Research-Style Cultivation, Starting by Refusing to Be a Furnace – Chapter 11

Ch 11: Meeting an Acquaintance

The next day, the early summer sunlight sprinkled over the entire Qingyuan Prefecture, slightly warm, and the pedestrians coming and going on the streets were still lively.

Wei Xing already knew that the Li Estate was located in the East District, an area mostly occupied by the residences of merchants, revealing luxury and extravagance. The most populous and lively area was mostly in the West District, where most ordinary people or poor families lived, and it was also the area with the most traffic and the most shops of all kinds.

In the East District, Wei Xing strolled around, and of course, now that he had the ‘tribute’ given by the Li Family, he was not short of silver.

Wei Xing was very curious about the shops in this world, and basically went in to browse. Naturally, someone moved the items he liked onto the carriage.

“It feels good not to have to haggle, now I’m a rich man too,” Wei Xing stood in the middle of the street, looking at the flow of people, and sighed at the shops on both sides.

Inside a general store, Wei Xing was casually browsing when he suddenly saw a simple little bell. There were no complicated patterns on it, and the whole body was a copper-green color, which looked a bit old. Apart from that, there was nothing else special that could attract attention.

“Could it be an antique?” Wei Xing’s subconscious thought was this. He might have been crazy about getting rich in his previous life, and everything he saw looked like a valuable object.

“Shopkeeper, how much do you want for this little bell?” Wei Xing asked.

“Five taels,” an old man in the shop replied familiarly.

“I’ll buy it.” Suddenly, a male figure walked in from outside, threw the money over, picked up the small bell, and turned to leave, not caring at all that Wei Xing had seen the item first.

“Wait,” Wei Xing called out to him, and then said, “It’s not appropriate for you to do this, this item was seen by me first, and you just snatched it away.”

Before Wei Xing could finish speaking, the man turned around and interrupted him: “Didn’t you see that I paid for it first? I paid first, there are plenty of people who like it, who do you think you are?”

Hearing this, Wei Xing felt that there was no need to argue with him, but when the man turned around and saw his face clearly, Wei Xing was overjoyed: “It’s you?”

“You know me?” the man asked in surprise.

“I not only know you, but I also want to beat you up,” Wei Xing said, staring at his face. It turned out that this person was the beggar who had cheated him at the Qin family banquet that day, and now he had transformed into a scholar. Wei Xing recognized him at first glance, with that wretched smile and a pair of eyes that looked sincere but were deceptive.

Wei Xing was about to call over the few shop assistants who were traveling with him to greet him, but when the man saw this, he didn’t dare to stay, and ran away as fast as his legs could carry him. He ran so fast that he was about to disappear from sight in the blink of an eye.

Wei Xing’s temper flared up, and he chased after him. Finally, the two stopped in a small alley. Both of them were exhausted, leaning against the wall, bending over, and panting heavily.

The man spoke first: “Brother, why do you have to do this? Isn’t it just a small broken bell that we have a grudge over? If you want it, fifty taels of silver, it’s yours.”

“How much?” Wei Xing was shocked by his shamelessness, and cursed: “You dog, you not only cheated me out of my money before, but now you’re buying an item for five taels in front of my face and selling it to me for fifty taels. Do you think I’m a fool?”

The man didn’t answer, but looked at him with the loving eyes of someone looking at an idiot.

Wei Xing couldn’t stand this, and went up to wave his hand.

“Hey, hey, brother, a gentleman uses his words, not his fists,” the man quickly waved his hand and said, then asked back: “Just now, brother said that I cheated you out of your money, when did I ever cheat you out of your money?”

Seeing that he didn’t admit it, Wei Xing reminded him: “Qingping County, at the Qin family banquet, you tricked me into buying the ‘Immortal Method’, cheated me out of eight taels of silver. That was all I had, just ten taels of silver, and you even cheated me out of that.” After Wei Xing finished speaking, his face turned ashen, and he gritted his teeth in hatred.

