Chapter 168: Chapter 167: The Restless Li Zhang

After the lessons were over, Li Jain invited Qin Suyue to the side hall to discuss the tutoring terms.

When they sat down, Li Jain poured tea and asked: "Tutor Qin, how much do you charge for private lessons?"

Qin Suyue did not answer immediately. Instead, he looked at the tea cup for a moment and smiled: "I don’t want spirit stones."

Li Jain was a bit surprised: "Then what does Tutor Qin want?"

Qin Suyue smiled helplessly: "To be honest, I accepted this request because you’re the owner of the Spiritual Tavern."

Li Jain raised his brows: "You have been to my tavern?"

Qin Suyue was a bit embarrassed, he nodded and explained: "A few weeks ago, I bought food from a tavern called spiritual tavern. At the time, I only bought one portion because I had never tried the food before. But after eating it, I found that the food worked very well on my body. My spiritual energy which had been blocked for months actually loosened slightly."

Li Jain nodded in understanding. He knew the power of his dishes, so people’s reaction after eating it doesn’t surprise him.

Qin Suyue sighed, and continued: "I wanted to order more the following evening, but who knew the tavern had already shut down? I asked around and learned that the owner had moved to South River City, but the tavern had not reopened yet. I also don’t know when it will reopen."

"So you want me to sell you a dish even though the tavern is not yet in business?" Li Jain asked.

Instead of answering the question, Qin Suyue frowned and said: "I am very picky when it comes to teaching. I usually do not teach newcomers who know nothing about spiritual music, especially not on a short notice. But when the shopkeeper describes the request and mentions your name, I guess this might be my chance to meet the owner of the Spiritual Tavern."

Li Jain thought for a moment and asked: "Which dish did you eat?"

Qin Suyue answered at once: "Clear Sound Lotus Fish Soup."

Li Jain looked at him thoughtfully. After a moment, he raised his hand and said: "May I check your pulse?"

Qin Suyue hesitated only briefly before stretching out his hand: "Of course."

Li Jain placed two fingers on his wrist and quietly examined the flow of spiritual energy in his body. Qin Suyue’s spiritual energy was stable, but there was a thin blockage near the chest meridian. It was more like a bottleneck formed after long-term sound cultivation. His breath and sound energy were both pressing against it, but because the spiritual flow was too sharp in some places and too stagnant in others, he had been unable to break through.

Li Jain didn’t lack money and even if Qin Suyue had asked for an unreasonable amount, he would have still given it to him without hesitation. But since the other party put in another request, he decided to help him out. It wasn’t much trouble for him, besides, after attending Xiao Yujian class of "the path forward", he learned that he shouldn’t miss any opportunity of making friends and allies.

After a while, Li Jain withdrew his hand.

"The Clear Sound Lotus Fish Soup helped because it softened your sound meridian and reduced some of the pressure around your chest. But that dish alone is not enough for you to break through."

Qin Suyue’s eyes lit up: "Master Li knows what I need?"

What Li Jain said was very similar to what the physician said. According to the physician, there’s a slight disorder in his breathing and a blockage near his chest meridian that affected him as a sound cultivator.

The physician only diagnosed and didn’t actually provide a cure. One reason is that there aren’t many sound cultivators and information regarding their path was very limited.

Now that Li Jain saw the problem, he was hoping to find a real solution.

"I can recommend three more dishes." Li Jain said: "One is Snowleaf Spirit Chicken Broth, which will nourish your inner breath. Another is the Moondew Bamboo Rice, which will smooth the sound flow and reduce sharp backlash. The last is Frost Plum Spring Wine, which can loosen the bottleneck and help your spiritual energy circulate more evenly. If you eat them together over several days, they would loosen the bottleneck."

Qin Suyue became very excited: "Master Li, would you be able to make all of them?" 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Li Jain thought about it and said: "For the next few days, I can provide the Clear Sound Lotus Fish Soup, and Snowleaf Spirit Chicken Broth for free as payment for the lessons. As for the Moondew Bamboo Rice, and Frost Plum Spring Wine, you will need to buy them separately."

Qin Suyue agreed without hesitation: "That is more than fair."

Li Jain smiled: "Then I will trouble Tutor Qin with my children."

Qin Suyue stood and bowed lightly. "Master Li can rest assured. Since I accepted, I will put in more effort and teach them properly."

Ahem, do you mean you weren’t putting in more effort before?

