The Donkey Cart

Chapter 36: The Donkey Cart

Looking at the six taels of silver, Li Huowang couldn't be bothered with formal refusals. He simply tucked it into his robe. Right now, he genuinely needed the money.

"Then, Little Daoist, please take your time eating. We'll go prepare. We'll continue the journey tomorrow."

Full and satisfied, the Lü family was worn out and ready to go back to sleep—they hadn't slept at all the night before.

After the Lü family left, Li Huowang was alone in the room. He stared at the roast chicken, which was bigger than his head, thought for a moment, then asked a nearby servant, "Do you have something to wrap this in?"

Before long, Li Huowang led a donkey out of Wuli Gang. Behind the donkey was a cart, piled high with bags of grain.

Six taels of silver wasn't much—he'd have to be frugal—but while it couldn't buy a horse, it could still buy an old donkey.

With this, at least he wouldn't have to carry all the supplies on his back along the road.

As Li Huowang emerged, he saw the others still huddled in the rice-straw piles in the fields.

They hadn't entered the village. Clearly, they were afraid their unusual appearances would frighten the locals.

Walking over, he found them roasting dried sweet potatoes over a fire.

Li Huowang reached into the cart and pulled out the fragrant roast chicken. "Eat this instead."

After days of nothing but dry rations, the group couldn't resist. They scrambled over, excited.

More than a dozen people shared one chicken. Each got only a small piece, but everyone gnawed with intense focus. Even the bones were carefully cracked into tiny fragments and swallowed.

"Brother Li, where did this chicken come from? And the donkey cart? Where did you go last night?" Bai Lingmiao held a chicken neck in both hands as she asked.

Li Huowang sat on the straw pile, his eyes closed, and gave a brief account of the cause and events.

When she learned he had risked his life to get these things, Bai Lingmiao lowered the chicken neck. She crawled closer to him by sound alone, her face full of concern.

"Brother Li, I'm sorry. It's us—we're the dead weight holding you down. If it weren't for us, you wouldn't have had to go so far."

Li Huowang opened his eyes and looked at the girl whose eyes were covered with a strip of blue cloth. "It's got nothing to do with you. That thing came to the Hu family shrine because it had already marked us. Even without last night's incident, we'd have run into it sooner or later."

"And besides…" Li Huowang paused, remembering the moment back at Qingfeng Temple when he had completely sunk into his hallucinations. "And besides, in the future, who's the dead weight? That's not so certain yet."

He thought for another moment, then looked back at the girl. He reached out and took her hand.

Bai Lingmiao shyly pulled back—then stopped.

But after a while, he considered again. Lying back on the straw pile, he closed his eyes, turned his gaze away, and slowly loosened his grip.

Yet the moment he let go, her soft hand quickly pursued his, holding on tightly.

After a full night's rest, the two groups, each with their own purpose, set off again.

Their next destination was Jianye Town—and this would be Li Huowang's first time entering a large settlement in this world.

"Little Daoist, Wuli Gang is not far from Jianye Town. At our pace, we'll be there in four or five days," Lü Zhuangyuan reported to Li Huowang.

Li Huowang turned to look at Zhao Wu, who was being carried on the fool's back. "Well? Almost home. Happy?"

Earlier, Zhao Wu had mentioned that his family was in Jianye. Over the past few days, Li Huowang had gotten a preliminary sense of him.

He felt the man had a very sharp mind—it was just that his physical disability and illiteracy had kept his potential buried.

"Zhao Wu, we're practically at your doorstep. Don't you think you owe us brothers a trip to the tavern?" Gouwa teased from the side.

But Zhao Wu's reaction surprised everyone. A bitter smile crossed his face. "What good does it do a cripple like me to go home? My hands can't carry, my shoulders can't lift. I'd just be a rice bucket lying around the house."

His words silenced the group. They struck a nerve with every one of the former human ingredients.

Everyone who had been kept in the ingredient room—except Li Huowang—had something wrong with them. Even if they returned to where they'd come from, they'd still be the freaks people feared or despised.

Escaping the fear of death at Qingfeng Temple was wonderful. But returning to an environment full of contempt and hostility was nothing to celebrate either.

Feeling the heavy atmosphere, Li Huowang turned to Zhao Wu. "Who says you're useless? While we have some free time, I'll teach you alchemy. Remember as much as you can. Even working as a village quack, you won't starve."

Zhao Wu froze at these words. Then his expression lit up, his eyes burning with intense longing. "Brother Li, I don't want to learn alchemy. Could you teach me to read instead?"

"Why learn to read? A few more pill formulas, and you could practice medicine back home. That's a solid meal ticket, isn't it?" Li Huowang couldn't quite understand the local mindset.

It wasn't that literacy was useless—of course it was useful. But even elementary school took five years. Teaching an illiterate person who couldn't even write his own name was a huge project; it would take years.

"It doesn't matter! Even if I can't learn much, it's fine. I'll take whatever I can."

Though Li Huowang didn't fully grasp Zhao Wu's hunger for knowledge, since the man wanted to learn, he could teach.

"Fool, put Zhao Wu up on the donkey cart. I'm going to teach him to read."

Zhao Wu knew nothing, so Li Huowang had to start with simple primers like the Wooden Mouth Person characters.

As he taught, Li Huowang noticed the area had gone very quiet. He looked up and found that everyone—including the Lü family—was listening with total concentration.

They weren't just listening. There was reverence on their faces. As if Li Huowang was engaged in something sacred and solemn.

"Heh heh heh... uh, Little Daoist..."

Lü Zhuangyuan, grinning, came over with a strip of cured pork in one hand and his youngest son dragged along with the other.

Just as Li Huowang was waiting for the man to speak, dust kicked up from the path behind them.

Soon, a horse stopped in front of them. A young, chubby boy jumped off.

Lü Zhuangyuan clearly knew him from Wuli Gang. He quickly cupped his hands in greeting. "Oh my, oh my! Young Master Hu, do take care. Where are you off to?"

"I'm not going anywhere! I'm going to perform opera with you! That way, I can listen to opera every day!"

The excited Young Master Hu's voice was still very young. Though he was stout, his voice hadn't changed yet.

"Oh dear, don't make jokes like that. Please go back—don't make your grandfather worry."

"Don't worry, I'll pay to listen!" He shoved a longevity lock made of pure gold into Lü Zhuangyuan's hands.

Lü Zhuangyuan's expression was deeply conflicted. He held the gold in his hands, caught between options.

Soon, though, someone on horseback caught up from behind, rescuing him from the dilemma.

"Father! Don't drag me! I'm not going back! I want to perform opera!!"

Slap!

The loud slap across Young Master Hu's face startled everyone nearby. The boy's face quickly began to swell.

"You want to be an actor!? You dare to be an actor! How low can you stoop?! That's the lowest of the low! The dregs of the nine classes! If you dare bring shame to the Hu family by becoming an actor, I'll beat you to death, you hear me?!"

He snatched the longevity lock from Lü Zhuangyuan's raised hand, then carried his son onto a horse and galloped away, leading the second horse.

After they left, Li Huowang turned back to Lü Zhuangyuan, waiting for the words the old man had been about to say.

Lü Zhuangyuan stood there awkwardly, holding the two strips of cured pork. Several times he opened his mouth, as if to say something, but no sound came out.

The old man, always so smooth and quick-witted, was for once utterly at a loss, helpless as a child.

In the end, he said nothing. He forced a smile, nodded at Li Huowang, and pulled his son toward the cart. His already stooped back seemed to curve even deeper.