Chapter 120: Chaos erupts at the family reunion...
Zhang Xuan laughed upon hearing this, but the boy's laugh was strange and puzzled. "Bullying?"
“What you said is quite interesting, young lady. She is clearly asking herself who she is. I was just going along with her and guessing.”
"What, you dare to ask, but not to listen to the answer?"
His words were calm, even with a hint of mischief. Zhang Xuan was not someone who cared about gender or age. He valued the strength and character of the person in front of him more than gender or age.
To put it simply, he has a bad temper. He always feels that people who deserve to be beaten should be beaten no matter what, and people who deserve to be scolded should be scolded even if they die.
Li Ruoxin was so angry at his attitude that she gripped the hilt of her sword tightly. She saw that more and more people were coming into the pavilion, especially after Zhang Xuan said those nonsensical things. The number of onlookers was increasing, including cultivators and mortals. It was no longer a small matter.
The woman first gave the waitress a look, signaling her to drive away those who were not involved.
Today's events have been chaotic enough, but the jewelry store still needs to open for business tomorrow.
After considering the situation, Li Ruoxin looked up at Zhang Xuan and the others and said, "To be honest, we were in the wrong first today because we didn't explain the matter of the fan to the two young ladies."
"This jewelry store is indeed a property of the Li family, but I am not clear about the specifics."
"Even so, it is not the behavior of a gentleman for this young master to press against a weak woman in public!"
Zhang Xuan was about to speak when he suddenly realized, "The Li family? The Li family of Qingzhou?"
Behind him, Qingyu whispered, "Tsk, the cousins are getting tense when they meet."
Lin Fanxiang glanced at her, Qingyu smiled, and then put her arm around her to watch the show.
This fan I bought today was really a great deal!
Li Ruoxin was somewhat confused. The woman looked Zhang Xuan up and down, feeling that he looked familiar, but she couldn't remember him for a moment. "I am indeed from the Li family of Qingzhou. May I ask who you are?"
Zhang Xuan paused, "I..."
"Why won't you come in when the door is open?"
A clear yet questioning voice rang out, and everyone looked in the direction of the voice. Qin Tianshu and Wen Chuan walked in, and behind them was a tall young man who also seemed to be a sword cultivator.
As they walked, Qin Tianshu said, "Look, your cousin is over there."
Looking at the person in front of him, the young man asked, puzzled, "Sister?"
Li Ruoxin looked at Zhang Xuan in shock, "Cousin?"
Lu Zhitao turned her head and met Wen Chuan's gaze directly at Cai Cai, who was in his arms. The woman screamed in panic and hid behind Li Ruoxin.
"Ugh, what an ugly chicken!!!"
"Meow—"
Suddenly, a meow rang out. Lin Fanxiang looked up and glanced at the door. Looking at the young man who exuded nobility, the woman said with a hint of surprise, "Uncle!"
Zhang Xuan: "Uncle?"
Li Suheng glared, "Call me uncle!"
Cai Cai nestled in Wen Chuan's arms and glared angrily at Lu Zhitao, "Goo goo goo gaga gaga!!!"
Qingyu chuckled, "It's really lively."
...
The second floor of Linglang Pavilion.
This was a rare, spacious hall, originally intended for sale, but Lin Fengdu felt it wasn't suitable. He believed the first floor of Linglang Pavilion was enough for selling goods; the second floor should be used as his resting place.
That's right, Lin Fengdu is the true master of Linglang Pavilion.
At the table by the window, Lin Fanxiang and Lin Fengdu sat facing each other. Not far away, at a horizontal table, Zhang Xuan and Li Suheng also sat facing each other, acknowledging their kinship. At the corner of the hall, the Li siblings and Lu Zhitao were talking together.
Oh, Qin Tianshu, Qingyu, Wen Chuan, and Cai Cai, they were standing by the window across the street, leaning against it and laughing as they talked about what had just happened and what they were going to eat later...
Lin Fanxiang looked up at Lin Fengdu, but the girl remained silent.
Lin Fengdu could tell at a glance that the child was angry. He stroked the cat and smiled.
“The Li family are shareholders of this jewelry store. You know that Xuzhou City is close to Qingzhou, and the Linglang Pavilion here is managed by people from the Li family. It’s normal for misunderstandings to occur.”
Lin Fanxiang pursed her lips, "What's normal about it?"
Lin Fengdu said helplessly, "Fan Xiang, it's my fault for not doing it right. It won't happen again."
It's all Li Suheng's fault. He said he couldn't stand the sight of him today.
How did he raise his child?!
Lin Fanxiang looked at Lin Fengdu and remained silent for a moment, then felt a little wronged. "Uncle clearly said that the 'Ling' in Linglang Pavilion is the 'Ling' in Ling'an, and that it was an industry prepared for me. You've been telling me this since I was little."
