Poor Taoist Qiu Chuji

Chapter 144 Saltwater Girl, Foreign Doctor Lu Daoren

The process of Lin Jiu interrogating the Western zombie was very violent. Although it was not bloody, it was still not very appetizing to watch.

After Lin Jiu had torn the Western zombie into pieces, he finally got all the information he could squeeze out of it.

A fire burned all the Western zombies in the underground secret room. Lin Jiu, with a gloomy face, led the trembling little zombies following behind him, and returned to Tiandao Temple with Qiu Chuji.

The next morning, Qiu Sheng and A Fang sent the nuns back to the church.

Then Lin Jiu began to pack his luggage, obviously planning to go on a long journey.

"You didn't tell me in detail last night, and you don't plan to reveal it today?" Qiu Chuji said as he sat in the lobby and looked at Lin Jiu who came out carrying a bag and a rattan suitcase.

Lin Jiu hesitated, as if he didn't know how to start.

"If you are afraid of getting me into trouble, then don't think too much. I have never been afraid of trouble in my life."

"If you have something to hide, then I won't interfere. But you should keep these two demon pills that I have injected with sword energy. You never know when you may need them." Qiu Chuji took out two demon pills. The purified Yuan Qi in them had been transformed into powerful sword energy. Once it exploded, its power should not be underestimated. It could easily tear a street apart.

Lin Jiu struggled for a few seconds after hearing this, and finally heaved a long sigh, his whole body a little listless: "I don't know much about that Western zombie. It's only said that he joined an organization called the 'Fearless Association', and then was transformed by a Taoist priest and a Western missionary."

"Then he became the ghost he is today, sleeping in the sarcophagus until we came and woke him up."

"As for the Fearless Association... I heard about it from one of my junior fellow students before. He invited me to join, but I refused because he said we would have to deal with foreigners."

Lin Jiu briefly explained what happened and then said nothing more.

Qiu Chuji understood why Lin Jiu had this expression.

If this is the case, then the Taoist priest who participated in the transformation of Western zombies is most likely Lin Jiu's junior brother.

"So, you plan to go find your junior brother and ask for clarification?"

"Yes!"

"I'm familiar with this part. I'll deliver it to your door!" Qiu Chuji clapped his hands lightly with a mocking smile.

Although Lin Jiu could not fully understand Qiu Chuji's meaning, he could also hear the general implication: "I plan to write a letter to my senior brother. If that junior brother really broke the sect rules and practiced evil methods, I will work with my senior brother to clean up the sect."

"You should have heard that Senior Brother Shi Jian's Lightning Thunder Fist is extremely powerful. It combines martial arts and techniques, and is comparable to foreign artillery. If you have Senior Brother with you, you can be sure that nothing will go wrong."

Upon hearing this, Qiu Chuji couldn't help but sigh, "Well done to Lin Jiu..." He really didn't want to leave any chance for himself to survive!

Shi Jian might not necessarily get involved in such a matter, but given that the Maoshan Sect's eldest senior brother has always been wary of Lin Jiu, there is a high possibility that he would secretly harm Lin Jiu and send him to his death.

"Still don't want me to interfere?" Qiu Chuji asked.

"After all, this involves the internal affairs of our Maoshan." Lin Jiu did not respond directly.

"Well, you check yours and I check mine. Aren't there two lines?" Qiu Chuji said.

The transformation of the Western zombies was done by Taoist priests and missionaries. Since Lin Jiu went to track down his junior brother, Qiu Chuji went to find the missionary.

The fact that Lin Jiu was willing to reveal this matter showed that he actually still wanted to seek help from Qiu Chuji. However, this matter also involved a fellow disciple who had gone astray. If he took Qiu Chuji, an "outsider", to deal with it, it would be difficult for him to survive if the news got out.

Qiu Chuji thoughtfully proposed a compromise solution.

Lin Jiu gave a forced smile: "Then I'll trouble you, Brother Dao! When Qiu Sheng comes back later, I'll have him follow you around."

Qiu Chuji thought about it and did not refuse.

Although Qiu Sheng is careless, his skills have improved recently. With some training from him, he can also be a good errand boy.

"Now that it's settled, where should I go to find this missionary?"

"Go to Shanghai! Look for him near the dock. That Western zombie used to be a sailor on a British merchant ship. He met a missionary through a saltwater girl."

"What's a saltwater girl called?"

"Lianbi!"

······
Qiu Chuji took Qiu Sheng and took a train from Guangzhou to Shanghai. The journey took about three or four days. Accompanied by the white smoke spewed out by the steam train, Qiu Chuji, who had changed out of his Taoist robe, into a Zhongshan suit and had his hair cut short, looked extremely energetic and walked in front. Qiu Sheng followed behind him, carrying large and small bags, with a look of excitement on his face about going out and seeing the world.

"Uncle Master! I heard there's a new thing called a movie, which can record stories and put them on the wall for people to watch. Except for the lack of sound, everything else is the same as the real thing. Is it true?" Qiu Sheng squeezed through the crowd and hurried to catch up with Qiu Chuji.

"It's true!" Qiu Chuji said casually.

"Have you seen my uncle-master?" Qiu Sheng asked.

"Seen it!"

"Really? I don't believe it!" Qiu Sheng retorted. He, such a fashionable person, had never seen a movie, so how could his uncle, such a conservative guy, have seen it?

