Chapter 56: Chapter 41: In the Big Mixed Courtyard, Each to Their Own Destiny

That day, when quitting time arrived.

The orange-red afterglow of sunset spilled into the Big Mixed Courtyard as He the Venerable and the others returned one by one.

Shouts rose from all around, and the bustling, smoky air of evening meals began to fill the courtyard.

“Brother Yi, watch me show off my skills! Sister Qin’s iron pot stewed fish is fragrant, sure, but my boiled tofu with pickled vegetables is not to be outdone!”

He the Venerable bustled about, moving tables, chairs, and benches as he shouted.

Outside it was freezing cold, but Cultivators at the Qi Cultivation Second or Third Layer were unbothered by such a chill.

His hands moved nimbly as he set up two pots: one iron pot for stewing a large cut of meat with vegetables, and one copper pot for poaching fish slices and blanching greens.

“Who wants to eat your bland pickled vegetable tofu! It’s tasteless!”

Widow Qin rolled up her sleeves, scaled and de-gilled the fresh, large carp, washed it clean, stuffed its belly with green onions and ginger, and rubbed it down with a couple of pinches of salt.

“I’ll pan-fry this fish first and then stew it. I’ll add some vermicelli, tofu, and fatty pork. The aroma will drive you crazy!”

Widow Qin’s beautiful eyes darted from He the Venerable to Jiang Yi. When she saw him quietly helping with his head down, he looked rather pitiful and forlorn.

Her heart softened, and she brought a plate of freshly fried mushrooms over to him.

“Here, try some. They’re best while they’re hot!”

Jiang Yi smiled and reached out, but Widow Qin slapped his hand away. She raised her eyebrows and said:

“Such a grown man! Why are you acting like a child? What’s this about eating with your hands! Have some manners!”

With that, she gave him a pair of chopsticks.

The fried mushrooms were golden brown and crispy. Jiang Yi’s chopsticks moved like lightning; he couldn’t stop eating.

“Alright, alright. Leave some for Old He and Old Li. If you like them so much, I’ll just make them again next time.”

Because Brother Yi was once again entangled with Miss Luo, Widow Qin had been sulking for several days.

’She was mainly angry that he’d forgotten the pain as soon as the scar healed. What kind of life had he lived for the past few years, sending money to Miss Luo? Had he no self-awareness?!’

’He’d woken up to work before dawn every day. Sometimes he was so tired he couldn’t even eat a hot meal, just gnawing on steamed buns or soaking rice in tea. He absolutely refused to spend money on any meat or greasy food for himself.’

’All the money he had painstakingly saved over the years went to supporting Miss Luo, providing her with good medicine and Spirit Rice, but even then, she never gave him the time of day.’

’She remembered one time when Brother Yi was gravely ill, bedridden for a week, and Miss Luo never once came to visit.’

’But now that Brother Yi’s fortunes had turned, she was the one actively cozying up to him, and he, acting as if nothing had ever happened, was happily welcoming her back.’

At this thought, Widow Qin’s anger flared up again, and she snatched the plate of mushrooms back, half-annoyed.

“Hey, let me have a couple more bites, Sister Qin…”

Jiang Yi froze for a moment. Of course, he knew why Widow Qin was angry, but the details were complicated, so he could only feign ignorance.

“Hehe, these really are delicious!”

He the Venerable took the plate of fried mushrooms as if he’d found a treasure. He picked one up with his fingers, tossed it into his mouth, and chewed on it noisily. CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

“Aiyah! Sister Qin, calm down. What Brother Yi has is called devotion! There’s no shortage of good-looking women on the Outer Peak. With Brother Yi’s current status, if he were down the mountain, matchmakers would be beating down his door…”

Old Li, who was squatting to the side washing and trimming vegetables to help his wife, took the opportunity to chime in.

“Oh, so you’re an expert now! Does being devoted mean you have to ruin your family? When I got together with you back in the day, I don’t remember you selling off our fields and land!”

