Chapter 55: A Town’s Despair and an Unforeseen Obstacle

“Just think of it as a free feast! Moonfall Pavilion is the best restaurant in town. Don’t you love all sorts of delicious food? I hear their ‘Steamed Perch’ is absolutely divine! And their ‘Osmanthus Glutinous Rice Lotus Root’ is perfectly sweet, never cloying!”

Su Qinghan felt dizzy from being shaken.

“You…”

Gazing into Lu Hongzhuang’s sparkling eyes, which clearly pleaded ‘I want you to come with me,’ Su Qinghan found herself momentarily speechless.

“I feel like you’ve changed a lot.”

The old Lu Hongzhuang would never have spoken to her in such an almost coquettish tone.

“Have I?” Lu Hongzhuang tilted her head, her expression one of genuine bewilderment.

She herself didn’t realize that in front of Su Qinghan, her formerly cold demeanor was slowly, bit by bit, peeling away.

“Then I’ll carry you!” she suddenly offered, already making a move to do so.

“Go away~!”

Su Qinghan recoiled in alarm.

‘What kind of joke is this!’

‘Again? It feels like this girl is increasingly eager to stick close to me, and that’s not a good sign at all!’

Pointing towards the door, she stated unequivocally.

“Give me back my four-wheeled cart!”

“Oh.”

Lu Hongzhuang nodded obediently and turned to leave.

Watching her compliant retreating figure, the little person in Su Qinghan’s heart let out a smug hum.

‘Little Hongzhuang~ under my thumb!’

Lu Hongzhuang indeed went to that corner of the courtyard. The wheelchair, which she had casually pushed aside the previous afternoon, still sat quietly in its spot, now adorned with a scattering of morning dew.

By the time she returned to the room with the wheelchair, Su Qinghan had already managed to move herself to the edge of the bed and change her clothes.

Lu Hongzhuang naturally helped her, settling her securely into the wheelchair.

Just as the two were about to leave, they noticed a flurry of activity at the courtyard gate.

Master Qian was directing his house servants to load sacks of rice onto a carriage, with his daughter Qian Xiaoxiao and the young guard Xiao Li assisting nearby.

“Master Qian.” Lu Hongzhuang pushed Su Qinghan over and greeted him proactively.

“Ah! Lady Lu, Miss Su!” Seeing them, Master Qian quickly wiped sweat from his brow, his face beaming as he came forward. “Are the two of you heading out?”

Lu Hongzhuang nodded. “The Magistrate invited us to a banquet. Master Qian, where are you off to so early?”

“Alas, it’s quite shameful to mention,” Master Qian sighed, gesturing towards the rice sacks on the carriage.

“Last night, the wolf demons caused chaos. Although Niujia Village bore the brunt of it, the townspeople are in a state of panic. Many poor families who rely on going outside the town for odd jobs probably won’t dare to leave today, thus losing their livelihood.”

“I figured, since my family has plenty of grain, I’d take some out and set up a porridge stall under the archway at the town entrance. We’ll offer some thin porridge, at least so everyone can have a warm meal and not starve.”

He patted the fat on his belly, chuckling self-deprecatingly.

“Though I have little schooling, I do understand what scholars often say…”

“‘When poor, one should perfect themselves.’”

“‘When successful, one should benefit all under heaven!’”

Master Qian spoke with an air of complete conviction.

Su Qinghan sat quietly in her wheelchair, listening.

‘Benefit all under heaven?’

She gazed at the several carts laden with gleaming white rice, at Master Qian’s sincere yet somewhat shrewd, plump face, and at the busy Qian Xiaoxiao and guard Xiao Li beside him.

Observing the bustling Qian family, she recalled how, in her previous life on Mount Longhu, her senior brothers and sisters often descended the mountain to help others, calling it ‘cultivation in the mortal world’ or ‘benefiting all under heaven.’ Perhaps it was much like this.

Noticing Su Qinghan’s silence, Lu Hongzhuang assumed she was moved by Master Qian’s benevolent act. She gently pushed the wheelchair, whispering, “Let’s go, we shouldn’t be late.”

Su Qinghan snapped out of her reverie, said nothing, and allowed Lu Hongzhuang to push her towards the Qian estate’s main gate.

Yet, Master Qian’s words echoed repeatedly in her mind.

‘When successful, one should benefit all under heaven…’

Lu Hongzhuang pushed Su Qinghan out through the main gates of the Qian estate.

