Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 42: Dragon and Tiger Embrace
Dugu Qingli was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "You agreed to be Shen Tang's guest official. Do you intend to use Shen Tang's background to take revenge on the Huo family in the future?"

Lu Xingzhou was stunned: "You actually think so."

Dugu Qingli said: "Under normal circumstances, I really wouldn't think about these things...but this person is you."

Lu Xingzhou laughed dumbly: "You're not sensitive when you should be, but you're sensitive in this kind of situation... Is it because protecting Shen Tang is the first priority in your instructions?"

"What is an instruction set?"

"It's nothing... The Huo family is now trying to resolve their grudges instead of just killing them off. This is indeed related to Shen Tang. But if I tell you that I never thought about this when I decided to help Shen Tang, would you believe me?"

Dugu Qingli said seriously: "Believe it."

Lu Xingzhou was stunned again: "Why?"

"No reason, maybe I just want to hear you say that, that's all."

"Will that make you feel better?"

"That would make Shen Tang feel more comfortable."

Lu Xingzhou looked at her for a long moment, then finally said, "In truth, I have no confidence in helping Shen Tang achieve her goal. Her goal is too ambitious. In this process, we shouldn't give too much thought to those complications."

Dugu Qingli nodded.

Lu Xingzhou asked, "What did you want to tell me before Edward Yang came?"

Dugu Qingli simply replied, "No more."

At that time, I also wanted to ask him if he would leave, but now it seems that there is nothing to ask.

"Then I do have something to say." Lu Xingzhou laughed sarcastically, "Edward Yang didn't come here just for me."

Dugu Qingli was stunned: "What?"

"He will definitely be responsible for continuing the investigation into the Huo Yu case... This is a small matter. Sheng Yuanyao is now the acting city lord, and she's deeply involved in this matter. Plus, she's very clever, so it's impossible for Edward Yang to find out anything. The real big deal is..." Lu Xingzhou paused and whispered, "If the royal family splits into factions in the fight for succession, which side would the Huo family belong to?"

Dugu Qingli thought about it carefully, then shook his head: "I don't know about this kind of thing."

"The Huo family appears to be the emperor's loyal subjects and will not favor any prince. It seems that they have nothing to do with this matter. However, from the fact that the Huo family concealed the elixir from the emperor, it can be known that the Huo family must be looking for a way out and must have secretly bet on other princes. No matter which prince they are, they will not want to see Shen Tang rise. Their overtures to me are also intended to paralyze Shen Tang. In fact, they will definitely suppress the Tianxing Sword Sect secretly next, and it will begin soon."

Dugu Qingli's heart twitched, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that this conclusion was correct.

The Huo family has something important to hide from the emperor, so they must find a way out.

"So, while Shen Tang may seem to be rising above the shadows, he's actually about to be suppressed. This suppression isn't just coming from the malice of the princes, but also from the vigilance of the local forces in Xiazhou. They don't know who Shen Tang is, but no one wants a powerful sword master to rise up around them. This mentality can easily be exploited by the princes, making him a target of public criticism." Lu Xingzhou shook the land deed in his hand. "Now, the ten-mile farmland, with two mountains connected, is magnificent. It's enough to attract the attention of the people of Xiazhou..."

Dugu Qingli gasped, "Did they give you the land deed with the intention of provoking the people of Xiazhou?"

"Of course, otherwise how could he be so kind... He even said he wanted to resolve the grudge, snort."

Dugu Qingli really admired the ingenuity of these guys. A simple little thing actually hid multiple meanings behind it. What he admired even more was that Lu Xingzhou seemed to be entangled in grievances with Edward Yang, but in fact he could see through everything in an instant.

"You know this deed has bad intentions, so why did you accept it?"

"Why not take what's delivered to your door? Development is inevitable, and development will inevitably lead to conflict with local forces. If you're not even mentally prepared for this, what's the point..." Lu Xingzhou said calmly, "I've wanted the Huo residence for a long time. With this temptation, everything is worth it."

Dugu Qingli said, "I've secretly checked the Huo residence, and there's really nothing there."

"How can secret spies compare to open investigations? No matter how hard you try, you can't dig deep into the ground and connect the entire terrain, including Danxia Mountain, to understand the entire area as a whole. But now the conditions are in place."

The overall terrain...

Dugu Qingli stood there in a daze, having never thought of this.

"I've been on Danxia Mountain for the past six months, observing it from above every day. I've got a rough idea in mind, but it still needs to be verified." Lu Xingzhou smiled and said, "Now we just have to wait for Shen Tang to come back and see how she interacts with Liu Yan'er."

Lu Xingzhou said no more and lowered his head to quietly prepare his external medicine.

As dusk gradually fell, the two men worked quietly, one preparing medicine and the other guarding, without saying a word.

Dugu Qingli was stunned the whole time. She didn't know why she could see the shadow of her master in this mere seventh-grade guy.

That kind of panoramic view seems to see through the depth of the mist of time and space.

And this guy is really strange. When there are people around, he talks nonsense like "Goodbye, little white hair," but when he's really alone, I haven't seen him say anything teasing. It feels very disconnected. I was a little reluctant to come to protect him, but now it seems that it's nothing. He is more serious than Shen Tang, and he seems to have something to learn. If Lu Xingzhou knew what she was thinking, he would definitely tell her that group chats and private chats are indeed different. If the relationship is not that serious, some words in group chats are jokes, but in private chats, it is considered harassment, which is not good.

