Chapter 40 "The Daughter of an Old Acquaintance" Deng Ciyu

  "Alas, Miss is indeed clever and wise. I didn't want to bother you with this, but it seems I couldn't hide it from you," Zhang Zixing said without concealing his frustration, sighing, "Lately, my luck has been poor, and things haven't been going smoothly for me. Despite my best efforts, I've suffered repeated setbacks, and I'm truly feeling defeated."

  "Knowledge is a path, fraught with difficulties, like sailing against the current, if you don't move forward, you'll fall back. You must know the difficulty and advance bravely, only then can you overcome obstacles and achieve something. These are the words given to me by my teacher, which I have always remembered in my heart."

  Qing'er's voice was very gentle: "Although you, sir, are currently facing setbacks, you absolutely cannot lose your fighting spirit, and thus become disheartened. You, sir, are a person of great wisdom and bravery, I don't need to say more, just wait with bated breath."

  Zhang Zixing heard Qing'er use his own words to encourage him, and his heart was filled with a warm feeling. He nodded in agreement. The two of them chatted casually afterwards, Qing'er being very considerate, not asking questions nonstop like before, but instead playing the role of a listener, occasionally interjecting to complement Zhang Zixing's conversation, making him secretly admire her even more. With Qing'er's intelligence, even if she were placed in the 24th century, she would still be an exceptional talent, fully capable of exceling as a scholar, psychologist, teacher, and various other professions.

  The two chatted for a long time, and Zhang Zixing even talked about his own "magic treasure" testing failure experience. He felt much more relaxed and no longer had the depression he had when he first came to Caotang. He sighed: "With friends in the world, the ends of the earth are like neighbors. Being able to recognize Qing'er is the greatest fortune for me, Zixing, since I came into this world."

  Qing'er heard this and a hint of shyness flashed in her eyes, she replied softly: "I'm truly grateful that Master considers me as his confidant."

  Suddenly, a shrill cry broke the subtle atmosphere between the two: "What a scoundrel! So you're here!"

  Only a pretty figure flashed over, and in the blink of an eye, she arrived in front of Zhang Zixing, and pounced on his shoulder. As the saying goes, "a scholar meets a soldier, and reason cannot be made clear." If Zhang Zixing were just a "scholar" with no strength to bind a chicken, even if he were very knowledgeable and talented, he would have been in big trouble this time. Fortunately, he wasn't.

  The woman who made the surprise attack grabbed the shoulder of this "scoundrel" and was about to use force to make him suffer, but suddenly her wrist was tightened and she was caught by the opponent. Before she could be surprised, an incredible force came from her wrist, twisting her entire arm behind her back. The woman's reaction was also extremely fast, and her other arm bent, with her elbow striking backwards, but unexpectedly, the opponent's movements were even faster, using some kind of strange technique to tie up her arm and left leg at the same time, making it impossible for her to move. At the same time, a detestable voice came from beside her ear: "Miss, we only met once before, and the misunderstanding has long been cleared up, there is no deep hatred between us, why did you use such heavy hands as soon as you came up?"

  The girl who made the move was the same green-shirted beauty who had injured Jiang Wenhuan with a five-colored crystal stone at the beginning. She did not expect that this "unarmed" person would have such strong strength, and in the blink of an eye, he would subdue her. She angrily said: "Damn you! How dare you be so reckless! Let me go quickly!"

  What infuriated the young girl was that this detestable little thief seemed unwilling to relinquish this ambiguous posture, and the strong masculine aura and the strange ticklish sensation on her earlobe caused a peculiar sense of panic to surge up from deep within her heart, which had never been in "close contact" with a man before.

  Qing'er saw the girl's pleading eyes and quickly spoke up: "Mr. Zixing, my younger sister is too impulsive and has offended you many times, please let her go for my sake."

