Immortal Dao Fruits, Cards to Help Me

Chapter 78 Playing tricks and being tricked by tricksters
Chen Xiuxian stopped in front of a cooked food stall and gave Lao Niu and Dou Zhongde a wink.

Then he started asking the food stall owner about prices.

"Uncle, how much is your pig's head meat?"

"22 coins a pound is a bit expensive, isn't it?"

"Well, you're just trying to raise prices before the New Year!"

"Alright, alright, it's the New Year, we should earn a little more. Weigh these two pig faces for me... How much for this tongue?"

Chen Xiuxian asked about prices while chatting idly.

People from Liaodong are generally outgoing and talkative.

Many people from Liaodong consider themselves introverted and quiet, but once they enter the interior of China, they realize they're considered quite lively there. They're practically chatterboxes!
Especially when you go to the South, you might find that you, who are usually socially anxious in Northeast China, have become socially anxious in the South.
The person in front has social anxiety disorder, and the person behind has social terrorist tendencies!
The main problem is the harsh living environment in Northeast China. Not to mention the various dangers, the winter, which lasts for at least three months and sometimes more than four months, is so cold that people can only stay indoors to hibernate. This can easily lead to depression in narrow-minded and introverted people.

Over hundreds or thousands of years, that introverted gene has been eliminated!

Chen Xiuxian chatted with the uncle who sold cooked food for a long time. The uncle was also a good talker, and he talked about everything from the selection of ingredients to the production of cooked food, to how to keep it warm in cold weather. He did it all in a vivid and interesting way.

After talking for a while, Chen Xiuxian bought seven or eight pounds of cooked food, planning to try it when he got home. It smelled pretty good, anyway.

He and Lao Niu, each carrying two large bags, made a purchase along two streets.

Then the two of them walked back, seemingly taking a shortcut, and turned into a small alley.

As they walked, the two suddenly stopped.

The kid who had been secretly following the two stopped and quickly hid behind the corner.

But there was no movement in the alley. He waited for seven or eight seconds, then peeked out. As a result, he found Chen Xiuxian and Lao Niu right in front of him.

The old bull was over 1.9 meters tall, with a square face and a broad nose. Two large bull horns grew on his forehead. He looked down at the young man, and the sense of oppression immediately rose.

The kid yelled "Mommy!" and sat down on the ground.

This is a boy of fourteen or fifteen, just the age when he can find some work to supplement the family income.

At this moment, he was so frightened by the old ox that he almost wet his pants and was about to cry.

Old Niu was quite embarrassed. He scratched the back of his head with his large hand and looked at Chen Xiuxian: "Am I scary?"

Chen Xiuxian looked at him carefully. "It's not scary. This kid is just feeling guilty."

At this moment, Dou Zhongde walked out from behind the alley, and the three of them blocked the kid's way.

Dou Zhongde glanced at the young man and said, "This kid has been following us all the way; he's definitely up to no good."

The boy was of average appearance, with small, single-lidded eyes. He wore a tattered cotton-padded jacket and a worn-out hat with cotton showing through. His face was red from the cold, and his nose was running. He was still protesting, "I didn't! I'm not! I... I've never seen this horned old man before, I just wanted to follow him and see!"

Chen Xiuxian laughed: "Little thief, don't try to fool your brother. This old ox beside me, when he gets angry, he'll eat people alive! I advise you to confess honestly, and you might still have a good New Year. Otherwise, you might not live to see today!"

The young man retorted, "Nonsense! Even the old cow doesn't eat people!"

Dou Zhongde grabbed his head from behind: "Look, you seem to know a lot, don't you? I heard there are quite a few alien races in Shencheng, and the Lao Niu tribe must number in the hundreds. You're not here to see Lao Niu at all!"

Upon hearing this, the kid's heart sank; he had let something slip!

He was thinking of how to make amends—maybe he could say that he thought this guy was good-looking and follow him to take a few more glances?
That works! That's a plausible excuse!

Before he could even open his mouth, Chen Xiuxian grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.

Chen Xiuxian stretched out his other hand, and a ball of flame ignited in his palm.

"You little thief, I don't have much patience left. Either tell me the truth now, or I'll kill you right now."

Chen Xiuxian's words frightened the boy, and tears immediately streamed down his face.

Although Chen Xiuxian was just bluffing, his words weren't entirely false.

