Chapter 1 Settling Down

They unloaded their bedding rolls from the ox cart, and the four young men eagerly entered the east room to make up their beds. The heated kang (a brick bed-stove) built against the wall was more than ten feet long, more than enough for the five of them.

Looking at the white papered windows, the sturdy tables and chairs, and the spacious room, they were all overjoyed, feeling a sense of novelty in this new place.

But soon, they didn't know what to do.

It wasn't time to heat the kang yet, and the steward hadn't given any other instructions. The city was indeed lively, but they didn't dare run out to play.

Could it be that they should just go to sleep now?

Erye (Second Master) also glanced outside and said, "No one will be delivering food tonight. Wait for me."

He took a carrying bag from the ox cart and left the house. Before long, he returned with two lotus leaf-wrapped mutton buns and a two tael flask of sorghum liquor, and sat down at the stone table and stools in the empty courtyard.

The four or five teenagers hurried over, grabbing the greasy mutton buns and gnawing on them, their eyes shining. If it weren't for the heat, they would have swallowed two in one bite.

Erye watched them eat with a smile, and on a whim, said, "Come on, have a drink with Erye."

Zhou Datong's eyes lit up, but he was still a bit wary. "Erye, are you teasing us? I stole a sip at home once, and my grandpa broke a broom on me."

"That was before."

Erye laughed. "Now that you're in the city, you're all grown-ups. You can have a taste."

"But remember to bring honor to our village."

"..."

The teenagers eagerly snatched the wine pot. The first gulp made their tongues stick out like hanging ghosts from the burn.

Hu Ma also took a sip as usual, feeling the heat and sting. The taste was a bit rough.

In terms of taste, this wine was really inferior to those carefully blended, mellow, and sweet wines from his previous life, but what could he do?

He just comforted himself: At least there's no industrial alcohol here. This is real grain liquor...

After eating the buns and drinking the wine, plus the fact that they had been traveling for so long without resting properly, the four teenagers quickly became tired, and one by one, they lay down on the kang, sleeping soundly. Only then did Erye take out a handful of peanuts from his pocket.

He sighed and said, "I was thinking of going back in the next day or two."

Hu Ma was slightly startled. "So soon?"

"I think you're settled, so that's good. There's no point in staying here all the time."

Erye said, "After all, I've helped as much as I can, and the village is waiting for spring to start mining. They're busy."

Hu Ma thought about it and handed the wine pot to Erye with both hands. "Thank you, Erye."

"Are we still being so polite? It seems distant."

Erye took a sip and got up to the ox cart. From a package of medicinal herbs...

He opened it and saw a smoked, fire-dried piece of salted meat, about two or three pounds.

Erye said, "Before I left, the patriarch entrusted these four *taisui* (a type of fungus believed to have medicinal properties) to me. I won't keep the other three. It's up to the steward to keep them himself, or distribute them to the other stewards. We can't say anything."

"After all, we can't just come here and start giving gifts everywhere, can we? We'll only annoy people, and no one will help us."

"This last one is to prevent you from not getting enough to eat here and losing weight. I secretly left it behind for you to keep. Later, see who's not making progress and give it to him to supplement his body."

"Only five of you have come out in so many years. It wouldn't be good if any of you fell behind."

"..."

"The most valuable thing in the village, and they entrusted it to me?"

Hu Ma looked at the salted meat-like thing and understood its value.

Don't think that Erye gave away three as soon as he arrived, and then took out this one for himself. This is the best thing the village has to offer.

Although Danyang Village relied on *Taisui* Master for food, they could earn some *taisui* every year to bring back, thinking of exchanging it for money or supplementing their bodies, but those were mostly white *taisui*, or some scraps.

This kind of complete green *taisui* must have been in the village's reserves for many years. Who would dare to touch it usually?

"Only you are more reliable."

Erye looked at him and said, "First, you're used to eating… that thing, and you don't care about this little bit."

"Second, after that incident, you're more stable than the others, and people can trust you to do things."

"Besides..."

Erye lowered his voice. "Others don't know, but I know your current level. These kids are counting on you."

"This puts a lot of pressure on me…"

Hu Ma smiled wryly, peeled a peanut, rubbed off the red skin, and put it in his mouth. It was fragrant and crisp.

Erye watched Hu Ma's natural action of peeling the peanuts and sighed inwardly, "After all, he's still spoiled by his grandmother. He doesn't even eat the skin when he eats peanuts…"

Shaking his head, he picked up the wine pot and took a small sip, and said, "I could tell early on in the village that you had a high ambition and wanted to learn a skill. Now that you have your wish and entered the Red Lantern Mother Society, you can be considered to have stepped in with one foot, but Erye has something to tell you."

