Seeing Wu Rong’s return, Huang Mao first heaved a sigh of relief, and then winked at him with trepidation. But before he could speak, Mother Wu snorted coldly, and Huang Mao immediately trembled in fright.
“Oh? Really? I thought I had no children.”
Mother Wu continued to fold the paper ingots without moving, and her tone was casual, with a hint of deep anger: “Otherwise, how could I not even know where he had gone or what he was doing? Even to know where he lives, I have to ask his little brother?”
“Auntie, Brother Rong was also afraid that you would worry.”
Huang Mao was so nervous that his toes were in the ground, he was busy trying to smooth things over, and he didn’t think about what he said, which made Mother Wu even angrier, tearing up the unfinished ingots in her hand: “If I don’t know, I won’t worry? I don’t know if I should worry even more! When you grew up, you have your own mind, and you keep everything from me!” She raised her voice, glared at Wu Rong, and reprimanded: “If you want me to get angry, I’ll just say it, you little naughty—”
Mother Wu turned her eyes and saw Fu Qing standing next to Wu Rong. She didn’t expect that there would be outsiders around, so she choked on the air in her throat: “You little naughty br—little naughty child, are you bringing friends back?”
“Mom, he’s Fu Qing.”
Wu Rong said, “The talisman was given to me by him.”
“It turned out to be Taoist Fu.”
Mother Wu was in awe, and quickly put down the things in her hands and got up, her voice became gentle and soft: “Thank you for taking care of our family, A-Rong, this child has a short brain and doesn’t like to talk, please take care of him.”
“A-Rong is fine.”
Fu Qing said briefly, and added at the end: “It was I who suddenly wanted to take him to the Tiankeng, so please do not blame him.”
Hearing that Fu Qing was the chief culprit who abducted Wu Rong to the dangerous trial, the smile on Mother Wu’s face froze. The atmosphere among the few people froze for a moment, making the chaotic Huang Mao want to shrink immediately. Suddenly, he thought of a soothing topic, and quickly suggested: “Auntie, don’t worry, there will be a live broadcast and screen recording of the entire Tiankeng trial. If it is replayed, you can go back and have Brother Rong play it for you.”
Why is Brother Rong staring at me?
Huang Mao was anxious in his heart, recalling the few words he had just said, but before he could say anything else, Mother Wu had already borrowed the slope to get off the donkey: “Okay.”
Wu Rong unlocked the gate, and several people walked into the villa. Huang Mao also brought a bag of apples to Wu Rong from his own house, pulled Wu Rong into the bathroom while washing the apples, and said in a low voice: “Auntie came here to wait for you since the day before yesterday, sitting from morning to night every day, I asked Auntie to wait for you, and to go to my house first. But she wouldn’t go…too many people died in the Tiankeng this time, she was very worried about you.”
“Hm.”
Wu Rong knew that he went through everything alone in his previous life, and that he was used to doing everything by himself. After returning from Miaojiang this time, he really ignored his mother a lot.
“Brother Rong, talk more, don’t just keep silent, women will get angrier if you don’t talk.”
Huang Mao imparted some knowledge to Wu Rong, and then the two went out carrying fruit plates one after the other.
“Mi wuu~”
Before reaching the living room, there was a sweet and soft coquettish meow, and there was a fluff of snow-white fur squatting obediently in front of Mother Wu, with a huge black crow by its paws, its small chest sticking out as if begging for reward. Its hair was fluffy like snow, and its blue eyes were pure, which was very cute. Mother Wu, who was sitting on the sofa, showed admiring eyes – but then she started looking at the black rock tarantula, that crawled onto her hand at some point.
“This spider Gu is well raised.”
The little spider that had shed its shell once was majestic and awe-aspiring, with wolf-like black bristles on its body, smooth and shiny, staying in Mother Wu’s hands reservedly, with eight bright round black eyes, showing off its sharp mandibles, and hitting its jointed limbs to bring up the human-faced spider so that Mother Wu could see it.
