Chapter 7 Guess Who Has Dementia
"Yu Tianxing".
It was Yu Tianxing who woke her up again. As Ji Mingran washed her face, she remembered something.
"What?" Yu Tianxing poured the porridge into the bowl with refined elegance and gently blew on it.
"I met someone on the road yesterday who was talking about some sect and the cultivators you mentioned before. What are they?" She was in a rush to finish her work last night and forgot to ask.
Before she could finish speaking, Yu Tianxing suddenly looked up, stared at her without saying a word.
Even if she were an ordinary child, how could she not know?
The child stood on a small stool, splashing water with his short hands, shaking his head and looking completely bewildered: "You don't know either?"
His eyes were clear and sincere, just like those of an innocent child.
Yu Tianxing remained expressionless, shifting his gaze from her and placing the bowl on the table. "Cultivators are those who seek immortality and cultivate the Dao, harnessing the spiritual power of heaven and earth. Sects are the places where cultivators begin their practice. There are numerous sects in the Great Yu Dynasty, varying greatly in quality."
Seeing this, Ji Mingran quickly moved the basin of water aside, sat down to drink the porridge, and continued to ask, "Is Boss Jiang also a cultivator?"
"Yes. Ordinary cultivators cannot deal with that corpse demon."
Ji Mingran recalled Boss Jiang's ability to exorcise ghosts, as well as the spells he used and the pills he gave out. "With such great abilities, do they have very long lifespans?"
"I've heard that living to be a hundred years old is not out of the question."
Hey, this world is interesting.
Ji Mingran's eyes lit up, and he smacked his lips, saying, "Then I want to be a cultivator too."
She had a short life in her past life, and she wants to live longer in this one.
Sitting opposite Ji Mingran, Yu Tianxing didn't seem surprised by his thoughts. He stood up, turned around, and picked up the paper figures and materials he had packed. "As for the matter of cultivation, you can ask Boss Jiang when you have the chance. If you delay any longer, it will be dawn."
After he finished speaking, he bent down.
Ji Mingran climbed onto his back and shouted, "Giddy up!"
Last night, the two agreed that Yu Tianxing would be responsible for picking up and dropping off Ji Mingran at the funerary object shop until her injuries improved. However, if it was daytime, the two of them had to go out wearing bamboo hats before dawn and when there was no one on the street.
Ji Mingran had basically mastered the process of making paper figurines and no longer needed to look at the rough drawings that Boss Jiang had left her. She arranged the materials in order and began to concentrate on the assembly line process.
"You learn so fast!" Xiao Can exclaimed sincerely, watching Ji Mingran's fingers fly across the paper doll's head frame take shape in no time.
"Why are you here?" Ji Mingran asked in surprise. She glanced at the courtyard gate, but there was no one outside.
Jiang's Funerary Objects Shop was famous outside the town, and it used to have many customers. Recently, news of Boss Jiang's successful subjugation of a corpse demon spread, making it even more famous, and more and more customers came to buy amulets. In addition, during the day, Xiao Can's handsome and refined appearance and soft voice attracted many aunts and girls to come and carefully select items, and they were reluctant to leave for half a day.
However, there was only one employee, Xiaoshen, in the shop, so he was always extremely busy.
Xiao Can smiled gently and pointed upwards with his index finger.
Ji Mingran looked up and was suddenly dazzled by the sunlight. She had been so focused on making paper figures as soon as she arrived that she forgot to take off her straw hat, so she didn't realize that the sunlight was earlier and stronger.
“It’s already noon, the guests have gone home to eat and rest, there’s no one here now.” Xiao Can stretched out his hand, palm down, fingers spread, to shield Ji Mingran from the sun, and exclaimed, “You really are the most hardworking and diligent little person I’ve ever met.”
"A petty person?" Ji Mingran was momentarily unsure whether he was praising or belittling her.
"Little one." Xiao Shen patted Ji Mingran's head and added with a smile, "I noticed yesterday that you were so engrossed in your work that you barely drank any water, and your throat hasn't recovered yet." As he spoke, he took out a bamboo tube. "Drink some water quickly."
"Thank you." Ji Mingran took the drink and drank a small sip.
The jade dew has a refreshing and sweet taste upon entry, like dew falling on parched land, instantly nourishing the throat.
"It's delicious!" came the clear, childlike voice.
Her throat is better now.
Ji Mingran's eyes widened as she touched her neck, which was still terribly swollen. "My neck is still injured, so how come my throat is better?" This thing seemed miraculous, and she couldn't help but feel worried: "This thing seems unusual. You just gave it to me to drink like that?"
Xiao Can laughed: "Boss Jiang was worried that I would get a dry throat from serving too many guests, so he prepared a lot for me."