If it's someone who can conjure fire out of thin air, then killing me would be pointless!
This is Liaodong, a region with a very high tolerance for talented and extraordinary individuals.

Besides, I was the one who followed them first. Even if they kill me, they'll probably just fine me a little money.

"I...I'll tell you. Big brother, big brother, please don't kill me, I'll tell you everything." ...

Chen Xiuxian and Lao Niu took the boy back to their lodgings, where the gambling addict Ma Si'er was waiting.

"My lord, I've caught another thief!"

He pointed, and there stood the silver-clad ghost beside him, holding a rope that bound a young man in his twenties and hung him from the roof beam. The thief had already fainted.

“These are the things he brought!” Ma Si’er pointed to a bag on the ground, which contained tools such as short-handled shovels.

"Hey kid, come over here and see if you know this guy?" Chen Xiuxian called the boy over.

This boy's name is Li Huo, he is 15 years old and works as a waiter at an inn.

He said he was sent by their manager to follow Chen Xiuxian and his group.

The young man stared at the thief hanging from the rafters with his small eyes, then shook his head. "Brother, I don't know him. I've never seen him before."

"Not one of your manager's men?"

"No! At least I've never seen him. Our manager is young, but he's always busy! I only see him about ten or eight times a month."

Chen Xiuxian said, "Wake him up and ask him who sent him."

At Chen Xiuxian's instruction, the silver-haired ghost swung the rope and threw the thief outside the door, leaving him on the snow.

Immediately afterwards, Ma Si'er splashed a basin of water on the still unconscious thief, waking him up.

Only then did Li Huo notice the Silver Ghost; he hadn't noticed it at all before.

Upon seeing the paper-white, obviously not-alive Yin Chang ghost, he screamed "Oh my god!" and his legs went weak. He sat on the ground and started kicking and thrashing about.

"Alright! You're such a spineless coward." Chen Xiuxian waved his hand, put away the Silver Ghost, and went outside to interrogate the thief.

Old Niu followed him out, while Dou Zhongde stroked his goatee and said to Li Huo, "Don't just stand there, go heat up the kang (heated brick bed)."

Meanwhile, Ma Si'er was keeping an eye on Li Huo.

Li Huo had no idea that Ma Si'er was also a ghost—ever since Ma Si'er leveled up, he had changed drastically. Although it was broad daylight, he looked no different from a living person. Of course, there was no shadow yet.

Li Huo was trying to get closer to Ma Si'er, and Ma Si'er responded with "uh-huh" and "yeah".

Chen Xiuxian poured two basins of cold water over there, and the thief confessed everything—in the dead of winter, splashing cold water outdoors would freeze, so enjoy it!
What's more, Chen Xiuxian took out Old Niu's iron rod and let the thief lick it!
The thief nearly fainted from fright—this was a wicked trick only the King of Hell could come up with!
"So, Qian Chuan sent people to follow us and even paid thieves to break into our house to dig for something? Oh right, didn't Ma Si'er beat one up before? Could that have been sent by him too?"

Alright, let's not delay and cause any unforeseen complications. Let's just arrest them!

Chen Xiuxian took Ma Si'er and went there—Qian Chuan was still waiting for Li Huo to return and report.

It had been almost two hours, and he felt uneasy, thinking it was abnormal that he hadn't returned for so long.

So he got up to leave, but when he pushed the door open, Chen Xiuxian bumped right into him.

Chen Xiuxian shoved him back into the house, causing him to fall flat on his face.

"Don't rush off, Qian Chuan, right? Look, I've walked right into your trap. Come on, tell me!"

Qian Chuan was in his early twenties, and he was indeed quite young to be called an innkeeper.

Moreover, according to Li Huo, he seems to have other jobs besides being the innkeeper.

He wasn't particularly handsome, but he had a certain energy and spirit, was neatly dressed, and looked quite good.

But you know what, this guy's stubborn!

At first, he denied it, saying he was just curious about Chen Xiuxian and a few others.

As a result, Chen Xiuxian punched them twice, and then said that he knew the men had just received a reward from the General's Mansion and were rich. So he wanted to skim some money off them.

Chen Xiuxian was too lazy to argue with him, so he casually waved his hand, and the Silver Ghost appeared in the room.

Without saying a word, the rope lasso was hung around Qian Chuan's neck, and with a "whoosh," he was up on the roof beam!
(End of this chapter)