Lu Zhiyao thought Chu Liuyue had decided who she wanted as her master, so he excitedly said, “Alright, I’ll go with you guys!”
When Ye Ranran came walking over, she nervously scanned Chu Liuyue and Qiang Wanzhou’s bodies before patting her chest in relief. “You nearly scared me to death! You two are too bold! It’s lucky that nothing happened to both of you. Don’t ever go in there without permission again!”
Chu Liuyue’s eyebrows rose slightly at that. I won’t go in there without permission again. The next time I’m here, I’ll probably settle the problem once and for all.
After making sure that both Chu Liuyue and Qiang Wanzhou were fine, the four of them thus left together.
…
When they arrived at Zhengfeng Hall—where Weichi Song was currently at—Chu Liuyue led Qiang Wanzhou inside. Elder Xia Yi seemed to have already left as he was busy with other affairs, so only Weichi Song was there at Zhengfeng Hall.
Upon seeing the two of them, Weichi Song smiled. “How was the tour? Have you decided who you want as your master?”
Chu Liuyue nodded. “Both Little Zhou and I wish to be your disciples.”
Weichi Song was delighted and surprised to hear that. Both were outstanding disciples that he liked and thought very highly of, so he was naturally happy that they were willing to become his disciples. However, he had his concerns too.
“Are you sure about that? To be honest… Elder Xia Yi’s cultivation has surpassed mine,” said Weichi Song frankly.
Chu Liuyue looked determined as she told him, “Yes. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have chosen Chong Xu Cabinet.”
A myriad of emotions welled up in Weichi Song. “A-alright! Since you have decided to acknowledge me as your master, I’ll gladly teach everything I know! Later, I’ll tell Xia Yi to go prepare the ceremony—”
“There’s no need to go through so much trouble,” interrupted Chu Liuyue. “Cabinet Master, all those rituals are just pure formalities for outsiders to see, and they aren’t important at all. What’s important is that Little Zhou and I-I… have decided to acknowledge you as our master.”
She then took a step back, went on her knees, and solemnly paid him a kowtow.
Shocked, Weichi Song hurriedly went to help her up. “What are you doing—”
“Cabinet Master, if you don’t mind, I’ll be your disciple from today onward.”
Weichi Song’s hands froze in midair at the sight of the young girl kneeling in front of him. She looked utterly serious as a faint light reflected from her dark, glassy eyes.
He felt a pang in his heart, and his eyes turned moist.
A small smile formed on Chu Liuyue’s face as she earnestly kowtowed two more times to him.
“Get up! Get up!” Weichi Song suppressed the excitement in his heart.
Only then did Chu Liuyue rise to her feet. “Your disciple—Chu Liuyue—pays her respect to you, Master.”
Weichi Song was at a loss for words. Ever since Chong Xu Cabinet was attacked and his only son, Weichi Lang, passed away in an accident, he had fallen into a depressed state. Had it not been for fear of destroying Chong Xu Cabinet with his two hands and the disciples getting bullied as a result, he probably would’ve collapsed a long time ago.
Qiang Wanzhou did the same as Chu Liuyue, kowtowing and paying his respects to Weichi Song.
“What good kids you two are… Chong Xu Cabinet is no longer as it was before, so I don’t have much to give you except for these…” As Weichi Song spoke in a trembling voice, he slowly and carefully took out two golden whistles from his Cosmic Ring and passed one to each of them.
Longing and pain were apparent in his eyes. “These whistles contain my force. If you blow it, I’ll come to you right away, no matter where you are! These whistles… were made by me. I intended to give them to Langlang and… Little Crescent, but they’re no longer around. You can have them instead!”
A lot of force and effort are needed to make this thing. One might not be able to recover their force for a long time, yet he made two of them! Earlier, he said that he made one for his son and another for… Chu Liuyue’s heart thumped hard as she whispered lightly, “Who did you say this whistle was for, Master?”
Weichi Song let out a bitter laugh at that. “I’m so used to calling her Little Crescent that I forgot you might not know who I’m talking about. It’s actually… the late Crown Princess of the Tianling Dynasty. She’s no longer around, so it’s only normal that you haven’t heard of her.”
He stroked the whistles in his hand. “Speaking of which, she can be considered my disciple too. I wanted to give this to her on her big day, but unfortunately… That day never came, so I never got the chance to do so…”
Chu Liuyue’s mind went blank as she stiffly reached for the whistle. Upon touching some sort of an engraving on the other side of it, she flipped it over and saw the word ‘Yue’ engraved on it in fine print.
When Qiang Wanzhou took his whistle, he noticed that something seemed amiss with Chu Liuyue’s reaction. Hence, he took a look at her whistle, and he was surprised to see the word on it. “Her name is also Yue?”
Weichi Song nodded. “Yes, that’s Little Crescent’s name. Coincidentally, Liuyue also has a ‘Yue’ in her name. This must be… fate. Will you mind it, Liuyue?”
Chu Liuyue inhaled deeply before looking up to give him a big smile. “Of course not. This is a gift from you, so I’ll naturally treasure it. If she knows that you treated her so well, she’d definitely be very happy too.”
“I hope so!” Weichi Song couldn’t help but let out a heavy sigh at that.
Chu Liuyue suppressed the emotions welling up within her as she carefully put the whistle away.
Next to her, Qiang Wanzhou appeared dazed as he looked at Weichi Song and asked, “…Master, has that girl—Little Crescent—ever been to Nan Jiang?”
Weichi Song gave the question a thought before he shook his head. “Nan Jiang is a dangerous place, so it’s unlikely that she’s ever been there.”
This kid is on a wild goose chase. Chu Liuyue sighed inwardly when she saw the hint of disappointment in Qiang Wanzhou’s face. After putting her thoughts together, she said, “Master, we have something we’d like to discuss with you. It’s regarding Chong Xu Cabinet’s old medicinal garden… The soil there is poisonous. I’m sure you’re aware of that too, right?”
Weichi Song’s expression changed. “You’ve been there?”
Chu Liuyue hurriedly said, “Don’t get angry, nor do you need to worry. Listen to me first. Little Zhou and I noticed that there’s something wrong with the garden, so we went to check it out—”
“You’ve even entered the garden?” Weichi Song totally lost his cool. How bold of them!
Chu Liuyue coughed. “Aren’t we alright? Besides, we found something in the ground. Have you heard of this thing called Messed Yuan Gravel?”
Weichi Song knitted his brows. “Messed Yuan Gravel? What’s that?”
Chu Liuyue thus explained it to him briefly.
Right after she proposed to use herself as bait, Weichi Song finally couldn’t hold himself back as he stood up and bellowed, “I won’t allow it!”
