefore, she still chooses to be Qin Baojia who only has 30 years of memories.
She doesn’t need to say these words to Lin Luoran, and Lin Luoran still looks at her with love. Such tacit friends.h.i.+p supports her to make a choice following her heart. There will be no regrets.
Qin Baojia is back.
Lin Luoran will never allow her to stay in the third defense city which is a little farther away from her. However, there are a lot of people in the Mas’ Villa so it has been a little crowded. Few people know that Mortal Heart Fairy leaves Dragon Palace and has lived in the small villa by the Dongting Lake for many years. Under cover, Lin Luoran spends a lot of effort to buy a villa next to the Mas’ villa.
Mu Tiannan probably gets tired of staying at the Rose Hotel. He is very excited when he buys a villa together with Lin Luoran. In the end, Liao and Hu Ji also take action. It is difficult to get the residence qualifications of Dongting City. Nowadays, few people sell properties in Dongting City. Lin Luoran doesn’t know how Liao and Hu Ji can do it.
Bai Qingxue used to be a powerful master so now she doesn’t feel very comfortable under others’ roof for a long time. She casually sells something to Han Weiya’s father. Han Kuisheng feels so excited that he takes the initiative to help her with the transfer owners.h.i.+p of a villa. It takes Bai Qingxue no trouble—in fact, “Lin Luoran living in this villa district” is never a secret for some people of the Federation. However, even though Han Kuisheng has a daughter following Lin Luoran to enhance her personal ability, he is still very sensitive and he has never thought of buying a villa here, let alone other shrewd politicians or the Lius family which respects Lin Luoran.
The five villas closest to the Mas’ Villa are all sold out, forming a small circle centering on the Mas family and separating other residents from the small circle.
In order to ensure privacy and live a boisterous life together, the six villas are surrounded by a two-person high bamboo wall which hinders people’s vision. A door is built on the lake side as entrance and exit.
Baojia loves hibiscus flowers and Lin Luoran helps her to accelerate the ripening of some flowers. Planted in the yard, the flowers and trees are tall and branches even stretch out to the windows on the second floor. As people open the windows in the early morning, they can see the lake, mountains, and green plants, which is really a great enjoyment.
Mu Tiannan strengthens the soundproofing function of the villa. He doesn’t keep the complicated design and transplants all kinds of precious roses to fill the yard at all costs. The fragrance of roses attracts bees and b.u.t.terflies. Pa.s.sersby also want to see the scenery inside the bamboo wall.
As for Liao’s villa—this guy has hidden his strength for a long time, but it is totally exposed by a villa. Since living alone in the villa, Liao has been secretive all day long. Lin Luoran feels that she doesn’t pay enough attention to him recently. Therefore, she asks Mu Tiannan and Baojia to visit Liao together.
After arriving, she finds that Hu Ji is also there. Seeing that his expression is fl.u.s.tered and gloating, Lin Luoran feels very suspicious. Baojia opens the door casually.
Poor Liao is still sculpting bamboo on a table. He feels disturbed so he waves his hand impatiently, “Well… Zhu Yi, now your master is not thirsty.”
Lin Luoran can see that he is keeping his nose to the grindstone. She asks, “Who is Zhu Yi?”
It seems that being here today is really a good choice. They neglect Liao so much that they don’t even know he has hired a servant.
As soon as Liao hears Lin Luoran’s voice, his hands stop making the bamboo sculpture.
Hu Ji is hiding behind Lin Luoran and peeking at his expression. Liao looks up and sweeps around, wis.h.i.+ng to kill Hu Ji with his glare. He thinks angrily—he should never trust a monster!
It seems that Liao hasn’t suffered enough. At this moment, a maid walks in gently in a green ancient costume showing half of her bosoms. She comes in like a weak willow.
“Master, do you have any instructions to Zhu Yi?”
Behind her, Zhu Two, Zhu Three, Zhu Four show up one after another. Bao Jia is stunned and Lin Luoran freezes. Only Mu Tiannan’s expression remains the same. Hu Ji takes this opportunity to escape.
Baojia obviously doesn’t expect this old man to be so obscene. Lin Luoran is stunned, but she suddenly feels that this scene is a bit familiar.
