Chapter 132 Giving You a Knife Tassel (Bug Fix): The sky was high and the clouds were light, the setting sun was molten gold, turning the bluestone path in front of us golden, and walking on it...
The sky was high and the clouds were light, the setting sun was melting gold, and the bluestone road in front of us was bathed in golden light, making the shadows of people walking on it appear long.
Su Wenxin carried a basket of lotus roots and walked deeper into the alley. The lotus root skins, which had been washed clean, were still covered with water droplets, and a fresh lotus root fragrance wafted along the way.
With the recent withering of lotus leaves, it's the perfect time to dig up lotus roots. In addition to selling lotus roots by the boatload, the town's residents are also researching various ways to cook them.
The lotus root feast, a specialty of the Tea Town Restaurant, is incredibly popular, attracting diners every day.
Su Wenxin had seen them once, and comparing the two, she still preferred the lotus root and pork rib soup she made herself. With a plate of stir-fried lotus root, it would be enough for two people for a meal.
The two cultivators didn't need to eat grains, and for the first few days, neither of them thought to cook, completely forgetting about the existence of the kitchen.
One day, the old lady next door knocked on the door and brought over a hot meal, saying to Xi Congshuang, "If you can't cook at home, go eat at the neighbor's. I'm not rich, but I can afford to add a couple more pairs of chopsticks."
He added, "And your younger sister, she's still growing, you can't let her starve herself just to save money."
Su Wenxin: "..."
Starving myself?
It is true that one grows physically, but one does not need to eat grains to grow physically. Instead, one can grow physically by drawing upon spiritual energy and filling the spiritual veins with it.
Having understood the meaning behind the old woman's words, Xi Congshuang was both amused and exasperated, and promised the old woman that she would not just eat dry food to fill her stomach.
The old woman, not seeing any firewood coming from next door, assumed the two young women were just going through the motions and living on dry rations—and that was certainly one explanation.
The kitchen, which had been neglected for so long, finally had a day to be used for cooking.
After this incident, Xi Congshuang's image as a shrew and stingy person became even more deeply ingrained in people's minds. When buying vegetables at the market, he would arbitrarily raise the price for her regardless of her youth, selling them to her at the price for regular customers.
What if she thinks it's too expensive and the price isn't right, and goes back to eating dry food? Wouldn't that mean missing out on a chance to make money?
The people of the tea town are simple and honest, and the town has abundant products; they would never mistreat someone with an eye ailment.
More than one accidental thing happened, and the Feixian Palace was getting anxious as they couldn't find anyone for a long time.
The elders were worried that something might happen to her outside, so they added a few more details to help identify her and increased the reward.
The brokerage owner, not giving up, sent messengers to various places, this time also carrying a portrait.
The person in charge still said, "No."
Those stingy tenants can't even afford to eat. Besides being all women and having poor eyesight, how do they meet the above criteria?
Besides, the portrait also says that the person in the portrait is very powerful, but the tenant is neither very powerful nor of high status.
Aside from accidentally driving away the ghost hiding in the house at the beginning, she didn't do anything earth-shattering worthy of her power, which is completely contrary to the common people's imagination of immortals.
She can't fly, and she has to earn money to buy groceries and cook for herself.
The brokerage manager was kicking himself, but the promise had already been made and he couldn't go back on his word.
The most important thing in doing business is integrity. If you ruin your integrity, who in the surrounding area would want to do business with you? He told himself every day that he could just endure it for half a year.
As for why they couldn't recognize the person in the portrait...
It can only be said that at this stage, the level of artists' portraiture is still at the level of freehand rather than realistic. After many copies were made and passed down, the details also changed due to the different levels of artists.
Even if Xi Congshuang stood in front of the portrait, she might not recognize herself in it.
The trail went cold again, without Xi Congshuang's knowledge.
Looking back on the past, Su Wenxin found it amusing and quickened her pace toward home.
"Oh, what a coincidence, Miss Su! Is your sister home?"
Su Wenxin was stopped by someone. She turned around and saw a woman in bright red and green clothes, with a round face like a full moon and smiling eyes.
