Not a Single One Sold

Lu Chuan agreed and first drew a bucket of well water from the courtyard to boil on the stove.

He then went to the storefront in front, where Jiang Ziya's load of bamboo strainers still sat on the ground.

Lu Chuan locked the shop door; since not even a mosquito usually visited this place, he didn't want Jiang Ziya's strainers to be stolen by someone.

Afterward, Lu Chuan sat by the stove in the courtyard to boil the water.

When he had finished boiling the water and carried the kettle into the room, he saw the two men sitting cross-legged on opposite sides of a low table, chatting quite happily.

"My immortal tea is in that cabinet."

Seeing Lu Chuan enter, Shen Gongbao pointed to a bamboo cabinet in the room, which indeed contained a packet of tea leaves and two jade cups.

I never expected my master to be such a refined man...

Lu Chuan stared at the two jade cups, thinking to himself that he certainly used very elegant utensils.

He reached out to take the jade cups, rinsed them first with the boiling water, then scooped a bit of tea into each, and finally knelt by the small table to carefully pour the hot water.

Come to think of it, this was the first time Lu Chuan had ever seen this tea of Shen Gongbao's.

Once the boiling water hit the leaves, a white mist immediately swirled above the jade cups, and a refreshing fragrance instantly filled the entire room. Even inhaling it felt indescribably comfortable.

At the scent of this fragrance, Lu Chuan's mouth began to water.

It really wasn't that his self-control was poor; rather, the aroma of this tea seemed to possess a magical quality that made one unable to resist.

"Oh, hahaha..."

Seeing Lu Chuan's expression, Jiang Ziya glanced at Shen Gongbao and burst into laughter.

"You brat!"

Shen Gongbao was so angry his mustache twitched, and he snapped, "Stay to the side."

Lu Chuan let out an "oh" and dutifully knelt to the side, ready to serve the two men whenever Shen Gongbao signaled.

Jiang Ziya picked up his tea, slowly closed his eyes, and after taking a sniff, let out a satisfied sigh. "The taste of Kunlun Mountain immortal tea is truly unforgettable..."

"If you wish to drink it, Brother, you only need to say the word to your junior brother," Shen Gongbao laughed. "I shall gather some for you the next time I return to the mountain."

"..."

Jiang Ziya looked at the tea leaves floating and sinking in his cup, his gaze complex and lingering for a long time. Suddenly, he shook his head and smiled, "There is no need to trouble yourself, Junior Brother. What is destined to be yours will come in time; what is not, one should not force."

Hearing this, Shen Gongbao let the matter drop. He sipped his hot tea, a look of satisfaction appearing on his face as well.

"By the way, Junior Brother, how is Xiao Chuan doing with his studies under you?"

Jiang Ziya suddenly looked toward Lu Chuan and smiled, "Xiao Chuan, you've been gone for two months now. Your father misses you."

"Oh!"

Lu Chuan lowered his head and muttered an "oh," his expression obscured.

His relationship with Lu Liang was, to put it mildly, complicated.

Initially, after he had awakened, he had accepted the man as his father, but then Lu Liang had actually suspected him of stealing from the Song family.

That suspicion had instantly wiped away the joy he felt from killing the large black dog and exacting a bit of interest for the suffering he had endured in the past.

Furthermore, since Lu Liang had discovered his injuries, he would surely understand exactly what had happened once the dog disappeared.

Yet, this Lu Liang was stubbornly loyal to the Song Mansion!

Lu Chuan didn't know if his father would turn him in for the sake of "righteousness" once the incident came to light. He dared not gamble, which was why he had sought out Jiang Ziya that very night.

His plan had been that if Jiang Ziya refused to take him in, he would set out to find a master and study the Dao at some famous mountain; he simply could not stay at the Song family estate any longer.

Even if Lu Liang didn't report him, if someone else were to investigate, Lu Chuan knew that in this era where a human life was worth less than a dog's, he would certainly be dragged off to pay for the dog's life.

He just hadn't expected to run into Shen Gongbao.

It was fortunate that he had met Shen Gongbao. Now that he had practiced swordsmanship and entered the path of cultivation with true energy, he estimated that seven or eight grown men would be no match for him.

Moreover, even if he couldn't win, he still had the Five Elements Escape Technique to use for his escape.

Today, he was no longer the Lu Chuan who had been powerless upon waking two months ago. In this world, he finally possessed some ability to protect himself.

"Lu Chuan is learning quite well!"

Sensing the atmosphere had grown quiet, Shen Gongbao's eyes flashed as he laughed, "This time, I must thank you, Brother, for recommending such a fine disciple to me!"

"As long as he is learning well, that is enough."

Jiang Ziya stopped mentioning Lu Liang and smiled, "That way, his firm resolve to study the Dao will not have been in vain."

"By the way, Brother, you mentioned earlier that you came to Chaoge to... sell strainers." Shen Gongbao chuckled. "What is the story behind that?"

At the mention of this, Jiang Ziya sighed and recounted the ins and outs of the matter.

