Chapter 16 Changes (I)

　　"Not bad, fortunately this period of time targeted to nourish yin, this second layer is the highest realm of Jade Crane Technique, unusual people need to use five years, I all of a sudden shorten five years to such a short period of time, naturally, it is a much heavier burden than the previous introductory period." 　　He felt the state of his body carefully in his mind. 　　Although weak, it was much better than before. 　　It seemed that his conditioning during this period of time was indeed effective. 　　Whew...... 　　A long breath was exhaled. 　　Lu Sheng felt that the circle of internal qi between his chest and abdomen had changed from a single stream of qi that was as thick as a chopstick to a full nine. 　　Together, the nine streams of qi were quite a bit thicker than the front. 　　The Jade Crane Technique had reached the second layer, and it clearly felt different than the previous one. 　　Lu Sheng felt energized between each breath and reaction, and his reactions were also much faster than usual. 　　"According to the records of the second layer of Jade Crane Technique, it should have the effect of prolonging one's life and getting a quick stop to bleeding." 　　"Let's try to see the effect of the internal energy tomorrow. Contact Duanmu Wan and see if we can still get a new inner strength from her." 　　Since the Jade Crane Technique was real, the rest of the several internal skills might also be real. He wanted to see how several internal skills would react when they were practiced together. 　　It was reasonable to say that internal skills could be fused as long as they were not of conflicting types in nature. 　　Thinking of this, Lu Sheng re-laid down to rest. 　　Only just after lying down, he heard footsteps faintly coming from outside the courtyard, like someone was moving away. 　　Listening to the rhythm, it was very similar to the sound of Lu Gently walking. 　　Lu Sheng shook his head and didn't pay any attention to it, during this period of time, Lu Gently went out to sneak around in the middle of the night almost every other day. 　　It was not known what clues he had found out. 　　At first, he was careful to follow all the way, but realized that his footwork was simply far less than Lu Gently, and lost him in a few moments, after which he stopped wasting his efforts. 　　Early in the morning of the second day, Lu Sheng took the silver tickets he had prepared and went straight to the Wanfu Inn where Duanmu Wan was staying. 　　"What? Checked out?" 　　Lu Sheng stared at the innkeeper and frowned. 　　"When was it?" 　　"About half a month ago, Miss Duanmu was invited by a few gentlemen to go out of the city to visit the Red Lotus Temple, after which she sent someone back to say that she had checked out." 　　The shopkeeper was also very attached to Duanmu Wan. 　　After all, this one was already born beautiful, plus the number of male gentlemen who came to pursue her and the fact that she herself spent lavishly, gave him a naturally deep impression. 　　"Red Lotus Temple ......" 　　Lu Sheng frowned. 　　He intuitively felt that Duanmu Wan should not be at the Red Lotus Temple. 　　Suddenly checking out was just an excuse. 　　"Forget it then." 　　He shook his folding fan and walked out of the inn, two guards were waiting outside the door. 　　"Your Excellency, how's it going? Have you found Miss Duanmu?" The guard Xiaosong was usually close to Lu Sheng, and he was also the one who cleaned the various grounds for Lu Sheng when he practiced martial arts, and occasionally he had to go on sparring sessions. The martial arts were not bad. 　　"No, she's gone." Lu Sheng shook his head. 　　"Then where are we going now?" 　　"Where to? Back to the mansion." 　　Lu Sheng's secret book couldn't be found, and his mood was a bit upset. 　　The three of them got on the carriage and rushed all the way back to the Lu Mansion, and when they waited in front of the mansion, they saw that there was already a yellow carriage parked at the gate. 　　On the side of the carriage was greatly engraved the word Zhang. 　　"Zhang Family?" 　　Lu Sheng's expression twitched, the Zhang family had been killed for so long and finally came to the door. 　　He wasn't afraid, and let Xiao Song's few people leave, and he himself walked into the gate single-handedly. 　　