Chapter 616 Come and Pick Up the Gold

The Taoist priest had already entered the woods, speaking casually.

"What could I possibly be hiding from you? I originally planned to pick mushrooms today and, by the way, gain Dongfang Xu's trust so you'd have more friends in the future. Who would have thought that you'd encounter such a great opportunity on this mountain?"

"If there's anything I'm keeping from you, it's that person's identity. I can't guess for sure, but I know he's no ordinary person. You'll find out when you come back in five years."

As he spoke, he waved his hand and urged, "Quickly pick some edible things to make corn porridge when we get back. Corn porridge is so good for cleansing the stomach."

Song Chunxue didn't want to ask why it was five years.

She looked at the pheasants strolling leisurely in the woods not far away, "Would you like to eat some chicken?"

"No, Dongfang Xu doesn't raise chickens, and there's not a single piece of cured meat drying in the kitchen. He probably doesn't eat meat, so let's not bother his pot."

Besides, neither of them liked killing chickens.

The reason I killed so many people in Liangzhou City was because they deserved to die. For the safety of ordinary people, killing one more person wouldn't hurt.

But wild chickens, they were living perfectly fine before, and might even have cultivated themselves into spirits. And when you're killing a chicken, having those piercing eyes staring at you is really unsettling.

Song Chunxue didn't ask any more questions. She silently dug up a wild astragalus root, thinking it wouldn't hurt to carry it with her.

At noon, Song Chunxue made noodles and stir-fried a sprouted potato into a soup; it tasted pretty good.

But she didn't dare eat the various kinds of mushrooms her senior brother cooked.

"Try it, it's delicious and flavorful. It won't kill you, at most you'll be dizzy for a couple of days." The Taoist priest strongly recommended it, pushing the plate towards her again and again. "Don't doubt me, your senior brother wouldn't harm you."

Song Chunxue tried to avoid it, saying, "Senior brother, you eat it yourself, you don't need to be so nice to me."

"They don't know what's good for them."

The Taoist priest ate a whole plate of noodles with them, chewing them with great relish, and showed no reaction whatsoever, so they didn't seem to be poisonous.

But, an hour later.

"Junior brother, why are there so many weeds on the ground? Quickly pull them out, pull them all out. There can't be weeds in the house, it will affect our fortune."

"Junior brother, why do you have sheep droppings on your head?"

"Hey, wait, there's also the dung beetle pushing a dung ball. How long has it been since you washed your hair?"

"..." Song Chunxue ignored him and poured water for him from the teacup.

“No, this bed has become sentient, it’s clinging to me and won’t let go,” the Taoist priest said weakly, reaching out. “Junior brother, carry me out of here, we can’t keep this bed, let’s chop wood and cook dinner tonight.”

He stumbled and slid down to the ground. "Good heavens! How come the ground is covered in gold? Junior brother, junior brother, we're rich! Quick, pick it up! What are you standing there for?"

"Hehehe, gold, all gold! I'll finally stop being a poor Taoist priest digging graves. Junior brother, when you have the chance, return that general's gold to him."

Speechless, Song Chunxue's eyes widened as if she had been struck by lightning upon hearing the last sentence.

"Alright, I'll return it when I get back. I've been keeping it unspent, but I'm too afraid to go alone to return it. I didn't expect you to think the same way, Senior Brother. Should I return the silver ingots from my sister's estate?"

The Taoist priest kept grinning foolishly, lifting his robes and enthusiastically "picking up gold" from the ground.

"That's natural. You have to pay back the money you borrow. If you borrow and pay it back, it's not hard to borrow again."

"..." Song Chunxue, who was just a little sad, instantly lost her temper.

She turned and left the room. This couldn't go on. If her senior brother regained consciousness, he would definitely gouge out his own eyes and run away on the spot.

It would be best to get Senior Brother Dongfang to cure him of the mushroom poisoning as soon as possible.

She had heard of people dying from eating mushrooms before, and had even seen people disfigured by rubbing mushrooms on their faces, but she had never heard of anyone experiencing hallucinations from eating mushrooms.

Just as they reached the door, Dongfang Xu, carrying large and small bags on his back and leading a donkey up the mountain, began his ascent.

"Ouch, ouch, Junior Brother Song, quick... quick, lend a hand!"

He was holding his knees with both hands, panting heavily.

"This mountain path is too difficult to walk on. I... I've never been this well-off before. I bought too much stuff, and climbing this mountain path almost killed me!"

Song Chunxue quickly ran over and took the bag of flour off his shoulder.

The winding mountain road became steeper and steeper as you went up, and it was all steps, so there was no way to use a horse-drawn carriage.

I have no idea how this Taoist temple was built back then; I can't imagine how much effort it must have taken to carry each brick and tile up the mountain.

After climbing the last step, the shaky donkey went straight to the flat ground by the door, lay down, and blew air from its nostrils, making "hiss...roar...hiss...roar..." sounds.

A crisp "crack" sound rang out.

Dongfang Xu jumped up and down on the spot, "You idiot, couldn't you have held on for just one more breath? This is a plate I just bought, such a clean white porcelain bowl, with a little blue flower on it, and you just smashed it like that?"

He knelt on the ground in distress and slapped the donkey's neck with his palm.

"You pay for my plates, you pay for my bowls, or I'll drag you out to the street and sell you as donkey meat tomorrow!"

As if understanding human speech, the donkey raised its head, which had been drooping on the ground, and bit his sleeve, pulling it tightly while blowing air into the corners of its mouth.

"Hey, you stubborn mule, believe me or not, I'll stomp you flat, and you're still so arrogant!" Dongfang Xu cursed fiercely, but only lightly patted his big skull.

"Brother Dongfang, I can buy you even nicer bowls and plates. My senior brother ate some wild mushrooms from the mountain, and I don't know if he's drunk or poisoned. He's picking up gold on the ground right now. Do you have any antidote?"

Dongfang Xu laughed, "Huh?"

"Hahaha," he didn't care about the things on the ground anymore. He walked in empty-handed, swinging his two big sleeves, the Tai Chi Bagua diagram on his back almost turned white from black. "What's the point of solving this? It won't kill anyone. Your senior brother isn't an ordinary person. Just let me have a laugh."

Upon entering the house, Dongfang Xu clapped his hands and pointed at the Taoist priest, laughing.

"Oh my, I've heard before that people in the southwestern mountainous areas love to eat mushrooms, but I never expected you to be such a glutton. You know what, I'm tempted to eat some too. What did you see that's so interesting?"

The Taoist priest pulled out a handful of "things" from the hem of his robe and handed them to him. "Golden beans, lots of golden beans. Senior Brother Dongfang, take these. You can build Taoist temples all over the mountain in the future."

Dongfang Xu's smile froze for a moment. "Alright, alright, you're so kind. I shouldn't have laughed at you. I've never heard such generous words before. How do you know I want to build a Taoist temple now that I have money? I've always wanted to give that abandoned girl down the mountain a place to live."

As he spoke, he squatted down next to the Taoist priest and started picking up the stones.

"I'll pick them up for you. Is there any more?"

The Taoist priest kept moving, saying, "You can't pick them all up, you can't possibly pick them all up. There's a big gold nugget under your feet, hurry up and pick it up."

"Okay, here it is, I didn't see any of it." Dongfang Xu solemnly imitated the Taoist priest by lifting the hem of his Taoist robe. "It seems our God of Wealth is very generous, throwing so much gold on the ground, it's just that I don't know how to pick it up."

As he spoke, he turned to Song Chunxue and said, "Come and pick them up. If you do, you'll get rich quickly. Put them all on your person and don't waste them. Don't let down the God of Wealth's good intentions."