The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 558 A wonderful fate

Since Chen Shun was mentioned, Qin Huai couldn't help but ask a few more questions about him.

An Youyou couldn't say much either; in her words, she wasn't familiar with Chen Shun.

It's a low-probability event for spirits to encounter their own kind during tribulation, but it's not entirely impossible. In most cases, such encounters are just casual meetings, with little to no interaction. A small number of well-off and kind-hearted spirits might offer a small helping hand if they see their kind in a miserable situation, like the spirit that gave Qu Jing glutinous rice cakes. Most spirits, however, either ignore them or harbor hostility.

The chances of a spirit undergoing tribulation are too unpredictable, and a few spirits are extremely destructive. If a Bifang like Luo Jun were in its prime before failing its tribulation, most spirits would avoid it. A few plant spirits with very poor judgment might approach it and let the Bifang spit on them, thus successfully completing their tribulation and sending them home.

An Youyou and Chen Shun's paths crossed purely because it was unavoidable—the two lived together, and An Youyou was renting a house from Chen Shun at the time, so their paths had to intersect.

An Youyou initially disliked Chen Shun, and she didn't like him much later on either, because Chen Shun inherited all of An Youyou's estate.

“I was really annoyed with Chen Shun at that time. I thought he was a real hypocrite.”

"Back then, the Chen family was considered quite wealthy among farmers. Chen Shun was a renowned child prodigy from a young age because of his memories of his previous life. The Chen family moved to Shanghai to make it easier for Chen Shun to attend school. With the whole family supporting him, he lived an incredibly comfortable life."

"After I went to school, I realized that Chen Shun was actually doing it for my own good, but at the time I was really unhappy. I was begging for food just fine, why did he have to teach me to read and write? What would I do if I knew so many characters? Knowing so many characters wouldn't help me beg for food. Besides, at that time Chen Shun and Jiang Weiguo were closer than I was, and the two of them often teamed up to persuade me to learn a skill instead of begging for food."

"No, it should be Jiang Weiguo who persuaded me, and Chen Shun pretended to remain neutral but actually sided with Jiang Weiguo." An Youyou got angry when she talked about this. "I'm clearly the spirit, I'm his kind. He supports Jiang Weiguo, but that human doesn't support me, this three-legged toad. Boss, do you think he's going too far?"

Qin Huai: ...

Qin Huai felt that Chen Shun was quite unlucky to have encountered An Youyou, a talented student with strange ambitions who insisted on her own ambitions without wavering.

“But I remember Chen Shun helped you find that job in Jinling,” Qin Huai said. “That job must have been pretty good.”

“It is quite good. My accounting job is better than the job Chen Shun found in Jinling. The main reason is that my employer is good. Not only does he pay a high monthly salary, but he also frequently gives bonuses. Every year before the end of the year, he gives a lot of money as a reward, just like an end-of-year bonus.” An Youyou first affirmed Chen Shun’s enthusiastic behavior, and then continued to condemn him, “But in the end, I gave him all the wages I had saved up over the years. He still made a profit.”

Qin Huai: ...

“During those years, Jiang Weiguo would save a dollar every month and send it to me every six months. Xiao Qi would also send me money occasionally. What I gave him wasn’t just my wages, but also the wages of my underlings. In the end, my underlings became his underlings, and I became his underlings too.” An Youyou showed a sad expression.

For some reason, Qin Huai looked like a chubby toad to An Youyou, who had gained weight in the past few months.

The toad is sad.

The toad is angry.

"Boss, I'm really in a terrible situation. Could you please not accept my donation? I have no money."

"I am now in my third life. In my second life, I lived quite a long time. I was always working to earn money and trying to find out about Xiao Qi and the others. I wanted to contact them and recruit a few more followers to make it 13, so we could go back to Shanghai and revive our business."

"Unfortunately, I hadn't saved enough money yet, and I only managed to get a little information before I died of pancreatitis before I could even go to them."

"Oh dear, I didn't even spend all the money I had in my previous life. I wonder who benefited from it."

Qin Huai now truly felt sorry for An Youyou. Who would have thought that this was the life of a three-legged toad, working diligently and earning money conscientiously, saving every penny and not daring to spend a single cent, while at the same time not forgetting to inquire about the news of her former underlings in order to return to her old home and reclaim everything she had lost.

As a result, he never spent all his money in each lifetime, and it all benefited the heirs.

"You even found out about Jiang Weiguo and the others in your second life?" Qin Huai exclaimed. An Youyou was the only spirit Qin Huai had ever seen who, after failing her tribulation, immediately went to find her old friends from her first life in her second life.

Of course, some other spirits also had this idea, but the conditions didn't allow it.

Reincarnated too quickly, didn't live long enough to go out and find people.

