Madmen don't keep diaries

Chapter 2 Fragrant Deer and Fairy Bath
"Who cursed? I didn't hear it."

"I didn't hear it either."

"I think he's had an attack."

"Most likely."

"What did I say? I saw him run away from the asylum."

"Be careful, who knows if madness is contagious."

Shunzi stood up, also angry: "Madness is not contagious!"

After saying that, he secretly poked Feng Xiuhu and whispered, "Brother, don't you think so?"

Feng Xiuhu was very unhappy: "I'm not sick."

"I know." Shunzi lowered his voice, "But didn't you just come out of that yard? You weren't infected, were you?"

Feng Xiuhu also hesitated: "Didn't you say it's not contagious?"

Shunzi whispered, "I'm just guessing."

The drivers laughed even more happily now.

"These two brothers are so funny!"

A rickshaw driver laughed so hard that he collapsed on the ground, clutching his stomach and unable to stop: "Oh, you two fools!"

“Heh—tsk!”

Feng Xiuhu spat into the driver's mouth, and his laughter stopped abruptly.

Feng Xiuhu squinted at him and asked, "You just said you saw me coming out of the mental hospital?"

The driver swallowed hard and replied with a stiff neck, "Just me, what's wrong with that?"

Feng Xiuhu asked again, "Which eye did you see it with?"

The driver held up two index fingers, one pointing to one side: "I saw both sides, what's the matter?"

Feng Xiuhu stepped closer, dug his finger into the eye socket and dug it out. With a puff, an eyeball was pulled out.

The driver screamed in pain, and as soon as he opened his mouth, Feng Xiuhu stuffed his eyeballs in.

With a rolling of the throat, he swallowed it hard.

The driver rolled on the ground in pain. Feng Xiuhu squatted down and asked him, "Where's the other one?"

The driver cried and shouted, "I didn't see it, I really didn't see it. It didn't wake up today and didn't open its eyes all day!"

Feng Xiuhu looked around: "Who else is watching?"

The drivers lowered their heads, looked up at the sky, and began to point at the ants on the ground and the big chimneys in the sky, but no one responded to Feng Xiuhu's words.

Feng Xiuhu pulled Shunzi to sit down again: "Look, no one saw me come out of the yard, which means I'm not sick."

Shunzi also felt that what his elder brother said made sense, but he saw his elder brother climb into the yard with his own eyes, but he didn't dare to speak now.

Feng Xiuhu didn't care, he still had a lot of questions.

He took out two horns from the box and asked, "Is this thing worth money?"

Shunzi replied blankly: "It's worth it, it's definitely worth it."

"it is good."

Feng Xiuhu nodded: "Then analyze why it is valuable from an economic perspective."

"Hmm..." Shunzi hummed for a while, and his eyes gradually became clear.

"It's essentially because things are rare and valuable."

Someone else spoke from the other side.

Feng Xiuhu turned around and saw that a new driver had been sitting next to him.

The driver pointed at the horns and talked about it, "The horns of the fragrant deer have a high collection value because of their unique characteristics and the strict requirements of the growth year."

"Additionally, the number of musk deer has plummeted in recent decades, and the Kingdom has issued a decree prohibiting the illegal slaughter of wild musk deer. This has made musk deer antlers even more scarce on the market, and their prices have also risen sharply."

"But precisely because of this, driven by the huge profits, many people have started to engage in this shady business, so there will always be fragrant deer antlers flowing into the auction house through illegal channels, and eventually become pipes in the hands of high-ranking officials."

Feng Xiuhu said he had finally learned something. He continued to ask, "Why does it have to be a pipe?"

The driver squinted his eyes and leaned closer, carefully counting the circular patterns on the antlers. "It may not be a pipe, but you took it from a stag's head. What else can you make a pipe out of it?"

Feng Xiuhu closed the lid and said, "Why do you care about me? If you don't want to talk, find someone else."

He raised his hand: "Next!"

The driver behind pushed the man aside and squeezed in to sit next to Feng Xiuhu.

"Cough cough."

The driver cleared his throat and said, "Don't be fooled, this stag's antlers can only be made into pipes."

"The reason why the fragrant deer is called fragrant deer is because their horns are actually fragrant."

