It was unknown how long it had been with Qiu Yutong squatting under the table; he listened until he was sleepy, and he was even starting to nod off when Lu Xiao said, “Okay, that’s enough, go down and arrange it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the Black Tortoise Envoy responded respectfully and stepped back.
After the Black Tortoise Envoy retreated, Lu Xiao leaned on the table again and stayed for a while before he took out the contents of the steamer. Suddenly, the peculiar sour fragrance of glutinous rice cakes filled the kitchen.
Smelling the fragrance, Qiu Yutong’s spirit was slightly lifted. It turned out that the scoundrel was not kneading flour, but glutinous rice flour.
He couldn’t help but sniff lightly when he heard another “crack!”, as if the lid of some jar was slapped open, and then, a burst of an extremely strong aroma seemed to hit his nostrils.
Honey stuffed osmanthus!
The aroma of sweet-scented osmanthus was wrapped in honey, and it was so fragrant that it cleared Qiu Yutong’s mind and he swallowed involuntarily. There were some rustling noises as if Lu Xiao was pouring honey-stuffed osmanthus on the glutinous rice cake. Then he sighed deeply, “I don’t know if Shizun likes to eat this honey-stuffed osmanthus glutinous rice cake.”
Qiu Yutong, “!!!”
If, if he escaped later, would he be able to eat this plate of honey-stuffed osmanthus glutinous rice cake?
Thinking of this, Qiu Yutong immediately twisted his thighs, forcing himself to wake up. In this sad situation, was it time to think about eating? Lu Xiao, this scoundrel, took revenge on him like that before and bullied him like that… How could he covet this good food? ! He was so useless!
Lu Xiao sighed again, then took the sweet-scented osmanthus cake, and slowly left.
Qiu Yutong squatted silently under the table, listening to Lu Xiao’s footsteps gradually drift away. He felt resentful, reluctant, and abandoned. He thought about Lu Xiao, the scoundrel who deceived him, thought about the plate of osmanthus cake that had gone away, thought about the humiliation he had suffered in the past two days, and thought about the five finger marks he left on his chest… For a moment, his mood was simply extremely complicated.
After a long, long time, he slowly got out from under the table and looked at the empty table. He felt a little lost, and then couldn’t help but scold himself for being useless.
What was so great about osmanthus cakes? ! When he escaped, he could have silver, osmanthus cake from the pastry room, Yulan magnolia cake, mung bean cake, Furong cake… He could get whatever he wanted, as much as he wanted! However, the pastries in the pastry room didn’t seem to be as delicious as those made by that evil disciple… Bah bah bah! A scoundrel was a scoundrel, even if he could make osmanthus cakes, he was still a scoundrel!
Qiu Yutong scolded Lu Xiao in his heart, while in the room next to the kitchen, he found a set of clean blue robes, which seemed to be the clothes of the servant. He hesitated for a moment, then took off his dirty clothes. He put on the blue cloth and put the dirty clothes into a stove in the kitchen. He wiped a handful of ashes on his face, then picked up an empty food container and walked out with his head down.
This way, he should not be recognized.
At this moment, the sky had gradually darkened, and even the bloody afterglow of the sunset had gradually disappeared.
Qiu Yutong had just seen it on the eaves. The layout of the Yutian Demon Palace seemed to be similar to the Daning Palace of the Chen Dynasty. He relied on memory and walked westward along the winding corridors of the palace. He remembered that walking in this direction and passing through an imperial garden was the west gate where the palace people often entered and exited; the guards were also relatively weak.
Qiu Yutong lowered his head all the way and walked cautiously. He only met two or three demon palace servants along the way, but he reached the imperial garden smoothly.
At this time, the night was getting darker, and a faint quartermoon was quietly suspended in the dark blue sky. The large lush plants in the imperial garden were covered with hazy silver light. Although it was not very similar to the plants in the human world, it was also very pleasing.
Qiu Yutong walked lightly along a bluestone path for a while, and when he was about to turn a corner, he suddenly heard a low voice in front of him.
He was stunned for a moment, then stopped immediately.
“Please, Your Excellency, report back to the King of Baifu that the Yutian Demon Emperor has already decided to personally participate in the expedition.” This voice seemed a little familiar, was it… the Black Tortoise Envoy?
Qiu Yutong was a little puzzled, who was the Black Tortoise Envoy talking to? Who was the King of Baifu, was it the rebellious Fake King of Baifu mentioned earlier?
“The Yutian Demon Emperor wants to personally participate in the expedition? What proof do you have?” Another person’s voice was very hoarse, but Qiu Yutong had never heard of it.
“He said it himself,” the Black Tortoise Envoy whispered, with a very humble attitude.
