Fangxian Heretical Path

Chapter 66 The Wealthy Neighbor Missed
Fang Shu's thoughts drifted to the scene he had witnessed on the main road when he returned to Guling Town.

"Could it be that this fellow's daughter really encountered some misfortune while she was out?" he wondered to himself.

Without making a sound, he looked at his second uncle Yu Le and the talisman master Li Yuan beside him, and began to chat with them, half casually and half asking questions.

Upon hearing this, the talisman master Li Yuan whispered, "Ask this steward Xiao Hu. I heard that his daughter has been afflicted by an evil spell and is seriously ill. She is currently being kept alive by medicine, and it can't be ordinary medicine; I've heard it's a precious medicine."

"My daughter is about to die, what's the point of buying a house? Naturally, I need to find a way to make money to prolong her life."

Upon hearing this, Fang Shu's eyes flickered slightly, and he thought to himself, "Just as I thought."

However, he only glanced at Xiao Hu, who always had a smile on his face, before looking away and ignoring the matter.

This matter has nothing to do with him, and he's a stranger, so there's no need to worry about it too much.

Li Hou'er, who came with him, heard this, clicked his tongue, and suddenly thought of something, saying:
"And who is our neighbor? Are we just going to let him continue selling housing tickets like this?"

The Fang and Li families each occupy two side rooms. Dou Sufu has already entrusted them with her money to help buy the back room. Now, only the main room facing south, which is in Xiao Hu's possession, is still unsettled.

Upon hearing this, the talisman master Li Yuan looked helpless: "What can we do? They're desperate for money to save their lives. You can't just stop them from selling, can you? If you don't allow it, they won't listen to you."

Second Uncle Yu Le squinted at Xiao Hu:

"Don't worry, Manager Xiao will probably sell the housing voucher to a generous family, and won't find such a mean and stingy buyer."

Upon hearing this, Li Hou'er's eyes darted around the room, and he muttered to himself:

"It would be great if more daughters came to the courtyard. There are already two households with four bachelors."

These words immediately drew wide-eyed stares from Fang Shu and the others.

Because Xiao Hu was selling housing vouchers, and no one wanted to tear up the joint guarantee agreement, they could only wait.

As a result, an hour or two passed, and Xiao Hu was still shamelessly wandering around the paper mill, probably having already questioned every immortal who came to pick up bargains.

Seeing that the situation was uninteresting, Fang Shu simply sat down on the edge of the crowd and practiced his stance training, while also pondering the contents of the Gu technique in his mind, repeatedly digesting and absorbing them.

Although the Taoist talisman helps with the analysis, and the analyzed content is like an enlightenment that allows him to understand it intuitively, Fang Shu always digests and absorbs the analyzed content on his own, and marks the key points according to his own learning.

This approach allows him to accept the teachings of the Daoist talismans without rigidly following them, making him more familiar with various principles and more likely to have flashes of inspiration.

For example, right now, as he pondered the formula for the breath-holding worm gu that he had just finished analyzing a few days ago, many ingenious ideas for refining gu came to mind.

"The breath-holding insect can not only conceal its breath and hide its smell, but also reduce the body heat and reduce the consumption of air, allowing people to hide in mud and pools, just like turtles and snakes."

Fang Shu thought to himself, "Perhaps to refine this insect, I should choose a pool of water, making the environment damp and dark..."

As he was lost in thought, Li Hou'er suddenly leaped up beside him.

Xiao Hu, with a broad smile, walked towards the group, occasionally speaking to an old woman beside him.

"Don't worry, old immortal, when I grabbed this housing ticket, I was planning to buy it for my daughter!"

To be honest, there was actually another detached house with a courtyard, but it was too cramped, looked like a coffin, and was too expensive. So I settled for the best main house.

This fellow patted his chest and boasted, pointing at Fang Shu and the others: "Look, these are all top students of the martial arts school. The other one living in the back room is a girl. Now that you and your grandson have moved in, the number of people in the courtyard is just right!"

The old woman Xiao Hu spoke to was probably the wealthy man who paid a high price for the house ticket, and would become Fang Shu and the others' future neighbors.

The old woman came over and asked the talisman master Li Yuan and her second uncle Yu Le if there were any discrepancies between what they said and what the man surnamed Xiao had said.

After a brief inquiry, the old woman showed a satisfied expression and handed over the talisman money to Xiao Hu in front of everyone.

