Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 410 Fate is Coming
Not long after, Huo Zhang swaggered into the house with a man and a woman.

Upon seeing Sheng Yuanyao and Pei Chuyun sitting on either side, brewing tea and drinking, Huo Zhang's smile froze for a moment, his mind filled with ellipses.

It was quite embarrassing to be stopped outside by Sheng Yuanyao. Where could he, Second Master Huo, be stopped? He wanted to show off in front of the guests, but he almost got his face slapped.

Sheng Yuanyao, at least I was there during the rescue in the battle of Guiyuan City, okay? Well, although I didn't make it in time, your Lu Xingzhou rushed up to save me like a madman. I was there too, don't you give your comrade any face at all?

As a result, Lu Xingzhou quickly let him in. Huo Zhang had just felt that he had regained some face when he saw Sheng Yuanyao standing there, refusing to leave.

What are you doing here?
Not only was this person sitting here, but there was also a beautiful and charming Miss Pei sitting here. Both of them had sharp eyes, staring at Huo Zhang and the others.

What are you doing, guarding against thieves? I'm not a woman, are you afraid Lu Xingzhou will steal my food?

Oh no...

There really is a woman.

Huo Zhang subconsciously turned his head to look at the man and woman he had brought. The man was an elderly man, while the woman was quite young, looking to be in her early twenties. Sheng Yuanyao and Pei Chuyun's gazes were fixed on her... Not only were they staring, but Lu Xingzhou was also staring, his eyes thoughtful.

Huo Zhang: "..."

What are you doing? This woman might be my mother! Why are you all on guard? What are you trying to do, Lu Xingzhou?
Just as he was in a daze, Lu Xingzhou finally spoke up: "Second Brother, what are you standing there for? Sit down. Um... these two, please sit down too."

Even though his eyes had turned to Huo Zhang while he was speaking, Huo Zhang still felt that he seemed to be glancing at the woman out of the corner of his eye, and the woman even looked a little angry.

Huo Zhang, somewhat speechless, pulled the two of them to sit down in the guest seats: "No, I mean, why are there people watching when you're a doctor entertaining guests?"

Lu Xingzhou finally smiled: "They are guests too. What, Second Brother, are you telling me to send them away?"

Lu Xingzhou certainly wouldn't kick his woman out, but Sheng Yuanyao tugged at Pei Chuyun's sleeve and whispered, "Let's go out first."

Pei Chuyun glanced at Sheng Yuanyao suspiciously, and Sheng Yuanyao blinked. Pei Chuyun then stood up and bowed, saying, "I won't disturb your reception, sir."

Once outside and the door was closed, Pei Chuyun immediately lowered her voice: "What's wrong with you? Xingzhou stared at that woman the moment he opened his eyes, there's something wrong with that, aren't you going to do nothing about it? If you're so generous, why are you guarding against me like I'm a thief?"

"Shh! Fool." Sheng Yuanyao pointed to her ear: "I can hear what they're saying, and using my internal energy to transmit my voice won't work."

Pei Chuyun fell silent.

Sheng Yuanyao added, "Besides, Xingzhou isn't that kind of person..."

Pei Chuyun: "Hmm?"

Sheng Yuanyao said, "I mean, how insidious he is. Even if he wants you, he'll act like a gentleman. Would he stare at someone like that? This kind of behavior is simply inappropriate for him. There's something wrong with him."

Pei Chuyun nodded. She also felt there was something wrong, which was why she didn't want to leave... But it was really difficult for Huo Zhang to talk to her while the two of them were inside, so it was better to eavesdrop outside.

There was no sound transmission concealment inside, so Sheng Yuanyao's supernatural abilities were temporarily unusable. Lu Xingzhou's voice quickly came through: "Second brother, won't you introduce us?"

Huo Zhang said, "This is Mr. Jiang Duxu, a great merchant from the southeast, and this is his granddaughter, Jiang Yuan. Hearing that our Department of Foreign Affairs is going to open up maritime trade with various countries, they asked me to help them, saying they would like to meet Physician Lu."