Hearing this, Hu Ma listened earnestly.

Erye said, "For people, gold, silver, and treasures are all external things. What is the most important? A skill is the most important."

"Speaking of skills, who doesn't want to learn them?"

"But it's not like you can just learn them if you want to. When I was young, a master saw that I was still a virgin after thirty years and asked me to follow him to learn skills."

"I was also happy, and followed the master all over the north and south for several years, and also used this pure Yang virgin body to help him clean up a lot of evil spirits and demons. I thought that if I was so diligent, I could learn some more powerful skills..."

"..."

Hu Ma couldn't help but pause slightly. "He didn't want to teach you?"

"He taught me..."

Erye gave a wry smile and said, "It's just what you've already learned."

"Maybe I'm stupid, and I can't learn anything else."

"..."

Hu Ma heard the disappointment in Erye's words, and his mood sank, understanding Erye's intention in telling him these words.

Saying that he was stupid was just self-deprecating.

If it was really just because Erye was stupid, then whether or not he taught other techniques, this set of moves could always be taught completely, right?

After all, this is just a method of practicing external skills, which doesn't require much intelligence, and can be mastered with hard work.

But in fact, Erye didn't even learn this set of moves completely.

"Alas, anyway, pay attention. Maybe this Red Lantern Mother Society is different from the wild master I worshiped back then..."

Erye sighed deeply, lowered his voice, and said, "For the children in this village, being able to enter the Red Lantern Mother Society as a handyman is considered promising, but you are different. You have high aspirations and definitely want to climb up."

"I'm not capable, I can't teach you, but I also want you to be well."

"The piece of green *taisui* that I left for you has a thumb-sized tip on the tail, covered with black ash. You quietly cut it off and keep it."

"That's a valuable thing. Send it out when necessary, so that people don't think you're not sincere and don't teach you."

"..."

Hu Ma was slightly shocked, and finally understood that Erye had given him the best thing after all.

For a moment, gratitude welled up in his heart, but at the edge of his lips, he just said, "Erye, when I learn the skills, I will definitely repay you."

"...Get you a virgin bride and build a big courtyard!"

"..."

Erye was embarrassed when he heard this, his old face turning red, and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? I'm so old..."

"...I don't need a virgin bride!"

"..."

That night, Hu Ma talked with Erye for a while, and then they went into the house to sleep together.

And he told them that the black oil paste that their village made was the best. The shops that bought it would have to mix it with some unknown things and sell it diluted!

And after all the explanations were done, before the sun set, he drove the ox cart out of the door.

The child was handed over to the Red Lantern Mother Society, and was now their person.

The teenagers in the village didn't expect Erye to leave so decisively, and they were a little stunned and quite uneasy.

No matter how noisy they were usually, they were just half-grown boys. Without an adult by their side, they inevitably felt apprehensive.

But Hu Ma had been prepared for this for a long time, and was just waiting patiently.

They lived in this empty house for two or three days, and then several more groups of teenagers were sent over. But they were different from the teenagers from Danyang Village. Some wore silk clothes and looked impressive, while others were burly and had a solid foundation.

When the teenagers from the village saw them, they didn't have much confidence, and usually didn't dare to make too much noise.

But unexpectedly, after a few more days, several more batches of teenagers were sent over, and they looked ragged, barefoot, and skinny, even poorer than those from Danyang Village.

When there were more people, it became lively.

The teenagers were all fighting for places to live, fighting for food, sneaking out to buy sugar food clay figurines to watch puppet shows, and so on.

Only the teenagers from the village and the group of ragged teenagers were the most honest. Whether it was distributing food or other things, they didn't dare to compete with the teenagers in silk clothes.

"This Red Lantern Society is opening its altar to accept handymen, and their identities are very mixed..."

Hu Ma silently observed these things, and did not dare to underestimate the people or things in this world because of his transmigrator identity. He was just guessing the identities behind them.

"Brother Lao Baigan, have you arrived yet?"

After a few days like this, on the fourth or fifth day, just as he was falling asleep at night, he returned to the dark and misty temple and heard a familiar voice.

"I'm here."

It wasn't a day ending in zero (逢零之日), but Hu Ma heard the voice of Brother Erguotou, and was both surprised and relieved. He deliberately smiled and replied, "Where are you? Do you want to meet?"

"Now that you're here, you'll definitely see me within three days."

Erguotou smiled and said, "But whether transmigrators meet or not is not important. I have some important things that I have to tell you first, so that you don't fall into the Red Lantern Mother Society's trap."