Stealing the Pen: Kirin's Primordial Lotus

Gong Yuanzheng brought Gong Shangjiao, Gong Zishang and Gong Ziyu into the Hua Mansion through the main gate.

Some ignoring onlookers at the gate saw the four people swaggering in from the gate, and they were talking about where these four people came from and why they had never seen them in Tiandu before.

A young man who accidentally caught a glimpse of Gong Yuanzheng's face kicked the person next to him without leaving a trace, "Shut up! You idiot, that's Master Xiao Zhuo's cousin, the young master of the Zhuo family."

"The cousin of the Zhuo family? How come I have never heard of this? There is a cousin of the Zhuo family?" The man looked at the young man beside him in confusion, "Brother Liu, are you seeing things?"

"How stupid! Just look at your face, which is exactly the same as Lord Xiao Zhuo's. It's enough to explain everything." The young man surnamed Liu was so angry that he fell backwards.

"What faces? I didn't see the faces of the four people who just walked in."

The young man surnamed Liu didn't know what to say, so he could only pull people away from the gate of Hua Mansion. On the way back to Tiandu City, one could still hear the young man surnamed Liu cursing and spreading the news about Zhuo Mansion to the people around him.

Gong Zishang, Gong Ziyu and Gong Shangjiao were visiting Hua Mansion for the first time. They were unfamiliar with everything in Hua Mansion but were very interested in it.

"My father's mansion covers an area that you cannot imagine, and every two or three years, the mansion will expand a certain area. Because of this, there are many buildings in the mansion, and each one has its own unique features.

I can say that even the envied imperial palace may not be able to compare with the beautiful scenery and gardens in my father's mansion. Here, almost all the unique architectural styles in the world are gathered.

Walking through it, you can not only appreciate the graceful and beautiful waterside pavilions and terraces of the Jiangnan water town, but also feel the bold and majestic architectural style of the northern region; not only that, you can even appreciate the strange and ingenious structures from some minority tribes in the West. "Gong Yuanzheng enthusiastically introduced the various buildings in the mansion to his brother Gong Shangjiao in detail.

As they walked along, Gong Shangjiao, Gong Zishang and Gong Ziyu had only walked a short distance when they saw no less than five architectural styles that were clearly derived from different regions. However, the magical thing was that these very different styles could be perfectly integrated here without any sense of disobedience.

“A craftsman who could build such a magnificent house must have a pair of hands as dexterous and delicate as those of gods and ghosts, otherwise how could he blend and interweave styles from all over the world so skillfully?” Gong Shangjiao had been wandering for many years, and his footprints were all over the country. The scenes he had experienced and seen were by no means comparable to those of Gong Zishang and Gong Ziyu, who had always lived deep in the palace.

"That's natural. The buildings here were all thought up by the tree demons of the Great Wilderness with great effort, and they are all built with wood unique to the Great Wilderness. Those rockery, flowing water, waterside pavilions and terraces were all specially moved from the Great Wilderness." Gong Yuanzheng introduced, pointing to a waterside pavilion not far away.

"Because our ancestor Bingyi was close to water, and my second brother has the strongest Bingyi bloodline, his bedroom was built by the water. His bedroom is the same as mine in the palace gate, with a pool of hot spring water." Gong Yuanzheng and the other two happened to pass by a pool, and they thought of the many buildings in their palace gate that were also built by the water.

"However, brother, why do those buildings built by the water in the palace gate need to be repaired every once in a while? But the building wood here can be used forever, second brother? Is it because the craftsmen in the palace gate cut corners?" Gong Yuanzheng thought so and said so.

"How could those craftsmen dare to cut corners? The wood used in the buildings near the water at the palace gates are all excellent wood. Even if they are not built near the water, they will be corroded little by little due to the fog in the area where the palace gates are located. That's why the wood stained by water needs to be replaced from time to time." Gong Shangjiao answered Gong Yuanzheng's question with a smile.

"Since it is excellent wood, why does it need to be replaced?" Gong Yuanzheng didn't understand. Since it was not a shoddy work, why did it need to be replaced and inspected from time to time?

"Brother Yuanzheng, what kind of wood is used in the house where your second brother lives? It can actually resist the erosion of water vapor?" Gong Zishang was really curious whether there was any wood in the world that could not be corroded by water vapor at all.

"I heard from my second brother that it is a kind of wood that lives in the sea. It was paid as tribute by the tribes living on the coast of the Great Wilderness. It seems to be called something like Sea God Wood!" Gong Yuanzheng flipped through his memories. He remembered that he had asked his second brother about it before, and he seemed to have heard him mention it.

"Sea God Wood?" This was the first time that Gong Shangjiao heard the name of this wood. He had heard of Hainan Huanghuali, Nanmu, Pine, and Redwood, but he had never heard of Sea God Wood.

"Yes! It is said that in ancient times, when gods existed, the sea god had a fight with someone and his blood dripped into the sea. It was absorbed by an unknown tree in that area and mutated. Because those woods live completely in sea water, they are regarded as a gift from the gods by the tribes on the coast who worship the sea god." Gong Yuanzheng also heard about this wood for the first time and found out after asking his little father.

"Then is this Sea God Wood a rare item? If we can contact this tribe, perhaps..." Gong Shangjiao is indeed a man with a talent for business. With just a few simple words from his brother, he thought of a way to make money.

