Chapter 89: Begging for Ten Thousand Gold

The next morning, Qin Yun bid farewell to Zhong Li and the Xia Xiaoxing sisters. Although Xia Xiaoxing was extremely envious of Qin Yun's Tiannanhaibei travels, even longing for them, she knew she would absolutely not be allowed to go.

So after the Land Rover carrying Qin Yun disappeared from view, her whole spirit wilted.

Zhong Li vigorously rubbed her head: "At least you still have time to wander around and have fun. Look at your sister me—tied to the hotel day in and day out, not even a shred of freedom."

Xia Xiaoxing didn't feel comforted, only felt even more miserable.

……

Setting out from the Hilton hotel, Qin Yun drove straight onto the highway, heading toward the Jiangxi border.

From the moment he entered Wuyuan, Jiangxi, he had been waiting for the system's check-in task to appear, but all the way until he reached Jingdezhen, the check-in task never popped up, which left him somewhat baffled.

But thinking carefully, it was normal. In the few months since obtaining the system, the pattern of issuing check-in tasks hadn't actually been that strict; so far, the only rule followed was that the tasks were always local.

But arriving at a place didn't necessarily mean a check-in task would be issued.

Since there was no check-in task holding him back, Qin Yun simply stopped paying attention and threw himself wholeheartedly into exploring the world. Today in Jingdezhen he learned to make pottery with someone; tomorrow he was already boating on Poyang Lake.

Jiangxi was also an old revolutionary region, so he made a special trip to several red revolution sites to pay his respects, commemorating the hardships endured by the older generation of revolutionaries at the time.

Before he knew it, in less than ten days, he had already crossed Hubei and Chongqing and entered Sichuan territory.

Coming off the Guanglu Expressway into Luzhou City, Qin Yun sent Han Wei a WeChat message: I've arrived in Sichuan.

When the WeChat message came in, Han Wei was holding a monthly meeting.

A senior executive under her was reporting on the situation, and her attention was still quite focused. Although her phone buzzed, she didn't check it right away. After the other person finished speaking, she added a few remarks based on their report before picking up her phone for a look.

Then Han Wei's spirit jolted, and she stood up directly.

"Director Li, you'll preside over today's meeting. Xiao Song, book me a plane ticket to Chengdu. And are the things I had you prepare all ready?"

A strikingly beautiful woman stood up: "President Han, everything is ready. It has all been smoothly transported to Mount Siguniang Town. You can go pick it up directly when you arrive. Shall I book you the earliest flight?"

"Mm, the earliest one—the earlier the better. I'm heading to the airport now."

"Understood."

Han Wei returned to her office, changed her clothes, and immediately sent Qin Yun a message.

"Master Qin, I'm setting off for Chengdu now. Should we meet up at Mount Siguniang Town?"

At this time, Qin Yun had found a street-side hotpot place in Luzhou and was tasting Luzhou's specialty hotpot—tofu pudding hotpot.

He glanced at his phone, thought for a moment, and replied: "I'll be passing through Chengdu. How about you wait for me at Shuangliu Airport? I can come pick you up, saves you from taking a bus to Mount Siguniang Town."

"Alright, but who knows, you might actually reach Shuangliu Airport first."

"That's not certain." Qin Yun smiled, looking at the system panel that had appeared before him. "Maybe I get held up by something—who knows."

【Check-in task issued: Please find an old beggar on the street, take his place, and beg your way to ten thousand gold to complete the check-in.】

This task gave Qin Yun the urge to complain.

It's not like he just got an erhu skill—does erhu really have to be all miserable and wretched? These days erhu has taken its place on the grand stage; there are even dedicated erhu recitals. How did it become a means of begging in this system?

But since the check-in task had been issued, he could only obediently accept it.

Fortunately, the system didn't specify exactly where, so he searched on his phone and decided to wait until he reached Chengdu.

Eating along the way, driving along the way, after roughly six hours, as it was approaching two in the afternoon, he finally came off the Chengdu Ring Expressway.

