After leaving home, Chen An went straight to the market.

When passing a path along the river, I saw a familiar figure squatting by the river, staring blankly at the water surface beneath his feet, which was rippling in the wind.

It’s Mo Lifang’s son, Dabao.

When Chen An saw this small figure squatting by the river alone in a daze, he felt mixed emotions.

He calmed down, walked to Dabao and asked with a smile:

"Dabao, do you still remember me?"

"Yes, I remember. You are Uncle Chen Danshi who lives diagonally across from my house."

Dabao said with a somewhat dazed look.

Chen An sat down next to him, smiled and asked, "Dabao, why are you squatting by the river in a daze?"

"I'm waiting for my mother to come find me."

Dabao answered with an innocent look on his face, not knowing that his mother was already dead and the person who killed his mother was sitting next to him.

Chen An looked at Dabao beside him, then looked up at the sky, feeling an indescribable melancholy in his heart.

At this moment, a shout from an elderly person suddenly sounded from the front.

"Dabao!"

"What's wrong with you, kid? Why do you keep running to the river?!"

"You didn't drown last time because you were lucky enough to meet an old man like me. Do you still expect me to save you every time?"

Following the direction of the shouting, Chen An saw an elderly monk walking towards him.

He looked very old, with a hunched back, pale complexion, many age spots on his face, and a frail, decrepit look.

Chen An knew this old monk. He was a small vendor who lived in the North Lane and made a living by catching spirit fish. He had met him several times before when he was setting up a stall in the market.

"Master Chen, why are you here?"

The old monk saw Chen An, showed his yellow teeth that were about to fall out, and smiled with wrinkles on his face.

Chen An smiled and said, "I was planning to go to the market to buy something. When I passed by here, I saw a kid I knew squatting by the river, so I came over to see what was going on."

“I see…”

The old monk nodded.

Seeing that the old monk cared so much about Dabao, Chen An started chatting with him.

Ask him what his relationship with Dabao is, and get to know him better.

After some casual chat.

Chen An learned that Dabao was now adopted by an old monk.

The old monk’s surname is Hu. When he was young, in order to achieve the foundation, he always stayed away from women and focused on cultivation.

However, after practicing for several decades and reaching the seventh level of Qi Refining, he could no longer make any further progress.

When he realized that his immortal journey had come to an end and wanted to return to mortal life to marry and have children, he found that his body was too old and he was destined to have no descendants.

With no other options, one can only continue to live alone until the end of one's life.

While fishing the day before yesterday, the old monk saw Mo Lifang cruelly push her son, Dabao, into the river.

The old monk, who was used to such things, knew that the female monk was overwhelmed by life and wanted to abandon her burden and remarry.

So after Mo Lifang left in a hurry, the old monk fished Dabao out.

Seeing that Dabao was still young and could be raised well, I thought of taking him home to raise as my son.

It’s good that when I die, there will be someone to see me off.

After learning all this from the old monk, Chen An's guilt was alleviated a lot, and he felt that Mo Lifang deserved to die.

He took out a few bottles of Qi-nourishing pills from his arms, handed them to the old monk with a smile to build good relations, and asked the old monk to save some fresh spirit fish for him in the future.

Then he turned around and left, heading for the treasure shop in the market again.

Qi-nourishing Pill, this is a kind of pill given to novice monks, it can help novice monks to draw Qi into the body.

Giving this kind of medicine to the old monk is actually equivalent to giving it to his adopted son Dabao.

From then on, this cause and effect ended.

The market place, where treasures are sold.

As soon as Chen An walked in, the shopkeeper Liu greeted him warmly.

"Master Chen, you are here to sell pills again."

"No, I'm here to buy something this time."

Chen An smiled and said.

Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Liu's eyes lit up and he said jokingly with a smile on his face, "It seems that Master Chen Dan has made a fortune quietly and has saved up quite a bit of money."

"I didn't save much, just enough to live on."

Chen An kept a low profile and didn't want to be too conspicuous.

Shopkeeper Liu stopped joking and asked, "What would Master Chen Dan want to buy?"

Chen An took a step forward and leaned closer, lowering his voice and asking, "Shopkeeper Liu, is the copy of Mandarin Ducks Flying, which I came to ask about a year ago, still available for sale?"

"Yes, yes. Master Chen, please follow me."

Shopkeeper Liu also lowered his voice.

After that, he took Chen An into a small compartment that was specially used to store this kind of skills, took out the book "Mandarin Ducks Flying Together" that Chen An had been thinking about, and said with a lewd smile: "Hey, Master Chen Dan, this is the book "Mandarin Ducks Flying Together" that you wanted."

"1,000 low-grade spirit stones, huh?"

"Yes."

"Manager Liu, since I often supply elixirs to the Treasure Shop, please give me a discount on this copy of 'Mandarin Ducks Flying Together'."

Chen An started bargaining.

Shopkeeper Liu looked embarrassed: "Master Chen Dan, it's not that I don't want to, I'm just an acting shopkeeper, just an accountant, I have no right to make price adjustments."

“I see…”

Chen An hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Forget it, I won't make it difficult for Shopkeeper Liu. I'll go look somewhere else."

After saying that, he turned around and left without any hesitation.

"Hey wait, Master Chen, wait a minute!"

Shopkeeper Liu was anxious, and he quickly stepped forward to stop Chen An, and said to him with a smile: "Although according to the regulations I don't have the authority to adjust the price, as long as we keep a low profile and do it privately, it won't be a big problem."

Chen An smiled and said, "Then I wonder how much discount Manager Liu can give at most?"

"The best discount is 95%."

"30% off."

"Master Chen, you are too..."

“That’s 40% off.”

"30% off, that's 30% off, take it!"

Shopkeeper Liu threw the "Mandarin Ducks Flying Together" in his hand to Chen An, and asked him for 700 low-grade spirit stones.

Chen An gave Manager Liu 4 medium-grade spirit stones and 300 low-grade spirit stones.

Afterwards, he thought of his lovely wife at home, and asked Shopkeeper Liu: "Shopkeeper Liu, do you have any skills that can be practiced by mortals?"

"Yes, yes, yes, it must be there!"

Shopkeeper Liu became enthusiastic again.

Chen An further asked: "I wonder what kind of skills they have?"

"There are 'Body Strengthening Techniques' for strengthening the body, 'Meditation Techniques' for calming the mind and refreshing the brain, and 'Health Preservation Techniques' for prolonging life. Currently, the store only has these three techniques that mortals can practice. The price is 20 low-grade spirit stones each."

Shopkeeper Liu took out three books of martial arts and introduced them with a smile.

…

PS: Putting out the bowl, asking for monthly votes and recommendation votes!

(End of this chapter)