Looking in from the gate, he could just see that on the lobby, Lu Quanan was greeting the man from the Zhang Family accompanied by a martial artist. 　　There was just one person from the Zhang family. 　　With thick eyebrows and thin eyes, he was a man around thirty years old. 　　"...... How could my son do such a thing, the Zhang family must have misread it!" Lu Quanan sat on the main seat, his face calm. 　　"There were quite a few people who saw it with their own eyes! How can this still be false?!" 　　That that man was so angry that his chest burned. 　　"I don't care how powerful your Zhang Family is in Zihua City, this is Jiu Lian City, not your Zihua! Your Zhang Family is powerful, but my Lu Family is not a vegetarian either! If you plant another guy my son, don't blame me, Lu Quanan, for not being polite!" 　　Lu Quan An droned in a cold voice. 　　The man was trembling with anger. 　　Finger pointing at Lu Quan An could no longer speak. 　　"Good good good! Family Master Lu is so bold. I will definitely relay the original, original words to Song Xi Family Master! Farewell!!!" 　　He turned around and strutted towards the gate. 　　Lu Sheng met him halfway, and the man didn't recognize Lu Sheng, still huffing and puffing as he headed out. 　　Lu Sheng was not surprised, nowadays, the Great Song Dynasty is weak and divided, not to mention that this is far away from the northern land, the city lord and the local forces are the king of the land. 　　It is the Central Plains, such as the Lu family, most of the big people are also the Yang Feng Yin Yin, but also made a lot of things. 　　This Zhang Family still thought that they were in Zihua City, and they actually came to the door to ask for trouble. 　　The man brushed past Lu Sheng and huffed and puffed as he got into the carriage and left. 　　Lu Sheng walked into the lobby and saw his father, Lu Quan'an, sitting on a chair with a dazed expression. 　　"Father, are things finished?" 　　He said softly, signaling the guards around him to move away on their own while he and his old dad spoke alone. 　　Lu Quan An sighed, and when he saw that it was Lu Sheng, he couldn't help but add a smile to his face. 　　"Little Sheng, on your sister's side, you need to take care of her more, don't let her keep wandering around the city." 　　"I can't control her." Lu Sheng shook his head and smiled bitterly. "Father, the thing that the above wants us to look for, have we found it yet? Is it looking for something or someone?" 　　"It could be something or someone. It's impossible to say!" 　　Lu Quanan shook his head and lowered his voice. 　　"Now the governor's headache is the Xu family's case, and the well throwing case in the Wang family's house outside the city. Especially the well throwing case, so many constables can't find any clues, what can your sister do alone? Turn back and tell her to stay home honestly." 　　"She went to investigate the Wangjiazhuang case?" Lu Sheng froze. 　　"You don't know? The sheriff of the government office even saw Lightly that girl in the Wang family home. She would catch two wanted criminals or suspects every three days and send them to the Yamen. The people in the Yamen are almost recognizing her." 　　Lu Quanan said helplessly. 　　"That's ...... so," Lu Sheng frowned. "I've been busy collecting martial arts lately, and I didn't have time to care about her." 　　"Collecting martial arts ...... your expenses are already close to five thousand taels, what are the results?" Lu Quanan asked in passing. 　　"I've already collected several doors, and I'll organize all the booklets I got and get a collection of scriptures at home, so that it's convenient for our Lu family to train good hands in the future." 　　Lu Sheng said seriously. 　　"I can probably guess some of your thoughts, now that we are in the midst of a chaotic world, it's not enough for us to just rely on these dozens of people at home. We also need to cultivate more experts that belong to our Lu Family. This is also the reason why I spared no effort to support you when I heard that you were collecting martial arts." 　　Lu Quanan said seriously. 　　"There are a total of eighty-six guards and domestic servants in the family that can be mobilized at any time, but because they have to guard the mansion, there are only about forty that can really be transferred out." 　　Lu Sheng accounted for it. 　　