Wei Xing thought it would remind him, but who knew that the man would think for a while and answer: “So many people bought my Immortal Method, how would I know who you are?” After saying that, he had an innocent expression on his face, which really made Wei Xing want to beat him up.

“Besides, this little bell was bought by me for five taels of silver, so it’s naturally mine. I can sell it for as much as I want, is it any of your business?” The man didn’t think that he had snatched Wei Xing’s little bell at all, but instead thought that Wei Xing was being unreasonable, and then said impatiently: “Hey, you, here’s the money, I’m leaving, don’t chase me anymore.”

After saying that, he ran away again in a puff of smoke. Wei Xing chased after him, but the distance became farther and farther, and he taunted Wei Xing, who was far behind: “I’m not playing with you anymore.”

Then, he looked at the small bell he was playing with in his hand, his lecherous and wretched eyes darting around, and said happily: “It’s a good treasure, I’m so lucky.”

He saw the man turn into a deserted corner and stick something on his feet, and he went straight through the wall, the obstacle in front of him was like air to him, disappearing without a trace.

Looking at the figure getting farther and farther away, Wei Xing was completely convinced, and said helplessly: “Is this kid a rabbit? He runs so fast.” Seeing that he couldn’t catch up, he slowly slowed down his pace, panting heavily. His body was already weak, and now he had run so much, his legs were aching slightly, so he could only give up.

“It’s a good thing he runs fast, otherwise he would have been beaten to death for swindling and cheating,” Wei Xing cursed in place, and then walked back in the direction he came from.

The man walked on his own, when suddenly his foot slipped and he fell flat on his face. He slowly stood up and cursed: “Who is thinking of me! It hurts me to death.” The man rubbed the bump that he had made when he slipped, and limped away into the distance.

At night, in a guest room of the Li Estate, the candlelight flickered gently, and the rustling of the wind outside, accompanied by the moonlight, guided the people in the estate into dreamland.

After a day of chasing, Wei Xing was also exhausted.

At the door, he picked up the Daoist sword that he had hidden in his package and examined it carefully. This sword was taken out of the well of the Daoist temple when he first came. He used to carry it with him for self-defense when he was on the road, but later Wei Xing simply carried it on his back. Later, it was inconvenient to go to crowded places, so Wei Xing hid it in his package.

It wasn’t until today that Wei Xing suddenly remembered that he still had such an object, and then he took it out to take a closer look.

This sword, apart from a little metal decoration on the outside, was very ordinary. It couldn’t be seen in a pile of swords.

He had simply removed the rust on the surface of the scabbard before, so since he had nothing to do, Wei Xing carefully removed the dirt from its surface.

Overall, it was a cyan ancient sword with no special features. Wei Xing was also bored watching it, and said leisurely: “You and I are also destined, and of course, I’m lucky, otherwise I might have to take you to exchange for food.” As soon as Wei Xing finished speaking, an imperceptible white light appeared on the scabbard, and then gradually went out again.

“Of course, you are also the first object I came to this world with, and I’m a little reluctant to part with you.” As Wei Xing spoke, he began to look up at the moon hanging in the sky. This moon was no different from the one on Earth, still so round and so bright.

“Dad, Mom,” Wei Xing stared at the full moon, his eyes gradually becoming moist. He saw the faces of his parents, who were ten years older, sitting there sighing non-stop. Their wrinkles covered their entire foreheads, and their trembling hands stretched out from the full moon. Wei Xing closed his eyes, raised his head, and gently touched their hands.

“Dad, Mom, your hands have calluses again,” Wei Xing said with a sob, unable to bear to look at their painful faces any longer.

The wind was gentle, and the moonlight still shone brightly on Wei Xing, enveloping him. Warm tears dripped onto the scabbard. For a long time, Wei Xing was unwilling to open his eyes, his face cooperating with the caress of the wind, and the even breathing gradually increased.

He saw Wei Xing hug the cyan scabbard, lean against the pillar, his face rubbing against the hilt from time to time, and fall into a dream.