Chapter 49 - 49 Mihe Town
Lu Qingshan’s former household, the Lu Family, was one of these thirty-six esteemed families.
The Lu Family was situated atop Mihe Peak, the main peak of the Qianzhou mountain range.
Even a Qi Refinement family always requires secular forces.
Positioned at the foot of Mihe Peak, Mihe Town was a small, secular town that belonged to the Lu Family.
Due to his responsibility for the family business back then, he frequently traveled between Mihe Town and Zhenjiang City, and he became extremely familiar with the roads in between.
Relying on his memory, Lu Qingshan made his way familiarly and arrived at Mihe Town after a day’s journey.
Having occupied Mihe Peak for many years, Mihe Town was in fact quite prosperous after years of development.
The streets in the city were all paved with bluestone, and they were not only clean and neat but also wide enough for two carriages to pass side by side. They were bustling with crowds, and the atmosphere was extraordinarily lively.
Houses along the road mostly consisted of two- or three-story buildings, with many structures adorned with carved beams and painted rafters, exuding opulence.
In the western district of Mihe Town, a plethora of businesses was distributed, with good public order and an elegant environment.
In one location of the western district, a clothier’s shop owned by the Lu Family.
"I’ve only tasked you with a little assignment, yet you’re dragging your feet. How can I trust you with the shop in the future!" From a distance, the scolding voice was heard, and a faint smile appeared on Lu Qingshan’s face.
Peering through the door.
Inside the shop, an elderly man with grey hair was seen standing with his back turned, holding a duster, and berating a teenager who appeared to be only fourteen or fifteen years old.
The boy hung his head as if dutifully accepting the scolding, but his eyes were rolling constantly, clearly paying no mind to the elder’s reprimand.
Suddenly, the boy’s wandering eyes caught sight of Lu Qingshan at the doorway, his pupils dilated dramatically, and he pointed finger trembling, his voice quivering, "Lu... Lu..."
"Lu what, Lu!" Seeing the boy distracted even while being scolded, the old man puffed his beard and glared harder, his tone rising a few notches, "Lu Xun, you scoundrel, you dare to be inattentive?"
"Grandfather, it’s Lu Qingshan!" Lu Xun finally managed to catch his breath.
"What Lu Qingshan..." the elder reflexively turned in the direction pointed by Lu Xun’s hand, and upon laying eyes on Lu Qingshan standing at the doorway with a smile, he was taken aback.
Bang—
The elder’s hand loosened, and the duster in his hand dropped to the floor.
The elder, named Lu Zhi, was a collateral member of the Lu Family with a Cultivation of the sixth stage of Qi Refinement. After aging, he retired down the mountain and took charge of this clothier’s shop.
Lu Xun was his grandson, only a mundane person without any Cultivation.
Lu Qingshan used to work in this clothier’s shop before.
Lu Qingshan’s father, Lu Bei, was one of the mere three Golden Core Cultivators in the Lu Family.
Therefore, even though Lu Qingshan had no talent for cultivation and was but an ordinary person, he still held a not-so-low status in this vast clothier’s shop, securing a mid-level managerial position.
...
Inside a secluded room in the back courtyard of the clothier’s shop.
"What happened, what exactly happened four months ago? We all thought you had died, and that boy, Lu Xun, grieved for quite a while..." Lu Zhi looked at Lu Qingshan’s face, unable to believe his eyes.
Four months earlier, Lu Qingshan took three shop assistants with him, escorting a large batch of fabrics on the way to Zhenjiang City, only to mysteriously vanish on the road.
He immediately reported the matter to the family, and the family dispatched people from the Service Hall to investigate, but they found nothing.
All these days had passed, and they had come to accept that Lu Qingshan must have met with an unfortunate mishap.
Yet now, here was Lu Qingshan, alive and well once more.
"Grandpa, you’re one to talk, who was it that spent all that time hidden away in his room, drinking sulkily by himself?" Lu Xun said with disdain, exposing the truth.
"You little rascal, thinking you’re smart, huh? When your grandpa and Qingshan are talking, mind your own business!" Lu Zhi rebuked, slapping the back of Lu Xun’s head.
