Autumn had long since arrived in Chang'an, but suddenly a trend of drinking wine by the mountains, appreciating flowers under the moon, and enjoying crabs arose in the city.
The restaurant was unusually quiet. Freshly brewed tea was placed on the table, and next to the teacups was a white jade bottle with a few delicate red flowers inserted at an angle. A green orange hung on the incense burner in the corner, and wisps of smoke rose slowly from the burner, filling the entire restaurant with a sweet fragrance.
Chenxiang lay on the large fish tank, staring intently at the fish swimming around inside. But what attracted him was not the fish's beautiful tails, but rather the strange red shrimp with their claws outstretched.
Whenever he touched the translucent barrier with his hand, the shrimp lying at the bottom of the fish tank would swim with their tiny segments, slowly following his finger, seemingly unaware of their fate.
"Tap tap tap... tap tap..."
"Tap tap tap... tap tap tap tap..."
The rhythmic sound of chopping vegetables came from the backyard, but before a cup of tea could be brewed, the sound of utensils being overturned and smashed filled the entire backyard:
"Splash—splash!"
The sounds from the backyard stopped again, and after a while, the familiar "thump, thump, thump" sound of chopping vegetables rang out again, but this time it sounded inexplicably irritable.
Mo Xuan, who was leaning against the front door, twitched his ears, leaned closer mysteriously, and whispered to Chen Xiang:
“Chenxiang, do you know who has offended Madam Xu these past few days? If you count carefully, this is the seventeenth chopping board Madam Xu has broken in three days! In the past, I only saw that Madam Xu was kind to everyone, and I never saw her get angry with anyone. You are her junior brother, so she will definitely not be angry with you. Why don’t you go and test her?”
Chenxiang paused, glanced towards the kitchen, and shook his head firmly.
"If Senior Sister doesn't want to talk about it, I won't ask. Those cutting boards are not sturdy enough. Tomorrow I'll go to the mountains to pick some good trees and chop them down to make a new cutting board for Senior Sister."
"Why can't you be more flexible, you little brat? Can't you see that something serious has happened? Not to mention that Madam has ordered the shop to be closed and not to receive any customers these past few days, she has only cooked a handful of times. She hasn't said what happened, she's just been huddled in the back cutting radishes and cabbages by herself..."
Mo Xuan was so anxious that he grimaced.
“My wife has a very regular daily routine. She gets up every morning to study new recipes, and she does this every day without stopping. In the days since you came, have you ever seen her be lazy in her cultivation?”
Chenxiang frowned, a thoughtful look appearing on his baby face, making him look unusually serious.
"Senior Sister has never slacked off in her training, and these past few days... I haven't seen her practicing breathing exercises under the moon."
"That's exactly right!!"
Mo Xuan slapped his thigh and gestured towards the kitchen. Despite having a fairly handsome face, he looked somewhat shifty-eyed.
"From what I can tell you, my lady must be troubled by something very difficult to say to us. I've been thinking about it these past few days, and the thing a young woman can't talk about with others must be that she's troubled by love!"
"Troubled by love?"
Chenxiang pondered the word for a moment, then shook his head as if he understood but not quite: "That's not good."
"Alas! You are not old enough to know about love between men and women. Romantic love is the most wonderful thing in the world. It's just that my wife is so powerful and beautiful that she is even more beautiful than Chang'e in the moon palace. Yet she still gets troubled by love. I only regret that I don't know the name of that heartless man. Otherwise, I would be willing to be hit by the Great Sage's stick to avenge her."
Mo Xuan shook the rag on his shoulder and said, shaking his head:
"But it won't do if my wife gets discouraged like this. These strange shrimp she brought back a few days ago haven't been cooked yet. If they sit for a few more days, they'll get thin and won't taste good... Cough cough cough, what I mean is, my wife has always loved collecting spiritual fruits and herbs. We need to think of a way to find some to coax her!"
Chenxiang tilted his head and thought for a while, then nodded, seemingly having thought of something.
“I heard from the male fox who delivered vegetables to the store a few days ago that there is an ancient pavilion outside Chang’an Mountain, and on the cliff behind the pavilion, there grows a spiritual fruit that ripens only once every hundred years. Why don’t I go and pick it?”
Mo Xuan immediately replied:
"A male fox? Are you talking about Hu Silang? Very good, very good. I heard that the osmanthus flowers in Wei Garden are about to fall. I'll use a trick to gather all the osmanthus flowers and make them into osmanthus honey. My wife will surely be delighted when she sees it."
Chenxiang shook his head like a rattle drum: "No, my senior sister said that taking something without asking is theft, and she will be angry if she finds out."
"You silly boy, I just praised you for being insightful, how come you've acted stupidly again? You should think about it carefully. The osmanthus blossoms are about to fall, and it would be a waste if they just fell into the mud. Not to mention that Madam Wei openly humiliated his wife. Let alone taking some osmanthus blossoms, we could uproot the tree without any problem. If it weren't for Madam Wei's reputation, that bunch of worm-like demons living in front of the Wei residence would have already wreaked havoc on the entire Wei family!"
Mo Xuan spoke passionately, but he didn't notice that the sound of chopping vegetables had stopped at some point. Before he could continue speaking, he was hit hard on the head.
"What does it have to do with the Wei family that Wei Ying's wife has offended me? I've already said that I should stay away from them from now on. I didn't even accept the apologies they sent, but you still want to drag them into this. When Wei Ying's wife comes knocking on our door, should I see her or not?"
Xu Milu was carrying a basket of chestnuts; she had just used chestnuts to throw at Mo Xuan.
"The cultivation technique I've been practicing these past two days has gone wrong, but it has nothing to do with love or romance. If I see you corrupting Chenxiang next time, I'll turn you into a scoundrel snake, hang you above the well to dry, and make snake meat soup!"
Mo Xuan immediately resumed his playful grin and obsequiously took the basket of chestnuts and placed it on the table: "Madam Xu, I just wanted to share your burdens. I swear to heaven, if I have any bad intentions, may I turn into a giant turtle!"
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