New Year's Gifts
Everyone in Xiushui Village looked up at the dazzling fireworks in the sky, unwilling to look away.
Even Li Zhanying and Wang Goudan, who lived in a quiet corner of the village, were no exception.
Although they had cultivated for many years, they never imagined that they could use their power to create such a stunning moment.
Watching the fireworks light up the sky, Li Zhanying, without Wang Goudan noticing, Hand Seals to send a message back to the capital.
Half an hour later, the fireworks in the sky finally ended.
Everyone turned away with regret and lingering affection, as if they had just had a wonderful dream.
Just then, Lin Xiao, who was preparing to return to the mountain, heard a notification from the system in his mind:
[Congratulations to the host and sect for successfully passing the first year. The system has prepared a first-year New Year's gift for the host and Lingxian Sect, which has been sent to the host's private treasury. Please check your mail.]
Lin Xiao opened his private vault and saw that there were indeed two extra gift-pack-like items inside.
He was quite surprised.
I never expected the system to send New Year's gifts!
After glancing at the two gift bags, Lin Xiao figured that Fuzi and the others might still be waiting for him to go back together, so he didn't immediately open the gift bags to check.
He planned to wait until no one was around to take a good look at the first year's gift the system had given him.
Lin Xiao noticed that the system had just mentioned "the first year's annual gift," which might mean there could be a second or even a third year.
Back at the foot of the mountain, Jiang Youfu and the others were indeed already waiting there; only Lin Xiao was missing.
Upon seeing Lin Xiao arrive, the group went up the mountain together.
Back on the mountain, they found that the elders no longer seemed as talkative as they had been before they left. Instead, they were all staring blankly at something with complicated expressions on their faces.
Upon seeing them return, he immediately put on a friendly smile and waved for them to come over quickly.
A group of teenagers ran over.
Then they saw the elders take out a bunch of red envelopes wrapped in red paper from their pockets and hand them over.
The boys lined up and were led over in a row.
The elders offered their blessings, and the children responded with joyful words.
May your future be bright and your life peaceful.
May your happiness be as boundless as the Eastern Sea and your longevity as enduring as the Southern Mountain!
There wasn't much money in the New Year's money; it was just like every year, nine copper coins.
But none of them were really after that little bit of money.
This embodies the hopes and blessings that generations have for the next generation.
--
One night passed.
It's the first day of the Lunar New Year.
It is not advisable to use knives on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
So today, everyone is eating food that Jiang Youfu had prepared beforehand.
Today, we're just putting it out there to reheat it.
Jiang Youfu had even prepared a large platter of a whole Silver-Tailed Fish beforehand.
But no one was allowed to eat it last night.
They just put it on the table as a token gesture, then took it off the table and stored it away.
Otherwise, if the fish had stayed on the table for just a little longer, it would probably have been reduced to bones.
At this moment, Jiang Youfu was heating up dishes in front of the stove.
Tietou went up the mountain and found Lin Xiao, telling him that a man claiming to be Tong Shuzheng was looking for him.
Actually, what Tong Shuzheng originally said was to find a young immortal surnamed Lin.
Tietou thought for a moment, realizing that there were several young immortals with the surname Lin in their village.
But his intuition told him that the other party was looking for Lin Xiao, so he went straight up to Lin Xiao and said that.
Upon hearing this, Lin Xiao knew that it was Prefect Tong had arrived, so he immediately went down the mountain.
According to the Tuzi, there has been no news since he last sent a message to the Lingxian Sect.
It is unknown what Prefect Tong is in coming here.
Could it be that the imperial court has made some new moves?
Or has some major event occurred among the people?
While pondering, Lin Xiao arrived at the foot of the mountain.
Tong Shuzheng and Xue Chengfeng were standing together at the foot of the mountain, admiring the scenery.
The foot of North Mountain is no longer like the foot of a typical rural mountain, overgrown with weeds and messy, clearly a wild mountain.
The very act of Heart-Questioning Road's own heart is truly admirable.
There was also a quiet and elegant private school sitting nearby.
Even the plants around seemed much more vibrant and energetic than those elsewhere.
"Lord Tong and Adviser Xue have come from afar; I, Lin, have failed to greet you properly. My apologies."
Lin Xiao's voice rang out as he arrived.
Tong Shuzheng and Xue Chengfeng, who were originally sightseeing, looked in the direction of the sound and saw Lin Xiao gracefully descending from the sky.
The two immediately bowed to Lin Xiao and said:
"Greetings, Immortal Lin. On this auspicious occasion of the New Year, we have come to offer our New Year's greetings."
Tong Shuzheng then gestured to the carriage behind him and said to Lin Xiao:
"We two have come here for no other reason than to present a New Year's gift to Immortal Lin Immortal Lin your esteemed sect, wishing you both lasting Immortal Lin and prosperity. We hope you will accept this small token of our appreciation."
Xue Chengfeng continued:
"We don't know what Immortal Lin and your esteemed sect like, so we just picked a few things randomly. We hope Immortal Lin and your esteemed sect won't find them offensive."
Upon hearing this, Lin Xiao was quite surprised, not expecting that the two of them had come to deliver gifts.
He scanned the gifts in the carriage with his Divine Sense and saw that they were all fairly normal New Year's gifts such as pastries and cured meats.
Knowing that Lord Tong and Adviser Xue were not corrupt officials, and that their gift-giving might be because they knew about their sect and wanted to befriend it, which was only natural, they did not refuse.
"Thank you both for your kindness. I will accept it on behalf of the sect."
As he spoke, he took out two small wooden boxes from his robes—actually, from his private treasury—and handed them to the two men, saying:
"I also have two New Year's gifts here that I haven't had a chance to give to you both yet. Since you've come, please don't stand on ceremony. I've always forgotten to tell you that I am actually the sect leader of the Lingxian Sect. On behalf of the sect, I wish you both a bright future and endless blessings."
Seeing that Lin Xiao accepted it, Tong Shuzheng and Xue Chengfeng were completely relieved.
Upon seeing the gift Lin Xiao offered, the two accepted it with smiles.
They didn't come specifically to exchange gifts with Immortal Lin.
Originally, I didn't expect any return gift from the two of them who suddenly came to give me a gift, since they were immortals.
But now that they saw that Immortal Lin had actually returned the gift, they were very happy.
This indicates that Immortal Lin is willing to befriend them and maintain frequent contact with them.
After happily accepting Lin Xiao's return gift, the two took their leave amidst Lin Xiao's enthusiastic invitation to stay for dinner.
The two were surprised by Immortal Lin's hospitality, who even invited them to dinner.
However, Tong Shuzheng and Xue Chengfeng felt that they were not ready to visit the immortal sect, so they ultimately declined.
I only said I'd do it next time.
Having genuinely wanted to invite them to stay for dinner, Lin Xiao had no choice but to say to them:
"Since you're already here, why don't you two walk along this Heart-Questioning Road before heading back?"
Lin Xiao thought to himself, if they would have to walk the Heart-Questioning Road before coming to the mountain for a meal next time, it would be better to walk it now and save them time next time they come.