bookrandom Chapter 144 Running away from home
Chapter 144 Running away from home
"Brother Chaoyun, are you home?"
Upon arriving at the Xu family's gate, Cui Ying looked at the glowing magic array and had no choice but to use her magic to call out. A beautiful, alluring woman greeted her warmly.
"Oh, it's Cui Ying's niece. Come in and sit down."
Upon seeing the newcomer, they realized it was Zhu Chaoyun's stepmother, Chen Mengzhu.
Cui Ying had visited the Xu family countless times before and had also dealt with Chen Mengzhu many times.
Chen Mengzhu's attitude towards her gradually changed from initial disdain and indifference to warm and ingratiating behavior.
Although Chen Mengzhu was harsh on the Zhu siblings, one cannot hit a smiling face, and Chen Mengzhu never targeted the Cui family.
Seeing this, although Cui Ying disliked Chen Mengzhu, she replied calmly:
"Auntie, I'm looking for Brother Chaoyun. Is he home?"
Chen Mengzhu smiled and waved her handkerchief, calling out:
"Chaoyun has been away for a while, he should be back soon. Come in and sit down, let's have some tea and wait for him."
"out?"
After thinking for a moment, Cui Ying simply followed Chen Mengzhu into the house.
Zhu Chaoyun's father, Zhu Yong, was a cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Refining. The Zhu family's house was just a single courtyard house. Once you entered the gate, you would find a spacious and fairly clean and tidy courtyard.
Looking at the middle-aged male cultivator sitting in the courtyard sipping tea, Cui Ying's eyes flickered, and she greeted him:
"Uncle Zhu".
Upon seeing Cui Ying enter, Zhu Yong immediately put down his teacup and greeted her with the same enthusiastic warmth:
"Come, niece Cui Ying, this is freshly made tea today, come and have a taste."
"No need, Uncle Zhu. I just came to say a few words to Brother Chaoyun."
Cui Ying gently shook her head, then glanced around the large courtyard and noticed that Chen Mengzhu's two children were there. Curious, she asked:
"Where is Sister Wanqiu?"
"Wanqiu is still very young, at the age where she is very playful. She went out with her brother."
Chen Mengzhu brought over two plates of pastries and placed them in front of Cui Ying, and also poured her a cup of fragrant hot tea.
“Come, niece Cui Ying, try our family’s spiritual tea. Although it’s of low grade, it’s all grown by ourselves. Take some back with you for your family to try later.”
The fact that the Zhu family owns a century-old sacred tea tree is no secret in Shuangling Village.
However, this spirit tea tree has always been regarded as a rare treasure by the Zhu family. Every year, the tea leaves picked are taken to Songlin Market to exchange for spirit stones, and are not usually taken out to entertain guests.
"hehe."
Seeing how enthusiastic Zhu Yong and Chen Mengzhu were, Cui Ying knew all too well why she was being treated this way.
But she gave a faint smile, picked up her teacup, and took a small sip.
She had only taken a sip when she saw Chen Mengzhu sitting opposite her, a fawning smile on her face, asking:
“Niece Cui Ying, I heard that your family bought the Dragon Horse Roller Coaster, is that true?”
The news that the Cui family rode the Dragon Horse Sky Roller Coaster through the village had already spread throughout Shuangling Village.
Cui Ying, too lazy to hide it, nodded without changing her expression and said:
"Yes, not only did I buy the Dragon Horse Roller Coaster, but I also bought two other magical artifacts."
"My goodness! How many spirit stones will this cost?"
"About three thousand two hundred spirit stones."
"So many!"
Chen Mengzhu exclaimed in surprise, glanced at Zhu Yong beside her, swallowed hard, and continued:
"My dear niece Cui Ying, since our two families are related, may I ask you something?"
Cui Ying smiled thoughtfully and nodded, saying, "Auntie, please speak frankly."