"This Sea God Wood grows slowly, only growing one inch in a hundred years. If you want it to grow into a tree big enough to build a house, it will take at least ten thousand years. Even my second brother's house was built with all the savings that my father had accumulated over tens of thousands of years. Although that tribe occasionally pays tribute, it is only wood that has grown for thousands of years, which is not enough to build a house. It can only be used to make furniture or something." Gong Yuanzheng shrugged, breaking Gong Shangjiao's idea.

After hearing this, Gong Shangjiao could only sigh with regret, "It is indeed an extremely rare and scarce wood."

Gong Yuanzheng's eyes rolled and he said, "Second brother's courtyard is nearby. I'll take him to have a look." As he said that, he turned and headed in another direction.

"My second brother's courtyard is like a royal palace. When you push open the door, you will see the moon gate. After that is where the servants live. After the screen wall, there is the long pavilion, corridor, and waterside pavilion railings.

There is a lake under the corridor, in which are planted various kinds of lotus and some weak koi fish monsters from the wilderness.

After passing through the corridor, there is the main hall for entertaining important guests, the side hall on the left is for entertaining relatives and friends, and the dining room on the right is for dining. The small kitchen is far away from the main hall and close to the guest bedroom on the left.

After passing the main hall, there is the bedroom for guests. Behind the guest bedroom is the storeroom, which contains some unimportant things. My second brother was raised with a lot of wealth and didn't have many requirements for these things.

Finally, it was the second brother's own bedroom, which was the largest place in the entire courtyard. In the words of my father, if there were really thieves who came to steal, they would not continue to move forward after stealing things from the storeroom. In this way, the treasures of the Zhuo Mansion would not be discovered. "Gong Yuanzheng, along with three people and two guards, pushed open the gate of Zhuo Yichen's courtyard, introduced them step by step, and led them from the gate all the way to the storeroom at the back.

"What about your yard, Brother Yuanzheng?" Gong Zishang has been amazed since he entered the door. Thinking that Gong Yuanzheng should also have his own yard, he became curious about what his yard looked like.

"My yard is not as big as my second brother's, but it's not small either. It's just that it's not like the buildings in the Jiangnan water towns. Because I love to make poisons, my yard is planted with exotic flowers and plants, and I also raise some poisonous insects. So my father didn't arrange for servants to go there. There are only paper figures guarding there for me." Gong Yuanzheng walked to the door of Zhuo Yichen's dormitory and knocked twice.

"Are you on an expedition? Come in quickly!" A cheerful and crisp voice, like a yellow oriole singing out of a valley, came slowly from the room.

When Gong Yuanzheng heard the familiar voice, a look of joy appeared on his face. He stretched out his hand and gently pushed open the door, then stepped into the room. He glanced casually and was completely attracted by the person in front of him.

I saw that the person who always preferred to wear light-colored clothes and gave people a sense of freshness and refinement, was wearing a dark robe today for the first time. The black robe with gold thread embroidered flying birds, the birds embroidered with delicate silk threads on the surface of the robe were lifelike, as if they were about to flap their wings and fly high in the next moment. The flowing cloud pattern embroidered with silver thread meandered along the edge of the robe, as light and elegant as the clouds floating in the sky. Inside the robe, there was a long dress full of gold, and the golden light flickered in the sunlight, dazzling. A gorgeous waist corset tightly bound the slender waist that was so thin that it could not be grasped, highlighting her graceful figure. There was also a piece of pure white flawless mutton-fat jade hanging around the waist, and the warm luster contrasted with the surrounding clothes, making the owner's temperament more elegant.

In addition, the man was wearing a snow fox woven satin cape with silver thread piping. The snow-white cape covered his shoulders like a layer of soft snowflakes, forming a sharp contrast with the black robe, but complementing each other. What was even more eye-catching was that his black and shiny hair was not tied up high as usual, but was naturally scattered behind his back like a waterfall, swaying gently in the breeze. The hair on both sides was cleverly woven into two small and exquisite silver braids, which fell obediently on his chest, adding a bit of playfulness and cuteness to the whole person.

"Second brother!" Upon seeing this, Gong Yuanzheng immediately quickened his pace and ran forward, grabbed Zhuo Yichen's hand, and then snuggled in his warm arms like a child.

"Lord Zhuo!" Gong Shangjiao and others were different from Gong Yuanzheng, so of course they had to bow properly.

"We are all family, there is no need to be so restrained." Zhuo Yichen asked them to find a place to sit down.

"Uncle Zhang, I couldn't see you every time I came here before. You are really busy!" During the six months that Gong Yuanzheng came to Tiandu, he never ran into Zhang Qiling every time he came to Hua Mansion, and there was a hint of resentment in his tone.

"Your second brother is too lazy to handle the affairs of the Demon Collection Bureau. He runs around with a few subordinates every day, and just leaves them alone after catching some evil little demons." Zhang Qiling glared at Zhuo Yichen unhappily when he mentioned this.

"Uncle Zhang, second brother has never touched upon these things before, so it's understandable that he wouldn't do this. Besides, you're here to cover for him." Gong Yuanzheng knew his second brother too well. When his eldest brother was dealing with the affairs of the Demon Collection Bureau, he might be able to listen to a word or two, but his second brother was either practicing swordsmanship or lying down to sleep after listening to a word or two.

The eldest brother would not force the second brother to listen. After all, in the eldest brother's view, he was enough for these things, and the second brother just needed to be happy. Who would have thought that the eldest brother would have an accident one day, and it was so unexpected that he was gone before he could teach the second brother.

"Dad! Expedition!" Zhuo Yichen's cheeks turned red after hearing what the two said in unison. If there were other people in the part-time job room, he would feel even more ashamed.