Everyone in town knows her; her surname is Feng.
Su Wenxin didn't know her before and thought that her dressing like that was just a personal preference. Later, after learning that she was a matchmaker, she understood why she dressed like she was getting married every day.
It's normal for someone who helps others celebrate happy occasions to dress like a bride; it just looks festive.
Su Wenxin stopped and shook her head: "She's not home. She was invited by a wealthy man from the next town to go exorcise a ghost."
Madam Feng: "Catching ghosts? What ghosts?"
Su Wenxin: "My sister didn't go into details. She said the ghost died a bloody mess. Children shouldn't listen to that. I won't be home later. I'll boil some bathwater to cleanse the air and then go to the rich man's house to pick up my sister."
"..."
The more the girl carrying the basket talked, the more unsettling it seemed to Madam Feng. A cool breeze in the early autumn evening gave her goosebumps all over her body.
"Stop talking, stop talking, Miss Su, please stop." Madam Feng rubbed her arms and hurriedly walked away. "Next time I come to see your sister, please tell her that I've been here."
Su Wenxin smiled: "Okay." She wouldn't actually say that.
Having gotten rid of Madam Feng, Su Wenxin returned home in the setting sun. Pushing open the door, she found Xi Congshuang standing in the middle of the yard, directing a group of paper figures to sweep the floor.
The paper figures were divided into two groups. One group swept up the fallen leaves under the grapevines in the yard, while the other group of paper figures came over with winnowing baskets on their heads, shoveled up the fallen leaves, and poured them into bamboo baskets.
The yard is clean and tidy again.
Xi Congshuang turned around upon hearing the voice: "You're back. What's for dinner today?"
Su Wenxin stepped over the paper figures with brooms on their heads, and said the menu, adding, "I asked someone for the recipe for lotus root starch cake. I'll make it tomorrow. Let's try it and see if it's good."
Xi Congshuang: "Okay."
Others find housework strenuous, but Xi Congshuang finds it wasteful to do it, as paper is the most frequently used material in her home.
Actually, what outsiders say about Xi Congshuang being stingy and not pampered is not true at all. When no one is around, she still retains her pampered nature and will resolutely avoid doing anything herself if she can avoid it.
The paper figures scattered here are the best evidence.
Su Wenxin carried the basket into the kitchen, lifted the lid of the water tank, and then realized that a lot of water had been used and there wasn't enough for cooking today.
I forgot to fill it up completely; I'll just fill it up for now and deal with the immediate crisis later.
She straightened up, preparing to fetch water from the empty wooden bucket, when she bumped into Xi Congshuang, who was strolling in behind her.
She reached out and put her hand on Su Wenxin's shoulder: "Where are you going?"
Su Wenxin: "The water is used up, I need to go get some more."
Xi Congshuang held out her hand: "I'll do it."
Su Wenxin handed over the wooden bucket: "The paper figure will get wet, so you can't use it to fetch water."
Xi Congshuang: "..."
She pursed her beautifully shaped lips slightly and said unhappily, "I will learn how to make puppets sooner or later."
Su Wenxin: "Sister, do you still remember that you are a formation cultivator?"
To avoid the effort of fetching water, is he planning to switch to puppet cultivation?
Xi Congshuang: "I remember."
After saying that, she picked up the wooden bucket, turned around and left the kitchen. Standing by the well, she skillfully turned the well wheel and drew a bucket of clean water back.
The courtyard wasn't large, but every detail was deeply imprinted in Xi Congshuang's mind. Whether her eyes were open or closed, she could walk to the kitchen, stepping over the high threshold without a single mistake, and entering the kitchen.
Although there was no difference between having her eyes open and closed, all she saw was emptiness.
Su Wenxin cleaned the water from the bottom of the tank, rinsed it, and made room for Xi Congshuang to pour water in.
Afterwards, she carried the empty wooden bucket to fill it with water again, going back and forth, doing everything herself.
