I decided to put aside the Su Jin incident for now. Every debtor will meet their creditor. A gentleman is willing to wait 10 years for his revenge. "Was the saying like that"? I thought to myself.
It was already night as we walked through the packed streets of Hibiscus Town. I can see traveling merchants sitting in their makeshift stalls waiting to slaughter fat lambs. There were stalls selling all kind of food. The aroma spread in the air. I would have immediately bought some but I knew I had no money and was too shy to ask the brothers for any.
We kept on walking until we reached the end of the town. There was a small hut with a small yard. Behind it was a pond. The brothers seemed to relax as we approached the hut. Big One then said,"Welcome to our home little brother. As of now this place is yours as well. Us brothers usually stay here just one night before leaving town again. This place is owned under my mother's maiden name so it cannot be traced back to the Wang family. So rest assured that you are safe here. For as long as you choose to stay in Hibiscus town, take this place as your very own home".
Again I felt touched at the sincerity that the two of them treated me with. I politely said thank you.
"Little brother. We have many things to do so we won't be back tonight", Big One said with a grin.
Why do I get the feeling that they either have women kept away at they will be visiting a brothel. Anyways, to each their own.
" In fact first thing tomorrow we will leave again. If all goes well and we are still alive we will come visit you in about 3 weeks to one month's time. You will need to fend for yourself little brother. Remember to stay low key and as much as possible don't get involved with the 4 major families. Your life is more important. I saw you staring at Su Jin earlier. Keep your anger to yourself for now unless you feel that you have the strength to uproot their entire family. Just be patient. By the way, here is the deed to the house just in case someone asks. You can say you received it as a gift. There is also a money bag for you. In it is a total of 40 gold coins You can freely use it to live and get any necessities that you require. Us brothers do not have that much so we apologize if this is too little.
I was almost choking at their kindness. They look like brutes. They have a vendetta yet they are giving me almost everything they have. I did not decline as I know I truly need this favor now. But deep down I will remember this and when my fortunes turn, I will never forget my benefactors.
With a hug from the two of them that nearly crushed me, and a couple more reminders to stay safe, the two brothers departed. "Goodbye for now Big One and Big Two. We are brothers for life! Take care and stay safe. See you soon." I shouted as they were walking away. They turned around and nodded their heads in acknowledgement to my words, waved me good bye and disappeared into the distance.
After they left, reality hit me. Now I have to take care of myself in this new world.
First things first, let's clean up the place. Although the brothers use it for only one day every month, the place was really well maintained. I didn't need to do too much.
After cleaning. I decided to gather my thoughts and plan what to do next.
I sat on one of the two beds in the house. Ok tomorrow, I need to buy some basic necessities like rice, water. There is a yard here. Maybe I can do some gardening. I will also need to check if the pond has any fishes. That way I can save up on money.
At the thought of money, I realized that I also needed to find a way to get more. The brothers were very generous. But I have no idea the value of 40 gold coins and how long it can last. Thank goodness I have a roof over my head and I don't need to pay for lodging.
I also need to train and get stronger. There is also the Heaven Body skill which I need to start cultivating. So many things to do.
I decided that tonight I will have a good sleep. Tomorrow morning I will walk around town to get my necessities and also to see if there any jobs or opportunities that can help me earn more money. "Damn, why did I learn history, what's good that going to do me now", I complained to myself.
That night I did a short meditation session, 'polishing' then I went to bed.
In the morning I woke up to roosters crowing."Great there are chickens here. Hopefully there are plenty so I can have chicken and eggs anytime". I made up my mind to search for the chickens and hopefully they were wild chickens without any owners.
I got out of bed and jumped into the pond. Last night the brothers already told me that the pond is clean and suitable to take a bath in. I have already summoned out Sia to keep watch while I enjoyed the icy cold water in the pond caressing my entire body. When I felt I was clean enough, I changed into my new pair of shorts and vest, the one I kept in my sling bag. I also made a mental note to get some extra clothes.
When the sun was up. I made my way into town. I desummoned Sia as it's better to have an ace in the bag should I need it.
When I got to town, the streets were already very busy with a lot of people including merchants, vendors and hawkers. Now that it's day time and I can see more clearly, I noticed that the place is a dump. There were rubbish and waste everywhere. Rather than call it a town, I will rather describe it as a slum.
Well. It is what it is. This is not earth where I come from. This is a cut throat world where survival of the fittest rule. I reminded myself.
After searching high and low. I found a peddler selling rice and water and other types of daily essentials. What surprised me was he had two kinds of each, spiritual rice and spiritual water and the normal ones. I bought about 10kg of the normal rice and 500 grams of spiritual rice. Honestly the name tempted me. I also got 50 litres of normal water and 500ml of spiritual water. Luckily the peddler said that they will deliver to my place. After describing where I live, the peddler said he knew where it was and I can expect the delivery within 3 hours. What surprised me is the normal rice and water totalled 50 copper coins but the little amount of spiritual rice and water set me back 2 gold. Woah,I need to be more prudent in my spending.
With food and water sorted. I walked through town. Taking in everything, but also keeping my head down as I kept reminding myself to stay low key. Seeing many homeless people I knew that finding a job would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. After buying some extra clothes for myself, I immediately gave up on the idea of finding a job. But what else can I do?
As I walked and walked, more and more ideas came into my head. "What if I teach English or Mandarin"? I laughed to myself as soon as I thought of this. What use is there for these people here to learn these languages.
I realized that soon the appointed time for delivery will come so I headed back home and waited. Soon after the delivery was concluded. I decided to cook a just little bit of spiritual rice together with the normal rice. I also used a little bit of the spiritual water in the cooking process. After a while, an aroma that I have never smelled from white rice heavily infused the air. When I opened the lid, I saw some rice literally shining like diamonds. I knew instinctively that these were the spiritual rice.Good stuff. Hopefully they tastes as delicious as they looked.I immediately scooped a bowl and ate with relish. Wow, extremely delicious even by its own.
Maybe because my body has never had any kind of spiritual food before, therefore when I finished eating, I felt an extremely powerful energy coursing through my body. I also felt extremely drowsy. I could not keep my eyes open no matter how hard I tried to focus. Giving up, I went to the bed and lost consciousness almost immediately.
I once again woke up the next morning to the sound of roosters crowing. What surprised me is that I felt even lighter and way stronger than before. I dived into my mind palace and realized that not only the third dust particle but also the 4th dust particle is shining brightly. There is also a dim 5th dust particle next to it. I levelled up from Dust Warrior stage 3 to Dust Warrior stage 5 by just by eating? Am I this lucky?