Mutated Tao

Chapter 38: Jianye Town

“Fifth brother, quickly come in! Where have you been all this time? Both I and sixth sister have been so worried about you. We thought that something had happened to you.”

Seeing the topless man carrying Zhao Wu inside, Li Huowang followed them; he had a feeling that the situation was not as simple as it looked.

“Why are you back?”

As soon as Li Huowang heard what the man with the abacus said in such a calm voice, he knew that he was right.

The excited expression on Zhao Wu’s face immediately disappeared, replaced with a moody one. His voice shook as he spoke, “Father, I was kidnapped by someone and brought far away. My friends over there helped me so that I could come back.”

Looking at the group of people standing in front of the entrance with their black veiled bamboo hats, he grunted impatiently. “Go away! Shoo! How am I supposed to run my business when you are all blocking the entrance?”

Li Huowang was quite pissed at that man’s attitude.

Why are you treating us rudely? We are not related to you in the slightest!

At that moment, Li Huowang took the sword that was in Zhao Wu’s hands and unsheathed it before pressing down the sharp blade onto the table, almost splitting it apart.

“What are you trying to do? The head guard is my cousin!” Zhao Wu’s father crawled backward in fear.

Li Huowang took out a piece of silver and shaved a small piece of it before placing it right in front of Zhao Wu’s father. He then pinched the small piece of silver and pushed it toward the man. “I’m here to buy rice!”

Now in the backyard of the grain shop, Zhao Wu was pouring tea for Li Huoawng. “Calm down, Senior Li. That’s just how my father is; however, he has a good heart.”

Li Huowang drank the tea in one go. He couldn’t afford to care too much about this matter. After all, there were other matters to deal with besides sending Zhao Wu home.

“These are the last words of the guiding drug ingredients whose families should be located within the kingdom. Since you know Jianye Town the best, find a reputable escort service and send these to their respective recipients,” Li Huowang said as he took out eight pieces of paper and passed them to Zhao Wu.

Zhao Wu received the pieces of paper with both hands and nodded. “Don’t worry, Senior Li! I will make sure that this is done properly!”

“Sure. You should rest well in your home now. We are leaving.” Li Huowang said as he stood up.

“So soon? How about having lunch at my house? After all, it was thanks to all of you that I could make it back safely.”

Zhao Wu was quite sad about parting ways; it was very likely that this would be their last time meeting each other.

“No need to trouble yourself.” Li Huowang patted Zhao Wu’s shoulders. Based on the attitude of Zhao Wu’s father, it was likely that having lunch here would be way too troublesome.

“Remember to memorize the words that I’ve taught you in these past few days, especially your name. At the very least, you will not be completely illiterate if you are able to at least write your name.”

Just as Li Huowang was saying goodbye, one of the guiding drug ingredients, who had black hair all over her body, whispered to Zhao Wu, “Make sure to find out and confirm if it was your dad who had sold you off; it might not have been just a simple kidnapping.”

These words shocked everyone, leaving them unable to say anything. It was only after Zhao Wu’s third brother brought them their rice that they left.

They were walking on the streets, trying to find an inn to stay in.

“Why do you think that Zhao Wu was sold off by his own father?” Li Huowang turned and asked the girl. The girl was afflicted with hypertrichosis. She usually stayed silent, but her words today had shaken everyone.

“Even a tiger would care for its cub. Maybe he’s not that evil?” Li Huowang continued.

Li Huowang had just said that when the girl trembled. With a voice filled with sadness, she said, “A tiger wouldn’t abandon its cub! But humans are much more evil than tigers! I was sold off by my parents!”

Everyone stopped and stared at her in shock.

“Two pieces of silver! For just two pieces of silver, they sold me off! They didn’t even turn to look back at me!” she continued in a trembling voice.

Sensing the pain in her voice, Bai Lingmiao carefully walked over to her and hugged her, gently patting her back to calm her down.

Li Huowang remained silent for a moment before he said, “Since they already sold you off, do you still want to go back?”

“Yes! Absolutely!” The girl clenched her teeth and growled.

Sensing her agitation and rapid breathing, Li Huowang somehow knew that her reason for going home was different compared to the rest of them.

“Tong Lai Inn. Let’s rest here tonight.” Li Huowang pointed at a signboard on the left and walked in.

“Welcome, my dear guests. Would you like to just rest for a while or stay the night?”

“We are staying the night. How much is it?”

“We have three types of rooms. The deluxe room includes meals and costs 90 coins. The superior room costs 60 coins, but doesn’t include meals. The normal room costs 20 coins, but it’s like a dormitory. I see that you have seven adults and five children. For a group of 12 people, I would recommend choosing four superior rooms. Those rooms would be large enough, allowing three people to sleep in them comfortably. It would also be safer if each child is supervised by two adults.”

“Ok, let’s just go with what you recommend.”

“Alright! Twelve guests! Four superior rooms~ The rooms are upstairs; please watch your step as you climb up the stairs.”

Soon, it was nighttime, and Li Huowang was silently observing the people walking on the streets outside the window. He finally had time to relax after traveling for so long. This was a good opportunity to observe the strange world he was in.

Strong men guiding horses using reins, a scholar holding a folding fan, children with lanterns, and even a hunchbacked man selling food he was carrying on his shoulder pole.

Everything seemed so real yet so awkward; it was as if it just didn’t fit.

The faces of the various strangers soon started to become blurred. Li Huowang continued staring until he saw a familiar face, immediately causing his muscles to tense up in shock.

He had just seen Yang Na!

Her pretty face was wet with tears; she was crying and gasping for breath as she screamed, “Huowang! Wake up!”

“Huh?!” He fell backward from the shock but immediately got up before rushing back to the window and looking outside once again.

Unfortunately, he found out that it wasn’t Yang Na, but just another girl that looked like her.

“Yeah… Even I’ve aged this much in this world. If Yang Na really existed here, how could she still be a young girl…”

Li Huowang slid down with his back against the wall, his eyes looking soulless as he stared at the wooden beams of the room. “Are my hallucinations coming back?”

Suddenly, there was a knock on his door.

“Come in. The door is unlocked.” Li Huowang thought that it might be Puppy who was supposed to sleep with him, but instead, it was Bai Lingmiao who entered the room.

She smiled as she showed him something wrapped in lotus leaves. Li Huowang opened it and saw that there were several hot buns in it.

“Senior Li, you must be hungry. Please eat some buns,” said Bai Lingmiao.

Li Huowang ate them one by one. He was indeed hungry.

Meanwhile, Bai Lingmiao was holding the lotus leaf and buns in her hands as she sat beside him and stared at him quietly, passing him another bun every time he finished eating the previous one.

“What a wonderful place. To think that someone is still selling buns so late at night,” Li Huowang said, feeling curious.

“Is that so? I think it’s quite normal to sell buns even at night. However, if we are talking about something really special, it would be Simpleton dipping his buns in vinegar before eating them!”

“Haha. Wonder where he is from. To think that he has such weird dining habits.”

At that moment, Li Huowang realized something as he was talking with Bai Lingmiao. “Wait, I didn’t give you any money. How did you buy these?”

Bai Lingmiao’s eyes flickered, but she still gently placed the food on her legs before taking out a few pieces of silver from her waist and showed them to Li Huowang.

“Senior Li, I sold the golden anklet. You are already working so hard for us. This is the least I could do for you.”

Chacha and Char’s Thoughts

Yeah, girls had it hard in the past