The sky had completely darkened, and the supervisors dispersed throughout Huaxia City were gradually returning. Not long after entering the city, they heard the common folk discussing that the City Lord had returned. At first, they thought they had misheard, but after walking through two streets, everyone was saying the same thing, and only then did others believe that the City Lord and the Young Master had truly returned.
Around eight o'clock in the evening, the food was ready, and most of the people had arrived. Everyone gathered together, filling two large tables.
Reuniting after half a year, everyone was filled with emotion. The clinking of glasses and the exchange of dishes and wine created a lively atmosphere.
After dinner, the men did not sit aside and drink tea as usual. Instead, they proactively helped with washing the dishes and cleaning up.
Seeing Lu Yuzhi himself start cleaning dishes made Madam Zhou and Madam Wang feel particularly unaccustomed. Madam Zhou, in particular, was a traditional woman, and Lu Yuzhi was her Young Master. In their ingrained beliefs, such tasks were meant for women; men were for undertaking great matters, not for lingering around the kitchen.
The two women kept urging them to go out for tea and even asked the young maids like Su Muqing to leave, saying they would handle the work. Lu Yuzhi and Leng Ren merely smiled and continued their tasks without a word.
Once the chores were mostly done, with only a little tidying up left, they left the kitchen and joined everyone in the hall to chat about their experiences and sights along the journey.
Leng San and a few others quickly finished clearing the dishes and then pulled Leng Ren and Leng Feng to the courtyard to find Black Bear and Fatty La. In the hall, Lu Yuzhi was recounting the various perilous adventures they had experienced in Yin Yang Mountain.
Upon hearing Lu Yuzhi's account, Su Minghui suddenly stood up and blurted out, "What did you say? You brought back a bear and a large eagle? I have to go see what kind of fierce beasts they are! I've never seen a bear in my life!"
After saying this, Su Minghui excitedly ran out of the hall towards the large courtyard at the back. While the others were not as surprised, they were all very curious.
"Why don't we all go take a look?" Huo Xiao asked curiously, leaning towards Xu Fu.
Tian Ji Lao Ren also expressed great interest. He had seen black bears before, and although they were large, they were nowhere near as exaggerated as Lu Yuzhi described. "Oh? Are there truly strange fierce beasts in this world as young friend Huo says? This old man is eager to broaden his horizons."
Gongsun Zan chimed in his agreement. "Indeed! This old man is also very curious."
"Since everyone is so curious, why don't we move to the backyard?" Lu Yuzhi suggested, seeing everyone's desire to see the black bear. Now that they had returned, there would be plenty of time to discuss other matters later.
"Alright! Let's all go together. The backyard is large enough." Seeing Lu Yuzhi's proposal, Xu Fu called everyone to rise and head towards the large backyard.
Su Minghui arrived at the backyard first and, from a distance, saw a massive dark shadow moving around. When he got closer, he realized the moving shadow was the large black bear playing with the Leng Bingbing Guards and the Huo Family Army.
"My heavens! It's truly enormous!" was Su Minghui's only thought upon seeing the black bear clearly. While his heart was filled with shock and awe, he couldn't help but exclaim it aloud.
"My goodness! Is it really a bear? If you hadn't said it was a bear, I would have thought someone had built a city wall into the courtyard of the City Lord's mansion." As Su Minghui spoke, he cautiously moved a little closer to the black bear.
Xu Fu and the others who arrived later were also profoundly shocked upon seeing the black bear's true form!
"Heavens! How can such a colossal beast exist in this world? Looking at its gaping maw, it feels like it could swallow Leng Si's head whole! And its limbs, a thin person could sleep on them!"
"Tsk tsk tsk! Such a fierce beast is willing to follow Miss Su's side. No wonder Tian Ji Lao Ren said she was extraordinary. It seems Su Muqing is truly the chosen one!"
Su Minghui edged closer to Leng Ren and Leng Feng, covering his mouth with his hand, and cautiously asked them, "Do you think it might be the mountain god of Yin Yang Mountain?"
