Ali asked curiously, "I've also heard that Xue Ji is the most famous dancer in Nanhai City, and she's incredibly beautiful. It seems any man would be captivated by her. Do you two brothers have any other intentions towards Xue Ji?"
Dao Lang laughed heartily and explained, "My third brother and I are naturally free-spirited and have no interest in romance or women. So, neither of us is interested in her."
While they were talking, Liu Shinian broke free from his restraints and lunged at me again. Fei Xiong grabbed him, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and said helplessly, "This kid just likes to mess around. You guys keep drinking; I'll take him back."
Seeing my terrified expression, Dao Lang comforted me, "Miss, you don't need to worry. He's just like that. Come, come, let's continue drinking."
With his words, I finally relaxed. I sat back at the table and we drank and talked. Raising my wine cup, I toasted him, "Brother Dao Lang, please."
"Good, good, good, I'll drink first." Saying this, he downed his cup in one go. Ali and I laughed and followed suit.
I don't know how many cups we had before my head started to feel fuzzy. It seemed I couldn't hold my liquor well. I leaned my head to the side against Ali and fell asleep.
Ali had also drunk a few more cups and soon felt drowsy. He yawned and lay down on the floor, falling asleep.
Dao Lang looked at the two figures lying on the ground and shook his head, "Young people nowadays, they can't handle it."
After that, he continued to drink by himself.
It wasn't until the next day, with the sun shining brightly, that I slowly woke up. As soon as I opened my eyes, I found myself lying on a bed. Turning my head, I saw Ali lying beside me. Dao Lang and Fei Xiong were nowhere to be seen.
I quickly shook Ali awake. He opened his eyes hazily, full of sleepiness, and asked me, "What's wrong?"
"Where are they?"
"They woke me up this morning and said they had urgent business to attend to, so they left. They asked me to tell you when you woke up."
"Oh, that's fine then."
It was then that I remembered we had come here to find Master Zhang. I patted my head, scolding myself for being so foolish. Dao Lang and Fei Xiong were renowned for knowing everything and being capable of anything. With their vast knowledge, they must know where Master Zhang is. I was so annoyed that I hadn't asked them sooner.
With a helpless sigh, I felt a bit dejected. My mood low, I asked Ali, "Ali, what do we do now? How do we find Master Zhang?"
Without hesitation, he replied, "We can ask Liu Shinian. He's been here for a while."
"Right!"
Only then did I realize. But the thought of his lewd expression yesterday made me feel a strange sense of dread. However, with no other options, I had to go find him.
"Where is he?"
"Fei Xiong said he lives in the side room around the corner."
"Let's go! Let's go find him."
So, I pulled Ali up and we left the room to find Liu Shinian.
Walking out of the room and heading forward, we indeed found the guest room around the corner. The moment I pushed the door open, a strong smell of alcohol hit me. I quickly covered my nose and mouth and looked up. The messy room was filled with wine bottles and pots everywhere. I thought, this person can really drink.
Holding my breath, I walked in and found him lying on the bed, sprawled in all sorts of positions, sleeping soundly. He didn't have the elegance of a handsome man at all; he looked more like a ruffian.
I couldn't help but complain, "Really, drinking so much and sleeping for so long. Aren't you afraid something will happen to your body?"
Reluctantly, I walked up and used both hands to shake him awake. He slightly opened his eyes, and upon seeing me, he smiled foolishly, "Wife, you're here."
Then, his restless, pig-like hands crept towards mine. I hastily pulled away, but he grabbed my hand tightly. With a coyly shy expression, he whined, "Wife, why did you take so long to come? I missed you so much, so much."
I was terrified and, with extreme disgust, flung him away and retreated, hiding to the side. I signaled to Ali with my eyes to go up.
Ali chuckled stealthily and bravely strode forward, saying, "Young Master Liu, we have something we'd like to ask you."
He rolled over, covered his ears with his hands, and acted shamelessly, "I won't listen, won't listen. I'll only answer if my wife asks me. I won't listen to anyone else, won't listen."
He was acting like a complete ruffian and scoundrel. Ali cast a pleading look at me. My heart hardened. It seemed I had no choice but to brace myself and go myself.
I slowly walked to the bedside and coaxed him, "Here, wife is here. Be good and obedient."
Hearing my voice, he turned his body and put on a cute, spoiled-baby expression, saying, "Mmm, husband loves wife the most and will listen to wife's words."
I couldn't help but roll my eyes hundreds of times in my mind, but I still had to pretend to be happy and coax him, "So good. I'll ask you now, answer your wife properly, okay? Have you seen anyone named Master Zhang?"
He tilted his head and thought for a moment, then said, "Is that the man who looks messy and doesn't like to dress up?"
