The old man who called himself the ancient tree of Mi Gu cheerfully extended the bamboo basket in his hand to him, "Young master, these are the summer fruits gifted to this old man by some young friends. If you don't mind, please take them and have a taste."
As soon as Lin Suqing heard this, and saw that each fruit was covered with dew and very fresh, his hand involuntarily reached out. Just as he was about to accept, he suddenly realized his impulsiveness and that it would be rash to accept the offer, so he immediately retracted his hand.
"No... no need, you should keep them for yourself, I... I don't like to eat them," he said.
He peeked at those fragrant and tempting fruits, struggling to restrain the saliva crazily emerging and the rumbling of his hungry stomach.
Seeing that the old man of Mi Gu pushed the basket forward again, he persuaded, "These are all grown by my young friends themselves, and watered with the mountain waters of Danxue Mountain. Although these are just small fruits, they contain abundant Spiritual Power."
"Eating them can increase one's cultivation a bit, although not by much. But for young master, they are indeed a rare good thing. Why not try some?" The old man of Mi Gu enthusiastically recommended.
Gurgle~
His stomach shamelessly made another noise...
Considering this was the residence of the Crown Prince, and that the old man was an ancient tree within the residence, it should not be harmful to him. Moreover, he was now a trusted aide to the second Crown Prince. If someone in the Crown Prince's residence were to harm him, it would likely be a burden too heavy for anyone to bear.
With this in mind, Lin Suqing no longer hesitated. He reached out, picked a golden melon, and was about to take a bite when the old man of Mi Gu suddenly spoke up, "However..."
Sure enough, there's no such thing as a free lunch.
He halted mid-sentence, and asked, "However what?"
Immediately feeling a sense of foreboding, he quickly added, "I should make it clear first! No matter what you ask of me, I absolutely refuse to leave the residence!"
The old man pushed the bamboo basket into Lin Suqing's arms, then turned to point at a large vat in the yard, indicating, "This old man would like to ask the young master to move that vat of bilexie water elsewhere. It's been sitting at my feet for the entire morning, and the fumes have almost blurred my eyes..."
The smell of the bilexie water was indeed pungent and irritating to the eyes, and it was clear that the old man of Mi Gu was quite distressed.
"Er... so it's like that... I'll go and move it now."
Lin Suqing felt extremely awkward. He had originally planned to use the bilexie water for watering the plants and trees.
Looking at it now, he was fortunate he hadn't gotten around to it yet, or else wouldn't he have created hard feelings...
Without wasting much time, Lin Suqing quickly polished off the golden melon, wiped the juice from his hands, and strode over to move the vat.
In addition to the bilexie water, he had also poured a lot of dirty rinse water into the vat, making it full to the brim and quite heavy.
It was too heavy to lift, so he could only drag it laboriously by the iron hoops that served as handles on the rim of the vat.
From afar, he could already hear the muffled and unclear shouts of Zhui Feng, anxious yet cheerful.
"Master! Master! Divine Monarch Yuqing has sent a letter! Divine Monarch Yuqing has sent a messenger crane with a letter!"
It sounded as if there was something stuffed in his mouth. Lin Suqing lifted his head and looked in the direction of the sound, whoa! The scene was a whirl of dust.
There was Zhui Feng, a small figure, dragging a crane by its slender leg. Standing up, Zhui Feng was much shorter than even the lower segment of the crane's leg, but now it was frantically pulling the crane by one of its legs toward the gate, stirring up a storm of dust like a blanket covering the sky.
Poor crane, with its head trailing and feet forward, being dragged with feathers flying everywhere. It kept fluttering its wings to no avail.
Zhui Feng was small and ran fast, which meant it could neither be fanned nor kicked by the crane. However, the crane's wild wing flapping and the flying feathers kept obstructing Zhui Feng's line of sight, forcing it to constantly shake its head to clear the view ahead. Each time it shook its head, the crane would be swung from side to side.
Lin Suqing was watching the spectacle when suddenly he saw Zhui Feng, blinded by the crane's wings, running at breakneck speed straight towards his vat of water!
Before he could think of a strategy, he heard a loud bang! Zhui Feng crashed into the water vat.
