Nine Netherworld Demon Subduing Record

Upon returning to the mansion, Fu Qing first went to the steward's office. There, she saw Qi Feng, a young man in blue robes, sitting by the desk. Fu Qing quietly walked up to him and saw him holding a brush, writing something crookedly, completely unaware that Fu Qing was already behind him.

"Brother Qi?" Fu Qing patted him. Qi Feng was startled. When he saw it was Fu Qing, he quickly stood up and looked Fu Qing up and down.

"Brother Fu, are you all better now?"

Upon hearing this, Fu Qing knew that the person who had escorted him to the ten-mile-long pharmacy was the one before him. He clasped his hands together and bowed deeply.

"Thank you so much for today."

Upon hearing this, Qi Feng quickly replied that it was a trivial matter and nothing to worry about.

Seeing that he was holding the calligraphy brush, Fu Qing walked to the desk and saw that there were actually literacy practice sheets on the desk.

Although the words were simple and there were some errors in some places, each one had a crooked signature at the back, all of them Qi Feng. Upon seeing this, he couldn't help but chuckle.

"What about learning to read?"

Qi Feng scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "Brother Fu, you are a learned man, please don't make fun of me. I just practice in my spare time, hoping to become an accountant or something in the future."

Fu Qing quickly shook his head, indicating that he would not do it at all.

"If you really want to learn to read, just come find me."

Qi Feng's eyes lit up: "Really?"

Fu Qing nodded, then pulled out a thin bamboo pen from the desk, scribbled a few strokes, and suddenly felt embarrassed.

I'm not very good at using a calligraphy brush.

He coughed lightly, covered his mouth, picked up a small knife from the side, and slashed off one end at an angle, then carved a groove at the tip.

This was a simple dip pen. Fu Qing took the inkstone, dipped it a few times, and then found a blank space on the already filled paper and wrote the two characters "Qi Feng". He wrote them neatly and elegantly.

When it comes to penmanship alone, Fu Qing is quite confident.

"Just write it like this."

Fu Qing was quite confident about teaching the little boy in front of him to read. The library had books like dictionaries, and he had already filled in most of the gaps in his knowledge of characters in the past few days. As far as teaching was concerned, there was no problem.

Qi Feng looked at the name he wrote, picked it up and examined it for a long time, marveling at it.

"From now on, Brother Fu, you'll be my teacher!" he exclaimed. Fu Qing felt a little strange at first. He had just become a student of a teacher, and now he was teaching others to read. He had become a teacher himself, and suddenly he was a senior in his own generation. He quickly replied, "I dare not. We are all colleagues in the manor, and it is only right to help each other."

Seeing Qi Feng take out paper and pen and start copying his own handwriting, Fu Qing suddenly realized why Qi Feng had come to find him when he fainted. The library and the steward's office were quite a distance apart, and apart from the day he met Qi Feng, he didn't see him very often.

"Brother Qi, I fainted at my place, how did you find me?"

Qi Feng stared blankly at the book and said, "This morning, a young lady came to see Deacon Chen and asked me to ask about you. When I entered the room, I saw you lying on the ground, so I quickly found a wooden cart and pushed you to the clinic."

"Miss?" Fu Qing felt that it was Bai Yi looking for Chen Xing'an. However, it was a bit strange that these two partners, who were usually inseparable, would come to Qi Feng and me to inquire about Chen Xing'an's whereabouts.

"And then what happened? What became of that girl?"

"The girl was already gone when I pushed you out."

Although Fu Qing found it strange, Chen Xing'an was usually busy, so it wasn't unusual for him to occasionally be on official business. Even if something happened, it wasn't something Fu Qing could get involved in.

However, he still felt that if he had the chance, he would ask Bai Yi for him.

"I understand, thank you for your help."

He didn't stay with Qi Feng for long. Instead, he told Qi Feng that if he wanted to learn to read, he should come to him after work. He also mentioned that he hadn't gone to work yet and needed to explain the situation to Grandma Yu.

-

"It's alright, just rest if you're not feeling well." Grandma Yu still had that kind and gentle demeanor.

They were kind enough to let him rest for a day, saying that Fu Qing was organizing the library faster than expected. There wasn't much else to do in the library besides these tasks; it was just a matter of people coming to look up books and making a record.

Seeing that he had been neglecting his duties for so long, Fu Qing felt embarrassed and busied himself cleaning up the entire place again. It wasn't until sunset that Fu Qing left the library.

"Hmm... let's go to the back street today."

Qi Feng was right. The food in the backstreet was indeed cheap, especially for someone like him who didn't have much money. Although the ingredients were mostly scraps or leftovers from fishing, Fu Qing had always been frugal, so it didn't bother him.

Walking into the back street, the familiar street scene was still there. It was already lunchtime, and the street was brightly lit with smoke rising from every household. People from other neighborhoods also came here to eat, making the place seem very lively. Fu Qing walked into a restaurant he frequented and found it was full except for one empty table, so he went and sat down.

The shop assistant was busy serving tea and water. When he saw Fu Qing sit down, he smiled at him.

"Sir, is this vegetarian noodle dish again today?" The waiter asked with a smile as he walked over to him, placed a teacup on the plate, and poured a bowl of hot tea over it.

Fu Qing nodded. This vegetarian noodle dish was an extremely cheap type of noodle. The shop would boil meat in broth, add some seasonings, pour it into the noodles, and then blanch a few vegetable leaves in it. The taste was quite good, and many farmhands who wanted to save money would come here to eat a bowl of vegetarian noodles.

"Alright, a bowl of plain noodles!" the servant called out to the inside.

While waiting, Fu Qing was tilting his head and looking at the crowd outside the window, thinking about the matter of becoming an apprentice, when two people walked in from outside the shop. The two were dressed in the clothes of officials, one with a full beard and the other with two horns on his head.

Looking around, he saw that there were still seats available for Fu Qing, so he walked straight over and sat down.

"Young man from the Imperial Household Department, would you mind if I set up a table with you?"

"It's alright, please have a seat."

After the two burly men sat down, Fu Qing felt a strong smell of sweat hit him. The bearded man was covered in sweat and loosened his armor a little.

"Oh dear, I'm exhausted." When the servant came over, the man took the teapot from the tray in his hand, took out two teacups, poured tea into one bowl, and drank it down with his head tilted back.

"Why are you drinking so fast?" Another man with horns poured a bowl of tea. He held the bowl with one hand, and soon Fu Qing saw that a layer of frost had formed on the bowl.

"A Taoist master?" Fu Qing asked in surprise.

"Aren't you thirsty? Give me a bowl too." The big man filled the bowl again and handed it to him.

The burly man glanced at Fu Qing and said, "Young man, would you like a bowl too?"

Fu Qing raised the teacup and said, "Thank you, but I prefer hot tea." He brought the teacup to his lips and took a sip.

"Hey, you're always causing trouble. We haven't even figured out last week's murder case yet, and now this one's happening again. You're just making things difficult for us," the burly man complained, taking a sip of his iced tea.

Upon hearing this, Fu Qing became somewhat curious. He had been very interested in crime-solving plots since he was a child. He pretended to look towards the kitchen to wait for the food to be served, but he paid attention to the conversation between the two.