Who is spreading rumors that my filial piety towards them has changed?

But after Zhong Feihuang removed the cloth bag from the bottle, Huazhu immediately realized that she hadn't said anything. Oh no, she had seen something she shouldn't have!

"Forgetfulness Potion? Aphrodisiac Dew?!" Zhong Feihuang was stunned. Without thinking deeply, she quickly scolded her maid, "Don't gossip outside, understand?!"

"Hanazuma knows!"

Why would the young prince send such a thing that lecherous philanderers love to use? This is a specialty of the Hehuan Sect, and it's even meant to be used in a set.

The Hehuan Dew makes women infatuated, while the Forgetfulness Potion causes them to temporarily lose their memory, like a drunkard who doesn't remember what he did while drunk. Many respectable women have been defiled by the evil practices of the Hehuan Sect without even realizing it.

Is the young prince sending this kind of thing to his grandmother a subtle way of implying he wants to seduce her?!

For the sake of her own life, Huazhu forced herself to explain, "Given the young prince's current situation, he certainly wouldn't dare to send something like this. It must have a deeper meaning. Didn't he say that a friend obtained it from a temple?"

A gift obtained from a temple? Temples can have such things.

Zhong Feihuang carefully opened the bottle and smelled the odor from the mouth of the bottle. Hua Zhu, who was next to her, watched with trepidation, wondering what would happen if she really got poisoned.

A fragrant aroma of wine wafted over, and Zhong Feihuang breathed a sigh of relief.

"What 'Love Dew' and 'Forgetfulness Potion'? They're clearly just two bottles of liquor. I'm wondering why a temple would send such things. Mingkong has really gotten bold. Sending me a youth-preserving pill is one thing, but adding a 'surprise' to scare me is quite another. What if people misunderstand?"

She said that, but when Zhong Feihuang thought of Chu Mingkong's handsome appearance and the dashing air he had developed in the military, she now knew it was just a joke...

She couldn't tell whether she felt disappointed or relieved.

This thought was bad, so she quickly banished it from her mind, simply assuming that she had been driven mad by her husband.

Huazhu said, "Grandma, could this temple ceremony be a hint? The Forget-Love Potion is meant to help you forget your unhappy things as soon as possible, while the Acacia Dew might be meant to help you and your husband reconcile soon?"

"Make up what?! I'm too ashamed to even go out now!" Zhong Feihuang cursed angrily, her breasts heaving violently, but she quickly calmed down.

"Alright, Huazhu, you're right. He's probably just using these two bottles to offer advice. Besides, what thief would dare to openly write 'Hehuan Dew' on it? Put these two bottles into a wine jug and send it to his residence, saying it's a return gift!"

"Yes."

--------------

Chu Mingkong was so pleased with the sound of his filial piety donation being credited to his account that his eyebrows practically flew off his head.

It's normal for Zhong Feihuang to show filial piety to him after opening the gift, but I don't know why Aunt Gu gave him another one. Could it be that she made a breakthrough in her cultivation and was so happy that she remembered his thoughtfulness?

He now has a clear plan for his filial piety: part of it will be used as start-up capital to exchange for gifts and efficiently earn filial piety, while the other part will be used to buy toys to improve his filial piety.

Without saying a word, he first took the [Azure Thunder White Tiger Totem Jade] that had appeared a few days ago. If it could be put in, it couldn't be trash. At worst, he could give it to his master as a treasure and still break even!

"But what is this [First-Order Body Tempering Precision Improvement]? Could it be to further enhance my blood energy? I'll have to wait and see."

He knew what some cultivation techniques were, and even though many of them were strange dual cultivation techniques, Chu Mingkong could understand them. But why would an underwear mall appear?

This thing can't be given as a gift!

ignore.

"Let's save up a bit more, upgrade the system, and spend it when we can buy more and more things."

While Chu Mingkong was shopping, a messenger came at the entrance to announce that a maid from the Cui family had delivered a pot of wine, saying it was a return gift from Zhong Feihuang, which Chu Mingkong accepted.

"Perfect timing! Let's have a little drink with Master tonight to celebrate this great harvest of filial piety. Hmm~ this wine is a bit strong, but it smells good!"

Chapter Twenty-Three: Why don't you two take a while longer?

A brothel and restaurant known for its romantic atmosphere.

Thanks to the elixirs and his youthful vigor, Zhang San, who had been unable to get out of bed for several days after being sent flying by Chu Mingkong's finger, finally recovered.

Although he can move freely now, Zhang San can only look and touch the glamorous girls who accompany him at drinks, but he can't use them.

