Chapter 36 - Donkey Cart
Li Huowang looked at the six pieces of silver and accepted them directly; after all, he needed the money.
“Young Taoist, please take your time eating. We will go and prepare first. We will depart tomorrow.”
After eating until they were full, the members of the Lu family felt groggy. They went back to rest and get some sleep since they hadn’t slept at all last night.
After they left, Li Huowang was the only one left in the room. Staring at the roasted chicken that was even larger than his head, he called for the Hu family’s servants. “Is there something I can use to store and carry this?”
Soon, Li Huowang exited Wuli Gang with a donkey cart filled with bags of food.
He had to properly budget the six pieces of silver. Even though this amount was not enough to buy a horse, it was still sufficient to buy an old donkey and a cart. At the very least, they would no longer have to carry food by themselves.
When Li Huowang came out of Wuli Gang, he saw that everyone was huddled in the rice field amidst the dried rice stalks; they hadn’t entered the village as they were afraid of scaring the villagers.
At that moment, Li Huowang saw that they were roasting some sweet potatoes. He reached into the cart and took out the roasted chicken. “Here, eat this.”
The people in their group had been eating dry rations for so long that upon seeing the chicken, they exploded with happiness and rushed over. A single chicken was then portioned and shared between ten people. While they didn’t have much, they ate it carefully, even going so far as to chew the bones as they ate it!
“Senior Li, where did the chicken come from? And the donkey cart? Just where did you go yesterday?” Bai Lingmiao asked while carefully chewing a piece of chicken.
Li Huowang lied down on a stack of dry rice stalks before slowly recounting the incident that happened yesterday.
After hearing how Li Huowang had risked his life to obtain these things, Bai Lingmiao placed down the piece of chicken and slowly approached him; she was worried about him.
“Senior Li, we are so sorry for dragging you down. If it wasn’t for us, there would be no reason for you to fight so hard.”
Li Huowang opened his eyes and looked at the girl wearing a green-colored cloth as a blindfold.
“It’s not your fault. Since that ‘thing’ could appear in the ancestral hall, it means that ‘it’ had been following us all this time. Even if ‘it’ hadn’t appeared yesterday, we would meet ‘it’ again sooner or later,” Li Huowang explained.
“Also,” Li Huowang paused and remembered the times he was stuck in his hallucinations back at the Zephyr Temple, “we still don’t know who will be dragging who in the future.”
He looked at the girl and gently held her hand.
Just as Bai Lingmiao was about to pry her hand off in embarrassment, she stopped.
Li Huowang slowly closed his eyes as he lay down on the dry rice stalks. Then, he gently loosened his grip on her hand.
However, just as he was about to let go of her hand, Bai Lingmiao’s soft hand tightened its grip on his hand.
They rested properly for a single night before the two groups resumed their journey. Their next destination was Jianye town. It would be the first proper town that Li Huowang would visit in this world.
“Young Taoist, the distance between Wuli Gang and Jianye town is not large. Based on our speed, we should be able to reach it in about four to five days,” Lu Zhuangyuan reported to Li Huowang.
Li Huowang turned around and looked at Zhao Wu, who was being carried on Simpleton’s back. “You are going home. Are you happy?”
He had heard before that Zhao Wu’s home was located in Jianye town. After traveling for the past few days, he had come to understand Zhao Wu a bit more. Zhao Wu was smart, but because of his body and the fact that he was illiterate, he was not able to show his full potential.
“Zhao Wu, we are about to reach your home. Shouldn’t you invite us to stay at an inn?” Puppy chuckled.
However, Zhao Wu’s reaction was unlike what everyone had expected. He just smiled bitterly and said, “So what if we are about to reach my home? I’m crippled. I can’t even carry anything. To the people at my home, I’m nothing but a parasite.”
Everyone fell silent the moment he said that; it was a truth that had been eating away at their hearts.
All the people in the Preparation Room, except Li Huowang, were more or less afflicted with some ailment. Even if they were to return back to their hometowns, they would still be shunned by others. While it felt amazing to have escaped from Zephyr Temple and from death, returning to their homes, which were filled with hostility, was not an entirely exciting prospect for them.
Seeing the atmosphere turned sour, Li Huowang turned around and told Zhao Wu, “Who said that you are useless? Since we have nothing to do while we are traveling, I will teach you how to refine some pills. Memorize as much as you can. Selling some of these pills back at home shouldn’t be too bad; at least, you won’t starve.”
Hearing this, Zhao Wu perked up, a deep thirst being reflected in his eyes. “Senior Li, I don’t want to learn how to refine pills. However, can you teach me how to read?”
“Why do you want to learn how to read? Isn’t it better to learn how to refine pills and become half a doctor? At least you can then earn a living.” Li Huowang was puzzled by his train of thought.
While being literate was extremely useful, it takes a normal person up to five years in school to learn how to read. It was an almost impossible task to make someone who couldn’t even write their own name become literate in just a few days. It would take years of effort!
“It’s alright! I will try and learn as much as I can!”
Facing Zhao Wu’s deep thirst for literacy, Li Huowang couldn’t really understand it. However, since Zhao Wu wanted to learn, he was happy to teach.
“Simpleton, place Zhao Wu on the cart. I will teach him.”
Since Zhao Wu didn’t even know any of the basics, Li Huowang could only teach him some common words and force him to memorize them.
He was teaching Zhao Wu quite intently when he realized that it had suddenly gotten quiet. He raised his head and saw that everyone was listening to his lectures, including the people of the Lu family.
Not only were they listening, they were even looking at him with eyes filled with respect; it was as if Li Huowang was doing something sacred.
“Erm... Young Taoist? Hehe~” Lu Zhuangyuan chuckled as he took out two preserved sausages while dragging his youngest son toward Li Huowang.
Just as Li Huowang wanted to see what Lu Zhuangyuan was about to say, a cloud of dust billowed from behind them.
Soon, a horse stopped in front of them before a plump man jumped down.
Lu Zhuangyuan recognized him as someone from Wuli Gang. He paid his respect to the man and said, “Aiyo! Aren’t you the youngest son of the Hu family? Where are you going in such a rush?”
“Nowhere! I just want to follow you! This way I can listen to your performances every day!”
The youngest son of the Hu family was quite excited. Even though he looked like an adult, his tone was still quite child-like.
“Aiyo~ Please don’t make such jokes. Quickly go back and don’t make your grandfather worry about your safety!”
“Don’t worry! I will pay you!” He said as he took out a solid gold chain and forcibly placed it into Lu Zhuangyuan’s hand.
Lu Zhuangyuan alternated between looking at the gold chain and the man, feeling quite conflicted.
However, a group of people riding on horseback soon arrived beside them.
“Father! Don’t take me back! I refuse to go back! I want to become a performer!” said the Hu family’s youngest son.
At that moment, the sound of a slap was heard as the youngest son of the Hu family was slapped by his father. Everyone was shocked to see his face swell up.
“You want to become a performer? Are you stupid?! They are the lowest of the low! If you become one, then I will personally kill you!”
As the man said that, he took the gold chain back and took his son before rushing back to Wuli Gang.
Once they left, Li Huowang stared at Lu Zhuangyuan, waiting to see what he was about to say.
Lu Zhuangyuan stood there in shame. He held the sausages in his hand and wanted to say something, but no words came out. It was the first time that the experienced old man looked just like a lost child.
In the end, he didn’t say anything. He forced a smile before nodding. Then, he dragged his son back to his carriage, his back looking even more hunched than before.
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