Chapter 112: Looking After

In the winter, the morning sun rises, but when it hits one's body, it only feels like it is scorching the face; not a hint of warmth can be felt.

Chen Mo sits on a chair in the main hall, holding a yellow tabby cat in his Huai, and at his feet lies a small black mongrel dog.

These cat and dog were both brought back from the market by Zhao Yu from someone else's home; the cat is kept to prevent mice, and the dog is kept to watch the house and guard the courtyard.

It is just that both of them are too young right now; they will need to grow for a while longer before they can truly be of use.

Chen Mo opens a porcelain bottle, uses his internal energy to extract a drop of Nourishing Spirit Liquid, gently pries open the cat's mouth, and feeds it to the cat.

Immediately after, he picks up the small dog and feeds it a drop as well.

Nourishing Spirit Liquid is different from a Mirage Spirit; the Qi and Blood power contained within a Mirage Spirit is swallowed up completely by the Transformation Pearl, regardless of whether one can absorb it oneself.

But Nourishing Spirit Liquid enhances the Divine Sense, allowing a Martial Artist to better open up their Shenhai.

Its power can only be absorbed and refined by relying on one's own self.

Therefore, he cannot rashly absorb it before this; he must first ensure that the Nourishing Spirit Liquid has no hidden dangers or harms.

Although a small amount of absorption previously did not bring harm to himself, it is hard to say what will happen next, so it is better to be cautious.

"Time to eat," Zhao Yu says as she pushes the door open and walks into the main hall.

"Alright." Chen Mo puts down the cat and dog, letting them run off to play.

Zhao Yu walks up to him and helps him brush off the cat and dog hair clinging to his body.

"I have some matters today, so don't prepare my lunch."

While eating the breakfast on the table, Chen Mo gives instructions.

Since he has already promised Wei Xia that he would help her look after her family, he should naturally keep his word and do it immediately.

Regardless of whether the Nourishing Spirit Liquid is useful to him, or even if using more would cause hidden dangers to himself.

But for things he has already promised, Chen Mo will see them through; otherwise, he would not have agreed to them in the first place.

"Alright, then I will have someone prepare more for dinner." Zhao Yu does not ask what the matter is and smiles in agreement.

She knows that Chen Mo will surely be busy with official business next and will certainly not have time to eat properly while out at noon, so the evening meal must naturally be more sumptuous to reward him for his day of hard work.

After finishing his meal and drinking two pots of clear tea, Chen Mo rests briefly before leaving the house.

He is not going alone; it is easy to give money, but to ensure Wei Xia's family can hold onto this sum of money—

—he must call upon a few clerks, and have He Luoyun accompany him.

The information Chen Mo had him find earlier was all handled by him, and only he knows the specific situation of Wei Xia's family in the village.

First, he goes to the military camp to summon a few clerks, then has someone go find He Luoyun.

Before long, He Luoyun arrives at the military camp in a hurry with a few personal attendants.

"My Lord, I do not know what business you have calling for this humble one!" Seeing Chen Mo, he hurriedly dismounts and bows low.

During this time, relying on Chen Mo as his great tree, his business has grown larger and larger.

Transporting private salt is inherently a business of exorbitant profits, and since these businesses can only be done by him, his business expanded rapidly without much effort.

"Do you still remember the situation regarding Wei Xia's family that I had you investigate a while ago?" Chen Mo asks.

"Reporting to my Lord, this humble one remembers." He Luoyun answers hurriedly; although he is somewhat curious as to why Chen Mo suddenly mentioned this matter, he dares not ask more.

In reality, when Chen Mo had him investigate these matters earlier, he was already quite curious in his heart: as a Seventh-Rank Official of the Imperial Court, why must Chen Mo insist on investigating those rumors of hauntings?

But he can control his tongue; not only did he not ask more, he did not speak a word of it.

This is also the reason why Chen Mo is willing to entrust these matters to him—he can keep things to himself.

"Good, now take me to Wei Xia's home." Chen Mo mounts his horse.

"Ah!" He Luoyun is stunned for a moment, then immediately reacts; he dares not ask more and leads the way on horseback in front of Chen Mo.

The remaining few clerks and personal attendants ride their horses behind Chen Mo.

Eighty li is neither far nor near; galloping on horseback, it is only a matter of one hour.

