Chapter 04 This chicken is too idle

 Chapter 04 This chicken is too idle

By Jiulu Feixiang,

Translated, Edited and Arranged by Angel Chua 10/09/2024

Shen Li absorbed the moonlight all night, but to no avail. In the morning, she rested her head on a stone and went to sleep listlessly, but she suddenly heard the sound of the courtyard door opening. She was refreshed and ran to the front yard. She saw Xingyun was about to go out without a basket or a bag. She was surprised: "Aren't you selling ginseng today?"

"The ginseng is still drying." Xingyun leaned down and patted Shen Li's head, "I'm going out to buy some things, stay at home."

"I'm going too, wait!" Shen Li turned around and ran to the backyard, took the stubborn stone that had not been successfully enlightened last night into her mouth, and then jumped back, saying vaguely: "Let's go." She thought that since the essence of the moon didn't work, she might as well try the essence of the sun. If she succeeded in turning stone into gold, she could just buy some good things.

Xingyun looked at the stone in her mouth and was stunned for a moment. Without asking any other questions, he just smiled and said, "How are you going to go out with me? There are so many people in the market. If we get separated, you might become a pot of soup when we look back. How about I put a rope around your neck and lead you for a walk, okay?"

Shen Li was furious when she heard it: "How dare you!" She flapped her wings non-stop, "I am accompanying you to the market with good intentions. Out of gratitude, of course I want you to hold me... hold me! Hurry up, hold me."

Looking at Shen Li stretching out her arms, she couldn't help but was stunned for a long time when he saw the two meaty wings of the chicken. Then he smiled suddenly, and actually bent down and picked up Shen Li. He let her rub against him in his arms for a long time, and finally found a comfortable position to lie down, and then ordered: "Be careful when walking, don't be too staggering."

Xingyun chuckled: "Yes, I'll listen to you."

Shen Li's spells along the way were unsuccessful, and Xingyun didn't care what noise she made. He just walked his own way calmly. When they arrived at the market, they could hear the butcher shouting today's meat price from a distance. Xingyun thought about it and realized that it would not work. The weight of the chicken had increased and he could not afford two taels... This chicken has a big stomach and it will definitely not be full. He will complain later. He doesn't know when he will be able to use this stone...

Just at that time, he heard someone next to him say, "Hey, ten copper coins to tell your wealth."

Xingyun turned his head and saw a man in his thirties holding a fortune-telling banner, claiming to be a half-immortal. He was holding another person's hand and talking incessantly, "Judging from the cross pattern, it is a very auspicious sign. The young master will be blessed recently..." Xingyun was silent for a while, and suddenly stepped forward: "My brother." He interrupted, "There may be a fire in your house at noon today. If you don't return home now, you will regret it in the future."

When these words came out, the fortune teller and the young man were all stunned. Even Shen Li looked up from his arms and looked at him in confusion. The fortune teller was the first to react. He frowned and said in a bad temper, "What nonsense are you talking about! Go away and don't ruin the fortune of this young man."

"You'll know whether it's nonsense or not when you get home." Xingyun smiled faintly, "I'll be waiting for you here this afternoon."

The young man came to have his fortune told and was a believer in this. Seeing that he was so confident, he couldn't help but feel nervous. After hesitating for a long time, he finally pulled his hand back from the fortune teller and walked quickly towards home. Shen Li poked his arm gently with the tip of her wing: "Are you lying?"

"Stop it." Xingyun touched her head, "This is about two taels of meat."

Before Xingyun finished speaking, the fortuneteller suddenly threw the banner and said angrily: "I say, what's wrong with you! Do you understand the rules of the industry? Is there any business for a bad person like you!"

Facing the other party's anger, Xingyun was extremely calm, "I'm not trying to steal your business, I'm telling the truth. If you don't believe me, you can wait here until the afternoon. If what I said comes true, you will willingly give me the money he just gave you for fortune-telling."

"Ha! You're arguing with me, right? Ah, OK!" The fortuneteller swore, "I, Wang Banxian, have been in the business for so long, and I still don't believe you! Just wait, if that guy doesn't come back or you didn't say it right, you..." He looked at Xingyun, "Just give me that broiler chicken!"