Leng Feng shook his head, firmly refuting the idea. "Definitely not! Yin Yang Mountain is not just home to Black Bear. The wolves there are as large as horses, and there are black monkeys. Compared to Tai Shan's size, they are not inferior. Oh, and we also brought back an eagle. It's also very large. Miss Su measured it last time, and its wingspan is almost four Zhang (about 12 meters) long. Can you imagine how big it is?"
"Four Zhang? My heavens! There are such large birds too? By the way, where is the eagle? Why don't I see it?" Su Minghui finished his exclamation and looked around, but he couldn't see the eagle.
The others had also arrived by then. Hearing Su Minghui's comment about not seeing the eagle, Su Muqing glanced around and guessed it had gone out to scout the surroundings. This was typical; when they arrived in a new place, the eagle would first go out to reconnoiter, and upon its return, they would have a basic understanding of the terrain, saving them a great deal of time—it was like a living GPS.
Seeing Su Minghui still craning his neck to look around, Su Muqing said to him, "Uncle, Ba Tian has probably gone to scout the terrain. Every time we go to a new place, it needs to memorize the basic topography of the surrounding area beforehand, which makes it much easier when we need to go somewhere."
"Is it that capable? It can recognize paths?" Su Minghui once again posed a profound question.
"Of course! Whenever we need to go somewhere, we just need to give it a general direction, and it can lead us there," Su Muqing said, proudly lifting her chin. These animals were naturally intelligent, and after being fed spiritual spring water by her, their intelligence had been greatly enhanced, making them far superior to ordinary animals.
"Truly, the world is vast and full of wonders. This old man's eyes have been opened today!" Tian Ji Lao Ren stroked his beard and looked at the people frolicking nearby with a profound expression.
"Indeed! I've lived for almost seventy years, and I've never seen such intelligent animals, as if they've become spirits."
As the group was engrossed in conversation, the eagle also returned. For it, Huaxia City was not a large territory, and it had finished its tour in just a few moments.
Everyone finally saw the legendary eagle, and it was indeed as described. The crowd was once again filled with exclamations and gasps, remarking that strange things happened every day, but today was particularly extraordinary.
Huaxia City's winters were very cold, but the curiosity about new things conquered the biting chill. The group stayed in the backyard for over an hour. The older ones left early, while the remaining youngsters pestered the black bear to be lifted high and twisted the eagle's legs to go for a flight.
Enjoying the joy of reunion, they continued to play until late into the night. Finally, considering they had to supervise work early the next morning, they gradually returned to the main hall.
Su Minghui and Xu Fu stayed to rest for the night. Fortunately, the City Lord's mansion was large and had many guest rooms. Su Muqing and her brother's rooms were arranged in the largest main courtyard, with Lu Yuzhi in the second largest courtyard next to theirs. As for Tian Ji Lao Ren and Su Minghui, they were all arranged in a large adjacent guest courtyard.
After everyone had fallen asleep, Su Muqing went to the backyard alone and collected the black bear and the eagle into her space. The outside temperature was too low, and it would only get colder at night. To avoid any unnecessary trouble, it was better to bring them back to her room. In the morning, she would select a room in the courtyard and modify the doors and windows for them to reside in.
The night passed without a single dream! Perhaps it was being surrounded by familiar people, but everyone felt very relaxed and slept soundly.
The next morning, Su Muqing rose early. As the City Lord, now that she was back in her territory, there were too many matters to attend to. It seemed she would have to bid farewell to sleeping in for a long time. Su Muqing glanced at the little bun still soundly asleep, tucked his blanket in, gave a few instructions to Fatty La by the bedside, and then went to the living room outside, collected the black bear and the eagle into her space, and gently pushed the door open to leave.
Madam Zhou happened to be coming out of a nearby room and saw Su Muqing already brushing her teeth. "Miss Su... look at me, I've called you by the wrong title again. I should call you City Lord now. Did you not sleep well? Why are you up so early today? Is Young Master Xuan awake too?"
Su Muqing rinsed her mouth, spitting out the foam, and then said, "Auntie Zhou, you don't need to be so formal. You can call me whatever you like. I slept very well. It's mainly because there are many things to be done in the city, so I woke up early. My little brother is still sleeping inside, with Fatty La guarding him."