“Come here, let me see the Qingling Gu given by your grandmother.”
She looked sideways at Wu Rong. Although Mother Wu still spoke with anger, it was much better than before. Wu Rong summoned the Qingling Gu and showed it to his mother. This trip to the Tiankeng only rewarded the poisonous insects on his body. Even though the little spider received the human face spider, the ones who benefitted the most were sucked into the gap of the Tiankeng together with Wu Rong, the Qingling Gu had devoured the essence of countless ghosts when the big ghost killed them.
The scales of the little green snake were green and moving, bright and moist, just like handicrafts carved from jasper. The Wu family seemed to have the talent to control Gu in their blood. Mother Wu took the Qingling Gu and wrapped it around her wrist. The little green snake obediently shrank to the right size, which was even more eye-catching than the jade bracelet on Mother Wu’s wrist.
“To raise Gu, you must do your best to raise it. Don’t think it’s an easy job.”
Through the Qingling Gu, Mother Wu seemed to see Grandma Wu, touching the snake’s body with complicated emotions, and then finally putting it back on Wu Rong’s hand. Seeing Wu Rong wanting to speak but looking like he couldn’t find a topic to talk about, she sneered and stood up.
“Okay, I don’t want to stay here and attract people’s suspicion. Hurry up and go rest. Don’t bother Taoist Fu all the time. Remember to come to the Shouyi Store to help out the day after tomorrow.”
Having said that, before Mother Wu left, she used the only ingredients in the villa to fry a plate of diced eggs and steamed buns for the three young men, and then went to the backyard to pick some small green vegetables, briefly fried a few dishes, and asked for Wu Rong’s Tiankeng live room number before leaving.
His mother didn’t say anything, and Wu Rong really didn’t feel tired. But after eating a mouthful of diced steamed buns fried with eggs, the familiar taste bloomed on the tip of his tongue, and tiredness surged up almost instantly. Wu Rong finished his meal in a hurry, and with all his strength, pointed out the side bedroom to Fu Qing—there were hanged ghosts who took care of the house, and the villa was cleaned up very well. Then he went back to his room to sleep and was drowsy until the evening of the next day when he woke up.
This time Wu Rong slept refreshedly. He opened his eyes and sat up, only to see ghosts from hanged ghosts to the evil Miao ghosts standing neatly against the wall in a row, trembling, with lowered eyebrows and drooping eyes in fear, all looking very scared.
“Woke up?”
Fu Qing was sitting on the chair beside his bed, wiping his mahogany sword with a soft cloth. When the soft cloth rubbed against the sword blade, sparks like static electricity appeared, which made the ghosts smoke and puff, almost like experiencing collective madness.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Qe Ebcu vlvc’a rjs jcsatlcu jybea atf lcnjrlbc bo tlr qglnjaf rqjmf lc atf yfvgbbw, ktlmt mbeivc’a yf fcafgfv mjrejiis. Mgbw atf rfmbcv wffalcu bckjgvr, ktfc Me Hlcu ygbxf atf klcvbk jcv fcafgfv Qe Ebcu’r gbbw, tf mbeiv rff atja Kjblra Me kjr vfolclafis j qfgrbc ktb vbfr tlr bkc atlcu. Qe Ebcu vlvc’a atlcx la kjr j ylu vfji. Mbg oglfcvr ktb gfjiis mjgfv jybea tlw, Qe Ebcu’r fzagjbgvlcjgs mbcclnjcmf mbeiv tjgvis rff j ybaabw ilcf.
“These two were brought from the house.”
Because he just woke up, Wu Rong’s voice was a little hoarse and deep. He pointed at the trembling hanged ghost and ghost doll, and then pointed at the Evil Miao ghosts: “Brought back from Miaojiang.”
After he finished speaking, he remembered Fu Qing’s extremely cruel and destructive attitude towards ghosts, and frowned, “Did you fall asleep last night?”
“No.”