"Uncle Master! Have you ever tasted foreign tea?" "I have, it tastes so bad... But rich people and people of status think it tastes good. So maybe my life is too hard and I can't appreciate its goodness!" Qiu Sheng was still chattering. He had been talking nonsense all the way for three days... and he hardly stopped talking.

"No! It's just bitter and has nothing to do with how good your life is. I don't know whether rich people like to drink it or not, but cows and horses must drink it. If they don't drink a little and work hard, how can the boss have the money to buy a new car or a mansion?" Qiu Chuji said, and he also remembered the days in his previous life when he drank coffee and stayed up late to memorize legal provisions and various cases.

After leaving the train station, the two called two rickshaws and headed straight to Shilipu Wharf.

Along the outer road, there are dozens of docks of all sizes, crowded with merchant ships from various countries and inland areas. A large number of laborers are carrying bags and boxes of goods off the ship or back on. It is a scene of order amidst chaos.

On the other side of the outer road, there are restaurants, casinos, dance halls... It is very lively during the day, and it will be even more bustling and noisy at night.

Qiu Chuji took the dazzled Qiu Sheng to the most prosperous dance hall. At that moment, there were only two tables of people drinking and playing cards in the hall, and a small band performing on the stage, but no one was dancing.

Qiu Sheng glanced around, then grabbed a waiter and asked, "Are there any salty girls here?"

"We're going to find the most famous saltwater girl and ask her some questions."

The so-called salty girls are prostitutes who specialize in doing business with foreigners.

Since the Tongzhi and Guangxu periods, the Yangjing Bridge was crowded with women from eastern Guangdong. They wore fancy makeup and fancy clothes, narrow-sleeved leather shoes, and feet seven or eight inches long. Some of them went barefoot without socks. They had round and fair skin, and often wore embroidered high sandals, tied their hair into a bun, wore silk trousers, and wrapped their heads with brocade scarves.

Among them, there are different levels of beauty. The better ones have skin as white as snow and eyes as bright as waves. They are the women from eastern Guangdong who come to Shanghai to make money and are entertained by foreigners. Sometimes they also receive Chinese people. Westerners call them "Xianfeisimei", and the Chinese follow suit and call them "Xianshuimei" for short.

When foreigners first came to China, there was little entertainment, and ordinary women were unwilling to receive blond-haired and blue-eyed foreigners, viewing them as ghosts. Only some women who really had a hard time making a living would risk receiving foreigners.

But with the development of the times, people have become more accepting of foreign things. Compared with Chinese people, foreigners have more money and are more willing to spend money, so many women from Guangdong, Hubei and Shanghai have started to work as prostitutes.

Many of them have received education, some have studied abroad, and they dress beautifully and have a "style" that is ahead of the average Chinese people of this era. In the eyes of many ordinary people, they are no longer just women, but like upper-class people.

It is very similar to the 'escorts' and 'rented wives' of the later Southeast Asian generation.

Some of them are mixed-race and are very beautiful.

So when Qiu Sheng grabbed the waiter and asked about the "Saltwater Girl", the waiter looked him and Qiu Chuji up and down for a few times. After noticing that they did not have any ornaments that showed their nobility, he raised his head high and said in a pretentious tone: "Do you need anything else, sir?"

It seemed that saying such a sentence was proof of his superiority, allowing him to look down on his compatriots from a high position.

Qiu Sheng was confused, Qiu Chuji sneered: "Why don't you be a good person and instead choose to be a dog?"

This time it was the waiter's turn to be confused.

He doesn't know many foreign words, except for words like hello and thank you, and the sentence he just said is the longest sentence he knows.

"Sir! I don't think it's a gentleman's thing to embarrass a waiter like this." A middle-aged foreigner wearing gold-rimmed glasses came over and spoke to Qiu Chuji in fluent Chinese with a slight accent.

"Two Chinese people insist on speaking Ying dialect, which may not be very polite." Qiu Chuji responded calmly.

In this era, foreigners are superior and have privileges.

But if one were in Qiu Chuji's position, whether he was an ancient or modern person, he would not look down upon foreigners.

As ancient people, although the two Song dynasties were weak, foreigners with blond hair, blue eyes, red hair and white skin could mostly only be seen in some brothels.

As modern people, it goes without saying.

"But aren't you here to look for salty girls as well?" the middle-aged foreigner asked sarcastically.

Nowadays, Chinese people look for sexy girls just like they want to try some foreign food.

It seems that by fighting against foreigners, one can appear to be closer to them, and one's identity and status will be different.

"We are looking for Xianshui Mei because..." Qiu Sheng spoke quickly and almost told the truth, but was stopped by Qiu Chuji.

With a raise of his hand, Qiu Chuji took out a round golden bead, and then without even exerting any force with his fingers, the golden bead was flattened into a round metal disc.

"Tell us what we want to know, and then it will belong to you... Whoever answers first will own it!" Qiu Chuji said.

"Okay, sir! It's a pleasure to serve you!" The waiter immediately bent down and looked up at the gold in Qiu Chuji's hand.

Face is not as important as gold.

"Do you know the salty girl named Lianbi?" Qiu Sheng asked.

The waiter was stunned and didn't leave. The middle-aged foreigner who was watching nearby asked, "Are you talking about Miss Lianbi, the dancing queen of Huadu?"

"She died three days ago!"

"She fell from the balcony on the third floor. Oh, my God! I saw her body... It's too hard to accept!"

(End of this chapter)