The familiar people and objects around him stirred an inexplicable emotion in Lu Qingshan’s chest.
It was an emotion belonging to the Lu Qingshan of this world.
His father had many affairs and many children; he himself was insignificant among them and had never seen his father since he was born.
His mother had passed away from illness when he was only five years old.
Therefore, he didn’t have much of an impression of his parents.
Ever since he was a child, he had grown up in this ready-made garment workshop; although Lu Zhi had no blood relation to him, he treated him as his own grandson, and Lu Xun respected him as a big brother.
They were the closest people in the memories of the Lu Qingshan from this world.
"Big brother Qingshan, that’s right, why did you disappear for so long, and what about Ah Long and the others, why did you come back alone?" Lu Xun scratched his head and asked with concern.
Ah Long and the others were workers from the workshop who had escorted goods with Lu Qingshan.
Lu Qingshan chuckled and said, "It’s a long story... We were attacked by evil cultivators, those evil cultivators defied the prohibitions of Great Xia, capturing civilians everywhere to craft corpse puppets."
"Corpse puppets!" Lu Zhi’s face changed dramatically.
As a cultivator, he was well aware of the infamy of corpse puppets.
"What are corpse puppets?" Lu Xun was completely clueless.
"Don’t interrupt." Lu Zhi scolded, then looked towards Lu Qingshan, "So how did you…"
The methods of evil cultivators were harsh and ruthless, and he couldn’t imagine how Lu Qingshan, having fallen into the hands of an evil cultivator, managed to escape.
"That evil cultivator was active near Yuanshan City. Somehow, an organization called the Guardianship Tower discovered him, and a cultivator from the Guardianship Tower wiped out the evil ones, also rescuing me in the process.
However, Ah Long and the others didn’t make it until then. I was also seriously injured and had to recuperate in Yuanshan City for a long time. It was only a few days ago that I returned to Zhenjiang City with a merchant convoy..."
This was also the explanation Lu Qingshan had prepared for when he had to confront the family’s cultivators later.
Lu Xun was left dumbfounded.
Lu Zhi, being a cultivator, could better grasp the peril of the situation and was greatly relieved, "Thank goodness, if that cultivator from Guardianship Tower had come any later, it would have been unimaginable..."
....
"Big brother Qingshan, grandpa insisted that you weren’t dead because he never saw your corpse, so he kept your position as a steward for you!" Lu Xun suddenly remembered this and mentioned it proudly.
Lu Qingshan looked at Lu Zhi.
Lu Zhi affirmed Lu Qingshan with a nod, "What Lu Xun said is right, I’ve kept your steward position available; you should rest for a few days, and then take up your previous work again."
Lu Zhi was planning to have Lu Qingshan and Lu Xun jointly manage the ready-made garment workshop in the future.
Lu Qingshan shook his head slightly, "Grandpa Lu, I may not be able to continue working at the ready-made garment workshop."
Lu Zhi was taken aback, "What do you mean by that?"
Lu Qingshan extended his right hand and activated the spiritual power within his body. Soon, a misty white light surfaced on his hand.
Lu Zhi, as a cultivator, naturally recognized what it was.
"Spiritual power?! Qingshan, have you become a cultivator?"
Lu Qingshan pursed his lips, "Yes, I was fortunate to have cultivated spiritual power."
"Great! Great! Great!" exclaimed Lu Zhi excitedly, three times in a row, "A person who survives a great disaster is bound to have good fortune thereafter!"
Lu Xun’s face was also filled with excitement, "Big brother Qingshan, you’ve become a cultivator!"
The status of a cultivator, compared to that of ordinary people, was as different as heaven and earth.
After becoming a cultivator, Lu Qingshan would be able to enter the family’s blessed land to cultivate.
If his cultivation was successful and he earned a position as a family steward, he would be a highly respected figure in Mihe Town.
Even if he couldn’t become a high-level cultivator, someone like Lu Zhi, who had no ambition in cultivation, would still be designated to take charge of the family’s assets. Discover hidden stories at NovelBin.Côm