Chapter 35

Waking up, it was already dusk.

When Zhao Futu opened his eyes, there was a slight daze, and then he suddenly became alert, hearing a commotion from the kitchen. Since he started practicing Daoism, he rarely slept so deeply, so naturally, he felt a bit uncomfortable when he woke up.

He got up, tidied his clothes, and then pushed open the door.

"Awake?" Aunt Lan’s voice came from the kitchen. She poked her head out and looked at the just-awakened Zhao Futu, her delicate eyebrows furrowed, and her beautiful phoenix eyes slightly narrowed. "What did you do last night? You actually slept until it was dark!"

"Nothing much, just a bit tired." Zhao Futu felt a warmth in his heart as he looked at Aunt Lan, who was wearing an apron and looked gentle and charming. He was not a glutton, so his diet was usually very light and simple. A pot of porridge, some stir-fried vegetables and radishes, and that was his daily meal. But Aunt Lan thought his diet was too bland, and a young man like him shouldn’t eat such light food, so she would buy ingredients every few days to cook him a hearty meal.

Aunt Lan’s cooking skills were top-notch. She was a very particular woman, especially when it came to food.

Actually, there was a reason why Zhao Futu ate such light food.

The body’s qi and blood are derived from grains and cereals. As a Daoist practitioner, if he ate too much meat, he would naturally be overwhelmed by desires. These desires are the body’s instincts, usually suppressed within him, but if he ate too much greasy food, the excessive qi and blood would trigger these desires.

Once desires arise, distractions follow.

This is why many beginners in qi cultivation find it difficult to get started.

Zhao Futu was at a critical stage of breaking through a bottleneck. He had to forcibly abstain from desires for a period to avoid his qi and blood becoming too strong and triggering desires. Daoist practitioners already have abundant qi and blood, and if they eat too much meat, it’s like adding fuel to the fire, easily leading to desires and distractions, especially when seeing beautiful women.

In this regard, the increasingly revealing clothing of women on the streets only intensifies this effect.

So, it’s not just meat; sometimes Zhao Futu even uses less oil. However, he has a habit from childhood of only eating animal fat. He can’t stand plant oils or blended oils. Usually, he buys fatty pork and renders the fat himself, using the leftover cracklings to stir-fry vegetables, which also serves as a source of nutrition.

"Hmm?" Aunt Lan poked her head out and looked at Zhao Futu for a while, then suddenly hummed in confusion. Her hum was very soft and sticky, with a rising tone, a rare accent for women from the north, more common among women from the southern water towns. Aunt Lan’s long, delicate eyebrows furrowed, and she walked out of the kitchen with her beautiful phoenix eyes slightly narrowed.

In her left hand, she held a gleaming kitchen knife, and in her right hand, a half-cut carrot. Aunt Lan was left-handed as a child but later changed. However, when cooking, she still used her left hand to hold the knife.

Her appearance was simply awe-inspiring!

"Aunt? What are you doing?" Zhao Futu was a bit nervous, fearing he had given something away.

Aunt Lan walked up to him and examined him closely, her surprise growing. She circled around Zhao Futu twice, looking quite absorbed. Her left hand held the knife, and her right hand unconsciously put the half-cut carrot into her mouth, crunching it a few times. When she realized what she was doing, she frowned and spat it out.

"After a day, how come you seem completely different?" Aunt Lan picked up a teacup from the table to rinse her mouth and asked in confusion.

Zhao Futu was taken aback, then laughed and said, "Really? Maybe I’ve gotten even more handsome?"

The aura of someone who has killed and someone who hasn’t is completely different. Undoubtedly, after a life-and-death struggle, his aura had gained a sharp, cutting edge!

Aunt Lan’s senses were incredibly sharp!

"Brat!"

Aunt Lan tapped his head with the bitten carrot and said, "Look at you, so pleased with yourself!"

"But!"

Aunt Lan’s eyes twinkled as she looked at him closely and said with a smile, "Little Futu has grown up! You’ve suddenly become a man."

Zhao Futu, fearing Aunt Lan would notice something, smiled and said, "That’s all thanks to your guidance!"

Flattery never fails.

Aunt Lan seemed very satisfied with Zhao Futu’s attitude, humming to show she didn’t mind, but her delicate eyebrows couldn’t help but rise, and her beautiful phoenix eyes sparkled with pride, like a peacock singing as she went back to cook. Sometimes Aunt Lan could be a bit childish, exuding a noble lady’s aura, a trait her daughter also had.

Thinking of Nalan Dou, Zhao Futu couldn’t help but feel a headache. This little girl didn’t get along well with him because she always felt he had taken away a part of her mother’s love.

The girl was also in her rebellious teenage years and recently enjoyed arguing with him.

Zhao Futu turned and walked back to his room. Looking at himself in the mirror, he immediately noticed that his aura had changed significantly!