Shen Li was furious, and her wings exploded immediately. Before she could say anything, Xingyun gently pressed her back: "Don't worry, I'm here, no one can take you away."

I don't know what strange power there was in his words, but Shen Li, who always rushed to the front, was miraculously appeased and chose the option of - OK, I'll believe you first. Is it because... I have been protected by him before? Being protected by such a weak mortal...

It feels really wonderful.

Time slowly slipped away. After noon, the young man still didn't come back. Wang Banxian gradually showed a smug look on his face. Xingyun was not in a hurry either. He only occasionally glanced at the butcher shop not far away and listened carefully to whether the price of the meat was going down.

An hour later, the man still didn't come. Wang Banxian smiled and said, "Boy! You should admit defeat now. Give me the broiler."

"Why should I give it to you?" Xingyun said calmly, "Isn't he on the way?"

Wang Banxian looked towards the other side of the road and said, "Boy, you are talking nonsense! Where did he come from!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a father and son came from the corner of the road. They were the young man and his young son. As soon as he walked in front of Xingyun, he immediately bowed and thanked him, "Thank you very much, brother! If you hadn't persuaded me to go back, my son would have been burned to death in the woodshed. Huzi, why don't you thank this uncle!"

The child bit his finger and said vaguely, "Thank you, uncle." The young man smiled and said, "I don't have anything to thank you for. My wife asked me to take down two pieces of bacon made years ago from the beam. Look..."

Shen Li's eyes lit up, and Xingyun's eyes lit up too. He nodded decisively and accepted it, "I won't ..." You're welcome."

Watching the young man and the child walk away, Xingyun turned around and looked at Wang Banxian leisurely: "Ten cents."

Wang Banxian was stunned and slapped his forehead and said: "Hey, it's really weird, this can be calculated accurately." He took out ten cents from his bag and put them in Xingyun's palm. Before leaving, he said, "Why don't you tell me another fortune."

Xingyun smiled mysteriously: "Today, you will have a bloody disaster."

Wang Banxian was scared and quickly grabbed his banner and ran home in a hurry.

Not long after, Shen Li heard that after Wang Banxian returned home that day, his wife used a shoe horn to hit his face because he "didn't make a penny back". As for why Shen Li heard about such a trivial matter, it was because, from that day on, the rumor that there was a real half-immortal in the capital had spread throughout the streets and alleys.

"You can actually tell fortunes." Shen Li was surprised.

"A little bit."

Shen Li was silent for a while: "If you reveal the secret, you will be punished by heaven."

"I know, so, I am taking medicine every day." Xingyun answered calmly, but seeing Shen Li staring at him intently, he smiled and said, "There is gain and loss, the way of heaven is natural, everything is always balanced."

How could Shen Li not know this truth? She just suddenly understood that this was how his short life came about. She was surprised that a mortal could see the secrets of heaven and see them so carefully. It was conceivable that the backlash on his body must be great. And he actually fought against the way of heaven and lived to this day.

The identity of this guy Xingyun was becoming more and more elusive.

The rumors from the outside world became more and more exaggerated, but it seemed that it did not affect Xingyun's life. He still guarded the small yard, raised fish every day, and basked in the sun.

One day, Shen Li was bored and looked at Xingyun lying by the pond and asked, "Since you are gifted and have this ability, why don't you make a living by fortune-telling?" A "half-immortal" with real ability like him could take the high-end route and tell fortunes for high-ranking officials and rich people. Even if he told fortunes once a year, his life would be ten times better than it is now. But Xingyun was too indifferent. In all these days of getting along, he hardly used this ability except for earning back the two pieces of bacon and ten copper coins.

"This is not a good skill." Xingyun said lightly, "It harms others and does not benefit myself. I am still alive without it."

Shen Li raised her eyebrows. She did not expect that this mortal would have such an awareness. Since he saw it so clearly, Shen Li did not continue to discuss this issue. Instead, she changed the subject and asked, "Xingyun, in the food you make every day, is there anything that can replenish vitality? Bring it to me for research."

