The first disciple of the Three Pure Ones, Little Sizi's immortal brother

Chang'an, the imperial capital of the Tang Dynasty.

In modern terms, if you threw a brick here, you could hit a whole bunch of officials of the fifth rank or higher.

When it came to the imperial examinations, it was even more so that "learned scholars were among those who conversed with him, and there were no uncultured people among his acquaintances."

Li Lizhi had already put on the prepared veil. After all, she was quite aware of her own appearance, and this trip was something her father, mother, and she herself had been looking forward to for a long time. It wouldn't be good if her appearance caused any unpleasantness.

However, Li Lizhi felt both admiration and disappointment towards Shi Ming's reaction.

I admire Shi Ming for remaining unfazed by his appearance, living up to the immortal's reputation of being "pure and desireless," but I am also disappointed that Shi Ming has no interest in me. It seems that in the immortal's eyes, I am nothing more than a handful of dust.

This kind of thinking really put Li Lizhi in a dilemma.

Shi Ming noticed Li Lizhi's unusual behavior and knew what she was thinking, but he just smiled and let it go.

Honestly, Li Lizhi was indeed a beauty of unparalleled grace and charm, truly deserving of the title "naturally beautiful."

She is far superior to those ordinary beauties in her previous life, even those beauties "enhanced" by beauty filters.

However, the trip to Zixiao Palace greatly broadened Shi Ming's horizons.

Leaving aside Nuwa, west Wangmu, Xihe, and Changxi, even those slightly ordinary female immortals were all so beautiful that words could hardly describe them.

Comparing Li Lizhi to those female immortals is indeed somewhat unfair to Li Lizhi.

After all, the primordial world is full of all kinds of immortal fruits and spiritual roots.

While top-grade innate spiritual roots are rare and precious, there are quite a few high-grade, mid-grade, and low-grade innate spiritual roots. Not to mention that in the prehistoric world where spiritual energy is abundant, many acquired spiritual roots have also been born.

Those spiritual fruits that are now treasured in later generations for their ability to cleanse the marrow and preserve youth were merely snacks in the prehistoric world.

Then, cultivation can also have a "beautifying" effect. Although this is the most insignificant side effect in the eyes of the innate gods of the primordial world, the effect is indeed real.

"Brother, I want to eat that persimmon!"

Just then, Si Zi's soft voice rang out in Shi Ming's arms.

Following the direction Si Zi pointed, a steaming stall came into view.

"This is……"

"This is a translucent rice cake. Si Zi has a sweet tooth, and the Empress Dowager strictly controls his intake of this. Perhaps it's because he has a celestial master backing him up that he indulged in it again," Chang Le explained.

"Touhua Ci... looks like a type of food called Qing Tuan, only the appearance and color are slightly different," Shi Ming murmured.

"No way! I like persimmons too!"

"Good, good, good. Sizi isn't picky about food; he's a good child." Shi Ming smiled.

"Immortal Master, spoiling Si Zi like this will spoil her rotten..."

However, despite that, Li Lizhi was happy that Shi Ming liked Si Zi so much.

However, Shi Ming was immediately embarrassed, as he didn't have any "Kaiyuan Tongbao" coins on him...

Seeing the awkward expression on Shi Ming's face, Li Lizhi covered her mouth and smiled, and took off her money bag and handed it to Shi Ming. It was heavy and should contain a lot of Kaiyuan Tongbao coins.

Shi Ming could indeed conjure some silver using the Earth Spirit Pearl. However, as far as he knew, during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang (Li Shimin), silver was not considered official currency and was rarely used to buy things, at least not in the marketplace. During this period, silver was mainly used for valuables, treasures, tributes, imperial rewards to ministers, national treasury reserves, and foreign trade; it wasn't used to buy vegetables, rice, or snacks. It wasn't until the mid-to-late Tang Dynasty that silver gradually began to be used by ordinary people, and it wasn't until the Song and Ming Dynasties that it truly became a common everyday currency.

As for gold... that's even more extravagant.

"I won't take your money for nothing. You can ask me three questions." Having received the money pouch, Shi Ming felt embarrassed to take it for nothing, so he simply offered to settle the matter with "intelligence." "Of course, this is only for this trip. I won't wait any longer."

Upon closer examination, if Li Lizhi had used these three issues properly, they could have even transformed the world, well, the entire world of the Li family in the Tang Dynasty.

It's not that I can't answer their questions for free out of respect for Sizi, but if Li Shimin and the others think I'm easy to talk to, they might subconsciously try to take advantage of me, which would violate my taboos and make things difficult for both sides.

So they simply drew a clear line, letting Li Shimin recognize his own position.

One of the reasons Shi Ming likes Si Zi is that Si Zi is young and innocent, so he doesn't have to worry about her as much.

If I had met Li Lizhi instead, things might have turned out very differently.

Li Lizhi was overjoyed. As a princess, she naturally knew the weight of Shi Ming's three questions. To be able to exchange these for such mundane items was truly an unexpected delight.

However, Li Lizhi also sensed the distance in Shi Ming's words and realized the reality: Shi Ming simply liked Si Zi.

While marveling at Si Zi's good fortune, Li Lizhi also began to ponder what exactly she should ask these three questions.

Seeing that her older sister didn't stop the fairy brother from buying her food, Sizi became happy. She was afraid that if her older sister stopped her, she wouldn't be able to eat.

After buying the touhua ci (a type of glutinous rice cake), Sizi held it in her hands and ate it with great joy. It's so much better to come out and play with the fairy brother; it's so carefree.

If it were my older sister, I wouldn't buy it for her!

No, even the older sister probably wouldn't bring her out herself.

"No rush, we're not too short on time this time, you can take your time to think it over." Shi Ming then handed Li Lizhi a serving of translucent rice cakes. "Would you like one?"

He had just tasted it; the flavor wasn't great, but it was pure, perhaps because it lacked the "technology and ruthless techniques" of later generations.

He had long lost his appetite; he had only tasted it out of curiosity, and had simply given the rest to Li Lizhi.

"Thank you, Immortal Master." Li Lizhi unexpectedly accepted the translucent rice cake handed to her by Shi Ming.

Normally, their food is tested for poison, but Li Lizhi wasn't worried at all this time.

How could the immortal master, who loves the rhinoceros so much, possibly feed it something poisonous? And who would dare to do something under the immortal master's watchful eye?

"Here you go, buddy~"

Seeing that Shi Ming had given his portion to his older sister, Si Zi obediently picked up a translucent rice cake and held it to Shi Ming's lips.

Shi Ming was taken aback, then smiled and opened his mouth to eat the touhua rice cake that Si Zi had personally fed him.

Perhaps it was psychological, but Shi Ming did find a unique flavor in this translucent rice cake.

Looking at the translucent rice cake in her hand, Li Lizhi's gaze gradually hardened.

"Immortal Master, I've made up my mind!"