Lu Xingzhou smiled slightly: "Maritime trade has always existed, and there is also a Maritime Trade Office in the Southeast. Otherwise, how did Mr. Jiang become such a great merchant? ... Vice Minister Huo Qi's sweet potatoes back then were also obtained by going to sea, weren't they? This is not something we just started, so what's the use of coming to me?"

Jiang Duxu smiled and said, "In the past, it was just private trade. If Physician Lu intends to open up official trade, the form will naturally be different. To be honest, our Jiang family are originally from overseas and are very familiar with foreign countries. If Physician Lu needs someone to do this for the court, you might as well consider our Jiang family."

Lu Xingzhou simply smiled and did not answer immediately, his gaze instead falling on the woman, Jiang Yuan, once again.

Jiang Yuan's anger intensified, and Huo Zhang felt increasingly uneasy.

What, you really want to use underhanded tactics? You're offering a lucrative job by having your granddaughter accompany you? Or are you trying to sabotage things?

As expected of the Huo family, that's quite a smooth move.

The problem is that you're bullying the wrong person... Besides, he's someone Huo Zhang brought personally, so why don't you give him any face?
Huo Zhang couldn't help but cough twice: "Seventh Brother... Oh, Xingzhou, what's wrong with you...?"

"Oh, I just feel like Miss Jiang looks familiar." Lu Xingzhou said, "Miss Jiang, have we met before?"

Sheng Yuanyao: “?”

Pei Chuyun: "?"

Jiang Yuan said calmly, "We are merely people from the southeastern seas; how could we have ever met a talent like Physician Lu from the capital?"

Lu Xingzhou smiled again.

He hadn't seen the face of the woman in red in the Demon Realm's Sacred Mountain Secret Realm, nor had Sheng Yuanyao, so Gua Mei, who was stopping people outside, hadn't even considered the possibility of fighting with her. The person who saw her face back then was A'nuo, but that might not be the same face as now. Disguise and transformation techniques were too common for cultivators; even having A'nuo identify her wouldn't necessarily provide an answer. However, it was a clue; he could secretly have A'nuo identify her later, and for now, he could make some judgments.

If people in the ancient world have the means to hide their cultivation, it's normal that no one can tell... On the surface, these two don't seem to have high cultivation levels, only at the fourth rank, which doesn't match what we know.

If the woman in red is suspected of being from the ancient realm and collaborating with Gu Zhanting, then the Jiang family member is highly suspicious. And this Jiang Yuan… well, she's very beautiful.

Her features were alluring, with slightly fox-like eyes, a rarity among Lu Xingzhou's beauties—because Pei Xiaomao, though known as a vixen, actually possessed a pure and innocent appearance. She inherited some of Pei Qingyan's charm, but also had a strong scholarly air. Her so-called alluring eyes were cultivated, not naturally so. None of the others he knew followed the same seductive route; even Yuan Muyu's early vixen-like appearance wasn't like this.

But strangely, this allure was combined with a hint of fierceness in her brows, and a touch of hidden anger only added to it. Her skin tone was a healthy tan, not as fair as others, like someone tanned at the beach. This fierceness gave her a touch of Sheng Yuanyao's spirit, and combined with this, it didn't make her foxy eyes seem seductive at all; it only made people think she had a mental illness.

Her beauty was among the best in the capital, a city teeming with beauties, and she possessed a unique charm that the noble ladies of the capital lacked, along with a touch of wildness that was "unruly."

—If a marriage alliance were to take place, only one of this caliber would be presentable, which aligns more closely with the speculation.

Judging from her figure alone, Jiang Yuan is somewhat similar to the woman in red. Lu Xingzhou deliberately stared at her, wanting to see her reaction—whether it was the normal woman's embarrassment and anger, or some other special attitude.

But Jiang Yuan acted fairly normally, looking embarrassed and annoyed, yet not daring to lash out, which was quite convincing.

The woman in red did send a telepathic message at the end... Although the voice transmitted from afar was different from normal speech, you could still get a general sense of it.

