Seeing that she was still in the mood to tease him, Zheng Quchi immediately began to flatter her: "Because you are beautiful and kind-hearted, and most importantly, if you don't want to save me, why bother to enlighten me? Just tell me to drag it out until I end up coughing up tuberculosis and die from it?"
Although her words were very agreeable, the middle-aged woman still corrected her: "My name is Mei Ruoling. You can call me Aunt Ling. Don't call me 'sister' anymore. I don't want to be a generation below Old Mu."
Zheng Quchi readily agreed: "Okay, Aunt Ling."
No elder dislikes a charming and sweet-talking junior. Moreover, when it comes to being a sycophant, looks matter too. Zheng Quchi's apple-shaped face naturally exudes liveliness and cuteness.
Mei Ruoling's eyes softened with helplessness after initially being icy. She sighed softly, "I won't abandon you. I will continue to help you recover. Old Mu talked to me about this before, and I promised him, but..."
"only?"
Mei Ruoling suddenly looked at her seriously: "You just said that you feel you owe Lao Mu a favor that you can't repay, right?"
Although Zheng Quchi's face sometimes appears to have a kind of innocent foolishness, she is actually very perceptive and clear-headed. She understood Mei Ruoling's unspoken meaning and said, "If there is anything you need me to do, Aunt Ling, just say the word. I will do whatever I can without hesitation."
Mei Ruoling was greatly pleased by her straightforwardness and admired her even more.
“Okay, I want you to participate in the Jichun Craftsmen's Guild and do your best to enter the finals to fulfill Old Mu's wish.”
Jichun Craftsmen's Guild?
Zheng Quchi knew this, of course. Uncle Mu had told her that he hoped she could go with him.
But what does this have to do with wishes?
Zheng Quchi asked, "What is your wish?"
Mei Ruoling said, "This is a long story."
"You don't know, Old Mu is not from Ye. He comes from a family of craftsmen. From a young age, he followed his father and grandfather in many civil engineering projects. He had already mastered many carpentry skills in his youth... Later, in order to further improve his skills, he apprenticed with the Kingdom of Kucha to learn how to make weapons, woodworking, and mechanics. In his youth, he also created many useful tools..."
Mei Ruoling said.
Among the disciples he apprenticed under, there was a senior disciple who possessed an innate ability to comprehend things that he could never match. In terms of craftsmanship, they were taught by the same master, but that senior disciple always mastered the skills a step ahead of him.
Gradually, Muko, who was proud and arrogant, began to develop a skewed mindset.
He was extremely jealous of the other person, and this feeling grew stronger day by day until it eventually turned into a state of madness.
He wanted to ruin his senior's reputation.
Therefore, at the triennial Jichun Craftsmen's Guild Grand Meeting, that senior brother should have made it to the finals based on his real skills, but because Mu Ke switched his work, he was eliminated by the conference.
Just as Mu Ke had predicted, that senior brother fell hard from his high position and suffered a great blow, never to recover.
Muko was initially secretly pleased with himself, but as time went on, he matured and his thinking changed.
Especially after learning that the senior student already knew that he was the one who did it, but did not think of exposing or blaming him.
Seeing that once-proud son of heaven reduced to his current state, a belated conscience and guilt weighed heavily on him, making it hard to breathe.
He didn't dare face that senior brother.
Years later, Mu Ke was ready and signed up for the Jichun Craftsmen's Guild. He specially invited his senior apprentice to join as well, feeling that he had let him down and wanting the two of them to work together to return the glory that had been lost to him.
His senior brother understood his feelings and agreed.
However, they encountered a formidable opponent: Zuo Mo, a master craftsman from the Southern Chen Kingdom.
During the match, Mu Ke was ambushed by his opponent. His senior brother not only disregarded past grievances but also sacrificed his life to save him, ultimately resulting in one death and one crushing defeat.
This devastating news completely broke Muko, and he was overwhelmed by regret and frustration.
He completely bid farewell to his past, changed his name and came to the State of Ye, where he became the official Mu Ke.
But Mei Ruoling knew that Mu Ke harbored resentment and extreme unwillingness about the past. He dreamed of fighting back for himself and his senior brother, and reclaiming the life and honor that Zuo Mo had taken from him.
But he also knew that he was ruined, completely ruined. He was terrified of woodworking. Over the years, he had not only made no progress, but had actually regressed, while Zuo Mo's reputation was growing. He was afraid that Zuo Mo's woodworking skills had far surpassed his own.
Even if he were to join the Jichun Craftsmen's Guild again, he would only be humiliating himself.
His despondency and loneliness permeated almost every day, but one day, when Mei Ruoling saw him return, he was a completely different person.
He mentioned a young girl named Sang Xuanqing, his face beaming with joy, as if he had encountered a genius, and he spoke at length about her spirituality.
She knew that he had finally found his purpose for the rest of his life.
He placed all his hopes on the boy named Sang Xuanqing.
Later, she learned that Sang Xuanqing was not a boy, but a girl, but what did it matter whether she was a boy or a girl?
After recounting Mu Ke's past, Mei Ruoling was no longer the aloof person she had been before. She said to Zheng Quchi, "Therefore, I hope you can go to the Jichun Craftsmen's Guild to fulfill his grand ambition, which is also his last wish."
After listening, Zheng Quchi finally understood why Uncle Mu had always taken such good care of her, and she also understood where the occasional sadness and regret in his eyes came from.
She was about to reply to Mei Ruoling, who was waiting for an answer, when she was interrupted by a chilling, sharp voice from behind.
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