The Republic of China: From Storyteller to God

It turned out that Chunmiao became pregnant less than half a year after marrying into the family, but died during childbirth due to complications.

Although she died, the child in her womb survived.

Mr. Chen felt guilty towards Chunmiao, and therefore, out of love for her, he also cared for the child immensely, often giving her money to spend.

The child's biological father was quite dissatisfied with this, and therefore often scolded the child.

The child was young and didn't understand. He was scolded by his biological father, but he felt that Mr. Chen was good to him, so he became closer to Mr. Chen.

This made the biological father even more unhappy.

Furthermore, after hearing about Mr. Chen and Chunmiao's affair, the biological father, in a fit of anger, kicked the child out of the house and remarried.

His wife was also very capable and gave birth to another son for him.

As a result, the biological father disliked the child even more.

Since then, Mr. Chen has treated the child as his godson, and has often helped and cared for him.

But the child was kicked out of the house by his biological father and heard a lot of gossip, which changed his personality drastically, making him completely different from when he was a child.

After leaving home, he wandered the streets all day and picked up bad habits like gambling and cockfighting. He often incurred gambling debts and was chased by creditors to Mr. Chen's door to collect them.

Over the years, Mr. Chen has squandered almost all the money he earned from storytelling and reciting ancient tales.

Then one day, the guy got a woman pregnant, and her family came knocking on his door.

Mr. Chen apologized and offered to let the young man marry the woman, but the woman's family spat at him.

They disliked that the young man for being idle and not having a proper job, and were unwilling to marry their daughter to him.

Mr. Chen had no choice but to scrape together fifty silver dollars to compensate the woman's family, thus preventing them from reporting the matter to the authorities.

After this incident, the young man felt deeply humiliated and resolved to make a lot of money to wash away his shame.

Mr. Chen thought he had finally turned over a new leaf and realized he needed to improve himself.

But the boy heard that people could make a fortune by mining gold in the United States, so he asked Mr. Chen to give him 120 silver dollars to buy a boat ticket so he could go to the United States to pan for gold.

Mr. Chen tried his best to persuade him, but the boy was determined to go.

So Mr. Chen had no choice but to borrow some money to buy him a boat ticket and send him on the ship.

The kid left, but Mr. Chen was left with a mountain of debt.

Debts from neighbors were relatively easy to deal with, but the 120 silver dollars he borrowed were from the Shahe gang at exorbitant interest rates.

The Shahe Gang knew he could make money easily by telling stories, so they deliberately set a trap and tricked him into signing a contract.

Usury charges interest on a daily basis, and interest is compounded on top of that.

A year has passed, and he has repaid two hundred silver dollars, but still owes the Shahe Gang more than five hundred silver dollars.

He couldn't come up with that much money, so he had to sell his house.

But now it seems that the Shahe Gang couldn't wait for him to sell the house and had already come to collect the debt from him.

After listening to the broker recount his past in a long, rambling manner, Liu Che couldn't help but remark, "That's quite a long story."

"Ugh!"

The broker glanced sadly in the direction of the teahouse: "Mr. Chen is also a pitiful man."

"Pitiful, aren't you?"

Liu Che scoffed: "If he had just had a little more guts and eloped with Chunmiao, none of this would have happened."

"..."

The man with the tooth scratched his head: "That seems to be true..."

Having figured out the reason for the feud between Mr. Chen and the Shahe Gang, Liu Che didn't ask any more questions.

He tossed the silver coin in his hand to the broker and headed straight for the teahouse.

"Hey? Boss!"

The broker swiftly took the silver coin, and seeing Liu Che heading in that direction, he hurriedly followed to dissuade him: "Why are you going over there? Are you crazy?"

"Why can't we go over there?"

Liu Che continued walking: "The teahouse is open for business, what's the big deal if I go over to have some tea and listen to some storytelling?"

Seeing that he couldn't dissuade him, the broker didn't dare to follow any further and could only watch helplessly as Liu Che crossed the street and was surrounded by the thugs of the Shahe Gang.

"Oh no! This is going to be a disaster!"

He glanced at the two silver coins in his hand, hesitated for a moment, then turned and ran.

The young boss was reckless, but he couldn't just stand by and watch the two wealthy men die because of their reward money.

We have to report this to the authorities!

Otherwise, someone would definitely die.

the other side.

At the entrance of the teahouse.

Liu Che looked at the Shahe Gang thugs who were closing in, but he remained calm and composed with a smile on his face.

"You bastard! We're from the Shahe Gang, get out of here!"

A thug with a scar near his eye pointed at Liu Che and shouted sternly.

But Liu Che didn't even look at him. Instead, he looked at the short, stocky man sitting on the only other person behind him and greeted him with a look of surprise, "Ant Brother? Is that you, Ant Brother?"

The short, stocky man was clearly the leader of the thugs present, and he was staring at Liu Che sideways.

He was taken aback when he saw Liu Che calling him with such a surprised expression.