In the early morning, Moonfall Town’s streets were deserted, imbued with a sense of desolation.

Although the wolf demon attack last night hadn’t directly affected the town itself, the terrifying howls and towering flames from outside had already sown seeds of fear deep within the hearts of the townspeople.

Nine out of ten shops lining the streets were closed, their doors tightly boarded up.

Only a few scattered vegetable vendors timidly set up their stalls at street corners, their eyes wide with apprehension as they glanced nervously around, ready to pack up and flee at the slightest disturbance.

An inexplicable sense of panic permeated the air.

Su Qinghan sat in her wheelchair, observing the scene in silence.

Master Qian’s phrase, ‘When successful, one should benefit all under heaven,’ continued to reverberate in her mind.

In her previous life on Mount Longhu, her heart was solely devoted to the Dao, pursuing the unity of heaven and man, and transcending worldly emotions. She held little sentiment for the mundane concerns of food, fuel, and romantic attachments that existed down the mountain.

Now, however, she had become a part of this mortal world, a “weak woman” utterly powerless.

Everything she saw, heard, felt, and thought had become incredibly real. No wonder her senior brothers and sisters enjoyed venturing down the mountain.

Considering the previous magistrate’s destructive retaliation due to his unappreciated talents, it was highly probable that the heavens of this world were also profoundly turbid and corrupt.

‘Then how could one even begin to ‘benefit all under heaven’?’

Lu Hongzhuang pushed the wheelchair with steady steps. Sensing the silence of the person beside her, she assumed Su Qinghan was still upset about the previous night’s events.

Ever since waking up that morning, she had felt Su Qinghan was somewhat subdued.

“Um…” Lu Hongzhuang cleared her throat, attempting to find a topic. “Last night… did you sleep well?”

No sooner had the words left her mouth than she wanted to slap herself. She had truly put her foot in it.

“Terribly not well.”

Su Qinghan’s voice cut in abruptly.

Lu Hongzhuang’s heart plummeted.

‘It’s over! She knows!’

‘She definitely knows I touched her in my sleep during the first half of the night!’

‘What do I do, what do I do! Will she think I’m a pervert? Will she never speak to me again?’

Lu Hongzhuang’s cheeks instantly flushed crimson, her hands on the wheelchair began to sweat, and her mind churned into a muddled mess.

Just as she was about to throw caution to the wind and kneel to apologize once more, Su Qinghan’s voice drifted over.

“You made my head hurt so much last night and this morning.”

“Huh?”

Lu Hongzhuang froze, her mind failing to grasp the meaning.

Su Qinghan rubbed her temples, giving her an exasperated glare. “With that strength of yours, were you trying to crack open my skull? I’m still feeling dizzy.”

‘Phew—’

‘So that’s what she was talking about!’

Lu Hongzhuang let out a long sigh of relief, her entire body relaxing as if she had just walked back from the gates of hell.

“You startled me!” she blurted out, her tone laced with a sense of relief and childlike innocence that she herself hadn’t noticed.

Su Qinghan: “…”

‘What on earth is this blockhead thinking about?’

The two continued in silence, soon arriving at the town’s largest restaurant, Moonfall Pavilion.

Moonfall Pavilion was a three-story wooden edifice, with soaring eaves, intricate dougong brackets, and carved beams adorned with painted motifs. In this desolate town, it stood out as exceptionally grand.

In front of the building, two rows of official soldiers stood, their waist-swords sheathed, expressions solemn, and vigilance tight.

As Lu Hongzhuang pushed Su Qinghan, about to enter, an official soldier extended an arm to stop them.

“Lady Lu, please halt,” the soldier said, a fake smile plastered on his face, his tone utterly arrogant. “Magistrate Jia only extends his invitation to Lady Lu today.”

His chin lifted slightly as he cast a sidelong glance at Su Qinghan, who was seated in the wheelchair.

“As for this… extraneous person, they may take a casual meal in the first-floor hall. Magistrate Jia has already given instructions; the food will be plentiful and they will certainly not be neglected.”

‘Extraneous person?’

Su Qinghan’s eyebrow arched, a quiet amusement stirring within her.

‘Well, I’ll be! After all this time, this is the first time this Daoist Master has been called an “extraneous person” to their face.’

She wasn’t angry at all; instead, she watched Lu Hongzhuang with keen interest, eager to see how she would handle the situation.

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