The aroma of lotus root soup gradually wafted from the kitchen. After pouring out a bucket of water, Xi Congshuang estimated the water level and realized that it would take two more buckets to fill the container.
"Wait a minute, don't go." Su Wenxin tugged at Xi Congshuang's sleeve. After a slight clinking of bowls and chopsticks, the person holding the bowl approached her. "Sister, try this and see how it tastes."
She had just tasted it and felt something was off, so she asked everyone to try a piece.
It's too much trouble to wash an extra spoon, so I just use the same one to feed her.
Xi Congshuang lowered her head and took a sip of soup from the spoon: "You can add more salt."
Su Wenxin: "I also feel it's getting a bit bland."
She turned to add salt, while Xi Congshuang continued fetching water.
The water vat was quickly filled. Xi Congshuang stood in the courtyard, touched her wet sleeves, and suddenly remembered that she also needed to fetch some bathwater.
In the past, I sat alone on the high platform, accustomed to the absence of dust in the world, and for me, cleaning my body was just a matter of a simple mantra.
But after doing the cleansing myself, I always felt that the cleansing technique alone wasn't enough; I still needed to take a hot bath to feel completely clean.
The courtyard was filled with the fragrance of lotus blossoms, creating a warm atmosphere, as if the matters of life and death in the cultivation world were very, very far away from me.
Su Wenxin suddenly understood why fairy tales describe fairies as being attached to the mortal world, disliking the celestial realm, and always secretly descending to the mortal world.
In the past, if she were a fairy, she would have liked to descend to the mortal world, to live a simple life with the person she loved, sharing meals and seasons.
But she knew very well that this was impossible.
Xi Congshuang stayed because her cultivation level was insufficient and her strength was inadequate.
Although she is at the Golden Core stage at a young age, she doesn't have much practical combat experience. If she were to go to the battlefield of the Immortal-Demon War with such cultivation, it would be a disaster.
Leaving aside whether the resentment generated by the deaths of too many cultivators would affect her state of mind and thus create inner demons, she might not even be able to handle the hardships she encounters on the road, and might even implicate Xi Congshuang.
During the day, Su Wenxin lived like an ordinary person, but at night she would follow Xi Congshuang to places a hundred miles away to find monsters or evil spirits to practice on.
As a result, the local people felt that things had become much more peaceful recently, but little did they know that every night someone was carrying a knife and sweating profusely.
Xi Congshuang prepared the water for her bath and heard Su Wenxin outside the door say, "Dinner is ready. Wash your hands and come eat."
"Okay, coming right away." Xi Congshuang washed her hands by the well, then used her spiritual power to dry her wet sleeves before leisurely coming over.
I don't feel at all that I'm doing this unnecessary thing.
With the recent cool weather, Su Wenxin moved the eight-immortal table from the main room and placed it in the courtyard, not far from the grape trellis.
Su Wenxin said, "The grapevines on the trellis seem to be dying. Will they be able to survive the winter?"
Xi Congshuang knew that Su Wenxin liked this place. She didn't say much, but she could sense it from the details of their shared life: "Yes."
With her around, not only can we survive the winter, but we can also live to the end of time.
Su Wenxin didn't know how to grow grapes, and her fire spirit root meant she couldn't use her spiritual power to revive a grapevine. She could only burn it, so she didn't know that the grapevine she loved was being maintained by someone.
One person served rice and another ladled soup, then they sat down and ate by the bright sunlight streaming into the courtyard.
After dinner, the two played rock-paper-scissors. Su Wenxin lost, so she had to clean up the dishes. She squatted down and used her spiritual power to control the loofah that the old lady next door had given her to wash the dishes.
Knock knock knock.
Someone knocked on the door, and Su Wenxin went to open it. A teenager came over with money and asked her to help him write a letter to send to his parents who worked in the city.
Su Wenxin let the child in, and using the old octagonal table that hadn't been moved back, she spread out paper and pen, listened to the child's halting retelling, and after mentally refining it, began to write.
It was also because Xi Congshuang always liked to order the paper figures around, and paper was the most used material in the house. Unable to explain why so much paper was needed, Su Wenxin had no choice but to take on a part-time job writing letters for others to earn money.
