Lu Shu's plan was to bring Lu Xiaoyu out to play. As to whether or not there'll be other people with them, Lu Shu truthfully never thought about it.
It wasn't if there was anyone else, but Lu Shu never thought about anyone else. Because, in his world, there was only Lu Xiaoyu and him.
What would the future be like? Lu Shu suddenly thought of this problem. He didn't think of anything after a long time. After all, this world was too big to him. So many people and so many events happening. No one could say for sure what was going to happen in the future.
He touched Lu Xiaoyu's head, "Sleep quickly."
"Tell me a story," Lu Xiaoyu had her two hands on the edge of the blanket, seemingly rather embarrassed to ask for a story.
On a normal day, Lu Xiaoyu exhibited a level of maturity exceeding far beyond that of a ten year old. So naturally, Lu Shu would discuss some stuff with her.
The saying goes that the poor man's child would take charge of a household earlier. This saying was apt in Lu Xiaoyu's case. Lu Xiaoyu might be willful, but she learned how to haggle and bargain with uncles and aunties in the market from a young age.
At that time, every dollar or two saved was extremely meaningful in their lives.
Lu Shu thought momentarily. Since he left the orphanage, he had been telling Lu Xiaoyu stories occasionally even though he never read much. He never had much experiences or stories to tell so he would have a headache whenever Lu Xiaoyu wanted him to tell a story… what could he tell?!
He didn't notice a hint of a smile at the corner of Lu Xiaoyu's mouth, as if her original intention wasn't to hear a story. It was to see Lu Shu's troubled face by her bedside while thinking of a story, and then he would be able to sit by her side longer.
Lu Xiaoyu knew that coming up with a story was Lu Shu's weakness. Earning money, on the other hand, was his strength...
"Coughs," Lu Shu cleared his throat, "This is a long story. In the woods, lived a family of three brown bears. One day, mother bear saw that little bear's fingernails were too long and cut them for him. What do you think happened after that?"
Lu Xiaoyu hesitated, "What happened?"
"He became a little bear, hahahah!"
"From Lu Xiaoyu's distress, +333…"
Xijing City's altitude was higher compared to the mainland. This could already be considered a place of high altitude, but tourists here didn't have to be overly worried about the ill-effects that came with it, it wasn't as serious as imagined.
Before summer, the temperature disparity between the day and night in this place was huge. The plants in the streets were already lush and blooming but even then, people could still be seen scurrying about in thick coats and of course, girls could be seen in short skirts.
This was a sight considered quite new and peculiar to Lu Shu. It seemed like people were not in the same season.
Luo Cheng's weather was actually rather weird as well. People always said that the four seasons were all like summer but Lu Shu's evaluation of the weather at Luo Cheng was that the summer was like four seasons…
At that moment, Lu Shu and Lu Xiaoyu were already improving vastly in their training. The changes in the weather already had no effect on them.
The two of them brought a single set of thin jacket, purely for the purpose of blocking the wind. If they really wore short-sleeved shirts around, they wouldn't feel that cold either.
There weren't many people on the streets as they walked along. Lu Xiaoyu placed her hand in Lu Shu's huge hands, looking up and asking, "Is the mutton soup really that good here?"
"Since everyone says it's good, there must be something special about it. We should try it since we're here, we're on our own today anyway. We're only joining the tour group tomorrow. We'll have some mutton soup in the morning then head to Mo Jia street in the afternoon. We'll have some lamb neck at night!" Lu Shu said merrily.
Since he was bringing Lu Xiaoyu along, the main consideration would be food.
Once the entered the mutton shop, Lu Shu realized that its online reviews had been exaggerated. Netizens claimed that there were extremely long queues, going late might result in it being sold out, the cheapest was 6 dollars...
All of those were lies. There wasn't a queue and even the cheapest bowl cost 20 dollars.
"Boss, three 20 dollar bowls and 3 biscuits!" Lu Shu said as he handed over the money.
The boss hesitated as he looked at Lu Shu and Lu Xiaoyu, "Three bowls?"
"Yes, three bowls," Lu Shu confirmed.
One of the three bowls was for Little Fury. In the past, Lu Shu would have definitely not done as such. He would rather share a bowl with Little Fury...
But things were different now. Lu Shu was generous!
Little Fury, who was on Lu Xiaoyu's head when it heard that Lu Shu was buying three bowls, was so touched that it almost thought that Lu Shu was a really good guy!
Almost!
Lu Shu waited at the counter for his soup as he looked over merrily to the chef in operation, "More meat, more, more…"
The face of the chef turned black, "Should I put the entire head in for you?"
"That's not necessary…"
As Lu Shu brought the soup over to Lu Xiaoyu, a peculiar sight could be seen in the shop: A high school student having mutton soup with a pretty young lady, and the lady was holding onto a bowl which was much bigger than her face. It was really warm no matter how you looked at it.