“That’s great, I’ll use the communication scroll later to report back to His Majesty.”
The Black Tortoise Envoy said hesitantly, “The Yutian Demon Emperor has vast magical powers, what are his Majesty’s plans?”
“Last time in the Black Dragon Valley, His Majesty had already set up a trap, but who knew that the Yutian Demon Emperor would suddenly go to the cultivation world, causing us to waste our effort. This time, no matter what, we will lure him into the Black Dragon Valley. As long as the Yutian Demon Emperor is dead, the rest of the people, including Wu Liu and Wu Qi, are nothing to be afraid of. “
“Yes yes,” the Black Tortoise Envoy agreed again and again.
Qiu Yutong leaned against the wall and hid behind a clump of trees, unable to help but be in a daze.
Was the Black Tortoise Envoy… committing treason? And the other person seemed to be the subordinate of that Fake King of Baifu? Listening to what they said, it seemed that the Fake King of Baifu wanted to lure Lu Xiao into some Black Dragon Valley while Lu Xiao was on the expedition, and then planned to kill him?
What should he do?
The Black Tortoise Envoy said a lot to the visitor again and his voice was very soft. Qiu Yutong only heard a small part of it clearly; most of them were some flattering words to “His Majesty”, and after a while, the two separated and left.
After the two left, Qiu Yutong slowly walked out from behind the bushes by the wall. For a time, he was almost hesitant. He was now very close to the west gate, and he would be able to leave the palace soon, but it was clear that someone had committed treason and planned to design a trap to kill Lu Xiao during the westward expedition a month later. He should tell Lu Xiao about these things.
But, but…
Qiu Yutong was in a dilemma for a long time. In the end, he gritted his teeth and went back on the same road.
Although Lu Xiao humiliated him like that, he did rip out Lu Xiao’s devil core. Now the two were barely even. Although Lu Xiao was a traitorous disciple, he could only be beaten and scolded by himself, not by others!
Qiu Yutong walked back quickly along the twists and turns of the corridor, when suddenly, he stopped.
Standing at the other end of the corridor, Lu Xiao looked at him quietly under the cold moonlight, “Shizun.”
“Uh…” Qiu Yutong stopped, slightly embarrassed. Did Lu Xiao think he was going to run away? No, he really wanted to run away, but now, he didn’t mean to run away, he came back to warn Lu Xiao that someone was going to harm him.
But now this situation did not seem to be very easy to explain… but why should he explain? This evil disciple humiliated him like that, it was only natural that he wanted to escape.
Qiu Yutong thought so and looked at Lu Xiao confidently without explaining.
Lu Xiao stared at him deeply. Although his expression was very complicated, he didn’t seem to be very angry. Instead, he took a few steps forward, took the empty food box in Qiu Yutong’s hand, and said softly, “You’re back?”
Qiu Yutong was stunned for a while, and then couldn’t help staring at Lu Xiao, “When did you find out I was gone? Have you been following me?”
Lu Xiao smiled slightly, “How could Shizun be locked in that kind of place? However, I originally thought that according to Shizun’s temper, after a short recovery, you would directly smash the front door, beat me all the way, and then cut me down hard. I didn’t expect Shizun to be much smarter than I thought. “
Qiu Yutong glared at his evil disciple, wanting to cut him as soon as he could.
Lu Xiao didn’t seem to feel the crisis, and even smiled, “When I was in the small kitchen before, I made honey-stuffed osmanthus glutinous rice cakes, but Shizun actually endured and didn’t come out.”
Qiu Yutong murmured, “At that time, you knew?”
“Yes,” Lu Xiao’s voice was very gentle. “However, Shizun still came back after all. I’m really… happy.”
Although Lu Xiao was happy, Qiu Yutong was very aggrieved, and said lightly, “The reason why I came back is just to tell you that there is something wrong with that Black Tortoise Envoy, you should be careful of him.”
Lu Xiao smiled and said, “When he was in the small kitchen just now, as soon as he mentioned the decree of the Leader of the Immortal Alliance, I knew there was something wrong with him.”
“Decree of the Leader of the Immortal Alliance? Why?” Qiu Yutong wondered.
“Does Shizun still remember? What he said the Decree of the Leader of the Immortal Alliance was?”
Qiu Yutong tried to recall, “Uh… rotten wood?”
“That’s right. Hmph, rotten wood, he didn’t follow me to the Immortal Alliance Conference, how would he know that the Decree of the Leader of the Immortal Alliance is thousand-year-old ebony? Before, didn’t we find a devil in that deserted garden? Now I finally know who sent it.”
“I see.”