Xingyun smiled and turned to look at her: "Do you think I can afford that kind of thing?"

Shen Li was silent. Yes... He is a guy who can't even buy meat. How can he have the leisure to add tonic to the steamed buns? But she did recover her physical strength much faster than usual in this room. These days, her internal breath has gradually stabilized. Maybe it will take a few days to recover her human body...

"Knock knock knock!" The two were chatting in the backyard when they heard a hurried knock on the door. Xingyun responded and slowly walked to the front yard to open the door.

This is strange. Shen Li has been here for so many days, and except for the girl who climbed over the wall, she has never seen anyone else come to find Xingyun. She was curious and followed him happily. When Xingyun opened the door, Shen Li suddenly sensed an inexplicable breath. Her expression became serious, but she saw a withered hand stretched out from the outside of the door and tightly grabbed Xingyun's arm.

The man's strength seemed to be very great, pushing Xingyun back two steps, and almost stepping on Shen Li behind him.

The door was open, and Shen Li saw that it was an old woman who grabbed Xingyun. She was very excited and looked a little dazed: "Immortal, immortal..." She called out hoarsely twice, "Are you the immortal they said can calculate the past and predict the future?"

Shen Li looked up at her, only to feel that there was an inexplicable breath surrounding this person, but she didn't have enough magic power now, so she couldn't figure out the reason.

"Well... I think I'm the person you're looking for." Xingyun said, "but..."

Before Xingyun finished speaking, he heard a few shouts from the other end of the alley: "Sister-in-law!" At this moment, a middle-aged man came from behind, he grabbed the woman and said, "Sister-in-law! Stop making trouble! Come back with me!"

The man looked only forty years old, but the woman was like a fifty-year-old old woman, with a hunched back and a haggard face. It seemed that she was tortured by life. She ignored the man, just looked at Xingyun and said, "Fairy, please help me! Please help me calculate where my husband who has been in the army for fifteen years is now?"

"Oh, sister-in-law! Haven't you been deceived enough by those quacks? Don't ask, it's been so many years..." These words seemed to touch the woman's hidden pain, and she shouted loudly: "You have to ask no matter how long it has been! No matter how many years he has been gone, he is still my husband! If I can't find him one day, I will look for him another day! Day after day, there will always be a day when I will find him!"

Turned out to be a soldier's wife? Shen Li lowered her head slightly. She knew very well that once a person went to the battlefield and died, perhaps even his bones could not be found, no matter how much his relatives hoped and searched day after day.

Xingyun gently pulled the woman's hand away and said with a smile, "Madam, I can't tell this fortune, please go back."

The old woman was stunned, "Aren't you a god? Why don't you help me tell the fortune? I just want to know where he is... If you don't help me tell where he is, then at least tell me whether he is alive or dead, so that I can have some thought!"

Xingyun smiled at the middle-aged man, "Thank you." He made a gesture to see him off, "I should cook."

The middle-aged man was stunned, nodded apologetically, and half pulled and half persuaded the woman away. Xingyun closed the door indifferently and walked into the kitchen to cook as usual. Shen Li followed him and said, "You figured it out, didn't you? Why didn't you tell the woman? Is her husband dead?"

"No." Xingyun said calmly, "I didn't figure it out."

Shen Li was stunned, "But...but..." She kept mumbling for a long time and didn't know what to say. It was not wrong for Xingyun not to interfere with nature. She even appreciated it before, but in this case, she couldn't help but want to help. If the soldiers she led before died on the battlefield, she would not let his family wait hopelessly without knowing anything.

Shen Li looked up at Xingyun and walked silently to the backyard. This Xingyun could save a child for two taels of meat, and could also watch an old woman cry without any reaction.

He really lived casually, or... indifferently.

At night, the surroundings were silent. Xingyun didn't have the habit of locking the door, so Shen Li was able to pry open the door and sneak out. With the restored magic power, he followed the scent of the woman today and ran to the end of the alley.

A sigh came from the open door: "This chicken is too idle."

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