Lin Xuanzhi said, “Go and find an ordinary cup.”
Yan Tianhen took out a cup from the kitchen and placed it on the stone table.
Lin Xuanzhi picked up the wine jar with one hand, then poured wine into the ordinary cup.
He said to Yan Tianhen, “Try it.”
Yan Tianhen had drunk wine with Lin Zhan ever since he was young, so this small cup was nothing to him. He accepted the wine cup and downed it in one shot, and even smacked his lips and nodded before he complimented, “Good wine, this should be Daddy’s favourite Hundred Flowers brew ba.”
Lin Xuanzhi poured another cup of wine into the same cup, tasted it, then nodded and said, “It is indeed the Hundred Flowers brew, and it should be about 50 years old.”
Yan Tianhen’s eyes opened wide; he stared at the wine cup that he had just drunk from that was taken away by Lin Xuanzhi and said, “Dage, I drank from that cup.”
“If you drank from it, then I can’t use it?” Lin Xuanzhi’s att.i.tude was incredibly calm.
Yan Tianhen thought that he was probably being overly sensitive, so much so that he was treating Dage like an outsider.
He didn’t have much contact with Dage before, but now they even share the same bed, so naturally…even if they use the same cup, it should be quite normal right!
Yan Tianhen quickly convinced himself and thought to himself happily: Dage is really getting closer to me.
Ah Bai and Hu Po’s sensitive nose picked up a whiff of the scent, then both of them waggled their b.u.t.ts as they ran over. They had wanted to drink some wine, but they received a knock on their heads from Yan Tianhen instead.
“The two of you can’t drink this. The last time you guys sneakily drank Daddy’s wine the house was almost torn apart.” Yan Tianhen pulled a long face as he said.
Ah Bai and Hu Po recalled how they had acted when they were drunk and appeared to shudder at the thought, but they couldn’t endure their cravings for wine, so they stuck their tongues out and started to act cute in front of Yan Tianhen.
Yan Tianhen couldn’t pull a long face any longer. He thought for a bit, then said, “What about this, if you guys watch the house obediently and wait for Gege and I to come back, I’ll let you two drink some wine.”
Ah Bai and Hu Po thus unwillingly drooped their tails and ran away.
“Are you treating these two tiger cubs as puppies?” Lin Xuanzhi smiled.
Sticking their tongues out and wagging their tails are not gestures that white tiger spirit beasts should be making.
But, if Ah Hen likes this kind of charmingly naive appearance, then so be it.
“They’re still young right now, so no matter what they do it’s okay.” Yan Tianhen thought simplistically, “Right now they’re still in their infant stage, once they go past their infant stage’s nine stars and obtain their demonic beast inheritance, they’ll naturally become super amazing.”
Lin Xuanzhi nodded and said, “Ah Hen’s right.”
Beasts and humans are different. Beasts can obtain the inheritance that has been handed down through generations through their species’ bloodline. Most demonic beasts only awaken their inheritance after they get past their infant stage and only a few could awaken in their infant stage. But some sacred beasts, mythological beasts and auspicious beasts awaken their inheritance immediately after their feet touch the ground — the moment they are born, they would have already become the absolute overlord of beasts in their respective regions!
But the problem is…an infant stage nine stars beast is equivalent to a Hardened Body third layer cultivator, how much time would they have to spend to get to that kind of level!
Who knows when these two white tiger spirit beasts would awaken their bloodline and discover their true ident.i.ty, then they wouldn’t treat themselves as little dogs anymore.
Lin Xuanzhi poured some wine into two of the cups that he had crafted.
“Try this.” Lin Xuanzhi handed one cup over to Yan Tianhen.
Yan Tianhen took a sip. Originally, he had thought that he would finish it in one gulp like he did before, but he didn’t expect that when the rich and mellow glutinous wine had just entered his mouth and touched the tip of his tongue, his eyes would immediately widen一一
Oh my G.o.d, this wine tasted way too delicious! If we say that the aroma of the Hundred Flowers brew just now was quite varied and bland such that its wine flavour was stronger than its flowery fragrance, then now, all the different types of flowery fragrances are suddenly 70% more prominent. Also, each unique flower fragrance would slide over the tip of the tongue one by one; its blandness had transformed into a light flavour and didn’t seem heavy at all. It complimented the wine flavour in the brew very well, and had actually highlighted the inherent qualities of the Hundred Flowers brew.
Yan Tianhen could only feel like he was floating about in a sea of flowers, and when the Hundred Flowers brew slid down his throat and into his stomach, he actually felt that its spiritual Qi was even stronger than before!
Lin Xuanzhi didn’t need to ask any questions. Just by looking at Yan Tianhen’s intoxicated expression, he had gotten his answer.