Shuangshi Village is named as such because there are two ten-thousand-catty stubborn stones at the entrance of the village.

There are no mountain ranges nearby, and no one knows where these two large stones actually came from.

As Chen Mo's party gallops along, they are met by people before they even reach the village entrance.

A dozen people on horseback, with some wearing official robes, are naturally extremely eye-catching and were noticed early on.

"This Lord, I am the village head of Shuangshi Village; I do not know who you are?" An old man of about fifty years, wearing cotton clothes with graying hair, asks respectfully while bowing.

"I am the General Manager of the local Salt Transport Department; I have come here today to find a young man named Wei Dong."

Chen Mo reaches out to help the old man up, not concealing his intentions.

"My Lord, that Wei Dong is an honest and dutiful child; he usually only works near our village to support his old mother and has never done anything harmful."

Hearing that Chen Mo has come to find Wei Dong, the old man instinctively feels that it is nothing good.

After all, even if there were truly something good, it would not be the turn of a poor man like Wei Dong who is illiterate and only knows how to do hard labor.

"I have come to find him this time to express my gratitude to their family." Chen Mo states the draft he had prepared long ago.

"Ah!" The old man is also stunned, completely caught off guard by this.

He Luoyun comes up at this moment; this place is not far from Zhu Niu Ji, which is also within the scope of his business.

Many of the young and strong men in Shuangshi Village work under him to make a living.

"Old Village Head, why don't you hurry and take Lord Chen to Wei Dong's home?"

Having received the reminder, the old man finally reacts and escorts Chen Mo all the way into the village.

Although he does not know why Chen Mo wants to thank the Wei family, he thinks this must be a good thing.

However, Chen Mo is an official, and he cannot stop what he wants to do.

The old thatched house where Wei Dong lives occupies a relatively spacious area, but because there is no money for repairs, it appears quite dilapidated.

He is currently tending to the stove, and seeing so many people arrive, his honest and simple face is clearly somewhat bewildered; he cannot react to what is happening before his eyes at all.

However, seeing the official robe on Chen Mo, he still instinctively bows down.

"I have some matters to discuss with him in private; additionally, go and bring his third elder sister, Wei Qiu, here as well," Chen Mo said, looking at He Luoyun to give instructions.

"Yes!" He nodded in agreement and hurried off to find the person.

"My Lord, you..." Wei Dong was slow of speech and clearly did not know how to speak at this moment.

Seeing him walk into the house, he simply hurried to follow.

"My Lord, please sit." He hurriedly found a wide stool and carefully offered it to Chen Mo.

As for his mother, she was huddled beside a heater in the room.

The stove fire was not strong, providing only a faint bit of warmth.

Seeing Chen Mo walk into the room, she hurriedly bowed in fear and trepidation.

"This Lord, I do not know what business you have coming to our home!" Wei Mother, her hair white, leaned on a cane and asked softly.

"Old lady, please sit first," Chen Mo said with a smile.

He could tell that Wei Xia's mother had no chronic illnesses.

Or rather, she had only one sickness: the sickness of hunger.

The treatment was even simpler: eat more white flour and meat, and her body would naturally recover.

"My Lord, I do not know what business you have with this common woman?" Wei Qiu, looking terrified, walked into the room and hurriedly bowed.

She was about thirty years old, wearing coarse cotton clothes, the attire of a most ordinary farmer.

Chen Mo waved his hand, his Inner Qi vibrating, and the room door closed immediately.

"Do you have an elder sister named Wei Xia, who was sold to the Wang family of Zhu Niu Ji seventeen years ago?" Chen Mo asked, his gaze sweeping over the two of them.

"Yes." Both nodded in agreement; although they were young at the time, they remembered this matter very clearly.

"I once received help from your elder sister and promised to help her look after you," Chen Mo said slowly.

The expressions of the others in the room were clearly dazed; they truly could not understand this, and while they wanted to ask, they were also somewhat afraid to, so they could only look at each other in dismay.

Chen Mo had no intention of explaining it to them; if he were to truly explain, it would be far too complicated for them.

"But the fact that your elder sister helped me cannot be known by too many people. So if anyone asks you, just say that you once helped me," Chen Mo said, looking at Wei Dong to give instructions.

If the fact that Wei Xia helped him were to spread, then someone would certainly become suspicious.

