For the villagers of Baitou Village, even working hard their entire lives would not earn them more than a few ounces of broken silver. The wealthiest family in the village, Wang Dazhu's, had accumulated property through several generations of hard work, yet it was said to be worth no more than fifty taels.
So what did a ten-tael gold ingot mean?
It meant that even if you lay in bed doing nothing for the rest of your life, you could still eat meat at every meal!
Li Gouzi ignored everyone's shock and turned to leave. It was already getting late, and every moment he delayed meant another moment of danger for Brother Stone.
The attractive woman recovered from her brief shock and hurried forward two steps. Ignoring the gold ingot she had accidentally kicked away, she pulled a hemp rope from the luggage. Her eyes red, she said, "If you go down the mountain, I'll hang myself right here!"
She threw the rope over a thick tree branch, stood on the luggage to tie a knot, and put her head through it.
Li Gouzi stopped and looked at the woman's resolute expression, showing surprise.
He truly had not expected that she, who had always valued money more than her own life, would disregard a ten-tael gold ingot.
The relationship between mother and son had never been very good.
One reason was that ever since he could remember, he had heard the village gossip saying that she had violated marital fidelity and often seduced other men's husbands to make money.
That was indeed the truth.
Li Gouzi's family had lived by hunting for generations and owned no farmland. After his father died, their source of income was cut off. In truth, the woman could have survived by working odd jobs in other people's homes, but in order to earn more money and live a better life, she had actually committed such shameless acts!
Whenever she brought meat bought with that filthy money to the dinner table, Li Gouzi would not even look at it. He found it disgusting, much less could he eat it.
Because he lacked proper nourishment, Li Gouzi had always been frailer and thinner than his peers.
The woman had cursed and beaten him, but to no avail. The mother and son began competing with each other. If he refused to eat that meal, she would serve it again at the next one. This continued until the meat was almost spoiled, at which point she would eat it all herself, then buy new meat and continue the contest.
Li Gouzi thought she was hypocritical. She had committed those filthy acts because she wanted to eat better herself, yet she put on the appearance of doing everything for him.
If she were truly a loving mother, why was she always opposing him?
That was the second reason for the discord between mother and son.
He simply liked following Brother Stone around and fooling around with him, but she absolutely forbade it. When she saw that she could not stop him, she ran to Brother Stone's house and cursed him out, even hurling hurtful words like "little Bastard" at him.
Fortunately, Brother Stone did not stoop to arguing with her. Otherwise, how could he have continued playing with Brother Stone?
Later, after he grew up, he sometimes worked for others and sometimes went hunting in the mountains, and was able to earn money himself. Yet she would pinch away every coin he made, leaving him not even a single copper.
Whenever he went to Qingshui City with Brother Stone and asked her for money, she had never once been willing to give him any.
Thus, in Li Gouzi's eyes, she had always been a mother who loved money more than life, with nothing in common with a loving mother.
But seeing her take such action now left Li Gouzi at a loss.
Someone he had thought he knew better than anyone suddenly seemed somewhat unfamiliar.
Could he have misunderstood her all this time?
Could it be that, in her heart, he was worth more than that ten-tael gold ingot?
Li Gouzi remained silent for a moment, then walked over to the woman and said in a muffled voice, "I'm not going down the mountain."
The woman froze. Tenderness slowly surfaced in her eyes. This was the first time since he had become sensible that he had listened to her.
The surrounding villagers breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly helped the woman down, and scolded Li Gouzi a few times.
A village man said, "That boy Shitou is sharper than a monkey. Do you really need to go save him? For all you know, he's hiding somewhere right now."
Those words awakened the dreamer.
That's right! Brother Stone was extremely clever. How could he not know to run for his life?
Li Gouzi relaxed slightly, but ultimately retained a trace of worry.
The woman stared at him for a moment. Only after confirming that he truly was no longer going down the mountain did she trot over, pick up the gold ingot, and ask, "Where did this come from? You didn't do something like stealing chickens or dogs, did you?"
The others also gathered around, all their gazes falling on Li Gouzi with curiosity written across their faces.
