Chapter 47

According to the folk customs of the Ming Song Dynasty, within five days approaching the end of the year, unless one is so poor that one stops working and stops eating, even the most hardworking people have to stop working and get busy with the New Year.

In Pingyang Town.

In the peripheral Youyu Ward, Bangtian Ward, and Waixian Ward, usually at the sixth quarter of the Xu hour, which is nine o'clock at night, there would be no idlers on the streets.

But now it was already the fourth quarter of the Xu hour, past ten o'clock, and there were still endless shadows of people.

The trees along the road were covered with red, round lanterns the size of watermelons.

Landscapes and little people were painted on the lantern skins; although rough, they were interesting.

Candles made of miscellaneous fish oil as thick as a wrist were lit inside the lanterns; once lit, they would emit black smoke and smell bad, but they lasted a long time, shining for the whole night.

The colorful paintings on the lantern skins were reflected on the ground, walls, and people by the candlelight, and a New Year atmosphere different from usual was born.

In the flow of people, Zhang Gui walked down the street with a dried fish in his mouth.

From time to time, he would cup his hands and greet the neighbors:

"Hey, Ren Daye, you haven't slept yet? I'm wishing you a Happy New Year in advance."

"Little Brother Xiaoqi, wishing you wealth and prosperity, wishing you wealth and prosperity."

"Can Bo, good fortune, good fortune, much joy and longevity, hahaha"…

After a while, he strolled back home, and as soon as he pushed the door open, he saw his mother, Caiyang Duojie, eating a feast in the main room with two aunts and five cousins.

Braised pig head meat, steamed large pork hocks, stir-fried scallion and sea cucumber segments, whole chickens, whole ducks, and large platters of mixed fish that were eaten in a mess—although they weren't mountain delicacies or sea treasures, they were very rich.

Caiyang Duojie had been busy all day from morning till night, and only when she was about to rest did she finally see her son, and she was very dissatisfied.

She couldn't help but nag, "It's already the twenty-something of the New Year and you still haven't stopped working.

Since ancient times, there has never been an owner who works people like this, let alone when there is a real family relationship.

Are you really treating people like cattle and horses!" She hurriedly got up to get the food that had been saved for him.

The two aunts who were living under someone else's roof hurriedly followed Caiyang Duojie to serve the dishes together, and also persuaded him,

"Big Sister, Guigui being busy means he is being valued.

Things can't be done without him, that's why he still hasn't stopped working on the twenty-something of the New Year."

"Exactly, exactly.

Otherwise, which family would arrange chores approaching the end of the year."

Zhang Gui just giggled when he heard this and didn't talk to the elders.

After taking his seat, he didn't care whether the food was leftovers or not; while eating and drinking in large mouthfuls, he casually greeted his cousins,

"Duoqing, Hualin, Shasha, Tongwa, Caicai, where did you go to play today?

The Zhang family has changed a family head and it really has a new atmosphere.

So many lanterns were hung in the town all at once; burning candles for just one night must cost a lot of money.

Tsk tsk tsk, life is going downhill and they are still squandering; the kid is not doing proper work."

The other cousins were all honest people; they just greeted Zhang Gui with a hum and a haw and wouldn't talk properly.

Only the fourth daughter of the eldest aunt Qiedan Jiena's family, Caiyang Hualin, glanced at Zhang Gui, who was eating leftovers and residual wine, a flash of disdain in her eyes, but she still properly advised him:

"Brother Guigui, if you are an idler, it doesn't matter if you say strange things.

But you have now taken a chore in the Zhang family and are a not-so-small head clerk.

Some things are not good to say."

Zhang Gui was stunned, nodded, and said:

"Also, also.

Cousin Hualin's reminder is correct."

After that, he didn't make a sound and just buried his head in eating.

This meal lasted for more than an hour.

After eating and drinking his fill, washing the bowls and chopsticks, it was already late at night.

The others were all so sleepy that they kept yawning and went into their rooms to sleep.

Only Caiyang Duojie, who was worried about her son, brewed two large pots of strong tea for Zhang Gui.

Guarding the bean-sized firelight in the main room, she asked with a face full of worry:

"Son, tell me honestly, where did you go to make trouble again today?"

Ever since she found out about Zhang Gui killing people and seizing wealth last time, the same question had appeared many times.

Zhang Gui said with a bitter smile: "My mother.

What trouble, what trouble? I am planning a great undertaking, and I am very honest now.