Old Li’s wife put her hands on her hips and fumed.

Old Li, who had been speaking so sagely just a moment before, immediately wilted, hanging his head to avoid her wrath.

Jiang Yi didn’t want to dwell on this topic and changed the subject:

“The end of the year is almost here. What are everyone’s plans?”

He the Venerable sucked his fingers and smacked his lips.

“Same as always. Rent a courtyard down the mountain, find a few Mortals to wait on me, and enjoy a few comfortable days. Loosen up the old bones a bit.”

Widow Qin said with disgust:

“Just say you’re going to find a mistress. Who doesn’t know your dirty euphemisms! The brothels at the foot of the mountain—the first floor is for shoulder rubs and leg massages, the second floor is for taking off your clothes and getting down to business!”

He the Venerable shrank his neck back sheepishly.

Jiang Yi came to his rescue:

“And you, Brother Li?”

A happy expression appeared on Old Li’s face:

“I’ve arranged with Xiao He from the next barracks to set up a stall in the Marketplace and take on some private jobs. We should be able to earn a little extra.

After that, Xiao He said there’s a mine to the west where not many people work during the festival. They pay double in talisman-coins, so I thought I’d try my luck.”

Old Li’s wife was slicing radishes and chopping lamb ribs. The sound of the kitchen knife hitting the cutting board, THUD, THUD, suddenly stopped:

“Husband, don’t go to that mine! I heard it’s a place that produces Fire Cloud Stones. Even in the dead of winter, it’s as hot as a steamer!”

Old Li waved his hand, for once showing the authority of the man of the house:

“It’s fine! I should work more while my body is still strong. The boy is going to enter the Yin Puppet Sect next year to properly join a Dharma Lineage! We’ll need a lot of money for that!”

Jiang Yi opened his mouth, but in the end, said nothing.

’Some things, it really wasn’t an outsider’s place to interfere.’

’Often, you can only see things clearly when you’re on the outside looking in.’

Take everyone in the Big Mixed Courtyard, for example. Even He the Venerable and Widow Qin actually envied Old Li’s family.

Although the couple worked like Cattle and Horses and had no rest all year, they at least had something to hope for.

Don’t be fooled by He the Venerable always saying things like, “Live one day at a time,” and “You can’t take talisman-coins with you when you die, so you might as well spend it all.”

But deep down, he still wanted to marry a wife and have an heir for the He family, so he wouldn’t have to face his ancestors in shame.

BUBBLE BUBBLE.

The water in the copper pot came to a boil. Jiang Yi added a handful of greens and a few blocks of tofu, then turned to ask Widow Qin:

“Sister Qin, are you staying on the mountain for the end of the year?”

“I haven’t decided yet. If nothing comes up, I’ll just stay on the mountain and practice my Cultivation for a while until spring. Anyway, Old He’s, Old Li’s, and my work terms are almost up.”

Widow Qin’s gaze was distant. She poked at the carp in the pot with her chopsticks, lost in thought.

Not long after, Jiang Yi and He the Venerable finished setting out the bowls and chopsticks, and everyone took their seats.

Outside the courtyard, heavy snow was falling, but inside, it was filled with billowing steam.

The cozy stove melted the falling snowflakes, sending up a swirling white mist.

“I might have to go down the mountain with Marshal Yang, so let’s consider today an early New Year’s celebration with everyone.”

Jiang Yi filled a bowl with rice wine and toasted everyone in turn.

“Brother Yi’s made something of himself!” Old Li beamed, his face crinkling into a smile. “This is great! Everyone’s lives are getting better and better!”

Widow Qin took a few small sips of wine. Perhaps thinking that it would be rare to gather like this again in the future, she picked up a tender piece of fish belly with her chopsticks, placed it in Jiang Yi’s bowl, and said softly:

“Brother Yi, think more about yourself. You finally managed to struggle through to a better place, so don’t go back to your old ways.”