Among those drinking with him were many sons of military merit.

Seeing his buddies all drinking and cuddling with girls, while he had to take medication and temporarily abstain from alcohol, unable to enjoy himself to the fullest, his melancholy deepened.

People care about their reputation, and the news of that day quickly spread throughout the neighborhood. Even the family's business was affected. Several restaurants, upon hearing the reputation of adulterating food, promptly stopped taking orders. Only those small-time customers who were short of money and didn't care about such things came to patronize the business.

These poor folks often say when buying alcohol: "I don't mind that there's water in your alcohol, can you give me a discount?"

Zhang San was scolded by his father every day while lying in his hospital bed. After several days of this, he couldn't hold back any longer and took out some money to treat his cronies to drinks, hoping to find out if there was anything else he could do.

"Brothers, please stop laughing. What happened that day is weighing on my mind. It's made me feel short of breath and chest tightness even while I'm recovering. I wonder if there's any way I can get him to apologize, even if I can't lay a hand on that young master. My family's business has plummeted, and he even injured me and hasn't paid for my medicine."

Since they're just fair-weather friends, how many of them are truly sincere?

Most of the military elites invited to drink were good-for-nothings who relied on their families' reputations to loaf around. Now, upon hearing Zhang San's idea, they all secretly laughed at him.

Zhang San was truly born into a good family, with no worries about food or clothing, which didn't stop him from daydreaming. How dare he ask the prince to apologize?

And pay for medical expenses? Even if this matter goes to the yamen, the minor official sitting in the hall will probably scold Zhang San for being ungrateful. The prince gave your sister so many jewels, isn't that enough to buy your dog's life?

"This is difficult! We need to think about it carefully!" A young master, with his arm around a beautiful woman serving drinks, said this politely but didn't really take it seriously.

But once the drinks started flowing, the discussion just wouldn't stop.

"The maid who appeared on the viewing stone that day was so beautiful. She didn't look like a woman from our Heavenly Pole Empire. I had never heard of her in the capital before."

"Indeed, this is truly unreasonable. Besides those in the imperial palace, what other beauties in the capital haven't we heard of?"

Someone remembered something suspicious and suddenly realized:

"That's not right. I remember there were no maids in the Chu Prince's mansion. There wasn't even a cook or a laundry lady. When cleaning was needed, they would hire respectable women who earned extra money to clean the mansion. Where would maids come from?"

With suspicions raised, the previously indifferent individuals became serious, realizing there were many opportunities to scheme and perhaps even curry favor with those who truly held great power.

As for who is currently at odds with the lineage of the King of Xiling Chu, apart from the seriously ill emperor, it would be the Crown Prince's faction.

The Crown Prince had long considered himself the successor to the throne. Now that the Emperor was seriously ill, the Crown Prince was practically rubbing his buttocks against the golden throne. Naturally, the lineage of the King of Xiling Chu, who might threaten his rule, became a thorn in his side.

"If this matter were handled by the Crown Prince's faction, there's great potential!"

“Yes! A maid of unknown origin has appeared in the Prince’s mansion. She might be harboring a criminal. Fortunately, I have someone I can speak with. Don’t worry, Zhang San’er, I’m determined to help you with this. However, there is still a slight difficulty.”

"What's wrong?" Zhang San just wanted Chu Mingkong to admit his mistake in front of him, in front of the neighbors!

"You need to pay more!"

------------

Chu Mingkong brought back a basket of food from a restaurant outside, poured some wine, and waited for Zuo Qiuchi to return.

He rarely takes out takeout because it's unsafe, but people are lazy to some extent. Today, his filial piety has been very rewarding, and he just wants to celebrate and doesn't want to waste time cooking.

Zuo Qiuchi returned at the usual time and was somewhat surprised to see that Chu Mingkong had prepared a large table of dishes.

What day is it?

"To celebrate the first anniversary of the beating of those two brothers who insulted my Aunt Gu, the Cui family just happened to send over a pot of fine wine, so I was planning to have some drinks and have some fun tonight... Hey, Master, why did you bring back a wine gourd?"

Chu Mingkong's gaze fell on the red glazed wine gourd that Zuo Qiuchi was holding. Could it be that she wanted to use it as an accessory to give off a female knight-errant vibe? She didn't seem like the kind of person who liked to dress up.

"Oh, this isn't wine, it's some junk from the Hehuan Sect. When I was keeping an eye on that temple in the outer city, I heard from passersby that there was another small temple nearby. I went over to take a look and found that it was just some petty thieves from the Hehuan Sect swindling people there, so I took care of it."

