Chapter 100

Seeing all three were so interested, Master Xuanmiao clapped her hands and said, "If you can properly pickle these three vats of vegetables today, I'll teach you the Dao methods and talismans for catching demons tomorrow."

Pan Yun perked up, "Our sect has lessons like this?"

She immediately pulled the mustard greens toward her, rolled up her sleeves, and said, "I'll start right now!"

Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He also sped up.

The three worked together and finished pickling and sealing all three vats before dinner, then carried them to the kitchen and stored them.

The temperature for pickling must not be too high or too low; at this time, the kitchen is the best place.

Once the pickles are ready and the weather cools, we can move them to the cellar.

As soon as Pan Yun placed the pickle vat down, the golden progress bar in her spiritual realm began ticking forward with a ding-dong-ding.

+1+1+1…

Pan Yun snapped her head up and asked Pan Xiaohei, who had also perked up, "How much did it increase?"

It wouldn't show the exact increase alone—you had to do the math yourself—what was the previous number again?

Pan Xiaohei had paid far more attention than Pan Yun and had an unerring memory; it mewed, "Fifteen."

Pan Yun raised an eyebrow—fifteen points, exactly, increasing bit by bit; this made the source easy to trace.

"Those beggar kids?"

Miao He wiped sweat from his forehead and turned his head, "What?"

"Nothing," Pan Yun rolled her sleeves back up and asked, "Shouldn't we make dinner now?"

In a thatched hut in Yushan County, dozens of miles from Mount Sanqing, Old Yu and fourteen children huddled together, each holding a bowl of thick porridge.

"This porridge was sent by Xiao Daochang of Sanqing Temple on Mount Sanqing. Before every meal, thank her—she's the one who lets you eat this bowl of porridge."

The fourteen children all responded, even the youngest who could barely speak, babbling incoherently.

Today's porridge was delicious—better than any food they'd begged from the streets: clean, thick, and steaming hot.

Pan Yun reminded them, and only then did Miao He realize it was late and he was hungry; he immediately said, "I'll cook!"

"Let me," Miao Zhen said. "You two go pick vegetables."

Miao He sighed, "What good vegetables are there left? I haven't eaten meat in four days—how about we boil eggs tonight?"

Miao Zhen: "Only two eggs left—one was laid this morning."

Miao He: "We can make egg drop soup—I'll pick some bitter hemp greens and cook them with the eggs."

Pan Yun: "You know how to eat."

Miao He grabbed her hand and pulled her running—the bitter hemp greens weren't grown in the back courtyard but on the land near the Dan Well, which they'd turned into several vegetable plots.

As Miao He dragged Pan Yun past the temple gate, Tao Yanbai, panting and climbing up with a bamboo basket on his back, called out to her, "Fifth sister!"

Miao He spun around and shouted loudly, "Third brother!"

"Fifth sister! Little Auntie!" Tao Yanbai had been away from the mountain a long time and missed home terribly; seeing the two of them now was like a wanderer returning home to family.

He swiftly pulled a greasy slab of five-flavored pork from behind his basket, raised it high, and shouted, "Look, Fifth Sister!"

"Ah—" Miao He screamed, her eyes and heart fixed on the swinging slab of pork, "Third brother—"

"Fifth sister—"

"Third brother—"

Pan Yun could no longer tolerate it; she leapt between them and shouted, "Shut up!"

A foot kicked Tao Yanbai in the buttocks from behind, shoving him off the path as someone stepped forward.

Pan Yun stared blankly, "Third brother, why are you so thin and so dark?"

Tao Ji saw her expression had softened slightly and nodded, "It's a long story—I'll tell you tonight. What's there to eat at home?"

There was nothing to eat at home—if there had to be something, then only…

Pan Yun turned to look at the fruits offered on the altar in the main hall.

She jumped into the hall, knelt on the cushion, bowed respectfully to the Three Pure Ones, apologized, then took two pears from the offering tray, washed them, and handed them to the two.

Tao Ji set down his basket, took the pear, and bit into it.

Tao Yanbai, full of energy despite being hungry, set down his basket and pulled out various items to share with Miao He, "I bought two slabs of five-flavored pork and a chicken with it slaughtered—boil it tonight too. I also bought hair ties and two bolts of cloth for you…"

Miao He was thrilled, "Let's pickle this slab of pork first—put it in a bowl, hang it in the well with a basket, eat it tomorrow or the day after. We can also cut the chicken in half and save half for tomorrow."

Pan Yun watched Tao Yanbai not eating, so she bit into her own pear and sat with Tao Ji on the steps, watching them divide the goods. "Third brother, it looks like you made a good profit this trip."

Tao Ji: "I'd rather not have earned that money."

Pan Yun: "Tell me, tell me—why not?"

Seeing her eager to hear gossip, Tao Ji's anger and urge to vent surged; he launched into a stream of words, "We went to treat Old Master Cheng of the Cheng family, and by chance, pulled him back from the gates of death. His neighbor, a Li family, had a child with malaria, on the brink of death—they asked me to go, so I went. Hey, I've traveled the world for years and seen many patients, but I've never met such unreasonable family members." Pan Yun asked first, "Did you save the child?"

"I saved him."

Pan Yun immediately joined Tao Ji in condemning the family, asking, "Third brother, how did they mistreat you? Tell me—I'll get revenge for you later."