In the silence, after an unknown amount of time, the sound of An Nuo pushing a wheelchair and giggling could be heard from afar: "That Hua Liu man is so ridiculous, he actually thinks he's the leader of the Danxia Gang, hahahaha..."

The wheelchair arrived at the door and the laughter suddenly stopped.

The two, one big and one small, peeked inside. In the dusk, they saw the picture of Lu Xingzhou concentrating on making ointment and the white-haired girl standing quietly by his side. They felt a little strange for some reason.

Lu Xingzhou didn't even raise his head: "Is it done?"

"It's done." Shen Tang walked in and said with a smile, "You might say Liu Yan'er is stupid, but she's not. In fact, she was the one who secretly spread the news of selling the Danxia Gang. She had long wanted to get rid of that prostitute. We came to her and it was an instant agreement. She only made one extra request, and you even calculated it..."

Lu Xingzhou suppressed a laugh and said, "To treat syphilis."

"Yes." Shen Tang smiled and said, "I gave her the elixir you prepared, and she immediately transferred the entire Danxia Gang to me. She even gave me the Gang Leader token and only asked for a bunch of silver notes..."

Ah Nuo said, "When she was leaving, Bai Chi found her. Bai Chi even yelled at the Danxia Gang to stop her. Master, guess what happened?"

Lu Xingzhou thought for a moment and said, "I guess Bai Chi was beaten up by the Danxia Gang instead."

"Haha!" An Nuo laughed. "That's right. The people of the Danxia Gang thought they had a good life for the past six months, but it was only after he came that things started to fall apart. They hated him to the core. He even acted pretentiously, ordering others to chase after the Young Gang Leader, and he was almost beaten to death."

"As the name suggests, he's an idiot." Lu Xingzhou smiled at Shen Tang, "You need to recruit people anyway. How is the manpower of the Danxia Gang?"

"At least there are enough people." Shen Tang blinked: "We can assess them, recruit the excellent ones, and let the less qualified ones go to the outer sect."

"Then congratulations, Miss Shen. You don't have to worry about being too short-handed after occupying Danxia Mountain."

"Congratulations also to Mr. Lu, the chief alchemist of the Danxia Gang, for returning to the old place as their master."

Ah Nuo huddled to one side, his hands folded, while Dugu Qingli clutched his sword, both of them watching expressionlessly. "How about we move the Household Registration Office over here tomorrow, and you two sign a marriage certificate right here?"
"I'm the master? I'm just a guest." Lu Xingzhou laughed and said, "Oh, no, I'm the landlord."

Shen Tang snorted, "We can stop renting this place. Danxia Mountain is mine now, including the land title that used to belong to you."

Lu Xingzhou took out the deed to the Huo residence and said, "Do you want this? It includes the farmland and the back hill."

Shen Tang's eyes widened: "How did this come about?"

Lu Xingzhou sneered, his tone tinged with sarcasm: "I am Huo Shang..."

Shen Tang looked incredibly strange. When they first met, Lu Xingzhou had casually sketched out a plan, saying it was a great direction for expansion. Less than a month later, it had come true, like a dream.

Lu Xingzhou placed the freshly brewed ointment on the table to cool, then turned and said with a smile, "The sunset glow at dusk is a beautiful sight. I wonder if you two would be interested in joining me to tour Danxia and overlook the place that belongs to you and me?"

Shen Tang blinked and smiled, "It's my honor."

Dugu Qingli glanced over and saw Anuo still standing behind Shen Tang's wheelchair. Thinking of what Lu Xingzhou was talking about, she didn't think much about it and just grabbed the handle of Lu Xingzhou's wheelchair and pushed it out.

Ah Nuo: “?”

Which white-haired guy said before that he wouldn’t compete with me for the position of pushing the wheelchair?
It's only been a few days and they've already robbed us right in front of us!

She looked at her master eagerly, hoping that he would say something, but Lu Xingzhou said nothing and walked out with a smile, leaning back in his wheelchair.

Love will disappear, right?
Anuo pushed Shen Tang out like a sleepwalker. Along the way, they saw many disciples of the Tianxing Sword Sect and apprentices of the Danxia Gang who had been taken in before. When they saw the four people in two wheelchairs, they all smiled. No one noticed that there was something wrong with the people pushing the wheelchairs.

Anuo was very angry. What kind of people are these? They have no sense at all!
This place is really close to Danxia Mountain, and after a while we returned to the mountains.

Lu Xingzhou pointed to the cliff where they first met halfway up the mountain and said, "When you were watching the sunset here, did you notice that the sunset glow was blocked a lot by the mountain over there?"

Shen Tang pondered for a moment before understanding what Lu Xingzhou meant. "You mean, the heights of these two mountains are about the same?"

"Not only are they similar, they're exactly the same, even the shapes are similar. I observed them for a long time before coming to this conclusion." Lu Xingzhou gestured for everyone to continue upwards. When they reached the highest point, he asked, "Should both of you be able to levitate for a short period of time?"

"Yes." Shen Tang understood what he meant. He slapped the armrest of the wheelchair and flew up directly, hovering in the air and looking down.

Dugu Qingli also followed. The two looked down for a while and were shocked.

The so-called two mountains of the same height are not in the shape of breasts as one might first think, but are actually very similar to the yin-yang fish, or the embrace of yin and yang!
Even more surprising is that this yin-yang fish resembles a dragon and a tiger, with the Danxia Mountain side being the dragon and the Huozhai Mountain behind being the tiger. The valley where the two sides meet is the heart of the dragon and tiger.

(End of this chapter)