Seeing Su Ruobing's pleading eyes, Zhou Yuan cursed in his heart.
This woman is full of tricks and wants to do thankless things for herself.
"Okay, I have to give you money. I won't blackmail you. How about a hundred spiritual stones?" Zhou Yuan said with a deliberately raised eyebrow.
Su Ruobing looked disdainful, "You don't look like a child from a poor family..."
"Who among the warriors thinks there are too many spiritual stones, right?"
"Okay." Su Ruobing's face was so gloomy that water dripped from her face.
Another deal was reached, and Zhou Yuan proudly wrote it down in his notebook. Then the two of them inquired all the way and rushed towards the Xu family in the imperial city.
In Qingfeng Mountain before, the reason why Su Ruobing went to that place was to find traces of her biological parents. She had been to the former slums and many other places. It can be said that she has been investigating herself in the past few years.
's life experience.
Finally, she learned that her mother had taken her away from the imperial capital when she was very young, wandering all the way to the Oolong City area.
And her father came from the Xu family in the Imperial City.
Sure enough, the two of them found out that there was indeed a Xu family in the imperial capital.
Arriving at the magnificent Xu family's residence, Su Ruobing felt extremely anxious and gently knocked on the door of the Xu family's residence.
The person who opened the door was the housekeeper of the Xu family, a gray-haired old man. When he looked at the two of them, his face was indifferent.
Su Ruobing hurriedly said: "Grandpa, please tell me that my mother's name is Li Shan."
Hearing the name Li Shan, the old man's eyes suddenly burst out with blazing light, "You are... Li Shan's daughter, are you the eldest lady?"
Su Ruobing nodded heavily, feeling excited in her heart. Judging from the situation, the Xu family was indeed where she was born.
"Quickly, follow me to meet the head of the family and your father."
The old man seemed to remember some things from the past and was very enthusiastic about Su Ruobing. Under his leadership, Zhou Yuan and Su Ruobing entered the Xu Mansion.
In the lobby, there were some people sitting there, all elegant and elegant, talking to each other.
Above, sitting a man in gray robe with a majestic aura.
When I saw the housekeeper walking in with a young man and woman, I couldn't help being surprised and asked.
The housekeeper quickly pulled Su Ruobing to him and said respectfully: "Master, look who this is?"
After carefully looking at Su Ruobing, the resonance hidden in the bloodline immediately made Xu Muyun stand up. He asked with shock: "Daughter, are you the baby girl Li Shan gave birth to back then?"
Su Ruobing nodded, "My name is Su Ruobing."
"Su Ruobing, what a good name. I am your father, my name is Xu Muyun."
Su Ruobing's eyes suddenly became red and swollen, and she burst into tears. "Father, what happened back then? Why did you abandon me and my mother?"
Xu Muyun hesitated and sighed: "Your mother left without saying goodbye, all because of me."
"Then who is she?" Su Ruobing pointed to a lady next to her.
"How dare you, such a savage girl, dare to accuse me like that?" When the lady saw this, she immediately scolded her with a sharp and mean look on her face.
Xu Muyun waved his hand and said with a smile: "This is your stepmother."
Seeing this scene, Zhou Yuan, who had been standing behind him calmly, finally understood that Li Shan and Su Ruobing left the Xu family back then. Xu Muyun did not elaborate on the specific reasons, but he had already guessed that most of them looked like this.
About mean women.
In other words, it can be said that Li Shan left the Xu family because Xu Muyun married this woman.
"Housekeeper, go clean up a side courtyard and let Ruobing stay here from now on." Xu Muyun glanced at the old man, then flipped his hand and handed a ring to Su Ruobing, "Daughter, let Ruobing stay here from now on."
Come down, I am your father, you will have enough food and clothing in the Xu family, here are 500 spiritual stones, which will be used as your living expenses, and you will receive 500 yuan every month from now on."
The old man responded and immediately turned around and left.
Seeing that her biological father was so kind to her, Su Ruobing felt warm in her heart and reached out to take the ring.
"I'm back!"
At this moment, a young man wearing brocade clothes ran in.
"Shuo'er."
Hearing the sound, Xu Muyun and the woman quickly looked over, and the woman's originally mean face revealed a touch of kindness.
Zhou Yuan and Su Ruobing were stunned and looked at the young man at the same time.
This young man has delicate features, a hint of unruliness in his eyes, and a strange mark between his eyebrows.
"Martial Arts Seal?" Zhou Yuan and Su Ruobing were both surprised.
Unexpectedly, this young man, only fourteen or fifteen years old, had already activated the martial arts seal earlier than Zhou Yuan did.
"Father, mother, I have just made a breakthrough in cultivation, and now I have reached the seventh level of Qi refining." Xu Shuo's face was filled with pride.
Xu Muyun's eyes were filled with joy, "That's great. My son has the martial arts seal and is extremely talented. There is less than a month and a half left before the entry-level enrollment of Seven Star Academy. From now on, your medicinal bath once every seven days will be changed to every three days."
Once a day.”
Zhou Yuan was shocked when he heard this. As the third young master of the Zhou family, he had never received such treatment.
As expected, all the aristocratic families in the imperial capital are extremely wealthy. When Xu Shuo takes a medicinal bath, he consumes at least hundreds of spiritual stones worth of herbs, and he does so once every seven days.
After a month, it will be worth thousands of pieces of spiritual stone. Is this the treatment you get after opening the Martial Arts Seal?
Compared to Su Ruobing, who could only receive 500 spiritual stones a month, it seemed shabby.
