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"Xiaoman, come here."Li Ye waved at the big dog in the yard, yet it simply looked at him and turned back indifferently.
Li Ye felt a little awkward. Just as he was about to chase after it, Xiaoman already started running away as fast as a leopard.
"Xiaoman, come here."
Xiaoman was already outside the fence barking at Li Ye fiercely until that sweet and clear voice attracted its attention. It barked cheerfully and ran into Su Emei"s arms immediately, shaking its tail and sticking out its tongue, acting rather friendly.
Su Emei squatted down and patted Xiaoman on its head. She smiled gleefully as her beautiful eyes curved into a crescent. Li Ye was rather jealous upon seeing this, so he said to Xiaoman, "You"re a female, too. How can you be more interested in a beautiful girl rather than me?"
He reached out his hand to pat Xiaoman as he said that, yet he was forced to keep his hand away as Xiaoman turned its fierce face toward him and barked angrily again.
"Please don"t make fun of me, childe." Su Emei glared at Li Ye as her face blushed a little. Since she was squatting down, her robe was rather tight around her lower back and the curve of her body was too obvious to be missed by anyone. Li Ye could not help glancing at it a few more times, and eventually left to look at the ducks in the cottage before Su Emei found out where he was looking.
However, Su Emei followed him to the cottage as well. Li Ye thought maybe she was interested in him, so he asked her with a smile, "Is there something you"d like to talk about?"
Su Emei stood there for quite a while as she kept biting her red lip. Finally, she looked at Li Ye with her genuine eyes and said, "Please help us out regarding Mr. Cui"s contest for the position of master... I really didn"t mean to add on more troubles for you because you"ve already helped us so much, but Xiaozhuang is still... Since you"re so strong, I"m sure you"ll be a great help to Mr. Cui in the contest!"
"So it"s about that." Li Ye waved at her to show that there"s no need to persuade him. "There"s no need to worry about it. I"ll help you until it"s all finished."
Su Emei let out a sigh of relief and smiled brightly like a blooming flower. She immediately bowed down all the way to Li Ye"s waist as her long hair fell down naturally. "Thank you so much!" said Su Emei.
Li Ye did not know how to act for a moment. To him, anything related to this gathering at Penglai would be relevant to him. Now Su Emei was thanking him for helping out in this, and he felt strange for not being able to tell her the truth.
When Su Emei stood up straight again, her eyes looked as if they were filled with sparkles. She was probably really impressed by this guy who was willing to help them so much, so she said, "With all your help, I... I have no way to repay you. Please allow me to cook one meal for you!"
She stopped right after running out of the cottage and said to Li Ye with a smile, "My cooking skills are not as good as yours for sure, so please don"t mind it."
"All I can cook is roasted chicken, so I"m sure you"ll do much better than me," said Li Ye truthfully.
Su Emei thought Li Ye was just trying to make her feel better, but she still smiled very happily and ran into the kitchen right away.
Meanwhile, Cui Keli had already come back from his visit to the old master of the Cui family. Judging from the same expression on his face, it seemed that the old master did not object to his idea of fighting to be the head of the family. After all, for someone as knowledgeable and talented as Cui Keli, it was a good thing that he wished to become the head of the family.
Cui Keli walked over to Li Ye and made an obeisance by cupping one hand in the other before his chest, then said in all seriousness, "Despite us just having met, you are still willing to help me wholeheartedly. I will be forever grateful for that."
Deep inside, Li Ye thought, "You"re my uncle and we"re related by blood. There"s no need to thank me for helping my own family." However, he acted righteously on the surface and said, "Your knowledge and ambition have genuinely impressed me. It"s truly a pleasure to have met you and to be able to help you as well."
What he said was not completely just for show.
"What do you plan to do on Penglai Island?" asked Li Ye. Cui Keli probably did not want the Cui family to be attached to the Penglai sect, but since the head of Penglai had reached the Spiritual Master Realm, it would not be an easy task.
Cui Keli sighed and said, "We"ll just have to see as we go along. Regardless, I can"t sit this matter out."
Li Ye nodded because Cui Keli had just spoken his mind.
The two of them chatted a bit longer, and somehow drifted to the topic of the new commissioner.
As if reminiscing about the past, Cui Keli said, "The new commissioner of Pinglu will be Prince An. I"m sure you have heard about his story of taking down that traitor Wei Baoheng and many more. Just like most of the people, I respect Prince An very much. However, there"s one thing about him that you definitely don"t know."
Cui Keli smiled genuinely, as if he was honored by what he was about to say. He looked at Li Ye excitedly, as if prompting him to ask about it.