He smiled and said, “How do you feel?”
Yan Tianhen’s eyes were gleaming. He stretched out his hand with the empty cup in front of Lin Xuanzhi and said, “Dage, I want another cup!”
Lin Xuanzhi gave his head a knock and said, “Little kids like you shouldn’t be too greedy for drinks, don’t forget that we still need to head out later.”
“Okay then.” Yan Tianhen stared at the wine jar that had been resealed by Lin Xuanzhi reluctantly, then licked his lips.
He finally understood why Daddy loved to drink so much.
Drinking was even better than becoming an immortal ah.
Thus, Lin Xuanzhi had inadvertently opened up a new door for Yan Tianhen to turn into a drunk cat1.
After he had regained absolute confidence in Lin Xuanzhi, Yan Tianhen rode on the carriage with Lin Xuanzhi and they drove towards the commercial district.
When the carriage was driving towards the Lin family’s door, quite a few Lin family members saw this special carriage. In the past, when they saw this carriage, scorn of some sort would show on their faces or in their hearts. But now, all they felt was veneration for the person in this carriage, and a bit of fear.
Along their way to the Lin residence’s main door, Lin Xuanzhi didn’t hear any kind of ridicule or mocking laughter.
Yan Tianhen had also noticed this, and couldn’t help but smile as he said, “Those people must have been bowled over by Dage’s handsome display today.”
Lin Xuanzhi couldn’t help but rub his rub his head and said, “Ah Hen, in this world, the strong is king. In the past they ridiculed me, mocked me and insulted me only because I was a good-for-nothing who had hit rock bottom. But now, they dread me and fear me only because I had become a craftsman.”
Yan Tianhen still didn’t have the heart for cultivation. In his past life, it was only when he had been driven to a corner that he finally had the determination to cultivate. The fact that he had trodden onto an unorthodox path had always been a huge worry for Lin Xuanzhi.
So, Lin Xuanzhi grabbed the opportunity to enlighten him, “So Ah Hen, you need to work hard on your cultivation and continuously train to get stronger so that no one would be able to bully you.”
“Dage, the principles behind what you’re saying, I actually understand them all.”
Yan Tianhen said dispiritedly, “I want to cultivate properly as well, but when it comes to this aspect, I have no talent for it at all. Daddy had given me all kinds of elixirs and cultivation methods, but I just couldn’t gather any Qi at all. If even Daddy was at his wits’ end, what else could I do?”
“There’ll be a way.” Lin Xuanzhi said, “Heaven never bars one’s way. My Dantian was destroyed, yet I managed to awaken my craftsman soulfire. Ah Hen shouldn’t feel sluggish and jaded just because you’re momentarily in a bind.”
Yan Tianhen nodded, then looked at Lin Xuanzhi with gleaming eyes and said, “Dage is a craftsman now. Even though no one would dare to attack you in the Lin family, once you’re out of the house, there might be some evil people who would have ideas about you — so I must cultivate diligently and become the world’s strongest person! By then, I would be able to thoroughly beat up anyone who dares to cause trouble for Dage!
When he heard Yan Tianhen’s words that were only filled with the intention of safeguarding him, Lin Xuanzhi felt incomparably pleased and calm.
This Didi of his is so lovable and cute. In his past life, how could he have had the heart to push him away?
Lin Xuanzhi lightly tapped on Yan Tianhen’s face with his finger, then said with a smile, “Then Weixiong would have to thank Ah Hen first, I’ll count on you to protect me in the future.”
Yan Tianhen forcefully nodded his head, yet he felt extremely vexed in his heart: great, he’s blown the cow up to the heavens2. His glib words had escaped the moment his lips touched, but if they really talk about who’s protecting whom, didn’t he still need to rely on his Dage to protect him?
Yan Tianhen was unprecedentedly gloomy as he was filled with sorrow the entire way to the commercial district.
Lin Xuanzhi only looked at him with a smile and didn’t offer any words of comfort. After all, given Ah Hen’s current situation, he probably needed some pressure before he would be compelled to improve.
In this life, Lin Xuanzhi was determined to explore and experience a world that was wider than the one in his past life. He hoped that in this life, no matter where he went, Yan Tianhen would accompany him by his side. Then, that would be true happiness for him.
When they reached the commercial market, Lin Xuanzhi stopped the carriage at a fence by the streets specially set up for transportation beasts to rest. Originally, this mortal horse was extremely afraid of the other transportation beasts that carried the blood of demonic beasts to some extent. But after Lin Xuanzhi smeared some blood that he had gotten from Hu Po on the horse’s forehead, this mortal horse held its head high and puffed its chest out — like it was a regent who was patrolling its territory.
