The deflated cultivator refused to give up and vowed to turn the tables.

Although Su Zinong was flustered, he still maintained a polite demeanor and said, "I am Su Zinong. It is a pleasure to meet Miss Qin. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Qin Xiangxue bowed gracefully and said, "It is an honor to have such a distinguished guest grace our humble abode."

After a while, the maid called the servants to bring over a fruit platter with all sorts of fruits, including four large pomelos, placed in pairs.

Qin Xiangxue and the maid exchanged a glance and covered their mouths to chuckle.

At first, Su Zinong didn't understand, but after looking at the shape of the two pomelos, his face turned red, and he nudged Huang Chenghe with his elbow.

Huang Chenghe followed Su Zinong's gaze to the pomelos and said, "Ah! Brother Su wants to eat big pomelos, that's understandable. You must be thirsty after traveling for so long. Here, have some pomelos, and other fruits too..."

The moment his hand touched the pomelo, he saw Qin Xiangxue and her maid grinning mischievously, and then he remembered the famous scene of him being chased in the bathhouse, running naked out of the street, his bare bottom exposed.

"So, you and the maid are ganging up to make fun of us!" he said, lightly flicking Qin Xiangxue's nose with his finger.

Qin Xiangxue laughed so hard her stomach almost burst. She rolled around on the ground, doing so four or five times before finally getting up, breathless. Her maidservant quickly helped her up.

"Unbelievable... Haha... Unbelievable that the famous and elegant young master Huang Chenghe would one day be walking around naked in the street! From then on, many young girls in love made a wish to become that banana leaf..." Qin Xiangxue couldn't help but laugh out loud, laughing so hard that she couldn't breathe.

“Stop talking nonsense,” Huang Chenghe said. “Look, even Young Master Su is blushing.”

Huang Chenghe quickly stopped him. Qin Xiangxue was familiar with him, so it was harmless for her to make some jokes, but Su Zinong was meeting Qin Xiangxue for the first time, so he inevitably felt awkward and embarrassed.

"I think Young Master Su is much calmer than you. He doesn't even blush or skip a beat, unlike you who jumps around like that, which is quite unladylike." Qin Xiangxue recalled how Su Zinong had advised Huang Chenghe to stop when he tried to unbutton her clothes to tease her, and she felt quite fond of him. However, seeing how ugly Su Zinong's disguise was, she didn't say much to him.

“He’s not not blushing, he’s disguised! I guarantee that if he took off this human skin mask, his face would be redder than this apple!” Huang Chenghe picked up a red apple and waved it around.

Su Zinong just smiled awkwardly.

"Why would you need to disguise yourself after coming to Qin Tian Manor?" Qin Xiangxue had no idea that the two of them were being chased.

"Don't even mention it, it's as long as a bolt of cloth! It's because we investigated that locked-room murder case that we were hunted down. The real culprit must be quite powerful, chasing us for two or three thousand miles. Otherwise, who would willingly disguise themselves and change their appearance? It's not pleasant to look at. But it's quite fun to use it to prank friends..." Huang Chenghe recalled Qin Xiangxue's panicked and angry appearance just now, feeling quite smug.

Qin Xiangxue and Huang Chenghe talked about many things and many people. They both knew many friends, all of whom were young people from cultivation families or major sects.

Su Zinong didn't know most of those people, and even those whose names he had heard of were unfamiliar to him, so he couldn't join the conversation.

When Huang Chenghe mentioned preparing gifts to attend the wedding banquet at the Goddess Palace, Qin Xiangxue said she wanted to go too. She said she could go out as soon as her parents returned to the village, and they agreed to go out together to choose gifts early the next morning.

After dinner and room arrangements were made, Su Zinong said he wanted to stay in the room to take a bath and rest, while Huang Chenghe said he wanted to talk to Qin Xiangxue for a while longer, and hurried off.

"It's been two years since we last met, and you've grown even more beautiful. I've even started to have a crush on you. That's why I'm taking this opportunity to tease you a bit, actually to take advantage of you a little, haha," Huang Chenghe joked.

