The mansion was silent. The servants and maids lowered their heads and worked on their tasks with mysterious expressions. When they heard a sound, they only glanced up briefly and then immediately lowered their heads again. The atmosphere was weird.
After turning a long corridor, the servant led Lou Ji, Yuan Jiang and the others into the main hall. Through the screen, bursts of coughing sounds like a flute or a bamboo cracking could be heard, one after another, as if they were going to cough out the lungs, and in the end, only hollow gasps were left.
"Cough—cough cough! Cough—cough cough cough..."
The servant lowered his head, not daring to glance inside, and said in a respectful and gentle tone, "Master, Young Master Lou is gone with his friend."
"Please bring in Mr. Lou." Li Zhengzhi's voice seemed to be pulled out hoarsely from the depths of his chest, dry and harsh.
Yuan Jiang's thick, curled eyelashes slowly drooped. She glanced at her slightly bulging sleeves and felt the ginseng demon jumping up and down on her sleeves. She frowned slightly, calmly placed her other hand on this hand, and held down the ginseng demon.
Lou Ji pursed his thin lips, as red as peony, and walked into the inner room under the guidance of the servant.
Li Zhengzhi was seen sitting on the bright red bed, looking like a dried-up branch, with prominent cheekbones, sparse white hair clinging to his scalp, and his old and tired face covered with age spots and wrinkles.
His fingers, covered only with a layer of skin, were clenched into fists and pressed against his lips. His knuckles were swollen, and his whole body trembled when he coughed, as if he would faint at any moment.
From Li Zhengzhi's body, Lou Ji saw a strong aura of death.
If Li Zhengzhi had not eaten the human ginseng that had transformed into a spirit every now and then to keep himself alive, he would have died long ago.
Li Zhengzhi's lips turned pale, and he asked in a hoarse voice, "Master Lou, have you caught that ginseng demon?"
Lou Ji said expressionlessly, "He ran away."
"What!?" Li Zhengzhi was stunned and asked excitedly, "That ginseng is only ten thousand years old, how could it slip away from under Master Lou's nose!"
In Jiangnan City, any ginseng that's over a thousand years old would be sent to the government office. Yesterday's ten-thousand-year-old ginseng was the best of the best! As long as he could take it, living two more months wouldn't be a problem!
But now! He actually ran away with that demon?!
A sweet taste came out of Li Zhengzhi's throat, and then he started coughing with a dark face, as if he was going to cough out his lungs!
Lou Ji straightened his back, his cold, hard, and sinister face expressionless, and he looked at Li Zhengzhi as if he were looking at a dead person.
His long eyelashes were separated at each root, and the curve was beautiful and resilient. His pure black pupils reflected Li Zhengzhi's face which was slightly distorted by anger.
He said a faint "hmm" and frowned, "A fairy who has cultivated for a thousand years can already transform into a human form. A fairy who has cultivated for ten thousand years is even more powerful. They are filled with spiritual energy, which is abundant because of at least ten thousand years of cultivation."
"Master Lou, I certainly know all this!" Li Zhengzhi clutched his chest, his eyes wide open as he spoke excitedly and earnestly, "I'm willing to pay one hundred taels of gold if you can capture a ginseng demon that's over ten thousand years old for me!"
Lou Ji's eyes were dark, like a calm, deep lake. His meaningful gaze fell quietly on Li Zhengzhi's face full of desire and longing. He gently raised the corner of his lips, and a hint of coldness flashed in his eyes.
With a half-smile, he said, "One hundred taels of gold? Master Li is willing to spend it."
Li Zhengzhi's expression froze. If it weren't for Lou Ji's identity, he would have been so angry that he wanted to pick up a teacup and smash it at him. How dare a mere demon hunter talk to him like that?!
But now he had something to ask of him, and Lou Ji was the head of a family of monster hunters, the Lou family's young master. He could only swallow his anger and put on a flattering smile: "Others wouldn't be worth this price, but since Young Master Lou is personally catching monsters for me, I can't treat him unfairly."
"Come here, prepare dinner for Master Lou. We must serve our distinguished guest with food and drink!"
After the words fell, Li Zhengzhi said with an annoyed look on his face: "Mr. Lou, how about having dinner with me?"
Lou Ji stared at Li Zhengzhi with his dark, moist eyes, and said with a forced smile: "Then I'd rather obey your command than be disrespectful."
Jiangnan is a land of fish and rice. The rice is plump and fragrant, and the dishes are even more bizarre. A table full of eighteen delicacies is delicious and mouth-watering.
Li Zhengzhi was ill and abstaining from certain foods, so he did not attend the meeting and asked his housekeeper to serve him.
Lou Ji only tasted a few mouthfuls of the Longjing shrimp soup and stopped eating. Instead, he walked around the dining room, his sharp, dark eyebrows frowning downwards, a hint of ambiguous darkness flashing across his eyes.
Yuan Jiang had a huge appetite and ate two bowls of rice in a row. Jiang Yingyue couldn't help but chuckle, "Brother Yanxi, look at her. She looks like she hasn't eaten at all. She's such a petty person!"
Li Yanxi was startled for a moment, then quickly raised his eyes to glance at Yuan Jiang. The tips of his ears, which were hidden by his black hair, were red as blood, but he said nothing.
Jiang Yingyue frowned irritably when she got no response, and was about to question Li Yanxi when Yuan Jiang sobbed:
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