Lu Xingzhou felt very close now, and he didn't know if he was suspicious of his neighbor stealing his axe.

She really wanted to take out the piece of red fabric that had been torn from her body from the ring and smell it again to make sure that it smelled the same as Jiang Yuan's.

In the blink of an eye, Huo Zhang was saying, speechless, "I said, don't hit on her randomly. Do you even know who she is... uh..."

After a pause, he continued, "In any case, your foreign trade business needs to be handled by someone, right? Isn't their company a good fit?"

Lu Xingzhou smiled and said, "Second Brother is eager to help others build bridges and wants to make new contributions?"

There's no merit to be gained here; he's probably taking the "stepmother route." Huo Qi and Huo Heng are against finding a stepmother, but he's siding with the "stepmother," which might have some unconventional use.

Huo Zhang then followed the tone of "making meritorious contributions" and said, "That's right. Didn't Huo Qi rise to the top by doing things like this back then? He did it, so why should I, Huo Zhang, be a roughneck? Even if I really am a roughneck and don't know how to do it myself, I still know how to use the right people, right?"

“Yes.” Lu Xingzhou smiled and said, “But second brother, I know nothing about the Jiang family. Whether they are suitable people or not still needs to be investigated.”

Huo Zhang said, "Hey, hey, if you're going to say something like you want the girl to explain things to you slowly, then don't say that."

Lu Xingzhou chuckled: "I didn't mean that... If you really need an explanation, Mr. Jiang would do the same."

"Then why are you staring at her like that?"

"I already said you look familiar, I think I've seen you before... If you insist that I hit on you, there's nothing I can do, do I think I'm that kind of person?"

"You look like it." Huo Zhang looked him up and down suspiciously: "You have so many scandals... not only are they numerous, but they're of such high rank that they scare me."

"Hahaha..." Lu Xingzhou laughed. If it weren't for the feud with the Huo family and the ruthlessness of the villain who planned to massacre the city when he learned that Huo Zhang was attacking his city, he wouldn't be bad at making friends based on his personality alone.

Unfortunately, this kind of friend is not worth having. He is currently at a disadvantage in the competition with Huo Qi, which is why he wants to win over this "seventh brother". If he kills Huo Qi and takes the position, Lu Xingzhou dares to say that he will be the next one to be killed.

What good can someone be who can slaughter their own city?

"Knowing that it's a level that's frightening even to hear about, and that the rumor is just a rumor, why do you actually believe it?" Lu Xingzhou said leisurely, "Mr. Jiang, would you be interested in talking more?"

Jiang Duxu had been listening quietly to their nonsense, and his granddaughter hadn't shown any reaction despite being stared at endlessly. Only now did he say, "Doctor Lu has considered everything very thoroughly, so I, Jiang, will explain it to you in detail..."

As he spoke, he actually began to introduce Lu Xingzhou to his Jiang family's maritime trade, as well as his knowledge of various aspects of maritime trade, his knowledge of overseas countries, and his dealings with some immortal sects in the sea, and so on.

Lu Xingzhou listened with his hands clasped together, pondering to himself.

If they are from the ancient world, there must be a reason why they chose to establish themselves as "sea merchants." Judging from their level of understanding, they might have been involved in this industry in the ancient world... As for their understanding of the immortal sects in the sea here, it is probably what they learned on Golden Wind Island when they first smuggled themselves here. They combined these elements to form the Jiang family, a sea merchant family with an extremely deep understanding of maritime trade.

Do you really intend to continue living in this world under this ordinary identity?
Jiang Yuan was also cautiously asking Huo Zhang via telepathy, "What is the relationship between this Physician Lu and the Huo family? Why does he call you Second Brother?"

Huo Zhang said, "You're new here and don't know much about this. It's a long story... Anyway, he's actually surnamed Huo too."

Jiang Yuan paused, a look of utter surprise on her face, then turned to examine Lu Xingzhou thoughtfully.

The shame and anger in her eyes had not faded to this day; it couldn't be more real... After all, just seeing Lu Xingzhou made her feel a chill down her spine.

(End of this chapter)