Chapter Three: Lady Wu

At the Ting Shui Pavilion, Lady Wu, also known as Mei Ruoxian, was not surprised when she heard Fang Erniang wanted to take Lu Yue back to the countryside. It would be better for her to leave early and live a peaceful life.

"Since she wants to be a landowner, your small amount of money won't be enough," Mei Ruoxian dismissed everyone and personally stood up, taking out a long purple sandalwood box from a corner of the wardrobe. "The things inside are all gifts from the palace and the government over the years. The Guoshi Mansion doesn't fancy gold jewelry, and they've been left to gather dust here."

In addition to various gold ornaments, there were also about ten gold leaves inside the box. Fang Erniang held this heavy object, knowing that she couldn't refuse. She kowtowed deeply and said, "When Yue's legs are healed, I will bring her to pay you a visit."

Mei Ruoxian sighed and called Fang Erniang by her nickname, "Er'ya, do you blame me too? When Lingze was five years old and the Guoshi Mansion sent him to test spiritual stones and roots, Yue secretly took the test as well and her roots were of three colors."

"I dare not, my lady!"

"There's nothing to be afraid of," Mei Ruoxian smiled bitterly. "As a mortal, I struggled to survive in the Guoshi Mansion. If I made even a slight mistake, I would end up like the Ninth Lady and Tenth Lady from two years ago, never to recover. Although Lingze's spiritual roots are good, you've seen it yourself. After she entered the Lingxu Sect, my treatment here plummeted to the extreme." Instead of receiving spirit valley porridge every half month, it has become once a month."

"It has decreased?" Fang Erniang thought of the two sets of jade jewelry that had just been sent over and didn't dare to lift her head.

Mei Ruoxian sighed again, "Three spiritual roots. If Yue was a boy, maybe I would acknowledge her. But unfortunately, she is a girl and as she grows older, she becomes more spiritually gifted. If it wasn't for the fact that they look different, I would have let you take her away long ago."

"Miss Lingze was a cultivation furnace, and when she died, all that was left was skin and bones, resembling a sixty-year-old lady. Miss Eryi doesn't have spiritual roots, so she can still become someone's legal wife."

At this point, Mei Ruoxian's words were full of sarcasm. "The Fifth and Sixth Miss, one had five spiritual roots, the other had four spiritual roots, and they were also sent away by the Guoshi. ... I'm burdened enough with Lingze. With you taking care of Yue outside, I can feel relieved."

"Master!" Fang Erniang choked up. If it hadn't been for the kind master who took her in back then, she would have starved to death long ago.

"Don't cry!" Mei Ruoxian personally helped her up and made her sit on a chair. "Let me make it clear to you, even if she was a boy, I wouldn't dare to acknowledge her... The Guoshi told me that out of the forty-six people he ranked with in the Gu family, he became the Guoshi because his spiritual roots were poor. When Lingze returned to the Lingxu Sect, all those people from back then, except for two legitimate heirs and one collateral branch member with decent spiritual roots, all died, and most of them didn't live past thirty."

Fang Erniang's face turned ashen.

"You've heard about it, right? Two months ago, the Guoshi Mansion received news that the Fifth and Second Young Masters also died in the Lingbao Mountain outside the Lingxu Sect." Mei Ruoxian's voice trembled.

"I'm afraid. I have to worry about Lingze while also worrying about Yue."

The Guoshi was like a pig giving birth to piglets. With so many sons and daughters, they all had their own rankings. How could he care about each one of them?

"I will definitely take good care of Miss Yue."

"I believe you!" Mei Ruoxian nodded.

"For the rest, you won't be able to spend it and it will only bring trouble. This gold is small in size but enough for you to use for a lifetime. Er'ya, I don't ask for anything else, I just hope that Yue can live a peaceful life, find a good husband, and have a few children, and live a simple life like ordinary commoners."

"Yes, I will definitely make sure Yue lives that kind of life."

"... When her legs are healed, bring her over so that the two of us can have a good conversation."

Lu Yue was unaware of the conversation between the two mothers. Today was the fifth day, and she was slowly able to move around and pack her belongings. The house they lived in belonged to the government, so they would definitely have to give it back. The furniture was all second-hand goods they bought from others, and they wouldn't be able to sell them for much money. After calculating, aside from the bedding bundle she was taking with her, the whole house wouldn't fetch more than one or two silver taels. They were truly poor.

