"The girl was away for four or five days. Why did she start chanting Buddhist scriptures after she came back?"

When Madam Pei went to An Zhengzheng to review the magazine's contents in the morning, she noticed the things on An Zhengzheng's desk.

“Few people read Buddhist scriptures unless they are practicing Buddhism,” Zhao Xin said, puzzled. “They’re either about repentance or performing rituals for the deceased. Does the young lady intend to become a Buddhist practitioner?”

Then nobody would know.

An Zhengzheng came out of the courtyard carrying the caged beast box. The mutated tiger refused to leave her side and she couldn't drive it away no matter what she did.

So I took him to Dongfengdu to look at shops.

As I walked to the shop entrance, I heard Dong'er talking to Zhao Xin.

"Right now, Zhou Xu is probably the one being laughed at the most."

"Serves him right!" Dong'er spat and said, "Let him pretend to bully our girl."

"I only heard about that day from the second young lady..."

It describes the scene of An Zhengzheng leaping up and fighting with the mutated tiger.

That day, when Zhou Rongsheng saw An Zhengzheng go up, he was afraid that the Zhou family would be overshadowed, so he insisted that Zhou Xu go as well.

"Where could Young Master Zhou go? He's drunk. The jade slip says that Master Zhou stopped him from drinking, so he went to various taverns and shops to drink. He could be seen everywhere."

"Huh? Does this mean he's going to give up on himself?"

Zhao Xin couldn't understand it. How could someone like him, with a good family background, talent, and good looks, just drink all day long after suffering some setbacks?

"He's given up on himself. Our poor girl is in trouble. There are still some rumors going around, though fewer than before, but they still exist! They're saying that the Zhou family's young master's downfall is the girl's fault... It's not like the girl made him down!"

Dong'er also said, "I heard that Master Zhou lost his temper in public that day, and even Young Master Zhou refused to go up and fight the tiger."

"The Zhou family's genius is likely to decline from this point on..."

After listening, An Zhengzheng seemed to be deep in thought, but she didn't neglect her own business.

At the entrance of Dongfeng Ferry.

"The girl is very kind, it's just a matter of making a decision... Hey, girl!"

Hu Jiu was serving soup to Zhao Liu when An Zhengzheng walked in.

He was somewhat uneasy: "Miss, Zhao Liu has come to see me..."

“This…” Zhao Liu stood up abruptly, slightly surprised for a moment.

Although he heard from Hu Jiu that An Zhengzheng was disfigured, he didn't know that the scars actually covered half of her face.

She was originally a very stunning female cultivator...

"It's alright. I'll release the tiger to suppress it. Your cultivation level is too low to control the shop."

An Zhengzheng was telling Hu Jiu the truth: if someone came up to steal or rob, Hu Jiu would have no chance to fight back.

As he spoke, he released the tiger. In its normal state, it was only the size of a tiger cub, about the size of a dog, still a child.

But he was very well-behaved, keeping his eyes down and saying nothing.

"Keep the talisman on your person, it can't hurt you." This is a protective talisman that An Zhengzheng drew by hand as the owner.

Hu Jiu accepted it, trembling.

Afraid of frightening the guests, Hu Jiu took it to the backyard with some fear.

An Zhengzheng also went there and instructed it, "You can't eat the spirit beasts in the backyard, understand? They're everyone's food. If you eat them, everyone will be left with nothing."

The little tiger scratched its head, it was hard to tell whether it understood or not, but it went into the small cage anyway.

After giving her instructions, An Zhengzheng was about to leave when Zhao Liu stopped her.

As expected, she wasn't surprised.

"Miss," Zhao Liu imitated Hu Jiu's greeting, stammering, "I...I wanted to ask if you're still hiring?"

Ever since he left Dongfengdu, nothing he did has been interesting.

He went to his usual gambling den, clutching some spirit stones given to him by An Yirou, and was about to gamble heavily.

He just didn't know why, but gambling felt completely pointless, and he suddenly realized that, based on his past experience, almost none of the spirit stones he had thrown in would come back.

What's the point of betting now!

For the first time ever, he didn't place a single bet and actually left.

They're gone! Even the casino staff were surprised.

This was something he himself couldn't believe, after all, he had gambled away his entire fortune and couldn't recover it.

Later, when he really didn't know what to do, he thought about finding some odd jobs, but his skill level was too low and no one wanted him. The jobs that did want him were too hard for him to do.

I bought some meat and, thinking of Hu Jiu, came over to complain to him, but unexpectedly I ran into An Zhengzheng.

"I can offer a contract, but you can talk to the second master. The entire backyard of Dongfeng Ferry is intended for planting spiritual plants and raising spiritual animals, and it's not enough for Hu Jiu to manage it all by himself."

An Zhengzheng plans to raise more, since there's already an extra tiger.

"Siyue Gate is closed today. Yirou will come. You can wait a little longer."

"...Thank you, young lady."

An Zhengzheng did not reject Zhao Liu's arrival.

She burned incense for three months during the Qingming Festival; without a good intention, it wouldn't have been able to be inspired.

What's more, there's also the mutated tiger to back us up.

She gently turned the Buddhist prayer beads on her wrist, and as she crossed the river from the east, she was stopped again.

She was so easy to stop today.

Upon looking up, it was indeed Zhou Yu'er.

Actually, when she heard Dong'er and Zhao Xin gossiping, she felt that Zhou Yu'er, that love-obsessed girl, was going to come looking for her again.

That's true.

"...What is this?"

Zhou Yu'er must have stopped cultivating for a long time. Last time Zhou Xu blocked the road, An Zhengzheng didn't pay much attention to her.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that she had only improved her cultivation level slightly since the new disciple trial.

A girl from a family of cultivators, nurtured by elixirs, talismans, and magical artifacts, should not behave like this.

Zhou Yu'er looked much more haggard, but her eyes widened little by little the moment she saw An Zhengzheng.

The long, deep scar stretched from the corner of her eyebrow to the corner of her lip, looking quite out of place on her clear, cold, and beautiful face.

"An Zhengzheng, you really...you're really disfigured!"

Everything in the jade slip is true!

An Zhengzheng: "...Hmm."

Good heavens! She was trying her best to ignore the joy in Zhou Yu'er's tone.

But why do I feel so uncomfortable?

The prayer beads on my wrist are practically spinning like wheels of fire!

This time, Zhou Yu'er's temper was noticeably better.

“An Zhengzheng, I’m sorry for what I did to you before,” she said softly. “Could you go and see my cousin again?”

"..."

"Do you want to listen to what you're saying?"

An Zhengzheng was extremely indifferent.

But to An Zhengzheng's surprise, Zhou Yu'er did not go crazy this time.

She even pleaded somewhat humbly, "But this time it's really tough for my cousin! An Zhengzheng, I know you're a good person. During the trial, you took the lead in protecting me and Song Juan, and later you also encouraged me to try my best..."

An Zhengzheng found it very strange: "...Then why did you treat me like this back then?"

These words made Zhou Yu'er very embarrassed.

But she still insisted, "An Zhengzheng, just this once."

Two girls were talking on the street when a three- or four-year-old child walking towards them suddenly started crying.

He hugged his mother: "Her...her face is so scary..."

The child saw An Zhengzheng's injured left cheek.

The woman quickly turned the child's head to the side and whispered soothingly, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid..."

"You're a man, a man doesn't cry easily, you can't act like a little girl..."