Worried about Li Qingshi, Li Gouzi was restless and distracted as he recounted the matter of treating the county magistrate's daughter's illness.
After hearing him out, every face bore the same two words: What a boast!
"Are you saying that the illness the Famous Physicians of Qingshui City could not cure was cured by Shitou?"
"Him?"
"Lord County Magistrate rewarded him with ten gold ingots this size?!"
"That story you made up is too damn fake!"
The woman said, "Tell the truth!"
The more Li Gouzi listened to their clamoring, the more irritated he became. He angrily said, "How much suffering has Brother Stone endured from childhood to adulthood? Can't he have good luck just once?"
The villagers carefully studied his expression and seemed to realize that he truly was not lying.
Hiss!
That was unbelievably good luck. How had a blind cat happened upon a dead mouse and cured the county magistrate's daughter's illness?
When will Laozi ever have such good luck and dig a few ounces of broken silver out of the ground?
Wait... That means that boy Shitou now has nine gold ingots this size! Just how much money was that?
Those with quicker minds were already calculating: "That boy may be fatherless, and his reputation may sound bad, but so what? Can't I become his father? I've watched him grow up, after all, and know his background well. If I marry my daughter to him, I can rest easy, can't I?"
Li Gouzi had no mind to care what the others were thinking. He merely repeated silently in his heart, "Brother Stone, you must be safe."
He remembered that when he was four, a child of around ten, thinking he was still ignorant, had grinned and said to him, "Your mother is a loose woman, you know?"
Although he did not know what "loose woman" meant at the time, he knew it was not a good thing to say. But the other boy was tall and burly, and he was afraid, so he did not dare say anything.
It was Brother Stone, who happened to be passing by, who kicked that boy without saying a word.
The other boy then pinned him to the ground, cursed him as a Bastard, and beat him violently.
He clearly remembered that Brother Stone, who was also young and had already lost his mother, struggled to his feet, wiped away the blood flowing from his nose, and smiled at him. "Don't be afraid. If anyone bullies you again, tell me. I'll kill him."
From then on, he regarded Brother Stone as his biological elder brother.
..
The setting sun slanted across the mottled mud wall.
The secluded courtyard on the eastern side of the village seemed even more secluded. Only a few distant crowing roosters and barking dogs occasionally broke the silence; there was no trace of human bustle left.
Li Qingshi soaked in the medicinal tub with his eyes closed, quietly resting. A smug smile faintly appeared on his face, clearly indicating that he was thinking of something pleasant.
The withered old man still sat nearby drinking wine. This time there were two dishes: the unfinished Pig's Head Meat and fried peanuts.
On the ground beside them, nine gold ingots lay scattered carelessly among bloodstained, tattered clothes, as though they were worthless trash.
Old Liu had not asked about the origin of the gold ingots at all. He had not even given them a proper glance. This was what Li Qingshi admired most about the old man. That calm made it impossible to see the slightest flaw, and even harder to tell whether he had truly seen the wider world.
The old man sidelong glanced at Li Qingshi and said, "Don't think Laozi doesn't know what you're thinking. Entering the Hongmeng Realm isn't as easy as you imagine. The human body has seventy-two major apertures. No matter who it is, Opening an Acupoint is easy at first, but becomes increasingly difficult later."
Li Qingshi had been silently calculating that if he opened one major acupoint every half day, he could achieve a breakthrough into the Hongmeng Realm in a little over a month. Hearing this, he gave a dry laugh, then quickly composed himself and said solemnly, "Old Liu, you've known me for all these years. Do I seem like the kind of person who gets conceited easily?"
The old man ignored that remark and said, "Your courage is fairly decent, though. I thought you'd be scared enough to wet your pants the first time you killed someone."
Li Qingshi thought that he had been focused on sword practice at the time and truly had not felt much. Looking back afterward, however, his legs had indeed been a little weak.
Naturally, he did not mention that. Raising his eyebrows, he asked with a grin, "Why do you say that? Could it be that you wet your pants the first time you killed someone?"
The old man's drinking motion stiffened slightly. He took a sip, set down his bowl, and said calmly, "To be honest, I had a friend who really did wet his pants the first time he killed someone."