After leaving the Enforcement Hall's prison, Mu Bai first went to the Qing Mao Residence to wash and change into Elder Qing Mao's clothes, which left him looking refreshed. The Qing Mao Residence was bustling, too, with several women in charge calling out as they arranged a banquet to sweep away the ill fortune of his imprisonment.
Watching more than two hundred people in the residence bustle about for him, Mu Bai truly felt what it meant to have family. Seeing Xi Bazì and Sweet Potato Boy eating, drinking, and joking without a care, he felt they really did treat him with the sincerity of brothers.
"Why so pensive, Brother Mu? Your name's been cleared and disaster dispelled. Tonight, you ought to drink your fill..."
Seeing that Mu Bai seemed preoccupied, Zhou Dekai raised his cup and spoke to him.
"Only after walking before the shadowed road of death did I learn how precious friends and family are. Thank you for lending a hand, Brother Dekai! I'll remember your kindness in saving my life until the day I die!"
"You're too polite, Brother Mu. You only brought this trouble upon yourself by standing up for your brothers. I admire you greatly for that, and naturally I wouldn't stand idly by. Come, let's drink!"
"Let's!"
Mu Bai raised his cup and drained it with Zhou Dekai, and Xi Bazì and Sweet Potato Boy came over as well.
"Thirteenth Sect Heir, we two brothers aren't worthy of sitting with you. Things were urgent that day, and we offended you in many ways. Please forgive us..."
Xi Bazì bowed with his wine in hand, bending so low that his face nearly touched the ground.
"Hey, the Thirteenth Sect Heir is Brother Xiao Bai's brother, so naturally he won't treat us as outsiders. Cut that out. You're embarrassing yourself!"
Sweet Potato Boy especially disliked this behavior of Xi Bazì's, though he, too, held up his cup to toast Zhou Dekai.
"Hahaha..."
Everyone laughed freely, then raised their cups together. What they drank was wine; what they felt was sincere affection.
Just then, First Madam of the Qing Mao Residence also arrived at the banquet with a group of women, all carrying winecups.
"My husband only escaped thanks to the help of the Sect Heir and you two young brothers. This old woman will first toast the Sect Heir to express her gratitude."
With that, First Madam held her cup in both hands and drained it. Since someone of her advanced years, with her hair already graying, had drunk, how could Zhou Dekai possibly refuse? First Madam then drank a cup each with Xi Bazì and Sweet Potato Boy, who both cheerfully obliged.
What followed left the three overwhelmed and dumbfounded. Not only did the remaining seventy-seven wives and concubines of the Qing Mao Residence take turns stepping forward, but his children and grandchildren also waited quietly to approach. Even a wine vat couldn't hold nearly two hundred cups of wine, and Zhou Dekai, Xi Bazì, and Sweet Potato Boy were all forced to drink themselves utterly senseless.
So that was how it worked. Mu Bai finally understood what it meant that behind every successful man, there had to be a whole group of women supporting him. Here was a living example!
Upon waking the next day, Mu Bai was anxious to go to Mu Lan in Spirit Command City to collect his soul crystals so he could pay the sect this month's quota. His imprisonment in the Enforcement Hall had already delayed him for several days. He didn't know whether being overdue meant paying extra soul crystals, which left him rather uneasy.
After all, he was so poor that he wished he could split every soul crystal into pieces to spend.
"Husband, will you have breakfast before going out?"
Once he had dressed, Third Madam brought clean water for Mu Bai to wash up. Seeing how hurried he looked, she couldn't help asking.
"I'm short on time. I'll just drink some northwest wind along the way as I fly."
Mu Bai joked as he washed his face, making Third Madam chuckle.
"Such a glib tongue. I think you're so poor you'll have to live on northwest wind."
"Ah, you've hit the nail on the head, Third Madam. I'm so poor I've only got two soul crystals left rattling around on me..."
"The soul crystals we women pooled for you are still with First Madam. Shall I fetch them for you to use first?"