  "This girl is so wild! If I let her go, she'll definitely take revenge on a large scale. The hidden weapon that injured my family's general last time was very vicious, and I'm afraid of being poisoned by her." On the one hand, Zhang Zixing did have some reservations about the girl's Five Light Crystal, but on the other hand, Deng Ciyu was his long-admired "rescue" object. Although she was still a young and inexperienced girl, it was a rare opportunity to be in such close contact with her, and the fragrance of her chastity made him reluctant to let go for the time being.

  "Qing'er guarantees that his sister will no longer lay hands on you, sir, so please rest assured."

  Zhang Zixing heard Qing'er say this, and had no choice but to let go. He knew the girl's hidden weapons were deadly, so after releasing his grip, he warily stared at her hands, preventing her from suddenly attacking.

  As expected, the girl was about to take action as soon as she broke free from her restraints. Qing'er hurried over to persuade her and pulled her aside, trying every means to dissuade her. After a while, the girl finally gave up on her idea of revenge, but the resentful look in her eyes still reflected the hatred in her heart.

  Zhang Zixing stepped forward and bowed, saying: "Just now, things happened suddenly. I knew that Miss's hidden weapon skills were too powerful, so I had to resort to this inferior strategy of entangling Miss. If there is any offense, please forgive me."

  The girl scowled and snorted, turning her head away, ignoring his apology. Qing Er looked at the embarrassed Zhang Zixing and burst out laughing.

  The young girl saw the tense atmosphere between the two, and spoke to ease the situation: "Sister, don't blame Mr. Purple Star for being unreasonable. Just now you rushed into the grass hall without distinguishing between right and wrong, and took action immediately. If it weren't for Mr. Purple Star's exceptional martial arts skills, he would have been injured by you already. In my opinion, let's just end this matter here."

  "Since sister is pleading for this little thief, I won't take action anymore. Sister, don't blame me for being rash earlier, it's just that this little thief is really detestable!" The girl seemed to listen to Qing'er's words and coldly glanced at Zhang Zixing, saying: "Last time you instigated the evil slave to bully the good people, and this time you actually used deceitful means again. You told sister that I was your old friend, but in fact, you had ulterior motives! I was so angry that I wanted to teach him a lesson, but unexpectedly, I was careless for a moment and was captured by the little thief..."

  Zhang Zixing only then realized why the girl had attacked him as soon as she came in, it seemed that the first impression he left on her at the bookstore last time was too bad, this time as soon as Qing'er mentioned something about an old acquaintance, she thought he had ill intentions.

  "Miss, is your surname Deng?" Zhang Zixing suddenly asked: "Is there a 'Yu' character in your name?"

  The girl was really surprised and blurted out: "How did you know?"

  Zhang Zixing smiled slightly: Indeed, it's Deng Ciyu! This girl is much more naive than Qing'er, she didn't even think twice before admitting it. He had been thinking about whether to make up a story about their parents arranging their marriage since childhood, but then he thought that since Deng Jiugong was still alive, it would be better to come up with another plan to increase Deng Ciyu's affection for him rather than telling a lie that could be exposed at any time.

  Zhang Zixing's mind turned quickly, and he immediately made up his mind. He bowed to the two women and said: "I would like to apologize to Miss Deng and Miss Qing first. In fact, I have been hiding something from you both. Last time at the bookstore, I was deeply impressed by your learning and martial arts skills, so I used my innate calculation technique to deduce Miss Deng's name and her relationship with your father... actually, there is no previous acquaintance between us."

  Deng Chanyu showed an expression of "I knew you were a cheat", Qing'er slightly furrowed her brow and said: "The pre-heavenly eight trigrams calculation technique? I've heard that this technique is extremely profound, able to deduce the past and future. According to what Qing'er knows, apart from those immortal beings outside the world, only Xi Bo Hou Ji Chang in the entire world was well-versed in this technique. But unexpectedly, sir also knows it, could it be that sir is a descendant of the Ji family?"

