Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 3 Three Immortals Pavilion

Can't think of a solution

Li Wushou decided to go home first.
After leaving the market and heading south, near the direction of leaving the city, there is a low hill.

The hill is not high, and it used to be lush with flowers and trees, but now it is somewhat withered.

After the trees were planted, many people came here to dig for wild vegetables, and now people are even eating the tree bark.

There is a flat area on the mountaintop with a dozen or so wooden houses scattered around.

Inside, shadows were everywhere; it wasn't even dark yet, and they were already huddled inside, barely breathing.

Occasionally, two or three people would see Li Wushou returning from afar, and as if they had discussed it beforehand, they would hurriedly return to their rooms.

Li Wushou was unsurprised and sighed softly.

I wonder if these neighbors know that we're going to have to plant more eyes.

The innermost room is a slightly larger one. Unlike the other houses, it has some rubble piled up at the foundation and a yard surrounded by dry reeds.

On the small door made of dead tree trunks, there was a flat wooden board with the words "Sanxian Pavilion" written on it in charcoal ash.

This name was something Chen Gou'er insisted on having.

After hearing Wu Zhuangyuan's stories of immortals and gods, Chen Gou'er became fascinated.

They keep calling out "Old Beggar," Li Wushou, and Chen Gou'er, but aren't they just three souls together?

The three of us together are practically immortals, aren't we?

Children often speak without thinking, which often leads to them being ridiculed.

Having no other choice, Li Wushou went to consult Wu Zhuangyuan for advice on what kind of name related to immortals he should choose so he could appease Chen Gou'er when he returned.

It was on that occasion that I got beaten up by Tiger Girl from Wu Zhuangyuan's family!
After returning, Li Wushou carved a wooden sign and wrote "Sanxian Temple" on it. The old beggar then said, "I'm not a Taoist priest."

Chen Gou'er blurted out, "Then let's change it to the 'guan' in 'teahouse'!"
Li Wushou felt that "Guan" gave people a sense of people coming and going, and didn't seem like a family name.

The old beggar agreed, saying, "We're beggars; only when people come and go can we eat and drink our fill!"

So they covered the "Guan" with yellow earth and thus settled on the name "Sanxianguan" (Three Immortals Pavilion)!
Gently push open the fence gate; the yard is overgrown with weeds.

None of the three were diligent.

The old beggar goes without saying; if you're begging, why talk about being diligent?
Chen Gou'er was young and ambitious. He said he wanted to make a lot of money and hire several old women, one to cook, one to sweep, and one to warm the old beggar's bed.

After he finished speaking, the old beggar scolded him: "Since you've already hired someone, why not hire someone younger?"

Chen Gou'er asked, puzzled: "Are younger people more efficient at work?"

The old beggar rolled his eyes, not wanting to pay any attention to Chen Gou'er.

Li Wushou found it amusing, but when it came to doing housework, he refused to do any.

I've worked myself to the bone outside, can't I even relax when I get home?
It's just some grass growing there; it didn't grow on me.

Before even entering the house, one could hear intermittent groans coming from inside, from an old man and a young boy, one groan followed by another.

"Old man, I'm in so much pain! My chest feels like it's being ripped open. I'm so hungry! I really want to eat the cow that Scholar Wu owns!"

Chen Gou'er hissed and spoke to the old beggar.

"You're not even as tall as a cow's leg, what are you going to eat!"

The old beggar retorted irritably, "Do you think Li Wushou can scam food? Those monks and the evil spirits are not so easy to fool!"

"It should be possible, right?"

Chen Gou'er was a little unsure, and then added at the end, "You fooled me last time."

"You're brainless, isn't it normal that I lied to you?"

Chen Gou'er was a little unhappy. "I'm just young and my brain hasn't developed yet! I believe in Li Wushou! He can definitely fool him. If he can't, we'll just rob him!"

"It's better to take than to rob. If you want to rob, you go ahead and rob. I'm not going!"

"I'll go, I'll go!"

After he finished speaking, the room was filled with heavy breathing. Chen Gou'er looked angry and wished he could get out of bed and snatch it away immediately.

The old beggar seemed to realize he had spoken too harshly, and muttered softly, "Let's wait a little longer, the eyes are almost ripe, if it doesn't work out..."

"squeak~"

Li Wushou pushed open the door and entered; the room was very dark.

There is a living room and a bedroom, and the three of them usually squeeze into the inner room.

Upon hearing the sound of the door being pushed open, the old beggar and Chen Gou'er stopped talking.

The two, who had been full of energy just moments before, suddenly became barely breathing.

"Ouch~ That hurts!"

"Hiss~ I'm dying, old man~"

Li Wushou placed the sesame seed cake on a three-legged square table inside the room without any expression.