"You're so naughty! Two years have passed in the blink of an eye, and you've grown taller and more handsome." Qin Xiangxue was naturally happy to hear Huang Chenghe praise her beauty.

"I am indeed handsome, but compared to Brother Su, I have to say he is more handsome than me. Although I don't want to admit it, it's a fact." Huang Chenghe sighed.

"No way, you're already so handsome, how can there be someone more handsome than you? I don't believe it! I'm afraid you're just exaggerating." Qin Xiangxue looked suspicious.

"Why would I lie to you? Who would want to say someone else is more handsome than themselves? It's just a pity that Brother Su is cautious and wears that human skin mask all the time. But if you suddenly push open the door to his room now, you'll immediately see his real handsome face. He just took off the mask, but he'll put it back on first thing tomorrow morning," Huang Chenghe urged her.

"I'll go check..." Before she finished speaking, Qin Xiangxue had already rushed out. She didn't even knock when she got to Su Zinong's room, and just pushed the door open and went in.

Su Zinong had just stripped naked and was about to get into the bathtub when Qin Xiangxue suddenly pushed the door open and cried out, "You pervert!"

Qin Xiangxue was taken aback, her face turned bright red, and she immediately slammed the door shut and ran away as fast as she could. She found Huang Chenghe and wrestled with him for a full half hour until he knelt down and begged for mercy.

"You're so unserious, you're not serious at all. How could you joke about something like that? I don't even know him!" Qin Xiangxue said sullenly.

"It's alright, Brother Su is very generous, he won't blame you. I know him very well, if anyone's to blame, it's me. How was it, handsome?" Huang Chenghe asked.

"He's quite handsome." Qin Xiangxue nodded and smiled shyly.

"How's your figure? What about the rest of your body?" Huang Chenghe asked with ill intent.

The response he received was that Qin Xiangxue chased after him and beat him for another hour.

Su Zinong was a little depressed in the room.

Although I escaped from the bathhouse last time and was naked on the street, at least I had banana leaves to cover my private parts.

Tonight, however, he was completely naked, and Qin Xiangxue saw him completely.

This is the first time.

It would be awkward if we had to meet again in the next few days.

Sure enough, the next morning, when Qin Xiangxue knocked on the door to call her for breakfast, she only knocked and spoke outside, not daring to push the door open and come in. Her face flushed as she recalled seeing Su Zinong naked the night before.

Su Zinong, on the other hand, although his face was also burning and flushed, wore a human skin mask and appeared very calm.

He wasn't familiar with Qin Xiangxue to begin with, and now, because of the awkwardness, he spoke even less, just quietly eating his breakfast on the side, so he ate quite a lot.

After finishing their meal, they went out to choose gifts. Everyone felt that bringing large items as gifts would be inconvenient due to the long journey, so they went to an antique shop to choose small, exquisite, and valuable gifts.

Qin Xiangxue and Huang Chenghe were heading to the largest antique shop in the city.

As soon as Su Zinong entered the store, he found it to be very prosperous and popular. The warm and cozy atmosphere inside put him in a good mood.

Looking around, I noticed a small fist-sized bead placed in the wealth corner to the west. It was red and blue and kept rotating, emitting soft light.

The fact that this shop is doing so well is probably related to the placement of this large bead in this location.

Huang Chenghe spent two thousand taels of silver to buy a pair of jade figurines. They were placed in a box with the inscription: "A pair of jade figurines, a match made in heaven." They were quite suitable as a wedding gift, and Huang Chenghe was very generous.

Qin Xiangxue also chose something expensive, spending 1,500 taels of silver on an ivory comb with exquisite carvings. It was said to be made from ivory from a very distant place, where the people were dark-skinned, but the ivory was very white and precious.

Helpless, Su Zinong had no choice but to choose an expensive one. He gritted his teeth and spent a thousand taels of silver to buy a small boat carved from white jade, which symbolized that it takes a hundred years of cultivation to share a boat ride and a thousand years to share a pillow.

He had five thousand taels of silver in his pocket at the moment. After spending one thousand taels, he still had four thousand taels left, which he had found on the enemy.

Just as the three were about to leave, Su Zinong looked at the red and blue bead again and asked, "Is this bead for sale too?"