She lifted a corner of the kitchen wall tiles and found a small wooden box inside. Inside the box were three hundred silver notes, which were the compensation money for Lu Sheng's death when he went on a mission. There were fourteen small silver notes worth ten taels each. They had saved them over the years. Touching eight of the slightly newer ones, Lu Yue's mouth twitched. Although it wasn't safe to follow Gu Lingzhao, he was generous in rewarding people. Although these secular silver notes were nothing in their eyes, the other young masters and misses of the Gu family, except on special occasions, would not reward anyone.

She pulled down the pouch at her waist and emptied it, sighing. If she hadn't been injured and followed Gu Lingzhao to the palace, she could have earned more rewards from the princes and princesses. What a pity.

The cultivation world was not safe, and Lu Yue, who had been a small and insignificant ghost for many years, deeply felt it. With her three spiritual roots, it took her until she was about to die to break through to the second level of Qi Refining. Everyday was spent on meditation, and she could only meditate. There was no time to learn martial arts, at least she could see that she had actually made progress.

Because of this, she really planned to find a good place with her adoptive mother, Fang Erniang, and live a carefree life. After calculating all their belongings, they didn't have more than five hundred and fifty taels in total. If it weren't for Lu Sheng's death when he worked for the Guoshi Mansion, which exempted them from the indenture with the mansion, they would have had to deduct half. Today, she asked Aunt Liu from next door and learned that top-quality fertile land would cost ten taels per mu, while medium-quality land would cost seven taels. They would also need a small courtyard similar to the one they had here, which would cost fifty to eighty taels.

Lu Yue sat down and went through all their belongings once again. She realized that with just this, it would be quite a struggle to live as small landowners who relied on clothes and food without doing much work. They could only consider it as living a life of luxury and had to do everything themselves.

In her past life, she was called useless by the Gu family's siblings. One day, when she was angry, she ran up to the Wine Mountain and went mad. As a result, she fell into a crevice, and she remembered there were seven ginseng plants there. Two of them were over five hundred years old, and the other five were over two hundred years old.

She smacked the table with her fist, feeling the pain. She was so foolish back then and came back to present the treasures. Apart from receiving a bottle of Gathering Qi Pill, her father only praised her verbally. But as soon as he turned around, she was tied up in a sack and beaten up. She didn't know who it was since she wasn't familiar with everyone, but she recognized Gu Lingzhao's voice.

Grinding her teeth, now that Gu Lingzhao was only ten years old, if she could trick him and snatch things from him, it would be great. Lu Yue sighed; she could only think about it. The young masters and misses of the Gu family who had spiritual roots would be assigned eight servants like her who knew some martial arts. Not to mention the others, just a random water arrow spell from Gu Lingzhao, and she wouldn't be able to avoid it.

Her father had once said that although Gu Lingzhao's three spiritual roots were not impressive, his aptitude was really good, and he quickly learned any kind of magic spell. She didn't dare to do anything risky, but she decided to get her hands on the seven ginseng roots she deserved. This way, she could sell them for money and let her father stay at the seventh level of Qi Refinement. It would be good or rather, very good.

As soon as Fang Erniang came back, she handed the purple sandalwood box to Lu Yue, "This is the dowry Lady Wu prepared for you. Sew these twelve gold leaves into your clothes. In case anything happens on the way, it will provide some safety."

Lu Yue fully agreed with this. In just a year, the Tang Qing from the Moon Eclipse Gate would advance to the Nascent Soul stage. The first thing he would do after advancing would be to reclaim the Shui Guo Country that his ancestors had lost. No one knew how many people would die then.

Speaking of which, the Shui Guo Country was not a good place, situated between the two demonic sects and the mundane world. If possible, she would prefer to bring her adoptive mother to the neighboring Linghe County in the Qin region.

"Mother, are we going back to Qin Ridge?" Lu Yue blinked her eyes. "Tai Ridge is at the border between Shui Guo and Tai Guo. What if there's a war between the two countries?"

"Silly girl," Fang Erniang laughed and patted her head. "The Qin Ridge is full of mountains, and all the good farmland has long been divided by the big landowners. It won't be your turn. We'll go to the neighboring Linghe Ridge. It is close to the mountains and has plenty of water. If we have two small farms there, we can live a good life."