The more the fairy suffers, the greater my cultivation will be

The two of them were so busy that they had to work together.

Qin Shou stretched out his slender and white fingers and gently pinched Zhou Guoguo's jade-like face, as if he was afraid that he would hurt her if he used a little more force.

There was a faint smile on his handsome face, and he didn't seem to want to dwell on this matter too much. As long as she knew it in her heart, it was enough.

"Get up, it's time to see your father."

Qin Shou's voice seemed to be a little ethereal, and it slowly entered Zhou Guoguo's ears.

Zhou Guoguo said "um" obediently, then got up and began to dress Qin Shou.

Her petite hands gently fiddled with the clothes, her movements were skillful and meticulous.

After a while, both of them had changed their clothes and slowly left the boudoir filled with a faint fragrance.

The two walked side by side and stepped into the magnificent hall in the mansion that was specially used for gathering guests for dinner.

I saw an ancient and solemn eight-immortal table placed steadily in the center of the hall, on which there were a variety of dishes such as chicken, duck, fish and meat, exuding waves of tempting aroma.

In this huge hall, there was only one person alone.

This person was Zhou Li, Zhou Guoguo's father, who was dressed in a majestic official robe.

He stood with his hands behind his back, his body was as straight as a pine tree, and his eyes were full of majesty and expectation.

When Zhou Li saw Qin Shou coming, a look of respect immediately appeared on his face. He stood up quickly and said humbly, "Master Qin, please take a seat."

Qin Shou's figure swayed, and then he sat down in the seat of honor with ease.

Zhou Li and Zhou Guoguo also sat down on both sides of Qin Shou. Zhou Guoguo's white and slender little hand gently picked up the wine pot and poured wine for Qin Shou in person with elegant movements.

Zhou Li introduced it with a flattering face: "This is Bamboo Leaf Green, the taste is extremely mellow. Of course, compared with the fine wine of the immortal, it is simply worthless. I hope the immortal master will not despise it."

"No." Qin Shou shook his head slightly, his handsome face was calm, his eyes slowly swept over the rich delicacies on the table, but his heart couldn't help but think of the group of disaster victims who had been hungry for several days in the daytime, and he couldn't help but feel that Zhou Li's reputation as a corrupt official was probably real.

Zhou Li was a very experienced man, having worked in the officialdom for many years. He immediately noticed Qin Shou's meaningful look, and seemed to understand the deep meaning in an instant.

His face immediately changed to an expression of extreme pain, and he hurriedly said: "Master, you don't know, there is famine everywhere in the Great Qin now, and this meal is what I have to ask for from the gentry in the city."

Qin Shou knew that the old fox was acting, but it was not easy to expose him in person, after all, this guy was Zhou Guoguo's father. He could only pretend to ask carefully: "How did this famine come about?"

Zhou Li hurriedly responded: "In recent years, it was only because of the war with the Han Kingdom, coupled with the occurrence of this drought, that famine occurred."

"Oh." Qin Shou nodded thoughtfully, and sighed in his heart that in ancient times, people really relied on the weather for food. Once the weather changes abnormally, it will naturally affect the output of grain.

Then, he stared at Zhou Li with his sharp eyes, and asked directly: "Did you embezzle the relief grain issued by the court?"

When Zhou Guoguo heard Qin Shou's words, she hurriedly stood up for her father and said in a tender voice: "Brother Qin, my father is an honest official and would never do such a thing!"

However, Qin Shou ignored what Zhou Guoguo said, raised his wine glass and took a sip, then put down the wine glass and said calmly: "Zhou Taishou, you know whether you are greedy or not. If you explain it clearly, it will be good for both you and me."

Zhou Li seemed to be waiting for Qin Shou to say this on his own initiative. At this moment, he frowned and sighed softly: "Of course, I will explain the reason to the immortal master. This matter has always been a knot in my heart and has troubled me for a long time."

"Knot? Dad, what happened?"

Zhou Guoguo looked confused. In her opinion, she always thought that the relief grain was not enough because the court issued too little.

In order to feed the victims, she had sold some spiritual stones and jewelry in exchange for some food.

