The End of the Year

May everyone, adults and children, be safe and well!

When Zhang Xuezhou ran back from the Zheng family's house, he saw the Holy Mother of Wudang watching from afar. He reached out to greet her and acknowledge her arrival.

This result pleased the Holy Mother of Wudang.

She stood on the street and beckoned towards the Zheng family mansion, from which a bronze lamp flew out.

The Holy Mother of Wudang reached out and lifted her up, then turned a corner in the Old Tree Alley and disappeared from sight.

"I'm begging Old Zheng for a doctor's help for my child!"

When Di Rang, who was climbing the ladder onto the wall, called out to Zhang Xuezhou, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but reply.

"I thought there had been a murder," Di Renjie exclaimed.

"Mother and child are safe and sound; no one has died!"

Di Rang's thoughts, questions, and complaints were completely unrelated to Zhang Xuezhou's answers, but they still managed to give everyone a quick overview of the situation.

Having a doctor as a neighbor might cause some inconvenience when people seek medical help, but you'll realize how wonderful it is to have such a neighbor when you get sick yourself.

Regardless of how noisy the Zheng family mansion was, Di Rang could tolerate it.

The neighborhood was calmed down for a while.

Zhang Xuezhou pushed open the door and entered his own house.

He put down the green rock staff, the Sage Kong edict, and the broken painting of Sage Kong, and then headed to the cellar where Rong Tianding stored the spirit jade.

The way to prevent the Azure Rock Staff from extracting the spirit jade is simple: as long as the spirit jade doesn't touch the ground, it will be difficult for the Azure Rock Staff to create a bridge for extraction.

Nobody believes in superstitions. Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding didn't believe that they would lose another piece of spirit jade after one piece was lost in the cellar.

This allowed them to maintain a secure and concealed presence even when using spirit jade of dubious origin.

"It's over!"

As a corner of the familiar grayish-white jade appeared, Zhang Xuezhou felt a slight unease creep into his heart.

When Sage Kong unleashed his power, he held the Azure Rock Staff, and the opponent indeed drew the Spirit Jade.

The previous speculations were completely confirmed, and Zhang Xuezhou could only console himself by thinking that the spirit jade was not his.

He could only be thankful that the spirit jade was used on Wei Shao'er; otherwise, he might have had to pay a hefty sum.

"Why are there stones again?"

Zhang Xuezhou rushed to the cellar, and Rong Tianding, who had just woken up in the morning, followed him with his head sticking out.

"Has that little wench's tricks ruined her again?" Rong Tianding muttered. "Today I'm going to beat her so badly her own mother wouldn't recognize her!"

"This matter has nothing to do with her," Zhang Xuezhou waved his hand and said, "The situation is a bit complicated, but it's basically over!"

"I have a feeling we've been having really bad luck lately; we keep losing the good stuff we bring back!"

The matter had nothing to do with the marriage ceremony, and Zhang Xuezhou mentioned that the matter was complicated, so Rong Tianding could only suppress his restless thoughts.

He felt terrible lately.

The time frame was short, only two or three months, but both of the spirit jades they had acquired were wasted.

Of course, this is better than when Zhang Xuezhou first entered the martial arts world. Zhang Xuezhou initially obtained the spirit jade, but it was ruined after only one day of use.

If you compare this to the past, Rong Tianding feels it's acceptable.

In short, the shortcut to cultivation is gone.

Rong Tianding could only be thankful that he had been practicing diligently these past few days and had accumulated a considerable amount of cultivation power by relying on the Five Qi Gathering Technique.

He made a sarcastic remark to Zhang Xuezhou, which made Zhang Xuezhou chuckle.

"At least we don't have to live in fear anymore," Zhang Xuezhou said.

"That's also true," Rong Tianding said.

"And it's not us who are going to suffer," Zhang Xuezhou corrected, "The real owners of these things are the ones who are going to suffer!"

"After my cousin said that, I didn't know why I felt happy!"

Rong Tianding pondered for a few seconds and felt that Zhang Xuezhou made sense. They were just passersby in these spirit jades, and the real unlucky ones were those who lost the spirit jades.