He the Venerable also lowered his voice:

“I heard from a coworker that Sewing Peak is about to strike it rich! Their Cicada Wing Gauze, Flowing Cloud Brocade, and Purple Shadow Silk are in such high demand that the Marketplace is buying up as much as they can get.

Even Senior Brother Xu Yan from the Inner Peak couldn’t sit still. He’s now permanently stationed in Heart-Stealing Forest, felling trees and stripping bark to increase production. Because of this, even the Servants from the three workshops are walking with a swagger now, full of themselves.”

The meaning behind his words was obvious.

The man Luo Qian’er had attached herself to, Zhou Can, a Servant in the Laundry Room, was on Sewing Peak.

The man was really in the limelight right now!

Jiang Yi’s eyelid twitched. He had seen this information in the “path to wealth” shown by the Celestial Book, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly.

Hearing this, Widow Qin sneered:

“Hmph! No wonder we haven’t seen Miss Luo around the last couple of days…”

Jiang Yi wasn’t bothered. In any case, he had already gotten back the “voluntarily gifted” talisman-coins, with some to spare.

’It was just a pity that he probably wouldn’t get to taste the Nourishing Essence Pills that Luo Tong had promised him.’

The sky gradually darkened. Amidst the billowing steam, everyone ate the stewed fish, boiled tofu, blanched greens, and braised lamb ribs.

Each pondered their own prospects, each dreaming of their own future.

…

…

Full and content, he returned to his room.

Jiang Yi sat on the hard wooden bed and started to miss the soft mattress at the Yang Residence.

He didn’t rest right away. Instead, he took out a bag of Iron Pills he had purchased from Li Ruohan.

When ordinary food was ground down by his five organs and six viscera, which had been forged and tempered, it transformed into the refined essence of grain and water, into qi, blood, and bodily fluids.

’If I really ate my fill, even ten bulls wouldn’t be enough!’

This was why there was a saying that Cultivators didn’t eat the five grains. The fundamental reason was that they “couldn’t get full”—normal food couldn’t sustain the energy consumed during meditation.

’Even though these Iron Pills are tasteless, their advantage is that they fill the stomach and help nurture my Primordial Essence.’

With a blank expression, Jiang Yi chewed them slowly and deliberately, as if eating nuts. CRACKLE, CRACKLE.

After a dozen or so pills, his jaw was already starting to ache slightly.

’Copper Juice Iron Pills, in the end, are no match for an Essence Nourishing Treasure Medicine.’

Jiang Yi felt helpless. It was common knowledge that Nourishing Essence Pills were a rarity, distributed as part of the monthly stipend for Inner Peak Disciples.

Without strong connections or vast wealth, they were absolutely impossible to obtain.

True, he had earned a sum from the Luo Family Siblings, sold the Cyan Ganoderma Dew formula for a good price, and had also received the fifty thousand talisman-coins awarded by the Inner Peak.

But wealth was like flowing water; it often came as quickly as it went.

The Pool and Fire Swamp Rituals alone had cost him more than half of it. Now, he only had thirty to forty thousand talisman-coins left in his purse for daily food, expenses, and purchasing resources to nourish his body.

’If I become an Inner Peak Disciple, my options should be much greater and broader.’

Jiang Yi thought of those few Resource Lands. With the Celestial Book’s guidance, it would be like entering a mountain of treasure empty-handed. How could he not strike it rich?

Holding on to this wonderful fantasy, he leisurely drifted off to sleep.

Perhaps it was a case of what you think about by day, you dream of by night.

Jiang Yi slept soundly and had a very satisfying dream—

’I woke up one day to find that All the Cultivators in the Yanfu Vast Land had been suppressed by the Celestial Lord, weakened ten-thousand-fold!

And I, at the mere Qi Cultivation Fourth Layer, could casually use the Fire Manipulation Technique and be revered as the Elder Ancestor of a Daoist Lineage…’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep