Chapter 661: Remember to Come Home Early Tonight

After that, Jiang Zuo continued to follow the three women, but after a while, he slipped away.

If he hadn’t been waiting to pay, he would’ve disappeared long ago.

‘But on second thought, with Sister Jingyue around, it wouldn’t be my turn to pay, would it?’

Jiang Zuo shook his head. The main reason he was able to slip away so easily, however, was that they had gone into a store exclusively for women.

Even if he hadn’t run, Su Qi would have kicked him out anyway.

After all, those were things Su Qi would only let Jiang Zuo see on *her*.

Jiang Zuo stood at the entrance of the store. With nothing in particular to think about or look at, he was probably just spacing out.

‘This life is pretty good right now,’ he thought. He didn’t find it boring at all.

After all, he was very busy at the moment—busy waiting for Su Qi to come out.

And just as Jiang Zuo was occupied with his “busy” task, someone suddenly spoke up in surprise. “Uh, Benefactor?”

Jiang Zuo glanced over and saw a middle-aged man who looked a little familiar.

Ah, right. It was from that thing the other day. He remembered now.

The one who sold him the Fire Spirit Grass.

Jiang Zuo looked at the man but said nothing.

The man said gratefully, “I’m just a simple man from the countryside, so, uh, I don’t really know how to thank you properly.”

“Oh, right! I have some vegetables I grew myself here. They’re really delicious, so please, take them as a gift, Benefactor.”

Jiang Zuo remained expressionless. Being called ‘Benefactor’ made him uncomfortable.

“I just bought something from you. I am not your benefactor,” Jiang Zuo said coldly.

The middle-aged man nodded. “I know, I know.”

“Oh, right! It wouldn’t look good for a city person like you to be carrying around a woven plastic sack. Let me put it in a nicer bag for you.”

Jiang Zuo then watched him transfer the vegetables into a regular plastic bag, which, frankly, was still pretty ugly.

Jiang Zuo said, “There’s no need. Take them with you.”

The middle-aged man didn’t say anything more. He just handed the bag of vegetables to Jiang Zuo and said, “Sorry to have troubled you. I might have embarrassed you. I’m very sorry.”

Indeed, some people nearby were looking over at them.

But Jiang Zuo didn’t care in the slightest.

Jiang Zuo glanced at the middle-aged man, sighed internally, and finally said, “I understand. I’ll take them home.”

Once Jiang Zuo took the bag, the middle-aged man turned and left.

Jiang Zuo lifted the bag and glanced inside.

‘How am I going to explain this to Su Qi?’ he wondered.

But one glance into the bag was all it took for Jiang Zuo to freeze.

Next to one of the vegetables, Jiang Zuo saw a small flower—a very, very tiny flower.

‘A Celestial God Flower Seedling?’

Yes, he couldn’t be mistaken. It was definitely a Celestial God Flower Seedling.

A Celestial God Flower Seedling doesn’t exhibit any of its unique properties.

Almost no one would be able to recognize it, and with its medicinal properties not yet activated, it was just an ordinary flower.

If Jiang Zuo hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he never would have been able to sense its presence.

Eating a Celestial God Flower Seedling in its current state would, at most, extend one’s life by a hundred years or so. It would, however, have no trouble curing minor illnesses.

But if it were planted and allowed to grow for a while longer, its true effects would emerge.

Jiang Zuo looked in the direction the middle-aged man had gone, finding it hard to believe. For an ordinary person to have such a fortuitous encounter… if it had been a Cultivator, it would have been an incredible find.

Finally, Jiang Zuo called out, “Wait a moment.”

Jiang Zuo then took out a piece of Jade he’d picked up in the Celestial Star Cave Mansion.

Then, he used his Innate Three Qi to etch three complex Runes into it.

This was the first time he had ever used his Innate Three Qi to imbue an object with Runes.

The middle-aged man turned back in surprise. “Did you need something, Benefactor?”

Jiang Zuo tossed the Jade to him. “Is there someone sick in your family? Have her carry this. If the Jade disappears, don’t worry about it. If it’s still there after, you should carry it yourself.”

Having said his piece, Jiang Zuo turned to leave, not wanting to say anything more.