"Then why did you bring this thing back? Were you planning to drug me?"

The woman in white wore a look of disdain that seemed to say, "I'm too embarrassed to even say it."

"Do I need to drug you to do something for you? Do you think you can resist now?"

“It seems so.” Chu Mingkong walked up to Zuo Qiuchi, took the wine gourd from her hand, uncorked it, and smelled it. There was a faint smell of wine, which was not very pleasant: “It smells a bit like diluted wine.”

"I think so too. I heard that the Hehuan Sect has now refined this stuff into wine-like flavor. This quality is at most a grade eight or nine piece of junk, which can only harm young girls with shallow cultivation. But I heard that it is difficult to distinguish when it is refined to around grade four."

Chu Mingkong thought to himself, "What would happen if they reached the first or second rank?" But then he reconsidered and realized he was overthinking it.

"That's a fourth-grade item. Someone capable of refining fourth-grade love potion and love dew would not need such methods to harm women."

"That's right, the highest grade of Hehuan Powder I've ever seen is sixth grade. When I came back just now, I was so busy hiding from the spies nearby that I forgot to deal with this bastard."

Zuo Qiuchi raised her jade finger and touched the wine gourd. A flame flashed by, but no obvious flame was ignited, and the wine gourd turned to ashes.

If you ask what's so good about fire elemental energy, it's probably that it allows you to kill and rob without leaving a trace. Whatever the situation, just burn it and it's over.

She sat down at the table, poured herself a glass of wine, and the clear, cool liquid rippled in the jade cup.

"Where in Beijing did you buy this wine? I've never smelled this kind of wine before. It smells quite fragrant!"

"I don't know either. It was sent from the Cui family. It might be a Tibetan wine from somewhere outside."

She has a habit of eating before drinking alcohol, even though the idea that it's bad for her stomach doesn't apply to people of her level anymore, she still keeps the habit from before.

Zuo Qiuchi put down his wine glass for a moment, picked up a few bites of food and savored them, before finally drinking the wine in his small glass in one gulp.

Chu Mingkong didn't sit idle; naturally, he drank a cup with them.

After the master and apprentice finished their drink, their expressions became somewhat subtle, neither quite sure if it was disappointment or something else.

"This wine... doesn't taste as good as it smells; all that's left is a wild, spicy flavor."

"Indeed, it seems the wine sent by the Cui family is just so-so. I wonder what the winemaker was thinking. They only thought about bringing out the aroma of the wine, but didn't bother to think about the taste. What a pity! But there's only one pot. It'll be fine as a side dish and a little wine."

However, strong liquor also has its advantages. Perhaps because Zuo Qiuchi did not deliberately suppress the effects of the alcohol, Chu Mingkong looked at his master's flushed face and actually felt a bit of a charming and alluring demeanor. He looked even more charming than Feng Keqing, who was born with the "femme fatale" face.

Damn it, I slept in Ke Qing's watery boudoir during the day and it's causing me all sorts of problems.

After suppressing his reaction and returning to normal, Chu Mingkong filled another cup with wine: "Master, this is for you!"

A fragrant breeze swept by, and Feng Ying appeared in the room.

Chu Mingkong shook his head, surprised, and said, "Oh, have you eaten? Wait, what brings you here?"

Kazekage's words were brief: "Yajin Tsukasa's people are investigating you, probably because I appeared at the Zhang family's house that day."

Chu Mingkong mentally filled in the missing half of her sentence: So Fengying came to help you cover up the loophole.

Zuo Qiuchi and Feng Ying's eyes met; the two stunningly beautiful women were equally matched. Back when Zuo Qiuchi protected Chu Mingkong as they entered the capital, it was Feng Ying who had pursued them and even confronted them.

Although it inexplicably turned into Feng Ying helping Zuo Qiuchi kill all the assassins.

Feng Ying looked at Zuo Qiuchi's flushed face with a puzzled expression, wondering if this woman was a heavy drinker. What kind of alcohol could make her blush?

Chu Mingkong interrupted, pulling Feng Ying to sit down, afraid she would fight with her master: "Sit down, sit down, have a drink to soothe your throat first. Are the Nightblade Division people really here? Let's think of an excuse to deal with them."

Fengying took the wine, thinking that the smell was somewhat familiar, but she couldn't recall any wine that smelled so mellow. She took a sip and realized that it was indeed not a wine she had tasted before.

The taste was even worse than the smell; I've never drunk such a bizarre wine.

The disappointment caused her to take another small sip, trying to figure out if she had missed any flavors. Such a fragrant wine shouldn't taste so bad.