What was that? It was the first time for her to go to the Fragrant Hills Villa in the capital. She saw a group of maids bowing and saying, “Master” …
Mu Tiannan can’t enjoy the “attentive” gaze from Lin Luoran. He now looks calm, but he actually wants to slip away like Hu Ji. He was really frivolous when he was young—what goes around, comes around. Now he really feels embarra.s.sed…
Liao raises his hands in a surrender gesture, “I can explain… listen to me…”
The new year is approaching so everyone is here. Because his scream is too tragic, Bai Qingxue soon leads all people to check it.
When they see a few s.e.xy girls in skimpy outfit, Ma Shuangshuang and Han Weiya say with one voice, “shame on you”. They stomp and leave quickly.
Bai Qingxue is knowledgeable. Compared with some monster nationality girls, these girls are very conservative. Therefore, she is also particularly calm.
Ma Yiming is righteous. He feels it’s really shameful that Liao hides a few girls dressed like that in the villa. However, out of respect for the elder, it is extremely difficult for him to choose to leave or stay embarra.s.singly.
Colin Weir was also a playboy before. Since he decided to follow Lin Luoran, he hasn’t seen such a scene for a long time. He secretly thumbs up to Liao to show his admiration.
Liao is screaming loudly. He says this is a misunderstanding but no one listens.
It’s over. His image in the mind of his younger school sister has been ruined. He wishes thunder from the sky could just smash him to death now.
If he wants to clarify things, he must reveal his strength.
After getting his memory back, Liao regrets the image he has built over the years. He is actually a well-behaved young man with wretched appearance. Hu Ji once sneered at him, “Young man? Why don’t you call yourself a well-behaved boy?”
Recently, he has been so low-key and he is working hard to develop a positive image. Is it going to be totally ruined?
Everyone makes an expression of “I didn’t see that in you” and they all leave while shaking heads. Liao really wants to hit the wall.
The four monsters have been watching silently in the s.p.a.ce. They begin a gambling game under the leaders.h.i.+p of fire phoenix.
Fire phoenix says, “My counter for this game is a cuc.u.mber. This guy will surrender in less than two days.”
The little silver fish thinks for a while, “Two cuc.u.mbers, one day.” As always, it is concise.
Gold hawk says they are naive.
Recently, wood wolf has been losing. It shouts with red eyes, “”My stake is a cart of cuc.u.mbers. Liao will tell the truth within two hours!”
The result is that wood wolf wins completely for the first time.
Fire phoenix personally guards the cuc.u.mbers in Lin Luoran’s s.p.a.ce. With the speed of the s.p.a.ce, it still takes five days to harvest a cart of cuc.u.mbers. It throws them all in front of wood wolf with a wicked smile, “You won… little wood wolf. I didn’t expect you to have such a strong taste.”
Silver fish doesn’t know what it means. Gold hawk says that fire phoenix is the evilest leader among the four monsters in the s.p.a.ce!
When Liao confesses, he is holding a bunch of bamboo sculptures and Zhu Yi.
In front of a group of people, he performs the trick of “turning bamboo into people”. He finally proves his “innocence”.
Lin Luoran doesn’t even get the time to care about when Liao resumes his personal ability. She is very surprised by the bamboo sculpture on the ground. It was Zhu Yi, a young woman with big b.o.o.bs. The next second, it became a small and exquisite bamboo sculpture with Reiki coming from the center.
“What is this?” Ma Shuangshuang loves the bamboo doll very much.
Liao scratches his head, “It’s a puppet monster… no, this is actually a puppet man. The inner bolus of mutant monster is used as energy in the center. The material is so bad that it is very laborious to make one.”
After hearing it, Lin Luoran finds that the surface of the bamboo doll is covered by light patterns. According to Liao, the body of the vivid maid is the most common bamboo. Once again, she feels Liao is so mysterious.
Ma Shuangshuang is very interested in Liao’s puppet man. Liao proudly explains the general principle. Lin Luoran suddenly remembers the dolls she got from Mount Penglai and shows them to Liao.
Liao’s eyes are widely open.
He met Lin Luoran again on the N2 trading star and went to Green Mountains with Hu Ji during the Miaoyin Spell Conference. However, he has never seen Lin Luoran bringing out this group of female fairy dolls.
At this moment, he sees them for the first time, and he shows a strange look.
Liao asks Lin Luoran how she got the dolls before she asks him any question. He then sighs, “The materials and craftsmans.h.i.+p are both top-notch. I can’t make such things now.”
Lin Luoran never thinks that the puppets made of ordinary bamboo can be equal to the dolls she brought from Spirit Mountain. It’s normal that Liao praises these “fairies playing music”. However, why does he have such a proud look when he says it?
