The plum rain season in Zhongnan is in June and July.

It's a rare day with no rain and bright sunshine.

The air at Lanxi Lin's Manor, located between two green mountains, is cool after a fresh rain.

Lin Wenruo walked briskly along the winding and quiet corridor with a smile on his face.

Passing by clumps of grass and trees, and towers.

Suddenly, Lin Wenruo stopped on a corridor. There was a pond outside the corridor, and a round mahogany box filled with bait was casually placed on the railing.

Lin Wenruo reached out and grabbed some bait, then casually sprinkled it into the lake.

"master."

A tall woman in black clothes and a headband with a pendant appeared behind him at some point and was bowing her head.

"Tell me something."

Lin Wenruo lowered his eyes and looked at the red carp gradually gathering below him, and threw some bait down.

The woman in black said respectfully, "Master, we still haven't found the old man in plain clothes. It's as if he appeared out of thin air. However, we found the third person who participated in the Confucian-Taoist debate at Chongxu Temple. He should be Qingyuanzi, the senior brother of Qingjingzi. According to the informant, he quietly went up Mount Taibai at midnight last night and is now in Chongxu Temple."

Lin Wenruo paused for a moment and turned his head. "Qing Yuanzi? Is he the romantic Taoist priest who likes to chat with the famous scholars of Zhongnan Kingdom? I remember that he had left Zhongnan Kingdom before I went to the academy."

The woman in black nodded. "It's him. I sent someone to inquire outside. After he left Zhongnan Country, he traveled around the surrounding countries, but he suddenly disappeared three years ago. I heard that he seemed to be in seclusion somewhere to practice."

Lin Wenruo narrowed his eyes slightly, "I heard? It seems? You are just giving me an answer based on hearsay?"

The woman in black hurriedly said, "Master, please forgive me! I will go and find out everything I can right now!"

But then, the woman in black sweated and lowered her head and said, "Master, because of the blockade of the Sikou Mansion on the mountain, the transmission of information is very slow. It takes a lot of time to go back and forth between the two places. It often takes ten days or half a month for the people sent out to get a reply..."

Lin Wenruo's face turned cold. He turned around and looked at the red carp gathered in the pond. He kept saying, "Regarding the debate between Confucianism and Taoism, we cannot make any mistakes. Otherwise, we will be doomed. Use all the channels of the family to investigate, at any cost."

"I obey your command!"

"What else?"

"Master, the second master went out early this morning and took his luggage to live in the city."

Lin Wenruo frowned, "I understand."

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, "By the way, Xiu Mei, how many women are there in my backyard?"

The woman named Xiu Mei was stunned when she heard this. "At the beginning, the master asked us to arrange them at will, so I selected eighteen women to help the master take them into the room. I have carefully checked them and they all have clean family backgrounds and good looks..."

Lin Wenruo interrupted with a gloomy look on her face: "Okay, I get it... Don't leave them without food, clothing and money. Is there anything else?"

"Master, the public opinion in the city is very unfavorable to us now. Should we intervene?"

Lin Wenruo chuckled, grabbed a handful of feed, raised his hand and let it all fall into the pond. Countless red carp rushed out one after another, gathering at his feet like a boiling red tide.

"The people are like the red carps in this pond." The man said slowly, "and the debate between Confucianism and Taoism is to decide who is the only one who can stand on the shore and feed the fish."

"Don't worry about it. The most important thing for us right now is the debate between Confucianism and Taoism."

…

Zhao Rong took Su Xiaoxiao to Luojing City for fun.

After walking for about half an hour, we left Lanxi and joined the bustling crowd.

Luojing is located on the most fertile plain of Zhongnan Mountain. The people in the city are generally wealthy, which can be seen from their clothes.

This is probably why they like to discuss state affairs and talk about Taoism. After all, everyone is idle after eating, so they always have to find something to do, such as keeping their mouths busy. Zhao Rong's evaluation of them is that they are just talking nonsense.

Zhao Rong feels very strange now.

Because he found that there was something wrong with Su Xiaoxiao.

Didn't I just steal a piece of fruit from you? Why didn't you say a word along the way?

Zhao Rong was a little panicked.

After all, the bloody history tells him that the oppressed will either explode in silence or die in silence.

Ever since he said hello to Lin Wenruo in the morning and came out, snatched away the red fruit that Su Xiaoxiao had picked with great difficulty but had not yet had time to eat, and told her that they would stay in Luojing for a while, Su Xiaoxiao gradually calmed down.

