Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 35
>Chapter Title: Bewilderment
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“Dad! Dad! Look, braised pork! Braised pork!!”
Lv Xiucai, his mouth stuffed with lion’s head meatballs, stared straight at the plate that had just been served.
As soon as the glistening plate of braised pork hit the table, six or seven pairs of chopsticks stabbed toward it in an instant. By the time they withdrew, not even a scrap of the pickled plums underneath remained.
“Look at you all, eating like starving ghosts! Slow down! Folks who don’t know better might think the Lv family raised a bunch of ill-mannered louts!”
“Dad, forget manners. We never get food this good even during New Year’s. Look at that fatty piece on your chopsticks—you’re not eating any less than us.”
His youngest son’s teasing earned him a whack on the head with a chopstick.
Seeing his little brother get hit, Lv Juren swallowed his food and jumped in to help. “Dad, just let everyone eat. We went through hell last night to earn this meal.”
At those words, a look of relief from having survived a brush with death appeared in the eyes of everyone who had been scarfing down their food.
Last night had been truly terrifying. While the expert battled that monster spirit below, they’d nearly pissed themselves up on stage performing.
Then, as if by unspoken agreement, they all turned toward the front of the house, gazing at Li Huowang lost in thought under the sky.
A hint of awe crept into everyone’s eyes. If not for this expert last night, they probably wouldn’t be eating this meal today.
This young Daoist might look young and beardless, but he was no ordinary man.
However, as another server brought out a new dish, their attention immediately shifted.
“Hey! Chicken! Look! Roasted chicken!”
One pair of chopsticks after another hovered over the round table like flicking snake tongues.
Just as the chopsticks were about to tear the chicken apart, a well-seasoned old pipe stem blocked its head. “All of you, stop! No one touches this chicken! I’m going to invite the young Daoist over to eat with us.”
“Dad, don’t bother calling. Daoists don’t eat meat. You’ll make him break his precepts.”
“Bullshit! The ones who don’t eat meat are monks! I’m telling you now—if I come back and see even a bit of skin missing from this chicken, I’ll tan your hides!”
Lv Zhuangyuan shot a fierce glare at his most restless youngest son, wiped his oily mouth with his hand, then scraped it hard against the underside of the table before turning toward Li Huowang.
“Young Daoist, heh heh, young Daoist?”
Lv Zhuangyuan’s wrinkled face scrunched up in the friendliest way possible.
“Young Daoist, you’ve been busy all night. Come join us for a bite? Look at these dishes the Hu family served—real hearty stuff dripping with oil.”
Li Huowang, snapping out of his reverie, turned to face him. After a moment’s thought, he asked hesitantly, “Troupe Leader Lv, you saw those memorial tablets topple over all at once, right? That scene wasn’t my hallucination, was it?”
“Aiyo, young Daoist, how would I know? I don’t have your abilities, so I didn’t dare look around. This old man kept his eyes shut the whole time he was singing up on stage.”
Li Huowang let out a soft sigh. He recalled that voice by his ear again. Though faint, there was no mistaking it—it was his master Danyangzi’s voice. Between the two worlds, only he called him “baby.”
Logically, hearing his master’s voice again should have filled him with dread, but instead, Li Huowang felt lost. He couldn’t even trust himself anymore.
“I’m insane, and badly so. If that was just a minor auditory hallucination from not eating the Black Tai Sui and my condition flaring up, it would be perfectly normal.”
“But those memorial tablets suddenly toppling, and the Joy God appearing and vanishing—how do you explain that? Could it be...”
Li Huowang recalled Danyangzi’s bizarre bodily changes before death, and his expression darkened. “Could it be he really... became an immortal?!”
“No! Danyangzi couldn’t have become an immortal. The cultivation method he called immortal ascension and the inner elixir he took were clearly nonsense I made up on the spot. How could random fabrications like that help anyone become immortal? So maybe he didn’t become an immortal at all!”
But if not an immortal, then what had he become? Why was he haunting me? A trace of savage irritation twisted Li Huowang’s face.
“Young Daoist? What are you thinking about? We’re all on the same side now. If there’s any trouble, just say the word.”
Lv Zhuangyuan’s words pulled Li Huowang back. He took a deep breath and steeled his resolve. “No matter if it’s real or not, my options right now are limited. I’ll head to that so-called Western Capital first and check out the monk temple Troupe Leader Lv mentioned. If it’s real, maybe they know something. I still understand far too little about this world.”
“Troupe Leader Lv, it’s nothing—just some trivial memories. Let’s eat.”
Hearing this, Lv Zhuangyuan nodded eagerly, and the two turned toward the dining table inside.
When they reached the table, Lv Zhuangyuan’s expression froze. Aside from the roasted chicken, every other dish had been licked clean—clean enough to skip washing the plates.
“Ah~ That hit the spot! Probably as good as what the emperor gets.”
Lv Xiucai, mouth slick with grease, leaned lazily against his chair and loosened his belt.
Lv Zhuangyuan gave Li Huowang an embarrassed smile. He couldn’t lash out in front of an outsider, so he picked up the roasted chicken with both hands and placed it before Li Huowang. “Young Daoist, this chicken’s nice and plump. Sorry about the mess.”
Li Huowang smiled, picked up his chopsticks, tore off a strip of chicken, and popped it into his mouth. “It’s fine. The chicken’s pretty good too.”
He’d barely eaten a few bites when a group of people passed through the long corridor into the room. Leading them was Lv Zhuangyuan’s employer, Hu Jianghe.
“Not bad, not bad. The ancestors are thrilled—look how clean they ate the incense and candles! That’s a good sign!”
Hearing the praise, Lv Zhuangyuan beamed and replied modestly, “It’s nothing, nothing at all. Just this old man doing his duty.”
“Troupe Leader Lv, next time you pass through, you must stop by the Hu residence for some tea.”
Hu Jianghe said politely.
With that, a burly man beside Hu Qinghe stepped forward with a tray covered in red cloth. When the cloth was lifted, ten shiny little ingots gleamed neatly inside.
“The promised ten taels of silver. Take good care of it.”
“Aiyo, thank you, Master Hu! Don’t worry, Master Hu—as long as there’s work and word gets to us, the Lv Troupe will hurry over no matter where we are.”
Once Master Hu left, the Lv family crowded around the tray, eyes greedily fixed on the ingots.
Just as Lv Xiucai reached for the largest sum he’d ever seen, an old pipe stem smacked his hand away.
Lv Zhuangyuan first pocketed four ingots from the tray. He eyed the remaining six with deep reluctance.
But in the end, he plastered on a smile, tray in hand, and approached the still-eating Li Huowang.
“Heh heh, here you go, young Daoist. As we agreed: six for you, four for me. This is your share.”
(End of chapter)