With great difficulty, they waited for that palanquin to drive past, and the congested crowd finally began to flow.
First, the few of them found an inn to book rooms. Seeing that the time was still early, they planned to make another trip to the Full Blossom Tower.
The Full Blossom Tower was located in the most prosperous and bustling central area of Qishan City, teeming with voices and bustling with activity. Glitzy colors flowed among the bricks and tiles, and splendor shone radiantly between the window lattices, resembling pavilions and towers in a fairyland. A gentle breeze stirred, and a scattering rain of flower petals carried a rich, intoxicating fragrance, while colorful silk ribbons fluttered on all sides.
Not to mention that Song Lianzhou, as a modern person, had never seen such a spectacle, even Qingmiao, who was accustomed to luxurious scenes, looked somewhat astonished.
“This is just too luxurious…”
Ye Xisheng parked the carriage by the roadside, and Feiyi immediately poked her head out happily, hopping and skipping as she prepared to walk into the Full Blossom Tower: “Wow, Senior Brother, what kind of place is this inside? It’s so pretty… Hey, Senior Brother, why are you pulling me?”
“Children cannot go in.” Song Lianzhou pulled her back into the carriage, and casually set up a formation around it. “You guys stay here for a moment. Ah-Sheng and I are going to handle something, and we’ll be right back. Don’t run around, and pay attention to safety.”
Feiyi protested loudly: “Senior Brother, I am not a child!”
Qingmiao also protested loudly: “Senior Brother, you cannot restrict my freedom!!”
Feiyi immediately glared at him: “Why are you yelling at Senior Brother?”
“Senior Sister Feiyi, Senior Brother Qingmiao, if you want to go, it’s not entirely out of the question,” Ye Xisheng stood a few paces away, arms crossed, and smiled as he said, “It’s just that this Full Blossom Tower requires two people to be cultivation partners before they can enter. Your Senior Brother Song and I have already disguised ourselves as partners. If you two can also disguise yourselves as partners, then you can go in together.”
“What, me and him?!” Upon hearing this, Feiyi immediately made a huge jump to the side, shaking off a full body of goosebumps. “I definitely don’t want to, even a disguise won’t do. I’m afraid I’ll have nightmares tonight.”
“Do you think this young master has his eyes on you?” Qingmiao went tit-for-tat with her.
“Alright, then you guys just wait for us here.” Song Lianzhou pulled Qingmiao into the carriage as well. “Don’t quarrel.”
“Senior Brother~ I’ve been glaring at him angrily for the whole road,” Feiyi crossed her arms, choosing a spot farthest from Qingmiao to sit down. “Could it be that we still have to stay in the same space with him, sitting in dull silence while waiting for you guys?”
“Hmph, I’m not as delicate as certain people. I can still tolerate something annoying swaying back and forth in front of my eyes.”
“You! Do you believe that I will string all those broken pearls of yours into candied haws?!”
“Then I’ll weave your whip into a Chinese knot and hang it at the doorway!”
Song Lianzhou put down the curtain, shook his head somewhat helplessly, and turned to get off the carriage.
“Ah-Sheng, let’s go.”
As soon as they stepped into the main entrance of the Full Blossom Tower, the incoming wave of fragrant wind was so strong that it almost made Song Lianzhou sneeze. Ye Xisheng’s footsteps paused, then he bypassed to Song Lianzhou’s outer side, gently fanning him with his hand: “Are you feeling better, Senior Brother?”
“Much better.” Song Lianzhou formed a hand seal to summon a gust of fresh breeze, finally feeling that he could breathe somewhat.
It was currently the time when the Full Blossom Tower had the most people, a scene of singing birds and dancing swallows. Seeing that Song Lianzhou was dressed in luxurious clothing, quite a few people crowded over trying to solicit his business, all of which were politely yet firmly blocked away by Ye Xisheng.
Song Lianzhou noticed that Ye Xisheng seemed taller after his disguise; standing there like that, he looked just like his bodyguard.
Familiar with the path, Ye Xisheng led him to skirt around many people, passing through a side corridor to reach the backyard, walking even deeper before finally stopping in front of an inconspicuous little door.
He raised his hand, his knuckles knocking on the door in a rhythmic pattern.
“Creak—”
The door was opened to a crack, and the person behind it looked like a handyman inside the Full Blossom Tower, wearing coarse cloth garments, except that his eyes revealed a sharp cleverness.
He paused when he saw Ye Xisheng: “Qizhi? Haven’t all the handymen in the tower been given a holiday recently?”
Ye Xisheng answered with ease: “I am here to see the tower master.”
Qizhi? Song Lianzhou secretly glanced at the person beside him it seemed this was Ye Xisheng’s identity within the Full Blossom Tower.
And judging by it, he and this doorman knew each other.
“Here to see the tower master?” Hearing this, the handyman laughed. “You kid are doing quite well for yourself now, even able to afford the price to summon the tower master?”
Ye Xisheng smiled ambiguously: “Naturally, I don’t need to pay it.”
He slightly turned his body sideways, revealing Song Lianzhou behind him.
“Oh my, so you’ve latched onto a sugar daddy,” the handyman saw Song Lianzhou, and his eyes lit up in an instant. “Oh my, oh my, looking so pretty, just like an immortal from the heavens. You kid really have great fortune…”
His gaze landed on the waist plaque at Song Lianzhou’s side, and suddenly he couldn’t laugh anymore.