Zhao Rong glanced at Su Xiaoxiao who was sitting a little bit to the left without leaving a trace, and saw that she was still silent, and this time she looked a little different from usual when she was angry.

In the past, if she was bullied and made angry, she would bite half of her red lips, turn her head away and not look at him, and sulk by herself. If the situation was more serious, she would turn her back and wipe away her tears secretly, thinking that no one could see.

But now she has a cold face and is not interested in anything. She didn't even raise her eyelids when she passed by a bookstore with grand decoration. When she walked on the road, she only occasionally gave way to pedestrians on the left and right, who followed closely behind her.

From Zhao Rong's perspective, her pretty face, which was already very beautiful, now looked particularly cold because it was tense, while her seductive fox eyes, with the corners slightly raised, overflowed with an unconcealable charm.

The combination of coldness and charm made Zhao Rong feel breathtakingly beautiful the moment he turned around.

Aloof and abstinent?

Zhao Rong frowned.

If it keeps going on like this...it seems like it's not bad. At least I don't have to worry about you being cheated away by someone with just a piece of candy. Well, that's good, Su Xiaoxiao, keep it up, you can do it.

Zhao Rong's brows relaxed and he nodded, feeling a great sense of accomplishment that he had successfully transformed a silly, middle school fox demon into an abstinent and cold fox fairy.

The moment Zhao Rong turned around, Su Xiaoxiao suddenly raised her eyes and glanced at him, subconsciously bit her red lips, then opened her mouth slightly, wanting to speak, but stopped halfway, thought about it, and turned her head away stubbornly, not looking at him.

The two of them walked on the street, each with their own thoughts, through the crowds of people and headed towards the south of the city.

At a certain moment, the two passed by a small vendor who was setting up a stall. After Zhao Rong walked a few steps, he suddenly stopped and turned around.

Su Xiaoxiao lowered her eyes and did not notice that Zhao Rong in front of her had turned around. She continued to walk forward without stopping. After walking for thirty or forty steps, at a certain moment, she subconsciously looked up and suddenly found that Zhao Rong, who had been in front of her, had disappeared.

At this moment, Su Xiaoxiao was standing in the crowd, surrounded by an endless stream of people. She looked around hurriedly, spinning around in a hurry, like a panicked deer, and found that she had been abandoned.

The indifference just now was instantly shattered by his disappearance.

Her face turned pale and she started calling out for Zhao Rong, but no matter how loudly she shouted, in this noisy crowd, it was like a lonely pantomime, performed quietly without causing a single ripple.

Until the girl gave up struggling, thinking that he might really not care about her and had forgotten her.

Her slender body gradually stiffened and she squatted down slowly.

But the next second, a hand with bruises all over the back stretched out from the crowd.

Su Xiaoxiao felt her left shoulder being tapped gently. She turned around and saw a bright red fruit next to her shoulder. She turned her head and looked behind her, and what she saw was a face that was full of resentment and that she was thinking about.

Su Xiaoxiao turned around in surprise and saw Zhao Rong eating a fruit and handing one to her.

Su Xiaoxiao quickly grabbed the corner of Zhao Rong's clothes with both hands, looked at Zhao Rong with pleading eyes, as if she was afraid that the bad guy in front of her would abandon her and leave alone in the next second.

Zhao Rong asked curiously, "What are you doing?"

After saying that, he shook the fruit in front of her.

"Oh oh." Upon seeing this, Su Xiaoxiao quickly raised her head, took a bite with her white teeth and red lips, and it was so tender and juicy.

But the next second, seeing the strange look in the eyes of the man in front of her whose clothes she was holding, the little fox demon suddenly felt embarrassed. She hurriedly let go of her hand, held the fruit in both hands, lowered her head and took another bite, then couldn't help but look at him again.

The voice timidly said: "You, where have you been?"

"Buy this." Zhao Rong looked curiously at Su Xiaoxiao, who had slightly red eyes and a pale face in front of him. She was lowering her head and staring at the fruit. He gestured to the half-eaten fruit in her hand.

"I took Su Huxian's things this morning, and I'm feeling uneasy. Master Su Huxian is very generous, so please don't be angry with me anymore."

Su Xiaoxiao's heart trembled. She didn't dare to look up at him. She stared blankly at the fruit in her hand, which still had a few drops of fresh dew on its surface.

"Let's go, stop daydreaming." Zhao Rong walked forward and waved his hand back. Su Xiaoxiao raised her head and followed with light steps.

"This fruit isn't as delicious as the ones you picked this morning, what do you think?"

