"Eat this, braised pork."
"There are also pork trotters in savory bean sauce."
"Try the egg drop soup I made. It's definitely delicious."
That evening, in the side courtyard, Zhang Qingyuan personally cooked two dishes.
The girl simply watched him shower her with attention. She just hadn't expected him to know how to cook.
The braised pork was glossy red and tender, and the pork trotters in bean sauce looked appetizing too.
She was a little curious. Did he really not know fear?
She had clearly told him that the Prince of Yu might send people to take revenge, yet she couldn't see a trace of tension in him.
And his attitude had rubbed off on her; she actually wasn't so nervous anymore either.
Zhang Qingyuan rubbed his hands together, picked up his chopsticks, and selected a pork trotter for her.
"Go on, eat," he urged expectantly. "It'll get sticky once it cools."
Li Qiuran didn't refuse the pork trotter Zhang Qingyuan had served her. She picked it up and brought it to her thin lips. Her pearly teeth, white as jade, bit gently into it, and a meaty fragrance flooded her mouth.
She chewed slowly. It was rich without being greasy, packed with collagen.
Watching her eat it, Zhang Qingyuan's confidence soared.
"It's a year of great disaster. Vegetables are scarce, and even the wild greens have all been dug up. This pig was raised by Master Tang's household and slaughtered this morning. Luckily, they still had some dried seaweed in their kitchen, so I could make soup."
"Mm."
Listening to him chatter as though they were just making small talk at home, Li Qiuran felt no annoyance. After so long alone, having someone suddenly cook for her, with no need to be on guard or worry-it had been a long time since she had experienced this feeling.
She took small bites of rice and braised pork, feeling very much at ease.
Zhang Qingyuan picked up his bowl too, shoveling rice into his mouth as he watched her.
What did it mean for beauty to be a feast? This was it. Just looking at her, he could polish off two extra bowls of rice.
Even someone as cool and aloof as she was couldn't bear being stared at like this.
After finishing a bowl of rice, Li Qiuran put down her bowl and chopsticks. "I'm full."
"Want some more?"
"No."
Li Qiuran stood up, intending to return to her room.
"Oh, right, Qiuran, pour me a cup of tea, would you?"
"Okay."
He made the request casually, and the girl agreed just as casually.
After dinner, Zhang Qingyuan went outside and soon returned carrying a pile of wooden sticks, each as thick as an arm and about three feet long.
Standing in the doorway, Li Qiuran watched him roll up his sleeves, sit on a stone stool, and whittle the wood with his sword.
She watched him sharpen one end of each stick, then stack them neatly together.
"What are you making?" Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Li Qiuran walked over and asked.
Picking up a stick, Zhang Qingyuan raised his eyebrows. "These are treasures."
"What treasures?"
"Didn't you say the Prince of Yu might take revenge? Most of the experts under him should be from the Dragon Gate. If he really does come after me, the people he sends should all be from the Dragon Gate.
"I've already asked around. The people in the Dragon Gate, especially those experts of the Dragon generation, all have external body-tempering arts protecting them. Blades can barely hurt them, and internal force can barely penetrate them. So I have to prepare to face opponents like that."
Li Qiuran was even more puzzled. Pointing at the pile of wood on the ground, she asked, "This is your preparation?"
"Mm." Zhang Qingyuan picked up a sharpened stick and said confidently, "Don't worry. The Dragon Lord died at my hands. I've already found the trick to breaking external body-tempering arts."
Li Qiuran's brows drew together slightly. Clearly, she still couldn't understand how wooden sticks could break the Iron Shirt.
Zhang Qingyuan didn't explain. After all, how was he supposed to discuss something like that with a girl?
He still had some shame...
Well, a little, anyway.
When he said nothing, Li Qiuran didn't press him. She had only interacted with him twice, and each time, he had exuded an inexplicable confidence. That confidence really could put a person at ease.
Seeing Li Qiuran return to her room, Zhang Qingyuan breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked at the stick in his hand and thought, My martial arts still aren't good enough.
If his martial arts reached the level where he could do whatever he pleased, why would he need such lowly tricks to break external body-tempering arts?
One palm strike, and they would all die!