Feng Xiuhu was skeptical, so he opened the lid and sniffed it closely. It seemed that there was indeed a faint, pleasant and intoxicating smell.

The driver waved his hand. "Don't worry. We just took the horns off, so the fragrance hasn't come out yet. Wait half a month and it will be noticeable." "The horns have been with us since we were born, but the fragrance never comes out. With each year they grow, the lines on the horns grow, and the fragrance accumulates. But when they reach adulthood, once someone touches the horns, the fragrance will immediately come out."

"Be careful!"

The driver raised his voice.

"This beast is so strange, it has a smell that no one else can smell except the first person who touches it."

"What's even more amazing is that it's said that each person smells a different scent, but it's definitely that person's favorite."

Feng Xiuhu slapped his thigh violently - he seemed to have wronged the shopkeeper.

The driver craned his neck to peer into the box. "I've also heard that the scent of fragrant deer antlers becomes stronger with each additional circle of grain, but the best year for harvesting is twenty-four or twenty-five. Any less and the aftertaste is lacking, while any more and it becomes a bit heavy. I think your pair is only about twenty-two-two-three, but it's not bad either."

"That's why gentlemen love to make it into pipes. The flavor of the tobacco mixed with the aroma of deer antlers, a puff of it, is refreshing and invigorating, and your tongue and nose feel like they've taken a divine bath."

Feng Xiuhu grasped the key point: "What is the Fairy Bath?"

The driver bared his big yellow teeth and laughed: "Shall I take you there?"

Feng Xiuhu patted his butt and stood up: "Let's go."

Just as he took a step, he turned around and pulled Shunzi along: "Brother, come with me."

Shunzi blushed with embarrassment and pulled his hand back: "Brother, I won't go. They say that only married men can enter that place."

Feng Xiuhu was even more surprised when he heard this - there is such a good place?

"Who did you listen to?"

he asks.

Shunzi quickly pulled his hand free: "I heard it from He Da'er and his gang."

Feng Xiuhu glanced at Shunzi and thought that Shunzi, with his physique, didn't even dare to call himself a big guy, so how big could this He guy be?
Just as he was thinking about it, a skinny guy came from the end of the street with his legs swinging and whistled at Feng Xiuhu: "Feng Shoumao, my squad leader is looking for you."

Feng Xiuhu looked at Shunzi: "Who did he call?"

"I'm calling you brother."

Shunzi said.

Feng Xiuhu was immediately dissatisfied - there were other squad leaders besides him?

"Who is his squad leader?"

"What a big guy!" Shunzi replied.

Feng Xiuhu thought for a moment and decided he couldn't lose face, so he patted Shunzi's arm and said, "Go, see what He Da Ge is up to—and ask him why you have to be married to take the Immortal Bath."

Shouzhugan looked at Feng Xiuhu, then at Shunzi who came to his side.

Before he could say anything, Shunzi pushed him and said, "Are you going to leave or not? My elder brother is waiting to take the divine bath."

Shouzhugan sneered and led Shunzi back.

Feng Xiuhu then started arguing with the driver.

"You were talking about the antlers of the male deer, what about the female deer?"

The driver lifted the handlebars and said, "You've hit the nail on the head. Are you going to leave or not?"

"Let's go. We'll leave when my brother comes back—what's the idea?"

"There's a big difference between a doe and a buck—give me an accurate indication of how long it will take him to come back."

"When he comes back, he leaves—what's the difference?"

"What a difference—isn't that the same as not saying anything?"

"Why do you care whether I said it or not? If you don't want to talk about it, just change someone else."

Feng Xiuhu raised his hand: "Next——"

Before he could finish his words, he saw Shunzi jogging back.

Shunzi ran over with a red face.

Feng Xiuhu frowned in dissatisfaction: "They also want to take you to take a fairy bath?"

Shunzi shook his head.

Feng Xiuhu breathed a sigh of relief: "What did He Da Ge say?"

Shunzi replied, "He told you to get lost, and then he slapped both of us in the face."

It looks like his face was slapped red.

Feng Xiuhu's face darkened - He Da Ge actually refused to tell him the secret of the magical bath.

It's so disrespectful.

He waved his hand and the brothers standing along the roadside stood up one after another.

"I'll ask him in person."

Feng Xiuhu said to the driver, "Wait here. I'll take your car when I come back."

(End of this chapter)