"Ruobing, why are you still standing here? Follow the housekeeper to claim your room." After a pause, Xu Muyun suddenly turned back to Su Ruobing and said.
Su Ruobing felt a chill in her heart. Facing Xu Shuo, Xu Muyun was obviously more enthusiastic. Her daughter, whom she had not seen for more than ten years, was not even as good as a son whom she saw every day. In fact, the other party could not even compare with her half-mother.
My younger brother didn’t even introduce himself.
Xu Shuo also noticed Su Ruobing and asked, "Father, who is she?"
Xu Muyun smiled and said: "Her name is Su Ruobing, she is just a sister you have never met."
"Oh?" The young man just said "Oh", his face was not too troubled, as if all this was extremely ordinary.
Indeed, the Xu family has a complex network, and he has many older brothers and sisters.
Feeling this indifferent scene, the excitement in Su Ruobing's heart was instantly wiped away, and the joy of finding her loved ones was no longer on her face.
"If I also open the Martial Arts Seal, will my father treat me like he did to Xu Shuo? If my mother is still alive, how dare this stepmother scold me... By the way, my father has never asked about my mother's life and death from beginning to end.
.”
When Su Ruobing realized this, her heart was completely frozen.
She felt that it was a wrong decision for her to come to the imperial capital to find relatives. Her relatives did not bring her the warmth of family affection as she had imagined.
"Hmph, a loser without a martial arts seal, how can he have the face to come back and recognize his family?"
Su Ruobing's stepmother looked at her with a sneer, the look of disgust on her face was not concealed at all, and she even spoke unabashedly and sarcastically.
When Xu Muyun heard this, he frowned and shouted, "Speak less."
Su Ruobing's expression returned to a cold expression, and she said calmly: "Father, Mr. Zhou Yuan escorted me all the way back. I owe him 20,000 spiritual stones. Can you help me pay it back?"
The stepmother suddenly looked shocked, "What? Twenty thousand yuan, do you think our Xu family is Jishitang?"
Xu Muyun also looked unhappy. Twenty thousand spiritual stones were the cost of Xu Shuo's medicinal bath for a year, which was not a small sum for the Xu family.
"Ruobing, you have grown up now. You should pay back the money you owe yourself." Xu Muyun said coldly: "Someone, give this young master a hundred spiritual stones as a reward."
A servant dragged a large tray filled with spirit stones and handed it to Zhou Yuan.
Zhou Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly but did not pick it up. He felt that the other party was humiliating him.
However, Su Ruobing on the side still helped him take the spirit stone, as if he had figured something out, a smile appeared on Su Ruobing's face, "Take it, don't give it up, just think of it as the interest I paid you.
"
Zhou Yuan didn't say much, but clasped his fists slightly and said: "Since the person has been delivered, I will say goodbye."
He didn't have a good impression of the Xu family, and it would be boring to stay here, so he simply left.
Walking out of the lobby, Zhou Yuan found that Su Ruobing had followed him and seemed to have no intention of staying. He immediately smiled bitterly. After going through all kinds of hardships to find his relatives, he finally had to leave.
Until we had gone far away, the voice of a mean woman could still be heard clearly from behind, "Bah, you are a wild child from who knows where, and you brought a companion to my Xu family to cheat on food and drinks..."
Zhou Yuan calmly walked out of Xu Mansion.
When Su Ruobing heard this, she suddenly stopped. She turned around and said angrily: "Does having the martial arts seal mean you are a genius? Just wait for me. When the Seven Star Academy recruits and assesses, I will use my strength to surpass this
younger brother."
"Hahaha……"
A loud laugh came, and Xu Shuo walked out of the lobby and looked at Su Ruobing with a look of disdain, "You are only at the fourth level of Qi Condensation, and you still want to surpass me. It is ridiculous. I can reach the ninth level of Qi Condensation before the test starts. Can you do that?
?”
He is now at the seventh level of Qi dispersion and takes medicinal baths every three days. Coupled with his extraordinary qualifications, it will not be a problem to reach the ninth level within a month and a half.
But Su Ruobing had nothing. He had no martial arts seal, his qualifications were not as good as Xu Shuo's, and he didn't have abundant resources for medicinal baths. Let alone a month and a half, even a year, he might not be able to surpass Xu Shuo.
"We'll see."
Su Ruobing left a word, turned around and walked out of Xu Mansion.
After catching up with Zhou Yuan, Su Ruobing apologized and said, "I'm sorry for letting you follow me and hit a wall."
Zhou Yuan shook his head, "Where do you plan to go next?"
"Go and find ways to improve yourself. Thank you for taking care of me all the way. See you during the assessment next month."
Su Ruobing rarely showed a smile, then turned and left.
Zhou Yuan raised his eyebrows. Su Ruobing had gone through so many things, but now she looked away. As for where the other party would go next and how to improve himself, Zhou Yuan didn't know.
After looking at the direction Su Ruobing left, Zhou Yuan also turned around and headed in a different direction.
Not long after, Zhou Yuan walked into an inn, took out a hundred spiritual stones, and paid half a month's rent in advance.
The recruitment assessment of Seven Star College is basically one big move every three years and one small move every half year. The last assessment that Xiao Yang and Jiang Ziyue participated in was a small move every six months.
And in the middle of next month, it will be Seven Star Academy’s big move that happens every three years.
During this period, Zhou Yuan planned to first understand the various forces in the imperial capital and the recruitment rules of Seven Star Academy.