Fu Qing could always understand the true meaning of his words, and said lightly: “It has nothing to do with them. I practice Pure Yang Tongzigong Kung Fu, and meditation can replace sleep.”
“Besides, the pure Qi in my room is higher than the ghost’s Qi.”
Wu Rong was taken aback for a moment, and then came to his senses. Before going to Tiankeng, he planted the blood ginseng brought by the big ghost dog into flowerpots and placed them in the small garden. The side window of Fu Qing’s room was facing the small garden.
But it shouldn’t be higher than the ghost’s Qi.
It wasn’t until Wu Rong went out to have a look after a brief wash, that he realized that the small garden was full of various medicinal plants, and their appearance was slightly worse than the original blood ginseng, but they were not that bad. When Wu Rong approached, he felt refreshed, but the planting techniques were too poor, almost all of them were strongly inserted into the soil, messily, and it was a miracle that they survived.
With this small garden, the Qingling Gu didn’t go back to the locust tree, and just slept in this small garden, very comfortably. It’s naturally complementary to these spiritual plants, and with its care, these plants could grow well without extra care. Alongside the pure Qi of these medicinal materials, some vegetable seeds that Wu Rong sowed before going to the Tiankeng had germinated, and the lush greenery was very gratifying.
Of course Wu Rong could guess where these herbs came from.
“Big Black.”
“Woof!”
Wu Rong called out, and the big ghost dog jumped out of his shadow and followed Wu Rong. It deliberately shrunk its body, and it looked about the size of an ordinary black back dog. Its fierce eyes fixed on Fu Qing, and its sharp ears stood up alertly: “Bark woof!”
“I’ll go out later and buy you something.”
Wu Rong said to Fu Qing, “By the way, I need to apply for a breeding license for Big Black.”
If you want to raise an extremely dangerous beast like a ghost dog in the city, you must get a breeding certificate issued, and it cannot be in the city, only in the suburbs. Wu Rong thought of the Big Dog’s subordinates and patted it on the head. During the simple communication between one person and one dog, Big Black stuck out his tongue and licked Wu Rong’s hand, and gave a loud and deep ‘woof’. After a while, a huge evil ghost dog appeared from the shadow of the street corner, followed by five other evil dog spirits.
The leading ghost dog ran towards Wu Rong, and at the same time the big dog beside Wu Rong also ran towards it. The two ghost dogs collided and merged strangely. The newly born black vicious dog briskly returned to Wu Rong’s side. It had devoured too many ghost corpses in the Tiankeng Crack. Its body was covered with ugly and weird sarcomas, and some were even wriggling and trembling. It was undigested resentment.
Even so, Wu Rong felt that the big dog had a stronger sense of existence, in other words, it was more stable, and it was no longer as illusory as before, as if it would disappear at any time.
“Woof!”
The big dog had indescribable hostility towards Fu Qing, it stared at him vigilantly, while wagging its tail, and carefully put Wu Rong’s hand in its mouth. With a pain in his fingertips, Wu Rong felt that a subtle connection had been established between himself and the big ghost dog, and he could understand its meaning even without touching it.
In the vicious dog tattoo on Liu Hu’s body, there is a trace of the soul contract of the big dog, so he can control the big dog through it. Now that Liu Hu is dead, his mind and soul are gone, the contract that restrains the big dog does not exist at all, and it can make a blood contract with Wu Rong.
As for the other ghost dogs, without the control of the knee bell, they are completely free.
“Bark wuu—”
“Woof woof—”
The ghost dogs wagged their tails, barked coquettishly in a low voice, and reluctantly rubbed the back of Wu Rong’s hand one by one, bowing their heads to show their loyalty to the big dog. Then one by one, they turned into black mist and dissipated in the air.
“They’ve gone to a ghost land.”
Wu Rong shared the information that the big dog told him with Fu Qing: “I can’t afford to keep so many dogs.”