"Today I just wanted to buy a fan, but I was told it was either a custom order or not for sale. They're clearly making a fool of me."
"Regardless of who the owner is, how can this jewelry store open for business if it treats its customers like this..."
As she spoke, she finally whispered, "Uncle, why don't you just give the jewelry store to the Li family? I won't benefit from it anyway."
When she was little, her parents were busy with their own things and rarely saw Lin Fanxiang, so she got used to their way of life. But Lin Fengdu was very good to her. He told her about the outside world from a young age, and every time he came back from outside, he would bring her fun things, take her to the streets to play, help her identify medicinal herbs, and let her eat delicious food.
Even back then, when he carried her, a tiny baby, to the Linglang Pavilion in Shengjing, he told her that this jewelry store was a property prepared for her. He whispered in Lin Fanxiang's ear that wherever little Fanxiang went after leaving Shengjing, she would have beautiful clothes and jewelry—
Xiao Fanxiang will leave Shengjing.
Xiao Fanxiang will live a good life, wherever she is.
...
In Lin Fanxiang's eyes, her uncle was like her real father.
She had always been a gentle person with stable emotions, but today, when Li Ruoxin and the female shop assistant bluntly told her that Linglang Pavilion was a Li family business, she still felt somewhat aggrieved.
Lin Fengdu listened helplessly to her angry words, and then felt that what had happened today was really absurd. He said gently to Lin Fanxiang, "Don't be angry, your uncle will give you an explanation."
"The fan you've taken a liking to is made of mermaid tear silk and thousand-year-old black silver. It's imbued with demonic energy and is unusable by ordinary people. It's just a non-sale item that's kept there."
“Perfect timing. Your friend is a demon, so it’s perfect for her. Consider it a gift from me to her.”
“I came back from Danzhou a few days ago and brought back some ice silk from there. I was thinking of having the craftsmen make some ornaments first, and then I would send them to you later.”
"Uncle was thinking, how about making a round fan in the same way, one for each of you girls?"
"Don't be angry, your uncle hasn't seen you in a long time."
...
There's tender family affection over there, and relatives recognizing each other over here... it's a mix of indifference and warmth.
Li Suheng looked at the two knives at Zhang Xuan's waist, and the man chuckled, "Which is better, the Frost Moon Blade or the Blood Moon Blade?"
Zhang Xuan: "...The knives my uncle forged are all good ones."
"Of course... Hey, stop talking nonsense."
Li Suheng asked bluntly, "You're seventeen this year?"
The man looked Zhang Xuan up and down and found that it really was true that the nephew resembled his uncle. His own children all looked like their respective mothers, but he didn't expect that his eldest nephew would look so much like him. With his handsome eyebrows and the temperament of a sword cultivator, he was very satisfied with him no matter how he looked at him.
Zhang Xuan: "Hmm."
Li Suheng: "..."
His death looked just like his father, Zhang Xingwen's.
Zhang Xuan didn't mean it on purpose; it's just that he didn't remember anyone named Li Suheng. His mother passed away when he was three, and the Li family rarely sent anyone to visit. Coupled with what had just happened, the boy was still somewhat resentful.
Linglang Pavilion originally belonged to Fan Xiang. At the very least, the owner should be Uncle Lin, not Li Shi.
Li Suheng, however, gave a "perfect" explanation for this.
“I’m busy with forging every day. I only gave a heads-up about Lin Fengdu asking me to invest in the silver shop. Your older cousin is in charge of the details. Maybe the people below are confused when they do things. Your younger cousin is also young and doesn’t know any better. She mistook her own family’s business for his.”
"The clerk doesn't know, but the manager does. When you guys were making a scene, the manager was reporting the accounts to your Uncle Lin. This whole thing was just a misunderstanding and a coincidence."
On the surface, Li Suheng is the head of the Li family, but he is a person who is obsessed with making artifacts. Basically, the family business is managed by his eldest son, Li Ruoliang. He doesn't know the specifics, but he knows the basics.
The reason I came to Xuzhou this time was because Lin Fengdu said that a black iron ore had been discovered here, and asked me to come and check it out.
Zhang Xuan: "Then... it's unfair to the real owner of this jewelry store."
"Tsk, how can you be so silly... Alright, I'll have your cousin apologize to Miss Lin later. She's young and a little naive, but she's not a bad person. It'll prevent you cousins from having any grudges over this."
Zhang Xuan nodded, and the boy smiled, looking even more like Li Suheng.
Or rather, it was Li Suheng in her youth.
...
Qingyu held Caicai in her arms, while the woman leaned against the window, watching the lively scene of relatives recognizing each other on both sides, and yawned.
Wen Chuan looked down at her, "Are you sleepy?"
Qin Tianshu turned his head to look at them, "Are you sleepy from arguing?"
