Chapter 23

Modern people excel at divergent thinking — to put it bluntly, they love wild speculation, after all the information they encounter daily is simply too vast and too complex.

When Wu Chengyu discovered the bamboo slips were guiding him in pill-making, his first reaction was that if this thing served merely as a Black Jade Bone-Healing Ointment production manual, it would be far too low-end.

So what if it were something else — would the bamboo slips also be able to provide instant guidance?

Thinking of this, he casually picked up a small knife and grabbed a piece of wood, attempting to carve; unfortunately, this time the bamboo slips fell silent again.

Wu Chengyu looked at the unidentifiable object he had carved using A Ku as a model — a monkey's body, a cicada's head — it was truly nothing presentable.

Recalling the entire pill-making process of the past few days: the bamboo slips initially had no reaction because they did not know what Wu Chengyu was doing; those black lumps, the bamboo slips could not determine what substance they were, and could only conclude Wu Chengyu was artificially making lumps, but human lump-making requires no guidance.

Only when Wu Chengyu produced inferior Bone-Healing Ointment for the first time did the bamboo slips deduce his behavioral purpose and give professional guidance — this shows that no matter what Wu Chengyu does, he must at least have entered the field before he can obtain help through the bamboo slips' judgment.

Wu Chengyu's mind was sharp; he quickly made the analogy and thought to test with woodcarving, but he fundamentally did not know woodcarving, so he could not pass the bamboo slips' judgment and naturally received no guidance.

However these are only Wu Chengyu's deductions; they must be verified.

"So what is it that I truly know, and that can be realized in this world?" Wu Chengyu thought with furrowed brow.

"Driving a Ferrari one-handed? Where would I find a car in this world; driving an ox-cart one-handed definitely wouldn't look cool.

Making PPTs? That skill I'm practically an expert at; the bamboo slips probably aren't qualified to guide me.

The Thirty-Six Ways of the Banquet Persuasion Technique? The days of playing the grandson, toasting and forcing smiles in my previous life — I truly don't want to repeat them.

How to get a beauty's WeChat in three sentences at a nightclub? This is feudal society now — I'd be drowned in a pig cage; the only suitable venue is a brothel, but brothel women need no pickup lines — hand over silver and they instantly call you Grandpa, far more real than those nightclub girls."

Wu Chengyu once again ignored his current body's age, couldn't help closing his eyes and indulging in fantasy — there really was a brothel in the Fang Market, seemingly not far from his small courtyard.

After his flights of fancy, Wu Chengyu's mind returned to the right track — he knew quite a few skills from his previous life, but very few were usable; at this stage only this one seemed realizable.

Wu Chengyu set down his tools, walked into the small kitchen next door; Shopkeeper Wei sent fresh vegetables from time to time; Gushan County bordered the sea, and today he sent quite a few live shrimp; beside them was a basket of chicken eggs. Wu Chengyu thought a moment, then immediately lit a fire, set the wok, heated oil, and in a few quick moves made a plate of shrimp stir-fried with eggs.

In his previous life Wu Chengyu was also a glutton; single life inevitably meant cooking for himself, so cooking was absolutely no difficulty for him — if guests came he could make over a dozen home-style dishes at once, and the reviews were good.

So Wu Chengyu was definitely not a master chef, but in cooking he had absolutely entered the field.

Sure enough, when the shrimp-and-egg dish came out of the wok, the bamboo slips reacted again.

"Shrimp stir-fried with eggs, basic home-style dish, low technical content, dish basically passable.

Flaws: 1. Host seeks speed when cooking; shrimp veins not cleaned thoroughly.

2. A few drops of baijiu may be added to the egg liquid to remove fishiness and make the eggs fluffier.

3. Host's arms are weak; too few wok-tosses, unable to heat the eggs evenly.

Evaluation: Host has cooking basics, but limited to home-style dishes; opening a restaurant would certainly lose face and close down; suggest giving up."

Wu Chengyu's expression didn't change; he roasted it viciously in his mind: Damn this is a rural iron wok — never mind a ten-year-old child, let Tyson try tossing this wok.