Qiu Yutong breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, he also felt that he was making fun of himself. Yes, he knew for a long time that this kid Lu Xiao was ten thousand times smarter than him, so how could he need to be reminded of these things?
Lu Xiao seemed to see what he was thinking, so he said softly, “I’m really happy Shizun is willing to come back to remind me. I’ve already figured it out, maybe in Shizun’s heart, I’m not as good as your Sect Leader, I can’t compare to your… new apprentice, but I still have some weight.”
Qiu Yutong was too lazy to explain to him, and said bluntly, “Then are you willing to let me go?”
Lu Xiao’s expression froze slightly, “Since Shizun is here, you should stay for a while.”
“So, you still won’t let me go? Do you really plan to keep me in such a shabby place, every day, humiliating me like that? Do you think I will not resist? Xiao-er… Lu Xiao, although you are already the devil emperor, but if we really fight, both sides will suffer. You have always been smart, but you should think about it clearly. “
Lu Xiao couldn’t help but sigh, “The house before was originally intended to scare Shizun because I was angry, how could I let you live in that kind of place where the sun never sees the light of day? I have arranged for Shizun’s residence for a long time, I will show you now. “
As he spoke, he led Qiu Yutong, “Shizun, come with me.”
Qiu Yutong really didn’t want to fight with him at this time, and seeing him acting like a respectful apprentice again, he hesitated a little and reluctantly followed.
The two walked along the twists and turns of the corridor for about a quarter of an hour, when suddenly they saw a bright light.
Qiu Yutong was stunned, “This is…”
“This is Lake Wulong. I just fell in love with this lake and built this palace here… How is it, it’s beautiful, right?”
At this moment, in front of Qiu Yutong’s eyes, there was a boundless and quiet lake. Under the hazy moonlight, the lake was covered with a layer of smoke-like mist, and this winding corridor led all the way to the center of the lake. There was an exquisite Waterside pavilion in the middle of the lake, which looked like a fairyland.
Lu Xiao led Qiu Yutong, and the two followed the corridor all the way to the Waterside pavilion.
The Waterside pavilion in the lake was all made of pure white marble, with soft translucent shark gauze hanging on all sides. In the front hall of the Waterside pavilion, on a sandalwood low table, there was a plate of snow-white sweet-scented osmanthus cake. It was the honey-stuffed sweet-scented osmanthus glutinous rice cake made by Lu Xiao.
This plate of sweet-scented osmanthus cake was quite exquisite. The cake was white and glutinous, with a layer of sticky golden honey-stuffed sweet-scented osmanthus poured on top, which was extremely tempting.
“Shizun is tired, why don’t we sit down and eat some cakes?”
Qiu Yutong swallowed silently, barely maintaining an indifferent expression, “En, okay.”
The two sat down beside the short table, Qiu Yutong picked up a piece of sweet-scented osmanthus cake and took a small bite, only to feel that the mouth was full of fragrance, soft and glutinous, and the cake almost melted in the mouth. He took a sip and thought angrily at the same time, why was this evil disciple Lu Xiao so good at making cakes!
“How is it?” Lu Xiao asked.
Qiu Yutong said lightly, “It’s okay.”
Qiu Yutong ate in small bites, while Lu Xiao lowered his eyes and watched him eat quietly. After a while, Lu Xiao suddenly lowered his head and licked a little snow-white debris from the corner of his lips. His slender, cold hands also unknowingly poked inside his mouth.
Qiu Yutong suddenly widened his eyes and scolded, “Lu Xiao!”
Lu Xiao reluctantly endured it, the color of his eyes became very dark, his voice was a little hoarse, and he coaxed softly like a scammer, “Can’t I do this? We are already like that, and Shizun is willing… I was in a hurry the last time; this time I will be gentler, it won’t hurt so much, don’t be afraid.”
The cool night wind blew lightly and lifted the veil around the Waterside pavilion. Qiu Yutong was agitated and pushed Lu Xiao away suddenly, “Are you crazy!”
Lu Xiao said in a hoarse voice, “No one dares to come to the Waterside Pavilion. We can do anything here…”
Qiu Yutong couldn’t listen anymore and interrupted him directly, “Lu Xiao, I really let you down before, so you humiliated me like that, and I admit it. But now we are barely even. Since you have prepared a place for me, I can live here for a while, but you are not allowed…”
He was really speechless, and after a moment of silence, he reluctantly said, “You are not allowed to do this kind of thing to me again, whether you are doing it for revenge, or whether you feel it’s fresh, we can’t go on like this. All those absurd things before, just write them off, forget them all, and pretend they never happened. Don’t worry, I won’t hold it against you, nor will I drive you out of the door, I’m still your Shizun, and you’re still my apprentice. “
