Chapter 27 Are you planning to support me through the sea?
Half an incense stick later, Nezha led Pingyu out of the alley.
The man who had spoken to me earlier was now unconscious, lying naked in the corner.
Pingyu hesitated and tried to turn around, but Nezha pressed his head down with one hand.
"What are you looking at?" the boy said. "Be careful not to get a sty."
"Is this really okay...?"
Pingyu was somewhat worried.
It wasn't that he felt guilty about robbing someone, but rather that he was worried the man would go to the "Monk" to report him to the authorities after he woke up.
As soon as she finished speaking, something fell into her arms.
Pingyu quickly caught it and discovered it was the money pouch he had just snatched from the man. Looking up, he saw Nezha walking with his arms crossed. He scoffed and said, "Keep it. Instead of wasting your time worrying about that, you'd be better off using that to keep an eye on this thing."
"You're letting me take care of it?" the girl asked in surprise, picking up the bag and shaking it a couple of times.
"Hmm," Nezha replied naturally, "It can't be kept in my hands."
He was the son of the general of Chentang Pass. Although Li Jing disliked him, he never lacked food, clothing, or money for Nezha. In addition, Taiyi Zhenren doted on him, sending him all sorts of rare and precious treasures, which spoiled Nezha into a spendthrift character.
Knowing this, he decisively handed over the travel money he had just received to Pingyu for safekeeping.
Pingyu didn't refuse. She clutched the bag and said, "Let's find an inn to stay in first."
Cihangwu was about the same size as Chentangguan. Pingyu asked a passerby for directions and learned that because few outsiders came and went, there was only one inn in the area.
Upon arriving at their destination, the two, who were accustomed to a life of luxury, didn't even want to enter the door.
The inn is so old that only half of the door is open, and even standing outside the threshold, you can smell a faint musty odor.
Is this really habitable?
Pingyu discovered that he might not be as capable of enduring hardship as he had imagined.
But this was the only place in town where they could stay temporarily. If they couldn't make do, they would have to rest in a dilapidated temple that looked like it could be blown down by the wind.
Who knows, maybe the interior is actually quite nice? Pingyu kept hypnotizing herself in her heart. She took Nezha's hand and forcefully pulled the boy, who looked down on her like a statue, inside.
Hearing the commotion, the clerk at the front desk lazily raised his eyelids. Seeing that the visitors were two pretty children, his tone unconsciously softened: "Kids, we don't sell snacks."
"Brother, we're here to stay at the inn!"
The young man was also a teenager, and Pingyu smiled at him.
Just the two of you?
Seeing that the two children were dressed differently from ordinary people, the boy figured they were probably young masters and ladies who had run away from home. He kindly reminded them, "There are many different people around here lately. If you two children don't live with your parents, it might not be very safe for you."
After he finished speaking, he saw the girl, who looked like a pink peach, leaning onto the table.
"It's alright, my younger brother knows martial arts, he can protect me."
Pingyu held up two fingers, looking lively and adorable: "Brother, get us two rooms!"
After saying that, she stole a glance at Nezha.
I just called this person "brother," will he get angry?
Nezha's brow twitched.
The good news is that the boy can distinguish between important and unimportant situations; the bad news is that the other person will never let him suffer any injustice.
He didn't say anything, but secretly pinched Pingyu's waist.
Pingyu was in so much pain he wanted to scream and beg for mercy, but because he had important business to attend to, he could only cover half of his face and mutter, "Ugh, my tooth hurts, my stomach hurts, my back hurts, and mosquito bites hurt the most..."
In just a few breaths, she howled out every part of her body that ached. This attracted the frequent attention of the waiters, who worried that the child might be seriously ill and die in the guest room, tarnishing the establishment's reputation.
The waiter quickly flipped through the register and said, "There's only one room left in the shop. Since you two are brother and sister, why don't you share a room?"
Huh?
"There's only one left?"
Pingyu, ignoring the pain, repeated it in surprise.
