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Chapter 134 Golden Cudgel

The blood moon hung high in the sky, but few people noticed.

The lights in the guest rooms had long been turned off, leaving the room pitch black. Heavy breathing could be heard throughout the rooms.

That was the tired snore of Yuan Shoucheng after a long day's work, and the soft, childlike breathing of the Silver Furnace Boy. The side room was also deathly silent, as if everyone had fallen into a deep sleep.

Only Zhu Ganglie, who shared a room with Yuan Shoucheng, was staring intently at the dimly lit roof beams with his tiny, copper-bell-sized eyes.

The taste of the ginseng fruit seemed to come alive, churning wildly in his mind.

"One whiff and you'll feel 360; one pill and you'll live for 47,000."

"Crisp as jade, sweet as honey, its fragrance permeates every pore..."

Yuan Shoucheng's vivid description kept buzzing in his ears. He could almost see the golden fruit swaying before his eyes, exuding a deadly allure.

Eat! Just one is enough. If I miss this chance, will there be any left for me, Old Pig, when that old man comes back?
Once every ten thousand years!

No way! Zhen Yuanzi is the ancestor of all earth immortals. If we catch him, my fat body will probably be turned into lamp oil, and those two brats, Qingfeng and Mingyue, will probably eat me alive.
Greed burns like a raging fire, while fear chills like ice to the bone.

Pigsy tossed and turned on the bed like a pancake, his thick waist pressing down on the hard stone bed, making it creak.

He hugged his big pig head with both hands, his fingers tugging hard at the black hair at the base of his ears, and muffled gurgling sounds were coming from his throat, as if his intestines were fighting.

After agonizing for a full half hour, he suddenly opened his eyes and listened intently. Yuan Shoucheng's snoring was even, long, and continuous. The breathing next door was soft and steady.

The entire Wuzhuang Temple was so quiet that only the sound of the wind could be heard.

"Gulp!" He swallowed a large mouthful of greedy saliva, and a thick finger was held up in front of the pig's snout.
"Shh!" It was as if she was warning herself not to make a sound, but in reality, she had already made up her mind.

He slid off the bed like a bulky shadow, clumsy yet nimble. His bare feet, with their thick, fleshy pads, made almost no sound as they landed on the tiled floor.

He held his breath, pressed his body against the cold wall, and moved one step, two steps, toward the door. His hand carefully rested on the latch, and with utmost concentration, he pried it open little by little.

"Creak..." The door hinges emitted a barely audible groan.

Pigsy's entire body tensed instantly. He remained in a half-bent position, as if frozen in place, not daring to even breathe, his terrified eyes fixed on the night outside the crack in the door.

After listening intently for a long time to make sure he hadn't made any noise, he breathed a small sigh of relief. He squeezed through the half-open door, then turned back and, little by little, used his fingernails to pinch the door shut until it was just a barely visible crack.

Under the moonlight, his figure, carrying a rake, clung to the shadows of the corridor, stealthily making its way silently toward the corner gate that he had discovered during the day, leading to the backyard.

Just a few breaths after Zhu Ganglie ajar the door from the outside.

"Phew!" Yuan Shoucheng's long snores came to an abrupt end.

In the darkness, he suddenly sat up, all traces of his previous sleepiness gone.

He scrambled off the bed, not even bothering to put on his shoes properly, and shuffled to the door, peering nervously through the crack until he was sure that Zhu Ganglie's shadow had completely disappeared into the darkness.

"Done! That gluttonous idiot is finally gone!" He turned around abruptly, rubbing his hands together, his voice extremely low. He pushed open the door next door and winked at Chen Guangrui, who had also gotten up, and the Silver Furnace Boy, who had somehow sat up as well.

"Scholar Chen, young master, the great mission is accomplished! That blockhead really did go to steal fruit!"

The boy with the silver furnace jumped off the bed, his little face beaming with barely suppressed excitement and pride. He hopped over to Chen Guangrui, tilting his head back, his eyes sparkling.

"Mr. Chen, Zhu Bajie really went. Does that mean we can find that scoundrel accountant right away?"

Chen Guangrui slowly stood up from the couch. His face showed little excitement. He walked to the table, poured himself a bowl of cool tea, took a sip, then shook his head and said calmly,

"An accountant? I'm afraid we still can't find one."