"These forty people are responsible for the security of our Lu Family's thirteen manors and sixteen stores outside, it's simply not enough." 　　"My father naturally knows that, it's just ...... that this trustworthy manpower, it's hard to find ah ......," Lu Quanan sighed. 　　"What about adopting orphans? There are quite a few stray children both outside and inside the city, right?" Lu Sheng proposed. 　　"This ...... is ultimately to consider the thoughts of several other families ......" 　　Lu Quanan hesitated. 　　"We don't have enough people, so why do we need to be concerned about a few other families? Isn't it okay to develop in secret?" Lu Sheng distinguished. 　　"This matter is a sensitive topic that affects the whole body, in case the other several families find out, they will definitely reprimand us, the Lu Family, for having ambitions and being too eye-catching." 　　Lu Quanan shook his head slightly. 　　Lu Sheng persuaded two more times, but it still didn't work. 　　He knew that Lu Quanan no longer had the impetus of his youth, when he had nothing, no worries, so he did things decisively and responsible, creating a large family business of the Lu family. 　　And now ...... looking forward and backward, hesitant. 　　Lu Sheng can see, Lu Quanan support him to collect martial arts, is to have want to expand the heart. 　　But really want to start doing it, he was hesitant and couldn't make up his mind. 　　After saying a few words, he stopped advising him and only mentioned something about his family's health and well-being. 　　After that, he left. 　　Lu Quan An stood alone in the lobby, his brows locked, still hesitant. 　　Lu Sheng, however, no longer wanted to rely on this old man. 　　In these chaotic times, if one's own strength was not enough, sooner or later one would become a piece of fat meat in the eyes of others. 　　He left the hall and continued to go to the schoolyard to practice martial arts. 　　After reaching the peak of the second layer of Jade Crane Technique, he was full of energy throughout the day, and even though he was busy from morning to night, he didn't feel too tired. 　　When he was slightly sleepy, he would sit down and rest for a moment, and then he would be active again for a few hours at a time. 　　In the school field, he practiced sword practice until evening. 　　Only sweaty shower, rushed to eat dinner. 　　On the dinner table, Lu Quanan, Erniang, Lu Sheng three people a table, the rest of the relatives each sat on another large table. 　　This is the rule. 　　Lu Quan An is the head of the family, Lu Sheng is the future head of the family, Er Niang is the past within Lu Quan An and Lu Sheng are extremely close to her. She also manages the women and maids in the backyard on weekdays. 　　These three are the three highest ranking members of the entire Lu family. 　　After that, there are the three niang, four niang, five niang, Lu gently, Lu Yingying, Lu Duxin and other family members. 　　Although the Lu family belongs to the first generation of profiteers, but there are still many places to learn the same rules as the big families. 　　One of the rules was to eat without speaking and to sleep without speaking. 　　There were two large tables of people eating, with only the occasional clash of chopsticks and bowls, the rest of them really didn't make any noise at all. 　　"Xiao Sheng." 　　Lu Quanan, who rarely spoke at the dinner table, suddenly opened his mouth. 　　The moment he opened his mouth, the entire family slowly stopped and listened to him. This was also etiquette. After all, unless it was particularly important, she normally wouldn't talk at the dinner table anymore. 　　"Father, what's wrong?" 　　Lu Sheng put down his chopsticks and looked at Lu Quanan. 　　"You said that Jiu Lian City can't collect martial arts anymore, do you want to make a trip to Yan Shan City?" 　　Lu Quanan said seriously. 　　"Along the Mountain City?" 　　Lu Sheng froze, he didn't think that his old dad was actually asking him to leave Jiu Lian City. 　　"Yes." Lu Quanan nodded. "There is an old friend of mine there, he mentioned in his letters a few days ago that there are famous experts from the Central Plains who open their doors to teach their art in Along the Mountain City, if you are willing, you can make a trip over there, and you might be able to bring back one or two sets of truly powerful martial arts from the Central Plains."