It was this moment of surprise that caused his thoughts to become hazy, as if veiled by a thin mist.

"Brother Ant! I am your Brother Aphid!"

Ignoring the thugs around him, Liu Che walked straight through the crowd to the short, stocky man, reached out and pulled him up, and said with a warm smile, "You forgot? Judging from your expression, you can't remember. I'll tell you!"

Three lifetimes ago, we were half-brothers.

You were homeless and couldn't beg for food. It was I who managed to beg for a bowl of dog food for you, saving your life.

To repay me, you swore to heaven that you would ensure I have enough to eat and wear in the next life.

As a result, after we died, you were reincarnated as an ant, and I was reincarnated as an aphid.

You pick flowers and fruits for me to eat every day, and I produce honey for you to eat.

We've been through thick and thin together, and now we've been reborn as humans together in this life.

Unfortunately, there were too many people on the road to the underworld, and you were pushed off, and we got separated.

I never expected to run into you here today! Oh my! What a coincidence that we met despite being thousands of miles apart!

His rambling nonsense left the short, stocky man speechless.

"Brother Hua".

A thug standing nearby warned, "Is he crazy? Get out of here!"

"Huh?"

The short, stocky man raised his hand to stop him: "But I think he makes a good point!"

As he spoke, he stared intently at Liu Che, gripping his hand tightly: "Brother Ya, were we really brothers in our past lives?"

The thugs around him were stunned when he said that.

What's going on?

How could he actually believe it?

What kind of spell has he been cast on?

The thugs were unaware that this was the effect of Liu Che using his "likability" ability.

The power of the "Clean-Clothed Beggar" focuses on illusion and mind control, while the "Pleasing" ability takes a step further and becomes the "Flower-Slapping" ability.

With just a light touch, the person touched can be turned into a puppet at their mercy.

Liu Che currently only possesses the skill of "pleasing others," and he still needs to use words to confuse these novice thugs.

But it's enough.

"certainly."

Liu Che smiled sincerely: "We were brothers not only in our past lives, but also in this life."

He gripped the short, stocky man's hand tightly, his tone earnest: "Since we're brothers, you can't do anything to me!"

The short, stocky man, as if drunk, patted his chest and vowed, "Brothers are loyal! From now on, if anyone dares to bully Brother Aphid, I, Hua Lao, will break their legs!"

"Good brother!"

Liu Che patted the back of his hand, a barely perceptible copper glint flashing in his eyes.

Unbeknownst to the flower seller, in the instant he spoke, Liu Che had already established a verbal spiritual contract with him.

"I'll go in and have some tea first. You go ahead with your work. I'll treat you to drinks another time!"

"Okay! You can go in now!"

The short, stocky man waved goodbye cheerfully, not forgetting to scold the two thugs standing dumbfounded at the door: "What are you blocking the way for? Make way for my good brother!"

Liu Che smiled, glanced at the bewildered looks on the faces of his thugs, and walked steadily into the teahouse.

The short, stocky man plopped back down on the stool, gleefully exclaiming, "Tsk tsk! I never imagined I'd have a brother who's been through three lifetimes with me. It's truly a blessing from my past life."

The thugs on both sides looked at each other in bewilderment upon hearing this.

"Has Brother Hua gone mad?"

On the other side, the broker jogged towards the government office, but accidentally knocked over a fruit stand when he turned a corner.

Oranges and longans were scattered all over the ground.

"That's not interesting! I'm sorry!"

The man with the tooth didn't bother to pick it up and turned to run again, but was pulled back by a hand.

He turned around and exclaimed in surprise, "Master Huang!"

The person who grabbed him was Wong Fei-hung.

Behind Huang Feihong were several members of the militia, and beside him stood a beautiful woman with fair skin, holding a bicycle.

She was wearing a Western-style women's suit and had difficulty moving around.

But seeing the old woman at the fruit stand picking up fruit from the ground by herself, she quickly propped up her bicycle, squatted down, and helped the old woman pick up the fruit.

"Ah Ping, what's wrong?"

Wong Fei-hung recognized the broker and, seeing his flustered state, asked suspiciously, "Why did you bump into the old lady's stall and just leave without helping?"

"Oh dear! Master Huang, something's happened!"

The broker quickly recounted the situation at the teahouse: "You'd better go check it out! That northerner is reckless; it would be terrible if he got beaten to death by the Shahe Gang!"

Is it the Shahe Gang again?

Huang Feihong's expression darkened slightly.

These guys are getting more and more lawless.

"Feihong, has something happened?"

The woman beside them spoke up, her voice gentle.

"It's alright, Aunt Thirteen."

Wong Fei-hung reassured him, "It's probably just a minor disagreement. I'll go take a look. You go back to Po Chi Lam and wait for me. I'll be right back."

After saying that, he called out to the militia brothers behind him and headed towards the teahouse.

Aunt Thirteen watched him rush off in a hurry, hesitated for a moment, then got on her bicycle and wobbled after him.