How come business is so good in this run-down place? Come to think of it, the other person seemed to have mentioned earlier that the inn has been crowded lately.
"yes."
The waiter said, "The annual worship ceremony is here. Our shop relies on this big business that comes once a year to survive."
It was another worship ceremony, and Pingyu seemed lost in thought.
The human trafficker mentioned this earlier as well.
The girl's eyes darted around. She picked up on what the trafficker had just said and said to the shopkeeper, half-jokingly, "Yes, yes, my parents always mention this! They say that the god is incredibly effective. If you throw in a coin, it will turn into two. If you throw in two coins, it will spit out four! My brother and I couldn't resist our curiosity, so we took our saved-up New Year's money and wanted to join in the fun."
"More than that!"
The mention of worshipping gods piqued the shopkeeper's interest. Since no one was around, he generously took out a plate of melon seeds and gave two handfuls to Pingyu and two handfuls to Nezha: "I was on leave this time last year and went to the God of Wealth Temple outside the city to see other people worshipping. What I saw that day truly deserved the title of 'grand spectacle'!"
Pingyu cracked open a seed; it was a melon seed.
She chimed in, "Big brother, tell us, tell us!"
The boy spat out the seed shells and continued, "I don't know who built the temple, but in that God of Wealth temple, there's a golden three-legged toad. If you pour money into its mouth, after half an incense stick's time, it will spit out even more. The day I went there, I happened to see a slave pouring his master's gold into it. After the incense burned out, countless gold and jade flew out of the toad's mouth like a waterfall, turning that small temple into a copper mountain of gold, the wealth so dazzling it made people's eyes dazzled."
"With so much money, won't someone rob us?"
Ping asked.
"It's not that easy." The shopkeeper glanced at her and clicked his tongue. "The God of Wealth is very fair! Someone grabs gold and stuffs it into their mouth, but before they can even swallow it, it turns into rotten mud and bugs in their mouth. Wealth is something that belongs to whoever it is; no one else can take even a bit of it away."
“Now that we have a little wealth, we can go find the golden toad and turn it into a lot of wealth…” the girl said innocently, “Then there won’t be any poor people in this town?”
"I don't know about that!" The shopkeeper spread his hands. "I heard that if you gain wealth through worshiping the god, you have to return it to the Golden Toad God within a month with money that has quadrupled in value. Otherwise, you'll lose all your wealth overnight and become destitute. Some might even lose their lives. As far as I know, there are a few farmers who made a mistake when making their vows, only giving one less coin... and now they've become beggars to be eaten."
"And people still go to worship?" Pingyu exclaimed in surprise. "This god doesn't seem particularly generous. He gives you all the money, but he still wants some back, otherwise he gets angry."
“I think that’s more like a god.”
The shopkeeper said, "Normally, if you want to pray for wealth, you have to burn incense for several days in a row and donate money for incense. Isn't that just collecting your wealth and then distributing it back to you at the appointed time? Compared to that, this golden toad is much more straightforward! You give it nine, and it returns eighty-one. It gives you money, but it takes it back at the appointed time, and only thirty-six of it, as incense money! It's just that some people are too greedy; once they have the money in their hands, they're reluctant to give it up. What can they do if they incur the wrath of the gods and are punished?"
Ping Yu understood.
This god will give you the square of your principal, but within a month you must repay four times that principal. If you don't repay, it will take it all back with interest.
...
This model looks so familiar; isn't it just usury and loan sharking?
"Because there's still money to be made, people flock to the temple to worship, even from the surrounding villages. If I weren't short of money and worried about not being able to repay my fourfold principal, I would have gone to join the fun today too!" Just then, a guest upstairs called for the waiter. The waiter put away the sunflower seed shells, then suddenly remembered something. He looked at Ping Yu and said, "Oh, right, there's something I haven't mentioned. How many days do you need?"
Pingyu's right eye twitched; she had a bad feeling. She asked, "What's wrong?"