He gritted his teeth. He had to create a martial arts move that could break the Golden Bell Shield and Iron Shirt.
A stumble in the pit, a gain in wisdom.
He gathered up the sharpened sticks and hid them inside his Daoist robe.
Last time, when he had broken the Dragon Lord's defenses, he had used a sword from the ground. He wouldn't dare recklessly use his own Questioning Heart Sword. Sharp as it was, if he used such a treasured sword to gouge someone's anus, no matter how thoroughly he washed it afterward, he would never be able to face it again.
After sweeping up the wood shavings in the courtyard, he went inside and brought over a new quilt.
"Sleep here. This quilt is new. No one's used it."
He put the quilt on the bed, but Li Qiuran stopped him from making it. "You sleep. I'll keep watch."
The strong-willed woman looked him in the eye, brimming with pride. "You helped me last time. This time, it's my turn to help you."
"Don't be silly."
Zhang Qingyuan turned her around and pushed her toward the bed with his hands against her back.
"In our Zhang family, we don't make girls stand up for boys. Since I've pledged myself to you, I have to take responsibility, don't I?"
Pressed down to sit on the bed, Li Qiuran's ears reddened again.
"I haven't agreed to anything. We aren't even friends."
What a stubborn mouth. Such a tsundere girl.
"All right, get some rest. They might not even come tonight. At worst, I'll catch up on sleep during the day."
He ignored her tsundere tone and didn't dwell on whether they were friends.
When chasing a girl, you had to be able to tell which of her words were false and which were true.
Ignore the false ones. Let her say whatever she wanted.
For instance, when flirting, girls would always say, "I don't like you at all."
There was no need to listen to that. If she didn't like you, why would she flirt with you?
"Besides, if any of the people who come are from the Heavenly Principle Sect, I can get an early taste of their martial arts and figure out how to deal with them.
"Then, when I help you get revenge later, I'll know the weaknesses in their martial arts."
Li Qiuran turned her head away. "W-when did I ever say I needed you to get revenge for me? I'll avenge myself."
Zhang Qingyuan smiled. "We're all family. Why draw a line between yours and mine?"
Li Qiuran clenched her fists.
Zhang Qingyuan promptly retreated.
Women don't love men who aren't bad. This girl fell for precisely that.
"All right, get some rest."
Without waiting for her response, he turned and left the room.
When he stepped into the courtyard, the sky was already full of stars.
He raised his head toward the sky, enjoying the quiet around him.
Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he brought his hands together to gather the origin and return to unity, then began cultivating the Yin-Yang Limitless Art.
Accumulating True Qi required perseverance. Aside from those with cheats, who didn't have to build up their cultivation bit by bit?
Duan Yu had eaten a toad, and his internal force had soared; Guo Jing had drunk snake blood, and his internal force had soared; Xuzhu was even more ridiculous-he hadn't cultivated at all, and Wuyazi had simply poured a hundred years of internal force into him...
Only he had it so miserable, still having to cultivate.
What protagonist doesn't have a cheat?
Huh?
You damned author, come out here and explain.
The night was quiet, and Zhang Qingyuan spent it cultivating.
The next day, Zhang Qingyuan continued providing disaster relief and treating patients for free. Whenever he had nothing to do, he went back to Li Qiuran's side and continued exercising his clingy constitution.
Three days passed in unbroken calm.
The retaliation hadn't come, but his relationship with Li Qiuran seemed to have grown considerably closer.
He was fully putting to use the skills he had developed in his previous life, when he'd dated his female deskmate in middle school. Just flirt!
I refuse to believe I can't win you over.
On the fourth night, Li Qiuran rested as usual while Zhang Qingyuan kept watch.
Sitting cross-legged in the courtyard, he suddenly thought, I don't seem to have seen much of Zhu Zizhao these past few days.
Isn't that guy terrified of dying? How does he dare leave my side?
He left early and returned late every day. Who knew what he was busy with?
Still, Zhang Qingyuan was very pleased. At least he didn't have a third wheel hanging around.
The full moon rose into the sky again. There were many clouds that night.
He remarked, "A moonless, windswept night-the time for murder and arson."