Chapter 116: Entanglement [seeking Monthly Votes]
Shang Wan said, “The possibility of that is slim. Even if it really happened, it wouldn’t be much of a hindrance to us.”
She didn’t explain in detail. Xiao Huan pondered it on her own for a good while, gradually figuring out the key points, and then put the matter out of her mind.
The next day, after breakfast, Shang Wan formally began her little wild child cultivation plan.
On the first day, she didn’t bring Xiao Hui along. Shang Wan held Yuan Yuan and quickly passed through the entire mountain range.
On the first pass, she showed Yuan Yuan the way. On the second pass, she let Yuan Yuan show her the way, checking this way if Yuan Yuan had remembered the route.
Yuan Yuan’s memory was even better than Shang Wan had imagined. She really only needed one pass to remember the route the two of them had just run.
Shang Wan smiled and planted a kiss on Yuan Yuan’s soft cheek, “Good cub is awesome.”
Yuan Yuan also cupped her own mother’s face and gave her kisses, mwah mwah mwah~ smearing Shang Wan’s face with saliva without holding back.
“Mom, that!”
Yuan Yuan spotted the familiar little monkey and enthusiastically waved her small hand in greeting.
The little monkey also saw the two of them and got excited as if discovering a treasure. After a burst of chattering squeaks, a group of monkeys surrounded them. The old monkey in the lead stretched out his two long-furred arms, asking Shang Wan for Yuan Yuan.
“Does good cub want to go?”
“Go.” Yuan Yuan nodded her little head vigorously. The cub was going to become super awesome!
“Then you play here first. Mother will come pick you up in a bit.” Shang Wan handed Yuan Yuan to the old monkey and exhorted, “If you run into a difficult matter you can’t handle, just shout for mother.”
“Okay!”
The old monkey held Yuan Yuan as if he had gotten a treasure, waving his arms to make that group of furry-handed, furry-footed little monkeys stay back. One monkey and one doll walked off into the distance surrounded by the group of monkeys.
Shang Wan hid in the shadows to observe and found that this group of monkeys really just wanted to play with Yuan Yuan.
The old monkey held Yuan Yuan and swung on a swing in the woods. A group of little monkeys imitated various human actions on the branches, making Yuan Yuan giggle.
The crisp laughter echoed through this mountain forest, attracting countless birds.
Birds of all colors swirled around Yuan Yuan, their high and low calls like singing for her.
Shang Wan felt her own cub was even more at ease in the mountain forest than outside.
She left with peace of mind and headed to the valley.
The valley was full of flowers and grasses. Though not particularly precious varieties, the expanses of them still brought joy to the heart just looking at them.
Shang Wan hummed an unknown tune as she passed through the flower clusters, reaching into her bosom to pull out a sheet of paper.
The paper showed drawings of dendrobium officinale at different growth stages.
While Shang Wan compared the drawings to search for dendrobium officinale, a pretty young girl in a pink garment fell into the field, flattening a patch of seedlings that had just sprouted.
Liu Yuzhi: ?
Shouldn’t a normal man catch her?
What was with this guy dodging faster than a rabbit?
The two wheels of the wheelchair were practically spinning flowers!
The young girl looked on the verge of tears, pitifully lifting her gaze to meet Lu Chengjing’s expressionless face.
“Sire…”
“Miss, I have no grudge against you. Why did you suddenly rush over and crash into me?” Lu Chengjing frowned and asked.
Liu Yuzhi choked, then tremulously said, “I didn’t. I twisted my ankle. Young master, could you help me up?”
Lu Chengjing’s response was to turn the wheelchair half a circle and leave.
“Wait!” Liu Yuzhi scrambled up quickly and chased after him, blocking in front of Lu Chengjing.
Lu Chengjing expressionlessly glanced at her perfectly fine feet. What exactly did this woman want?
“I… I’m a relative of the Lin Family. My given name is Yuzhi.”
The young girl’s cheeks flushed red, her gaze uncontrollably roaming over Lu Chengjing’s face.