"You need to eat and drink too?" Ji Mingran asked curiously.
Xiaocan patiently explained, "I naturally don't need to eat or drink. However, Boss Jiang has raised me for many years, so I have gradually developed some humanity. Working non-stop, my body will also experience some minor problems like ordinary people. I can recover after a little rest, but using some spiritual medicine will make it even faster."
Ji Mingran exclaimed, "Boss Jiang is truly amazing! I hope one day I can learn this magical skill too." Not only does he have a miraculous medicine that can cure all illnesses, but he also has paper dolls that have come to life and help him. According to Yu Tianxing, he can even live to be a hundred years old. There's no reason not to learn it.
She made up her mind: "When Boss Jiang comes back, I'll ask her for advice."
“No need to wait,” Xiaocan said gently. “I can get in touch with her. I’ll ask for you.”
Ji Mingran was overjoyed. "Thank you so much! I'll go help out at the front as soon as I'm done with my work."
"Okay." Xiaocan said cheerfully, "Go and eat quickly. Don't go hungry."
Ji Mingran pulled out two steamed buns from his pocket and chuckled, "I have some things to do, so I'll go out during my lunch break. To avoid wasting time, I'll just eat these."
In Xiao Can's eyes, food was no different. He nodded and said, "Go early and come back early."
There were many more people on the street than in the morning or evening. Ji Mingran leaned against the shadows at the alley entrance, observing the bustling city with great interest. She was happy, and even though people silently avoided her in fear, it did not diminish her joy in the slightest.
It's human nature to seek advantage and avoid harm. Her reputation as a jinx was as well-known in town as Boss Jiang's reputation as a wicked little fairy. Now, in her current state of destitution, people are even more convinced of her cursed power, so it's normal for people to avoid her like the plague.
A familiar figure appeared not far away. Ji Mingran raised his hands as if making a megaphone and shouted loudly, "Wang Mao!"
The tall, thin man paused, looked over from afar, and once he saw who it was, he turned and ran away.
Ji Mingran had been waiting there for half an hour, how could he let him get away so easily: "I am Ji Mingran! Didn't we agree to go to your house this afternoon? Since you left so quickly, I can only go later. You can wait for me at home."
"When did Wang Mao get so close to that unlucky girl?"
"It's bad luck to run into him like this. I'll stay away from him from now on."
Wang Mao got anxious and walked over in a few steps. "What are you yelling about, you brat? Be careful, or I'll beat you to a pulp!" He looked around and saw that more and more people were surrounding him. Without thinking twice, he raised his fist and hurriedly chased Ji Mingran into the alley.
Ji Mingran calmly retreated into the alley, calling out to Wang Mao, "Come here, I have something to ask you, otherwise I'll keep shouting."
Wang Mao was furious and yelled, "I'll beat you up right now!" He followed Wang Mao into the alley and shouted, "What do you want from me? Do you think I'll answer your questions? We don't know each other, get lost!"
"We're not that close, but you're easier to talk to." And your whereabouts are easier to track.
Wang Mao was so bored that he would wander around the town every day, but he would always go home for lunch on time, and he always passed through this road. She would wait here and always manage to catch people.
"Hmm?" Wang Mao's attention was drawn to her voice: "How come your voice is suddenly better? It was a hoarse voice yesterday... Oh no," he suddenly covered his mouth, "It has nothing to do with me, nothing to do with me, the unlucky guy has nothing to do with me."
Ji Mingran smiled brightly, ignoring his reaction, and stepped forward: "I've heard people in town say that something big has happened recently, what is it?"
Wang Mao hurriedly took a step back to the side. "Why...why are you asking about this?" He glanced cautiously to his left and right. "The government forbids this from being mentioned."
"Everyone knows, but I don't. I don't even know things that the government strictly forbids from mentioning. If I accidentally violate the taboo, wouldn't I be arrested without even knowing it?" Ji Mingran made up a reason and took another step forward.
"Speak properly, don't come any closer." Wang Mao hurriedly took a big step back, only to bump into a solid wall. He then realized that he was trapped in a corner. If he wanted to break through, he would inevitably run into the jinx Ji Mingran.
He was both angry and annoyed, but had no choice but to comply. He could only grit his teeth and answer in a low voice, "The notices at the town gate have been posted for several days, saying that a serious criminal is to be arrested. It is said...it is said..." His voice suddenly dropped, almost inaudible, "...it is that traitor Yu Tianxing who is trying to usurp the throne."
"I didn't say anything!" Wang Mao suddenly leaned back, his back pressed firmly against the city wall, his hands tightly covering his mouth, seemingly unwilling to say another word.
Yu Tianxing is indeed a former prince who wanted to usurp the throne and is being hunted down.