Upon hearing that only a dog was left to guard the little bun, Madam Zhou thought that wouldn't do. If it were summer, Fatty La could carry Su Mu Xuan to find someone to dress him. But in this cold winter, even adults needed layers of clothes as soon as they got out of bed, let alone a child barely over a year old.
"Oh, that won't do! I'll go in and guard him. Young Master Xuan will need to get dressed when he wakes up. Fatty La can't do that. If it carries Young Master Xuan out to find you directly, wouldn't it freeze him?"
Su Muqing considered it and felt Madam Zhou's point was valid. "You're right. I didn't think of that just now. Then I'll trouble Auntie Zhou to look after him for me."
"This is what I should be doing. How can you call it trouble? You're flattering me too much."
After a few more casual words, Su Muqing was about to leave. Just as she took a few steps, Fatty La also followed her out. It seemed that seeing Madam Zhou go in, it knew it no longer needed to look after the child, so it decided to follow its mistress out.
Looking around and seeing no one else, Su Muqing released the black bear and the eagle from her space. She then walked around the courtyard and found two suitable large rooms, planning to ask Leng Ren and the others to help modify them.
Just as Su Muqing was thinking of finding someone to help, the next moment she saw Lu Yuzhi walking towards her from the moon gate. Su Muqing quickened her pace towards him. "Brother Lu, you're here? I was just about to go look for you. Where are Brother Leng and the others?"
"You're up quite early today. In this cold weather, what are you looking at here? They are preparing breakfast in the courtyard. Let's go together." Lu Yuzhi saw her small face was red from the cold and raised his hand to pull the hood of her cloak up and over her head.
Su Muqing pointed to the two large rooms behind her. "Alright. After breakfast, please ask Brother Leng and the others to modify the doors and windows of these two rooms. They will be for Black Bear and the others to live in from now on. The outside temperature is too low, and I'm worried they'll freeze."
"Okay, I'll tell Leng Ren and the others later. What do you want them modified to? Do you have any blueprints?" Lu Yuzhi reached out and took her somewhat cold little hand, and they walked and talked.
Su Muqing skillfully made her small hand into a fist and curled it in Lu Yuzhi's broad palm. "No need to modify too much, as long as they can enter and exit normally. Especially for the eagle. Black Bear can crawl in, but the eagle needs to stand. So, the doorway should be modified to be higher and wider."
"Got it! I understand."
Having settled the matter of the black bear's living arrangements, the two continued to discuss other matters as they walked. When they returned to Lu Yuzhi's courtyard, they found everyone else already waiting there. However, as they appeared at the entrance, everyone looked at them with shocked expressions. Su Minghui, in particular, had his eyes widened the most. Seeing his expression, Su Muqing couldn't help but recall the meme from her past life where the eyes popped out of their sockets.
Seeing the expressions on their faces, Su Muqing was a bit confused. She looked up at Lu Yuzhi and asked with her eyes, "What's wrong with them? They've already seen the black bear and the others last night, why are they still so shocked today? Could it be that it was too dark last night and they couldn't see clearly?"
Lu Yuzhi naturally knew what was going on, and a slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he looked at her playfully. However, Su Muqing still looked clueless, clearly not understanding the meaning behind his expression. Seeing that she hadn't reacted yet, Lu Yuzhi raised their clasped hands in front of her. Su Muqing stared at the back of his hand for a long time, then turned to look at the others in the hall, and suddenly understood.
Her small face flushed red, and she instinctively wanted to pull her hand away. But the man's strength was too great, and Su Muqing struggled for a long time but achieved nothing. Seeing her still struggling, Lu Yuzhi frowned slightly and changed their clasped hands to interlocked fingers. His action made his intention even clearer.
Everyone present, except for Su Minghui and his wife, who still had their mouths agape, wore satisfied smiles, especially the formidable "cheering squad" of the groom, Xu Fu and his party. "Excellent! This is wonderful! The Young Master and Miss Su are finally together." They had previously worried that with Miss Su being so capable and suddenly becoming the City Lord of Huaxia City, perhaps she wouldn't think highly of their Young Master, who had been poisoned and carried the burden of deep-seated revenge. Now, seeing the two openly holding hands in front of everyone, they presumed their relationship was confirmed, and they could finally rest easy.