A red light flashed across Li Jain’s eyes, but it quickly disappeared: "I trust Tutor Qin would do his utmost best."

"Thanks again, Master Li."

Another thing that Yujian taught him is that when making allies, do not show eagerness. Make them few that you are reluctantly doing them a favor, this would make them few very touched. And they would be more willing to help you in times of crisis.

Li Jain smiles gently, thinking after this banquet, he has to take more life lessons with Yujian.

After confirming the next lesson time, Qin Suyue said goodbye and took his leave.

When he walked out of the courtyard, his steps were much lighter than when he entered. He had originally come for food, but after seeing Li Yujian and Li Yuhan’s talent, he felt that this tutoring arrangement was not as reluctant as he had expected.

As for Li Jain, Qin Suyue had already decided that this person was far more mysterious and dangerous than the rumors said. Of course he saw the murdering intent in Li Jain’s eyes when he said he would put more effort in teaching the children. One more wrong word, he would have been finished.

Li Jain didn’t know what Qin Suyue was thinking, if he knew, he would just sighed helplessly. That was just a warning light, nothing more.

After Qin Suyue left, Li Jain returned to the house.

Everyone was busy preparing for the birthday banquet in different ways.

If Li Cheng and Li Zhang still failed to notice anything strange, then they were either very trusting or very busy.

Thinking of Li Xinyue’s branches of lies from earlier, Li Jain smiled helplessly.

It seemed that keeping this surprise hidden for the whole week would not be easy.

And... he was right.

...

For the next few days, Li Zhang was feeling very restless.

At first, he thought it was because everyone had become busy. Then he carefully observed the situation and came to a shocking conclusion.

His father no longer wanted him!

Otherwise, why would things happen like this? Every time he got close to Father and acted spoiled for a while, Father would suddenly remember that his training was lacking and send him away.

Every Single Time!

Meanwhile, while he was training outside under the sun, his father and brothers would be sitting together laughing happily. Sometimes they would gather in a room and close the door, whispering among themselves. But whenever he approached, the conversation would mysteriously end.

Li Zhang sat on a stone bench in the courtyard, looking toward the sky with a troubled expression: "No, this can’t continue."

He placed both hands on his knees and sighed: "I’m such a lovely child. How could Father suddenly stop liking me?"

After struggling alone for half an hour, Li Zhang finally went to find the only person he felt could understand him, Li Cheng. After all, he and Li Cheng were in the same predicament.

At that moment, Li Cheng was cleaning his bow underneath the shade.

Li Zhang walked towards him and called out: "Third Brother!"

Li Cheng calmly looked up: "What happened now? Are you done for the day? You haven’t even started yet."

Li Zhang rolled his eyes, sat beside him and began explaining his observations.

After listening quietly for several minutes, Li Cheng lowered the cloth in his hand: "You are overthinking."

Li Zhang was shocked, he couldn’t believe that after explaining so much, his brother still wasn’t getting it:

"How can I be overthinking? Father just spent several days searching another country for you. Yet when you returned, he abandoned both of us. I’m beginning to suspect it’s your fault. I told you women are trouble but you won’t listen. Because you stubbornly follow a woman, we’ve lost our father." The more Li Zhang spoke, the more grievous he became.

Li Zhang frowned: "Can you stop that nonsense?"

Li Zhang grabbed his sleeve: "Fourth Brother, think carefully. Every time we get close to Father, we would get sent away for random reasons."

"Yesterday I only wanted to sit beside him. What happened?"

Li Cheng did not answer. Li Zhang didn’t mind and answered his own question.

"He told me my stance was unstable. I don’t believe that Sheng, Xuan, and Xin’s stances are more stable than mine."

Li Zhang slapped the table: "Don’t you think it’s suspicious?"

Li Cheng looked at him and calmly shook his head: "No."

Li Zhang felt disappointed.

Fortunately, after a moment of thought, Li Cheng added: "But it is strange that everyone seems busy recently."

Li Zhang’s eyes immediately lit up: "Right? They are definitely up to something. Maybe they are in trouble and don’t want us to worry."

Li Cheng: "I doubt that’s the case."

Li Zhang jumped to his feet and pointed towards the door: "It doesn’t matter what they are hiding, this house is not that big. Third brother, you and I shall investigate."

Li Cheng immediately regretted saying anything. Unfortunately, Li Zhang had already grabbed his arm and dragged him along.