“Father! Father! Look! There’s braised meat!” Lu Xiucai had a meatball in his mouth but was already staring at the next plate that was coming to their table.
Just as the sizzling braised meat had just been served, six pairs of chopsticks stabbed into the plates. By the time the chopsticks left the plate, even the preserved vegetable under the pork had disappeared.
“Look at all of you! You are all eating as if you were starving ghosts! Eat slower, or people might think that we are a family with no manners,” said Lu Zhuangyuan.
“Dad, stop preaching. We rarely get a chance to eat such good food. And look at the meat on your chopsticks! You ate just as much as us!” The youngest son taunted his father, getting a solid whack on the head in the process.
Seeing his brother getting hit, Lu Juren quickly tried to calm the situation down. “Dad, it’s alright. Let them eat as much as they want. We went through a lot yesterday just so that we could have this one meal.”
The moment he said this, everyone who had performed yesterday revealed a solemn look on their faces.
Last night was way too frightening; it had been so frightening that they had nearly peed their pants out of fear. Luckily, they had such a strong Taoist handling the situation below the stage for them.
All of them turned to stare at Li Huowang, who was sitting outside all by himself.
Their gazes toward him were filled with admiration; if it wasn’t for him, they all might have died. The Taoist was quite young; so young, in fact, that he didn’t even have a mustache. And yet, he was so strong.
At that moment, another item was served, once again drawing their attention to the food.
“Chicken! It’s roasted chicken!” Their chopsticks once again started attacking the food on their plates.
Seeing how their chopsticks were almost about to shred the chicken, a smoke pipe blocked them and guarded the chicken. “Stop! Don’t touch this chicken! I want to invite the young Taoist to come and eat with us.”
“But dad… Taoists don’t eat meat. Are you going to ask him to break the rules?”
“You stupid shit! Monks are the ones who can’t eat meat! If I come back and see that the chicken has been touched by any of you, then be prepared to be whacked by me!” Lu Zhuangyuan stared at his youngest son before wiping his oily mouth with his hands. He then wiped his hands on the table before approaching Li Huowang.
“Young Taoist, hehe. Young Taoist?” His face was filled with wrinkles as he called out toward Li Huowang.
“Young Taoist, you worked quite hard last night. How about you join us to eat? The Hu family has prepared a lot of juicy and nutritious food for us.”
Li Huowang was deep in his thoughts and turned to look at him before gingerly asking, “Old man, you saw how the memorial tablets moved on their own, right? I was not hallucinating all that, right?”
“Aiyo, young Taoist, I don’t know about any of that. I didn’t even dare to take a single glance toward you last night; I just closed my eyes throughout the performance.”
Li Huowang sighed, recalling that singular sentence he had heard at the end. Even though it was faint, he could easily recognize the voice. It was the voice of his Master, Dan Yangzi. Only he would call him ‘a dear disciple’.
He should be nervous about having heard his Master’s voice; however, he was not nervous, just confused. As he was now, he wasn’t even able to trust himself.
I know that I suffer from hallucinations. It would be reasonable to hear minor things like that, given that I haven’t eaten a Black Taisui in quite a while. But then how should I explain the memorial tablets suddenly moving on their own? Or the God of Happiness that appeared and disappeared so suddenly?
Li Huowang thought back to how Dan Yangzi’s body had contorted into that ugly creature.
Don’t tell me that he really became an Immortal? No, that can’t be it… The so-called method to become an Immortal was just some random garbage I came up with. How could it have been the correct method? Unless… he turned into something else? But then, what did he end up becoming? Why is he still following me?
Li Huowang was growing visibly irritated.
“Young Taoist? What were you thinking about? We are close enough now, aren’t we? You can tell me if you have something that is bothering you.”
Lu Zhuangyuan’s voice pulled him back from his thoughts. He had made a decision.
Regardless of whether it’s real or fake, there’s nothing I can do about it right now. I need to go to Western Capital City and visit the Monastery first. If it’s real, then maybe they will know what to do. I know far too little about the world.
“It’s nothing, old man. Let’s eat. I was just thinking about some random things.”
Hearing that, Lu Zhuangyuan happily nodded. Then, both of them entered the room and went toward the dining table.
However, when they reached the table, Lu Zhuangyuan’s face stiffened. Everything on the table, except for the chicken, had been eaten cleanly. The plates had even been licked!
“Aaaah~ That was such a nice meal! I guess this would be how an emperor feasts.” Lu Xiucai stretched his body as he unbuckled his belt, his mouth smeared with oil.
Lu Zhuangyuan could only chuckle, feeling embarrassed; after all, it wouldn’t really be nice to scold his son when there were outsiders around. He could only take the roasted chicken and place it before Li Huowang. “Young Taoist, the chicken is quite juicy. Forgive me for not being able to serve the rest of the dishes for you.”
Li Huowang smiled and started eating a piece of the chicken. “It’s alright. The chicken is plenty delicious.”
Li Huowang had just eaten a few bites when a crowd of people entered the room from the corridor. The man leading the group was Hu Qinghe, the old man who requested Lu Zhuangyuan’s services.
“Not bad. It seems that my ancestors are quite satisfied with your performance. Even the candles on the tables were eaten. This is a joyous sign!”
Listening to the praises, Lu Zhuangyuan chuckled humbly. “It was nothing much. It was something we could do.”
“Troupe leader Lu, if you are passing by again, please come to our house for a cup of tea.” Hu Qinghe said politely.
After he said that, he waved for a man beside him to show a tray covered in red cloth. He took off the red cloth and revealed ten pieces of silver.
“Here is the payment, just as we had agreed. Please receive it.”
“Aiyo! Thank you for your generosity. As long as we are alive, just send a word for us, and we will come as soon as we can!”
After old man Hu left them, the Lu family surrounded the tray, their eyes filled with greed as they stared at the pieces of silver.
Just as Lu Xiucai was about to touch the largest sum of money he had ever seen in his life, a smoke pipe whacked his hand.
Then, Lu Zhuangyuan took four of the pieces of silver and placed them into his clothes. As for the remaining six pieces, his eyes were filled with reluctance.
Still, he smiled and placed the tray containing the rest of the pieces of silver near Li Huowang, who was eating the chicken.
“Hoho, come, Young Taoist. We had agreed on splitting the reward 60-40. This is your portion of the payment.”
Chacha and Char’s Thoughts
Man I forgot how meat is a rarity in the past