"...You're the one who's sleepy from all the noise,"
Qingyu touched the vegetables in her arms, and the woman smiled and said...
"I was just tired of watching all that noise and commotion over the fan... By the way, how did you guys meet Li Ruojun?"
Wen Chuan smiled, took the vegetables from Qing Yu's arms, and gently explained what had just happened—
Linglang Pavilion is not owned by the Li family, but the largest blacksmith shop in Xuzhou City is indeed owned by the Li family, and it is bustling with blacksmiths forging, tempering, and polishing.
Zhang Xuan led them there by the way. After a few words, he said he was hungry, but he didn't know where Qingyu and the others were. Zhang Xuan offered to go find them. They had been walking together for so long, and he knew that Qingyu and the others liked to go to jewelry stores, clothing shops, flower shops, and markets, so he could guess their general directions.
So Zhang Xuan left, just as the boy, gripping the hilt of his knife, brushed past Li Ruojun.
Later, Wen Chuan overheard the blacksmith bowing to Li Ruojun and learned that he was from Qingzhou and also surnamed Li. After thinking about it, he figured that he must be Zhang Xuan's maternal relative.
Just then, Li Ruojun saw them and took the initiative to ask them what they needed. After a few exchanges, they naturally learned each other's identities, and Li Ruojun simply followed them to find Zhang Xuan.
As for Lin Fengdu and Li Suheng, Wen Chuan initially only sensed the presence of highly skilled cultivators nearby, never imagining they were the elders of Lin and Zhang, and even less did he expect their arrival to be so coincidental...
They gathered in groups to recognize relatives and shouted incoherently.
Qingyu smiled, her eyes crinkling, and said in a relaxed tone, "It's fortunate that we're relatives, otherwise, given the scene just now, it would have caused a scene sooner or later."
Qin Tianshu: "You guys are the same, making a fuss over a fan. We even heard people talking about it outside when we arrived."
Qingyu clicked her tongue lightly, and then the woman said,
"There was a demonic aura on that fan, so I naturally paid more attention... The root of today's matter is that the person in charge of Linglang Pavilion is muddle-headed and doesn't even know who the owner is."
"I feel sorry for Fan Xiang. How can a real host be treated like this?"
As they were talking about the fan, a servant silently carried a tray up to the second floor and quietly and respectfully presented the round fan to Qingyu.
"Today, our Linglang Pavilion made a mistake. Our master said that this fan will serve as an apology."
Qingyu lowered her eyes and glanced at the round fan. The golden-red lotus and the cool, dark silver were colors and styles she liked. The sea demonic energy hidden within it pleased her even more.
She first looked up at Lin Fanxiang across from her, and they happened to make eye contact. Fanxiang smiled and winked at her gently, indicating that she should take it.
Seeing this, Qingyu smiled and said, "In that case, I don't need to be polite."
The woman held the fan handle in her slender hand, quietly admiring the lotus flower on the fan surface. She then savored the demonic aura emanating from the fan ribs; a cool, refreshing sensation spread out. Gently, she looked up at Wen Chuan and Qin Tianshu beside her and smiled happily.
Is it pretty?
...
"Wasn't it supposed to be a non-sale item? How did it end up in that witch's hands..."
Lu Zhitao muttered, her expression still somewhat unconvinced. Li Ruoxin, standing to the side, remained silent, feeling utterly humiliated today.
"Stop talking, you're both in the wrong today."
Li Ruojun frowned as he looked at the two of them, especially Lu Zhitao, who was simply being ridiculous.
The Lu family was a renowned family of array cultivators in Qingzhou, but a few years ago, something happened, and the entire family had no one capable of managing things, so they gradually declined.
Who would have thought that one day his silly little sister would inexplicably become best friends with Lu Zhitao, and the Lu family would also become more assertive, claiming that they had the Li family as their backer. Although they didn't do anything bad outside, they still liked to show off their power.
Just look at today! Not only has he lost face, but his character has also become questionable!
Li Ruoxin hung her head dejectedly, her voice muffled, "I know, I was wrong."
Li Ruojun sighed, just in time to see Lu Zhitao lower her head and remain silent. The young man gritted his teeth, about to say something to her, when he heard Li Ruoxin take a few steps forward silently, protecting Lu Zhitao, and say...
"Oh dear, it was our fault, Third Brother, please don't scold us, we'll apologize."
Li Ruojun: Silly little sister! All you ever do is protect your little sister!
Lu Zhitao, standing to the side, also lowered her head and remained silent. She first sensed Li Ruoxin's protectiveness towards her, and then subtly curled the corners of her lips into a disdainful smile. Afterward, she took Li Ruoxin's sleeve and swayed it slightly, displaying a touch of arrogant coquettishness, but her eyes were still glancing at Qingyu out of the corner of her eye.
She was just being unreasonable; of all the people she could have given the fan to, why did she have to give it to that vixen...
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