Daoist practitioners value harmony, and their aura is usually refined and elegant. However, his was now completely different. His appearance was the same, but at first glance, his sharp eyebrows and bright eyes made him look more imposing and sharp. In simpler terms, he now exuded a more heroic and sharp aura.

For Zhao Futu, who had always valued humility, this change made him seem like a completely different person.

"The space has a great impact on a person!" Zhao Futu couldn’t help but sigh.

………………

Eating.

Zhao Futu had the habit of "not talking while eating and not speaking while sleeping." He usually ate without talking.

So when Aunt Lan ate with him, she also rarely spoke.

However, Aunt Lan’s appetite was small, and she ate very slowly, picking up grains of rice one by one, chewing and swallowing carefully, exuding the grace of a well-bred lady. Most of the time, she finished eating first and then watched Zhao Futu eat, tilting her head.

She enjoyed watching Zhao Futu eat because she said it made her hungry.

Zhao Futu ate very quickly, shoveling rice and vegetables into his mouth in large bites, with a fierce demeanor, which didn’t fit his identity as a Daoist practitioner, as practitioners are very particular about their diet.

This was a habit he had developed from a young age and was hard to change.

Today, Aunt Lan was still tilting her head, watching Zhao Futu eat with great interest. She liked his battlefield-like eating style. Just seeing him eat this way made her appetite better, and she could eat an extra half bowl of rice. However, sometimes she felt a bit heartache, thinking about how much he had suffered as a child, which led to this habit.

"Slow down! Slow down! No one is competing with you." Aunt Lan picked up her white, slender fingers and gently wiped the rice grains from the corner of Zhao Futu’s mouth, speaking softly.

"Um... Mm... Aunt Lan’s cooking is too delicious!" Zhao Futu swallowed a large mouthful of rice and then took a sip of water. Because he ate quickly, he always had a strong desire to fill his stomach, so he always had a glass of water nearby.

"You, this child!..." Aunt Lan smiled gently. Zhao Futu always ate all the food she cooked, which gave her a great sense of accomplishment.

She stood up, straightened her clothes, and said, "I’ll help you tidy up your room."

"No need... " Zhao Futu was startled, fearing Aunt Lan would see the ten thousand yuan in the drawer and not be able to explain, so he said, "I’ll tidy up later."

But seeing Aunt Lan’s determined posture, he knew he couldn’t stop her, so he said, "The room is very clean; I tidy it up every day. How about you help me organize the study? It’s quite messy in there."

"You, this child." Aunt Lan lifted a strand of long hair, looking very alluring and gentle, and turned to enter the study.

Zhao Futu felt relieved and continued to eat heartily.

He was very hungry when he woke up, having not eaten all day. He ate four large bowls of rice before starting to clear the dishes. He didn’t particularly enjoy doing housework, but it was a habit he had developed out of necessity.

In the study.

When Aunt Lan entered and saw the messy state, her delicate eyebrows furrowed, and she said softly, "It’s time to find him a wife."

She was a very diligent woman because she was particular about the details of life and naturally very picky. So she often diligently directed Zhao Futu, and gradually, she became more diligent herself. According to her mother, when she first met her, she could hardly do anything, completely a pampered lady. Later, under her mother’s influence, she gradually became the perfect, all-around Aunt Lan who could "handle both the hall and the kitchen"!

The study was simply furnished but had a sandalwood scent, which Aunt Lan didn’t like because it could stimulate desires.

So, she opened the window to let in some fresh air.

Then she started organizing the books, which were mostly Daoist texts like "Commentaries on the Tao Te Ching," "Yuele Hall Discourses," and "Complete Explanation of the Daoist Canon." Seeing these, Aunt Lan frowned frequently, already planning to introduce Zhao Futu to some potential partners soon.

There was a couplet on the bookshelf.

The top line read "Heaven’s Way is Unjust," and the bottom line read "Only Self-Strengthening Remains." There was no horizontal inscription. Aunt Lan was quite satisfied when she saw it, smacking her lips and nodding, "The calligraphy is good!"

After organizing, she was wiping the table and chairs with a cloth. When she wiped the desk, she felt something odd and picked up the cloth to look. She noticed a word carved into the desk.

"This child, you’re still carving words on the desk at your age!" Aunt Lan looked at it and then noticed something strange. She traced the word with her index finger and was surprised to find it was almost the same size!

She was startled and glanced at Zhao Futu, who was washing the dishes.

Until she finished tidying up and left, she couldn’t help but have a doubt, but she didn’t know how to ask Zhao Futu.

Should she say it like this?

"Little Futu, have you been idly carving words on the desk with your finger recently?"

………………

(Ps: This is the third update! Heroes, where are your recommendation votes?)

{Piaotian Literature}