Silently, the girl styled his hair. Her touch was soft and pleasant, so much so that Niu You Dao blissfully closed his eyes at her ministrations. He waited for her to begin speaking what was on her mind.
"Lord Dao, Wei Duo is still kneeling," Shu Qing reminded him.
Niu You Dao calmly replied:
"The Supreme Purity Sect still wanted to kill me! He loves kneeling, so let him kneel!
Shu Qing remained silent.
And when Shu Qing had gathered his hair into a bun, she finally asked:
"Lord Dao is seeking a place for secluded cultivation. We do have a safe place. At the very least, it hasn't been shown to others before."
Niu You Dao asked in surprise, "Here? Where?"
Shu Qing: "In confidence, Lord Dao, we haven't shown you everything in Cang Wu County. We have another secret location!"
"A secret location?" Niu You Dao opened his eyes and asked.
Shu Qing: "A very important place. It's not convenient to tell Lord Dao right now. If Lord Dao goes there to cultivate, then naturally you will see it."
Niu You Dao thought for a moment: "If it's a safe place, I can stay there."
Shu Qing: "Alright! I will arrange for everything to be prepared. However, we'll need to wait a few days, otherwise, sister-in-law might suspect something."
"A few days is fine," Niu You Dao replied. However, after a moment, he asked again, "Did you convince the Prince and Mister Lan to allow me to go to that place for secluded cultivation?"
Shu Qing froze. She didn't understand how he had guessed. After all, this place was very important, and to show it to him, she had long argued with her brother and Lan Ruo Ting. Shu Qing, evading the question, asked:
"Is there a hairpin?"
She had already gathered the bun, only to find there was no hairpin to secure it.
Seeing that she was avoiding the question, Niu You Dao didn't press further. In truth, he understood that showing him a secret place was quite a risky move. No matter what, whether he returned or not, there were still the cultivators from the Heavenly Jade Sect. The issue was that he already knew their secret plans, knew about the farce with the 100,000 Crows army. How could they let him go now?
If they were truly malicious people, they would have tried to kill him as a witness long ago. However, borrowing Feng Ru Nan's people was difficult. Moreover, he had said that with his help, they could acquire a 100,000-strong army. Therefore, unless the Heavenly Jade Sect provided compelling reasons why Niu You Dao must be killed, it was unlikely they would agree to assassinate him.
"I've never tied my hair into a bun. Why would I need one?" Niu You Dao smiled.
Shu Qing hesitated for a moment, then took out the central hairpin from her own hair. When she didn't go out, she wore a veil covering half her face instead of a hat.
After gathering his hair and tidying his hairstyle, Shu Qing happily asked:
"Lord Dao, how is it?"
"A mirror," Niu You Dao waved his hand, signaling for one to be brought to him.
Yuan Gang quickly pulled out the bronze mirror and showed it to Niu You Dao. Niu You Dao took the mirror and asked, "What do you think?"
Yuan Gang: "Not bad. You look much more refreshed."
Returning the mirror, Niu You Dao stood up, turned, and said with a smile, "The Grand Princess personally styled my hair; how could it be bad?"
Shu Qing said, laughing:
"It's nothing. If Lord Dao doesn't mind, I can do your hair from now on."
Niu You Dao waved his hand. How could he dare ask this young lady to style his hair constantly?
...
Cang Wu County Town.
After the waves of purification subsided, some families rejoiced. As for the common folk, they could only go with the flow.
On one street was the Jin Mo Xuan bookstore. It was the most popular bookstore in the county town. Seeing that during the purge, people came to inventory property and quickly dealt with some owners without much talk, the shop owner, to avoid trouble, decided to leave for a while. Indeed, many shopkeepers at this time abandoned their shops and went elsewhere, adopting a wait-and-see approach.
The new owner was now sweeping the shop with a broom. He was dressed in white.
Three people were walking down the street. As they passed the bookstore, they immediately stopped. The three looked at the sign, then glanced around. Then they went inside.
"Gentlemen, what can I..." Hearing that he had guests, the man turned and greeted them. However, he didn't finish speaking before he suddenly stopped. Looking at the person leading the three, the shop owner froze.
He quietly said, "Brother Liu, why are you here?"
The solidly built man at the front replied, "Lu Sheng Zhong, Wang Heng ordered you to avenge Song Yang Qing's father. And you're quite clever! You took this shop and pretended to be an educated, refined man. Tricky."
This new shop owner was none other than Lu Sheng Zhong, who had received orders from Wang Heng to kill Niu You Dao. And that solidly built man was none other than Liu Zi You, the son of Liu Lu, the Song family's household manager, and a disciple of the Liuxiang Sect. He too had come under the Song family's instructions.
Although the two were not very familiar with each other, the Song and Wang Heng families were related by marriage, so they had met a couple of times.