But at the same time his heart surged — it seemed his deduction was correct: as long as a skill can be entered, the bamboo slips will give guidance; this means Wu Chengyu possesses infinite possibilities; for a moment Wu Chengyu suddenly wanted to shout at the top of his lungs: "Dad, I'm finally going to amount to something!"

The bamboo slips' previous function — making him manage the world's injustices — was something Wu Chengyu fundamentally did not want to accept.

This Gushan Branch incident happened because he had to repay A Ku's life-saving grace and his own situation was precarious, so he fought desperately; the rest of the time, as long as it didn't concern him, Wu Chengyu absolutely did not want to meddle in idle affairs — he had become somewhat cold.

So Wu Chengyu regarded the bamboo slips as chicken ribs; the function of gaining rewards through righting wrongs had already been abandoned by Wu Chengyu — obtaining the Black Jade Bone-Healing Ointment to avoid disability was already fully satisfying.

And the second function discovered now is truly useful to Wu Chengyu — truly something that can let him establish his life in this world.

But the current pressing matter isn't continuing to experiment with skills; since the Black Jade Bone-Healing Ointment has cured him, the next step is first to make his left leg fully functional.

Early the next morning, Wu Chengyu led A Ku out the door, also bought some steamed buns, and brought A Ku to the City God Temple.

Today was quite a coincidence — Shopkeeper Wei had arrived a step earlier, and was drinking with Lu Youjiao.

A few days ago Wu Chengyu introduced Shopkeeper Wei and Lu Youjiao; with Shopkeeper Wei's standing he wasn't yet qualified to meet Hong Qigong.

But Wu Chengyu wanted to introduce Shopkeeper Wei to the Beggar Sect, to place the Wei family business under the Beggar Sect's protection — he had already obtained Hong Qigong's approval a step earlier, so Lu Youjiao went along with it and met Shopkeeper Wei; Lu Youjiao proposed two-tenths of the Wei family business profits as tribute to the Beggar Sect, and Shopkeeper Wei agreed without the slightest hesitation.

Two-tenths profit was considerably more than what the Wei family originally paid tribute to Peach Blossom Island, but Peach Blossom Island and the Beggar Sect are different — Peach Blossom Island has far too few people; generally when the Wei family business encountered martial artists making trouble, they would send a letter to Peach Blossom Island for Qu Lingfeng to act; in all other aspects Peach Blossom Island gave the Wei family no help at all.

But the Beggar Sect is different — the Beggar Sect's sphere of influence spans Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and most of Anhui and Jiangxi; there are also branches in the Jin Kingdom's northern territory; cooperating with the Beggar Sect not only provides protection but can also expand the Wei family's business scope.

Moreover, for Wu Chengyu's sake Hong Qigong made these two-tenths tribute actually not much; Shopkeeper Wei was extremely content.

At this point, Wu Chengyu's debt of gratitude to Shopkeeper Wei was considered repaid; instead it became Shopkeeper Wei owing him quite a lot.

At this moment Shopkeeper Wei was flattering Lu Youjiao without leaving traces, displaying a businessman's smoothness to the fullest; Lu Youjiao's dark face rarely showed a hint of red — probably never been praised like this before — a bit embarrassed yet his back straightened ramrod straight.

Seeing Wu Chengyu approach, Lu Youjiao hurriedly greeted him; he had participated in Wu Chengyu's affairs from start to finish; some things he couldn't understand, but he knew Hong Qigong valued Wu Chengyu highly.

Wu Chengyu distributed the steamed buns to the beggars in the branch, pulled A Ku to sit down; A Ku nibbled a bun while nodding her head swaying.

"Has the Chief Hong left for several days — did he say whether he'd return?" Wu Chengyu had come today specifically to seek Hong Qigong's help.

Lu Youjiao replied: "The Chief, that elder, took people to Qingyu Guan; a brother sent back word — the heretics of Qingyu Guan were captured in one sweep.

Who could have imagined? That heretic got a prescription from somewhere, actually requiring the hearts of ten boys and ten girls as medicine guides to refine the Immortal Pill."

Thanks to Gourd Sister, Great Sea Beast, Book Friend 9827, Book Friend 5546, Nickname Is What Thing 123, Miao Sheng, 19691231, Book Friend 5234, Book Friend 0470, Book Friend I Am A Drifter for the recommendation tickets.

【48】

(Chapter End)