Zhu Junyao nodded with a smile and agreed. "It's a good idea! I am going to serve you my speciality, Grilled Meat of Inner Mongolia! I bet you have never eaten it before! My husband, Niu, loves it best!"

Long Xi said, "There are perilla leaves, rice wine, lard, soy sauce, and the whole part of a free-ranged chicken. I can serve you my own creative dish, Perilla Three Cups Free-ranged Chicken!"

Once Long Xi started to work, she was indeed a good one. She worked together with Zhu Junyao and made several delicacies within an hour and a half. There were Slices of Taro steamed with Diced Preserved Bacon, Fried Beef Slices with Grey Tree Mushrooms, Perilla Three Cups Free-ranged Chicken, and Grilled Meat of Inner Mongolia...

They used two large wooden plates to take out the dishes. The men had become familiar with each other, chatting and laughing in the "living room".

Granpa Shu smiled and said, "The fragrance goes even before the dishes! Our stomachs are all singing 'Empty City'!"

Long Xi said with a smile as she served the dishes, "Dang! Dang! Today you all have the privileged honor of enjoying the feast of taste! We two little beauties have served our specialities!"

They began to have lunch around by the stone table. Some said one dish was delicious, some said another was fantastic, and some said all were perfect. Long Xi and Zhu Junyao were so happy and proud.

Zhu Junyao also fed Dong'er as she had meal, looking exactly like a loving mother!

Xiaolu smiled and said to Long Xi, "It is quite a pity that you didn't bring your pear blossom wine."

Long Xi said, smiling, "I cannot foresee the future. Who knows there will be a friends' gathering here?"

Niu Xi said, "I have authentic Inner Mongolian k.u.miss here. My junior brother Ma Ming went to work in the city last year and brought it online. It was a gift from him."

Zhu Junyao shook her head and said, "Nah, your wine is even too strong for me to take it, let alone Granpa Shu. Moreover, Xiaolongnv and Xiaolu are not adults yet! I will take out the osmanthus wine instead. It was made by Brother Ma himself and sent to me as a birthday gift!"

As she spoke, she couldn't help but cry.

The tough man, Niu Xi, was also affected by her, wiping off a tear, and said in stiff pain, "My junior brother Ma hadn't even reached 40. How could he go away like this?"

Long Xi saw that Dong'er was holding Doudou tightly and crying, which meant she could understand what others were talking about.

Such a young child lost her father and her mother abandoned her. It is really distressing!

Long Xi clung to Dong'er and comforted her softly.

The air of pleasure suddenly was replaced by sadness.

Zhu Junyao wiped her tears away with a mermaid handkerchief and said, "It was my fault. I should not ruin the mood. I will fetch the wine. We should drink a toast. Today is a great day. Xiaolongnv and I have our fates twisted. She had already recognized me as her little aunt."

Long Xi said, "Yes, I will serve my little aunt a gla.s.s of wine and thus develop our relations.h.i.+p officially!"

Niu Xi clapped and said with a smile, "I'd like to have a gla.s.s of wine, too! I am your little aunt's husband, little uncle, haha!"

Zhu Junyao took out the osmanthus wine. Long Xi served her and Niu Xi with great respect. Everyone drank a toast with each other. The atmosphere of warmth came back again.

Long Xi said, "I am quite curious about White Ape and the blood-sucking caterpillars. Where are they from on earth?"

Zhu Junyao said, "We used to hide in a remote mountain in Shuzhou and lived there for years. We met White Ape there when it was still a small fuzzy ball like a kitten. Who knows it will grow up, becoming such a big one? We have never fed it any panacea. It simply grew up naturally. And its fur is indeed unique. In the whole mountain, there is only one white ape itself."

Granpa Shu said, "In fact, it was abandoned by the gang of monkeys since its birth because it was regarded as an abnormal freak. If it was not adopted by Hao, it would have already died. As for the caterpillars, they are the parasites on White Ape. After we moved here with White Ape, the parasites multiplied so rapidly that they became terribly harmful to the forest!"

Mo Kun said, "I understand. It is because that there is no natural enermy. Therefore, the caterpillars produce themselves unnaturally excessively. It is true that keeping the balance of ecological environment is vital. If we cannot protect our planet well, the Earth, like our human, will be wore out and break down soon or later!"

Long Xi said, "What Brother Kun said makes sense. We need to protect our homeland. We cannot bear the regret when we lose it."

Xiaolu asked, "Then you let White Ape to threaten the villagers to drive them away from the mountain delibertaely? As for the cattle, is it you who poisoned them to death, too?"

Granpa Shu said, "Yes, it was me, the old man, who came up with the unkind idea. But we have no alternative! Otherwise, the villagers will often climb up here to have a bath in the hot spring and thus will soon find our trace!"

Fan Xiaolu suddenly beat his thigh and said in surprise, "It just hit me! The 'gradually-growing-up flower' is Baishuitai in Yunnan! I have been there before!"

Long Xi asked, "You mean the silk painting? But why is the 'gradually-growing-up flower' is Baishuitai in Yunnan?"

