Chapter 6 Going to Town

Shi Yuan was somewhat speechless: "In that time, you could have caught me a few more fish."

She had absolutely no interest in the widow's romantic affairs.

The mirage beast rolled its eyes, though of course, no matter how it rolled its beady eyes, they were still black.

"Can't I even have a hobby?" she then said with great interest, "You'd never guess who Wu Xinghe is hooking up with."

She clicked her tongue in amazement: "I never expected this widow to be so capable."

"Get to the point." Shi Yuan put her hands behind her head, bent one leg and casually swung it across the other. "You're a fish, no, a snake, where do you get so many feelings?"

"Who's the snake?" the mirage beast jumped up and down. "I told you, I'm the mirage beast! The mirage beast!"

"A mirage beast unlike any other in the heavens or on earth!"

Shi Yuan replied absentmindedly, "Yes, you are a mirage beast, you are the most powerful."

The Mirage Beast was exhausted: "Can't we have a serious argument?"

Shi Yuan remained silent: "What's the point of arguing? Why don't we just fight?"

The mirage beast rejected Shi Yuan's proposal and rolled her eyes in the darkness, not forgetting how she had made a contract with Shi Yuan.

I'm so angry, I can't beat them at all!

"I'll go to town tomorrow." Shi Yuan moved her head to make herself more comfortable. She wanted to test if she still had the ability to draw talismans normally. If she did, she planned to go into the mountains to find something valuable to exchange for some gold. She had to find a way to restore her superpowers; otherwise, she wouldn't feel safe.

At the same time, by the reeds, inside the red brick house, the flickering candlelight made Wu Xinghe's face appear somewhat distorted.

"Are you really going to marry Yang Fuguo?" The woman's voice carried a hint of worry. "The Yang family is not a good place to go." Wu Xinghe has such a bad reputation in the village.

"I'm pregnant!" Wu Xinghe stroked her belly. "Even for the sake of the child, Yang Fuguo has to treat me like royalty!"

“But Yang Fuguo’s family is not easy to deal with.” The woman hesitated for a moment, then finally said, “You can tell by looking at Shi Ling’s fate.”

Every villager in Qinglin Bay, regardless of gender, privately cursed Yang Fuguo as an ungrateful traitor and a heartless man.

Feng Jinqiu favored her eldest son and youngest daughter. When Yang Fuguo married Shi Lingqian, the whole family moved into a tiled house, leaving him alone in the old house.

If it weren't for Shi Ling, he would still be holed up at the foot of the mountain!

Everyone in Qinglin Bay knows that Shi Ling was the one who built that brick house.

As a result, he ended up becoming a Chen Shimei (a notorious figure in Chinese folklore known for abandoning his wife, Chen

However, she was, after all, Wu Xinghe's sister-in-law from her maternal family. Although she sympathized with Shi Ling, she was ultimately happier that Wu Xinghe had finally found a home.

"Sister-in-law, you don't need to bring any of these." Wu Xinghe smiled lightly. "Yang Fuguo will buy me new ones."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiue put down her clothes, took Wu Xinghe's hand, and said frankly, "Now that you're married, your brother and I can rest assured. From now on, you and Yang Fuguo should live a good life together."

Wu Xinghe's smile faded, and she withdrew her hand, saying impatiently, "Sister-in-law, these old clothes are all for you. Go and pack them up and go home to cook for my brother."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiue's face lit up with surprise: "Such beautiful clothes, you've given them all to me?"

"Your sister-in-law is really lucky to have you."

"So I'll take them all?"

"Take it."

The next day, Shi Yuan told Shi Ling what to do and took the mirage beast to town.

Shi Yuan valued efficiency, and once he found out where the people who secretly sold yellow paper and cinnabar were, he focused on getting there.

The mirage beast had prepared a whole lot to say after pointing out the way, but to her dismay, after several attempts to start a conversation, Shi Yuan only responded with "hmm" or "oh," which frustrated her greatly.

She wondered why she had become so talkative when she wanted to kill her before, but after making a contract with her, she became a silent person.

So you don't cherish what you have anymore?

What's the difference between this and a man pulling up his pants and then ignoring the person he was with?

Shi Yuan said helplessly, "You said it out loud."

"Oh? Is that so?" the mirage beast asked dramatically, its body transforming into a phoenix-tailed butterfly that landed beside Shi Yuan's ear. It said in a dramatic, cadent voice, "Did I say it out loud? That's really terrible!"

"Stop being sarcastic." Shi Yuan tapped the butterfly's wings, somewhat convinced that this guy wasn't a mutant animal; mutant animals weren't this talkative.

"You said you are a mirage beast."

"hold head high!"

"An ancient mythical beast?"

"Aww!"

"How can he be so weak?"

Mirage Beast: ...If I had known I would be crushed to death, I wouldn't have made a contract with Shi Yuan!

The mirage beast shut itself away, and Shi Yuan finally found peace and quiet.

Qinglinwan, a southern village, is beautiful with water and lush with grass. Under the summer sun, even the wilted plants along the town's paths are picturesque at every turn in Shi Yuan's eyes.

The summer morning breeze carried a slight dampness, but Shi Yuan felt refreshed and relaxed. After so many days of adaptation, she was no longer the Shi Yuan who would be on guard at the slightest sound.

Before the apocalypse, humans ate well, slept well, and even had such a good environment around them. They were so happy that it made people jealous!

"The Mirage Beast." Shi Yuan tilted her head slightly and asked, "Where do we go next?"

The mirage beast, its pride wounded, didn't want to acknowledge Shi Yuan, but declared, "I'm not called the mirage beast!"

"So what's your name?"

"My name is Huan Ni!"

"It sounds really nice," Shi Yuan casually complimented.

