Chapter 75 Instigating the Tribulation of Grace

Zhu Shi'an hid outside the door and peeked into the room. He then discovered that among these people, the scholar named Shao Yanzhe seemed to be the one in charge.

The demon who transformed into an old man and seemed to be a fox spirit, the boy demon whose species was unknown who ate one of his spiders, the black cat that seemed to be a spirit, and the useless scholar all obeyed his commands.

This was the conclusion he drew after observing things all day.

However, those two monsters are so powerful, why would they listen to that weak scholar?

He was completely baffled.

"Dafa, what are you doing standing outside? Come and eat." The clan chief glanced at Zhu Shi'an, knowing that he certainly wouldn't be willing to work as a cook here.

However, she didn't care. All she knew was that he couldn't cause any trouble.

"Oh, here they come."

After dinner, Shao Yanzhe led Zhou Jiming and Xiaobai to continue reading.

Zhou Jiming glanced at the last book left beside him and breathed a sigh of relief. He had spent five days reading all the books Shao Yanzhe had given him before, and now only the last one remained.

His joy at the prospect of freedom prevented him from noticing that Shao Yanzhe had just glanced at him and, at the same time, noticed the last book beside him.

Instead, he looked at Xiaobai and winked at him.

His actions attracted Xiao Bai's attention. When he noticed Xiao Bai looking over, Zhou Jiming reached out and picked up the only remaining book next to him, raised his eyebrows triumphantly, and showed the book to him.

"snort!"

Xiao Bai snorted coldly. He immediately understood what Zhou Jiming meant. After glaring at him, he lowered his head and continued writing the remaining large characters.

Seeing him like this, Zhou Jiming felt a surge of satisfaction, as if he had finally gotten his revenge, and his mood was better than ever before.

Unexpectedly, a stack of books was placed back on the empty table.

Zhou Jiming: ...

He closed his eyes in pain.

"hey-hey!"

I heard Xiaobai's gloating laughter.

hateful!

Zhou Jiming opened his eyes and found that the stack of books was still there; it wasn't his hallucination.

"Brother Shao, haven't I already finished reading those books? What's the deal with these other books?"

Shao Yanzhe said matter-of-factly, "Of course, these are books you haven't finished reading."

As he spoke, he walked to Xiaobai's side and saw that he had finished writing the last word. He picked it up and looked at it carefully.

"Good, you've made great progress. Your handwriting is much neater than before. With a little more practice, your handwriting will be almost perfect."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Bai's eyes lit up immediately.

"So, once I've mastered writing, I won't need to continue practicing, right?"

Shao Yanzhe raised an eyebrow at him: "No, next you will need to start copying the book."

"Copying books? Why do we have to copy books again?"

Xiao Bai was confused, Xiao Bai felt wronged, and Xiao Bai didn't want to copy the book.

Shao Yanzhe said, "Didn't you say you would repay my kindness? I'm short of money right now, so I can only trouble you to copy books to earn money to support me. I think Xiaobai should be able to do that, right?"

Xiao Bai immediately puffed out her chest, put on a serious face, and said, "Of course! I can definitely copy lots and lots of books to earn money to support my brother!"

Zhou Jiming, who was engrossed in reading, couldn't help but purse his lips. "Is it really okay for Brother Shao to lie to children like this?"

"Okay, now that you've finished writing for today, let's take a break!" Shao Yanzhe said.

To everyone's surprise, Xiaobai didn't jump around and cheer as usual as she ran out to play. Instead, she took another sheet of Xuan paper, laid it on the table in front of her, and dipped her brush in the inkstone.

"What do you want to write it as?" Shao Yanzhe asked curiously.

Xiao Bai said matter-of-factly, "Of course I should continue practicing calligraphy! That way, I can shorten the time I spend practicing calligraphy and earn money to support my brother as soon as possible."

"There's no need to rush. Practicing calligraphy all the time will be very tiring."

"It's not hard at all. I'm a monster, you know! I'm physically strong, unlike you humans who are so weak."

As Xiao Bai spoke, he looked up at Zhou Jiming across from him, his gaze seemingly directed at something.

Zhou Jiming: ...

Brat!

Zhou Jiming smiled and glanced at Xiaobai, then suggested to Shao Yanzhe, "Brother Shao, since that's the case, why don't I add some more lessons for Xiaobai? Xiaobai is right, he's a monster, so his physical abilities are definitely much stronger than ours. I think we should triple the amount on top of what he already has."

noob:……

Despicable humans!

Shao Yanzhe said, "There's no need to add anything. I think Xiaobai will complete his homework within a reasonable range. He's already a mature monster who doesn't need anyone to watch over him to finish his work."

Xiao Bai opened his mouth, then nodded firmly and said, "That's right! I'm a mature demon now! You don't need to give me extra lessons. It's not that you're giving me too much, but rather too little. I think I can easily increase it tenfold!"

"Wow! Xiaobai, you're amazing! I can't even finish all that homework!" Shao Yanzhe praised in surprise.

This made Xiaobai even more arrogant.

"Hmph! I don't believe you can complete ten times the amount of homework!" Zhou Jiming poured cold water on the idea.

"You watch me! I'll write it right now!" Xiaobai said angrily as he started writing on the rice paper.

Shao Yanzhe and Zhou Jiming exchanged a glance, smiled knowingly, and then returned to their seats to begin reading.

