Chapter 996 Reading is the most important thing

They cherished their brief time together.

Song Chunxue had never seen Xie Zheng smile so much before. His eyebrows were relaxed, his beard was clean-shaven, and he looked much younger.

Actually, she preferred him with stubble yesterday.

They sat together drinking tea and chatting, and any little thing could easily escalate into a long, complicated conversation.

We ate lunch together, and then, oblivious to everyone else, we went outside the military camp to take a look. We sat on a small hill and looked down over the entire camp.

The wind outside was a bit chilly, but they were making out in a secluded corner.

"Ah Xue, I miss you so much, I don't want to stay here anymore." Xie Zheng rarely showed his vulnerable side, and gently rested his face on her shoulder, saying softly, "I don't want to wait too long, I want to be inseparable from you as soon as possible, sharing the joys and sorrows of life."

“If you’ve figured things out and can handle the current troubles, I’ll certainly agree.” Song Chunxue stroked the calluses on his palms, feeling a pang of heartache as she thought of his previously slender and shapely hands.

What's the point of that dog emperor's empire? He only cares about power.

But this country still belongs to the people.

The country is broken, but the mountains and rivers remain; spring has come to the city, but the grass and trees grow deep.

She didn't understand before, but now she realizes that with the people all dead and the land uncultivated, the vegetation naturally flourishes.

Xie Zheng also wanted to arrive a little later that day.

Although they all understood that fate could not be defied.

But people always overestimate their abilities and try to defy fate until the very last moment.

If we give up before we even try, this world will be a wasteland.

Song Chunxue knew that she was an ordinary person and she could not stop his obsession.

“I have plenty of food in my storage ring. If I had known I was coming to see you, I would have brought more meat to satisfy my cravings. But the pastries and steamed buns were bought a couple of days ago. I’ll leave you a bowl of braised meat with meat sauce. Your blankets aren’t comfortable either, so I brought two to leave for you.”

As Xie Zheng watched the sun gradually set in the west, he said gently, "You don't need to bring anything. Your presence is enough to overcome any difficulty I may face."

"..." That sounds rather pleasant.

As night fell, Song Chunxue led him to the place where she had appeared and taught him how to affix talismans and how to find the array.

“If you go this way, you’ll have less trouble and you’ll be closer to my old family home. Next time, I’ll try to set up a formation in Jincheng’s courtyard so that you can appear directly in front of me whenever you want to see me.”

Xie Zheng squeezed her hand. "Okay."

"I will definitely take off my official robes within three years. Would you think that's too long?"

“No,” she said with a smile, pressing him down into a chair. “I saw someone come looking for you earlier. You go ahead and deal with it. I’ll wash your clothes.”

Xie Zheng looked embarrassed. "I washed it myself. I've been too lazy to do it these past few days, so I just left it there."

“A woman is willing to wash clothes for the one she loves, and besides, your washing is definitely not as clean as mine.” Song Chunxue laid out food on his table and lit the stove to brew tea. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

"Um."

Just then, someone outside the door requested an audience.

"Sir, I have a few questions I would like to ask you. Would it be convenient for you to do so?"

Not wanting to be surrounded by onlookers, Song Chunxue put on the face mask given to her by Master Han, carried the basin to the outside of the tent, and said, "It's convenient, please come in."

There were six or seven people standing outside the door. The one in the lead saw Song Chunxue come out and wondered why there was a man in Lord Xie's tent.

Moreover, according to the kitchen staff, Lord Xie brought four buckets of hot water last night.

Could it be that Lord Xie is... gay?

"Come in!"

Xie Zheng's powerful voice came from inside, and everyone immediately came back to their senses.

"yes!"

...

The next morning, Song Chunxue broke free from Xie Zheng's restraints, got out of bed, and dressed herself.

She brought hot water herself, rinsed her mouth and washed her face, and then brewed tea for Xie Zheng, who was extremely reluctant to part with her.

"Okay, I have to go now." She leaned over and hugged him. "I'll wait for you."

The next moment, her wrist was grabbed. "Stay for another half an hour?"

Song Chunxue tapped his forehead, "How can I let them get up after they've all woken up?"

"Then, have a cup of tea with me."

She said helplessly, "Just one cup."

After drinking tea, Xie Zheng watched as Song Chunxue walked to the back of a tent, took two steps forward, and then disappeared without a trace.

He raised his hand, whistled, and turned to go into the tent.

Soon, a guard appeared like a crow, silently slipping into the tent.

*

Song Chunxue pushed open the door and entered the cave.

To express her apology, she left behind a pot of wine, a basket of fruit brought from Aishan, and a bag of silver as compensation for the disturbance.

After they quietly left, an old man in white robes appeared in the cave.

Upon seeing the items on the table, a smile instantly spread across his face.

Oh dear, the younger generation these days are getting more and more sensible; he hasn't had to worry about drinking for years.

After leaving the river cave, Song Chunxue flew to her second brother's house on her sword.

The sun hadn't yet risen over the mountains, and the village was quiet, except for the sparrows, who were up early, perching on the branches and preening their feathers.

She had just landed outside the courtyard gate when she saw her second brother wearing a short vest, yawning, carrying a basket on his back, having just finished feeding the donkey and horse hay.

Seeing Song Chunxue standing there, he wasn't surprised at all. "You're back quite early. Come on, let's go inside and have some tea."

Song Chunxue followed behind him, quietly waiting for the questioning.

"Go to the kitchen and get the steamed buns yourself. I'll start a fire." Song Zhizhu picked up the firewood basket under the left thatched shed. "I'll make you some noodles later when your sister-in-law gets up."

Song Chunxue went to the west room, drank a bowl of tea, and then got up to go to the kitchen.

"Have all the children gone to stay at Fourth Sister's house?"

"Well, kids like that, when they're not with adults, they're like little donkeys running wild. I heard that yesterday they made a clay stove out of mud at the door and roasted buns and rabbit meat, and almost set your fourth sister's woodpile on fire."

“Your three older sisters went over last night, and your senior brothers and uncles are in the main room. Be quiet and don’t disturb them. Last night, they took me to a famous mountain nearby to check out the feng shui. Oh my, I benefited immensely.”

When these things were mentioned, Song Zhizhu became excited. "I never thought that at my age, I could still be as excited as when I saw a ghost when I was a child. Fifth brother, thanks to you, I know that there are so many strange things in this world around us, but because we are short-sighted, we can't see them at all."

"Also, I know that our Alai is always called a fool, but I never expected that he would be a genius."

Song Zhizhu, now middle-aged, suddenly acted like a child, startled and jumping around, gesturing wildly with a broad smile.

Song Chunxue listened attentively, “That’s right, Alai is much more talented than any of our disciples. Master Zhang didn’t want to take on any disciples back then, otherwise he would be extremely proud now.”

Song Zhizhu nodded and couldn't help but sigh, "Alas, we people only know how to farm and think about filling our stomachs. We don't know that there are so many interesting things in this world."

Song Chunxue remained silent; she couldn't answer that question.

But she realized that there were only two ways to broaden one's horizons: one was to read and write, and the other was to travel.

Reading ten thousand books and traveling ten thousand miles is much faster than staying in one place and waiting for something to happen.

The first part is spiritual practice, the second part is daily life.

She suddenly realized that it was most important to get Mei Yang to do something.