Tao Ji snorted, "Don't brag—you can't even imagine how unreasonable they were. Even if the Three Pure Ones descended, they couldn't control them—don't even think about it."

"I don't believe it—unless you tell me exactly how they mistreated you."

Tao Yanbai, who was sharing gifts, turned back and said, "Little Auntie, you don't know—those Li people are stingy and paranoid."

"Their child had malaria; all the city physicians failed and told them to prepare for the funeral. Third Uncle gave one prescription and the child revived. They then thought the illness wasn't serious, started extorting other doctors, and claimed Third Uncle's follow-up prescriptions were too expensive, suspecting we were overcharging them for medicine."

Tao Yanbai went on, "When we were at their house, even if we drank a bowl of water, they'd stare twice, afraid we'd steal anything."

"If the child hadn't looked so pitiful, we wouldn't have bothered saving him."

Tao Ji nodded, "The worst part was—I planned to leave the prescription and walk away, no longer involved. But as I stepped out, I ran into monks from Fuyuan Temple. Those bald bastards goaded me into staying until the child fully recovered—or I wouldn't have come back so soon."

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Pan Yun: "Fuyuan Temple? Is that Huiyuan the bald bastard?"

"... Not Huiyuan the monk, Little Sister—don't call Huiyuan a bald bastard. He's a cultivated Gao Seng who once gave you a gift."

Pan Yun spoke with righteous indignation, "No matter how much he cultivates the Dao or treats you well, the monks of Fuyuan Temple can't bully Third Senior Brother."

Tao Ji felt a small warmth in his heart and said, "It's not Huiyuan—it's Huiqian and a few others."

"Huiqian? Third Senior Brother, are you sure his dharma name is really that? It sounds like he's not very smart—shouldn't his dharma name be Huishen or something similar?"

"Huishen is Huishen. Huiqian is Huiqian."

Pan Yun suddenly understood. "I get it—he's not very smart, so his master gave him a name that suits him?"

Tao Ji gave her an approving look.

Just as the two were about to delve deeper into the gossip about Fuyuan Temple, Wang Feiyin asked in a soft, haunting tone, "What are you two talking about?"

Tao Ji immediately fell silent, stood up, and bowed his head. "Senior Brother, we weren't saying anything."

Wang Feiyin's face was stern. In front of the three children, he didn't scold him, but glared at Pan Yun, Tao Yanbai, and Miao He. "What are you three still doing here? Isn't the food ready? Aren't the things packed up?"

The three scattered at once. Tao Yanbai carried the items back to the back courtyard. Pan Yun and Miao He went to pick vegetables.

Tao Ji also picked up his basket to leave, but Wang Feiyin called him back.

Wang Feiyin turned to look at Wang Cong, who followed behind him.

Wang Cong gave Tao Ji a look that said "good luck," then returned to the back courtyard.

Wang Feiyin then scolded Tao Ji. "How old are you now? Still can't learn better? There are so many children on the mountain—don't you know you must lead by example? How can you speak ill of others behind their backs? Especially mocking them by their names?"

Tao Ji complained, "I only said once, 'Huishen is Huishen, Huiqian is Huiqian.' All the rest was said by Little Sister. Why don't you scold her?"

"She's only eight. Are you only eight too?"

Tao Ji was utterly miserable, but still admitted his fault. "I know I'm wrong. I'll change next time."

Wang Feiyin finally grunted, then asked, "Did the bald monks of Fuyuan Temple bully you?"

Tao Ji nodded.

Wang Feiyin rebuked him, "Did you learn your martial arts just to endure abuse? Fight back! You're a Physician—you're meant to heal and save lives. Did you mess up by saving people? Look at yourself—when have you ever come back from the mountain without gaining three or four catties? You and your master are the fattest and whitest on the whole mountain. Now look at you—how black you've turned, how thin you've become!"

As he spoke, Wang Feiyin grew anguished, gritting his teeth. "Huiyuan doesn't discipline his disciples. I'll write him a letter. If he doesn't rein in his brothers, next time I'll go down and discipline them myself."

Tao Ji felt relieved and nodded.

"Stop nodding. This time you're back on the mountain, you'll train hard. Don't go running down the mountain again." Wang Feiyin sneered. "Those bald monks of Fuyuan Temple bully the weak and fear the strong. They're taking advantage of your low cultivation. If your cultivation were high enough, would they dare provoke you?"

Tao Ji bowed his head and accepted it.

Miao He and Miao Zhen picked a large amount of vegetables and returned.

Tao Ji and Wang Cong had already rolled up their sleeves to chop meat and slaughter chicken. Tao Yanbai and Miao Zhen were assisting in the kitchen.

Master Xuanmiao was pickling meat. Only Wang Feiyin still sat alone on the large rock by the cliff, staring blankly.

Pan Yun, unbothered, found a stone to sit on, sorted the vegetables, and took them to wash.

With so many people working, things moved quickly. Soon the big pot was boiling, stewing chicken, frying meat, and cooking vegetables.

But they didn't eat this meal until after dark.

The entire observatory ate under the moonlight. The night was cold, not even a single mosquito to be found.

Pan Yun thought she would spend a wonderful night—after all, tonight she had eaten meat, chicken, and melon. Aside from feeling a little sorry for Third Senior Brother, everything was perfect. But then, that night, she started having diarrhea.

Oh, this familiar beginning~~

Today's lucky number is any number ending in 1. Screenshot as proof.

(End of Chapter)