Chapter 79

"The two of you, come with me."

After obtaining the deeds of sale for Aniu and Pucao, Hua Changxi did not want to stay by the river and be watched like a monkey. She signaled for Aniu and Pucao to follow and turned to leave.

Pucao had already untied the ropes on Aniu's body. Hearing Hua Changxi tell them to leave, she couldn't help but ask: "Young Lady, don't you want that fish?"

Hua Changxi looked at Pucao in surprise. This person's role transition was so smooth, without any embarrassment; at this moment, she was already acting like a loyal servant planning for her own household.

Seeing Hua Changxi looking at her, Pucao felt that her new master was young and might not know much about making a living, so she stepped forward and whispered an explanation: "That fish is at least several thousand catties; it could sell for a lot of silver."

Mao Yong and many people in Dongchi Village were all coveting the big fish in the river.

According to past experience, fierce beasts were highly nourishing; martial artists who ate them could stimulate their potential, and ordinary people could strengthen their bodies.

They had originally thought that since Hua Changxi didn't want it, they would be able to get a share, but they didn't expect Pucao to jump out and cause trouble.

Hua Changxi smiled at Pucao: "That fish is too big, and we can't take it away. What do you suggest we do?"

Pucao continued in a low voice: "There are many people in the village practicing martial arts, and they definitely want it. Even the people from the medicine manor probably want it. We can sell it to them."

Hua Changxi looked at her: "You handle this matter."

Pucao didn't expect Hua Changxi to let her come forward. She paused for a moment, then decisively went to find Mao Yong.

She had seen earlier that her master was called by Mao Yong; without Mao Yong, her master wouldn't have come, and then she and Aniu would have lost their lives today. This favor had to be repaid.

Seeing Pucao go to discuss selling the fish with Mao Yong, the people of Dongchi Village couldn't sit still.

"This river belongs to our Dongchi Village, and the things in the river also belong to Dongchi Village."

Pucao looked at them coldly: "The big fish was killed by my master. The imperial court has long had regulations that whoever kills a fierce beast owns it. Besides, who can be sure this big fish belongs to the Dongchi Village section of the river? I could also say it swam here from somewhere else."

Mao Yong was a man with his own plans. He knew Pucao hated the people of Dongchi Village and didn't want to sell the big fish to the people who wanted to kill her. However, she was going to follow Hua Changxi, while he had to stay at the medicine manor and continue dealing with the villagers here, so he smiled and said:

"This fish is too big, and the manor can't finish it all. How about I take half and the village takes half, how about that?"

Pucao looked back at Hua Changxi. Seeing she didn't speak, and since her mother-in-law was still in Dongchi Village, she didn't want to burn all bridges, so she agreed: "Ordinary fish are five copper coins a catty; this big fish is... twenty copper coins a catty."

The people of Dongchi Village felt it was sold too expensively, but Mao Yong didn't care about that bit of money: "Fine, twenty copper coins a catty it is."

Pucao confirmed the price, but then how to weigh it stumped her, and she couldn't help but look toward Hua Changxi.

Hua Changxi: "Just count it as 5,000 catties."

A big fish nearly ten meters long was definitely more than 5,000 catties. Although Pucao felt Hua Changxi had underestimated it, she wouldn't go against her master in public, so she immediately said: "5,000 catties, twenty wen a catty. You each pay fifty taels."

Someone from Dongchi Village shouted: "Then you have to drag the big fish onto the shore."

Mao Yong also felt that dragging the fish was a heavy job, so he didn't say anything.

Pucao looked at Hua Changxi. Hua Changxi didn't say anything; she tapped her feet lightly, ran across the river surface toward the middle of the river, reached the place where the big fish was floating, and kicked it, directly kicking the big fish onto the shore.

The big fish landed without much sound, and the giant fish without a head was laid out before everyone just like that.

Mao Yong and several martial artists from Dongchi Village twitched their eyelids; this control of force... she was definitely a master.

Mao Yong didn't say a word, took out fifty taels of silver, and handed it to Pucao.

Pucao took the silver and looked at the people of Dongchi Village: "Hurry up, my master doesn't have time to waste here with you."

The people of Dongchi Village wanted to delay on purpose: "It takes time to get the silver, so what if we wait?"

Hua Changxi spoke up: "I will only wait for a quarter of an hour. After this time, I will kick the fish to pieces and consider it fertilizer for the land here."

Hearing this, the people of Dongchi Village didn't dare to dawdle. A clan elder went to Mao Yong, borrowed fifty taels of silver from him, and gave it to Pucao.

Seeing Pucao collect the silver, Hua Changxi didn't want to stay here any longer: "Let's go."

Pucao supported Aniu and followed quickly.

Watching the three walk away, except for the gloomy-faced Clan Leader Li, everyone else's attention was on the big fish.

"Master, this is the one hundred taels of silver from selling the fish."

After walking onto the official road, Pucao immediately gave the silver to Hua Changxi.

