No taboos

Chapter 13: Simple and Honest People
Wu Haishan cautiously stepped back and turned to ask A Guang, "Is there really such a rule?"

"Yes, the village rules are above everything else."

Xu Yuan sneered. If it weren't for the strict rules in the village, would you have been able to get in? I would have closed the door long ago and blocked you out.

Wu Haishan glanced at Xu Yuan with hatred and said through gritted teeth, "Okay, we'll abide by the rules."

The old man nodded in satisfaction, hunched over, holding his pipe in his mouth, and walked away with his hands behind his back: "Come with me, any room in the village with vacancies will let you stay for one night, but you have to pay.

You can discuss the price with the host yourself."

Wu Haishan and the others exchanged glances with each other and followed Xu Yuan closely.

They would live in whichever house Xu Yuan lived in. At least they had to live next door to Xu Yuan. They couldn't let that little bastard get away again tomorrow.

Xu Yuan took out a box of matches and handed it to the old man: "Uncle, please take me to Uncle Jiao's house."

Most villagers use flint, which is far less convenient than matches.

Xu Yuan and Grandma Ying bought a batch of things, matches being one of them.

The old lady has difficulty walking, so she always likes to buy more and go out less often.

She also has a bad memory. She often buys things and then takes them home only to find that she has not used up the original ones, so she accumulates more and more.

But if someone else wants it, Grandma Ying won’t sell it to him, so I just keep it.

The old man immediately smiled and said, "You are a sensible young man. Come with me."

The two groups of people Xu Yuan initially brought into the mountains were real merchants.

While chatting with these people on the way, Xu Yuan learned that the best place to stay in Wangxiang Village was Jiao Erbo's family.

There aren't that many variables in his family.

Uncle Jiao has only one son, who is in his twenties.

Uncle Jiao's wife had died, and his son hadn't found a wife yet. As long as he didn't bring a woman to live in his house, there would be no danger.

The village is roughly circular in shape. There is a huge old camphor tree in the center of the village, but for some reason it has died. The bark has been stripped off and it stands there bare and white.

In the darkness of the night, this dead tree looked like a huge evil monster with bared fangs and claws.

The old man led them around the dead camphor tree and pointed with his pipe: "It's right there."

Uncle Jiao's house consisted of two dilapidated thatched huts, so dark inside that the oil lamp could not be lit.

"Thank you, uncle."

The old man waved his hand and walked away, puffing on his pipe.

Xu Yuan went forward and knocked on the door, calling out, "Uncle Jiao."

Someone inside responded, "Who is it?"

"I was introduced by Zhang Sanlang who came here a few days ago. I want to stay here for one night while I go into the mountains to collect the goods. I'll pay you."

There was a sound of footsteps behind the door, and then the door opened. A man in his forties looked Xu Yuan up and down and said, "Fifteen yuan a night."

Xu Yuan took out the money first: "I know the rules, pay first."

Uncle Jiao took the money and left the door open for Xu Yuan to come in. He turned back to the bed and rolled up his clothes in his hands: "You stay here, I'll squeeze into my son's room."

Uncle Jiao had neighbors on both sides. Wu Haishan gave a wink, and several people knocked on the doors, asked the price, and prepared to stay.

The house on the left opened the door. There was only a mother and daughter in this house. The mother opened the door. She had an inverted triangle face, her eyes were set high, and she was thin and long. She looked like a praying mantis.

"Fifty taels."

"What?!" Wu Xiu thought he had misheard.

The mother stretched out her hand to close the door, but Wu Xiu hurriedly stopped her: "Other people pay fifteen taels of silver, and you want fifty taels of silver?" "This is the price we offer." The mother was very stubborn.

Wu Xiu suppressed his anger and said, "You are being unreasonable. How about this? I will give you 100 coins, which is much higher than your neighbor's."

The mother rolled her eyes and looked at Wu Xiu: "Do you really want to bargain?"

I’d be a fool if I didn’t bargain! Wu Xiu thought to himself.

"Okay, one hundred coins is fine, come in." Mother suddenly became enthusiastic.

Wu Xiu secretly said that it is true that poor and remote places produce unruly people, and they thought I was a fat sheep.

The other two people lived next door to the right. One of them had a broken arm, so the two of them lived together and took care of each other.

The couple raised six children. The four oldest were six years old, and the two youngest were four years old.

One litter of quadruplets and one litter of twins.

Both of them have round faces and round eyes, but their beaks are pointed, making them look like a pair of owls.

The couple started by asking for "two pigs" and then bargained down to 150 coins to complete the deal.

After settling his subordinates, Wu Haishan took A Guang to the back of Jiao Erbo's house, where there was another family.

Wu Haishan couldn't help but whisper to A Guang, "Does everyone in this village ask for such exorbitant prices?"

Ah Guang replied righteously, "The people of Wangxiang Village are honest and kind, and they are honest to everyone. They won't ask for anything inflated."

Wu Haishan was about to sneer when he suddenly felt something was wrong. He turned around and saw a black shadow squatting on the branch of the huge dead camphor tree. Its eyes were glowing yellow in the darkness, and its body was covered with feathers, staring straight at him.

Wu Haishan stumbled and almost tripped himself.

But when he looked again, he found that there was actually a tall old man in the tree. He was wearing a cloak decorated with various feathers and a pair of glasses with yellow crystals and old copper legs.

Wu Haishan whispered again, "Is this the mountain runner from Wangxiang Village?"

"Yes." A Guang replied.

The old mountain man squatted on a tree branch and stared at Wu Haishan. He didn't dare to say anything bad about the village anymore.

When they arrived at the door of that family, the other party asked for thirty taels of silver. Wu Haishan didn't even dare to bargain - the look in the old hermit's eyes behind him was like two knives against his back - Wu Haishan quickly gave the silver.

After entering the house, that feeling disappeared and Wu Haishan breathed a sigh of relief.

After resting for a while and relaxing, Wu Haishan felt the blisters on his arms were particularly painful, so he took out a small silver knife and wanted to prick them to treat them.

Before taking action, Wu Haishan suddenly had an idea and asked A Guang, "Can you pick it open?"

Ah Guang replied, "No, Mr. Zhang's blisters are filled with tuberculosis. If you prick his tuberculosis, it will be transmitted to you. You will die within a month."

Although Wu Haishan felt that his alchemy skills could cure diseases, he thought about it and decided not to take the risk.

"So how should we deal with this?"

"Prepare some gifts and go apologize to Zhang San's father. He will take away the tuberculosis."

Wu Haishan asked again: "Where does Zhang San's father live?"

"I don't know." Ah Guang really didn't know. He was just a wine delivery man, and he only knew the old mountain runner. He didn't know anyone else in the village.

In Guiwu Mountain, this is the only advantage Xu Yuan has over A Guang!

Xu Yuan has contact with many merchants and is more familiar with the village.

Wu Haishan couldn't help but curse: "Why didn't you remind me when he was here just now... Oh, forget it." Wu Haishan took a few deep breaths and couldn't help but say:

"This mountain is really weird!"

(End of this chapter)