The Zhen household had once more become lively. The maids and servants serving the young masters, while the large family poultry that reared the Twin coloured Tailed chicken had repeated cooing noises echoing softly from within the courtyard.
The Zhen household is a very large family with over 50 members within the household excluding the children. Because of the recent crises, the children had been moved out of the city. Their daily expenses on food was enough to feed a decent family for a year.
Hence the rearing of the exotic twin coloured tailed chicken. They also have numerous farmland scattered about within the city. They were not short on money also since they own most restaurants, shop and other businesses within the city.
Since the crises seem to have passed, the servants were cooking up a feast for the whole family. Within the large kitchen area, the maids were cutting up vegetables, into shape.
A maid that wasn't very tall and seem to be of 19 years of age covered the large hot pot and wiped off her sweating forehead with her long dress. She then turned sideways and said to the head cook.
"Head cook, there is not enough Fennel to flavour the soup ."
The head cook was a man that looked very neat. There wasn't a single stain on him and even the air in his face and head had been shaved clean. But he also didn't look like a nice person.
"Then should I turn my self into Fennel for you to use?" the head cook scowled and replied scornfully.
The maid quickly shook her head in fear and didn't dare to say another word.
"And how is it that the Fennel finished and no one bothered to inform me about this!?" The head cook shouted furiously.
The rest of the servants froze in fear and didn't dare to reply.
There was a light clicking sound of metals colliding to the ground. "Take this and go get one sack of some Fennel from the market. Hurry up! If I don't see you here in 30 minutes, you don't have to bother coming back."
"Yes head cook." The maid quickly picked up the coin pouch from the ground, bowed and timidly ran out of the kitchen in fear. The head cook snorted.
"Get back to work! You useless bunch!" The rest of the servants hurriedly got back to what they had been doing previously.
Roughly a few breaths later, the maid walked/ran out from the Zhen family gate. "Ha, Ming Que, you are going to the market?" One of the four guards guarding the gate asked.
"Yes, the head chief sent me on an errand."
"Oh, it's the head cook, hurry and leave. You should come back early too, I know how grumpy the head cook is." One of the guard laughed as he sent her on her way.
The maid bowed to the guards and quickly took her leave.
Time passed by and upon the time it takes to prepare tea, the young maid suddenly veered away from the raid that leads to the flea market and entered into an alley.
After which, she arrived at a small house with plain interior. Then she carefully assessed her surroundings before she knocked at the door with very specific rhythm.
"knock, knock, knock!"
There was a weird silence in the atmosphere and after three breaths of time, the door suddenly swung ajar.
There was a look of fear and admiration on the maid's face as she took in deep shuddering breaths. After several seconds she seem to have gathered enough courage to and directly entered into the house.
The house was pitch black and gloomily quiet and even with the heavy sunlight outside, there was nothing but a certain sort of cold chill that could penetrate one's skin no matter how many clothing they put on.
"Greetings master." The maid instantly bowed with her head slamming to the ground as she went in her kneels. Even the Zhen family head wasn't treated in this sort of respectful manner, making one wonder as to the identity of this strange figure.
A man sat from across the maid before a large table. The person seem to be meditating as though cultivating some sort of skill. The strange person didn't seem to have taken notice of the maid, but the way he nodded imperceptibly, meant that he had discerned the arrival of the young lady since the beginning.
The person's face wasn't visible through the darkness of the room and the person also had on a hooded black tunic covering the entire body from view
"Speak." An hoarse voice belonging to that of a male boomed out from the strange man.
"T-the young master is still alive." The young maid stuttered as she spoke, not daring to look upwards.
The moment the words came our form her mouth. The person sitting cross-legged on the mat suddenly snapped his eyes open.
A brilliant flash of light radiated off his eyes, giving off a dim glow within the dark and gloomy room.
But when the maid blinked her eyes, the glow lightening up the room was gone in a flash, making her wonder if she seen wrongly.
Silence descended in the room and the tense atmosphere started to become severely choking. The maid felt as though she couldn't breath and didn't dare to breathe to loudly either.
Sweat dripped down her body, soaking her clothes as she dropped profusely. The made was just about to collapse when the same hoarse voice broke the silence. "How did he survive?"
"I-I have no idea." The maid shook her head but hurriedly added.
"Rumours already spread amongst we servants and I overheard that the young master has secretly been pretending to be useless all this while. But in this moment of crises, he had choice but to reveal his strength as an inner Qi expert."
The strange man's slow breathing rhythm paused and one could feel that he seem to have frowned underneath the tunic.
A strange wind blew and the soft hooded tunic rippled, revealing a very handsome face underneath the hood but then if one looked closely at the face, one would be very shocked at the identity of this person.
This person was non other than the first young master of the Song family! Song jun!