"Ah, they're all delicious."

"Oh, I forgot. I ate the one you picked this morning, and you haven't tasted it yet."

Su Xiaoxiao: “…”

"Let's pick more before we leave. We have to pluck the landowner Wen Ruo carefully."

Su Xiaoxiao opened her eyes wide, "Ah, you're not leaving with him?"

Zhao Rong's face darkened. "Who am I with him? What weird things are you thinking about all day long?"

Su Xiaoxiao's tone became lighter, "So, you don't like him?"

Zhao Rong took a deep breath and said, "Su Xiaoxiao, your Liao Zhai is gone."

Strangely, Su Xiaoxiao didn't care about this at the moment, or rather, she couldn't care about it. She had more important questions in her mind, "Zhao Rong, where did you go last night? Didn't you have a private meeting with him?"

Zhao Rong stopped.

"Stop pinching me, you bad guy, it hurts, wuwu..."

Su Xiaoxiao's voice changed.

"First, he and I are normal friends. There is nothing beyond the friendship between men. Su Xiaoxiao, if you dare to tarnish my innocence again, I will prevent you from seeing the moon tonight."

"Mmm." The little fox demon's face was pinched by two big hands and her words were unclear.

“Nod or shake your head.”

The little fox demon nodded quickly like a chick pecking at rice. Her little face was pulled even more painfully, but she did not feel uncomfortable. Instead, she felt a little happy in her heart.

"Second, how did you know that I went out last night?"

"Mmmmm."

Zhao Rong loosened his hands.

"Well, I was afraid that you had fallen asleep in the medicinal bath again, so I got up at night to check on you, but you were not there... I went to look for you, and found you... you and him were being intimate in the pavilion, well, your faces were touching."

She still remembers the scene last night. After witnessing that scene, she turned around and ran without saying a word. She didn't know why she ran. It was just that her heart felt like a red fruit in her hand, which was bitten gently by someone. It was such a strange feeling. Later, she went back to bed and thought about it for a long time before she fell asleep in a daze. She thought she could leave immediately when she woke up in the morning, but the bad guy told her that he had to stay for a while because he had important things to do... She felt that these were all excuses made by men.

My grandmother said that men love to make excuses for what they do.

Thinking of this, Su Xiaoxiao asked suspiciously, "Zhao Rong, is it normal for men to be friends with each other face to face?"

Zhao Rong slapped his forehead and said, "What the hell is going on? We were just whispering at that time, okay? Why are you having such a weird perspective?"

Just as Zhao Rong was about to speak, he suddenly heard a loud sound of gongs and drums coming from the crowd in front of him.

Zhao Rong stopped and retreated to the side of the road with Su Xiaoxiao. He took a closer look and saw someone in front of them ringing a gong to clear the way. A luxurious sedan chair was carried by more than 20 people, with silk curtains on all four sides, each side a different color. He could not see who was inside, but outside the sedan chair, there were hundreds of servants following, most of whom were Taoists in blue. In front of the sedan chair was a group of Taoist children, who were arranged in an orderly manner, holding various Taoist ritual objects in their hands, and marching in unison to clear the way. Wherever they passed, some people splashed talisman water, and some threw talisman paper to the crowd, attracting everyone to grab them.

Zhao Rong looked a few more times and heard a few words from the people around him, such as "Master State Master", "Pure and Pure Son", "The Immortal performed a ritual to pray for Zhongnan", etc. He raised his eyebrows, then stood by the road waiting, tilted his head and continued to talk to Su Xiaoxiao, and roughly explained to her the misunderstanding of last night.

Su Xiaoxiao was still a little suspicious, "Then I'll find a lock to lock your door tonight, and you are not allowed to go to see him again."

Zhao Rong's eyelids twitched. Looking at the little fox demon in front of him with an expression that said "I'm doing this for your own good", he felt helpless. Why did he have the same feeling as when he ran out of the house in the middle of the night and was caught by his parents on the spot? Well, he remembered that his parents also mistakenly thought that he was in a relationship.

Zhao Rong said worriedly, "Don't sleep in the next day and lock me in..."

Zhao Rong had just said half of his words when a cry of surprise suddenly exploded in his heart, as if an evil dragon in a deep pool had raised its head, shocking his soul and making his heart tremble.

"Thundering Purple Gold Furnace!"

Zhao Rong frowned.

Gui hurriedly said, "It's the Thundering Purple Gold Furnace. I'm not mistaken. The little Taoist boy is holding the Thundering Purple Gold Furnace!"