Fan Xiaolu said, "I once travelled to Yunnan. Baishuitai, the birthplace of Dongba Religion of Naxi people and the place that Naxi people have religious activities and folk programs, is at the foot of Haba Snow Mountain. In the language of Naxi, Baishuitai is 's.h.i.+buzhi', meaning exactly the 'gradually-growing-up flower'."

How could Mo Kun let Xiaolu show off alone? He searched the information about Baishuitai at once and said slowly and smoothly, "Baishuitai owns its reputation as 'the legacy field of the G.o.ds', a kind of natural sceneries formed from calcium carbonate dissolving in the spring. The water with calcium bicarbonate will flow down as carbonates precipitate and form curtain-shaped steps covering three square kilometers, looking like terraced fields. That is why it is called 'the legacy field of the G.o.ds'. Because it formed after a long time, Naxi people named it as the 'gradually-growing-up flower'."

Granpa Shu meditated for a moment and said with a smile, "It makes sense! You young men are quite awesone! It is amazing that the mystery that we can not understand for generations has been seen through by you two. Let's have a toast to celebrate for it!"

They drank osmanthus wine together, laughing. Long Xi even showed them the clean bottom of the gla.s.s with a smile, suggesting that she did drink it all in a toast.

Zhu Junyao found that Granpa Shu didn't mention the marriage plan of Long Xi and Feng Zihao so she felt a little anxious. When Granpa Shu went to the hole of restroom, she waited outside patiently and quitely to remind him of it.

Granpa Shu used the turtle sh.e.l.ls to divine and said, "It is not the proper time to do so! Long Xi already has someone in her mind and he is extraordinary!"

Zhu Junyao said, "But it is the b.l.o.o.d.y pledge their ancestors made! The ancestor of Dragon Family and Rooster Family, or, Phoenix Family, were a couple of brothers sharing their weal and woe but had to leave each other to fight for their country. They pledged that once their descendants had the fortune to reunite, the ones of the same genger should be siblings and the ones of not should be man and wife. Hao is the phoenix and Long Xi is the dragon and they are almost the same age, isn't it a blissful relations.h.i.+p gifted by G.o.d?"

Granpa Shu said, "A blissful relations.h.i.+p gifted by G.o.ds? I am afraid the Matchmaker G.o.d Yue did not connect them tightly together! Come out, haha, as you have heard it yourself about the marriage plan of yourself, you don't need to hide yourself."

Long Xi staggered out from the shadowy corner. She could not hold the strong wine and went to the restroom, but she happened to pick up their words there.

She said tipsily, "I heard nothing... It is not true! I am drunk. It must be a dream again!"

She walked into the restroom half drunk and half sober, shutting the door behind her.

After that, the three went back to table but no one mentioned it.

Long Xi was so looped after the meal, so Zhu Junyao held her to a cave, a guest room that no one had ever lived before.

It was cleaned up before. There was a antique dresser, a beautiful Xiang Princess bed with embroidered curtains, from which there dangled ta.s.sels made of white pearls on both ends.

Zhu Junyao let Long Xi lie down on the mandarin duck pillow and tucked her in the thin quilt embroidered with lotus. She laid down the curtains and shutted the door.

Perhaps the delayed effect of the wine was too strong. Long Xi just felt more and more sleepy and extremely hot. She felt like taking a cold bath.

Lord Mo Kun was also having a rest in another guest room, which was a few holes away from where Long Xi lived.

He didn't drink much and seemed to be born with a good capacity for wine. He didn't get drunk when he drank pear blossom wine for the first time and neither did he this time.

He was a bit worried about Long Xi and wanted to check it himself.

He saw Zhu Junyao helping Long Xi get into her room, so he knew where she was.

He walked in front of the door of Long Xi's room and knocked the door.

There was no respond. "Was she already asleep?"

He pushed the door open as it didn't lock.

He looked at the princess bed and found there was n.o.body.

He felt anxious and found that there was a row of wet footprints on the floor, which seemed to lead to the outside of the door.

He rushed his way along the footprints, only to find Long Xi standing beside the waterfall, drenched and undressed. She was about to jump out into the waterfall!

Mo Kun dashed a few steps and picked up Long Xi to stop her from killing herself. He could not help feeling a little angry. could not help feeling a little angry. "You silly girl. As you know you can not take it, why do you drink so much? Fortunately, everyone else is resting in their own room so no one sees her like this!"

"Dad, mom..." Long Xi gently called her parents. She had been missing them for such a long time that her eyes turned misty and tears rolling down could not be held back.

Mo Kun's expression became frozen. He had never seen Long Xi being obviously vulnerable like this.

Mo Kun shook his head with a wry smile, quickly picking up her clothes, and held her back into her room in his arms.

Anger simmered within him. If he didn't make it in time, she had probably already lost her life!

But Long Xi in his arms did not even realize that she was lying against his bosom naked, let alone the fact that he was angry. She rubbed towards the source of heat instinctively and her long hair wetted his white vest.