Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 4 Loans

Back inside
The old beggar and Chen Gou'er sat at the square table
The old beggar had messy hair, deep wrinkles on his face, and a lot of dirt and grime. He wore a patchwork shirt haphazardly on his body, which looked empty.

Chen Gou'er looked about five or six years old, with a pair of tiger teeth, and his skin was snow-white and clean. He had a tuft of hair on his head that jingled and rattled, making him very cute.

Unlike the other people in the southern city, the two had no difference in facial features from ordinary people, except for their eyes, one on the sole of the foot and the other on the buttocks.

Has anyone ever been stared at by three eyes?
Li Wushou had done it once, when Chen Gou'er took off his pants and bent over.

Chen Gou'er stared at the sesame seed cake with his mouth watering. When he saw Li Wushou come in, he said impatiently.

"Li Wushou, come and eat with us!"

Li Wushou ignored him and walked past the square table, where there was an incense table made of wooden planks and tree branches, about chest-high.

On top was a half-finished clay incense burner that hadn't been fully fired, and behind the burner were three wooden plaques.

The words "Li Wushou", "Chen Gou'er", and "Old Beggar" were written in charcoal.

Li Wushou took out three sticks of incense, lit them, and placed them in the incense burner.

The old beggar looked on with satisfaction, but Chen Gou'er found it unlucky!
"Li Wushou, we're not dead yet."

"You don't know anything! We're all alone. If we die one day, there won't be any offerings. How can we not burn some offerings beforehand? This is called being prepared for a rainy day!"

"Ha! There aren't even enough sesame seed cakes left, what's the point of planning!"

Sometimes Li Wushou couldn't understand why the old beggar had taken Chen Gou'er in, and why he kept arguing with him all day long.

It wasn't that Li Wushou disliked Chen Gou'er; he simply felt that the old beggar seemed to have some masochistic tendencies.

"Stop arguing, hurry up and eat. I've already eaten two souls today, I can't eat anymore. Also, I'm planning to go to Zhengcheng again tomorrow to visit the City God Temple."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Chen Gou'er had already swallowed a sesame seed cake and grabbed another one to stuff into his mouth.

The old beggar's expression suddenly changed, and he became somewhat worried. He had also heard what Huang Dabing had said.

"This statue of the City God is being made into gold, something doesn't seem right. Didn't Li Erniu say that quite a few people have died?"

Li Wushou seemed indifferent. "Am I afraid of death? I'm only afraid of being poor. Twenty taels of silver can buy you a lot of food to nourish your bodies. If you plant more seeds, you won't be afraid anymore."

The old beggar nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly, but still spoke up:
"That being said, it's still good to make some preparations."

After saying that, he turned to look at Chen Gou'er, who was wolfing down his food.

Noticing the gaze, Chen Gou'er swallowed the sesame seed cake with difficulty and mumbled:

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm still a child!"

"Tomorrow you will go with Li Wushou. If you get the money, you can eat ten taels of silver's worth of food by yourself."

"really?"

"really!"

“Let’s do it then. I’ll go with Li Wushou tomorrow.”

Chen Gou'er suddenly stood up from the table. The three-panel square table was already unstable, and it fell to the ground. The old beggar was quick-witted and grabbed the remaining sesame cakes.

Seeing Chen Gou'er's reckless manner, Li Wushou hesitated. No matter how he looked at it, the other party didn't seem like someone who was going to do great things.

Noticing Li Wushou's suspicious gaze, Chen Gou'er thumped his chest loudly.

"Li Wushou, don't worry, I, Dog, will definitely protect you!"

He was greeted with two resounding slaps; a good beating would teach a brat to behave!
In the end, Li Wushou couldn't resist the old beggar's insistence and agreed to take Chen Gou'er with him the next day.

Chen Gou'er got an extra sesame seed cake as he wished. Although he was still starving, it was at least something to eat.

The moon was bright and the stars were few; Li Wushou went to bed early.

Anyone who frequently goes hungry knows that sleep is the best way to relieve hunger.

The old beggar and Chen Gou'er were not so lucky. Bathed in moonlight, the spiritual eye of the Blood Buddha Temple was growing wildly.

The old beggar stretched his dark feet into the moonlight, his two little eyes darting around on the soles of his feet. Chen Gou'er, meanwhile, stuck out his buttocks, groaning in pain.

"Old man, I really shouldn't have listened to you. If I had known that eye implantation would hurt so much, I should have let Li Wushou steal it."

