lcionline Chapter 27 Cultivation
Chapter 27 Cultivation
"I bought you a bamboo dragonfly. It's not worth much, but I carved the small characters on it myself."
—Respectfully presented to the heroine Yueyue.
Xiao Yue touched the words on the bamboo handle and was overjoyed. "I'm going to try out this bamboo dragonfly right now."
"It's getting late, and it'll be hard to find the plane if it gets lost. We can go back tomorrow during the day."
If Jiang Ruolan hadn't stopped her in time, Xiao Yue would probably have disappeared long ago.
"Brother Liu, besides these, what else did you buy?"
Seeing Liu Shan still rummaging through his bundle, Xiao Yue became curious. She really wanted to know what gift Liu Shan had brought for her senior sister.
Not to mention her curiosity, even Jiang Ruolan herself was full of anticipation.
"Ha, found it."
Liu Shan took out a delicate little box from his bundle; it contained a lip rouge.
This... could it be a gift for me? Such a private item, wouldn't that be inappropriate?
Jiang Ruolan felt conflicted.
"Wanqing, this is for you too."
Li Wanqing was surprised to receive a gift. When she took the lipstick and saw that it was her favorite crimson color, she was even more delighted.
Amber smiled, pursing her lips. She suddenly felt that her son-in-law had probably figured things out. "Son-in-law, how did you know that Miss's lip rouge had just run out?"
"Huh? I didn't know. It was a free gift with the purchase of lanolin, it's free," Liu Shan said frankly.
Before the words were even finished, the expressions of the four women at the table, except for Xiao Yue, were all extremely interesting.
Not wanting to embarrass her daughter or scold her son-in-law, Wang quickly said to Liu Shan, "Son-in-law, bamboo shoots are Wanqing's favorite dish. Please give her some."
"Huh? Oh, okay."
As Liu Shan picked up some food, he vaguely felt that he might have said something wrong.
At this moment, Xiao Yue couldn't help but ask, "Brother Liu, did you bring something for my senior sister too?"
“Junior Sister, I am already deeply grateful to my benefactor for helping me escape from prison, how could I possibly let him…”
“Miss Jiang, please don’t call me your benefactor anymore. If you don’t mind, you can call me Brother Liu, just like Yueyue does.”
Jiang Ruolan explained with a smile, "We're about the same age, so I don't know who's older."
Liu Shan also smiled and said, "Since we're about the same age, there's no need to distinguish between older brother and older sister. You can call me Liu Shan, and I'll call you Ruolan, okay?"
Jiang Ruolan nodded.
Liu Shan jingled as he pulled a nine-linked ring from his bag. “Ruolan, I’ve also prepared a gift for you. Here it is. You can play with it a lot when you have free time. It’s a fun and educational toy.”
Jiang Ruolan barely managed to accept it. Although she said thank you, she felt a little depressed. Did Liu Shan think she was stupid, so he gave her this to make her use her brain more?
"Senior Sister, I like this too. When you're not playing with it, can I borrow it for a couple of days?" Xiao Yue took the nine-linked rings from Jiang Ruolan and played with them, seemingly quite fond of them.
“Okay, let’s play together.” Jiang Ruolan looked at Xiao Yue with affection. She suddenly felt that this gift wasn’t so bad after all.
By the time the gifts were distributed, Liu Shan's bundle was empty.
"That's it?" Li Polu tapped his fingers on the table. This blatant favoritism made him want to tease his son-in-law.
"Father-in-law, let's not say anything more, it's all in the wine, cheers!"
Li Polu was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that this kid was not only shameless, but also a clever fellow.
Wang was a virtuous and kind mother-in-law. Seeing this, she smoothed things over by saying, "Last time my son-in-law brought back some animal skins, I had already discussed it with him. We'll make you a fur coat. If we calculate the days, you can wear it tomorrow or the day after."
A fur coat?
Li Polu was immediately in a good mood, and they enjoyed each other's company immensely.
……
After returning from Jinhua County, Liu Shan stayed at home and did not go to the government office to perform his duties.
However, no one would bother him. A minor clerk without any official position wouldn't risk offending the Li family for that.
In the days that followed, Liu Shan got up early every day to go to the martial arts field for appropriate training.
He first jogged around the training ground for ten minutes to warm up his body, and then used objects such as stone locks, stone weights, stone mills, and bronze tripods to do strength training.
Liu Shan didn't push himself too hard; he would stop and rest whenever his muscles felt slightly sore.
He said he was taking a break, but actually he was just sitting on a small stool watching Jiang Ruolan practice martial arts.
Despite being a proper boxer in his previous life, he still couldn't tell the difference between good and bad martial arts techniques.
But there is one standard that applies universally, and that is—
Observe whether the movements of the martial arts are smooth, and whether the posture and moves can form a unique style, giving people a visually impressive feeling.
Jiang Ruolan's moves were like this; her movements were not only fluid, but her posture also gave Liu Shan a pleasing dynamic visual effect.
Liu Shan wiped away non-existent drool from the corner of his mouth—
I'm so hungry!
After a long while, Jiang Ruolan stopped her moves and stood gracefully beside Liu Shan.
Her face flushed slightly, and she said with a hint of anger, "Have you looked enough?"
Liu Shan honestly shook his head, "I haven't seen enough."
Jiang Ruolan blushed and said, "Don't look."
Liu Shan sighed and said wistfully, "Ruolan, you don't know this. I am the son of a military general. Since childhood, I have had a heart that wants to learn martial arts. I do not seek to be a king or a marquis, but only to protect the peace of the people in this area and to keep them from the suffering of war and bandits."
The man spoke with such sincerity that Jiang Ruolan was completely taken aback, and muttered, "You... weren't you rebellious since childhood, insisting on abandoning martial arts for literature?"
During this time, she had heard some rumors and gossip at the Li residence.
"Yes, I want to learn martial arts. Please teach me, heroine." Liu Shan pretended to be deaf and clasped his hands in a fist salute.
Jiang Ruolan hesitated slightly, "It's not impossible."
Liu Shan immediately withdrew his gaze, sat up straight, and became like a student attentively listening to a teacher's lecture.
Jiang Ruolan was amused and hummed, "Through these days of observation, I have found that you have excellent aptitude and decent character. According to the rules set by Master, I can teach you the first three levels of the mental cultivation method. If you succeed in your cultivation, Master will naturally accept you as a disciple in the future; if you fail in your cultivation, then it proves that we are destined to meet but not to be together."
Liu Shan raised his hand and asked, "What sect are we?"
Jiang Ruolan: "My master is a reclusive master, how could he be associated with any sect?!"
No sect has been created?
Is it alright to be without a sect or faction?
However, Jiang Ruolan did not give him more time to doubt and soon began to talk about her lineage.
“My master, Xiao Yan, has been living in seclusion in Youquan Valley with my junior sister. He only accepted me as his disciple, so I am his eldest disciple and his last disciple. I cannot teach you the internal energy cultivation method, as it would violate the rules of the master. However, your situation is special, so my junior sister and I have decided to try teaching you the first three levels of the internal energy cultivation method first.”
Liu Shan listened intently.
Seeing this, Jiang Ruolan didn't waste any time and went straight to the point: "I'll make an exception and teach you the first three levels of the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique. Make sure you remember them well..."