  Zhang Zixing shook his head and said, "Miss Qing's words are different. I am not a descendant of the Western Marquis, and my innate calculations and Ji Chang's eight trigrams are also different. Moreover, the heavenly mechanism has been chaotic recently, making it even more difficult to calculate. I have tried my best, but I can only calculate two characters in Miss Deng's name, and cannot see the whole picture. If I calculated correctly, Miss Deng's father's name is also three characters."

  This statement is half true and half false, the heavenly machine is chaotic and difficult to infer whether it was obtained from eavesdropping on Deng Hua and Wu Ping's conversation on the battlefield of Dongyi last time. As for the names "Deng Ciyu" and "Deng Jiugong", he naturally fabricated them, how could he know about innate calculation?

  Deng Ciyu surprisingly nodded and said, "I once heard my master mention the reversal of heavenly mechanisms. I didn't expect you, a cunning little thief, to actually deduce part of my and father's names. You do have some skills."

  Qing'er smiled and said: "Sister, this predestined calculation is extremely exhausting, but Mr. Purple Star knew your name and was willing to use it, it seems that the gentleman has taken a great interest in you."

  Deng Ciyu said disdainfully, "This little thief is probably harboring hatred in his heart and wants to take revenge on me. Little thief, if you have the ability, then say out my sister's name!"

  "Miss Qing's name is also three characters, with 'Qing' in the middle. Your father's name has only two characters. I wonder if I'm correct?" Zhang Zixing was not a fool, and from Qing'er's demonstrated intelligence and Fei Zhong's previous "beauty report", she might very well be that female Zhuge with "husbandly ambitions". This response was merely to confirm his inner speculations.

  "You little thief, you're quite skilled! However, I think you have a crush on my sister, otherwise why would you keep coming to the grass hall three times five times? It's clear that you have ulterior motives! My sister should be careful not to be deceived by your sweet words. " By this time, Deng Ciyu coldly snorted and glanced at Zhang Zixing with a look in her eyes that was no longer as angry as before. Zhang Zixing finally confirmed Qing'er's identity and secretly rejoiced, without arguing back.

  Qing'er's face seemed to redden behind her veil, and she hastily explained: "Sister was just joking, earlier sister and sir were just misunderstanding each other, in fact, I didn't know that Mr. Purple Star is a genius of this generation, knowledgeable about the past and present, all-knowing, he is indeed my good teacher and friend, how could we deceive each other?"

  Deng Ciyu heard Qing'er talk about his countless exploits over the past few days, and recalled how Zhang Zixing had effortlessly solved the difficult problems Qing'er had posed. She realized that this despicable guy indeed had real talent, and didn't argue with him on this point. "So what if this little thief has some minor cleverness?" she said. "Sister teaches ordinary people skills and knowledge; perhaps he's shown a bit of ability in this area?"

  Qing'er was just about to defend him when Zhang Zixing suddenly said, "Miss Yu is right. Recently, I've also been thinking of ways to help Miss Qing'er and have come up with something. I was just about to tell you, but Miss Yu appeared out of nowhere and almost took my life, haha!"

  "You little thief, my name is Deng Ciyu, not Miss Yu," Deng Ciyu deliberately glanced at Qing'er, "Don't compare me to your 'Miss Qing'er', Sister Qing'er and I have known each other since childhood, although we're not related by blood, our feelings are like those of close sisters. If I find out you..."

  "Xian Yu!" Qing'er was afraid that she would say something embarrassing again, so he quickly changed the subject: "Sir, do you have any clever plans to help me with my studies? Please advise!"

  At this point, Zhang Zixing became spirited, and this was one of the reasons he came to find Qing'er today. He took out an object and placed it on the table: "Two ladies, please take a look at this."

  Two women walked up and took a look, this thing was made of wood, the outside was a rectangular frame, supporting the frame were nine small circular logs inside, each log had a neat hollow bead on the outside, these beads were divided into two layers by a horizontal beam, with two on top and five below.

  "What is this? A magic treasure? How come I don't feel any power at all?" Deng Ciyu, being from the combat department, had a first reaction of "magic treasure" towards this strange thing that she had never seen before.