Cousin
“A little,” Zhang Ronghua said modestly.
Qing’er’s beautiful eyes lit up. She had found a chance to take revenge and deliberately provoked, “Do you dare to compete again?”
“It’s not good to touch someone else’s thing without Master’s permission, right?”
Qing’er hesitated for a moment before remembering that the zither belonged to Ji Xueyan.
The Go board was fine as it was specially prepared for them.
However, the zither was her private property. The body of the zither was made of a thousand-year-old Dragon Tree, and the strings were the tendons of a flood dragon. It was priceless. If it was broken, the compensation was a small matter, but the punishment was huge.
Just as he was about to say forget it, the Crown Prince and the others appeared behind him.
Ji Xueyan said, “Don’t break it.”
“Thank you, Miss Ji!” Qing’er thanked her.
After obtaining permission, she stared at Zhang Ronghua. Her gaze seemed to be saying, “If you’re a man, compete again.”
“Forget it.”
“Young people should have the vigor of young people,” the Crown Prince said.
This time, there was no chance to reject. Zhang Ronghua agreed.
“I’ll let you play first,” Qing’er said.
“You won’t have a chance if I attack.”
“Then I’ll wait and see.”
Zhang Ronghua did not decline anymore. He walked to the soft cushion and sat down. There was a fresh fragrance left on the cushion and her unique body fragrance. When mixed together, it smelled very good.
He stretched out his ten fingers and landed on the strings.
He pressed the strings with his fingertips and his fingers were agile as he bounced up.
The tune was simple. It was the “Early Morning” that was widely circulated in the capital. Different people played it with different effects, but in his hands, it was almost noon. The intent brought about by the sound of the zither seemed to have just arrived in the morning. The sound was beautiful, and the intent was even more delightful, causing people to be immersed.
Although Ji Xueyan’s zither skills were high, they were a little lacking. It was impossible for people to fuse into the intent of the tune and bring about a mental impact.
However, Zhang Ronghua’s music was perfect and flawless.
Qing’er’s zither skills were even inferior to Ji Xueyan, let alone compare to his.
The song ended.
Zhang Ronghua stood up from the soft cushion. “I’ve embarrassed myself.”
“I’m inferior to you!” Qing’er admitted generously.
“My zither skills are not too good. As long as you cultivate diligently, you’ll reach my realm sooner or later.”
After lunch in the Grand Tutor’s Mansion.
The Crown Prince left. As the Crown Prince, his schedule was filled every day. He had a clear plan of when to do something.
Zhang Ronghua led the team back to East Palace. The Crown Prince gave him half a day off so he changed his clothes and could not wait to rush to his new home in the Vermilion Bird Workshop.
The deed was with Zheng Rou. Last night, she had said that they wanted to see what the mansion looked like.
When he arrived at number 102, Zhang Ronghua knocked on the door. The person who opened the door was a young man in black clothes. He was about the same height as him, but his facial features were relatively ordinary. His gaze was sluggish, and he looked like he was not very smart.
His name was Zheng Fugui, the only son of his uncle.
Born with divine strength, boundless strength, and extremely strong talent in martial arts, he learned everything quickly. He was already at the tenth level of the Connate Realm at a young age and would soon break through to the Grandmaster Realm.
The heavens opened a door for him and closed another.
His brain was his only weakness.
As long as he treated one as a friend, no matter what was ahead, even if it was a mountain of knives or a sea of flames, he would rush over without any hesitation. In his life, there had never been the word “afraid”.
However, he listened to Zhang Ronghua obediently. Such respect was gained from a display of strength.
“Cousin!” Zheng Fugui opened his arms and was about to hug him.
The two of them were a step apart. No matter what, he could not take a step forward and was stunned on the spot by the aura emitted by Zhang Ronghua.
Bang!
Rewarding him with a knock on the head, Zhang Ronghua said, “I don’t like this.”
He retracted his aura.
Zheng Fugui recovered and said with a long face, “I’ve already cultivated so hard, so why am I still not your match?”
“While you’re working hard, so am I. Right, why are you here?”
“Uncle said that the Crown Prince had rewarded you with a luxurious house in the Vermilion Bird Workshop. I wanted to see what the luxurious house looked like, so I followed.”
“Where’s my father and the others?”
“Uncle and Aunt went back and asked me to tell you that they’ll keep the house deed for you and hand it to their daughter-in-law when you get married.”
“…” Zhang Ronghua was speechless.
He closed the courtyard door.
He patrolled the mansion and entered and left three times. The layout was decent. The front and backyard were planted with expensive flowers and trees, the floor was golden-patterned bricks, and there was an artificial lake with some ornamental fish. Beside it was a rockery.
After seeing the entire estate, Zhang Ronghua was very satisfied. The Crown Prince had invested a lot this time.
“Did you see the Serene Heart Lake?”
“Not yet.”
“Let’s go take a look!” Zhang Ronghua called out.
The Serene Heart Lake was built by the Imperial Court with a huge sum of money. Ordinary people could not enter unless they were residents of the Vermilion Bird Workshop.
He left through the side door.
After taking a few steps, he arrived at the Serene Heart Lake. It occupied a huge area and was surrounded by flowers and plants. It was lush and colorful, and they bloomed competitively. Eight wooden paths were set up on the lake and connected to the pavilion in the lake.
The lake water was clean and one could see the bottom at a glance.
The fish raised here were not ornamental fish, but all kinds of edible fish that could be fished to pass the time.
“Isn’t this too beautiful?” Zheng Fugui’s eyes widened.
He stared at him passionately.
“Cousin, are the Flood Dragon Guards still short of people?”
“What do you want?”
“After entering the Flood Dragon Guard, won’t the Crown Prince reward a luxurious house?”
There was nothing wrong with this sentence. Only he could say it.
“Go get two fishing rods. We’ll eat fish tonight,” Zhang Ronghua said.
“What fishing rod do you want? Isn’t it easy to eat fish?”
Zheng Fugui took off his clothes and jumped in.
“What a sin!”
Soon.
He grabbed a grass fish that weighed more than ten kilograms and smashed its head.
“Get the fishing rod!” Zhang Ronghua’s face darkened.
Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Zheng Fugui could only do as he was told. He put on his clothes and used a little time to bring over a fishing rod and some flour.
Zhang Ronghua ignored him. This place was so good. Wouldn’t it be a pity not to fish?
He mixed the flour with water and made it into bait before casually fishing.
At night.
The pot of fish stew was finished by the two of them.
Zhang Ronghua said, “Aren’t you going back?”
“I got Uncle to send a message to my father. I’ll stay with you for a period of time.”
“Up to you.”
After entering the master bedroom, the bedding was all new. The Crown Prince had considered it very well. Zhang Ronghua sat on the bed and cultivated the “Profound Heaven Treasure Mirror”. It was a top-notch Heaven-rank method and had already been cultivated to the Technique Close to the Dao Realm.
He did not have a better cultivation method now and could only continue to cultivate and polish his true essence.
The night passed.
Today, he could rest for another day.
He moved a chair over and placed it in the courtyard to read under the morning sun. There were many books. He was not picky in this aspect and cultivated his body and mind to polish himself.
Zheng Fugui woke up early and practiced his fist in the courtyard like a fool. He did not know exhaustion and only stopped at noon when he was hungry.
“Cousin, let’s go out to eat! You moved to a new house. I’ll treat you as a celebration. Let’s go to the Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant on Vermilion Bird Avenue to eat a big meal.”