Chapter 99: On fire

Shi Qingluo returned to her room and drew the rough outline of the cooking pot.

Xiao Hanzheng looked at it. “What’s the purpose of this hole in the middle?”

This was the first time he had seen this kind of pot.

Shi Qingluo returned, “The middle is similar to a chimney. The bottom is for placing charcoal to cook the food, and the outer ring is for cooking vegetables and meat in the soup.”

Xiao Hanzheng put away the paper. “Very good.”

“I’ll go to the county town to help you get the cooking pot. I’ll try my best to bring it back as soon as possible so that you can eat boiled mutton.”

Their living conditions had improved. Although it would cost a lot to make an iron pot, there wasn’t much financial pressure to do so.

Their house also had a horse carriage, so he wouldn’t take long to travel to the county town.

Shi Qingluo smiled and said, “Thank you, husband!”

“Oh right, remember to bring back some white and black flax. I’ll prepare the things that Magistrate Mo wants for the next two days.”

Xiao Hanzheng nodded. “Okay!”

In the afternoon, Xiao Hanzheng brought back the white sesame seeds, and Shi Qingluo began fiddling with them in the kitchen.

Of course, she also brought Xiao Baili along to hone her culinary skills.

Moreover, Shi Qingluo was mainly doing the talking while Xiao Baili cooked.

Too bad, Shi Qingluo’s culinary skills weren’t that great, while Xiao Baili had some innate talent in it.

After making the sesame sauce, Shi Qingluo and Xiao Baili made some black sesame paste together.

They also had to bring the sesame oil seeds to the county town’s oil-extracting workshop tomorrow to extract its oil.

The owner of the iron workshop in the county town knew about Xiao Hanzheng and gave him a better deal.

He got the cooking pot the next day.

Shi Qingluo and Xiao Hanzheng went to collect the cooking pot together.

Then, they went to buy meat and vegetables.

When they were about to return, they met Mo Qingling along the way.

The two of them carried their items and greeted him, “Greetings, my lord.”

Mo Qingling was not wearing his official uniform.

He smiled and said, “You don’t need to be so polite outside. You came to the county town to buy things?”

Xiao Hanzheng replied, “My wife has already made the sesame paste. Today, we will buy some mutton to try boiled mutton.

“After confirming the taste, we will send some to you along with the sesame paste and the sesame oil, Sir.”

Mo Qingling smiled and said, “Thank you for your time and effort.”

Xiao Hanzheng continued in a welcoming tone, “If you’re free, you can come to my house to try boiled mutton dipped in sesame paste.”

According to his little wife, it was better to try anything in person.

He also wanted to interact with Mo Qingling more.

Mo Qingling had a good impression of Xiao Hanzheng and his wife, and he had an even better impression of Xiao Hanzheng recently.

He thought about it and agreed. “Alright, then I’ll have to disturb you!”

He didn’t play with his rank, and sat in the Xiao family’s carriage with his servant boy to Xiaxi village together.

When they arrived at the Xiao family, Shi Qingluo saw Bai Xu lazily sitting on a chair in the courtyard, reading Xiao Hanzheng’s newly written manuscript.

This fellow didn’t treat himself as an outsider.

Bai Xu was here today to expedite the manuscript.

It was really because this immortal cultivation script was getting more and more popular.

Because of this, he opened a bookstore in the capital and focused on the publication of this manuscript. Similarly, it became very popular.

Many of the children of the aristocratic families in the capital went to the bookstore to hurry the print.

Every day, he would receive letters from the capital urging him to rush the printing.

He had no choice but to personally come to the Xiao family.

He absolutely would not admit it. He also wanted to read the rest of the story.

Who knew that when he came to the Xiao family, he heard from Xiao Erlang that Xiao Hanzheng and Xiao Hanzheng had entered the city.

When he saw the draft on the table in the courtyard, he couldn’t help but pick it up and read it first.

Just as he was engrossed in reading, he heard footsteps and raised his head to look over.

Then he saw Mo Qingling beside Xiao Hanzheng. He was stunned and hurriedly stood up.

“Greetings, my Lord!”

