After finishing several buckets of rice, I let out a satisfied burp.
He slowly stood up from the haystack.
He straightened his clothes, put his hands behind his back, and walked up to the young man: "What? Zhu Silang? Are you going to hold me accountable?"
He frowned in confusion: "Why do you call me Zhu Silang?"
“Um… I heard from the jailers that you are the fourth son of Zhu Xiaoba, His Highness the Prince of Yan.”
I've never really liked overly formal titles, and coincidentally, he does resemble both Zhou Yu and Wen Heng.
He then casually remarked, "The name Zhu Silang sounds more natural."
Upon hearing my words, he lowered his eyes and murmured softly, "My mother used to call me by that name a long time ago."
However, he quickly regained his composure.
Then he tilted his head and glanced at the wound on my neck: "Tsk, the wound is quite deep, it will probably leave a scar. Why doesn't your self-proclaimed immortal son use magic to heal your wound?"
After Ranmo finished eating and drinking, he slowly floated out and joked, "I think dung beetle sounds better!"
Hearing Ranmo mock him like that, Zhu Silang said coldly with a stern face, "You who call yourself a hermit immortal are so rude and uncouth?"
“A vulgar person deserves only vulgar words,” Ranmo replied.
Who are you calling a vulgar person?
"I'm talking to you! Dung beetle!"
"Swish!" Zhu Silang drew his long sword and hissed, "If you've got the guts, stop hiding and come out here!"
"I'm right in front of you, come and kill me if you dare!"
Ranmo leaned forward, looking incredibly irritating.
For some reason, Ranmo acted childishly, almost getting into a fight with this kid, as if she had taken some kind of drug.
"Shut up!" I shouted.
The two of them immediately fell silent.
"How childish!" I pushed Ranmo aside: "Get up, you're always causing trouble for me."
"Speak! Have you, Your Highness Prince Yan, deigned to come to this dungeon to ask me to kill you or to have you tortured, or to have me sign a confession?" I asked the person in front of me directly and bluntly.
Zhu Silang then beckoned to the jailer beside him, signaling him to open the cell door.
"What does this mean?" I asked, somewhat taken aback.
He raised an eyebrow: "What? Don't want to leave?"
As I opened my mouth to say something, he said again, "I am not an incompetent person who would arbitrarily accuse someone based on the one-sided account of a few petty thieves without distinguishing right from wrong. I have investigated and found that you are not a thief. You may leave!"
"It's not like someone can just hold a knife to someone's neck and threaten or test them without knowing the facts," I said, pointing to my wound and starting to lie.
“You should be punished for speaking disrespectfully to His Majesty and to me,” he said coldly.
"I don't care if you're charlatans, hermits, immortals, or even my father's master, don't let me hear any more disrespectful words from you, or else..."
"Otherwise what?" I chuckled.
"Otherwise!" He made a murderous gesture at his own neck.
I chuckled awkwardly and mimicked his gesture, then smiled at him and said, "That's it?"
"You unfilial grand-disciple, Ah Hua, look at the son of your disciple! How can he be so rude!" Ranmo stood aside and said sarcastically.
"A rude person will naturally be treated rudely."
"Furthermore, my father doesn't have teachers like you, and even if he did, he wouldn't acknowledge people like you who lack manners," Zhu Silang continued.
After saying that, he actually ordered the jailer to throw me out of the cell.
The jailer, hands on his hips, angrily shouted, "Don't even think about continuing to freeload in prison!"
Then he waved his hand and said, "Hurry up and leave. Don't let the prince know that I took your bribe money, or we'll both be in big trouble."
Ranmo was cursing and wanted to go up and teach this kid a lesson, but luckily I stopped him.
If a fight really breaks out, it's hard to say who will come out on the losing end.
Having been kicked out of jail, I rubbed my stomach, which hadn't had any alcohol for days, and asked Ranmo, "Is there any other way to make money quickly?"
"Wouldn't it be better to go find your Emperor Zhu Xiaoba's disciple, who is the most powerful man in the land?"
Ranmo couldn't be happier that I went to find my little apprentice and then properly discipline his good son.
I twitched the corner of my mouth. Actually, for that little guy Zhu Xiaoba, he was just trying to find a free thug to cook for him while he was just sitting around doing nothing.
And each time, I would be in a drunken state and casually teach him some Chinese characters and poems as a form of exchange.
He wasn't taught anything too profound or properly.
Even now I can't quite remember what he looked like, but I do remember his sharp, resentful eyes that left a deep impression on me.
Not to mention any other teacher-student relationship.
Anyway, I don't have much of an impression of my little apprentice.
Let me face someone I don't know very well.
The imperial family is the most ruthless place. I haven't seen this little apprentice for thirty years, and I know nothing about him anymore.
Therefore, they don't really want to get involved with the government.
He never intended to meet this young apprentice.
"Is there any other way besides this?"
"Yes, I have……"
A gambling den—
I stood in front of a gambling den where people came and went in an endless stream.
"Is this the quick way to make money you were talking about?"
"Yes... We'll still work together from the inside and outside, just like before, and you'll definitely win big."
"But I don't know how. I've never gambled before, so I'm still a little hesitant."
"Master Hua is so smart, he can learn it just by watching a couple of games." Ranmo actually praised me, which was quite rare for him.
But his unusual praise of me made me suspect that he was itching to play a few rounds.
Fine, I'm going all out just to have a drink.
After entering the smoky, noisy gambling den, I watched a couple of rounds and then, with Ranmo's help...
"Big! Big! Big!"
"Small! Small! Small!"
My delicate little girl was at the gambling table, sleeves rolled up, shouting and yelling as she navigated the tactical back and forth between winning and losing with these grown men. Even the gambling den owner, who himself cheated, couldn't see any of my cheating methods.
Just as Ranmo said, I won a fortune.
But when I triumphantly scooped all the money on the table into my pocket...
The gambling den owner, however, was displeased and summoned a group of people who surrounded me: "You think you can just leave after winning?"
"Are you trying to renege on your debt?"
We suspect you're cheating!
Yes, I cheat. How could I win so much if I didn't cheat? But I can't say it out loud.
But the boss showed no sign of letting me go.
Finally, after exhausting all my patience, I angrily overturned the table.
"Crash!" The table was smashed and scattered all over the floor.
Then they started fighting with these people.
They piled themselves together like a human pyramid.
The wailing and howling of pleas for mercy echoed throughout the streets and alleys.
"Bang!" Someone kicked open the door to the gambling den.
A group of soldiers surrounded us.
"Who is causing trouble and engaging in a brawl here!" A man in a crimson flying fish robe walked in slowly with a solemn expression.
When the visitor looked down, he realized it was me standing in front of that pile of human flesh.
He squinted at me and said coldly, "You just finished stealing, and now you're gambling? You've really opened my eyes."
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