The paper that was wasted before was said to be used by Su Wenxin to practice calligraphy. Thanks to this part-time job, Su Wenxin's calligraphy improved by leaps and bounds, from being pieced together to flowing and elegant. She even earned some money.
I put down my pen, dried the ink, folded the letter, and put it in the envelope.
The child put down the copper coin in his hand, took the letter, and left happily. Su Wenxin saw him to the door and peeked outside.
Watching the child skip and hop back home, step back, close the door, and turn to ask, "Where are we going today?"
Xi Congshuang held a jade slip in her slender fingers, reading it for amusement.
She had already taken a bath and came out, her black hair hanging down to her waist, completely dried by her spiritual energy. She shook her head and said, "Seeing how hard you've worked today, don't go out tonight, get some rest."
Su Wenxin hit the nail on the head: "You've been lazy."
She walked over to the stool next to Xi Congshuang and sat down.
Upon hearing this, Xi Congshuang smiled faintly and said, "You guessed right, so I'll reward you with something."
"What will you reward me with?" Su Wenxin was curious when she saw her other wrist, hidden in her sleeve, turn and reveal a white jade pendant with a red tassel in her open palm.
Upon closer inspection, the white jade was carved into the shape of a Qilin, its head held high, exuding pride.
Su Wenxin: "When did you buy this?" She reached out to take the thing from her hand.
Xi Congshuang closed her hand, holding Su Wenxin's fingertips and not letting her take them away: "What do you mean by buying it? I made it myself."
This is a piece of spiritual jade, which Xi Congshuang found in her Qiankun sleeve when she had nothing to do. Anything in her possession must be a good thing.
But good things depend on who uses them. Xi Congshuang couldn't use them for the time being, so she thought of Su Wenxin.
She originally intended to take the jade unicorn to a jewelry shop in town to have a tassel made for it, since the jade unicorn was not ordinary jade and was not easily broken, so she didn't need to worry about it being damaged.
As she approached the door, Xi Congshuang suddenly remembered that she should be honest and upright, and that taking out a spirit jade would easily attract attention.
With her frugal persona deeply ingrained in people's minds, she received a lot of care from the townspeople, and Xi Congshuang felt a rare pang of guilt.
When the manager of the jewelry shop asked her what she wanted, she could only touch the tassels closest to the door and say to the shopkeeper, "I want to find someone to teach me how to braid tassels. I'd like to ask the shopkeeper."
The shopkeeper immediately and very enthusiastically gave her directions, and even had the shop's idle little manager, who was so busy swatting flies, escort her to the embroiderer's door.
Upon hearing this, Su Wenxin couldn't help but burst out laughing. The more she listened, the more she laughed, until she lost her balance and fell onto Xi Congshuang's lap, continuing to chuckle silently.
Xi Congshuang's helpless voice came from above: "I thought, since I'm already here, I have no choice but to stay and learn how to weave tassels."
Su Wenxin could imagine Xi Congshuang sitting in front of a table piled with embroidery threads, exploring the various distinguished threads as the embroiderer spoke.
Turning her head to the side, Su Wenxin rested her head on Xi Congshuang's lap and watched as Xi Congshuang raised her hand, which was clenched into a fist, revealing a glimpse of a red tassel.
My heart ached; I was clearly very happy, yet I had an urge to cry.
"Fortunately, it's not difficult to learn this. It only took a little effort. Is it good or not?" Xi Congshuang said casually.
Finally, she let go of Su Wenxin's hand and took the things from her.
She is blind and can only rely on touch to remember the order and techniques. The embroiderer who taught her said that she has a talent for learning quickly, and she thinks she must be good at it.
At least the woven tassels feel firm to the touch and don't come apart easily.
Su Wenxin held the knife tassel, still warm from her palm, firmly in her hand, her gaze focused and deep.
"It's beautiful. It's the most beautiful tassel I've ever seen."
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Damn menstrual cramps and migraines, never mind, I'll just post two chapters first.
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