Hua Changxi glanced at her, took the silver, and seeing that she and Aniu were shivering with purple faces because their clothes were soaked, she took out two fire spirit stones and told them to put them in their pockets.

Pucao and Aniu didn't know what fire spirit stones were, but they obediently did as told.

Soon, looks of amazement appeared on their faces. The red stones in their pockets were like a warm source of fire, making their bodies warm up, and their clothes were slowly drying.

"What are your plans for the future?" Hua Changxi suddenly asked.

Hearing this, Pucao and Aniu were both stunned. Weren't they sold? Of course, they were going to follow their master.

Aniu was an honest person and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Pucao, however, was quick to react: "Master, we are your servants. Of course, we will follow you in the future. Whatever you tell us to do, we will do."

Hua Changxi turned to look at the two: "I asked for your deeds of sale just now because the situation forced me to. If you had stayed in Dongchi Village, you probably wouldn't have had a good life."

"I don't need servants, but I do need to hire people to do things for me."

"If you have other places to go, you can leave on your own. If you don't, you can also follow me."

Aniu was somewhat at a loss after hearing this and looked at Pucao, waiting for her to make the decision.

Pucao's expression was very surprised, and the look in her eyes as she watched Hua Changxi was probing, as if she wanted to know if she said this out of sincerity. Although her mind was racing, she immediately expressed her loyalty on the surface:

"Master, neither Aniu nor I have anywhere to go; we want to follow you."

She knew that after the river-drowning incident, she and Aniu had no way back. This young lady was able to save them, which showed she was kind-hearted.

Regardless of whether those words were true or false, or a test, they had no other choice; now they could only follow her.

Hua Changxi looked at the two and smiled: "My standards for hiring people are very high. Let's just let you try for now."

From her cooperation with Eunuch Yu and Eunuch Lu, as well as the four people of Old You, she realized a problem: expressing one's intentions openly from the beginning might not achieve the goal, and others might even use it to threaten her, putting her in a passive position.

Aniu was strong and honest; this Pucao was sharp-tongued and capable. When she decided to save them, she had already planned to let them help her look after the shop.

But she had learned from past experience that she couldn't let them think she couldn't do without them from the start. She didn't want to test human nature, and even less did she want to fall into a passive position again.

In the future, she would change her methods.

Pucao and Aniu immediately stated seriously: "Master, we will definitely work hard."

Seeing the two looking solemn, Hua Changxi was satisfied: "In the future, you can call me Changxi."

Aniu still couldn't bring himself to say it, but Pucao had already started calling out: "Okay, Changxi."

Hua Changxi smiled at Pucao. Honestly, this person's personality really suited her taste.

When they reached a fork in the road, a herd of cattle suddenly rushed out from the mountain forest nearby.

The herd was very orderly; they didn't charge around but stopped at the intersection.

"Xiao Qing!"

Seeing the herd, Aniu was no longer shy or silent; he ran quickly toward the herd, hugged the head of the lead ox, and had a cuddle and a nuzzle.

Pucao was worried that Hua Changxi wouldn't like Aniu doing this, so she hurriedly explained: "When Aniu was five, he went into the mountains to find food because he was starving and was almost bitten to death by a wolf. It was that green ox that saved him."

"Later, whenever Aniu couldn't get a meal, he would go into the mountain forest to find the green ox, and the green ox would take him to find fruit to eat."

"For Aniu, the green ox is like his family."

Hua Changxi looked at the green ox's highly intelligent eyes and was somewhat surprised. She could roughly sense the amount of spiritual energy in the green ox's body.

This was a Qi Sea Realm demonic beast!

Pucao observed Hua Changxi's expression, and seeing she didn't show any signs of disgust, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, Aniu, who had been rubbing against the green ox for a while, came back, his expression somewhat awkward, as if he wanted to say something to Hua Changxi.

Seeing him like this, Hua Changxi took the initiative to ask: "Aniu, what do you want to tell me?"

Aniu took a deep breath, gathered his courage, pointed at the green ox, and said to Hua Changxi: "I want to take Xiao Qing with me."

Hua Changxi was puzzled: "Why must you take the green ox? Compared to cities where humans live, the mountain forest is clearly more suitable for the green ox to survive, right?"

Aniu was somewhat anxious: "Xiao Qing wants to follow me."

Hua Changxi raised an eyebrow: "The green ox wants to follow you? What, can you understand an ox's thoughts?"

Aniu, who had never dared to look Hua Changxi in the eye, didn't dodge this time and looked at her seriously: "I can hear Xiao Qing's inner voice."

Hearing this, Hua Changxi became interested. She looked at the green ox and beckoned to it: "Come here."

The green ox seemed to understand Hua Changxi's words, turned its head and 'mooed' a few times at the herd behind it, and then walked over.

Hua Changxi looked at the green ox: "You ox, can you understand human speech?"

The green ox nodded.

Hua Changxi: "Why must you follow Aniu?"

The green ox looked at Aniu, then at Hua Changxi, and suddenly spoke: "I signed a spirit pet contract with Aniu, and I am going to follow him."