"Xiao Qi and Xiao Jiu don't have names, so I didn't have much hope. Jiang Weiguo's information was the easiest to find. At first, I thought he would save enough money to go back to Beiping and buy that Taifeng Restaurant. In my second life, I bought a train ticket to Beiping as soon as I saved some money."

"In the end, Taifeng Restaurant never opened. It turns out he didn't do well at all. After all these years, he still hasn't saved enough money to buy a restaurant."

Qin Huai: Are you even speaking human language? Do you know how big the Taifenglou restaurant is? How good its location is? How valuable it is?
"Then I went back to Shanghai. I originally thought that if Jiang Weiguo hadn't saved enough money to buy a restaurant, he should be doing quite well in Shanghai, since he's a pretty good cook."

"It turned out he wasn't in Shanghai either. While I was working in Shanghai, I tried to find out about him. I discovered he was really good at traveling. He was a chef all over the south. I could only find out where he went by following him. I worked hard and changed places to work. When I was inquiring about him in Hankou, I unexpectedly found out about Xiao Jiu."

Qin Huai: "...The word 'wandering' isn't used like that."

"Then I found out that Xiao Jiu was doing incredibly well, so I gave up on finding Jiang Weiguo and wanted to go and seek refuge with Xiao Jiu. I had already bought the tickets, but then I thought better of it."

"Why?" Qin Huai asked, somewhat curious.

Although An Youyou's overall style of doing things is very different from that of the Three-Legged Golden Toad due to her obsession and failure to transcend tribulation, he believes that the idea of ​​getting something for nothing is still engraved in An Youyou's bones. Given the opportunity, she still wants to get something for nothing as much as possible.

To gain something for nothing, expose her inhumanity, and seek refuge with her former underlings to live a life of ease and comfort, is something An Youyou is capable of doing.

“Because I’m Xiao Jiu’s boss,” An Youyou said. “During the years when I couldn’t get food, I ate and used Jiang Weiguo’s things more often, but Xiao Jiu really was raised by me.”

"Moreover, Jiang Weiguo and Chen Shun have a good relationship. I think that after I die, given Chen Shun's personality, he will probably give a portion of my inheritance to Jiang Weiguo, but he definitely won't give any to Xiao Jiu. If Jiang Weiguo takes a share of my inheritance, then I can find him after I'm reincarnated and ask him to give me some money to help me make a comeback. I don't think that's a big deal."

"Besides, he's not doing well; he hasn't even bought back Taifenglou in Beiping. If he follows me, maybe one day I'll become rich and I'll help him buy back Taifenglou."

“But Xiao Jiu is different. Xiao Jiu is doing too well. It would be embarrassing for me to go to him when I am so useless.”

Qin Huai thought An Youyou's words made sense, but he was also a little curious, so he asked, "Just how well is Xiao Jiu doing?"

The fact that An Youyou could utter such a sigh suggests that she has achieved financial freedom.

"Boss, you saw it in my memory too, didn't Xiao Jiu go to work in a factory in Hankou later?"

"Xiao Jiu is actually quite smart. He learns to read and write very quickly. Chen Shun only teaches him occasionally and he already knows a lot of characters."

Qin Huai nodded, indicating that he could tell. In An Youyou's first life, besides Jiang Weiguo, her most valued follower was Xiao Jiu. This was because Xiao Jiu was quick-witted, perceptive, and had a sharp tongue. While reviewing her memories, Qin Huai felt that among An Youyou's many nameless followers, Xiao Jiu was the most likely to provide her with two silver dollars a month, ensuring a comfortable life.

Xiao Jiu did it too.

"Xiao Jiu actually had a name before I found him. His family used to be farmers near Shanghai. They had two acres of land, and his parents rented land from landlords to pay rent for farming. Later, his mother got sick and spent a lot of money on doctors. His father, who was illiterate, borrowed money from the landlord at high interest rates. In the end, the interest compounded, and the family's land was used to pay off the debt to the landlord."

"His father wanted to get an explanation, but the landlord had him beaten to death."

"His mother also coughed up blood and died."

"Because his family offended the landlord, none of his relatives dared to take him in. In addition, he was very young at the time and could not do any work, so it was not worthwhile to support him. He became an orphan and could only beg for food everywhere."

"Xiao Jiu is actually very smart. Before I came to the human world to undergo tribulation, he would beg for food at churches and orphanages run by foreigners when he couldn't get any. Later, he met me on the street and thought I was really good at begging."

"At that time, I already had eight underlings. I didn't originally plan to take on Xiao Jiu because he seemed to be doing alright. But he insisted on recognizing me as his boss and becoming my ninth underling. He is also the underling who has been with me the longest."

"Back then, I really didn't understand names. I thought the eldest was a name, and the first and second children were also names. Xiao Jiu had a name back then. I remember his surname was Xu, and his name was Xu Gou Dan or something, but Xiao Jiu asked to change his name to Xiao Jiu, saying that he couldn't be different from everyone else."