Chen Mengzhu picked up the teapot and refilled Cui Ying's teacup, then asked softly:
“That’s right, my niece Cui Ying. Your aunt knows that all those spirit stones you have are what you got by hunting demons in the Phoenix Mountains.”
"But when you went into the mountains before, your aunt always asked Chaoyun to come with you. I'm just curious, how many spirit stones did you usually share with that child Chaoyun?"
"Ah."
Cui Ying glanced coldly at Chen Mengzhu, and was about to reply when Zhu Chaoyun's voice suddenly rang out from outside the courtyard:
"Sister Cui Ying, come out here."
Upon hearing Zhu Chaoyun's voice, Zhu Yong and Chen Mengzhu's faces visibly darkened.
Seeing this, Cui Ying immediately stood up and said as if she hadn't seen anything:
"Uncle Zhu and Aunt Chen, now that Brother Chaoyun is back, I'll take my leave."
"OK, all right."
Chen Mengzhu forced a smile and respectfully escorted her to the courtyard.
After Cui Ying went out, she indeed saw Zhu Chaoyun standing outside with her younger sister Zhu Wanqiu in her hand, their expressions unreadable.
"What's wrong? What happened to your family?"
"You heard everything, why are you asking me?"
Upon hearing Cui Ying's question, Zhu Chaoyun sighed and fell into a rare silence.
Although Cui Ying had already guessed what was going on, she still looked into Zhu Chaoyun's eyes and said:
"I don't believe what others say, I want to hear what you say."
"I"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Chaoyun's eyes instantly reddened. Like a child who had found a protector, he glared angrily at the couple in the courtyard and vented his frustration to Cui Ying:
"Now all the independent cultivators in the village know that your family has earned a lot of spirit stones. Not only are you about to finish building your new house, but you've also bought the Dragon Horse Cloud Chariot. It seems you've already collected all three magic artifacts that the Gu family wanted."
“My stepmother and my father know that I am close to you and that they used to take me into the mountains to hunt demons and take care of me. They started to complain about being poor in front of me and wanted me to hand over all my spirit stones. I ignored them, so they told me to come to your family to borrow spirit stones.”
Cui Ying glanced at Zhu Wanqiu standing beside her, and then said:
"So, just because of this little thing, you took Wanqiu and your family and ran away from home?"
"Ah."
Zhu Chaoyun tightened her grip on Zhu Wanqiu's hand, pursed her lips, nodded, and explained:
"Those spirit stones were meant for me to nurture Wanqiu and for her to get married. I won't give them to anyone unless you ask me for them."
"Furthermore, they should take a good look at themselves. Given their previous attitude towards your family, how dare they ask me to borrow spirit stones from you? They are greedy and disgusting."
"hehe."
In her previous life, Chen Mengzhu was still wicked and sold Zhu Wanqiu to someone else as a furnace while Zhu Chaoyun was away. This caused Zhu Chaoyun to completely break with her family and make her determined to move away from Shuangling Village with Zhu Wanqiu.
Although they later had some fortuitous encounters that improved their cultivation, the experiences they went through were too numerous to recount.
Unexpectedly, because of his own actions, he has fallen out with the Zhu family so quickly in this life.
However, this is also a good thing, because she also has some things she wants to entrust to Zhu Chaoyun.
Thinking of this, Cui Ying smiled gently and asked:
"If you've fallen out, so be it. Anyway, you've saved up enough spirit stones to build a few houses, so you'll have a place to live."
"Ugh."
Unexpectedly, Zhu Chaoyun shook his head and sighed:
“I originally had quite a lot, but I used some of it before, so now I only have three or four hundred spirit stones left. It’s enough to build two houses, but I can’t afford a magic array. You must have heard about the Lin family being massacred in the village recently. I don’t know what to do if something happens to them.”
Cui Ying gently patted Zhu Wanqiu's head, took out the last five hundred spirit stones from her storage bag, and handed them to Zhu Chaoyun, saying:
"Taking all that into account, building a simple courtyard shouldn't be a problem."