The Rice Server held a glowing hot iron poker, eyeing Chu Er. "That Big Beard is clearly not from Bitter Cultivation, so why did he come to Bitter Vegetable Manor?"
During the daytime skirmish, the Rice Server had noticed that Li Banfeng’s cultivation level was different. He did not know why Li Banfeng had come to Bitter Vegetable Manor, but the fight that day had seriously affected his own status there. Despite just being a Rice Server, he treasured his status greatly. Indeed, he had considerable power at Bitter Vegetable Manor, being in charge of not only serving food but also the distribution of grain.
"Just tell me his name, that’s all I want to know." The Rice Server, holding the iron poker, moved closer, while Chu Er trembled incessantly.
It would be a lie to say she wasn’t afraid.
Chu Er bit her lip and shouted, her eyes bloodshot, "Come on! Charge at me! Burn me right here! See if I’m scared of you! If you don’t dare to strike, you’re nothing but a bastard’s spawn!"
The onlookers were stunned.
Chu Er didn’t understand Li Qi. All she knew was that Li Qi didn’t want to be understood by others.
"Girl, you’ve got guts. I’ve prepared over a dozen iron pokers. I’ll take my time with you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; if your ’gateway’ gets messed with, you won’t count as a woman anymore. That’s fine too. We Bitter Cultivators shouldn’t have so many distractions. If you really have such spirit, don’t you dare scream later!"
SZZZT!
Chu Er didn’t scream. The Rice Server did.
"AHHH!!!" He screamed very loudly.
The iron poker in the Rice Server’s hand had been kicked by Li Banfeng, landing precisely on his face. The fiery red iron poker burned a line from his brow to the corner of his mouth.
These people had originally planned to ambush Li Banfeng. But when they saw Li Banfeng suddenly appear and brand the Rice Server, the group of Bitter Cultivators took to their heels, all shrinking back into Freeloader’s Inn.
Only the Rice Server was left, knocked to the ground by Li Banfeng with two kicks. Li Banfeng stepped on the Rice Server’s chest, holding an iron poker in his hand, and asked calmly, "What was that you said about messing with the gateway? What is a ’gateway’?"
The Rice Server’s voice trembled slightly. "A gateway... is just a gateway..."
Chu Er spat. "A gateway is something on the body."
"Something on the body?" Li Banfeng stared at the Rice Server for a long moment. "Where’s your gateway, then? In what place?"
The Rice Server didn’t know how to answer.
Chu Er whispered, "He doesn’t have a gateway..."
Li Banfeng didn’t understand. "You said a gateway is something on the body, didn’t you? Why doesn’t he have one?"
"He’s a man. Men don’t have gateways..." Chu Er’s voice grew even softer, so soft she could barely hear herself.
"Men don’t have gateways?"
Li Banfeng was deeply shocked by this answer.
"If there isn’t one, there isn’t one..." Chu Er didn’t even know what she was saying anymore.
"Really? No gateway?" Li Banfeng looked down at the uncle on the ground.
"No, really no gateway!" The uncle shook his head frantically.
Li Banfeng lifted the iron poker. "Then how about I make you a gateway? What do you think?"
Chu Er was petrified with fear. The Rice Server pleaded continuously for mercy.
SIZZLE! CRACKLE! Acrid smoke rose. The Rice Server’s wails were deafening.
Bitter Granny watched from a distance, without stepping in to intervene. As long as it didn’t result in death, she wouldn’t bother with matters of suffering. This all counted as cultivation.
* * *
The gateway was opened. The uncle who served the meals didn’t die; he was sleeping soundly.
Li Banfeng muttered to himself, "Should I start calling him auntie from now on?"
Chu Er was still hanging from the wooden stake, looking down at Li Banfeng. "Did you come to save me?"
Li Banfeng didn’t know how to respond. He wasn’t there to save Chu Er; he was there to stir up trouble at Freeloader’s Inn. But Chu Er had stood firm, choosing to ruin her own gateway rather than reveal Li Banfeng’s name, which had somewhat changed his impression of her.
"Yes," Li Banfeng said seriously, nodding as he looked at Chu Er. After speaking, he lowered the brim of his hat and turned to leave.
That single word meant a lot to Chu Er.