Messy, doesn't like to dress up. When I saw him, he was indeed like that. It must be him. "Yes, yes, yes, that's him! Do you know where he is?"
"I remember seeing him a few days ago. He changed into new clothes and we drank a pot of wine together. He told me he saved a girl."
Everything matched. I eagerly asked, "Where? Where is that person now?"
"He said he was going to Wanxue Mountain to meet that Wanxue Spider and test his skills."
"Where is Wanxue Mountain?"
"Wife cannot go, okay? It's very dangerous there. Husband will worry about you."
"Tell me quickly!" I gave him a fierce look.
He was startled by me and then said with a wronged expression, "I'll tell you, I'll tell you. Go straight east, and you'll see a tall mountain. The summit looks like white clouds; that's Wanxue Mountain."
Having found out his whereabouts, I breathed a sigh of relief and thanked him, "Thank you. You can continue sleeping."
He grabbed me and whined, "Wife, wife, I don't want you to leave. Don't leave me."
I turned and punched him, knocking him out on the bed. I said hatefully, "You stinking pervert, you're asking for death!"
Ali, seeing my fierce look, flinched and moved to the side. I turned my head and saw Ali hiding far away, looking terrified. I thought he must have been scared by my actions, so I quickly comforted him, "Don't hide so far away. I'm not usually like this."
Ali was still startled and hurriedly ran out. I quickly chased after him, shouting, "Ali, I'm really not the kind of person you think I am. I'm actually very gentle."
When I ran out of the building, Ali was nowhere to be seen. I frantically shouted, "Ali, I'm really not that kind of person. I'm truly a good person."
There was no reply. I thought, it's over, Ali has abandoned me.
Just as I was about to feel sad, a hand patted my back. I turned around and saw it was Ali. I chided him, "Why did you run so fast? I couldn't find you."
Ali laughed happily and said, "I just had a sudden thought and wanted to tease you."
"You better not tease me. You almost scared me to death."
"Then where are we going now?"
"To Wanxue Mountain."
"Let's go then."
I grabbed him and said, "We haven't paid the bill yet."
"Brothers Dao Lang and Fei Xiong paid the bill in advance."
"Huh? Didn't we agree that I would treat? And now we've eaten for free."
"It's okay. When we meet them again, we'll treat them to a good meal."
"Okay."
"Then let's go."
"Let's go."
So, the two of us retraced our steps and walked out.
As we left the alley and were about to depart, we suddenly heard someone call out, "Two esteemed guests, please wait, wait."
We both turned our heads and saw a fortune teller by the outer wall of the alley. He was dressed very strangely, his clothes made of colorful scraps of cloth pieced together. He wore a Taoist hat on his head, held a copper bell in his left hand, and a yellow talisman in his right. He looked like a middle-aged man.
"You, are you a fortune teller?" I asked in surprise.
The master fortune teller spoke nonsense with a serious expression, "Indeed, I am the True Man of Destiny. I can divine heaven and earth, ancient and present. I can know the past and future, and I can change fate and calculate luck."
"So miraculous." There were many fortune tellers in my hometown, but I had never met one who knew so much. I was very curious.
The master fortune teller said, "I have told fortunes for a hundred people, and every single one was accurate, without omission. After my guidance, they all escaped danger. Afterward, the common people gave me this hundred-family cloth as thanks and recognition."
"So amazing," I said, my eyes shining with admiration.
Ali, however, pulled me along, saying, "Let's go, let's go. We have things to do."
Seeing that we were about to leave, the True Man of Destiny hurriedly called out, "Young man, young man, wait a moment, wait a moment. I see you have a unique bone structure and your eyes are bright and piercing. I predict that in your past life, you must have been an extremely powerful figure."
Saying this, he rushed in front of us and took Ali's hand to examine it. With a solemn expression, he said, "Your left hand is pale, and your right hand is reddish. In the future, you will surely accomplish great things, but your life will be full of hardships and difficult to escape. I happen to have a peace and luck charm here. For just ten gold coins, it can ensure your safety for life."
Ali was very disdainful and said proudly, "I don't need this kind of thing."
I was very tempted to hear this and quickly stepped forward to extend my hand for him to read my fortune. However, he didn't look at my palm but instead looked at my face. He sighed, "Miss, if I may be blunt, your fate is not good. You are a solitary star of destiny, with continuous bad luck. Although you can achieve great things, there will be many hardships. However, I happen to have a charm here that can ward off evil and protect the master, and change your fate. You can take a look."
"Really? Am I that unlucky?"
"Really. Trust me, it's accurate."
Saying this, he took out a talisman and handed it to me, saying, "I spent seventy-seven days and eighty-one nights refining this talisman with fierce fire, day and night, pouring all my heart and soul into it. If you buy it, I guarantee you success in your career, great wealth, and no worries about food and drink."