Breeding a ghost dog required a high deposit. Although Wu Rong has gained a lot in the Tiankeng this time, almost all of those items are useful and could not be cashed out. He is still very poor now.
“I have money.”
Fu Qing casually took out a bank card from his pocket and put it in Wu Rong’s hand: “The more missions you take, the more money you will get.”
……
Sometimes Wu Rong doesn’t understand how Fu Qing’s brain circuit works. He slapped the bank card back into Fu Qing’s hand: “Yes.”
“I suddenly remembered that there’s still money from the Tiankeng’s live broadcast.”
Wu Rong really didn’t think about it just now, this time he made a lot of money in the Tiankeng live broadcast, and the rewards alone were almost hundreds of thousands, which was an astronomical figure for him. If he agreed to sign a contract with the platform, there would be a large amount of money in the share, which would be enough for Wu Rong to purchase various equipment.
Seeing the sun sink in the west, Wu Rong borrowed Huang Mao’s car before the end of the work period of the Social Security Bureau, and drove with Fu Qing to get a ghost dog breeding certificate for the Big Dog. After paying a deposit of tens of thousands, the light blue small book was successfully processed. Then, Wu Rong went to the general shopping mall to buy rice, noodles, meat and vegetable oil, and at the same time bought spare pajamas and toiletries for Fu Qing.
Except in the Tiankeng, Wu Rong had never seen Fu Qing wearing clothes other than Taoist robes. The two were about the same height, but Fu Qing was taller than him, and his shoulders were a bit wider, Wu Rong contemplated, and bought him a few pairs of underwear. In fact, when checking out with the purchased things, Wu Rong always felt a little confused when he saw that Fu Qing was very familiar with putting tomatoes and baby vegetables into plastic bags. His slender fingers which should be drawing symbols and maneuvering swords, were actually carrying a bag of pork.
It was as if he shouldn’t be doing these chores.
How many disciplines should Fu Qing accept?
Just like Master Kuchan, he should never go to the supermarket to buy vegetables by himself.
But Wu Rong felt that it was not quite right to let that small Hui Xin go shopping for vegetables.
Wu Rong was lost in thought, and wanted to pay with his mobile phone after seeing the bill, but found that Fu Qing was a step ahead and paid all the money first.
“We live together now, so we don’t have to worry so much.”
That’s what he said, but Wu Rong kept feeling like something was off. He didn’t realize it, until he noticed the eyes of passers-by who “understood”.
“You speak too bluntly.”
Wu Rong said helplessly in a low voice, Fu Qing never beat around the bush when expressing himself.
Seeing Fu Qing’s brows slightly raised, his expressionless face showing a little confusion, his kind of ‘What’s wrong with what I said?’ expression made Wu Rong shut up.
Everyone had their own way of living, so why care about so many rules and regulations if you can live freely?
“You go back first, I’m going to help my mother at night.”
With what his mother said when she left before, obviously she wanted to talk to Wu Rong alone.
The Shouyi Store in the shopping mall was not far away. After Wu Rong persuaded Fu Qing to leave, he walked there. On the way, he passed the bar where he stayed. Wu Rong took a special look, but found that the door of the bar was locked, and everything inside was emptied. The dust was messy and it looked a little lonely.
“Hey, isn’t this the Rong boy, long time no see.”
The owner of the food stall opposite recognized Wu Rong, and greeted him affectionately: “Good boy, I was so worried, as long as you’re fine!”
The wife of the owner of the food stall and Mother Wu were good friends in poker. Before, someone else’s gangsters went to the food stall to make trouble. When Wu Rong saw it, he took Huang Mao with him. They played several times and included the big food stalls in their own ‘territory’. Since then, no one dared to come and make trouble. The restaurant owners were generous and they don’t pay half a cent when they go to this food stall.
“It’s better to walk the right way, the right way is good.”
Now is the time when there are many diners and the food stall is busy, the shop manager saw Wu Rong and still put down his work, dragged him to the side to chat, and whispered: “You know, Liu Bao is dead.”