And when other low-level transportation beasts saw this horse that was emitting the odour of a spirit beast, they fearfully avoided it.
It wasn’t just humans, even beasts would oppress the weak and fear the strong.
When Lin Xuanzhi turned around, he saw that Yan Tianhen was already wearing a black bamboo hat.
Lin Xuanzhi was stunned, then he recalled that Yan Tianhen would usually hide his face in crowded places because of his appearance.
Lin Xuanzhi walked over and said, “Ah Hen, you can take this off, you’re not ugly.”
“No, there’ll be kids who’ll cry, and some people would look at me with scorn in their eyes and point fingers at me.” Yan Tianhen adjusted his bamboo hat, then said, “I don’t like to be looked at that way by other people.”
Lin Xuanzhi’s heart ached slightly before Yan Tianhen stuffed a white bamboo hat into his hat that was of a similar design.
Lin Xuanzhi, “…….”
Yan Tianhen resolutely said, “Dage, to prevent people from staring too hard at your face, why not you wear one as well. These are matching hats for brothers, I specially asked an artisan to make these, and they even costed me one tael of silver!”
Lin Xuanzhi was thoroughly amused by Yan Tianhen. He couldn’t help but smile as he wore the bamboo hat on his head.
The light muslin fell and covered his face.
Yan Tianhen looked at Lin Xuanzhi through two layers of muslin, then sighed and said, “It’s over, even without Dage’s face, your charm hasn’t diminished at all and had even risen instead. Now you even have an added air of mysteriousness about you.”
Lin Xuanzhi lightly smacked his head, then pretended to say sternly, “What a bunch of nonsense. Looks like I’ve been pampering you too much lately, you actually dare to make fun of me now.”
Yan Tianhen chuckled a bit, then pulled Lin Xuanzhi’s hand and said, “Let’s go!”
The bazaar was filled with cultivators who were dressed in all sorts of bizarre clothing, so Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen weren’t conspicuous at all. Their getup was considered common here — there would definitely be quite a few cultivators who didn’t want to let others see their faces, so they would carry a bamboo hat around with them out of convenience.
Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen arrived at the lively bazaar, but Lin Xuanzhi didn’t intend to sell his wine cups straightaway. He held Yan Tianhen’s hand and searched for a place to rent while they took a stroll — they looked so very carefree.
Lin Xuanzhi saw a kid tug at his mother and asked her to buy him a stick of candied hawthorn3, then smiled and asked, “Does Ah Hen like to eat candied hawthorns?”
Yan Tianhen pursed his lips and said, “I’m not a kid, I’ve stopped eating that kind of stuff a long time ago.”
Lin Xuanzhi nodded and said, “Un, you’re already thirteen years old, those who don’t know might even think that Ah Hen is already a hundred and thirteen this year.”
Yan Tianhen said, “Dage, it seems like you’ve been teasing me more and more lately.”
“From what I can see, Ah Hen is actually still a kid.” Lin Xuanzhi said.
“Is it because…my hairs aren’t fully grown yet?” Yan Tianhen asked softly.
Lin Xuanzhi casted him a glance, then nodded and said, “That’s probably it ba, but, do you really want to discuss this topic with me in a bazaar?”
Yan Tianhen, “…….”
It really doesn’t seem appropriate to talk about this kind of topic in public ei!
They strolled along the bazaar for awhile but Lin Xuanzhi didn’t see Yan Tianhen take any interest in what they had seen so far. So, he decided to sell the wares that he had crafted a bit earlier then treat Yan Tianhen to a good meal.
Even though this street and its adjacent street was only separated by a single wall, there was a noticeable discrepancy between them.
Overlooking Immortals street only sold items used by cultivators, and the shops there were all opened by cultivators. The value of goods sold on this street were at least measured in silver and they could easily fetch prices measured in gold.
The adjacent Changle street was a market for mortals. The value of the items sold there were at most measured in silver, and most of its prices were calculated with copper coins.
Author’s gossip:
Xuanzhi: It’s time to earn some money, or else I wouldn’t be able to support my family’s Ah Hen.
Ah Hen: emmm…are you sure you meant supporting me, and not yourself?
Xuanzhi【smilingsmilingsmiling】: Ah Hen, could you repeat that?
Ah Hen: ….Ge is wholeheartedly being considerate of me, wuwuwu, but I’m really not a spendthrift!
Xuanzhi: Be a good boy, when it’s time to take the blame, you’ll have to take the blame~
1. A drunk cat refers to someone who loses control over their actions when they get drunk↩
2. Brag = blowing cows in Chinese (literally), so blowing the cow up to the heavens = he’s bragged so hard the cow managed to fly↩
3. Candied hawthorns:
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T/N: I love their interactions!!!!!!!! Henhen has turned into an alcoholic cat~