"Huh?" The smug look on Silver Furnace Boy's face instantly vanished, and he exclaimed in confusion, "Can't find him? Then all that effort we put in, all that risk, all that trickery to lure him all the way from Gao Village, from the doorman's quarrel to the pretense of leaving, this... all that effort wasted!"

He was so anxious that he spun around in a circle.

"What is our real purpose in seeking out the accountant?" Chen Guangrui put down his teacup and glanced at the two men.
"It's to find out the relationship between Zhu Ganglie and Wuzhuang Temple, or rather, the forces behind him and Wuzhuang Temple. Now that he's broken into Wuzhuang Temple's forbidden area to steal the ginseng fruit, we'll just see how Wuzhuang Temple reacts."

He walked to the window and looked in the dark direction where Zhu Ganglie had disappeared.

"The ginseng fruit has been stolen. This is more effective than directly catching an accountant."

Silver Furnace Boy pondered these words, his little brows furrowing into a knot, clearly not having fully digested them.

But he had already established unconditional trust in Chen Guangrui.

"Oh...I see..." He nodded, somewhat bewildered. Although he didn't quite understand the intricacies of the situation, he immediately drew a conclusion with certainty.

"Anyway, Mr. Chen is definitely right, so that's fine!"

His disappointment at not finding the bad guy was instantly overshadowed by his blind faith in Chen Guangrui.

“Ha! That’s right!” Yuan Shoucheng laughed so hard his eyes almost disappeared, and chimed in, “We’re just seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, waiting to watch the show…”

However, the smile on his face suddenly froze, as if he had just remembered something extremely dangerous. He slapped his shiny forehead hard, making a sharp "smack," and his face instantly turned ashen.

"Oh no! This is terrible!" Yuan Shoucheng's voice trembled, filled with tears and utter frustration.

"I was so busy craving him that I forgot to mention that extremely important thing."

He was so anxious that he stomped his feet and rubbed his hands together.

Chen Guangrui and the Silver Furnace Boy immediately looked at him.

"The golden cudgel! The golden cudgel!" Yuan Shoucheng cried out rapidly and urgently, his voice filled with immense fear.
“During the day, Ninth Senior Brother made it very clear that you have to use a golden mallet to pick the ginseng fruit. Without that, you can’t even touch the fruit. This stupid pig went there empty-handed. What could he possibly steal? He couldn’t even touch a single leaf of that fruit.”

The air inside the room froze instantly.

The little mouth of the Silver Furnace Boy, which had just relaxed, opened wide again, too astonished to speak.

A crack finally appeared on Chen Guangrui's calm face, and his brows furrowed deeply. Clearly, he had also forgotten about this matter. Without the Golden Cudgel, Zhu Ganglie wouldn't have been able to steal any fruit.

A deathly silence enveloped the room, with only the heavy breathing of a few people remaining.

Yuan Shoucheng looked at Chen Guangrui and tentatively asked, "How about... we think of a way tomorrow to casually let him know about the gold cudgel and give him a hint?"

Chen Guangrui slowly shook his head, rejecting the suggestion.
"After tonight, his greedy desires and wicked courage, fueled by this fright and the fear of almost being exposed, will vanish completely. He will never dare to go a second time. Tonight is his only chance."

Yuan Shoucheng was completely at a loss, his face contorted with despair.
"We can't just stand by and watch him return empty-handed, and all our hard work go to waste, can we?"

Chen Guangrui remained silent, his eyes sharp as knives in the darkness. After a moment, he raised his head, looked at the two of them, and calmly uttered a startling idea, word by word.

"Then let's help him out. Let's go get the golden cudgel and try to get it to him."

"What?!" Yuan Shoucheng was so shocked he almost jumped up, his voice cracking.

"Should we steal the gold cudgel ourselves and deliver it? What if we get caught red-handed? We won't be able to explain ourselves no matter how hard we try. What if he gets even more scared when he sees the gold cudgel and doesn't dare to steal it anymore?"

Chen Guangrui looked through the window and said, "Once he gets the golden cudgel, it'll be like an arrow on a bowstring. Whether he steals it or not will no longer be up to him."

After he finished speaking, he didn't hesitate any longer, turned around and strode quickly towards the door. His movements were swift and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

(End of this chapter)