The vat sprung a big hole, and Zhui Feng, quick as lightning, leapt up to avoid the surging dirty water, while the poor crane... got splattered all over...
For a moment, an odd smell spread out in all directions. Zhui Feng retched several times but then saw the crane struggling out. It quickly ran over to grab the crane's leg once more.
The celestial crane, having suffered a loss once before, instantly knew to dodge when it saw the creature charging at it again. With a kick to the dog's face, it sent the creature tumbling several times before it quickly got up and hid behind Lin Suqing and Mi Gu.
Lin Suqing, fearful that the dog would bite the wrong target and latch onto his own leg, hurriedly opened his arms and bent over in an attempt to block it.
"What are you doing, doggy?"
"Woof! Who are you calling doggy?" The dog bared its teeth at him in frustration, "I'm too busy to bother with you right now. Get out of the way, and don't delay me from delivering a message to my master!"
"Delivering a message?" Lin Suqing was utterly confused as he turned to look at the pitiful celestial crane.
The crane was clever enough to turn its back to them, revealing a wax-sealed message tube strapped to it.
He reached out to remove it, and said to the dog, "Why not just take it off and send it? Why drag it all this way? Not only do you expend energy, but you've also worn its feathers bald."
The dog retorted with an air of dissatisfaction, "Who asked it to be so tall? I can't climb up!"
Lin Suqing countered, "Couldn't you have transformed for a second?"
"Uh, I, I forgot in the heat of the moment..." the dog grumbled with discontent, "Woof!"
The celestial crane had a certain intelligence, blinking its eyes helplessly, as if it was about to cry at any moment.
Moved by the sight, Lin Suqing grabbed a cloth from a rack and gently wiped the water stains from the crane's feathers, comforting it, "There, there, I'll take it off for you."
Turning to the dog, he suggested, "Let's deliver this to the master now, and stop bothering it." The dog turned its head away, sulking.
He patted the crane's back feathers gently and said warmly, "Now that we've got the message, you can go."
The crane nodded its head, limping a few steps away. Just before taking off, it turned to nod at Lin Suqing again, as if expressing its gratitude, then glanced at the dog and wrinkled its eyes – happy one second, furious the next, an array of expressions as rich as humans.
The dog, enraged, made as if to pounce, but at the sight, the crane hastily fluttered its wings and soared upward. After circling in the sky briefly, it let out a long cry and flew off.
Lin Suqing glanced at the dog and said, "Come on, let's go deliver the message."
...
He and the dog arrived at the Crown Prince's study and presented the message tube.
The Crown Prince broke the Spell on the wax seal, took out the letter, and read it at his leisure. Afterwards, he threw it carelessly on his desk and went back to his reading.
The dog, perching on the edge of the table, craned its neck and asked urgently, "Your Highness, is the Heavenly Venerate urging you to descend the mountain?"
The Crown Prince casually tossed the letter to the dog, hinting for it to read it itself. Seeing this, Lin Suqing quickly leaned in to read along with the dog.
"Hmph! I guessed Zhong Kui would complain. But to think he sent multiple complaints! Hmph!" The dog read, fuming with anger, while Lin Suqing was still in the dark. What exactly were the complaints about?
Taking advantage of the dog's irritation, Lin Suqing took the letter and read it over several times until he understood its meaning.
It seemed that Zhong Kui, overwhelmed with work, sought help from the Heavenly Venerate, who directed the Crown Prince to intervene. However, since the Crown Prince delayed, Zhong Kui had repeatedly lodged complaints. The letter was a royal decree ordering the Crown Prince to promptly descend the mountain...
Understanding dawned on Lin Suqing, and he blurted out, "Is even the illustrious Crown Prince required to personally capture demons and spirits?"
His words drew the attention of the Crown Prince and the dog... Lin Suqing quickly fell silent, worried... Maybe he'd put his foot in his mouth...
Yet the Crown Prince simply smiled slightly, hinting at something as he said, "That's a question for Zhui Feng."
The Crown Prince actually smiled?
Lin Suqing instantly felt that something was amiss and turned his gaze to the dog...