He was of sound mind and was not talking nonsense.
Ji Mingran smiled; this was truly a joyous occasion.
"I'll go take another look." She turned and jumped away from the alley.
"You little brat!" Seeing Ji Mingran leave, Wang Maocai mustered his courage and shouted, "You just wait!"
"Damn Ji Mingran, you unlucky devil, your nemesis, your jinx! If I weren't afraid of bringing bad luck upon you, you'd be in big trouble..." Wang Mao cursed all the way home, not stopping even as he entered the house.
The servants rushed forward to greet him upon his return: "Young Master is back! The manor..."
"Shut up, get out, get out, get out!" Wang Mao was both angry and hungry. He kicked the servant and strode into the dining hall. As soon as he entered, he heard someone ask slowly, "Why are you in such a bad mood today?"
"Who's being so disrespectful?" Wang Mao looked over impatiently, about to unleash a torrent of abuse, but then his expression froze, and he exclaimed with delight, "Cousin Meng! What brings you here? Please, have a seat." Only after he finished speaking did he notice the figure already seated at the dining table, and he said with a forced smile, "Cousin, why didn't you let me know you were coming? I could have had the servants buy some good wine and dishes."
"I have long since abstained from grains." Meng Yingyang said slowly with an arrogant expression, "I accepted a mission from the sect and was passing through this place with my fellow disciples, so I had no choice but to come and sit down."
"Sect!" Wang Mao's eyes lit up when he heard this. "Cousin, you've come at the right time. I've been plagued by an evil star lately. If you stay here for a few days, I'll feel like my luck is about to turn around." Without waiting for Meng Yingyang to agree, he ordered his servant to prepare the guest room.
"A jinx?"
"Yes, yes, yes..."
Fengqi Town, Dongshan.
Yu Tianxing coldly stared at the greenest part of the tree branch, his grip on the black sword tightening.
"Chirp," a fluffy little head popped out.
"Chirp chi ...
......
Yu Tianxing raised an eyebrow. He suddenly remembered a certain person who never stopped talking.
In the dead of night, Fengsheng Town was as deserted as ever. In the quiet, only the soft footsteps on the stone path could be heard, mixed with the faint, indistinct, and tender voices of children.
Ji Mingran's voice had recovered, and he chatted all the way, first talking about how magical the spring water provided by Xiaocan was, then expressing his determination to cultivate immortality again, and then calculating the amount of paper figures completed today.
Yu Tianxing carried a pile of materials in his hands and had her on his back. He didn't mind her chattering at all and didn't interrupt her. He just walked faster and faster.
Aside from the matter of finding Wang Mao, Ji Mingran had pretty much covered everything that needed to be said today. She felt quite satisfied with what she had said, but there was one question that had been bothering her for a long time. She was really curious, but she knew she had to be careful before entering the family, so she cautiously leaned close to Yu Tianxing's ear and whispered, "How much is your bounty?"
Yu Tianxing straightened the body that had been leaning to one side, and said casually, "It's only ten thousand taels of gold."
So many! Ji Mingran was shocked.
Her monthly salary was only two strings of cash, while this person in front of her was worth ten thousand taels of gold!
"Oh!" To avoid any misunderstanding, she quickly patted Yu Tianxing's head: "I was just asking out of curiosity, I didn't intend to exchange you for money."
Yu Tianxing: "I know, sit still." If she wanted to exchange him for money, she wouldn't need to go through the trouble of saving him. Besides, a high-grade detoxifying pill that can cure thousand-year-old corpse poison is priceless.
Ji Mingran was in a great mood and couldn't help but hold his head and sigh.
Only the strong are valuable; she felt she had found someone extraordinary. She was now increasingly certain that her series of decisions regarding finding a partner were extremely wise choices from every perspective.
It seems that even if she were to be reborn, she would still be wise beyond compare. The headache that night was purely a matter of spiritual adaptation. The brain of this body was well-developed and had no effect on her.
"Why are you asking this today?" Yu Tianxing put Ji Mingran down in front of the hut, who was shaking his head.
"I'll go check on your mental state." Ji Mingran pushed open the door and entered. "Just take a look at the notice board from a distance."
On the small table inside the room, besides two covered wooden bowls, there was also a small basket of unknown origin containing a cluster of delicate and bright yellow flowers.
"Chirp chirp." A fluffy little head popped out from the flower bushes, its round eyes curiously looking at her, which was quite adorable.
"Ah!" Ji Mingran was so excited that he trembled all over and his eyes widened.
This... could it be the legendary ancient bird?
"A chicken?!" Ji Mingran exclaimed.
Yu Tianxing: "...No. It's just a bird."