Watching Li Banfeng’s retreating figure, Chu Er said through her tears, "If you came to save me, why didn’t you let me down?"
Chu Er was still hanging there. Li Banfeng hurried back and freed her from the wooden stake. He had forgotten, truly forgotten.
As he untied the ropes, Li Banfeng didn’t forget to ask, "Do you have a gateway?"
"Yes," Chu Er replied softly.
"Do you really have one..."
"Which woman doesn’t!" Chu Er couldn’t stand it any longer.
Li Banfeng thought of the Clock Pendulum and Earrings, shaking his head. "That’s not necessarily true."
Chu Er wiped the bloodstains from her face and said to Li Banfeng, "When we get back to Greenwater City, I’ll take you to a hospital to get checked out..."
"You rest here for a bit. I’m going to invite them for a bath," Li Banfeng said as he headed towards Freeloader’s Inn. He caressed the Teapot, whispering, "Brother, I don’t need to tell you the water temperature, right?"
"Little brother, with all this commotion, Bitter Granny isn’t likely to let you off easy."
Li Banfeng jumped onto the roof, and soon, wails were heard from inside the building.
「That night.」
Bitter Granny didn’t come.
「The next morning.」
When it was time for breakfast, everyone waited eagerly with their bowls. The uncle who used to cook could no longer do so; now turned into an auntie, he was still resting on a straw mat. If he couldn’t cook, Li Banfeng could do it himself. Chu Er chopped the firewood, Chu Er started the fire, Chu Er carried water, Chu Er washed the rice, and Li Banfeng was in charge of controlling the heat.
This morning they had porridge, accompanied by the usual bitter vegetables, but there was no sand in the porridge. Freeloader’s Inn wasn’t short of food. At midday, they had dry rice, and everyone ate their fill. In the evening, it was porridge again, but this meal included meat, as Li Banfeng took out ten cans and poured them into the porridge.
The meal was a delight. The faces of the Bitter Cultivators, usually as green as bitter vegetables, showed a hint of red for the first time.
Bitter Granny stood outside Freeloader’s Inn, her eye twitching.
There was even crazier to come.
「Late that night.」
Li Banfeng asked the Wine Gourd, "What is the strongest liquor in the world?"
"Little brother, that’s not easy to say. How strong do you want it to be?"
"Can one catty of liquor make sixty people drunk?"
"Can," Wine Gourd answered confidently.
"Don’t make it taste too strong."
"I can make them unable to taste the alcohol."
Li Banfeng laughed. "We’ll still have porridge tomorrow morning."
「The next morning.」
At Freeloader’s Inn, people ate porridge. After two bowls of porridge, a woman suddenly started crying. "If that man hadn’t deceived me, I would never have come to this place."
This woman’s name was Qian Jiafeng. Her family had been well-off. Like Yanzi, she too had been deceived by a faithless lover, fallen into despair, and become a Bitter Cultivator.
A man sat next to Qian Jiafeng and asked in a low voice, "What kind of person are you talking about?"
This man was named Ou Haidong. He lived close to Qian Jiafeng in Bitter Vegetable Manor, and they often looked out for each other. However, according to the rules of Bitter Vegetable Manor, residents did not ask about each other’s pasts, so he knew little of Qian Jiafeng’s history.
Qian Jiafeng sobbed. "He is the most shameless man in the world. He came to my house to be a tutor, and using the fact that he could write a couple of poems, he deceived me. My father found out and kicked me out of the house. I still wanted to be with him, but he quickly found someone else."
Ou Haidong sighed. "Stop crying. He’s not worth your tears."
He wanted to hug Qian Jiafeng, but a middle-aged woman carrying a bowl of porridge sat down. "If you ask me, there’s not a single good man out there, all heartless as wolves and dogs!" After speaking, the woman tilted her head back and downed the bowl of porridge.
A middle-aged man sidled up, his face flushed. "That’s not reasonable to say. I’m a fairly good man."
"Ptui!" The middle-aged woman spat. "Stay away from me! I don’t trust you lot who are ’equipped’!"
"I am ’equipped’," the uncle serving the food cried as he drank his porridge. "I really am ’equipped’!"
Another man laughed heartily. "They say you have a gateway now, let me have a look! It’s been so long since I’ve seen one."
The entire Freeloader’s Inn was filled with a mix of laughter and crying!