Qin Huai wanted to applaud when he heard this. With such talent, Xiao Jiu would succeed at anything. No wonder he was the only one among the beggars to find a proper job and work in a factory.

"Back then, the factory in Hankou that recruited workers was a steel mill. Because it was a steel mill, the requirements for workers were high, including that they be literate."

"After going to Nanjing, I realized that it was really important to study hard if I wanted to work hard, so I wrote to Xiao Jiu and told him that he must study hard if he had the chance, so that he could get promoted and get a raise and send me more money every month."

"Xiao Jiu was indeed very hardworking. He not only studied, but also joined the army and became one of the volunteer soldiers. By the time I heard about him in Hankou, he was already the manager of the largest cotton mill in Suzhou. Boss, you have no idea how much determination it took for me not to go to Suzhou to join him!"

Qin Huai was completely dumbfounded.

He felt his brain was going blank, and at that moment he even understood why all of An Youyou's memories were part of the main storyline.

Her memories may be unremarkable, but everyone who appears in them is crucial.

Her awakening is crucial.

"The... the factory manager of the cotton mill in Gusu, his surname was... Xu." Qin Huai stammered a bit. He already knew the answer, but he couldn't help asking again to confirm, "Then... do you know what his name was back then?"

"I remember his name was Xu Chenggang. I heard that he changed his name at the steel mill."

Qin Huai was so shocked that he couldn't speak.

An Youyou looked at Qin Huai with some confusion, not understanding what she had said wrong. She hadn't even finished speaking, so why was Qin Huai making that face?

Although An Youyou didn't understand, she had a good attitude and continued, "At the time, I thought that Xiao Jiu had already become the factory manager of the cotton mill. He could run away but he couldn't hide. I could always go back to him. It would be better to wait until I made a name for myself and it would feel like I was returning home in glory. So I canceled my train ticket to Suzhou and continued to inquire about Jiang Weiguo."

"It's really hard to find out about him. I've been trying to find out about him for almost 10 years. I've also found out about Xiao Qi. He's not doing too well. I roughly know where he is, but I haven't gone to look for him. After all, if I went to look for him, I might have to help him out, and I didn't have any money to help him out at that time."

"Finally, I found out that Jiang Weiguo was the head chef of a state-run restaurant in Z City, a very small city."

“At that time, I had been working for more than ten years and had saved up some capital to start a business. I thought that although Jiang Weiguo had not saved enough money to buy Taifeng Building, he should have some savings. I didn’t ask for much. I just wanted 80% of it, and I would definitely pay him back 10 times when I became successful.”

"But when I found him at the state-run restaurant in Z city, I discovered he wasn't doing well either. It was probably because he had too many sons, and raising sons was too expensive. Boss, you wouldn't believe it, he actually had five sons, and each of them was tall and strong."

“When I went to eat at the state-run restaurant, I didn’t want to pay and wanted him to treat me. But I happened to see his three sons eating at the table next to me. They ate as if they were using a washbasin. No wonder Jiang Weiguo hadn’t saved enough money to buy Taifenglou in Beiping after all these years.”

"I thought to myself, forget it, Jiang Weiguo probably doesn't have any money. If we were to acknowledge each other, I might even have to give him some money. I ate a meal at the state-run restaurant, paid the bill, and then went to do business."

“I originally thought that I would definitely make a fortune in business, and then I could return to my hometown in Suzhou to find Xiao Jiu and reunite with him, so that he could sponsor me to return to Shanghai and help Xiao Qi and Jiang Weiguo.”

"As a result, there were too many scammers, and I lost all my money, so I had to keep saving."

"At that time, I didn't want to acknowledge them anymore because it was too embarrassing."

"Before I could save enough money, I got sick and died. I don't know who benefited from the inheritance. If I had known, I would have made a will before I died and left the inheritance to Xiao Jiu. That way, if Xiao Jiu were still alive, I could have gone to him with a clear conscience and asked him to give me all his retirement money."

"Boss, I'd like to ask for a week's leave. I'll go to Suzhou first, then to Z City, to see if Xiao Jiu and Jiang Weiguo are still alive. If they are, and they're willing, could I use their retirement pensions as a gift? I really don't have any money. Boss, you know my financial situation. Every penny I have comes from you."

Qin Huai: ...

Qin Huai's mind was still in turmoil.

He felt the plot was developing too fast for him to keep up with.

Qin Huai made a stop gesture.

"Stop, stop, stop, Youyou, let me sort this out first. We'll talk about taking leave to go to Suzhou and Z City later."

"what time is it now?"

"4:47."

“If we hold on for a few more hours, Luo Jun will definitely get up and have tangerine peel tea at 9 a.m. Then the two of us will go straight off work and have a tea party at his house.”

"I can't be the only one shocked."

An Youyou:?

What's so shocking about this? There are so many spirits and monsters in the group, are their tribulations all so ordinary?

(End of this chapter)