The old beggar grinned widely, his expression a mix of laughter and tears: "Now you know how hard I suffered before, right? Not only did I have to get my facial features transplanted, but I also had to raise you, you ungrateful wretch!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Gou'er's face flushed red, and he shouted excitedly, "You're talking nonsense! Who's the ingrate?"

"Shh, keep your voice down, don't wake Li Wushou."

"So what if I woke you up? Who are you calling an ingrate?"

"Ancestor, I've had enough! You're a dog, not a wolf!"

"Hmph~ That's more like it!" After the first exchange, the two still couldn't sleep, so Chen Gou'er picked up where they left off.

"Old man, why won't you let me and Li Wushou go and rob it?"

"Rob my ass! Li Wushou was almost killed by Wu Zhuangyuan's tiger girl sitting on him last year. Who do you think you can rob?"

"But it's not like we haven't tried to steal from them before. Li Wushou often steals food from the Ghost God."

"Let me correct you, that's called stealing!"

"Whether it's stolen or robbed, as long as we can get the stuff back, it doesn't matter."

Looking at the indignant Chen Gou'er, the old beggar shook his head. He was still too young.

After thinking for a moment, the old beggar pulled Chen Gou'er to his side and whispered:
"Today I'm going to teach you a lesson, but don't tell Li Wushou."

"What?"

"Li Wushou has too much of an appetite!"

Seeing that Chen Gou'er wanted to ask again, the old beggar slapped Chen Gou'er on the head, and Chen Gou'er's eyes instantly became clear.

The old beggar then cleared his throat and spoke slowly.

"The monks of Blood Buddha Temple are all missing facial features, which is why they treat this southern city as a breeding ground, cultivating flesh and blood with facial features like raising venomous insects. The people's bodies are their flesh and blood nests."

“We’re the same!” Chen Gou’er chimed in.

“We’re different. The flesh and blood we’ve raised are only close to us. If you take the monks from Blood Buddha Temple back, feed them well, raise them to adulthood, they’ll come back.”

Chen Gou'er was stunned, but also very skeptical.

"Huh? But what about that spotted dog we used to have? Didn't you say you'd send it to Wu Zhuangyuan's house for a few days, and then it never came back?"

The old beggar blushed and slapped Chen Gou'er again.

"What do you know? That's something I don't want. I'll go get it back, I'll definitely bring it back! With our family's financial situation, what will we eat if we get it back?"

"Forehead"

Chen Gou'er was still young and his brain wasn't fully developed, so he couldn't refute it for a moment, and even thought that what the old beggar said made a lot of sense.

After all, the old beggar is the best at asking for things!

But the boy's stubbornness wouldn't allow him to back down.

"Old man, if you hit my head again, I'm going to bite you!"

"Alright, I was just trying to distract you because I was worried you were in too much pain."

The old beggar slid down the pole with exceptional smoothness. Seeing that he had secured Chen Gou'er, he quickly began to explain.

"So, the suffering we're going through now is just an investment, you know? Every seed you plant now will bring you unimaginable returns in the future! Just like the money Wu Zhuangyuan lent to Li Wushou, it accrues interest. Do you still feel bitter now?"

Chen Gou'er nodded as if he understood, then shook his head.

"So let's hurry up and make more eyes open, that can't go wrong, right?"

"Yes! It's rare to see such idiots as the Blood Buddha Temple!"

"Then we absolutely must get the 20 taels of silver from the City God tomorrow?"

"Yes, we'll buy two cows then. After we finish eating them, we can definitely nourish a few more eyes."

Chen Gou'er's face was flushed, he felt a surge of excitement, and his eyes were exceptionally firm!
The old beggar saw everything and couldn't help but nod. Who says ideological mobilization isn't a fighting force?
After a long while, the old beggar, who was about to fall asleep, suddenly heard Chen Gou'er ask with some doubt.

Did Li Wushou pay interest on the money he borrowed from Wu Zhuangyuan?

"Uh... no, I haven't paid back the principal yet."

"What if the Blood Buddha Temple doesn't return it either?"

"Then let's beat up Blood Buddha Temple just like Tiger Girl beat up Li Wushou!"

"Wouldn't that be considered robbery?"

"I'll ask for it first, and if he won't give it to me, I'll just take it! That's called being polite first, then resorting to force. At least we won't be impolite!"

"Indeed, if you want it all and still won't give it to him, there's nothing wrong with taking it from him."

"Old beggar, you are so polite!"

"thank you."

(End of this chapter)