Chapter 323: 323、The Ascetic (Part 1)
“There’s money in your card, remember to have your meals on time…”
“Put your clothes in the was.h.i.+ng machine and hang them up quickly to dry…”
“Don’t watch cartoon all the time, remember to get up and move around after some time…”
Lu Shu was like a parent about to go on a long trip overseas but could not stop worrying over his child. Lu Xiaoyu caressed Little Fury and said calmly, “Lu Shu, you promised to bring me to the capital.”
“But they don’t allow family members!” Lu Shu said helplessly.
“Lu Shu, you’ve changed,” Lu Xiaoyu said coldly. In her arms, Little Fury looked as if there was no more meaning in life. Lu Xiaoyu would rub it when she was at a loss. Little Fury was still not quite capable of resisting…
“Hey! I said not to watch romance dramas anymore!” Lu Shu said, anger rising.
The Heavenly Network instructed them not to worry about anything on this trip to the capital for progress report. They had already prepared the tickets, and all basic necessities had also been settled. Most importantly, Li Yixiao reminded them specially to bring their weapons along.
Lu Shu would be meeting Cao Qingci at the terminal in the provincial capital. Zhong Yutang would be there to bring them northwards to the capital.
Lu Shu was increasingly certain that this trip to the capital for progress report would not be a simple one. Why could he not shake off the feeling that they were going there to fight?
Everything was planned in a tight schedule and Lu Shu had no time to care so much. He was home the same night to pack his luggage and had to leave the following morning at 6 for the provincial capital to catch a train. The trip would take an hour and a half.
By then, with proper doc.u.ments, the Heavenly Network could already bring their cold weapons onto transportations. The transport system nationwide had given them the green light.
The next morning, Lu Shu planned to leave alone quietly, but Lu Xiaoyu was adamant about sending him off. She even prepared a present for him…
“What’s this?” Lu Shu was surprised.
“Just open it and you’ll know!” Lu Xiaoyu grinned. “I had it made to order online!”
With that, Lu Xiaoyu went back into the house. Lu Shu opened the wrapping and saw a black T-s.h.i.+rt with white prints on it.
In front, Lu Shu is here…
At the back, Lu Shu is gone…
At this moment, Lu Xiaoyu emerged from the house. She, too, had changed into a new T-s.h.i.+rt.
In front, Xiaoyu is here…
At the back, Xiaoyu is gone…
He had seen this before. “The foreigner is here, the foreigner is gone”. Can’t believe Lu Xiaoyu used it straight to make T-s.h.i.+rts…
“Too childish,” Lu Shu took this opportunity to get back at Lu Xiaoyu for what she did a few days ago. You’re right, I, Lu Shu, bear grudge really well!
“You better wear it!” Lu Xiaoyu said, her expression cold.
“Heh heh…fine, I’ll wear!” Lu Shu put the T-s.h.i.+rt back on. Only then did Lu Xiaoyu smile once again, “Let’s go. I’ll send you to the train terminal.”
The pair hailed a cab to the train terminal. At home, Lu Shu would remind Lu Xiaoyu earnestly to eat her meal regularly while she listens with impatience. On the car, Lu Xiaoyu became the one reminding Lu Shu to stay safe and be careful no matter what…
At the terminal, Lu Shu realised that Jiang Shuyi was also already waiting at the entrance to the hall.
Lu Shu was momentarily stunned, “Shuyi, you are going for the progress report too?”
Jiang Shuyi saw Lu Shu and smiled. “Nope, I am here specially to send you off.” Right after that, Jiang Shuyi lowered his voice and said, “This time, the progress report in the capital is unlike usual. Do your best. The Heavenly Network will be reviewing all of you in various aspects. You must be careful in all that you say and do. You will be constantly monitored.”
Lu Shu finally understood. So that’s how it would be? When organizations such as the Heavenly Network pick newcomers to groom, they were indeed even more cautious. So many people mobilized.
As for what would be reviewed and how to do so, Jiang Shuyi said that he had no idea himself.
Lu Shu was slightly touched. He did not expect Jiang Shuyi to come all the way here specially to send him off just so to inform him. Lu Shu thought of the magical energy gathered and felt a wave of pride. He too had given Jiang Shuyi great a.s.sistance, right?
Come to think of it, Jiang Shuyi still owed him a favour. After all, the magical energy was really strong!
Lu Shu tested water while feigning nonchalance, “Now, magical energy are still growing. Blessed lands are sprouting out in many places. That being said, how is the blessed land at your house?”
Unexpectedly, Jiang Shuyi’s face suddenly darkened…
Jiang Shuyi went on to say with his teeth gnas.h.i.+ng, “I have no idea why the magical energy in my house boomed all of a sudden and a potted plant at home grew so big that it destroyed the house. It is now being rebuilt!”
Heh heh. Lu Shu felt that he could carry this secret to the grave… Who was it who said that a person had to keep a few secrets for a life well lived? That person is indeed wise…
You may not believe if I admit. I did not know that your potted plant is so powerful…
Just at this moment, Cao Qingci, carrying a black backpack, alighted from the morning bus. She went down calmly towards the terminal. n.o.body was sending her off, nor was she like other girls who needed to drag along a huge luggage when going to some distant place. Inside, everything would be inside, just like moving house, as if they could not survive if one item was absent…
In this age whereby high school girls have started to put on light make-up and boys wear skirts… Cao Qingci seemed to never have cared much about her image, only that her clothes should be clean and neat.
Cao Qingci arrived at the waiting hall. She seemed not to want to greet Lu Shu at all as she walked right by him, despite them being the only two travelling together from Luo Cheng.
“So cold,” Jiang Shuyi sighed. “I’m afraid she is the subject of focus this time during the progress report. In her heart, this girl seemed to care only about cultivation. In the Daoyuan Cla.s.ses across the country, her cultivation apt.i.tude seems to be the highest. Also, among the Tier A apt.i.tude geniuses, she was the only one to have distinguished herself in battle.”
“So hard to see what she’s thinking,” Lu Shu shook his head. He realized that he might not have received any distress points from Cao Qingci at all?!
Either her heart was like still water and would not produce any negative feelings, or she had ways to isolate herself from the outside world.
Such an exclusively special feeling made Lu Shu curious. If Cao Qingci really had a way to isolate herself from the outside world, Lu Shu really wanted to find out more.
After the doc.u.ments Lu Shu produced were checked online, he did not even have to go through any security check. The terminal let him pa.s.s through straight without any red lights.
When he placed his ident.i.ty card on the scanner, what came out were words like “confidential” and “free pa.s.sage”. It did not reveal that he was a Daoyuan Cla.s.s student.
In the car, Lu Shu and Cao Qingci sat beside each other. She would forever be with her eyes closed, cultivating. Even though she was already at the peak of Cla.s.s D, she never stopped exercising the sun’s rotation to stabilise her own state.
As for Lu Shu, he took out his j.a.panese language self-study material he had bought previously to study.
He suddenly felt that the silent Cao Qingci beside him was like an…ascetic.