For a moment, the room was quiet, with only the occasional sound of turning pages.

Outside the door, Zhu Shi'an, who had watched the whole thing, seemed lost in thought.

He had just heard an important word: gratitude.

He quickly guessed that the reason the monster was following the scholar was because the scholar had done the little monster a favor, and the little monster had to repay the favor.

The old monster must have been worried about the little monster, which is why it disguised itself as an old man and followed him.

So, once the little demon has repaid his debt of gratitude, he should leave this place, and the old demon will leave with him.

At that time, he will be free.

Once he had the idea, Zhu Shi'an immediately began to take action.

Since the scholar wanted the little demon to repay his kindness by having the little demon copy books to earn money.

Therefore, he could simply give the little monster money. It seemed that as long as he gave the scholar enough money, the little monster would be able to repay his kindness.

With a quick glance, he found his horse and took out several silver notes from under the horse's protective gear.

The silver notes were worth one thousand taels each, and these notes together amounted to approximately six thousand taels.

Given the scholar's poverty, six thousand taels must have been a huge sum of money in his eyes, and he would certainly have accepted it.

However, they suffered a major setback right from the start.

"What? Why don't you want it?" Zhu Shi'an looked at Xiaobai in shock, holding the silver note.

Xiao Bai crossed his arms and said matter-of-factly, "Of course it's because these silver notes don't belong to me. Even if I took them, they wouldn't belong to me, so it's not considered repaying a debt of gratitude."

Zhu Shi'an really didn't know that there were restrictions on how monsters repay kindness.

"So, you can only use it with money you earn yourself?" he asked.

“That’s right! But it has nothing to do with you, so why are you in such a hurry?” Xiaobai said curiously.

Zhu Shi'an said expressionlessly, "Because I don't want to be a cook anymore. You know I was forcibly brought here by that old man. I think as long as you successfully repay your kindness, I should be free."

Xiao Bai nodded to indicate that he understood.

Zhu Shi'an quickly came up with another idea: "I have a way to help you repay your kindness."

"What method?" Xiaobai asked curiously.

Zhu Shi'an said, "You are a demon, so it shouldn't matter if you use it for a while. Your fox clan is born with the ability to charm, so why don't you charm some scholars and have them help you copy books? You should be able to earn silver faster. Moreover, you will also be using your demonic power, so you are not just taking silver from others for free. It's as if you are earning it. It's just a difference in the method."

As he spoke, he crossed his arms and looked at Xiaobai: "You need to know that you can only earn 500 coins by copying a book. Nowadays, an ordinary house costs about 1,000 taels. How long will it take you to copy books before you can buy a house for your benefactor?"

Xiao Bai seemed to understand something: "You're right, my speed as a demon is indeed a bit too slow."

Zhu Shi'an's eyes flashed. Xiao Bai did not deny his identity as a fox, so it seemed that both the little monster and the old monster were fox spirits.

Then he continued.

"I suppose you wouldn't want your benefactor to have only one house, would you? You'd need servants, a luxurious carriage, guards, a lavish feast, and fine silks and satins, wouldn't you? These things would probably cost tens of thousands of taels of silver."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Bai felt an even greater weight on his shoulders, and he began to feel genuinely anxious.

If you want to get what this person is talking about, he alone is definitely not enough.

Perhaps what this person said is not a bad idea.

"What are your thoughts? Do you want to wait several years or even more than a decade until your benefactor is old before he can have these things, or do you want him to enjoy them now?" Zhu Shi'an guided the question.

Xiao Bai answered without hesitation, "Of course, we should let our benefactor enjoy it now!"

"Alright, I have a plan. Why don't you listen to it?"

Tell me about it.

Zhu Shi'an leaned closer to Xiao Bai and whispered something to her. After a while, Xiao Bai's face showed a hint of excitement.

"Then let's give it a try!"

"good!"

Zhu Shi'an was overjoyed; it was a success!

“Come on, I know who the scholars are in this village.”

He turned and walked out. Xiaobai hesitated for a moment, but finally followed him.

Not long after the human and the demon left, Shao Yanzhe and Zhou Jiming came out.

"Brother Shao, aren't you going to stop them?" Zhou Jiming asked.

Shao Yanzhe frowned slightly, looking in the direction Xiaobai had left, and shook his head, saying, "No need. Xiaobai has already been persuaded. If I can stop her this time, what about next time?"

After he finished speaking, he sighed and said, "Xiao Bai is still too naive. Fortunately, we are here. It's good for him to experience more so that he can gain more experience in the future. It's much better than him going down the wrong path and no one will care about him."

"Brother Shao is right. Xiao Bai is really naive and foolish. It seems that you were right to let him read more books."

Upon hearing this, Shao Yanzhe withdrew his gaze and looked at Zhou Jiming with a half-smile: "In that case, Brother Zhou, why don't you continue your studies?"

Zhou Jiming: ...

Hey! Why did he have to be so talkative!

He immediately wilted: "Alright, I know Brother Shao is doing this for my own good, I'll go now."

At the same time, he began to resent Xiaobai. He was a fox spirit, how could he be so naive and believe whatever others said?

It seems he hasn't been beaten enough!

Xiao Bai, who was enthusiastically following Zhu Shi'an to experiment with fox demon skills: Achoo!