As for the exact amount exchanged, the two kept their backs turned and exchanged the money inside their sleeves, so outsiders had no idea.

But Xiao Hu received the talisman money, and with a hint of gratitude on his face, he nodded to Fang Shu and the others before leaving, clearly indicating that the price was quite high.

While the elders were talking, Fang Shu and Li Hou'er stood aside, their eyes mainly on the woman behind the old woman.

The woman had delicate features and was quite young, looking younger than Fang Shu and Li Hou'er. She had her hair simply tied in a ponytail, which made her look very lively.

The other party was also sizing up Fang Shu and Li Hou'er.

Suddenly, the old woman spoke up: "Lulu, you've also come to meet Uncle Li and Uncle Yu."

"Hello, Uncle Li and Uncle Yu!" The woman walked forward obediently and greeted them with a cupped hand.

They then exchanged names.

Both the grandmother and granddaughter share the surname Jiao, so their relationship is indeed that of grandmother and granddaughter.

The old woman did not reveal her name, but simply asked Fang Shu and the others to call her "Grandma Jiao". As for her granddaughter, her full name was "Jiao Lulu".

The atmosphere was pleasant when the three families met for the first time.

After chatting for a few minutes, they headed towards the place where they paid for the lottery.

Soon, the price for building the house and tiles came out. The courtyard house that Fang Shu and others wanted to build would cost a total of 500,000 talismans!
The left and right wing rooms are priced at 100,000 and 110,000 respectively, while the rear room, being near the entrance, is small and has a latrine in one corner, and is only 50,000.

As for the main house, because it is large and has good feng shui, there is also a small side room that belongs solely to the main house. It can be converted into a latrine or something similar, which would cost 240,000.

Upon hearing the price, even though Fang Shu and the others had anticipated it, they still felt a pang of pain in their teeth.

Even Yu Le, the second uncle who was originally quite confident in Fang Shu, trembled with fear and hesitated.

The Li father and son immediately launched into a tirade of insults:

"Black! It's fucking black!"

"It would take thirty years of not eating or drinking and selling blood to get this dilapidated house, which is still without any furniture or windows."

Fang Shu was also stunned for a moment upon hearing this.

He let out a long breath.

Not long ago, he thought that killing thieves and robbing others could make him a fortune, but now it seems that the people in the market are much more cunning, able to empty his pockets of all his ill-gotten gains in one go.

However, Fang Shu was only slightly moved before regaining his composure. The Li father and son, on the other hand, continued to mutter incessantly.

The cashier said impatiently, "What are you trying to rip off? Do you want it or not? If not, bring the next one."

"Yes, of course!" the Li father and son quickly agreed.

After confirming that Fang Shu and his group were going to pay, the shopkeeper pointed to a group of merchants next to him: "Where are the people exchanging black market tickets, lending money, and offering collateral? Hurry up."

The rules in Guling Town were similar to those in Fang Shu's dream, with elaborate schemes for lending money. However, Fang Shu had no intention of getting involved in this, to avoid trouble. Moreover, the reason he wanted to buy this house was to provide a place for his second uncle, Yu Le, to retire.

He didn't want his second uncle to be kicked out of the house one day because he couldn't return home for a while, his debts were so high that the interest kept piling up.

However, Fang Shu did not pull out 110,000 yuan in cash all at once, so as not to expose his sudden wealth and attract some prying eyes.

He found a pawnshop clerk nearby, took out the plain jade pendant he had on him, and pawned it.

While Fang Shu and his nephew were haggling with the pawnshop clerk, the Li father and son were also busy with their own affairs.

Talisman Master Li Yuan pulled out about ten black talisman bills from his body; these bills belonged to different shops.

He asked Li Hou'er to help him exchange the money for talisman coins from each household. The smallest transaction was only about a hundred coins. Then he collected all the money together.

at last.

Fang Shu and his nephew negotiated a price with the old pawnbroker and set a time limit for the pawn. Once the time limit was exceeded, the pawn would become a dead pawn, and not a single penny would be paid.

Both parties signed and sealed the document.

The old magistrate took the jade pendant and immediately shouted loudly:
"Secondhand item, Plain Moon Jade, weighing two taels, with a clean provenance, from the Seven Fragrances Pavilion, can be put on credit! Filed!"

