CHAPTER 677: CHAPTER 57: COULD SHE BE...? (PART 2)

Xiao Xian listened to him finish speaking, then recalling Zhou Ziang hesitating outside whether to enter or not, she felt amused and couldn’t stop "giggling" with laughter. "You couldn’t be hiding from my uncle-in-law, right? What’s the big deal with that? It’s not like you could do anything to me."

"Well, I wouldn’t be so sure about that," Zhou Ziang said as he saw her eyes curving with laughter, feeling a sense of relief in his heart. The aromatic scent of meat broth wafted over from around the corner. Xiao Xian clutched her clothes tightly and hopped along, leading Zhou Ziang towards it.

The two ordered a mutton soup pot and a mixed beef offal soup pot, adding some tough and chewy vermicelli and lightly pickled spicy napa cabbage to it. The steaming hot soup pots were placed on the table, and Xiao Xian cared not for the scalding heat, munching away non-stop with cheeks in motion.

Zhou Ziang wasn’t hungry, but he watched Xiao Xian eat, occasionally sipping the soup himself, exhibiting far more grace than Xiao Xian.

It wasn’t until the vermicelli and beef offal had all been fished out that Xiao Xian, feeling fully satisfied, put down her spoon. "Is there any serious business we haven’t cleared up yet? Are you talking about the medicinal herbs? I’ve already resolved that, I’ll bring you the processed bamboo shoots, old ginger slices, and orange peel to check later."

"Oh, you’ve learned Spirit Stacking?" Zhou Ziang found Xiao Xian increasingly unfathomable. From her usual conduct, she seemed careless and bold, a temperament that’s easy to get along with, but for the practice of Cultivation, it wasn’t suitable for a Cultivation talent.

True Cultivation talents should be detached, taking family affection, friendship, and all desires lightly. She was deeply emotional, utterly devoted to her grandfather and aunt’s family, to the point of agreeing to Wang Shuai’s request.

The last time Xuerou was kidnapped also revealed her weak spot.

Yet, when it came to Cultivation practice, her progress was unbelievably fast. Just now, the Spiritual Power she released was deep and powerful, in complete contrast to her slender figure.

A greasy chopstick swayed in front of Zhou Ziang’s eyes. "I said I’ve already learned the most basic Spirit Stacking. I just don’t know if it can be applied to weave the bamboo armor that the Wang Family needs. You should concentrate when someone is speaking to you. It’s very disrespectful otherwise, you know?" Xiao Xian’s mouth was moving steadily, having just devoured a pot of spicy beef offal, her lips seemed to glow as if she applied lipstick, full and lustrous. Speaking with dissatisfaction in her eyes, her cheeks puffed in and out.

Before she could finish, someone blocked the chopsticks. A cool fingertip reached forward, causing Xiao Xian’s brain to short-circuit momentarily. Zhou Ziang’s hand lightly touched her lips, removing a small piece of minced green onion.

The mixed beef soup that had cooled in her stomach was boiling once again. Xiao Xian felt her lips burning exceptionally, the heat spreading from her mouth to her face and onto her short-circuited brain.

Without having to look, she knew her face must be terribly red. Xiao Xian collected herself, grateful that it was the dark of night and the stall’s lighting wasn’t very bright. But just as she looked up, she cursed inwardly, because she caught Zhou Ziang’s deep, dark eyes and could clearly see her own face reflected there.

"Isn’t that Xiao Xian who used to live in the neighborhood? Why are you alone? Where are your aunt and uncle?" Xiao Xian was startled back to her senses by this unexpected interruption. The person speaking to her was the soup stall’s owner, draped in an oily apron.

The owner, whom Little White Jiao had once scornfully called oblivious and as bright as a 100-watt lightbulb, stood before Xiao Xian and Zhou Ziang’s table with a big smile, holding a steaming ladle in hand.

Before Zhuo Feng and Feng Xing had moved away, they loved eating late-night snacks here during winter. Later, Xiao Xian came along and they brought her a few times. After so many visits, the owner remembered Xiao Xian well. Just now, as the owner was busy adding spices to the soup pots and had a moment of respite, he saw Xiao Xian and came over to greet her. As he spoke, he ladled another spoonful of oily, rich beef offal into Xiao Xian’s bowl.

"Young man, eating mutton, eh? In this kind of weather, mutton warms the body, eating it makes one strong and stout." After greeting, the soup pot owner cast a dissatisfied glance at Zhou Ziang and his bowl, which still contained nearly all the mutton left untouched. The owner was secretly annoyed, thinking this young man only knew how to flirt with the young lady but left so much food in his bowl, obviously denigrating their stall’s reputation.

Zhou Ziang took the hint, and in the following ten minutes, he and Xiao Xian each wrestled with the remaining soup and meat in their bowls to finish it up.

"Remember to come again with your boyfriend next time," brought to a close by the owner shouting out to Xiao Xian after Zhou Ziang had paid.

Ah, Xiao Xian didn’t know whether to nod or not to nod, all she could do was to maintain a rigid neck. She sneaked a glance at Zhou Ziang, only to see him nodding vigorously and felt a wave of irritation inside. She lifted her foot and kicked him.

"What’s wrong?" Zhou Ziang was somewhat puzzled. Wasn’t it just polite to respond to others?

Xiao Xian, remembering her own stiffness that was even stiffer than being struck by lightning a moment ago, was itching with annoyance. Why was it that her blood was flowing backward while Zhou Ziang seemed as usual, cool as a cucumber? After kicking him, she gave no explanation and buried her face in her collar, muttering, "Come on, follow me home to get the herbs."

Zhou Ziang responded, and before he knew it, Xiao Xian had disappeared from sight, already inside the residential complex, with a soft female voice beside his ear, "Don’t go through the main entrance."

"What was that just now?" Zhou Ziang froze again, Xiao Xian had taken off with a breath that was hard to match, landing on the far side of the wall in one smooth motion, a feat that resembled only one Cultivation Technique in the world: "Cloud Ascension Technique."

~Thank you ’Xiao Fans Say’ for the peace charm and the pink ticket~ (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation ticket, monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)