Liu Bao is dead?
Seeing the change in Wu Rong’s eyes, the store manager knew that he didn’t know. He lit a cigarette and gave Wu Rong another one: “It was said to be a suicide, but I looked at the body when it was carried out of the bar. I can’t even pretend, it was miserable… Tsk tsk, and this bar has been closed down by the police for so many days, and I don’t know what he got himself into.”
“If I may say so, that Liu Bao has committed too many crimes.”
On the second floor of the Shouyi Store, Mother Wu stir-fried the special spiced hot pot ingredients, which had a numbing and spicy aroma that was so strong that it lingered in the nose. Fresh vegetables, high-quality sweet potato noodles, and various meat and seafood. It was rare for Mother Wu to show off her skills, and all the things she cooked were Wu Rong’s favorites. Speaking of this, during the meal, Mother Wu, who had long thought that Wu Rong’s “badness” was brought by Liu Bao, snorted coldly, and said with raised eyebrows, “Don’t learn from him.”
“It’s almost your grand-aunt’s death day. It’s time to prepare something for her. The village sent a letter for you the day you came back.”
“Eat first, let’s talk after eating.”
It was unknown whether it’s because of raising Gu or raising ghosts, Wu Rong’s appetite was much bigger than before. Except for Mother Wu’s bowl, he gobbled up all the rice in the rice cooker. After eating, Wu Rong still felt hungry, and took a melon and gnawed on it while taking the letter from Mother Wu. He saw that it was written by Bai Gu.
When he was in the Miao Village, Bai Gu wanted to tell him something about the future, and he narrowly managed to avoid being struck by lightning. The result was that he was that the substitute paperman was black and broken, and Bai Gu was too ill to get up.
He seemed much better now, and even though Bai Gu was seriously ill and was still in Miaojiang, he cared about Wu Rong, and had compiled a lot of useful news for him in the letter.
“My cousin is coming over.”
After reading the letter, Wu Rong showed the letter to his mother: “There are clues for pure things with Earth properties.”
Mother Wu took the letter and read it slowly. She frowned for a while, thought for a while, then went back to her bedroom, and came out holding a jewelry box.
“It was given to me by your grandmother back then.”
There was no jewelry in the jewelry box. On the red velvet cushion was a stone smaller than a fruit. The stone skin was a grayish yellow green, with crisscross hemp lines on it. A window the size of a nail plate was scraped up. Mother Wu held a small spray bottle in her hand, filled it with water, and sprayed it there twice. Under the moist water, a rich emerald halo bloomed into a touch of enchanting green, as green as bamboo after rain, and it was refreshing, with a fascinating charm.
“It’s an old candi stone.”
Mother Wu picked up the stone in the jewelry box and showed it to Wu Rong.
Candi stone, also known as a Houjiang stone, is a kind of rough jadeite, which is produced deep in the impact sands of river beds. The better the water, the better the quality of jadeite in the rough stone. The piece of rough jadeite that Mother Wu took out was full of green and high emerald colors. It was a good material for making ring bezels, the color was very pure. Even if it was not all dug out, its price would start at least in the millions.
“Earth spirits are usually tens of thousands of meters underground, and they’re extremely difficult to find. Not as easily obtainable as jadeite.”
Although some people classify jade (jadeite) as gold because it’s as hard as gold, they still regard it as Earth in the Miao Village, and it can also be listed as a pure thing of Earth nature, that can wake up the Zhong Gu.
“If you want to awaken the Zhong Gu, Purified Rootless Water is the easiest to get among the five elements. Wood spirits often run around, and they are all in deep mountains and old forests. They are very rare, but you already have it.”
At the dinner just now, Wu Rong told Mother Wu about the rewards he got from his trip to the Tiankeng. Mother Wu was from the Wu family and was raised by Grandma Wu. Although she was as stubborn and as rebellious as Wu Rong when she was younger, where she resolutely left the stronghold to wander after falling in love with Father Wu, and even nearly got rid of her name, even now she was still as good as her family when it came to the Gu species.