After thinking about it for a while, he felt all the pent-up anger in his heart disappear.

The spirit jade in the cellar was extracted and turned into waste stone, so there's nothing good left in the cellar.

The two of them emerged from the cellar in an instant.

"Young Master Wei really gave birth to a big, healthy boy!"

When Rong Tianding and Zhang Xuezhou emerged from the cellar and came out of the house, they ran into Chen Zhang carrying a child, and Wei Shao'er wearing a cloak as he left the Zheng family residence.

Rong Tianding never expected that Wei Shao'er's child would be born while he slept for one night.

Just as he was about to step forward to offer his congratulations, he saw two servants running towards him from a distance.

"The King of Huainan?"

The servants' announcement brought a bitter look to Chen Zhang's face. He then urged the servants to hurry and drive the carriage back to the Marquis of Qu Ni's residence.

The servant's report made Zhang Xuezhou thoughtful.

He had no connection with the King of Huainan, and was even unqualified to greet King of Huainan, but Zhang Xuezhou was also curious to see if Lei Bei had come to Chang'an City with the King of Huainan.

As one of the top retainers of the King of Huainan's Household, Lei Bei would most likely be accompanied by others when the King of Huainan travels to prevent any unforeseen events.

Zhang Xuezhou and Lei Bei had a fairly good relationship, and he wanted to ask Lei Bei for help in investigating the files of the King of Huainan's Household's guest ministers who carried out missions several years ago.

Once Zhang Xuezhou had access to the case file, he could roughly determine whether Jin Chang was involved.

He couldn't fight Jin Chang to the death, but Zhang Xuezhou at least had a direction for his investigation. There was a chance he could find the people of Zhang Household Village, and even his parents.

Zhang Xuezhou wasn't afraid of running into Jin Chang and causing an awkward situation. After all, Jin Chang had been shot in the head and injured, and had also been threatened by Zhang Xuezhou. He probably wouldn't dare to come to Chang'an City for a while.

"Suihou Pearl?"

Remembering the purpose of the King of Huainan sending Jin Chang to investigate Yangling, Zhang Xuezhou thought about his current identity and finally realized that he was no longer involved in these matters.

Whatever the King of Huainan wanted, or whatever King of Huainan wanted to do, it was none of his business.

The key point is that Zhang Xuezhou couldn't get involved in the grudges and grievances involved. Considering the fickle nature of the King of Huainan during the war between the first emperor and the second, Zhang Xuezhou felt that the other party was extremely dangerous.

If there is no conflict with the other party, Zhang Xuezhou will most likely still think that the other party is kind and righteous. However, as long as there is an antagonism between them, Zhang Xuezhou feels that becoming the King of King of Huainan's opponent will lead to a very quick death.

Accordingly, Zhang Xuezhou would try his best to avoid any involvement with the King of Huainan.

"Wei Shao'er gave birth at the end of the year, and in a few days it will be just in time to welcome the New Year, so it can be considered a double celebration!"

Zhang Xuezhou was somewhat lost in thought, while Rong Tianding watched Chen Zhang and the others leave in a carriage, and couldn't help but think that Wei Shao'er's timing for giving birth was excellent, saving her from the troubles of the New Year.

As the year draws to a close, everyone has stopped their busy work, either to rest and recuperate, to reduce food consumption, or to visit relatives and friends.

Rong Tianding also expressed his envy of other families' happy reunions.

However, a normal journey from Chang'an back to Hibiscus City usually takes at least two months, while the return journey to Chang'an takes about the same amount of time.

Without Zhang Xuezhou's two legendary horses that galloped day and night, it wouldn't have been easy for them to go back.

As for Rong Li and the others, who had never traveled far from home, it was even more difficult for them to come to Chang'an City.

He thought of Rong Li and the others, and couldn't help but think of Zhang Xuezhou's parents, whom he hadn't heard from in years. He felt that Zhang Xuezhou's longing for his family was probably even more urgent than his own as the year drew to a close.