It's just that I plan to take you to move to..."

"You, you, you dead kid, you still want to take your mother to become a bandit!

I'm not going.

I have lived in Pingyang Town for twenty years.

My relatives and old friends are all here, I'm not going anywhere.

I won't go even if I die!"

Seeing Caiyang Duojie's excited appearance, as if she were about to have a cerebral hemorrhage, Zhang Gui could only wave his hands significantly and said with a serious tone:

"No, no.

Amu, I meant that after I have money in the future, I will take you to move to a good ward in the town to live.

After Jiujiang's brother made his fortune, didn't his family move to the Hehe Ward in the middle of the town?

In the future, you can continue to be neighbors with them and enjoy a happy life."

Hearing this, Caiyang Duojie's complexion improved a little.

But she still shook her head and was unwilling, "I am doing my own business well, earning silver, and I can spend it however I want.

It's a hundred times happier than sitting around waiting for your filial piety.

You don't need to worry about how your Amu lives her life.

Just take care of yourself."

Originally, Zhang Gui planned to wait until his foundation on Giant Serpent Head Island was initially established, and then move his mother over to be the mini-empress dowager of a vassal state.

As a result, he didn't expect Caiyang Duojie to still be a career-oriented woman with her own plans.

Now Caiyang Duojie couldn't be persuaded by her son, and Zhang Gui couldn't force his mother.

The two of them stared at each other, neither having the heart to chat, and went to sleep separately in a depressed mood.

Two hours passed.

In his sleep, Zhang Gui felt an itch in his brain that he couldn't scratch.

In reality, the Divine Cong in his brain was sprouting and growing, revealing the ancient divine text 'Tai Sui Enter Spirit', and he mastered the third primordial ability, 'Black God Stand on Ground'.

At this point, Zhang Gui's three treasures of body, heart, and spirit, and his three sources of liver, lung, and brain, were all covered by Divine Cong.

His seven major Divine Cong—'Swallow Crow;

Drink River;

Water-Fire Harmony;

Hundred Herbs Life Mandate;

Burning Metal;

Great Growth;

Tai Sui Enter Spirit'—generated countless Cong hairs between them.

They evolved into the fourteen-character divine text 'Three Perfections Fully Cultivated Reaching Supreme Transformation Great Saint Seat Mandate', connecting many Divine Cong into one.

After that, the colors of all Divine Cong turned from pale gold to golden yellow.

The three primordial abilities, 'Explosive, Warlord, Black God Stand on Ground', merged into one.

Merged from three 'Equal Divine Abilities' into one 'Lesser Divine Ability', 'Black God Explosive Warlord All Methods'!

And transformation in the ancient times also had the meaning of 'reincarnation and living again'.

For example, the extremely famous 'Jingwei Fills the Sea' in myths and legends, the goddess Jingwei transformed into a Jingwei bird after death.

When everything settled down.

Zhang Gui's blood also turned golden, and the transformation was successful.

A main Divine Cong originating from the Kuafu bloodline but with a new look, colored in seven colors and named 'Ember', was born.

Zhang Gui opened his eyes in a daze, and suddenly his mother's surprised, hoarse voice rang in his ears,

"Son, my son, you, you are awake!

Finally awake!"

With a jolt in his heart, Zhang Gui sat up from the bed, "What's wrong, Amu, have I slept for a long time?"

Seeing her son, who had been bedridden for dozens of hours, suddenly wake up and act startled, Caiyang Duojie was so frightened that she almost fainted.

She hurriedly pressed Zhang Gui back onto the bed.

"Don't move around, don't move around.

The doctor said you messed up your Qi-Blood during cultivation, and the stagnant blood rushed to your brain, making you sleep in a daze.

If you hadn't woken up, you would have been paralyzed.

Fortunately, heaven blessed you, heaven blessed you, and let you wake up."

Zhang Gui was stunned, "Stagnant blood rushing to the brain, isn't that a cerebral hemorrhage?

I am young, have great divine abilities, and am very healthy; how could I have a cerebral hemorrhage?

Who is talking nonsense to cheat you out of your money?"

He shouted too loudly, which startled the aunt and cousins in the adjacent main room.

Soon Qiedan Jiena and Qiedan Sangjia led their daughters and hurried over.

"Guigui is awake!

Great, great, it's really the Buddha's blessing!"

"Waking up and moving freely, hurry and move your legs and feet so the eldest aunt can see."

(End of chapter)