“Zhong Gu’s Yin Qi is too heavy. You’re a man. It is best to choose the Zhongdian Yang Qi to suppress it when picking out the five elements. Don’t let the boy I raised so well become a girl.”
Jade is the gold in the earth, and it is a good material that can be used to make many instruments. Everyone in the world claims that the best jadeite is imperial green, but they didn’t know that there’s a rarer jadeite species that was only produced in caves in Myanmar. Jadeite collectors in the Yunnan-Guizhou safe zone call it “ species” in jargon. Ghost raisers and Taoist priests privately call it “dragon stone” jade, which is almost extinct now.
“The dragon in the “dragon jadeite” is actually a kind of jadeited jewel beetle.”
As Mother Wu said, she asked Wu Rong to shine a flashlight on the rough jadeite, and he saw a very conspicuous bending mark in the jadeite, almost running through the small jadeite, which made the originally perfect jadeite defective.
“Jade insect are extremely rare. They move freely under the soil layer and in the rock layer, passing through jade stones. People often take the stone back, and when they cut it open, they find that there are countless snake-like cracks inside. Jade Beetles live by swallowing jade, and what they eat is the essence of jade. Only when it encounters dragon stone jadeite, will it emit the jade accumulated in its body, and around a dragon stone jadeite with Jade Beetles, would there usually be a large amount of top-quality jadeite.”
But at the same time, the outer stone skin of the dragon stone jade where Jade Beetles ars located is extremely inconspicuous, no different from ordinary stones.
“Our family has no money.”
Mother Wu said bluntly: “Even if you sold both of us, you wouldn’t be able to afford it.”
Emerald Jade Beetles can be used as a catalyst for the hatching of the Zhong Gu, but the problem is that emeralds are too expensive to make. Before the arrival of the supernatural recovery, its price has been high, not to mention that after the supernatural recovery, jadeite contained pure energy, which was a good raw material for making jadeite cards and various magic weapons. The jadeite market is even hotter now, and the price of ordinary jadeite is several times higher than before.
Don’t look at Wu Rong’s current income of more than 100,000 yuan, it’s already a huge sum of money for him. But the transactions for the best jadeite are often tens of millions, hundreds of millions, and his meager amount of money wouldn’t even make an audible splace.
“But you can try your luck on this one.”
Mother Wu shook the letter in her hand, and Wu Rong took it back, with the neat handwriting of Bai Gu on it.
[Jade tycoon Zhou Xinhong will hold a large-scale stone gambling conference in Jieyang, Guangdong and Guangxi District safe zone in half a month. We sincerely invite capable people from foreign alliances and various regions in the Asian League to enjoy the stone gambling conference together! 】
M1zushi: Fu Qing and Wu Rong having a married couple vibes really gives me EEAAO vibes
HOHOHO we’ll get into the Jade gambling arc XD. In China, it’s a part of the culture to gamble on rough jade, as its exterior does not show the quality of the jade.
JJWXC comments:
Nº4 netizen: Hahahahahahahaha
Before
Fu Qing: Do you also think you are my destined wife?!
Wu Rong: Do you also think that we are destined to be friends?!
Now
Fu Qing: You are my wife, I will give you the salary card
Wu Rong: You are my friend, I can’t spend your money,
I’m laughing to death and I think Gong is a crazy beauty!
I love stone gambling arcs. Natural face-slippers. Thank you
Mom sold him off quick.
Poor house ghosts, new roommate is scary.
In gambling arc will WR finally use the FG black card?
Thank you for chapter
lol I literally thought of- “sugar baddy time?” when Fu Qing handed his card over 😂 Also Xiao Wu don’t be so reserved he’s ur future happy what’s his will become yours in the future anyway xD
I wonder why mom didn’t raise Gu herself tho. Even if she rebellious to the point of running away from home, at this time, you wouldn’t refuse any kind of self preserving ability won’t you?