Chapter 1031 Senior Brother's Birthday

"I'd rather go to Lijiazhuang and stay there for a while. After the peach, pear, and apricot blossoms have finished blooming, I'll go to the capital to meet up with you."

Song Chunxue never expected that her senior brother would have such a refined interest.

However, the old houses in Lijiazhuangzi have changed a lot. Now they not only look stylish, but are also more suitable for quiet meditation.

That place is no longer their hometown; rather, it's more like a peaceful retreat in the mountains and countryside.

My senior brother goes there twice a year, for anywhere from half a month to two months, and stays there without coming back.

I estimate that the peach, plum, and crabapple trees he planted last year will all blossom and bear fruit this year.

She didn't know before that her senior brother was also a person who loved flowers very much.

He actually spent a lot of money to buy decades-old peony trees from other people, red, pink and yellow ones, and planted them all in the garden.

She saw it last year; her senior brother had personally built the garden and even created a latticed window scene reminiscent of Jiangnan. The land below had become a landscape of various kinds that her senior brother had personally constructed, with every plant and tree, and even several kinds of moss, dug up by him.

Previously, she only knew about dog urine moss and didn't know that there were many kinds of moss.

"Okay, you guys go ahead. I'll go check on things after I finish dealing with the matters in Zhuanglang County. Actually, I'm really curious to see if I still have any of my previous leeks left."

“They’re long gone. The roots of the old leeks died a long time ago. I got some new leek seeds from the eldest brother’s house and planted a patch. The eldest brother got a key and goes back to check on them from time to time.”

At this point, Zhang Chengxuan said with no small amount of disdain, "With your memory, even the best things will just wither and die. Have you forgotten that you cultivated some chili seedlings in the southeast?"

"..." That's true. Last year, she impulsively sowed some seeds, planning to plant them a month later, but she forgot about it and didn't think about it at all.

"If I hadn't transplanted them, you probably wouldn't have had any chili peppers to eat. You still don't know that you ate the chili peppers that grew on those seedlings last fall, do you?"

Song Chunxue laughed. It was true.

She only found out today.

"Alright, I should go up the mountain to plant peach trees. I bought a dozen or so trees for five hundred coins, and I plan to plant them all." He stood up and sighed, "Planting trees is good. When I get old and die, perhaps only those trees will remember that I planted them."

"What kind of trees did you buy?" Song Chunxue asked curiously. "Planting trees on your birthday is indeed a good idea. Since you have no descendants anyway, it's not a bad idea to treat the trees as your offspring. They are more reliable than people passing on their lineage."

"..." Zhang Chengxuan glanced at her sideways and couldn't help but proudly boast, "You don't know yet, do you? Your fourth son said that if I'm willing, one of his two sons can be adopted by me."

"..."

“The fourth son is serious. He’s said it several times already. He’s willing to create a separate family tree for him whenever I want,” Zhang Chengxuan said with a smile. “I’m glad I’ve spoiled him. He has many sons, and they’re all close to me. It doesn’t matter what their names are.”

Song Chunxue raised an eyebrow, "You don't mind if my grandson becomes your son?"

Zhang Chengxuan was taken aback for a moment. “Generation doesn’t matter. What matters is that once he’s adopted, he’ll have the surname Zhang.”

The fourth son was probably born with many sons. Tian Qi gave birth to three sons for him and kept clamoring to exchange a daughter with the third son.

Xia Mulan was reluctant to part with the child, after all, it was her own child, and they couldn't bear to send the baby to the fourth son's family from a young age.

If we send them away when they're older, we'll have already developed feelings for them and will be even more reluctant to part with them.

So the fourth brother discussed with the third brother that if Mulan's baby was another girl, he would raise her as his own daughter, and he would give his second son to the third brother for adoption.

Song Chunxue did not get involved in these matters.

Anyway, they can make their own decisions.

But she didn't expect that the fourth brother would be willing to give his child to his senior brother for adoption.

It seems that the fourth brother either got drunk and confused, or he genuinely considers Zhang Chengxuan as family.

In the evening, everyone sat around the table to celebrate Master Zhang's birthday.

Even my elusive third uncle has come.

He was accompanied by two spirit beasts, one large and one small.

Xia's mother and the chef were a little afraid of tigers, so they took the food to the kitchen, fearing that the tiger might get upset and devour them alive.

They actually knew that spirit beasts were more intelligent and wouldn't easily eat people.

But they were still worried that their lives were not pure enough, and that people without cultivation were not liked by spirit beasts. They might be swallowed if they were unhappy with them.

We had no choice but to let them be.

“Master, come, I wish you boundless happiness and longevity, and that you will be even younger and more handsome than Master Han in the future…”

Before Tu Dan'er could finish speaking, Zhang Chengxuan blocked him with a chicken wing, saying, "I can't handle more words. I appreciate my good disciple's kindness."

From Master Zhang's tone, everyone could hear a hint of gritted teeth.

Everyone was overjoyed, as if they had guessed what Tu Dan'er was going to say.

"Master, this is a birthday gift I prepared for you half a month ago. Please accept it."

Tu Dan'er bent down and handed over the birthday gift he had prepared, speaking with a thick lisp. His blue Taoist robe fit him perfectly, and he had grown into the tallest and most handsome man in recent years, a complete transformation.

Zhang Chengxuan accepted it. Although he was happy, he dared not have any expectations because he knew his good apprentice was good at nothing but annoying people.

"I'll dismantle it slowly tonight."

"No, Master, I just want you to praise me in person." Tu Dan'er put his hands behind his back and stood on his heels. "Why don't you open it now and see?"

Zhang Chengxuan's eyelids twitched, and he thought to himself that this brat might be setting a trap for him.

Everyone looked over curiously, forgetting to eat their chicken legs.

He opened the wooden box and saw an expensive garment inside, with a dark blue embroidered pattern, a color not usually worn by him, which made it appear flamboyant and extravagant.

But he still nodded, "Your disciple is very thoughtful."

Tu Dan'er smiled and took it out, "Master, won't you put it on and let us see? To be honest, we think that when you were young, you were no less than Master Han. It's just that you have a beard, while Master Han is clean-cut. Although he is your elder, he looks very young in front of you."

"Yes, Uncle-Master, let us take a look."

“Uncle-Master, you’ll definitely look great in this. Let us see.” Changfeng touched the fabric of the clothes. “I like this outfit too, but I’m a bit chubby, so it doesn’t look good on me.”

“You’re not fat at all, this is a sign of good fortune.” Zhang Chengxuan didn’t plan to change in front of them. “Wait until tomorrow, I’ll change in and show you.”

Everyone then presented their birthday gifts, which Master Zhang accepted one by one.

Then, the five disciples' gazes fell on Song Chunxue.

"What is Master's birthday gift?"

"Yes, what about Uncle's birthday gift? You didn't forget, did you?" Tu Dan'er grinned and came over. "Hurry up and make it up, or Master will be sad."

This made everyone burst into laughter, and Zhang Chengxuan wanted to punch him.

Judging from his reaction, Song Chunxue knew he was too embarrassed to say it.

"Finish it, finish it." With that, she took out a small golden knife from her storage ring and handed it to Zhang Chengxuan. "Senior brother, happy birthday."

It was originally intended for the third child, but it would be better to give it to the senior brother as well.