"Can it change my bad luck?"
"Yes, yes, yes. As long as you buy it, let alone bad luck, anything like the solitary star of destiny, the six-world Rakshasa, or great calamities in your destiny will all be blocked for you."
Hearing his words, I couldn't help but rejoice and exclaimed, "Really? Is it that powerful?"
"Really, really. This is the last one."
"Then I'll buy it."
"I see we have a connection, so I'll sell it to you for fifteen coins."
"Okay, okay, okay." I quickly looked at Ali and asked him for money, "Ali, I need fifteen gold coins."
Ali pouted and said, "No."
I reached into his pocket myself and got fifteen gold coins, handing them to the fortune teller, "Look, is it fifteen coins?"
The fortune teller weighed them slightly. It was exactly fifteen. He then handed the talisman to me. Holding the talisman, I happily said to Ali, "There are many fortune tellers in my hometown too, but they're not accurate. I didn't expect the fortune tellers here to know so much."
I waved the talisman in front of him. Ali said disdainfully, "I hope what you bought is worth the price."
I quickly put it away and put it in my pocket, replying to him, "I think that fortune teller has some skill, he probably wouldn't lie to me."
"It better be. Then let's go quickly."
"Okay."
I touched the talisman in my pocket, feeling very happy, and walked forward with Ali.
When the fortune teller saw us walking away, he chuckled, put away the money, and stroked his chin, looking thoughtfully at our retreating backs, "These two are clearly outsiders, so easy to fool. They look so rich. No, I need to trick them more. That way, tomorrow's breakfast will be secured."
Thinking this, he ducked under his stall and rummaged around. After a while, he slowly crawled out. This time, he had disguised himself as a woman wearing a floral dress and a scarf, not looking like a man at all.
Then, he picked up a basket, loaded it with a few apples, and followed us.
I asked Ali, "Should we prepare some things? Will it be very cold where we're going?"
Ali replied, "Possibly. Then let's go buy some other things."
"Okay."
Just as we were about to turn to see if there was anything to buy, a woman suddenly exclaimed "Oh!" and fell from the side, about to fall onto Ali. Ali quickly dodged, and she missed him, falling to the ground. Fortunately, she protected her apples.
I quickly helped her up and asked, "Sister, are you alright?"
The sister waved her hand, "No, I'm fine. It's just a pity about my basket of apples."
Saying this, she started to cry sadly in her awkward, squeaky voice. I asked her, "What's wrong, sister? Why are you crying?"
Seeing that I had taken the bait, she began to play the victim, "Oh, my family suffered a great flood this year. My father and mother were washed away by the flood. My husband was also washed away while trying to save people. I don't know if he's alive or dead. I still have a pair of children at home crying for food, and we don't have much to eat. So, I picked a few apples and came to this city to sell them, to earn some money for rice to feed my two children."
Hearing how pitiful she was, I felt compassion and asked, "That's so tragic. You don't have many apples in your basket. How much do you plan to sell them for?"
She whimpered and held up five fingers.
"Five coins. I can help."
She quickly shook her head and then waved her hand. Only then did I understand what she meant. "Fifty coins? This, isn't this a bit too expensive?"
She then cried again, "My neighbor, Aunt Wang, her entire family was washed away by the flood, leaving only four infants in swaddling clothes with no one to care for them. I've taken them in to care for them as well. If I don't sell them for more money, our family probably won't survive, sob sob sob."
Saying this, she started crying again.
I looked at Ali helplessly, to see what he thought. Ali thought for a while and then said, "Let's help him."
So, I took out fifty gold coins from my pocket and handed them to the sister. The sister took the coins and immediately became overjoyed, giving us the basket as well.
"Thank you so much. You are truly good people. My children will surely grow up healthy with the help of two kind benefactors. Thank you."
After saying this, she quickly got up and ran away swiftly.
Watching her move with such agility and lightness, I wondered, "Does this really look like someone who has suffered so much?"
Ali comforted me, "Perhaps he was just too happy. But it's good, we've also done a good deed."
"That's true."
At this moment, I remembered going to Wanxue Mountain and said, "Let's look around. Let's see if there's anything we need to buy."
"Okay."
The fortune teller ran to the corner and immediately shed his disguise, squatting in the corner and counting his money. He exclaimed excitedly, "Oh my god, oh my god! I worked for more than ten days and didn't earn this much money. I didn't expect to earn sixty-five coins all at once today. It seems they are indeed wealthy people, truly foolish and rich. But I must thank them. I can have a good meal today."
Thinking this, he put the money away and rushed out of the alley to the best restaurant nearby for a meal.