Waiter: "We've been holding a religious ceremony for almost a month, so our room rates have fluctuated slightly and are a bit more expensive than usual."
Before she could answer, Nezha set off.
The boy took the money pouch from Ping Yu's waist and placed it on the table, then made a decision on his own: "One room, book for three days."
Pingyu couldn't snatch it in time. She clutched her waist and watched helplessly as the shopkeeper deftly took out the counting rods and fiddled with them.
Soon, the other party revealed a number.
For their current financial situation, the house price was astronomical. Pingyu's brain was buzzing from the shock, and the blankness on her face didn't break until she was pulled into the guest room.
As soon as the door closed, Ping Yu grabbed Nezha by the shoulder.
"Big brother! Third Prince! Li Nezha!" She shook the other person frantically, yelling, "Do you have money? Then book three days! We're going to starve!"
Damn it!
Ping Yu never expected that Shang Dynasty accommodation facilities would have such a thing as holiday premiums.
Expensive, really expensive...
Pingyu looked at the money bag in Nezha's hand, which was so shrunken it could be crumpled into a ball, and felt as if his flesh had been ripped out, the pain was excruciating.
The girl wanted to scream just thinking about how generously the boy had paid for the meal.
That brat is hopeless at keeping money; he'll squander it all!
Nezha endured Pingyu for a while.
Seeing that the girl kept nagging, he said:
"let go."
Nezha lost his patience.
Pingyu instantly felt at ease and let go of his hand.
She sat back on the bed, clutching the money bag, as if she were a sand sculpture that could be blown away with a breath.
"You won't go hungry."
Seeing her dejected look, Nezha said irritably, "You're already here and you're still worried about not having money? Didn't you hear what the staff in front of the stage said? The temples outside the mountains can make money from money."
"You believe me?"
Pingyu paused for a moment, then raised his head: "But we don't have the money to repay the principal, and even if we multiply the money tenfold, it still won't be enough."
After paying the room fee, there were only a handful of shell coins left in the bag.
"Then let's go to a place where we can make money without having to pay back the principal."
If you make money but don't repay the principal, are you going to take odd jobs with daily wages?
Pingyu didn't have a chance to ask the question because Nezha made a hand gesture after speaking. She remembered that this gesture was used to perform transformation magic.
When Pingyu saw the other person's changed appearance, her lips parted slightly, but her throat was repeatedly sealed with sugar, so she couldn't make a sound.
Nezha transformed into a handsome young man as beautiful as a begonia.
His hair, as black as algae, was tied up high. This made his skin appear as white as lotus root, so white it was almost translucent, shimmering with a deep, eerie blue light. Ping Yu didn't know if this was what Nezha would look like when he grew up, but he certainly had a male body and a female appearance, just as described in the records.
Nezha is tall with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. His face is painted with rich yet elegant colors, making him so beautiful that it's almost dazzling.
Just standing there, this dilapidated house seemed magnificent.
"Healed."
The boy had long, captivating eyes, with sharply defined eyelids and long eyelashes that looked like butterflies perched on them, obscuring his dark pupils. When those eyes looked at her, Pingyu felt a hot, wet sensation on her nose, cheeks, and the corners of her mouth, and she didn't know where to cover herself.
Pingyu, still in a daze, replied blankly, "What?"
What's wrong with him turning into this?!
Nezha looked at the girl's dazed and slow-witted expression and smiled. He bent down and leaned closer to her, and in that instant, she saw a pair of thin, glossy, scarlet lips part, and a soft tongue inside curled out like a snake's tongue, uttering two words:
"Call me Dad."
Pingyu felt a cool fragrance wafting towards him.
She was mesmerized by that face, completely captivated, her mind a complete mess.
The girl placed her fingertips on the boy's face, and Nezha heard her refuse first: "This is not appropriate."
Then, in a dreamlike tone, Pingyu said lightly, "Nezha..."
"Um?"
Seeing this, she seemed to come to her senses. Pingyu patted his face, then asked hesitantly, "Are you planning to support me in the sex industry?"
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