Though he sat in a wheelchair, with the xiucai scholar official rank and that face, he wasn’t unacceptable.
“Move.” He spat out the two cold words. Lu Chengjing’s face lost all its mildness, his eyes full of displeasure.
Liu Yuzhi was somewhat at a loss. Hadn’t her aunt told her that as long as she walked by this man once, he would start looking at her differently?
Why was the result like this?
Seeing the person in front of him standing still, Lu Chengjing couldn’t be bothered to tangle with her. He turned the wheelchair in another direction, but unexpectedly Liu Yuzhi stepped across again to block in front of him.
Irritation appeared in Lu Chengjing’s eyes. “I’m saying it one last time: move!”
Liu Yuzhi hunched her shoulders, her eyes full of admiration, stammering, “I I I didn’t mean to block you on purpose. I just thought you were good-looking, so…”
Before her words finished, a short arrow whistled past her cheek and embedded in the tree trunk behind her.
A lock of severed hair slowly drifted to the ground. Liu Yuzhi’s eyes went wide in shock, her body stiffening like a block of wood.
This time when Lu Chengjing left, she didn’t dare block him again.
Lu Chengjing easily pulled the short arrow from the tree trunk and put it back in the quiver, then turned the wheelchair and left.
He had originally planned to stroll around the village along the way, but running into this troublesome matter ruined his leisurely mood completely.
He went straight to the Yuan Family.
“The injury on your leg is recovering well.” Yuan Musheng pulled the silver needle from Lu Chengjing’s leg and turned to wash his hands in the basin.
Lu Chengjing pulled down his trouser leg and specifically asked Yuan Musheng for advice on processing certain herbs.
His first batch of medicinal herbs, though made according to the steps in the book, had results differing from what he imagined, with mediocre appearance. He wanted to know exactly where the problem was.
Yuan Musheng was clearly an excellent person to consult.
Yuan Musheng held nothing back. Not only did he resolve Lu Chengjing’s doubts, he also had his son fetch herbs and tools, personally demonstrating for Lu Chengjing.
Two people temporarily unable to walk easily—one rich in practical experience, the other in theoretical knowledge—both gained quite a bit from their question-and-answer exchange.
When immersed in something, time flies. Seeing it was nearly mealtime, Lu Chengjing picked up the foot-soaking herbs and took his leave.
Who would have thought that just as he exited the Yuan Family gate, he ran into Liu Shi supporting an old woman walking toward him.
That old woman’s eyes kept sizing up Lu Chengjing, as if trying to see flowers on him.
Lu Chengjing frowned in discomfort, ignored the two, and passed them by.
“Xiucai Scholar.” Liu Shi called out to him with a beaming smile.
Lu Chengjing found it odd but gave a cold nod as acknowledgment without any intention to stop, turning the wheelchair and going far.
On the way back, he deliberately avoided the route he took coming, to avoid running into more inexplicable people.
When he got home, Yuan Yuan, looking like a little mud monkey, was being held down by Xiao Huan in a big bath basin, scrubbed clean.
“Auntie!” Yuan Yuan protested in dissatisfaction. The flowers she had painted on herself after painting for so long had all been washed off.
Xiao Huan kept scrubbing off the mud spots. “Even calling for mother wouldn’t help.”
Heaven knew what mood she was in when she first saw Yuan Yuan.
The white and chubby doll had gone into the mountains once and in less than half a day turned into a mud monkey. If not for those clothes, she almost wouldn’t have recognized her.
“Sis, how could you let Yuan Yuan paint mud on herself? So dirty!”
“Playing a time or two isn’t a hindrance.” Shang Wan sat on the small bench beside, holding the milk bottle in her hand and occasionally feeding the little one a sip.
Xiao Huan was helpless. In her sister’s eyes, anything not threatening life probably wasn’t a big deal.
Hearing the sound of the wheelchair rolling over the ground, Shang Wan turned to look. Sure enough, it was Lu Chengjing returning.
However, her family fox’s complexion seemed off.