"No need for that. Believe it or not, all I have to do is take a trip out, and I'll have soul crystals straightaway."
Mu Bai smiled slyly, his expression saying she should just wait and see.
"I believe you, of course I do. Our husband is so capable." Third Madam poured away the wash water, then brought in a bowl of hot soup. "Here, drink this soup so you'll have the strength to bring back more soul crystals!"
Mu Bai accepted the bowl and drank the hot soup while patting the Soul Crystal Bag at his waist. "I guarantee I'll fill it to the brim for you!"
"Mmm, our husband really is impressive. Even drinking soup doesn't get in the way of his boasting."
"Haha, is that any way to praise someone...?"
Mu Bai left the room and played with the two little ones, Qing Ping and Qing Dai, for a while. Just then, Xi Bazì and Sweet Potato Boy arrived at the residence.
"Oh, Brother Xiao Bai, entertaining your grandchildren! You really know how to enjoy family bliss."
"Hehe, a grandfather in your teens. Brother Xiao Bai, you're a winner in life!"
"Brother Sweet Potato, your tongue's getting sharper!" Mu Bai teased. "If you had enough soul crystals, women all over the streets of Spirit Command City would fight to call you Grandpa..."
"Brother Xiao Bai's right. Soul crystals really are wonderful things. They make people pledge themselves in life and death and throw the generations into chaos..." Xi Bazì sighed. "If only we had more soul crystals than we could spend!"
"Ah, stop mentioning soul crystals in front of a poor man. I need to hurry over to Sister Mu Lan's to collect mine and pay the Pill Hall's monthly quota."
"Oh, Brother Xiao Bai! If we'd waited for you to remember that, even the cold cucumber salad would've gone stone cold. The Thirteenth Sect Heir already paid it for you!"
"Yes, yes, he paid twenty-six thousand!"
"And he gave another ten thousand for your daily expenses..."
"Xi Bazì has that ten thousand!"
"Did anyone ask you to blab?"
Xi Bazì reached out to rap Sweet Potato Boy on the head, while Sweet Potato Boy stretched out his neck and glared like a fighting cock. The two were about to start squabbling again.
"All right, stop it. I can't accept these soul crystals. I have to return them to the Thirteenth Sect Heir!"
"Oh, Brother Xiao Bai, you're overthinking it. You were lucky the Thirteenth Sect Heir saved your life this time. Do you think refusing his soul crystals means you won't owe him?"
"Exactly, exactly. Once you have enough debts, one more won't weigh you down..."
"Sweet Potato Boy's right this time!"
In the space of a couple of remarks, Xi Bazì and Sweet Potato Boy were as close as brothers again. No wonder they hadn't parted ways despite decades of squabbling. Truly, bosom buddies walked together for life, quarreling at the head of the bed and making up at its foot.
"Looks like there's no avoiding the struggle between Sect Heirs..."
Mu Bai frowned and murmured.
"Oh, Brother Xiao Bai, what the hell are you afraid of? Just do it. Maybe you'll soar to glory, and then we'll be high ministers of the court, won't we...?"
"Right, go get them!"
"Do you know the saying, 'Once the birds are gone, the fine bow is put away; once the enemy state falls, the advisers perish'? We can be friends with him, but we'd be better off staying out of the struggles between Sect Heirs. I've only just been in prison. That's a lesson written in blood!"
"All right, Brother Xiao Bai has a point. Where shall we go for a stroll today? Since we're not worrying about affairs of court, surely we can indulge in a little romance..."
Xi Bazì lightly stroked his long hair and posed as a dashing scholar in the bright sunshine, making Sweet Potato Boy spit all over the ground in disgust.
Since he had no need to worry about soul crystals for the time being this month, Mu Bai was no longer in a hurry to visit Spirit Command City and planned to give Mu Lan a little more time. Of course, he wasn't going to join Xi Bazì and the others in their romantic pursuits, either. They loafed around all day, but Mu Bai was anxious to cultivate.
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