Feeling a little amused, Li Ye asked, "What is it?"
Cui Keli laughed and said with a warm expression, "Prince An is, in fact, my own nephew! The mother of Prince An is my own sister!"
Li Ye pretended to gasp and his eyes were immediately filled with admiration. He asked, "I never knew that! You are Prince An"s uncle? I"m so sorry for my ignorance!"
Cui Keli was apparently satisfied with Li Ye"s reaction, so he giggled and continued talking, "My nephew, the young Prince An, is definitely far more legendary than his father, Li Xian! When Prince An was young, he couldn"t even reach the Mortal Realm in his first 20 years, let alone reach the Qi-refining stage! Back then, almost everyone in Chang"an bad-mouthed him, they said he was such a disgrace to his own father! Just a few years ago, some people from the Imperial Clan even attempted to conspire against his position as Prince An! Are they not evil?"
Cui Keli looked straight at Li Ye after he finished, waiting for his response.
"Evil indeed!" replied Li Ye instantly.
Cui Keli"s smile became even brighter, so he continued, "Who could have thought that when Prince An visited Cloud-engulfed Mountain, he would be lucky enough to have received Celestial Master Yuan"s inheritance, reaching the Qi-refining stage in one night! Isn"t that impressive? Can you name me even one person who has done that within only one day? That"s not it, Prince An even got first place in his exam to become an official. He even exposed Duke Xing"s evil plan to harm the people. Once he became an official, he was already a four-cla.s.s vice-magistrate of Chang"an Office, isn"t that impressive?"
Seeing that Cui Keli was looking at him again, Li Ye quickly acted as if he was admiring Prince An"s achievements as he responded, "Truly impressive!"
"Of course!" Cui Keli could not help raising his chin proudly. However, he heaved a long sigh and looked frustrated right away. "Everyone today knows about his glorious achievements of punishing the traitors, but how many can truly understand the suffering he went through 20 years ago? The Imperial Clan already didn"t like the marriage between my sister and Li Xian, and it made things worse when he was being called trash at a young age. When he was merely three years old, I visited them in Chang"an. That was when my sister was still alive, and all she did was wipe away her tears with him in her arms, telling me all the hardships in their life..."
At this point, Cui Keli"s breath became a little unstable as his eyes turned red. Seeing him like this made Li Ye suddenly clueless about what to do. He never expected his own uncle to be so emotionally attached to him.
Cui Keli realized that he had lost his composure, so he quickly returned to his state of calmness and said furiously, "That b.a.s.t.a.r.d Li Xian only cares about the empire and its people. He"s been busy fighting his wars all over the country, and had no idea of the pain and suffering his family had to go through. He is not qualified to be a father!"
Li Ye simply replied with an "ah" because he didn"t know how to continue the conversation at this time.
"Let"s not talk about it."
Cui Keli shook his head as he sighed. "Both my father and I are really glad to know that Prince An will be the next commissioner of Pinglu, as it will surely help him strengthen his influence in Pinglu. The Cui family has little power, so we couldn"t really help much when Prince An went through all that suffering. Both my father and Li Xian rarely visited Chang"an, so my family has always been guilty about him."
At this point, Cui Keli looked a little upset. "When we learned that Penglai wishes to use their gathering as a chance to control all of Pinglu, both my father and I despised their plan. My father is too old to travel far nowadays. I have been solely focusing on my studies these years, so I haven"t been very involved with family matters. This time, however, I must visit Penglai even if it"s just for Prince An. I don"t care how unpredictable or dangerous the situation might be!"
Li Ye suddenly realized one very important piece of information, so he asked, "Since the master of the Cui family has no intention of being attached to Penglai, why does the Cui family still insist on attending this gathering?"
Cui Keli gave a wry smile and said, "That"s all because of my third brother. Although both my father and I still reminisce about my sister, my third brother doesn"t care about all these sentiments. He always loves to be the one making contributions to the family. In his opinion, the only way for the Cui family to get stronger in the future would be to follow the Penglai sect because he believes they hold the greatest power in Pinglu right now. And there"s no doubt that Pinglu will eventually fall under the control of Penglai. My third brother has also been the one taking care of our internal affairs recently. If I never intend to fight with my third brother over the position of head of the family, he will naturally be the next family head."
"In other words, the one you will be challenging this time..."
"Is none other than my third brother, Cui Hucheng."
"Let"s stop it here." Cui Keli decided to stop talking about his embarra.s.sing family affairs in front of Li Ye, there was not much to talk about anyway. Should Li Ye not have first agreed to help him in the contest, he would not have told him all of that.