But the food was far from enough and was soon eaten up by the victims.

"Our Lingshui City was built along the Lingshui River. If we go upstream, we can reach Xianyang directly. The relief food was also transported by large ships through this river. The problem is that

. "

"River? Dad, what's wrong with this river?"

Zhou Guoguo was very confused. In her opinion, this river could be said to be the mother river of Lingshui City. Without this river, Lingshui City would no longer exist.

Zhou Li glanced at Zhou Guoguo and didn't want her to get involved, so he said: "Guoguo, you go out first. I want to talk to the immortal master alone about this matter."

"I won't go out. What's the matter? You can't even tell me?"

Zhou Guoguo was acting like a spoiled child, pouting her lips, which was particularly cute.

Zhou Li's expression was extremely serious. He still didn't want his daughter to know about this, and continued to persuade: "Good daughter, be obedient!"

Qin Shou on the side thought about it for a while, and roughly guessed something, so he said to Zhou Guoguo: "Guoguo, listen to your father and go out for a while. "

"I..." Zhou Guoguo hesitated to speak. She really didn't want to go out, but due to Qin Shou's order, she could only get up angrily and leave reluctantly.

Zhou Li saw that his good daughter was so obedient to the immortal master, so he knew that the relationship between the two must be unusual. Moreover, he heard from the maid that his daughter even brought the immortal master into the room and stayed overnight.

It just so happened that he had always had a doubt in his heart, that is, about his daughter being expelled from the Xianyun Sect. He didn't know much. He only knew that Guoguo was no longer an immortal, but Guoguo never told him the reason.

At this time, Zhou Li respectfully said to the immortal master, "Immortal Master, before this, I have some private matters, and I would like to ask you boldly. "

"What is it?" Qin Shou looked indifferent.

"May I ask why my daughter left the Xianyun Sect, and why she is no longer an immortal. "Zhou Li expressed his doubts.

When Qin Shou heard this, he understood in an instant that Zhou Guoguo must have never told her father what happened in Xianyun Sect.

Since Zhou Guoguo kept it a secret from her father, he couldn't say anything either, and this matter was closely related to him.

Zhou Li was a mortal, so there was no need to get involved. It would only do him harm, not good.

Qin Shou stared at Zhou Li with cold eyes and said coldly: "Sometimes, knowing more is not necessarily a good thing. Besides, this time I went down the mountain to bring Guoguo back to the sect and help her regain her former strength. "

"Are you going to be an immortal again?"

Zhou Li's eyes instantly revealed an unconcealable surprise, but at the same time, there was a hint of sadness that was not easy to detect.

"Yes!" Qin Shou nodded solemnly.

"Very good, very good. "

Zhou Li's tone was filled with sadness. After all, there is a huge gap between immortals and mortals. He was extremely happy that his daughter could become an immortal again. As long as there was an immortal to protect the family, other families would never dare to be too presumptuous to them. In this way, the Zhou family could continue for a long time.

Qin Shou urged: "You should quickly tell me what the problem is with the Lingshui River? And why is it involved in the disaster relief grain."

Zhou Li quickly put away his sadness, put on a very serious expression, and said slowly: "There is a river god in this river. Whenever a ship passes through this place, it must offer a part of the sacrifice. If it does not offer it, the boat will capsize at best, and all the people will be ruthlessly swallowed by the river god at worst."

"And more than half of the disaster relief grain was sacrificed to the river god. "

Hearing the word "River God", Qin Shou couldn't help but sneer with disdain. He never believed in such supernatural things.

It was probably just a monster.

Then he asked: "What does this river god look like?"

Zhou Li shook his head slowly and said solemnly: "I don't know! Anyone who has seen the true face of the river god has died."

"Then how did you offer sacrifices?" Qin Shou frowned slightly and asked in a deep voice.

Zhou Li's face was solemn, and he said slowly: "Every time we offer sacrifices, we need to place the offerings on a special raft at midnight, push it into the river, and then kneel down and pray respectfully. When the raft drifts away by itself and disappears on the dark river, the sacrifice is completed. "