He harbored a deep grudge against Bitter Vegetable Manor.
Li Banfeng put away the Teapot and went to sleep in the main room.
The Teapot was different from other Magical Treasures.
It seemed to have something extra compared to other Magical Treasures.
...
「The following morning」
Li Banfeng emerged from his Portable Residence, collected the keys, and saw Chu Er looking around from atop the wall.
Li Banfeng walked up behind him and barked, "What are you looking at!"
Chu Er shivered and fell heavily from the wall. "What are you doing, trying to scare me to death?"
Li Banfeng demanded, "Sneaking around, what are you doing up on the wall?"
"I was looking for you, wasn’t I? Who knew where you ran off to so early in the morning? Tomorrow is the day to eat for free at Freeloader’s Inn. Hurry up and come with me. Don’t wait for Bitter Granny to come and beat you again."
Once outside, Li Banfeng asked as they walked, "What does ’eating for free’ mean?"
"It means tomorrow everyone from the village goes to Freeloader’s Inn and eats for free for the day."
"Still eating cornbread?"
Chu Er let out a bitter laugh. "If only we could have cornbread. Going to Freeloader’s Inn means eating rice."
"Isn’t rice better than cornbread?"
"You’ll know once you get there."
"We start eating tomorrow. Isn’t setting out today a bit too early?"
"The entire Bitter Vegetable Manor has only one Freeloader’s Inn. It’s relatively close for me, but those who live farther have to start their journey three days in advance."
Li Banfeng followed Chu Er for a day and a night. In fact, Freeloader’s Inn wasn’t that far, just over eighty li away.
But Chu Er was no Traveling Cultivator, so he couldn’t walk as fast as Li Banfeng. The road was also difficult to navigate, and the sandstorm was particularly fierce. By the time they arrived at Freeloader’s Inn, dawn was almost breaking.
All of Bitter Vegetable Manor’s residents had gathered in front of Freeloader’s Inn, waiting for the meal service to begin.
The so-called Freeloader’s Inn was not a grand restaurant but rather a large earthen house, barely able to fit seven or eight big tables inside.
It actually could.
Li Banfeng roughly counted: there were only a little over sixty people in front of Freeloader’s Inn.
"Surely there are many who haven’t arrived, right?"
Chu Er looked around. "Pretty much everyone is here."
"There are so few people in Bitter Vegetable Manor?"
"That’s quite a few, actually. There aren’t many Bitter Cultivation practitioners to begin with, and even fewer are willing to return to Bitter Vegetable Manor to practice. Why would anyone with any sort of standing bother coming here?"
At seven in the morning, Freeloader’s Inn began serving. The uncle serving the food dished out one bowl of rice per person, accompanied by Bitter Vegetable Manor’s own bitter vegetables.
Li Banfeng took a bite of the plain rice and chewed. CRUNCH. CRUNCH. He then carefully assessed the proportion of sand to rice.
Li Banfeng wanted to vomit, but Chu Er hurriedly stopped him. "You can’t vomit. If you do, you’ll get beaten."
Li Banfeng swallowed the rice and put the bowl on the ground. "I’m full."
Chu Er shook his head. "You can’t leave any behind, or you’ll also get beaten!"
The uncle serving the food was looking this way with a rather angry expression.
Li Banfeng still put the bowl down.
Chu Er was terrified. "Don’t start trouble! The serving uncle is coming over here."
"So it’s him who’s going to hit me, is it?" Li Banfeng stood up. "Fine, I’ll fight him!"
It wasn’t that he couldn’t endure the hardship, but that he couldn’t accept the indignity.
A large amount of grain was piled up in an open space behind Freeloader’s Inn. With so few people in Bitter Vegetable Manor, there was clearly enough food. So why did they mistreat people like this?
The uncle serving the food walked towards them, fuming with rage, then, after taking only a few steps, furiously backed away.
Li Banfeng was ready to fight and wondered why the server wasn’t coming over.
Chu Er kept his head down and continued eating without making a sound.
It seemed as though another person had appeared beside them.
Li Banfeng looked back and saw Bitter Granny standing behind him.
In Freeloader’s Inn, everyone bowed their heads and dared not move a muscle.
They knew who had arrived, and they knew Li Banfeng was in trouble.
Bitter Granny looked at Li Banfeng and said in an even tone, "To have food and not eat it? It seems you still need more Tempering."
But even if he was to be beaten, Li Banfeng refused to eat that bowl of rice.
Seeing Li Banfeng so stubborn, Bitter Granny did not beat him.
She took a bitter vegetable out of her pocket. "Ultimately, you can’t endure hardship. If you won’t eat the rice, eat a vegetable instead."
Chu Er crouched on the ground and pulled on Li Banfeng’s trouser leg.
P.S. Why did she have to force him to eat the vegetable?