Huan Ni raised her butterfly-shaped head: "Of course, my name has been approved by the Heavenly Dao!" She glanced at Shi Yuan and said arrogantly, "You wouldn't understand even if I told you!"

Shi Yuan genuinely didn't understand, and muttered to himself: It sounds impressive, but how come you're so weak?

However, she didn't say this aloud; she still needed Huan Ni to give her directions.

These days, the consequences of being caught buying and selling yellow paper and cinnabar are unimaginable. If she had to find a place herself, who knows how much time it would take.

So, mimicking Huan Ni's exaggerated tone, she exclaimed, "Wow, that's amazing!"

Huan Ni proudly raised her head: "I'm very capable, it's just..."

"Never mind, I won't say anything more."

"Turn left ahead and walk to the end of the alley."

"And then?" Shi Yuan looked around. The walls were just as dilapidated, but the right side looked more dilapidated, and the alley was narrower.

"Turn right."

Shi Yuan turned right as instructed, and after walking only a few steps, he smelled a pungent odor.

To be honest, her nose has never been treated like this since she came here.

But then I thought about it again and realized that it seemed only natural for this person to live in such a place.

After passing an intersection with the word "Public Toilet" crookedly written in black paint, she covered her nose and walked into a dark alley.

Whether it was psychological or not, she felt several degrees colder as soon as she stepped into the dark alley.

"The house at the very back, that tall, thin old man, is really difficult to deal with."

"Oh, right, if he encounters someone he doesn't want to talk to, he'll pretend to be blind and deaf," Huan Ni added, her tone tinged with schadenfreude, convinced that Shi Yuan was the kind of person the old man didn't want to deal with.

Shi Yuan chuckled; Huan Ni was quite vengeful.

"Speak."

"What?"

"Scripts? Code words?"

Huan Ni: ...This is boring!

"hurry up!"

"The Hall of Eternal Life on the seventh day of the seventh month!" he said reluctantly.

"Thanks!" Shi Yuan said cheerfully.

Huan Ni's butterfly lips curved into a happy smile, or rather, it looked a little eerie.

"Knock knock knock!"

As Huanni said, the person who opened the door was a tall, thin old man with a mustache and wearing sunglasses with one lens missing.

"Who should I look for?"

"The Hall of Eternal Life on the seventh day of the seventh month."

The old man pushed his sunglasses down further, revealing shrewd, narrow eyes: "How much do you want?"

Shi Yuan took out all the money and bills on her body. There were small bills of one or two cents, one or two dimes, which Shi Ling used to buy her candy, and large bills of one or two dollars, ten or five dollars, which she kept as spares.

The old man was stunned for a moment, then returned most of the money and tickets to Shi Yuan: "We don't have that much stock." This guy was even more ruthless in buying goods than he was.

"Keep this safe, don't let anyone see it, it'll cause trouble." He kindly gave this advice, and even kindly gave her a tattered sack.

Shi Yuan was somewhat bewildered, carrying a sack of yellow paper in his left hand and a small box of cinnabar in his right.

Huan Ni laughed so hard she almost fell over on her shoulder: "That old man, haha! That old man looked at you like you were an idiot, ahahaha!"

Shi Yuan was helpless, forgetting the purchasing power of the same amount of money in the 1970s; this sack was not a good place to hide.

She wasn't afraid of scaring Shi Ling; she was afraid that, in the unlikely event, Shi Ling might be implicated.

Seeing Shi Yuan's worried expression, Huan Ni chuckled: "What's wrong?"

“This thing is hard to hide.” She quickly added, “It’s okay, let’s find a secluded place first, and I’ll draw a storage talisman to try it out.”

Shi Yuan sighed, "The yellow talisman paper and cinnabar are of poor quality, so the talisman I draw won't be of a high grade."

She bought so many mainly because she was afraid the old man would be arrested and she wouldn't be able to buy them again. She was also worried about her talisman-drawing skills, so she bought more to practice.

"Why bother drawing storage talismans!" Huan Ni flapped her wings. "I'm here!"

"Hmm?" Shi Yuan's lips twitched. "You can't hide in the reeds, they'll be ruined if they get wet."

Huan Ni started jumping up and down again: "Who said it was hidden there?"

"Don't look down on me!"

"I am an ancient mythical beast! Do you know what a mythical beast is?"

Shi Yuan: ...

Huan Ni suddenly felt tired, and thought of Shi Yuan!

“Divine beasts are born with a storage world,” she said weakly. “If you put your things here with me, I guarantee there won’t be any mistakes.”

After saying that, he flapped his wings, and the sack and cinnabar in Shi Yuan's hands disappeared into thin air.

Shi Yuan: ...!

Shi Yuan suddenly believed that Huan Ni was not a mutated animal but an ancient divine beast, and she suddenly had a desire to explore: "The ancient times are a very, very long time ago, right?"

"Have you lived that long?"

"You have a storage world, and you've lived for so long, so you must have hidden away many rare treasures, right?"

"Do you have any gold? Show us a few pieces to prove your strength."

Huan Ni slumped onto Shi Yuan's shoulder, folding her wings and adopting a posture of not listening.

"Hey, that person?" She suddenly flew off Shi Yuan's shoulder, leaving behind a sentence, "Looks like Wu Xinghe's lover, I'm going to take a look!"

Shi Yuan shook her head, stepped out of the alley, touched the remaining money in her pocket, and thought of what Shi Ling had said about the food at the state-run restaurant in town being quite good. She turned and walked towards the place that smelled of food.

When Huan Ni returned, Shi Yuan was swallowing the last mouthful of noodle soup.

Huan Ni whispered in Shi Yuan's ear, "Strange, that person actually asked Wu Xinghe about you and Shi Ling."

Shi Yuan paused in her action of putting down the bowl.

A note from the author:

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