Ji Mingran muttered, "Hey, isn't it? I think it looks pretty much like it." Yellowish-orange, fluffy, and round, that's what the "chicken" she saw in the video looked like. She had heard that chickens were a common food for humans before the apocalypse, and when cooked properly, they were both filling and delicious.
"Where did you find it? Did you give it to me?" Ji Mingran asked.
"It fell in while I was chopping wood." He just instinctively picked it up and put it back. "Do with it as you please."
"Let's raise it." Ji Mingran hopped over to the table in a few quick movements, carefully picked up the baby bird, looked it over from left to right, and smiled broadly. "I know, birds lay eggs and hatch them. When this bird is fat, it'll be perfect for winter, and it'll be even better to slaughter it and eat it. Maybe it'll taste as delicious as chicken!" It's a bird after all, so the taste shouldn't be too bad.
Yu Tianxing stopped arranging the materials, hesitated slightly, and asked, "You really like chicken?" Otherwise, why would you mention it so often and with such excitement?
“If I’ve ever eaten it, I’d definitely love it. When I used to eat rat meat and cockroaches, I imagined I was eating chicken.” Ji Mingran thought for a moment and added, “And pork, lamb, beef, fish, and so on.”
"Rat meat and cockroaches?" Yu Tianxing wondered if he had misheard.
"Rats and cockroaches." Ji Mingran replied without hesitation. In the early days, she couldn't compete with others, so she could only eat these two things to survive. Later, when she was able to compete with others, these two exceptionally resilient creatures were the only ones left that hadn't mutated, so she could only continue to eat these two things to survive.
Yu Tianxing stared at Ji Mingran, his brows furrowed. The latter tilted his head, chuckling as he teased the birds, his expression natural, as if what he had just said was the most natural thing in the world.
She really ate it that way, and didn't find anything unusual about it.
Judging from her usual ravenous eating habits, she doesn't have pica; it seems she really was starving at one point.
"It's really not a chicken?" Ji Mingran pressed down on the bird's head, persistently asking, "Is it edible?"
“If you think it’s a chicken, then it’s a chicken.” Yu Tianxing looked into those bright eyes and said slowly, “It’s edible.”
Ji Mingran beamed with joy: "We'll eat it when it grows up." Her attention returned to the meat on the table, and she hurriedly called to Yu Tianxing, "Come and eat quickly."
Yu Tianxing reached out and tapped the fledgling's head, then placed the flower basket on the wooden cabinet before slowly sitting down.
Looking at Ji Mingran intently eating, he casually brought up the conversation they had had when they entered: "Since you saw the bounty poster, why didn't you pay attention to the reward?"
"I've been paying attention." Ji Mingran buried her head in her food, as this was the only time she could eat meat all day, late at night. "But I don't understand it."
"You can't read?" Yu Tianxing asked suspiciously.
"I'm young and from a poor family, so it's normal that I can't read." Ji Mingran naturally doesn't know any words in this world. She'll go to school when she's saved enough money; there's no rush.
Wait, something's not right. The way he asked the question clearly shows he's educated. Ji Mingran looked up from his rice bowl. "Why don't you teach me?"
Yu Tianxing remained silent.
How could a cultivator capable of possessing another's body be illiterate?
It is said that those who practice evil magic will suffer a backlash.
Is it pretending not to know about cultivation, pretending not to be literate, and being determined to start from scratch?
Or did he truly suffer a backlash that caused him to lose his mind, and thus he is trying to survive?
Either way... or as she said, she really just wanted to live together for a while, and she wasn't lying.
His gaze fell on Ji Mingran's oil-stained face, and the coldness in Yu Tianxing's dark eyes gradually dissipated, replaced by a glimmer of light: "Okay, eat slowly."
Having received permission, Ji Mingran was in high spirits and began chatting enthusiastically. The post-apocalyptic book recorded that chatting was an essential daily activity for family members, and as someone striving to develop normal social skills, she never missed a day of it.
"Yu Tianxing," she said between bites, "why did you rebel?"
“I took it for granted at first, but I felt resentful afterward, so I rebelled.” Yu Tianxing answered calmly, as if he were talking about someone else’s affairs. “Now that I think about it, although he was incompetent, I was not concerned about the people either. We were both equally incompetent.”
“If you can think of the common people, then I am one of them.” The girl smiled smugly, her eyes sparkling. “I’ve only ever heard of princes rebelling; I really want to see it for myself. Why don’t you try rebelling again and bring a better life to this little commoner like me?”
"......"
"Just living together," she said, "that's what living together means. What good life could rebellion possibly bring me?" He had these rebuttals on the tip of his tongue, but seeing the girl's eager expression, Yu Tianxing hesitated, unable to speak.
Finally, a smile curved his lips: "Okay, let's give it a try."
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