As long as someone with intent investigated a little, they would discover that seventeen years ago, he was not in Zhu Niu Ji at all, and the living Wei Xia could not have had the opportunity to help him.

And Ghost Spirits were of high value; both Martial Artists and Qi Refiners would be tempted.

If this matter were to truly spread, it would inevitably invite trouble.

With Chen Mo's strength, he certainly did not fear most people who wanted to plot for a Ghost Spirit, but he did not want to be idle and proactively find a pile of trouble for himself.

"Ah!" Wei Dong was still completely bewildered and had not reacted at all; everything happening before his eyes truly exceeded his expectations.

Chen Mo did not speak further, giving them sufficient time to slowly accept this matter.

"My Lord, did my elder sister really help you?" Wei Dong was honest, but he was not a fool; he truly could not figure out how his own sister could have helped Chen Mo.

But if his own sister had not helped him, then why would the other party suddenly come to his door to find them?

This truly left him completely confused.

"Do not ask about this again; in short, she once helped me, and I promised her I would help her look after her family," Chen Mo did not answer this question.

"This commoner thanks you, My Lord!" Wei Mother was the first to react, bowing to express her gratitude.

Wei Qiu and Wei Dong also hurriedly reacted.

They did not know what Wei Xia had ever done to help Chen Mo.

It made them realize that after seventeen years, their daughter, their elder sister, had helped them once again.

"Do not tell anyone about what I mentioned today, no matter who it is, you are not allowed to say it.

If someone asks, just say you once helped me, and if they ask more, do not say anything else," Chen Mo instructed Wei Dong and the others carefully.

"I understand, I will absolutely not tell anyone about this!" He nodded repeatedly.

Wei Mother and Wei Qiu also promised repeatedly that they would never tell anyone about this matter.

Seeing this, Chen Mo opened the room door and called for He Luoyun, saying, "Find someone to repair this house first, and when spring comes, build a set of blue-brick tile houses on top of this."

As Chen Mo spoke, he took out silver notes from his Huai; He Luoyun naturally did not dare to accept them, but after Chen Mo said that one thing was one thing, he finally accepted the silver notes.

"Additionally, since her husband works in your Salt Mine, help look after him," Chen Mo said, pointing to Wei Qiu.

Her economic situation was slightly better off, but it was only enough to eat her fill; otherwise, she would not have been unable to help her younger brother.

"Yes, I will instruct my men later," He Luoyun agreed repeatedly.

After arranging these matters, Chen Mo took out two prepared bags of loose silver, each containing ten taels of broken silver, and handed them to the two of them respectively.

"Keep this money well; if you don't know how to do small business, just keep it and spend it slowly."

"My Lord, you have already helped us a lot; we absolutely dare not take this money," Wei Dong did not reach for the money bag again and refused in a deep voice.

"This silver is not mine; it was left in my hands by your eldest sister, and now I am simply returning it to you," Chen Mo said, tossing the silver bags to the two of them.

"In the future, allocate two taels of silver from my account every month to give to Wei Dong, so he can rest assured at home and support his old mother," Chen Mo looked at He Luoyun again.

Two taels of silver was no small amount; even near Zhu Niu Ji, a strong laborer working for a month would only get one tael and three or four mace.

After finishing these things, Chen Mo did not leave and was kept in the village to be entertained.

Before leaving, Wei Mother handed him a package.

"My Lord, my daughter had a bitter life and fell to her death in a well, leaving not even a corpse. You also live in Zhu Niu Ji; I have some things here, and I hope you can help me burn them for her."

As she said this, tears shimmered in her cloudy eyes.

"Alright." Chen Mo took the package and agreed.

When he rode his horse back to Zhu Niu Ji, the sun had already begun to sink low.

In winter, it always got dark too early, as if urging people to go to bed early.

The cats and dogs that had previously been fed the Nourishing Spirit Liquid were still perfectly normal now.

Because their Divine Sense had been nourished, they even appeared more alert than usual.

Returning home, Chen Mo did not rush to find Wei Xia, but instead continued to carefully observe the cats and dogs that had been fed the Nourishing Spirit Liquid.

After confirming that there were no issues with them, Chen Mo walked into the practice room and took out the heart obtained from hunting in the Mirage Sea earlier.

Although it had been removed from the Mirage Sea, it was still pulsating, only it was beating very slowly.

(End of chapter)