Bitter Granny stood at the entrance of Freeloader’s Inn, her eye twitching again.
「After three days of free meals.」
Everyone returned to their homes. That evening, Li Banfeng and Chu Er did not go home but followed Qian Jiafeng to her place.
Li Banfeng asked in a low voice, "Are you sure there’s something between those two?"
Chu Er nodded. "The last time I came to Bitter Vegetable Manor, they were constantly exchanging glances, but nobody dared to pierce through the window paper!"
Li Banfeng looked at Chu Er with scorn. "Haven’t you been to school? You don’t talk about piercing through the window paper; you poke through it!"
Chu Er paused for a moment. "Are you talking about a window or a household?"
* * *
The two didn’t have to wait long before Ou Haidong arrived.
Chu Er had predicted he would come. "Every time the free meals are over, he always comes to Qian Jiafeng’s house to help tidy up."
Li Banfeng glanced at Chu Er. "Did you come to Bitter Vegetable Manor for cultivation or to watch the drama?"
Chu Er replied with her head down, "It was unintended..."
Before long, the house was in order, and Qian Jiafeng invited Ou Haidong to stay for a cup of tea. Ou Haidong was an upright gentleman; after one cup of tea, he got up to leave. Qian Jiafeng walked him to the door and suddenly saw a woman with a face full of scars and a grim expression standing at the entrance.
Qian Jiafeng shuddered in fear, and Ou Haidong quickly shielded her behind him.
"You must be the girl who got beaten earlier," Ou Haidong recognized Chu Er. "We didn’t dare offend the Rice Server, so we couldn’t help you, but we also didn’t hurt you."
Chu Er looked at Ou Haidong and then at Qian Jiafeng. "Are you two really not among them?"
Ou Haidong said with a stern expression, "I am a Bright and Open person; I won’t deny what I’ve done."
"Good, I believe you." Chu Er turned and walked away.
Qian Jiafeng trembled for a while and said, "She... why is she so scary?"
Ou Haidong spoke with a grave expression. "This woman is quite pitiable, but I think she’s a bit crazed and might come back."
Qian Jiafeng clutched Ou Haidong’s hand. "I... I’m scared."
Ou Haidong said, "Don’t worry, I’ll stand guard at your door all night."
"At the door..."
Ou Haidong lowered his head. "I won’t enter your room, you can be assured."
He then stationed himself at Qian Jiafeng’s door and stood guard for more than half an hour before Qian Jiafeng came out.
"How about... going for another cup of tea?"
"No need," Ou Haidong took a deep breath. "You should rest early."
"It’s just... having a cup of tea..."
Ou Haidong thought for a moment and nodded. "Alright."
He had another cup of tea. This tea was special; it contained wine, but he couldn’t taste it. The wine was good, invigorating, and mood-enhancing.
After a few more cups of tea, Ou Haidong suddenly touched Qian Jiafeng’s cheek. Qian Jiafeng grabbed Ou Haidong’s hand and pulled him into the inner room.
* * *
Li Banfeng and Chu Er were peering through the window, watching attentively. After a while, Li Banfeng signaled to Chu Er that it was time to leave. Chu Er didn’t move. After watching some more, Li Banfeng signaled again that it was time to go. Chu Er, veins bulging on her forehead, still refused to leave.
Li Banfeng gave her peach a pinch. Chu Er winced, a savory kind of pain, and then finally left reluctantly.
On the way, Chu Er complained, "I’ve been running around with you all night, and you won’t even let me watch?"
"Do you know where that middle-aged woman lives?"
"I know, but what’s there to see at her place?"
"It’s worth seeing. You don’t get it..."
The two of them shared their insights as they moved on to the next house.
Bitter Granny watched them from behind.
Unable to bear it any longer, Bitter Granny gave Li Banfeng a sound beating the next day. Li Banfeng didn’t mind and took it as a form of tempering his body.
After tempering Li Banfeng, Bitter Granny returned to her dwelling and started picking bitter vegetables, one by one. After picking a large portion, she again heard Li Banfeng’s hearty laughter.
"BWAHAHAHA! This place isn’t bad at all!"
Bitter Granny tossed the bitter vegetables into the basket and clenched her jaw.
PS: Bitter Vegetable Manor is quickly turning into Joy Villa.