Liao complains that he doesn’t have good materials. Lin Luoran remembers the cl.u.s.ter of spirit bamboos that she transplanted into the s.p.a.ce when she discovered the “Yulee civilization intelligent brain” in the Sea of Bamboo in the south of Chuan Province. These bamboos have been growing for hundreds of years. Even though she has dug many bamboo shoots to eat recently, the bamboo forest still occupies a big place in the s.p.a.ce—she can give Liao some to make puppets. Bare-chested maids and musical fairies… puppets should be more than that.
However, before that, Lin Luoran has to interrogate Liao.
Liao is still evasive about his origins. Hearing Lin Luoran asks him if he is an immortal, Liao rolls his eyes, “No matter who I am, in this inferior world, the personal ability of Divinization is the best. Do you think the law of world is a joke?”
A group of people kick up a fuss to see his ability of Divinization. Liao feels terrified, covering his face and creeping away.
Because several villas are being renovated, they spend the Spring Festival in the Mas’ villa.
Lin Luoran still remembers the Spring Festival before the New Era. She has prepared Spring Festival goods long ago. She prepared various types of sweets and roasted seeds, as well as smoked bacon and sausages that people in the center of Chuan province loved in winter.
Han Weiya contributes some pine branches. The smoked bacon is golden and oily with a hint of rosin. On the New Year’s Eve, they prepare a full table of dishes. All people eat and drink while listening to the sound of electronic firecrackers on the street. A few jars of spirit wine that Lin Luoran offers are drunk up. People all blush.
“This is the first time for Shuangshuang and I to celebrate Spring Festival together. I propose a toast to you, Aunt Lin!”
Ma Yiming is shaky when he holds his wine gla.s.s high. When Lin Luoran just returned to Dongting City and borrowed his reading card in the city library, she did not expect that he was the offspring of fatty Ma Ming.
After spending more than ten years here, Ma Yiming has successfully reached Laying Foundation with his poor physique. Although he doesn’t advance as fast as Ma Shuangshuang, his life has totally changed. He is no longer the man who was driven by businessmen in Zhuzhou embarra.s.singly. He has fundamentally changed.
“Nice.”
Lin Luoran’s eyes are gentle, and she drinks up a gla.s.s of wine.
“Aunt Lin, I also want to make a toast to you.”
Ma Shuangshuang’s eyes are reddish. She not only survived her twenty years old. With her speed of personal ability enhancement recently, she can live for two hundred years or more.
But what if Aunt Lin never showed up that year?
Lin Luoran doesn’t say anything. She has to drink this gla.s.s of wine.
Han Weiya has a good reason to toast. Building Taoist root is like giving birth to her. There are actually two teachers for her personal ability enhancement. One is Danling Taoist and the other is Aunt Lin.
As for Colin, he was a famous swinger of Caesar Star but now he is so capable. In this family, he always does things secretly. No one really takes him as a servant, but he does better and more than a servant.
Caesar Star has been conquered, and the earth is like Colin’s second hometown.
Lin Luoran also has to drink this gla.s.s of wine for him.
Bai Qingxue toasts, “I don’t have to say anything. Here is my toast.”
“White Fairy” is both her teacher and friend. Lin Luoran is very grateful for her company for so many years. Lin Luoran drinks so quickly that she almost chokes on alcohol.
Only Baojia, Mu Tiannan, and Liao do not toast her.
Lin Luoran and Qin Baojia are sisters for a lifetime, which is not a story that a gla.s.s of wine can cover.
Mu Tiannan doesn’t toast because he doesn’t want her to drink too much.
Liao probably thinks the same. He smiles happily. After thousands of years of loneliness, he finally can live such kind of life. Little school sister, we haven’t had dinner together for a long time.
Lin Luoran drinks wine continuously without using Meta to force out the alcohol. Spirit wine has strong aftereffect and she is totally drunk.
The bell of twelve o’clock rings. Bai Qingxue also drinks a lot. She shakes Lin Luoran, “I heard that at the end of New Year’s Eve, wishes people make are very likely to come true. Stand up and make a wis.h.!.+”
Lin Luoran smirks and mumbles, “I hope the feast will never end, never…”
The feast will never end, and everyone present will not be separated.
There is a moment of silence. Everyone is making a wish silently for her—
“If the G.o.ds and Buddhas in heaven can really hear me, I hope that this most affectionate woman in front of me will reunite with her family as soon as possible.”