Otherwise, the man would undoubtedly start spouting another stream of nonsense—nonsense he couldn’t be bothered to hear.

However, the Jade was bound to the middle-aged man’s bloodline. If the sick person was unrelated to him, then unfortunately, the Jade would be nothing more than a simple trinket to carry around.

But if they were blood relatives, the Jade would fuse with them and disappear.

It would be more than enough to grant his entire family, young and old, a long and peaceful life.

Once Jiang Zuo decided to leave, there was no way the middle-aged man could find him. As for Jiang Zuo, he naturally headed to a shop that sold potted plants.

He needed to transplant the Celestial God Flower Seedling.

Seedlings were very fragile and could die easily.

Once the transplant was complete, Jiang Zuo couldn’t help but think, ‘Great. Now there’s another potted plant on the balcony.’

After taking care of that, Jiang Zuo returned to the clothing store.

But by the time he got back, he saw that Su Qi and the others were already coming out.

Naturally, Su Qi and the others saw him approaching as well.

Su Qi, who had been a little angry with him, suddenly found she wasn’t mad anymore when she saw the state he was in.

It was mainly because he looked so strange.

He was carrying a bulging plastic bag full of green vegetables in one hand, while in the other, he was holding a cheap-looking flower.

‘Where on earth did he get all that?’

When Jiang Zuo reached them, Su Qi asked, “Where did you go?”

Jiang Zuo said, “I went to a gardening shop to get a pot for this flower.”

Su Qi pointed at the vegetables. “Then what about these? Did the shop owner give them to you?”

“Was the owner a man or a woman?”

Jiang Zuo said, “An older man gave them to me. I bought something from him last time that was hard to sell, so he wanted to thank me specially.”

“He said they’re homegrown and taste better.”

Su Qi asked, “Really?”

Jiang Zuo nodded.

Just then, Jingyue said, “We’ll let you two keep bickering. We’re heading out.”

Then Jingyue and Qing Lian said goodbye to Jiang Zuo and Su Qi and left.

Su Qi waved them off.

After they left, Su Qi grinned. “Sister Jingyue paid for everything today. We scored!”

Jiang Zuo looked at the Celestial God Flower and then at the bags of Su Qi’s new clothes. ‘I guess I scored too,’ he thought.

Even if he was just going to raise it as a houseplant, a plant like this was exceptionally rare, despite its ordinary appearance.

Just then, Su Qi said, “But we still haven’t bought anything for you.”

Jiang Zuo hefted the bag of vegetables. “But we have a lot of stuff already.”

“Alright, next time then,” Su Qi said suddenly. “Here, give me the vegetables. You carry the clothes.”

Jiang Zuo said, “But I think these vegetables might be heavier than the clothes.”

Su Qi grinned. “But carrying the shopping bags looks better!”

Jiang Zuo was speechless.

‘Do I look like I care about that?’

‘I’m not a kid anymore.’

————

When they got home, they stir-fried the vegetables for dinner.

After dinner, the two of them bickered about something or other until they both fell asleep.

The next day, Su Qi was up early, and so was Jiang Zuo.

After all, all they did last night was bicker.

Su Qi asked curiously, “Why are you up so early?”

Jiang Zuo said, “Since I’m finally back, I figure I should go to work.”

Su Qi thought about it and agreed. ‘We’re probably running out of money. I wonder when we won’t even be able to put food on the table.’

‘Of course, I’m not worried,’ she thought. ‘After all, my husband isn’t worried, so why should I be?’

‘Besides, I’m so easy to provide for.’

Jiang Zuo certainly wasn’t worried about being unable to provide for Su Qi. As long as he could keep her fed, that was pretty much all that mattered.

He didn’t have to worry much about anything else.

Even when Su Qi went out shopping, she never bought anything expensive.

But when it came to certain situations, she threw all that out the window.

Like that incident with her elementary school classmate at the electronics store.

As Jiang Zuo got up, Su Qi naturally leaned against him. “My hair,” she said. “And remember to get off work on time today.”

Jiang Zuo asked, “Can’t I be a little late?”

At that, Su Qi pulled out Jiang Zuo’s phone and showed it to him. “Look, this is a reminder I set for you before. Do you remember?”

“‘Remember to come home early, okay?'”

Jiang Zuo’s expression soured.