The expression on his face turned into deep shock: “S-Song, Song Song Song Song…”
“Nice to meet you.” Song Lianzhou smiled.
The handyman stared at him: “You… You are the young master of the Song family?”
Song Lianzhou nodded.
The handyman suddenly snapped his head to look at Ye Xisheng, his face carrying a strong sense of grief and indignation at discovering a friend inexplicably getting a partner and punching above his weight class: “He… you guys… The tower master said only cultivation partners can enter the main building to see him…”
“I know.” Ye Xisheng smiled and held Song Lianzhou’s hand.
“This is my beloved, of royal blood and noble lineage.”
The handyman’s eyes were practically popping out: “You two really are cultivation partners?”
Ye Xisheng’s words made Song Lianzhou feel a bit warm in the face; he leaned back against Ye Xisheng and muttered softly, “True, truer than pearls.”
“Boom.” The handyman felt as though something had cleaved right through his brain.
He supported his forehead, dizzy and lightheaded as he reached out: “Your partnership agreement, let me see it.”
Partnership agreement? Where would they have one?
Song Lianzhou looked nervously at Ye Xisheng, only to see the latter calmly produce a scroll glowing with golden light and hand it over.
Curious, Song Lianzhou glanced at it: Good grief, this partnership agreement was made to look just like the real thing, featuring not only the fingerprint impressions of both of them, but even the seal carved in the lower left corner was shimmering with flowing gold light.
Except that the names were… Qizhi and… Song Xisheng?
What kind of thing was this taking my name to bear your surname, was this a random name he just made up? Song Lianzhou couldn’t help smiling as he looked at Ye Xisheng, colliding right into the gaze with which the other person looked back, full of smiles.
The handyman looked at the partnership agreement with a gaze as if he wanted to eat it alive.
Flipping it up, down, left, right, back and forth, he checked it repeatedly. After confirming there were no problems, the handyman finally returned the partnership agreement: “Fine, no problem, you may go in. Tsk, Qizhi, you kid are really lucky.”
“Oh right,” he suddenly patted his head. “The tower master went out just now and doesn’t know what time he will return tonight; you’d better come again tomorrow.”
He produced a stamp and pressed it onto the backs of both of their hands: “Here, with this thing, you can just come straight over tomorrow.”
Ye Xisheng thanked him and left amidst the handyman’s gaze full of emotion.
Upon coming out of the Full Blossom Tower, Song Lianzhou took a deep breath of fresh air: “That went fairly smoothly. Playing the role of cultivation partners turned out to be simpler than I expected.”
Ye Xisheng helped him onto the carriage while saying, “I told you earlier, Senior Brother can just leave it to me.”
“Right, where did you conjure that partnership agreement from?”
“A little trick, not worth mentioning, but it’s enough to fool those people.”
Hearing their voices, Feiyi poked her head out with a swoosh: “Senior Brother, you’re back? Where did you guys go?”
Song Lianzhou briefly introduced the Full Blossom Tower and what had just happened.
By the time he finished speaking, the few of them had already returned to the inn, and Feiyi listened with glowing eyes: “Such a pretty place is actually a brothel? Senior Brother, take me to see it, I’ve never been… Ouch!”
Song Lianzhou gently patted Feiyi’s forehead with his folding fan, saying calmly: “Children are not allowed to go.”
Qingmiao let out a cold snort: “How vulgar.”
Feiyi: “What did you say?!”
Thus, a new round of verbal sparring broke out once again.
That night, Song Lianzhou sat cross-legged in his room to practice cultivation.
Although it was only a single step from the late stage of Nascent Soul to the peak of Nascent Soul, he had broken through to the late stage of Nascent Soul not long ago and had not yet touched the threshold of the peak.
Amidst the complete silence of the room, the sound of knocking suddenly came.
Song Lianzhou withdrew his Qi and said, “Who is it?”
“Senior Brother, it’s me.” Ye Xisheng’s muffled voice entered the room through the door panel.
“Ah-Sheng?” Song Lianzhou got up from the couch and walked forward, “It’s so late, is there something the matter?”
“I suddenly remembered a matter that I forgot to discuss with you, Senior Brother, please open the door.”
Song Lianzhou’s hand was already resting on the door latch at this moment; hearing this, he stopped his movement, a flash of golden light revolving in the depths of his eyes.
“It’s too late today, I’m going to rest, why don’t we discuss it tomorrow?”
A brief few seconds of silence, and the surrounding air seemed a bit overly quiet.
The voice outside the door said: “It’s just some minor matters, it won’t delay Senior Brother for too long.”
Truly persistent, aren’t they?
Song Lianzhou retreated a few steps and said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes: “Ah-Sheng is right next door now, how about I wake him up so you two can properly debate who the real Ye Xisheng is?”
The person outside the door stopped speaking then, and for a moment the surroundings were left with only the echo of Song Lianzhou’s clear-toned voice.
Song Lianzhou’s divine sense probed outward, and there was not a soul outside the door.
However, he did not dare to lower his guard, silently expanding the range of his divine sense to cover the surroundings, seeing that Feiyi and Qingmiao had already entered dreamland, while Ye Xisheng was supporting his cheek reading a book, and outside the window several dark figures flashed past at high speed.
“Clatter!!”
The next instant, the window was violently shattered by someone, and several figures rapidly lunged toward Song Lianzhou!