And beside them was a little squirrel holding chopsticks and digging for meat...
Although magical pets were rare, people were seeing more of them now.
The difference from before was that in the past, the first thing everyone would do was to take photos to post online while all they did now was to have soft but intense discussions amongst themselves.
Lu Shu never intended to hide his status as a daoyuan student. With his military identification in his possession, there was no point in doing everything secretly. It was not like he had anything to hide.
As he watched the meat in Lu Xiaoyu's bowl disappear rapidly, Lu Shu was worried the meat was not enough for Lu Xiaoyu so he… took half of Little Fury's over for her.
Little Fury, "???" Why didn't you give her yours?! You're trying to act like a nice person by using mine?!
"From Little Fury's distress, +1+1+1…"
Lu Shu stared at Little Fury coldly, "DId you not learn new words last night again?"
Little Fury immediately lower its head and continued with its eating. It's okay to forget something minor such as meat. I, Little Fury, will not look for trouble with you!
While touring Xijing City in the day, Lu Shu felt the difference between this city and the mainland was not very obvious.
He even encountered a few people who emitted magical waves on the streets. All of them looked like students, and it's extremely probable that those were Xijing City's daoyuan class students.
He even observed more meticulously, wanting to find out the quality of the practitioners in Xijing City. Basically, they were about the same as Yuan Liangtuo and his company, more or less fluctuating about class E. There wasn't even a person at the peak of class E.
But thinking about it now, it wasn't like the time at the remains where all students were present. Currently, there was no point just observing a few scattered students. It wasn't an accurate representation.
Speaking of which, every since Little Fury ate the refresher fruit, its abilities had slowly improved till that of a beginner in class E and only stopped improving when it reached the middle stage of class E.
Lu Shu was rather confused. Could it be that once these animals unlocked their intellect, they would be able to slowly improve all the way until they reach a bottleneck of their magical energy?
Then wouldn't that mean that these awakened animals were the most relaxed practitioners? They could kill many human practitioners within seconds!
Of course, they could not compare to Lu Xiaoyu… their rate of growth was far behind that of Lu Xiaoyu's.
Lu Shu felt that the truth might not be as such. Why, out of the numerous squirrels at the fruit tree previously, was Little Fury the only one who got stronger?
Or… amongst awakened animals, there were different tiers of aptitude as well?
Only when he thought of this did Lu Shu see Little Fury in a different light… Could it be that this squirrel over here was a prodigy amongst all the squirrels?!
Seeing that Lu Shu was staring at it, Little Fury almost shivered.
It scurried into Lu Xiaoyu's shirt pocket quickly.
The life of a rodent was really tough...
When they got back to the hotel at night, Lu Shu exchanged his points for a refresher fruit and placed it in front of Little Fury. He wanted to see if Little Fury could continue to improve in terms of its abilities as long as it continues to unlock its intellect.
In the end, Little Fury hesitated and pondered over the refresher fruit in front of it. Its expression of 'how could you be so kind' was directed at Lu Shu.
"Are you eating it or not?" Lu Shu's face was black. I have a refresher fruit for you and you're so reserved?
Little Fury then wolfed down the refresher fruit immediately. This was what it craved the most!
Upon eating its first refresher fruit, it shed its grey fur and became a pure white squirrel. It seemed extremely out of this world, attracting the envious stares of girls when out walking on the streets.
Upon eating its second refresher fruit, its fur didn't shed anymore. Instead, some purple fur sprouted from the top of its head!
The purple cluttered amongst the white looked extremely peculiar and exquisite.
Solely based on its appearance, Lu Shu understood that Little Fury had improved once again.
As to how much Little Fury could improve, that would have to be observed closely.
The next morning, Lu Shu brought Lu Xiaoyu to the gathering point of the tour group, Xin Ning tourist stop.
When they reached there, the tour bus and the tour guide who had a red flag were already there. Lu Shu went over to greet this male tour guide and registered their attendance before waiting at the side.
The driver and the tour guide looked over at Lu Xiaoyu occasionally. The little lady was really beautiful, and that white squirrel with purple fur on its head was to eye-catching. They had never seen such a squirrel.
Lu Xiaoyu took one look at them and never looked over again. The tour guide, upon Lu Xiaoyu's glance, couldn't help but feel rather foolish for some reason…
At this moment, people were slowly pouring in. Lu Shu suddenly saw a rather familiar physique walking over, but he couldn't remember if he had seen this person before.
But just as the other party retrieved his identity card to confirm his identity with the tour guide, Lu Shu suddenly saw a bundle of color in the person's bag.
That was… the silk cloth Li Dian used to cover the gourd that night!