Yuan Qi pretended not to hear and ignored Xiangli Youming.
Xiangli Youming waited all the way but didn't receive a reply from Yuan Qi. She wondered if women these days had become so cold-hearted.
Wen Zhujun was like this, and Yuan Qi was also like this.
Yuan Qi could see that Bai Sicheng and Wen Zhujun were unmoved, proving that he was indeed a cold-hearted person.
He wondered if, when he came of age to propose, the young girl would dismiss him as easily as Wen Zhujun had done.
Xiangli Youming was depressed the whole way. By the time they got back to the big locust tree where they had set up their stall, it was already past noon. Xiangli Youming asked Zhang Liu for two bowls of noodles and silently ate them with Yuan Qi.
After finishing his noodles, Yuan Qi kept staring at him: "Why aren't you leaving yet? Are you trying to steal my business and set up a fortune-telling stall here too?"
"Set up a stall?" Xiangli Youming pondered. Why not set up a stall and do some small business too? That way, he would have a reason to spend every day with this girl.
"Can I set up my stall next to yours?" Xiangli Youming asked directly.
Yuan Qi was terrified and immediately replied, "No!"
Xiangli Youming gave a dejected "oh" and stood up: "Then I'll go back first."
Zhang Liu, who was standing to the side, had already figured it out. He smiled and said nothing, silently handing over a pot of tea and placing it in front of Yuan Qi.
The tea was coarse, but for a family like Zhang Liu's, it was still a luxury.
There was no business all afternoon, no one was doing fortune-telling or drawing lots, so Yuan Qi packed up early and went home.
She released Wen Zhujun as soon as she entered the Peony Residence.
Wen Zhujun was a talented woman who had been cultivating for a hundred years after her death. As soon as she came out, she felt that the spiritual energy here was very rich, much richer than that of a place like an academy.
Green Bamboo and Red Fir couldn't see Wen Zhujun. The two of them served Yuan Qi as usual, washing his hands and bringing him a plate of sliced melon.
Green Bamboo said, "Miss, this is a melon that was just delivered from the estate today. It's very sweet. Please try it."
Wen Zhujun looked around and found the Jiang residence to be extremely luxurious. She sighed, "As expected of a noble family with a history of hundreds of years, it exudes extravagance from the inside out. Even an outsider like you can live in such a nice place. Back then, my wedding room with the princess was far inferior to this."
"Compared to Xiangli Mansion, my place is nothing. I'll take you to Xiangli Mansion another day to broaden your horizons; that's true luxury." Yuan Qi didn't mind her looking around freely; there was nothing here that couldn't be shown to others.
Green Bamboo and Red Fir looked at each other, overjoyed. Green Bamboo said, "Miss, would you like to take me to the Xiangli Mansion to broaden my horizons?"
Yuan Qi's face darkened. She had forgotten that Green Bamboo and Red Fir couldn't see Wen Zhujun and assumed she was talking to them.
“I brought back a friend, and I’m talking to her. You can go down and get me some bamboo sticks and wire.”
Green Bamboo and Red Fir felt uneasy and exchanged a glance as they stepped out of the house.
Redwood asked, "Miss brought back a friend, but I can't see him. Can you see him?"
Green Bamboo shook her head like a rattle-drum: "I can't see it either, is it... a ghost?"
The two felt a chill run down their spines and quickened their pace to escape the area.
Yuan Qi ate two pieces, wiped his hands, sat down at his desk, and picked up scissors and yellow paper.
Wen Zhujun asked curiously, "What are you trying to do?"
Yuan Qi replied without looking up, "I'll make you a body so that even if you work in the underworld in the future, you'll have a place to live. Don't worry, I'll try my best to make it look good."
Wen Zhujun smiled faintly and flipped through the Taoist books on her table: "Actually, I don't really want to work in the underworld. The spiritual energy here is very strong, so it would be good to cultivate here as well."
“You seem to have no desires or wants.” Yuan Qi felt that the other person was somewhat like her, indifferent, not caring much about anyone, and single-mindedly thinking about cultivating immortality.
"Seventh Sister!" Jiang Jiulu walked in with light steps, her face beaming with joy. She ran straight to her desk. "Why are you always running around? I can't find you when I need something."
Yuan Qi raised his head and asked, "What do you want with me?"
“My maternal grandmother’s birthday is tomorrow, and my aunt said she would take a few of us with her. I was thinking that you haven’t been anywhere since you came back, and no one knows that the Jiang family has a little seventh child, so I wanted to take you with me. My aunt agreed. I wanted to tell you right away, but I came to see you in the morning and you weren’t there in the afternoon. I ran into Green Bamboo while I was out, and she said you had just come back. So I came here.”
With a big smile, she asked, "Are you going or not?"
Although the Li family was not one of the four great families, it was still a prominent family. Concubine Li was the legitimate daughter of the main wife and was quite popular in the capital.
Yuan Qi looked up and saw that Jiang Jiulu's face showed signs of encountering a villain, so he agreed: "Go, I have nothing to do anyway, so I'll go have some fun for a day."
Jiang Jiulu was very happy to see Yuan Qi cut out a paper figure in a few strokes. The head and limbs were very smooth, and the shape was simple but very cute.
Why are you cutting this?
Yuan Qi didn't hide anything: "This is called a puppet. It can help me do things. If you add eyes and a mouth, and give it some power, it can walk, run, and jump."
As she spoke, she picked up a cinnabar brush and quickly dotted the eyes and mouth. With a flick of her fingertip on the head, the paper figure stood up and clasped its hands in a salute.
Jiang Jiulu's eyes lit up: "Wow, it really can move!"
Yuan Qi tilted his head and ordered, "Go see what Xiangli Mingzhu is doing."
Jiang Jiulu watched in astonishment as the little paper figure jumped off the table, walked step by step to the door, and climbed out. She was speechless with surprise.
"This is much more convenient than sending servants to investigate. Good sister, can you give me a few?" Jiang Jiulu really wanted them, and she clasped her hands together, bowing and scraping.
Yuan Qi cut out another one, but without drawing eyes and a mouth. He simply touched the paper figure's head with his fingertip, imbuing it with spiritual power, and handed it to her: "Use it only when necessary, not for ordinary matters. When you want to use it, bite your fingertip, draw eyes and a mouth with your blood, and tell her what you want to say. She will then come to me."
Jiang Jiulu carefully picked it up, looked at it from left to right, and was overjoyed: "Great, thank you, Seventh Sister! I understand what you mean. You want me to use it when I need to ask for help in a crisis, right?"
Yuan Qi hummed in agreement.
Jiang Jiulu ran off in a flash, and soon returned with a small box, which she placed directly in front of Yuan Qi.
Yuan Qi took a look and saw that it was a box of golden melon seeds!
That's quite an extravagant move.
"!"
Wen Zhujun snorted sourly, "Superficial! A Taoist priest actually loves these gold and silver things, how superficial."
Yuan Qi hummed a little tune with a smug grin, her mouth practically splitting into a wide grin. Just as she was about to put the golden melon seeds away, Green Bamboo and Red Fir returned, bringing with them a lot of thin bamboo sticks and wire.
Green Bamboo asked, "Miss, are these alright?"
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