Chapter 173 Calculating Xuan Jingzhou
“Master, I am not very clear about the matter you asked. How about asking my boss when he comes back?”
Qu Qingning scratched his head and smiled embarra.s.sedly. But he was in a cold sweat on his back. If Su Li had not reminded him, he would have found other excuses to prevaricate. But in that case, it was not conformed to his ident.i.ty of a waiter. This old woman’s question seemed to be simple, but there were lots of traps actually. It was hard to prevent!
“Oh! Oh, I am stupid… Never mind.”
The fat proprietress said politely and relaxed her vigilance. She released the shabby scholar’s hands imperceptibly.
“Darling, be careful. The wine was almost spilled out…”
The shabby scholar complained bitterly and finally had his first taste.
When the spicy wine just entered his throat and pa.s.sed his stomach, he felt warm from the bottom of his belly. The shabby scholar marveled with blear eyes. It seemed that he was drunk due to himself, not the wine.
It had been so many years… Since entering the inborn realm, he had drunk no wine of the secular world. They were tasteless and unbearable. It’s heard that there was Spiritual Wine in the Real Spiritual Circle, and the ordinary people’s life would be prolonged after they drank a mouthful of it. The cultivation of the warriors would be improved.
But that kind of Spiritual Wine was difficult to get even with lots of money in the Real Spiritual Circle. Even if he and his wife had not practiced the Doctrine of Secular World, they could not afford.
Unexpectedly, they could drink such good wine in the seventh year of seclusion in Yunjing! He liked drinking wine. He was very happy as if he got rare treasures!
The proprietress drank the osmanthus wine while she was enjoying the dishes. She ate genteelly and quickly, which was different from her masculine appearance. It’s obvious that she liked the wine and dishes in the Linli Building.
They ate their own food and didn’t talk with each other on the surface. But they transmitted voice secretly.
“Dear, can you see anything unusual?”
“Sweetheart, how can I perceive the difference that you can’t perceive?”
“The shopkeeper is a little girl. She is probably not more than twenty years old and doesn’t have any cultivation. The waiter behaves naturally. They seem not to be weird at all. You worried too much before…”
“It’s hard to say. If they really want to hide their ident.i.ties, they must have done everything to be prepared. It’s too early to judge!!”
It was strange that there was a luxury winery in the remote alley. The couple had been on the defensive. They just put on a play to deal with the exploration this morning.
However, when they really came in, they didn’t expect that they would be attracted by the dishes in the Linli Building.
After they ate for a while, the shabby scholar sighed with bulged cheeks. He continued to transmit voice, “Anyway, the wine in this restaurant is really excellent! The wines I brewed can’t be compared with the Liehuo Spirits! Without the Liehuo Spirits, I can’t live well in the future!”
The proprietress stared at the shabby scholar and said, “Indeed, we can’t live well! The wine you brewed and the dishes I cook are all worse than those of the Linli Building! The business of our winery will fail. We will suffer cold and hunger! How can you still think about drinking?”
The shabby scholar was immediately stunned. She was right. They and the Linli Building were compet.i.tors!
The Zhouyue Winery opened for seven years. It had a lot of regular customers. After the Linli Building started its business, it would attract lots of regular rich customers. It was a big problem for whether the Zhouyue Winery could maintain its livelihood or not!
The more the shabby scholar drank, the sadder he was. After he finished the last drop of the wine, he looked extremely worried.
They managed to hide themselves in Yunjing. He didn’t want to fall short of success at the last three years. In the next three years, they should tighten their belt. Drinking? Don’t think about it!
The fat proprietress was used to economizing. She cleared away the wine and dishes. Then she got up and went to the counter. She put down ten taels and said with a smile, “Congratulations for your opening! Please accept the money as a mark of my respect. The silver is my gift. Wish your business boom!”
Yin Xuetong quickly got up to express her grat.i.tude, “Thanks very much. I thank you on behalf of my boss.”
The fat proprietress smiled and turned back. She waved her hands and said, “Let’s go, honey!”
The shabby scholar quickly got up and walked to the door with his wife. He turned back and made a bow with hands folded in front in the pedantic style.
Su Li watched them leave with a smile. After eating Su Li’s dishes, it could not finish with only ten taels.
In the previous life, Xuan Jingzhou was famous in Yunjing. She lived a miserable life in the Su Family. When she became a person in the martial arts circle, Xuan Jingzhou was dead. Although she never saw what Xuan Jingzhou do in person, she heard a lot about him from her husband.
Every prince tried to form their forces in the battle for the position of the crown prince in the previous life. The Third Prince was the most powerful one. He was lucky enough to know Xuan Jingzhou. He set a trap to make Xuan Jingzhou owe him a favor, so, he could work hard for him.
The favor was not a big deal. It was the same as this life. It was only a cup of wine. But because of the drawbacks of the Doctrine of Secular World, Xuan Jingzhou had to agree on the request of the Third Prince.
Later, the Third Prince failed in the battle. Xuan Jingzhou also died in Yunjing. She heard from her disabled husband that Xuan Jingzhou wanted to die in that battle. He managed to be left deliberately to cover others, he and finally died without a whole body. So, he could reunite with his wife in the heaven.
Su Li slightly squinted. How did the fat proprietress die in the previous life? She didn’t hear it from her husband. Today, she saw the real person. She found that the cultivation of the proprietress was even higher than that of Xuan Jingzhou.
