The fairy world collapsed, and the down-and-out gods were laid off and re-employed.

Jiang Zhixia cried and howled and recounted her "tragic" life experience again, and praised Li Xuchu as a good person who would not ignore death. For someone with no skills like her, letting her go would mean death.

"If you think I'm not worthy of learning to catch monsters, can you please leave me to serve you? I wash, cook, and clean the courtyard. The most important thing is that I am diligent and can never take a break..."

After she finished speaking, a thunder exploded in the sky.

Standing outside the door, Xiao Songxin said: Thunder in winter is not normal.

"I originally wanted to give you a sum of money and send you out." Li Xuchu said gently: "But what you said makes sense. You have no skills and it will be difficult to support yourself. Sooner or later, the money will be spent."

"Yes, yes."

"You stay," he said, "I'll ask them to clean up your room. If you want to learn how to catch monsters, I'll start teaching you tomorrow."

"Thank you, sir!"

"Just call me Xuchu."

"Thank you, Mr. Xuchu!"

"..."

Jiang Zhixia just stayed in the Imperial Master's Mansion. Li Xuchu treated her very well. He arranged a place for her to live in the yard next to him, and also gave her a lot of jewelry and clothing.

This special treatment aroused speculation among the servants in the mansion. They were very reluctant to believe that their extremely beautiful and inexperienced Imperial Master would be interested in a woman of unknown origin and full of nonsense.

But every time Jiang Zhixia appeared, they could clearly notice that Li Xuchu's mood had improved significantly, and he also changed his taciturn image in the past. He always had endless things to say to her, and he became much more cheerful.

If the son is too old to stay, after all, his master will still get married. Although Jiang Zhixia is nothing but a face, if she is good to the adults in their family, it is not impossible for her to be a "step in the door".

So, they gave Jiang Zhixia the job of delivering medicine to Li Xuchu every day, hoping that with her around, Li Xuchu would not resist taking medicine and the two could develop a relationship.

Li Xuchu is easy to talk to, but he is stubborn in a different way when it comes to decoctions. He wouldn't listen to anyone's advice, even if it was from Jiang Zhixia.

But he was not Xie Zezhi. After Jiang Zhixia heard the second "Don't eat", she picked up the medicine bowl and poured the medicine outside.

Li Xuchu was stunned by her whole set of flowing movements.

"Look what I'm doing? Didn't you say you don't want to take it?" She put the empty medicine bowl on the tray, "I was entrusted by them to deliver medicine to you, and there must be an explanation. I can't force you if you don't want to take it. It's best this way, both parties are happy. I feel more relaxed."

"You're not lying..."

"Life is all about deceiving the superiors and concealing the truth from the inferiors. We are all here to make a living, why are we so serious?" She said very maturely, then opened the door and asked someone to clear away the tray, turned around and said to him: "Besides, this If you don’t tell me and I don’t tell you, who would know that I poured the soup?”

After finishing speaking, Xiao Song walked in from the outside with a wet look on his face and looked at Jiang Zhixia resentfully.

"Brother Song, have you fallen into a trap?"

"I..." Xiaosong looked at Li Xuchu, who was winking at him from behind Jiang Zhixia, and swallowed his accusations, "The girl's guess is really accurate."

He took away the tray and went out to curse: He was not a good person all day long, and he was so damn accurate at throwing poison. You can splash someone with your eyes closed!

After Xiao Song left, Li Xuchu told Jiang Zhixia about catching monsters as usual, and half an hour later asked her to practice drawing talismans.

Jiang Zhixia took the cinnabar pen and drew continuously. She has been staying at the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion for half a month and has found nothing.

On the second day after she arrived, Li Xuchu took her around the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion, showing her even the place where he held a monastery and practiced magic. He also said that she could enter and exit any place in the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion at will, without any precautions against her.

She took advantage of the darkness and checked it several times by herself but found nothing unusual. But the more this happened, the stranger she felt.

Li Xuchu was a kind man and was very kind to her, but he was too nice. He showed his heart to her after only seeing her a few times. His own son couldn't be like this! ?

She couldn't help but ask him why he believed in her so much, but his answer was always the same as meeting an old friend in a foreign land.

She tried to ask about the situation of the Queen and the Crown Princess again. I don't know if Li Xuchu has no ability to catch monsters at all, or if he lies, always saying that everything is fine with them and that they have not been disturbed by monsters at all.

It's time to leave. She thought: There are no clues here, and there is no point in staying any longer.

But honestly speaking, she and Li Xuchu were quite comfortable together.

He gave her lectures and taught her how to draw talismans. He was very knowledgeable and told her many strange and strange things. He was afraid that she would be bored, so he ordered his servants to accompany her to play in the streets. He was responsible for all her expenses. This gave her the illusion of living in Xie Ze's dojo.