*You're pretending to be cultured!* Lu Sheng Zhong was displeased inwardly. *You're just a servant, yet you come here wanting to give orders!*
Outwardly, however, he politely replied, "This is no place for talking. Come into the back room." Seeing that it was becoming lively outside, he put down the broom and turned to walk into the room behind the curtain.
Liu Zi You and the others followed him, and Lu Sheng Zhong asked again:
"Why are you here?"
Liu Zi You replied indifferently:
"What else is there to say? The masters are worried you won't be able to complete the task, so they sent me to supervise you. At home, you do everything well under supervision, but out in the world, who knows what you'll do? What tricks might you devise to return later and fool your masters?"
Lu Sheng Zhong replied with a bitter smile:
"Brother Liu, since you're here, you must know the situation in Cang Wu County. There are many cultivators around Niu You Dao. How could he be easily killed? That's why I'm looking for the right opportunity."
Liu Zi You replied in a cold tone:
"You took this shop, and this is how you're looking for an opportunity? I've been watching you for two days. For two days, you've spent all your time here, not going anywhere or gathering information. Is this how you look for an opportunity?"
Lu Sheng Zhong replied with a sigh:
"Now everything here is under Shang Chao Zong's supervision. God knows where and who is watching you. And if I go around asking questions everywhere, I'll draw attention! Especially with Bai Yao around Niu You Dao! Neither you nor I can do anything for now. That's why I'm thinking of how to use cunning to get him. Force won't work here!"
Liu Zi You frowned and said, "Hiding in a bookstore?"
Lu Sheng Zhong shook his head and helplessly said, "Brother Liu, since you've been observing here for over two days, you probably know the situation. Then let me ask you, how does my shop compare to others?"
Liu Zi You frowned and said, "The best. What does that have to do with anything?"
Lu Sheng Zhong cupped his hands: "Think about it. Shang Chao Zong has many people, and how can they do without the Four Treasures of the Study? If his people need these things, where will they go here? When they come to me, that's when an opportunity will arise to learn something!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the man standing by the curtain immediately gestured for everyone to be silent.
A voice called from outside: "Shopkeeper?"
Lu Sheng Zhong signaled the others to wait a moment, then went out himself.
As soon as he stepped out from behind the curtains, he froze. Another person might not have recognized him, but Lu Sheng Zhong knew that an Yinyang and Wuli guard had come to his shop. What's more, a sword hung from his belt.
He approached with a wide smile: "Esteemed guest, how may I help you?"
The warrior pointed to some writing supplies. He immediately paid for them and asked for them to be packed.
Lu Sheng Zhong did everything as requested, then wrote something on a piece of paper and placed it inside the package.
Seeing this, the warrior asked, "Shopkeeper, what did you write and why did you put a note inside?"
Lu Sheng Zhong replied with a laugh, "Just a poem. If the customers like the poem, they'll come again."
Lu Sheng Zhong placed the package before him.
The warrior replied with a smile, "You cultured people handle things well." Then he turned and left.
Lu Sheng Zhong escorted him outside, glanced around, and then re-entered the back room.
Liu Zi You was waiting for him by the curtain: "An Yinyang and Wuli guard?"
"It truly happened just as I said. It seems I made the right decision." Lu Sheng Zhong rubbed his hands excitedly:
"I heard that Shang Shu Qing is an art connoisseur who loves chess, guqin, calligraphy, and painting. I put a good poem inside, and that person will deliver it to the princess. That way, we'll establish contact. Who knows, maybe they'll summon me later, or she'll even come herself. Then we'll see what can be done."
"A good poem?" Liu Zi You looked at him:
"Can you even write poetry? How do you know your poem will be appreciated?"
Lu Sheng Zhong smiled, walked to the table, wrote a little, then handed it to Liu Zi You.
"Brother Liu, please appraise the poem."
Liu Zi You looked at the paper suspiciously and began to murmur:
"One who has seen the sea will not be surprised by a stream. One who has seen the clouds on Wushan Mountain will not acknowledge other clouds. Looking back, half the journey was in perfection, half the journey in dominance!" Having finished, he looked at Sheng Zhong: "A good poem! It turns out you have such talent? Brother Lu, you're impressive!" he said in surprise.
Lu Sheng Zhong waved his hand: "You flatter me. In truth, these aren't my poems, but your Young Master Song Yang Qing's. I merely borrowed his poems." Saying this, he sighed.
In the capital, there had been rumors that Song Yang Qing was gifted in poetry. Several times, Song Yang Qing had sent poems to the Wang family. At that time, Wang Heng had praised his poems. Later, Song Yang Qing sent him more. Lu Sheng Zhong had initially not acknowledged Song Yang Qing's poems. But then he realized that his poems were truly good!
"Young Master Song Yang Qing wrote this?" Liu Zi You nearly went into convulsions.
*What a joke?* He tilted his head and looked at the poem. He didn't know who had actually written these poems...