One reached the eighth hurdle of the inborn realm and another reached the ninth hurdle of the inborn realm…
The couple would be a legend even in the martial arts circle. But their death was a mystery. It could be seen that the battle was very complicated.
In this life, she made the couple join her before others took actions. Through this, she cut the force of the Third Prince and strengthened her own. But she also knew that it was not enough to live well in the battle for the position of the crown prince with her force now.
Su Li sat in the Linli Building for a whole afternoon. More than ten drinkers came here because of the fragrance of the wine. But most of them were scared off by the ridiculous price. Only two rich customers ordered a pot of third-cla.s.s Liehuo Spirits. After they drank the wine, they also ordered a whole jar of the second-cla.s.s Liehuo Spirits to take away. The Linli Building earned some money at least.
“Tut-tut, we only earned two or three thousand taels one day, which was less than that in the Qinghe Province…”
The restaurant was desolated. Qu Qingning leaned on the counter beside Yin Xuetong and looked at the account. He couldn’t help but sigh. Although he knew that the main purpose of setting up the Linli Building was not to make money, it was really a little uncomfortable for them to earn so little money.
They spent more than 600,000 taels to build the restaurant. How many days it would take to earn its cost?
Yin Xuetong felt angry and said, “Be content with what we can get. We are new comer here. I believe Su Li. The business will thrive in the future. You are so silly. You should learn from Brother Fang and practice martial arts seriously. He is only one year older than you, but he had already reached the inborn realm. You only reached the acquired ninth hurdle. Don’t you feel ashamed?”
Qu Qingning scratched his head and bitterly said, “Miss, I don’t agree with you. I won’t compare with that madman. Fang Yuan is crazier than before in practice. It is not shameful that I reached the acquired ninth hurdle at this age. If it was shameful, ninety percent of young talents would feel ashamed to face people!”
Yin Xuetong snorted and whispered, “I only know that someone became lazier and lazier these days. Maybe Fang Mu will exceed you one day.”
Qu Qingning smiled embarra.s.sedly and quickly promised that he would not be lazy in the future. “You can’t tell Su Li, otherwise she will punish me…”
Yin Xuetong said “Oh” meaningfully and looked back. Qu Qingning was immediately scared in cold sweat. He suddenly turned back but did not see anyone. He turned back and scolded, “Xuetong!”
Yin Xuetong covered her mouth and smiled. She pointed to the top. Qu Qingning looked up subconsciously and saw that Su Li was sitting next to the handrail over their heads. He was panic at once.
“Qu Qingning, since you like sleeping, would you like to have a try on the elixir I developed that can help people practice even while they are sleeping?”
Su Li frowned and asked calmly. Although she sought for opinions on the surface, her tone was unquestionable. Qu Qingning was full of bitterness. He knew that he had no right to refuse.
Su Li slowly went downstairs and walked to them. She bent over and looked at today’s account. She turned around and patted Qu Qingning’s shoulder. She said, “Qu Qingning, compared with the way that you practiced two years ago, your cultivation has been improved a lot. But since you are my follower now… you can’t practice at this speed!”
Su Li’s tone was getting more and more serious. She said, “The cultivation of the enemies we will confront in the future will be rarely out of the inborn realm! If you continue to be so lazy, I will dismiss you from the main force. You will manage the accounts and never have a chance to fight for me. If you want to live without ambitions and give your fate to others, you can keep going and I will… never blame you for it.”
Qu Qingning was serious and finally he didn’t behave in a noisy and boisterous manner. At this moment, he realized the seriousness of the situation. Su Li was not warning him but giving him the final announcement. After coming to Yunjing, he really became lazy…
Yin Xuetong stopped keeping accounts and looked at Qu Qingning with firm eyes. She believed that Qu Qingning could make the right decision. Although Qu Qingning was indolent, if he wanted to become serious, he was no worse than anyone. He just lacked impetus.
Su Li approached Qu Qingning and sneered at his side, “Think about the hatred of your family. Will you let Fang Yuan and Yin Xuetong take revenge on your enemies instead of you?”
Qu Qingning felt shocked and ashamed. He said, “I was wrong.”
Su Li stopped forcing him. She nodded slightly. Qu Qingning was not like Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan was more persistent and he worked hard to practice. He made progress so quickly just like Su Li.
While a beautiful girl was on his side and the revenge was not urgent, Qu Qingning relaxed his vigilance. He was not as mature as Yin Xuetong and Fang Yuan. He needed to be reminded from time to time so that his talent would not be wasted.
“Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is rare to have a lantern show in the East Street. Hang out with Xuetong.” Su Li slowed her tone down. Yin Xuetong was bashful and turned her head.
Clump-clump…
Fang Yuan went downstairs and he probably just finished a period of practicing. He stared at Su Li with some obscure hope in his eyes.
Feeling the gaze, Su Li looked back and was in a daze for a while. Then she removed her eyes without any trace. She said, “I will go back to the Su House first in case that the matter is divulged…”
Then, she left hurriedly before other three people responded to her.
Watching the pretty girl go away, Fang Yuan curled his lips sadly.
Qu Qingning smiled deliberately and asked, “Fang Yuan, why don’t we go to the lantern show?”
Fang Yuan looked back calmly. He shook his head and said, “I want to continue practicing. You and Xuetong… have fun.”