No matter how comfortable it is, it can't be eaten... Thinking of this, she couldn't help but sigh.

"Are you bored, Xiaoxia?"

"Huh?" Jiang Zhixia looked up at Li Xuchu.

He sat on the soft couch with a warm smile. He thought she didn't hear clearly and repeated his question, "I see you are sighing and you haven't talked much recently. If you find it annoying to draw the talisman, don't draw it. Catch the monster." It’s dangerous, and I don’t want you to do such a thing.”

"No!" Jiang Zhixia denied, "It's quite interesting to draw talismans."

What an interesting ghost! She doesn't know what she is drawing every day.

He stood up and walked to her, glanced at the bunch of spells she drew, sighed, took the cinnabar pen from her hand and put it aside, and took out his handkerchief to wipe her hands clean.

Jiang Zhixia quickly took her hand out and noticed that his face was stiff. She said apologetically: "I'm sorry, something happened to me before and I don't like others touching my hands..."

"What happened before?"

"Some personal matters." She joked.

Li Xuchu saw that she didn't want to talk and didn't press any further. He changed the subject and said, "How about I take you to the palace in two days?"

Isn’t this a pillow for sleeping? ?

But she was still very calm on the surface. She raised her face and asked him: "Is there anything fun in the palace? Did the Queen encounter a monster again?"

He gently touched her forehead, with a bit of fondness, and said angrily: "You can't expect others to do well. It's not that there are monsters when entering the palace, but the foreign envoys have arrived, and the Queen is going to hold a formal banquet. , the palace will be very lively. The Central Plains Dynasty will also send envoys this year."

"I thought they were gone."

"They did leave at this time in previous years." Li Xuchu said: "But this year there are people from the Central Plains Dynasty coming. These small countries want to have good relations, so they all gathered here to wait for the envoy to arrive."

"The royal banquet." She pretended to be very interested, "I want to go and see it. Maybe it's this once in a lifetime opportunity."

"How is that possible?" Li Xuchu laughed dumbly.

After lunch on the third day, he gave Jiang Zhixia a set of newly made dresses and cloaks, asking her to put them on and ride with him in a carriage to the palace.

Li Xuchu's carriage was very spacious and very warm inside. Jiang Zhixia felt a little hot and loosened the straps of her cloak.

This little gesture was noticed by him. He said thoughtfully: "Take off your cloak first. It's hot in the car. Get out of the car later and put it on again."

"Okay."

Xiaosong glanced at her and said angrily: "Don't embarrass my master if you go later. And don't get too close to our master, so that people will misunderstand what you have with him."

"Okay, I'll get off the car and disappear in a moment. You can always play in the palace by yourself."

"No." Li Xuchu and Xiao Song said at the same time. But Xiaosong was the first to say: "You left, my master is worried about your safety. What if the competition fails?"

"What's the competition?" Jiang Zhixia pointed at Li Xuchu, "How can he fight with others?"

"It's a battle of wits!"

Xiaosong was so angry that her eyes turned black. Then he said this is a must-have program every year. The envoys of those countries knew that the national master of Cuiwu State was very powerful in magic, so they would always bring some capable people and strangers to fight with him, hoping to overwhelm them. But for so many years, no one has succeeded.

Xiaosong looked proud when he mentioned this.

"What's better than a fight of wits?"

"A lot." Li Xuchu said: "Meditation, drawing talismans, divination, etc..."

"Oh~ you won all these?"

"Yes."

"No, my master has been winning for several years." Xiao Song praised.

Li Xuchu said nothing, looking forward but quietly looking at Jiang Zhixia, expecting her evaluation of him.

"Then this mission is not good." She waved her hand, "If you want me, I will have a running competition with your master. Whoever can complete a lap around the city first will win."

Xiaosong was choked by her and couldn't speak for a long time, and her face turned red with anger. On the other hand, Li Xuchu laughed out loud, exerting too much force and causing a cough.

The Imperial Preceptor's Mansion is not far from the imperial palace. Normally, it would take at most one stick of incense to arrive by carriage, but today there were more foreign envoys, so the imperial city was a little crowded.

By the time their carriage drove into the palace gate, half an hour had passed.

Li Xuchu got off the carriage first with Xiao Song's help. Jiang Zhixia opened the curtain behind him, and there were envoys in different costumes standing outside. Cuiwu State also sent officials to meet him. The two parties either saluted or exchanged pleasantries, and it was very lively for a while.

As soon as Li Xuchu arrived, they all stopped talking and looked in his direction. But he only looked at Jiang Zhixia, held out his hand to her, and said warmly: "Be careful, help me down."

"No, I..." Jiang Zhixia was halfway through her words when she suddenly felt a familiar sight. She turned around and saw Xie Zezhi standing next to another carriage.