Leisurely mountain village

Ye Huan continued strolling through the market with the puppy in his arms. He hadn't been there in so many years, and he was still quite excited.

After leaving the livestock trading area, the smell was much better. Ye Huan took a few deep breaths before continuing forward and squatting down in front of a stall selling various "antiques".

"Boss, how much is this broken stone?" Ye Huan asked, pointing to a black stone. He was mainly asking because of its peculiar shape.

"What kind of broken stone is this, young man? This is ancient jade, do you understand? This piece is ancient jade from the Western Han Dynasty..." the shopkeeper babbled on.

Ye Huan interrupted directly, "Just tell me how much it costs."

"5000~"

"Why don't you go and grab it?"

"Isn't this safer than robbing?" the boss said, surprising everyone.

“That’s true.” Ye Huan actually agreed.

"Ten yuan, sell it to me and I'll take it."

"Young man, you must be out of your mind. This is far too little. This is an ancient jade."

"Then I don't want it. What about this one?" Ye Huan asked, pointing to a broken piece of jade.

"This piece is..."

"Stop, tell me how much?" Ye Huan interrupted him directly.

"1000."

"10 yuan."

"I..." The boss wanted to curse, but looking at Ye Huan's height and build, he realized he couldn't beat him, so he swallowed his words.

"Not for sale, minimum price 800."

"I'll add some more for you, if you don't want it, that's fine, 15," Ye Huan said.

The reason he was fooling around with the shop owner was that he sensed a kind of energy in the broken jade stone, which seemed to be the same as the spiritual energy in his body. He wondered if it was the legendary "spirit stone", so he wanted to buy it to take a look.

"Alright, let's make a sale, 600," the shopkeeper said.

"Boss, I won't lower the price. It's 50 yuan. If you don't sell it to me, I'm leaving."

"No, I can't even get in with 50, I need at least 500."

"Don't be ridiculous. If your purchase price is over 10 yuan, I'll eat this whole pile myself," Ye Huan said. "80 yuan, or I'm leaving." This time, Ye Huan stood up, looking like he was about to leave.

"Alright, alright, young man, 100 yuan. I won't say anything more. I just want to make my first sale, otherwise I really wouldn't be willing to sell it." The boss looked at you as if you were making a killing.

"Alright then." Ye Huan handed the shopkeeper a red bill, picked up the broken piece of jade, rubbed it between his fingers, then casually put it in his pocket and left.

He didn't know if it was a spirit stone, so he kept it for now and planned to study it slowly when he got home that night.

Around lunchtime, his grandfather called him and asked him to give 770 yuan to someone to release the chickens and ducklings on the back hill so he could check on them in the afternoon.

“There were a few more people who wanted to buy our fruit. They came from the next city, but I sent them away,” Grandpa told Ye Huan.

"Okay, fine, I can't be bothered with them." Ye Huan knew about the three people from this morning.

He hung up the phone, picked up the puppy, and continued shopping. He planned to go back after he finished shopping, as there wasn't much else to buy. He wasn't hungry yet, having already eaten a bowl of beef soup and a crispy flatbread.

"Huh? Thief! Catch the thief!" A woman's voice suddenly shouted from ahead.

It was lunchtime, and there weren't many people around. The thief, in a panic, ran towards Ye Huan, who recognized him from afar.

When he was still about ten meters away from him, Ye Huan shouted, "Little mute, stop right there!"

The man was taken aback, then looked up and saw a great demon king holding two dogs in front of him.

He knew he was doomed, so he squatted down by the roadside and stopped running.

A woman who was quite attractive caught up from behind, panting. She saw the thief squatting on the ground and the wallet lying on the ground. She picked it up and, holding her bag, was about to hit the thief.

"Alright. You got your things back and you're still not leaving? You're going to hit someone? Do you think you can beat them?" Ye Huan said, then walked up to the thief: "You stole something again? Your grandma is going to beat you up again."

The woman glared at Ye Huan angrily, but ultimately didn't dare to utter a curse and left.

"Grandma passed away last week," the little mute boy said, burying his head in his knees.

Ye Huan put down the puppy and patted him. This little mute boy was 15 years old, but he looked like a 10-year-old child. He was thin and small. He used to live with his grandmother, who collected scraps, in a shantytown in a shed he built himself.

Ye Huan had seen him a few times in town when he came back for the New Year. Sometimes he was stealing things, and sometimes he was collecting scraps. He didn't know why others called him Little Mute, so he just followed suit. He didn't know his name either.

"So what are your plans?" Ye Huan asked. He wasn't a pushover who would take people in or anything, since they were just acquaintances.

"I don't know, I'll just live one day at a time. When I'm a little older, I'll go south. I heard from the people in town that it's easier to make money there."

"Where can you find easy money? All the easy money is in the criminal law. You think you can get it from a commoner like you? You're dreaming," Ye Huan said.

"I came back because I couldn't make it in Shenzhen."

"Huh?" The little mute looked up at Ye Huan. In his mind, Ye Huan was like a god. He was good at fighting and even better at studying. His legend had always been around in the town and the county.

But this god-like man is now telling him that he also came back because he couldn't make it in the south.

The little mute boy felt as if his world had collapsed.

"Aren't there food delivery services in town? You could try that." Ye Huan couldn't think of any better ideas.

"I'm not old enough, I'm not even 16 yet, and besides, I don't have the money to buy their equipment," the little mute boy said.

Ye Huan pretended to take out a thousand yuan from her pocket, but actually from her spatial storage, and handed it to him: "That'll be enough for you to eat for a while. If you want to do food delivery in the future, I'll talk to the station manager there."

The little mute looked at Ye Huan and shook his head, "I can't take your money."

"Take it, just don't waste it." Ye Huan stuffed the money into his hand. "You can support yourself no matter what, don't overthink it. If you want to work but others aren't willing, just tell me. I know quite a few people in this town."

"Okay, thank you, brother." The little mute nodded and put the money away.

"Where are you staying now?" Ye Huan asked.

"Bridge arch".

"Hmm? Where's Grandma's shed?" Ye Huan asked.

“It was taken by Pi San. He said that territory was his.”

"Heh, let's go see Pi San. I think he's itching for a beating." Ye Huan stood up. "Hold the dog."

"Oh."

Pi San wasn't even considered a street thug in town; he was just a scavenger. But he liked to bully others and was quite shrewd. Most people didn't want to waste their breath on him. You couldn't squeeze anything out of a street thug, but in the world of scavengers, he was a big shot.

In the shantytown, which is actually next to a huge garbage dump, various vagrants built their own shacks. They eat and live here, and when the garbage truck comes, they go to collect scraps to sell for money.

Please give me some encouragement to update, and please give me a five-star review. Thank you.

Thank you to the mythical beast Bingfeng for the bubble tea and the likes, and thank you to Yanmo Pengcheng for the razor blade (could you please use a different one, bro?)

Thank you to everyone who sent gifts and left positive reviews, thank you so much.