It turned out that after he married Ma, their life had been peaceful and without waves, and they had spent two months at the Song Mansion.

However, yesterday, Ma had suddenly told him that they could not live in someone else's house forever, eating and drinking at their expense.

If Song Yiren were alive, it was one thing, but if Song Yiren were to pass away, how could they possibly have the face to stay any longer?

Jiang Ziya thought that what Ma said made sense, so the two discussed how to make a living. It just so happened that Jiang Ziya had learned how to weave bamboo strainers before he went to Kunlun to study the Dao, and there was a bamboo grove at the Song Mansion.

Thus, he had cut some bamboo yesterday and spent his time weaving a shoulder-pole load of strainers, walking thirty-five miles into Chaoge City this morning to sell them.

"So that's how it is... Sister-in-law was right this time."

Shen Gongbao nodded gently after hearing this, then smiled and asked, "Then I wonder how your business went today, Senior Brother?"

How?

Lu Chuan scoffed inwardly at these words: Not a single strainer has been sold yet, they're all sitting in the shop out front. How do you think it went, Master?

In reality, Lu Chuan was quite familiar with Jiang Ziya by now, so he understood him well; Jiang Ziya was truly ill-suited for the business of selling goods.

He lacked the gift of gab. He had carried those strainers around for the entire morning, yet he couldn't bring himself to shout a single cry to attract customers, so naturally, no one bought anything.

Unlike the wood carvings he had sold before, which were nice to look at but useless, these strainers were kitchen tools that every household needed; they would have been very practical to buy.

Sure enough.

Hearing Shen Gongbao's question, the smile on Jiang Ziya's face gradually stiffened.

He let out a long sigh immediately after, smiling bitterly, "I won't hide it from you, Junior Brother. I've spent half the day wandering around Chaoge City, and I haven't sold a single one."

"Ah, how could that be?"

Shen Gongbao looked astonished. "These strainers are something every household needs. How could you... not sell even one after half a day?"

"It's not that they wouldn't sell..."

Jiang Ziya's old face flushed, and he said with some embarrassment, "It's just that your brother... I simply couldn't bring myself to call out."

Lu Chuan shook his head secretly as he listened.

Jiang Ziya was indeed not cut out for business. What was the most important thing in business? Hawking one's wares.

But there were some people who, if you asked them to shout while selling, would rather die of anxiety than let out a sound.

And you could see that he was clearly miserable because he couldn't shout, yet he just couldn't force it out.

If it were him, he would definitely be able to sell them, and he was confident he could even make a small profit. If it were to change to...

Lu Chuan stole a glance at Shen Gongbao beside him.

If it were his master, he reckoned it wouldn't take the time it takes to eat a meal before that load of strainers was sold out, with a tidy profit to boot.

Lu Chuan actually had more confidence in him than in himself.

"Uh..."

Shen Gongbao was stunned by this, then could only shake his head and smile bitterly.

It was nearly noon by now, and Jiang Ziya hadn't eaten, so Shen Gongbao instructed Lu Chuan to prepare a meal for the three of them.

Lu Chuan boiled three bowls of plain noodles and stir-fried a few vegetable dishes. After the meal, Jiang Ziya bid the two farewell, as he still had to go sell his strainers.

However, Lu Chuan knew that he would carry that load of strainers all day, and he would have to carry them back exactly the same way he brought them.

The round trip was about seventy miles; even though Jiang Ziya had studied Daoist arts, it would likely wear him to the bone.

"Senior Uncle Jiang, could I trouble you with one thing?"

Lu Chuan said as he walked out to see Jiang Ziya off.

"Speak!"

"I hope... you won't tell my father that I'm in Chaoge. Just tell him that I'm doing very well following my master."

Lu Chuan said, "Once I have mastered my skills, I will go back to find him, but while I am not by his side, please urge him to take good care of himself."

He no longer blamed Lu Liang for his loyalty to the Song family, because he had gradually come to understand this world.

What was advocated here were the three paths of loyalty, righteousness, and filial piety, with loyalty ranked even before righteousness and filial piety. The path of loyalty dictated: a subject is loyal to the sovereign, a servant is loyal to the master, and the subordinate is loyal to the superior.

This was the prevailing ideology of the time.

If a sovereign ordered a subject to die, not dying was disloyalty; a servant was loyal to the master, and if the master was humiliated, the servant should die. A servant had to consider everything for the master's household...

Having been influenced by these ideas for decades, it was not hard to understand why there was a generation gap between him and Lu Liang.

He couldn't change a Lu Liang like that. Perhaps the only thing he could do was to make something of himself in the future, and then let Lu Liang leave the Song family and be his own master!

"Hmm, I promise you!"

A look of relief appeared on Jiang Ziya's face at these words. He patted Lu Chuan on the shoulder and smiled, "I will pass the message along. Good child, study your skills well under your master!"

Lu Chuan nodded and watched as Jiang Ziya's figure, burdened with the strainers, faded into the distance.