Following Da'an West Road, he turned onto Tofu Street as the navigation instructed, then entered Wenshu Yuan Street from Tofu Street, and then he saw the person he wanted to see.

On this street, the flow of people was like a woven fabric, tourists everywhere.

But none of that was the main thing. What drew Qin Yun was the erhu music drifting in the air.

Some of it was plaintive, some of it cheerful. Looking around, the entire street was full of people either begging or busking, one after another.

Qin Yun parked the car. He had originally planned to take out his own erhu, but after thinking about it, he decided against it.

What was the system's check-in task? Find an old beggar, take his place. So first, the other party had to be a beggar, not a busker; and then he had to be an old man.

An old man means a male elder. In traditional Chinese culture, "叟" generally can only be used that way for someone seventy or above.

So don't think it's just two conditions—actually meeting his requirements wasn't that simple.

People over seventy still begging on the street could be counted on one hand along the whole street. After strolling around once, Qin Yun locked onto three candidates.

But one had an old woman lying next to him, so he was ruled out directly. The second was playing another instrument, so he was ruled out for now. The third, however, was playing erhu, dressed in rags, with a grizzled beard, clearly of advanced age.

Qin Yun didn't hesitate much and walked straight up to the old man.

The old man was currently playing "Rivers and Waters," but his skill was average, completely devoid of emotion, and he was even playing out of tune. Yet thanks to his appearance, paired with the broken, halting music, the bowl in front of him was nearly full.

Seeing someone stop, the old man put in a little more effort. But after a full five minutes of straining, the person in front of him still hadn't moved. The old man thought, if you're not giving money, then hurry up and get lost—you're blocking my treasure bowl.

Qin Yun was actually examining that erhu. Although it was ordinary in appearance, its tuning was still passable; the silk-string construction gave the sound a flavor that steel strings lacked.

"Old man, may I ask how much you can earn here in a day?" he asked in a lowered voice.

The old man stopped his erhu and looked up at him warily: "Young man, what are you trying to do? Collecting protection fees? Let me tell you, this old man follows Brother Hu…"

Qin Yun didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and quickly interrupted: "Old man, you're overthinking it. I just want to borrow your spot for a bit, that's why I asked."

"What do you mean?"

In a short while, the old man got up and left with Qin Yun.

Soon, the "old man" was sitting back in his original spot, picking up that erhu.

Of course, by now the old man was no longer the original old man. Qin Yun pressed down the brim of his hat, trying to tuck himself into his collar as much as possible—though the collar smelled rather pungent; he had no idea how long it had been since it was washed.

Actually, Qin Yun didn't hold much hope that this task could be completed in a short time.

Because he didn't have that much time to keep begging here. Otherwise, spending a week or more and scraping together ten thousand yuan wouldn't be a problem.

He looked up at the travelers walking on the street, leaned against the base of a wall, set the somewhat polished erhu across his leg, pressed down the sound box, rested the bow on it, didn't open his mouth, and only began to play softly.

He was also playing "Rivers and Waters."

That's where the skill being awesome was awesome—originally knowing nothing of these scores, he could now play them entirely at will.

The moment the strings sounded, it wasn't noisy—it was cold. Cold like autumn wind on a river wrapped in rain, seeping into the cracks of the bones. The sound was both rough and heavy, bow stroke by bow stroke, as if all the bitterness, grievances, and unheard words of this lifetime were kneaded into the strings and slowly flowing out.

A few older travelers had just passed by, and their footsteps froze on the spot. They had smiles on their faces at first, but as they listened, their brows slowly furrowed.

Qin Yun's hands were very steady. He kept his eyes closed, paying no attention to whether anyone had stopped to listen, and simply went about his own business.

"Holy crap, did Old Liu pop some gunpowder? Is that something he could actually play?" A fellow busker nearby looked terrified.