The green ox speaking scared Pucao so much that her face changed drastically. If it weren't for Hua Changxi and Aniu standing beside her, she would have wanted to turn and run.

Hua Changxi was also somewhat surprised; this was the first demonic beast she had seen that could speak: "Only demonic beasts in the Nascent Soul Realm can refine their throat bones and speak human language. You haven't reached the Nascent Soul Realm yet, have you?"

The green ox shook its head: "I'm only in the Qi Sea Realm. It's Aniu; Aniu picked a spirit fruit in the mountains for me to eat. After eating it, I could speak."

Hua Changxi looked at the frail Aniu and continued to ask: "Why did you sign a contract with Aniu?"

The green ox: "Aniu has a scent I like very much. Once he was injured, and we accidentally formed a contract."

Hua Changxi: "Since you are Aniu's spirit pet, why didn't you go save him when he was in danger just now?"

The green ox: "I was blocked by a wolf demon in the mountains." Saying this, it lifted its left front hoof, revealing the scratch marks left by the wolf demon.

Seeing the green ox injured, Aniu immediately felt heartache: "Does it hurt? Such a heavy injury, you need to apply herbal medicine."

Hua Changxi listened to Aniu's words and was somewhat speechless: "It's a demonic beast; with the nourishment of spiritual energy, a few scratch marks will heal very quickly."

The green ox nudged Aniu with its head, signaling him to calm down: "Fairy, have you agreed to let me follow Aniu?"

Hua Changxi lowered her eyes and pondered. A Qi Sea Realm demonic beast that could speak human language was actually somewhat useful: "Human settlements are not like mountain forests. Once you go to the city, you are not allowed to hurt people."

The green ox: "What if people hurt me?"

Hua Changxi: "That depends on what kind of hurt. If someone endangers your life, you can fight back. But if someone whips you a few times, you cannot hurt people; that is not allowed."

The green ox was silent for a while: "I can manage not to hurt people casually."

Hua Changxi glanced at Pucao, who was pale beside her: "Not only can you not hurt people, but you also cannot let people know you are a demonic beast."

The green ox nodded: "Aniu and I are of one mind. I don't need to speak, and he can know my thoughts. If it weren't for seeing the Fairy today, I wouldn't have spoken."

Hua Changxi was curious: "How did you know I was a cultivator?"

The green ox: "The Fairy has a scent that makes me afraid."

Hua Changxi: "What scent?"

The green ox shook its head: "I can't say. Anyway, if it weren't for Aniu being here today, I definitely wouldn't have dared to approach the Fairy."

Hua Changxi: "Isn't it because my cultivation is higher than yours?"

The green ox shook its head again: "I can't feel any spiritual energy fluctuations on the Fairy. If it weren't for that scent that makes me fearful, in my eyes, you are actually no different from a mortal."

Hua Changxi was truly surprised: "In your eyes, I am no different from a mortal?"

The green ox nodded.

Hua Changxi felt something strange. Cultivators and demonic beasts can actually be seen as clusters of spiritual energy. When clusters of spiritual energy meet, they can sense each other.

Her cultivation was above the green ox's; the green ox might not be able to probe her strength, but it should be able to sense that she was a cultivator.

Of course, cultivators also have means to make others unable to sense their strength, such as using a breath-concealing technique or using breath-concealing talismans.

But the problem was, she hadn't used any of these means.

Could it be that the cultivation technique she practiced could automatically conceal her breath?

Hua Changxi was somewhat puzzled and kept this question in her heart, not asking anything else: "I was just worrying about the trouble of taking these two back to the capital. Now, you can carry them on your back for the journey."

Seeing that Hua Changxi agreed to let it follow Aniu, the green ox was very happy. Its two front hooves immediately knelt down, letting Aniu and Pucao sit on its back.

Pucao was still immersed in the collapse of her worldview and was somewhat afraid of this ox that could speak, so she didn't dare to move.

Seeing this, Aniu comforted her: "Sister Pucao, don't be afraid. Xiao Qing is very docile and won't hurt you."

Pucao looked at Aniu, then at Hua Changxi, and with Aniu's help, bit the bullet and sat on the green ox's back.

Hua Changxi watched Aniu support Pucao onto the green ox's back with one hand and suddenly asked: "Aniu, I see you have quite a lot of strength. When those people in the village grabbed you, why didn't you fight back?"

Aniu was somewhat at a loss, lowered his head, and didn't speak.

Seeing this, Pucao helped answer: "Aniu had great strength when he was a child. At first, when he was bullied, he would fight back."

"But later, he injured the Clan Leader's son, and the Clan Leader gave a strict order to the village: as long as Aniu hit people, no one was allowed to help him, and no one was allowed to hire him to work."

"If you hit people, you don't get to eat. Over time, Aniu developed the habit of not fighting back when hit."

After hearing this, Hua Changxi was silent for a while and looked at Aniu: "The first requirement for working for me is that if you are bullied, you must fight back fiercely. If you don't even dare to stand up for yourself, where would you get the motivation to help others solve problems?"