Success

Chapter 250: Success

Watching Gouwa, his face red from holding his breath as he clutched his own neck, Lü Xiucai was utterly baffled. Wasn’t this guy supposed to be demonstrating some supernatural power?

What was this pathetic look supposed to be? Could this really be his big technique? Anyone could do this.

“Kkhh—huuurk!!” With a violent, bent-over retch, Gouwa finally spat out a short needle wrapped in white thread, letting it fall to the ground.

“Ai-yah, my mother, that was a close one.” Gouwa’s eyes were filled with lingering fear as he stared at the needle on the ground.

He’d had a brain fart just now. He’d meant to inhale first and then blow it out, but instead, he’d sucked the damn thing right down his own throat.

Suddenly remembering something, Gouwa leaped to his feet and, trembling with anxiety, opened his mouth wide for Lü Xiucai. “Quick, quick, quick, quick! Help me look! Is there anything wrong with my mouth?!”

“What? There’s nothing wrong. But man, your throat’s pretty narrow, huh? Feels a bit sticky around the edges.”

Hearing this, Gouwa’s soul nearly fled his body in terror.

He shoved two fingers into his own throat, fumbling around frantically. Despite the continuous retching, after checking, he found no other problems besides his throat feeling a bit narrower.

“Good, good. Good thing it got stuck in my throat. Lucky I didn’t swallow it. If I had swallowed it, I probably would have ended up looking like Senior Brother Li.”

Gouwa knew he didn’t have Senior Brother Li’s ability to forcibly reverse such things. He would have truly turned into a monster.

Once he’d recovered, Gouwa heard a light laugh from the riverbank. His face flushed with embarrassment, and he quickly bent down, wrapping his sleeve around the needle to pick it up from the grass.

Gouwa felt he’d lost face in front of the women. To him, that was far worse than his earlier mistake.

“This one doesn’t count! Let’s try again!” Unwilling to give up, Gouwa put the white-threaded needle back into the small tube.

Having learned his lesson, Gouwa didn’t dare be careless again. He took a deep breath from a distance, then put his mouth to one end of the small tube and blew hard at the grazing sheep.

“Swoosh!” The long needle shot out from the tube, piercing the base of the black ram’s horn.

Then, everyone present saw the horn on the sheep’s head slide rapidly across its wool, all the way down to its chin.

Hearing the gasps and screams, Gouwa felt immense satisfaction. He almost couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

But at that moment, Gouwa forced a look of utter disdain onto his face. “See? Didn’t I tell you I have a supernatural power? Without it, how could anyone do that?”

Having said that, Gouwa pulled out another needle and blew it at the sheep again. This time, it hit the sheep’s front hoof. The white sheep’s leg buckled, and it fell to the ground with a thud.

“Hey! This thing really works! Next time I run into bandits, I’ll use this! But I gotta remember, take a deep breath from far away first, then blow.”

Just as Gouwa was admiring his own masterpiece, a woman with a pear-shaped face who was washing clothes by the river approached him. Her eyes were filled with seven parts curiosity as she looked at the small tube in Gouwa’s hand. “What’s that, wise master?”

“Heh heh heh…” Hearing someone call him “wise master,” Gouwa’s grin stretched almost to his ears.

“This is the magic tool I use for my supernatural power! I’ll let you take a look, but you can’t touch it. Ordinary people can’t touch this!”

Using this topic, the two actually started chatting, a sight that made Lü Xiucai beside him burn with envy.

But all he could do was watch, since he didn’t have anything like that.

Time passed quickly, and soon the women had finished their washing.

Right now, Gouwa was grinning idiotically at a small white stone in his hand. It was a gift from the woman. She said she’d picked it up by the roadside.

The stone was very ordinary, just a bit round and white, but the thing itself wasn’t important. What mattered was the feeling it represented.

The earring was no longer in Gouwa’s ear; he’d given it to the woman.

“Heh heh! Xiucai, I’m going to get a wife!” Gouwa brought the stone to his nose, sniffed it, then carefully tucked it into his bosom with a spring in his step.

Lü Xiucai wore a long, sour face, feeling very aggrieved. Gouwa looked like that, his face all patchy yellow and white—how did he deserve that?

“No, this is too cheap. I need to give something more valuable. I’m going to go borrow some silver from Junior Sister Bai!” Gouwa said, turning to leave with great enthusiasm.

“Hey, Gouwa, wait a minute!” Lü Xiucai called out to him.

“What? You want to borrow some? No way! Do you know what I went through to get this thing?” Gouwa said, clutching his treasure. He walked over to the strange sheep and pulled the needle out of its body to put away.

“Who wants to borrow that crappy thing of yours? I wouldn’t want it even if you gave it to me. Before we left, my dad asked me to ask you about something.”

Hearing this, Gouwa, who was about to leave, turned his head to look at Lü Xiucai in surprise. Old Lü Zhuangyuan usually never asked him about anything.

“Uh… how’s Little Daoist’s face today?”

“How’s Senior Brother Li’s face? Can’t you go see for yourself? It’s not that far.” Gouwa tried to leave again, but Lü Xiucai blocked him.

“Hey, hey, hey. For the sake of how not a single woman is looking my way, Gouwa, just help me out this once. I really don’t dare to go.”

“What? What did you call me?” Gouwa stared at him, his brows raised.

“Cao Cao! Brother Cao! I’m begging you. You’re about to get a wife, so be a man of great magnanimity.”

Seeing Lü Xiucai’s pathetic look, a trace of smugness appeared on Gouwa’s face. “What are you afraid of? It’s not like Senior Brother Li is going to eat you. Come on, I’ll go with you to take a look. It’s no big deal.”

The riverbank wasn’t far from the tents. Before long, they were crouching behind one tent, looking at Li Huowang from a distance.

“Is Little Daoist sharpening his knife?” Lü Xiucai asked cautiously, lying flat against the tent.

“No. Those are his special tools for torturing people. He probably thinks they’ve gotten a bit dull from overuse, so he’s sharpening them again.”

“But I still can’t tell his mood from his expression, Brother Cao. Can you get a closer look for me?”

“Hey! Why should I be the one to go over there? It’s your business, why don’t you go yourself?”

“But why does your dad need to know about Senior Brother Li’s mood? Is he planning to discuss something with him?”

“I don’t know. Anyway, my dad’s been looking really worried lately.”

Just then, the two of them suddenly saw Li Huowang in the distance staring straight at them.

Gouwa gave Lü Xiucai a hard shove in the back, pushing him out from behind the tent. Then he walked out himself, putting on a big, bright smile for Li Huowang.

Then Gouwa saw Senior Brother Li put away all his torture implements, hang them on his leather satchel, and turn to walk towards two tents that stood alone in the distance.

“Huh? Senior Brother Li isn’t going to the Black Tai Sui’s tent. He’s going to that other one.”

“Gouwa, what’s in that tent over there?” Lü Xiucai squinted, trying to see into the distance.

Gouwa gave him a disgusted look. “What’s it to you? Just go back and tell your dad that Senior Brother Li’s temper hasn’t been great these days. If he has something to discuss, wait a few more days.”