What level was Old Liu at? Of course they knew — they were all about the same, each one had learned by copying the motions, none of them understood anything about music.

But now, it was as if Abing had possessed him, wasn't it?

How to put it — the moment you heard this music, it sounded like a person with nowhere to turn, suffering they couldn't speak of, stuck in their throat. As if all the hardships endured, the grievances swallowed, the desperation of being cornered, the wrongs with no one to tell — were all wound up in those two strings.

As the music unfolded, more and more people stopped, then slowly drifted over.

Anyone with experience tipping beggars knew that a beggar's music was nothing more than a way of reminding people — it couldn't really be called attractive, it just told others "I'm here, hurry up and toss me a couple of bucks."

But at this moment, many people were drawn in by the "River Waters" that Qin Yun was playing.

Everyone has their own unique sense of beauty, but whether something is good or not is a very straightforward reveal. Sandwiched among a pile of beggars, Qin Yun's erhu was undoubtedly the most outstanding.

After the first section's weeping and indignation passed, the force of Qin Yun's erhu suddenly weakened, as if sinking into contemplation and memory. A bleak, desolate scene faintly rose in the minds of the onlookers.

The crowd was immersed in this mood, their feelings unconsciously rising and falling with the music's ebbs and flows.

This technique was undoubtedly superb, but there were no Gao Ren present — they only felt that this erhu piece they'd heard countless times before was, at this moment, so deeply moving.

Accompanied by the third section's impassioned resistance, the music gradually drew toward its end. When the last note fell, Qin Yun's movements also slowly came to a stop.

He lifted his eyes slightly, and was startled — good lord, a full twenty-plus people had gathered around, completely encircling his little wall corner.

Several people had reddened eyes; on every face there wasn't the joy of a tourist, but a sour, aching feeling.

Qin Yun thought to himself, is it really that powerful?

After a few more breaths, an old man began to clap, and then the others followed suit.

"Old brother, you play a fine erhu. I've heard plenty of people play this 'River Waters,' but none of them could match your level. That feeling of river water endlessly flowing, bitter water endlessly being drawn out — it really hits hard."

The old man who had clapped first, as he spoke, took out a hundred-yuan bill from his pocket and tossed it into the empty treasure bowl — the previous money had already been taken by the real owner.

"Yeah, played too well, a real audiovisual treat, just too sad. Old man, how about something a bit more cheerful?"

More and more people expressed their enthusiasm, and in no time his bowl was filled with a pile of reds and greens — estimated to be at least over a thousand.

Seeing the crowd's enthusiasm, Qin Yun nodded and began to play "Drinking Song of Joy."

With a flick of his fingertips, the bitterness of a moment ago flipped instantly — the music rose, like strong wine being uncorked, steam rising, open and exhilarating. The bow danced lightly across the strings, the attack fierce, the tail gentle, carrying a few parts drunkenness and a few parts boldness.

The passersby who had just been immersed in sorrow instantly relaxed their brows, and their eyes lit up.

The sorrow brought by "River Waters" was directly drowned in the joy of "Drinking Song of Joy."

People love a good show — seeing so many people gathered here drew even more over. In just a moment, there were layer upon layer of people, inside and out.

After one piece was finished, even more people chose to tip — some five yuan, some ten, and quite a few even hundred-yuan bills.

Qin Yun didn't need to count carefully — his bowl definitely held over two thousand now. He suddenly felt that ten thousand didn't seem so hard after all.

Soon, the system's notification chime sounded, confirming his guess.

【Check-in task complete. Random reward obtained: Human body's peak period extended by one-third.】

This reward on the system panel made Qin Yun pause.

This was the second time he'd received a reward other than a skill, and after fully understanding it, he couldn't help but swallow hard, utterly shocked.

Normally speaking, the human body's peak period is from age 20 to 35 — those fifteen years are the peak moment for an ordinary man. If you add one-third, that's five more years — simply outrageous.

Relatively speaking, his aging would be delayed by many years compared to a normal person.