Mo Qingling was also very surprised to see Bai Xu in the Xiao family’s courtyard.

From the casual manner of this person, he could tell that Bai Xu and the Xiao family had a good relationship.

“No need for formalities!”

Shi Qingluo asked Bai Xu, “Why are you here?”

The Bai family had just taken away a large batch of mosquito incense yesterday.

Bai Xu picked up the manuscript in his hand and waved it. “I’m here to urge your husband to write his manuscript.

“Brother Xiao, your story is getting more and more interesting.”

He was also very at ease in front of Magistrate Mo.

Xiao Hanzheng smiled. “Thank you for the compliment!”

Mo Qingling was stunned. “What manuscript is that?”

Bai Xu was now a fan of Xiao Hanzheng’s novel. He immediately recommended it. “The immortal cultivation novel written by Brother Xiao is not only popular in the county, but also popular in the capital. My bookstore reprints it every day.”

Just the profits from this immortal cultivation novel for this month was on par with his entire bookstore’s profit a year ago. One could imagine how popular this novel was.

Now, be it in the county or the capital, whenever they went out for a gathering, they would ask each other, “Have you read Immortal Cultivation?

“You haven’t? Then you’re too outdated.”.

Mo Qingling was a little surprised. “Duke Xiao also writes manuscripts. I’ll go back to the county and buy one to read.”

It wasn’t about love, but about immortal cultivation. He was open to this genre.

When he was still a profligate, he would also read novels when he was bored.

However, those people wrote similar stories and he would lose interest after reading a few more.

Now that he heard Bai Xu’s recommendation, he became curious.

After Xiao Hanzheng and Shi Qingluo got together, he was also influenced by her.

He didn’t deliberately be humble. “Then I’ll thank you for your support.”

He had discussed and written this immortal cultivation novel with his wife. Not to mention the readers, even he, the writer, found it interesting.

It was a different world. Cultivating immortality and experiencing all kinds of tribulations was something that people would yearn for.

He didn’t know that ever since this novel became popular in the capital, many second-generation youths from aristocratic families would go to the suburbs to wander around in groups every day.

They wanted to see if they could spot up any treasures and step onto the path of immortal cultivation.

There was a big tree in the Xiao family’s old residence. Xiao Hanzheng and Shi Qingluo would go under the tree to enjoy the breeze.

Hence, there were some tables and chairs there. The table also had tea sets and chess boards.

Shi Qingluo knew how to play Go because both her maternal and paternal grandfather liked to play it.

As she often had to coax the two of them, she would play Go with them first.

Initially, she was destroyed badly.

She was bullied and cried, so she trained hard for quite some time.

She even found some isolated copies to study.

After being destroyed by two elders, her chess skills continued to improve.

One day, when Xiao Hanzheng sat down to play chess with her, she was tempted to say that she knew how to play the game and wanted a match with him.

Then, they had an extra routine. When they were resting, they would sit in the courtyard, drink tea and play a few games of chess.

She had lost some and won some, but she mostly lost…

There was nothing she could do. Her young husband’s chess skills were too exquisite.

In the modern era, he could easily torture both of her grandfathers until they cried.

Sometimes, she would think that if her young husband went to the modern era, she would bring him to torture the two old men and take revenge on the occasions which she cried after being destroyed.

Mo Qingling was very prideful when he was younger.

Later, when he found out that his stepmother had been destroying him by over-flattering him, he suddenly came to his senses and became more motivated to upskill himself.

Because of this, he gradually became more willful.

In the past, he would never set foot in a small farm yard like this one in front of it.

Now that he looked at it again, it actually created a different atmosphere.

Therefore, he did not despise it and just sat under the big tree.

Looking at the chessboard on the table, he smiled and said, “Duke Xiao also likes to play chess?”

In those years when he was a dandy, he had been most impatient with these things.

But later on, he became more fond of playing chess.

It could train his patience and make him less irritable.

Xiao Hanzheng nodded. “I do.”

Mo Qingling’s interest was piqued. “How about a match?”

Xiao Hanzheng sat opposite him. “Okay!”