NOVEL NEXT Chapter 134: You Let Him Be Anything!
The Husky darted out from under the table.
It looked up with eyes full of curiosity and wisdom, gazing at the little Taoist.
"So, temple master, the matter you were considering..."
"What the young master considered, of course, was what the old man with the white beard mentioned in the latter half. He wants that chubby boy to heal and then come to Xuanxu Temple to become a little Taoist boy.
"Isn't that right, young master?"
Yu Yaoer spoke up from midair.
"You're right," the temple master, being in charge, must give it careful thought.
"But Little Yu..."
"Hmm? What is it, young master?"
"Could you please hurry back into the water tank?"
In the middle of the night, a large gold and red carp wriggling about in the room spoke human words.
The scene was indeed a bit too bizarre.
...
...
Flowers bloom in pairs, each on its own branch.
In a small but exquisitely decorated room in the backyard of Yixiang Building,
Granny Meng leaned on the bed, her wounds now wrapped in bandages infused with Spiritual Power medicine powder.
By the bed, the proprietress closed the small medicine chest and casually handed it to Little Cui, who was waiting by her side.
She gently held Granny Meng's frail hands and chided.
"Granny, you can't go picking herbs on the mountain alone anymore.
"Our Yixiang Building makes enough money. What Spiritual Medicine can't we buy?
"Look what happened this time. Not only are you covered in wounds, but your very form has withered."
She said, her gaze looking somewhat pained as she observed Granny Meng's considerably diminished form.
Their acquaintance wasn't long, but the proprietress felt a kind of regret at meeting her so late in life.
...
Originally, Granny Meng came alone to Yixiang Building and, after eating a bun, mysteriously approached the proprietress, claiming she had a secret soup recipe that could rival the Exotic Fragrance Bun.
She demonstrated it on the spot.
The proprietress, with her keen business sense, tried the soup and was instantly astounded, willing to pay a high price for the recipe.
However, Granny firmly stated,
The secret recipe is not for sale!
But she could stay as a soup cook, and after "a hundred years," the recipe would belong to Yixiang Building.
The price, however, was that she must eat a basket of Exotic Fragrance Buns every day, and in the years before her passing, Yixiang Building should care for her in her old age.
These were peculiar demands.
Although the proprietress was initially eager for the soup recipe and agreed at once,
afterward, she still cautiously invited Commander Kui from the night watchman's squad to investigate Granny Meng's background.
However, after a brief interaction, Kui Lei, whose cultivation was inferior to the other's, noticed nothing unusual.
After all, what kind of villain would brazenly infiltrate a famously thriving restaurant?
Thus, any suspicions the proprietress had about Granny Meng were dispelled.
In the following period,
she and the staff of the building got along very well with the mysterious old woman who made excellent soup.
Especially the proprietress, who previously had little interaction with high officials. In daily life, she greatly benefited from the old woman's advice.
This led to her growing even more trusting and close to the enigmatic Granny Meng.
...
"Cough, cough, the medicinal herbs sold in the city are mostly cultivated in the Medicine Garden. They don't have...cough, cough, the potency of wild Spirit Grass.
"Besides, if it weren't for the fact that a demon beast hid near the Spirit Grass this time, I..."
Granny Meng said in a deliberately hearty tone to the proprietress by the bed.
"Alright, alright, I know you have cultivation, Granny, but as they say, one must accept aging. Look at how old you are now. If something were to happen to you before you get to enjoy your retirement at Yixiang Building, all these years of boiling soup would have been in vain," the restaurant owner interrupted the other's self-praise and teased deliberately.
"You cheeky girl, sss~"
Granny Meng raised her hand as if to strike, but swinging her arm pulled at her wound.
She couldn't help but inhale sharply in pain and started to groan.
Seeing this, the restaurant owner quickly stepped forward to gently hold her arm, chiding her.
"You're injured and still not behaving. Alright, alright, Granny, with your cultivation, demon beasts are nothing to you—how about you go to the city outskirts to pick herbs whenever you want, alright?"
However, after the restaurant owner had said this, Granny Meng on the bed did not respond.
Instead, she silently lowered her head and looked at her wound.
After a while, she sighed deeply and said,
"Alas, time flies swiftly. In the blink of an eye, I've become nothing but old bones.
"Ha, if it were back in my youth, even if a demon beast attacked... alas."
The restaurant owner didn't think too much when Granny was being stubborn earlier and not listening.
But now, the rare wave of weariness and loneliness that showed in her eyes tightened the restaurant owner's heart.
"Not old, not old at all. Who says Granny has grown old? By the way, Granny, do you remember the benefactor painted on the wall of Yixiang Building? He returned to Shangjing City today and came to our building for a meal."
To divert her attention, the restaurant owner quickly changed the subject.
"Oh? Is it that royal uncle you've always mentioned?"
Granny Meng looked up in surprise and asked.
Seeing that her tactic was effective and that it temporarily pulled her from her somber mood, the restaurant owner quickly pressed on,
"Yes, that's my benefactor. And let me tell you, he even drank..."
That night, the clouds that had been obscuring the moon scattered with the wind.
In the small courtyard behind Yixiang Building,
accompanied by the flickering candlelight through the grid windows,
conversations filled with laughter between the old and the young could occasionally be heard.
...
...
Three days later,
At dawn, just as the sky began to brighten,
there were repeated knocks at the residence of the little Taoist.
"Dong dong dong."
"Taoist Jin, last night while observing the celestial phenomena, I foresaw today's auspicious purple qi from the east—an excellent moment for advancing in cultivation. Why not join me atop the mountain to cultivate earnestly?"
Outside, came that hearty and kind voice of the old man.
"Not going."
Inside, the young Taoist who was meditating on his bed, gruffly replied.
It was not that he was being rude.
But during these three days, the Kunlun Immortal Palace Ancestor, just like any persistent salesman, had been finding all sorts of reasons to invite the young Taoist out.
Initially, Jin Xu thought the old man genuinely wanted him to go out for cultivation or to discuss important matters.
But besides the first time, when they had decided on plans for "how to guide the return of small worlds and quickly locate their Origins",
each subsequent invitation had one sole purpose:
"Could I have my incompetent descendant work in the Xuanxu Temple as a Taoist attendant after he recovers?
"If not a Taoist attendant, then a gatekeeper will do.
"If not a gatekeeper, as long as he can stay by your side, Taoist Jin, and receive your teachings.
"Please, let him be anything!"
Such were the original words of the Kunlun Immortal Palace Ancestor.