Chapter 421
Chapter 421
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 421
>Chapter Title: Meeting
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“Back when I had that magical immortal artifact of mine, money poured into my pocket like it had legs of its own! A few copper coins like these? I wouldn’t even give them a second glance!”
Lv Xiucai feigned disdain as he glared at the waiter who had just thrown him out.
“This guest, I’m truly sorry, but no matter what you say, our shop doesn’t offer credit.”
The waiter drooped his face as he finished speaking, slung his white towel over his shoulder, and turned back into the main hall.
“Hey!”
Lv Xiucai was just about to say something more when the woman beside him stopped him. She was Tao’er, the wife he had bought with silver.
She untied the bundle from her back and pulled out two vegetable pancakes, handing them over.
“I don’t want any! Eat them if I tell you to eat them! Am I, Lv Xiucai, some kind of man who has to eat a woman’s leftovers?”
Lv Xiucai shoved the pancakes back.
He had suddenly decided to head back to Oxheart Mountain to find Li Huowang, but he had no travel money. The road wasn’t far, but all his cash was spent the day he earned it—he hadn’t saved a single coin.
He had thought to ask those brothers he used to drink and eat meat with for some relief, but these bastards had turned their backs on him without a second thought.
“Wow, so full of pride, huh? If you’re so proud, then how’d a guy like you, Lv Xiucai, end up so broke you can’t even afford a meal?”
Hearing the mocking voice from behind him, Lv Xiucai’s face flushed with anger. He rolled up his sleeves and spun around, only to see Chun Xiaoman and Bai Lingmiao on the carriage.
“Hey! Talk about bumping into the right people at the right time! It’s you guys! You’re heading back to Oxheart Village? I’ll drive the cart for you!”
Lv Xiucai started toward the carriage but was promptly kicked tumbling.
“Did I say you could get on the cart?”
Bai Lingmiao looked down at him imperiously from the carriage window.
With Tao’er’s help, Lv Xiucai stood up, staring puzzled at the white-haired woman in front of him.
This woman felt utterly different from the Bai Lingmiao he remembered. If the old Bai Lingmiao had been gentle and quiet, this one was brash and overbearing.
“What’s wrong with Miss Bai?”
Lv Xiucai asked Chun Xiaoman, who was holding the reins.
Chun Xiaoman let out a light sigh. “What else? She’s just like you now.”
“Oh? She touched Master’s sword too?!”
Lv Xiucai’s eyes widened in shock.
“Xiaoman, enough chatting. Let’s go.”
Bai Lingmiao ignored Lv Xiucai and pulled down the carriage curtain.
“Hey! Don’t just leave like that! Give us a ride! You’re going to Oxheart Mountain, right? We’re right on the way! Hey! Has Master come back to Oxheart Mountain yet?”
Lv Xiucai hurried after them, slapping at the wooden cart, but got no response.
Lv Xiucai followed all the way until the carriage finally stopped in front of an inn.
The waiter took the horses to the back stables. Bai Lingmiao ignored Lv Xiucai beside her and pulled Chun Xiaoman toward the main hall.
Just as Lv Xiucai brought Tao’er over and sat with them at the large round table, Bai Lingmiao shot him a cold glare. “Did I say you could sit?”
“Hey! Miss Bai, don’t be so heartless. We go way ba— ”
“What relation do you have to me? Are you a fellow disciple who escaped with me, or one of my Bai clansmen?”
Anger surged in Lv Xiucai’s chest. This woman used to be so nice—how had her personality turned so loathsome? “Fine! It’s just one meal. Skipping one meal won’t kill me, right?”
He immediately grabbed Tao’er and moved to an empty table nearby.
Sensing the tense atmosphere, Chun Xiaoman opened her mouth to say something, but felt her shoe kicked under the table by Bai Lingmiao. She fell silent.
Soon, four dishes and a soup were served. Listening to the chewing and slurping sounds beside him, Lv Xiucai couldn’t help but swallow hard.
“Oh, right.”
Hearing Bai Lingmiao speak to him, Lv Xiucai casually glanced the other way, pretending indifference.
“You don’t need to follow us anymore. Go beg for food somewhere else. Oxheart Village belongs to my Bai family—I decide who stays, and you? You make me sick just looking at you.”
“What?!”
Lv Xiucai leaped to his feet. “You can’t do that! The Lv Family Troupe lives there too!”
“If they live there, then it’s theirs? If you dare follow, I’ll have the whole Lv Family Troupe thrown out.”
Lv Xiucai tried to argue, but when the eerie Second God suddenly appeared behind Bai Lingmiao, he couldn’t even get half a word out.
He slammed the table hard, eyes red as he dragged Tao’er furiously toward the door.
Seeing his retreating back, Chun Xiaoman spoke up. “Miaomiao, isn’t that going a bit far? He’s still Lv Zhuangyuan’s son, after all.”
“I didn’t hit him or curse him—how is that too far? Did you see how that brat treats his own father? Why should I help a heartless scum like that? And besides, was that the attitude of someone begging for help just now?”
Bai Lingmiao picked up her fourth bowl of rice and kept eating.
Having finally reached a county town, Bai Lingmiao wasn’t in a rush to leave. She planned to get a good night’s sleep at the inn before hitting the road again.
In the bustling market, Lv Xiucai grumbled bitterly, occasionally gnashing his teeth and muttering curses.
But no matter how much he cursed, it couldn’t quiet his growling stomach. He glanced at the quiet woman trailing demurely behind him and pulled her along to keep scrounging for food in the county town.
Without money, though, food was nowhere to be found. By sunset, all they had in their bellies was water.
“Hey! Buddy! Come here! You short on cash?”
A man in a dim alley beckoned to Lv Xiucai.
Lv Xiucai walked over, puzzled. “What?”
The man opened his hand, revealing a few pieces of broken silver before Lv Xiucai. Just as Lv Xiucai’s eyes lit up, the mustached man quickly snatched it back.
When Lv Xiucai eagerly asked what the deal was, the man pointed at Tao’er behind him. “Three taels of silver. Let your wife be my temporary concubine for a year. She’ll bear me a son, then I’ll send her back to you good as new.”
“Temporary concubine?”
“What, don’t get it? I’m borrowing your wife’s womb to have a son. Once she’s done, you get her back intact.”
“You bastard!”
With a bang, Lv Xiucai’s fist smashed into the man’s face. Naturally, the guy fought back, and the two tumbled into a brawl.
Lv Xiucai was shorter and slighter than the man, so he got the worst of it.
As Tao’er rushed over to break it up, the man slapped her away. Seeing this, Lv Xiucai’s eyes burned with rage.
“You bastard! I’ll fight you to the death!”
Lv Xiucai pulled a small dagger from his robes, finally halting the man’s fists.
The man eyed Lv Xiucai’s vicious glare, snorted uneasily, and slunk away.
Once he relaxed, Lv Xiucai felt pain everywhere. He rolled his tongue around his mouth, spat, and two bloody molars hit the ground. “Damn it, why am I so cursed?!”
(End of chapter)