With a snap, five black talisman bills from the same shop were placed in front of Fang Shu, who then calmly handed them over to his second uncle, Yu Le.

The second uncle took the bills with a pained expression, as if afraid of crushing them. He kept glancing at Fang Shu, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.

Fang Shu smiled and took out several more black bills from his sleeve, handing them to his second uncle and gesturing for him to go forward and pay for the spirit contract.

………………

When Fang Shu was selling Su Yue Bao Yu, the shouts of the old peddler attracted the attention of many people at the scene.

In particular, when the last three words "Seven Fragrance Pavilion" were called out, it attracted the attention of several people not far away.

These people were all women. The woman in the lead was plump and dressed in gold and jade, clearly the head of the household. Beside her were several young women of different appearances.

“Mother, it’s the jade pendant from our building.” A woman called out quickly.

Another woman complained, "This is our restaurant's jade pendant. How could that person be so heartless as to replace it with something worthless?"

How tacky!

One of the women even suddenly raised her eyes and stared intently at where Fang Shu and the others were.

If Fang Shu turned around, he would find that this woman was Xiang Xingwu, who had caused trouble in the Dugu Pavilion.

The voluptuous woman was none other than the owner of the Seven Fragrances Pavilion.

Hearing the shouts, the owner of the Seven Fragrance Pavilion's eyes flickered, and she smiled as she looked at the incense dancer beside her:

"It's that kid from the Dugu Pavilion. He must be short of money right now, and he even sold the apology gift that his mother sent over."

Upon hearing this, Xiang Xingwu lowered her head and remained silent.

Unexpectedly, the Master of Seven Fragrances Pavilion suddenly said:

"I'm here today to prepare dowries and betrothal gifts for you sisters. Xingwu, if you're willing, go forward and use your share to redeem Baoyu for that boy and lend him a sum of money for free."

Even if it doesn't become a beautiful story, it can at least completely settle past grievances and create a positive connection. What do you think?

Upon hearing this, the other daughters all looked at Xiang Xingwu with wide, sparkling eyes.

Upon hearing this, Xiang Xingwu looked surprised. She pondered the matter carefully, her face showing a moment of difficulty.

Using a property to forge so-called illusory good relationships, even if the other party has great potential, is too risky in her view.

After all, this is gambling with your own things, not with someone else's.

Seeing Xiang Xingwu remain silent, the owner of Qixiang Pavilion turned her gaze to her remaining daughters.

The daughters all quickly looked away, showing no sign of interest.

This left the Seven Fragrance Pavilion Master with nothing but a soft sigh.

She began to wonder whether she should step forward and take care of it herself.

However, because she wanted to seize this rare opportunity to buy property for her children, she was very short of money. If she wanted to scrape together an extra tens of thousands of dollars, she would have to sell her belongings.

"Forget it, after all, the old grudges have been settled, and we owe each other nothing. Besides, it was just a vague and illusory good deed, and the price was too high."

The owner of Qixiang Tower also suppressed this thought and did not consider it further.

Meanwhile, Fang Shu and his group...

The Fang and Li families finally managed to scrape together the money and reluctantly paid it.

The third woman, Old Lady Jiao, kept a low profile and didn't bother to exchange the black tickets. Instead, she simply took one out of her sleeve.

With just one black ticket, the cashier actually gave her 240,000 taels of silver in change.

This grandfather and grandson were surprisingly quick to hand over a black bill worth 500,000 coins!

This display of wealth truly astonished Fang Shu and his nephew, as well as the Li family father and son, leaving them speechless and marveling at its extravagance!

If she hadn't failed to snag a suitable housing ticket, this old lady Jiao would probably have owned a whole courtyard house, making her a truly wealthy family.

The money is in order, and the spiritual contract has been obtained.

Dou Sufu's case also had the formalities completed.

The four families gathered together, drew lots that day to determine the location of the land, and started building houses and roofs overnight.

With the help of celestial secret techniques, excavation can begin in a day, foundation can be laid in a day, and a new room can be built in a day.

Within seven days.

A brand-new, sturdy house with blue bricks and tiles sits steadily in the center of Guling Town.

After the tiled house was built, the inside was empty, and the smell of the tiles still lingered. My second uncle, Yu Le, moved in overnight, ostensibly to help look after the house.

He didn't feel embarrassed at all; on the contrary, he was so happy that his cheeks almost twisted out of shape from laughing.

(End of this chapter)