I was so worried, but these two were just lying to me?
After a few moments of screaming and hissing, seeing that Li Wushou still didn't react, the two realized something was wrong. Chen Gou'er stopped crying out and tentatively asked, "Li Wushou, is that you back? How was it? Did you manage to swindle any grain today?"

"Call me brother!"

"I didn't manage to scam them, but I did buy some sesame cakes."

Although he was a little angry that the father and son had lied to him, Li Wushou still replied to Chen Gou'er.

"Yay, big brother, I want to eat sesame seed cakes!"

Chen Gou'er cheered, and a rustling sound came from inside, as if someone was getting up.

The old beggar was shrewd after all, and he realized that Li Wushou might have overheard his conversation with Chen Gou'er.

He struggled to get out of bed and spoke as he did so.

“Li Wushou, we really didn’t lie to you. The eye was so painful after being implanted, and Chen Gou’er and I felt terrible all over. We were so hungry that we thought of asking you to scam some food from Wusheng Pawnshop.”

"You call me 'Big Brother' too!"

"Alright, big brother!"

The old beggar, lacking any backbone, immediately cried out.

"Calling me 'Big Brother' won't help. The new blind monk from Blood Buddha Temple said that everyone will have to have another pair of eyes implanted in three days. You're going to suffer a lot!"

"Huh~?"

Chen Gou'er let out a strange cry?
"What should I do?"

The old beggar also exclaimed in surprise, but why did his tone sound so strange? It sounded like he was somewhat excited?
Just as Li Wushou was about to ask the two what was wrong with them, a knocking sound came from the door frame outside the house.

"Is Li Wushou home?"

It was the voice of Li Erniu, the team leader who carried the corpses, as he instructed the people inside: "The sesame cakes are on the table, you can eat them yourselves."

Then he turned to the outside of the courtyard and replied, "Yes, Captain Li."

Stepping out of the house, sure enough, Li Erniu was standing outside the door with Huang Dabing.

Li Wushou wasn't very familiar with the other members of the team. The few times they did work together as a group, he always followed the team leader, Li Erniu. Therefore, Huang Dabing wasn't very enthusiastic when he met Li Wushou.

"Captain Li, what is it? Please come inside and tell me slowly."

As they spoke, Li Wushou opened the door. Li Erniu glanced at the house, then shook his head and said:
"The Blood Buddha Temple will be planting new eyes in three days. The corpse-moving team will probably be busy after that. I'm reminding you not to slack off these next few days."

"Yes, Captain Li, I heard the news today as well."

Li Erniu nodded. "It's good that you know."

Then, as if remembering something, he asked, "What did the monks at Blood Buddha Temple say when you went to see them this morning?"

Li Wushou didn't hide anything, and this time he took the opportunity through Li Erniu to answer truthfully.

"Cough~ It didn't work. That monk insisted that my physical body was almost completely consumed and that I couldn't grow eyes anymore."

"The new eyes will be implanted in three days. You know my family's situation. I'm afraid the old beggar and Chen Gou'er won't make it through this."

Upon hearing Li Wushou's words, Li Erniu's dark face twitched slightly, while Huang Dabing beside him had a strange expression.

Li Wushou was preoccupied with the matter of planting eyes again, so he didn't notice anything amiss and continued talking to himself.

"One eye costs five taels of silver. If only I could get twenty taels of silver somewhere!"

Li Erniu didn't reply, patted the door frame, and prepared to go back, but Huang Dabing behind him suddenly interjected.

"Twenty taels of silver? Isn't there a job in the city?"

"Oh~?"

Li Wushou's eyes lit up, and he asked Huang Dabing, "What kind of work?"

Before Huang Dabing could reply, Li Erniu had already started scolding him.

"Big Pancake, don't talk nonsense! Several people have already died while they were making a golden statue for the City God. That's money to buy their lives!"

Out of consideration for their shared surname, Li Erniu had always shown some favor to Li Wushou, and naturally did not want to see Li Wushou lose his life for no reason.

"Don't worry about the 20 taels of silver. The old beggar and Chen Gou'er will definitely get through this. Be on standby for the next few days, understand?"

Without waiting for Li Wushou's reply, he grabbed Huang Dabing and turned to leave.

It wasn't until Li Erniu and his companion were almost down the hill that Huang Dabing spoke to Li Erniu with some surprise.

"Is this Li Wushou really crazy? Where did that old beggar and Chen Gou'er come from in his house?"

"Sigh, she's pitiful too."

Li Erniu sighed; there were some things he didn't say.

The corpse-moving team could be exempted from the facial feature transplant, but Li Wushou always used his connections to go to the Blood Buddha Temple to ask for the facial feature transplant.

I've come to know about this several times over the past few years.

Judging from this, even the monks of Blood Buddha Temple are disgusted with him. Is his body already so depleted?

That's really crazy!
(End of this chapter)