Chapter 65: Red Lotus Won’t Eat Raw, This Servant Won’t Eat Dead

After searching for quite some time without finding anyone, the Watermelon People returned to the front yard.

One of the Watermelon People was injured, watermelon juice oozing out. Geng Zhiwei quickly ordered a shop assistant to bandage it.

Jia Quansheng, standing nearby, said, "Brother, you’re being too careful. It’s not like these things are alive."

Geng Zhiwei shot Jia Quansheng a look. "Do you have any idea how much one of these costs? If it weren’t for you, would I be spending this much?"

"Of course, of course," Jia Quansheng said, his face full of smiles. "It’s all for me."

But despite his words, Jia Quansheng felt uneasy.

It was as if Geng Zhiwei was the one suffering a loss. Little Fatty Qin’s ten Serpentine Pills had gone to Geng Zhiwei, and Yu Nan’s Yu Family Cloth Shop would eventually belong to him as well!

In the end, all he had lost was Rong Jin’an, and the money he spent to buy two dozen watermelons.

Jia Quansheng had seen the Till Cultivator who sold them. One Watermelon Person only cost about twenty thousand coins. Geng Zhiwei got a cloth shop in exchange. Where was the loss?

Besides, these Watermelon People could be used for a year. When injured, a little water would heal them. At such a cheap price, acquiring such useful things, how was Geng Zhiwei suffering a loss?

Of course, these were just his inner thoughts. Jia Quansheng would never dare to voice them.

The Watermelon People couldn’t speak. Since one had been injured, it must have been ambushed. Geng Zhiwei led his men to personally inspect the backyard. Finding no one, he simply ordered his men to set the Yu family’s old house on fire.

Amidst the raging flames, the house was reduced to ashes.

Geng Zhiwei said to Jia Quansheng, "Tomorrow, post a notice in Ligou: Yu Nan is never to show her face in Yaowang Gulch again. Anyone who sees her and conceals the information will become my, Geng Zhiwei’s, enemy!"

Geng Zhiwei shouted, "Let’s go!"

A group of subordinates followed Geng Zhiwei, the Watermelon People marching in formation behind them.

Inside the Mobile Home, Li Banfeng gently stroked the phonograph, asking softly, "My Dear Wife, what level of Till Cultivator could create Watermelon People like this?

I don’t want to fight him, I want to make friends with him, so I can buy some good stuff from him one day.

Wife, what do you think about cucumber people? The spiky kind!

Wife, say something to me. I’m going to be home for a long time today, and your silence is suffocating me."

Chh! Chh! Chh!

The phonograph spoke.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The gongs and drums sounded.

The phonograph was singing opera.

"Su San! Having left Hongtong County, I arrive before the street,

Hearing that the flowers of Luoyang are like brocade, yet I come when frost and snow are cold!"

The familiar excerpt, Su San’s Release from Jade Hall Spring.

The phonograph sang with great emotion, its voice trembling after only two lines, as if it were crying.

No, it was crying.

The horn of the phonograph, amidst bursts of steam, shed droplets of water, rolling down like tears.

Li Banfeng wasn’t an insensitive brute; he was a man of tender feelings.

Seeing the phonograph cry so sadly, Li Banfeng quickly went to comfort it. "My Dear Wife, why are you crying?"

Chh! Chh!

The phonograph sobbed, then recited in a singsong recitative, "Husband has not brought rice home for many days, and this servant’s belly is unbearably hungry! Ah! Ah! Ah!"

The aria was drawn out for so long.

"Can’t you just say you’re hungry?" Li Banfeng complained. "I fed you so much at that Old Lady’s house, and you ate Rong Jin’an the other day, fresh and all. Why are you saying you’re hungry now?"

Clang clang clang!

The phonograph changed tempo and continued singing, "When poor, husband and wife face a hundred sorrows. I know it’s not easy for my husband to toil outside, and he eats only simple fare. How dare this servant utter a word of complaint? Wei ya~~~"

At this point, the phonograph started crying again.

Li Banfeng sighed. "She must be so stuffed from last time, it made my wife’s belly swell."

The phonograph cried miserably, its recitative even more mournful, "This servant has never complained about simple fare, how can my husband mock me? Ya ya ya~~~"

"Stop crying!" Li Banfeng’s mood wasn’t great.

Logically, since they lived under the same roof, he should feed his wife good things.

Li Banfeng wasn’t short of money; he couldn’t say he fed her delicacies every day, but it was indeed wrong to feed her whenever and wherever.

But what his wife ate was special!

Such precious ingredients were hard to find!

"My Dear Wife, how about I catch a Watermelon Person for you to eat later? What do you think?" Li Banfeng took out the remaining watermelon pulp.

The phonograph scoffed.

"That’s just watermelon grown by a Till Cultivator, lacking any spiritual energy. How can this servant possibly eat it?"

His wife didn’t like watermelon.

"Then I’ll bring back some corpses for you to eat."

Chh chh~

"This servant doesn’t eat corpses!"

Li Banfeng frowned. "Why are you being so picky? Red Lotus eats them with gusto."

"Husband, don’t mention that cheap harlot, Red Lotus!"

Red Lotus?

Was she talking about the bronze lotus?

The phonograph continued its recitative: "Husband cherishes that cheap harlot, giving her all the good food and drink… yet doesn’t care whether this servant lives or dies! Ya~ Ah~ Ah~"

Her words made no sense. Li Banfeng defended himself, "My Dear Wife, the corpses are right there. If you want to eat, you can eat them too."

The horn spewed out a large cloud of steam, seemingly spitting.

"How can this servant swallow such filthy things? Red Lotus won’t eat raw, and this servant won’t eat dead!"

Li Banfeng grew angry. "You woman, you’re too hard to please!"

"Husband doesn’t cherish this servant, doesn’t cherish her ya~~~"

Chhh la~

A large burst of steam assaulted him, scalding Li Banfeng until he was red all over.

Li Banfeng fell silent, and so did the phonograph.

Red Lotus not eating raw referred to how the Red Lotus didn’t eat living things; it ate corpses, medicinal herbs, and special weapons.

The phonograph not eating dead meant she didn’t eat inanimate objects; she ate vengeful spirits.

Vengeful spirits were hard to come by!

Li Banfeng had come up with an idea, but it carried a considerable risk.

Geng Zhiwei returned to the pharmacy and specially cleared out a sunny room to house the Watermelon People.

The room contained over twenty water buckets, one for each Watermelon Person. Standing upright with their feet in the buckets, they could recover their energy after standing like this for a day and night, and be ready for battle the next day.

During the day, the Watermelon People basked in the sun, healing all their wounds.

In the evening, a shop assistant from the pharmacy came to add water to the Watermelon People’s buckets.

At one in the morning, a Watermelon Person’s belly swelled, and then with a crack, its entire body burst open.

Li Banfeng, clutching his key, stood up from the water basin filled with watermelon pulp.

The Mobile Home followed the key, and the key followed the Watermelon People.

Li Banfeng had emerged from the Watermelon Person’s belly and was now inside the Geng Family Pharmacy.

The shattered Watermelon Person was still, and the other Watermelon People were silent.

They hadn’t eaten fertilizer and lacked combat power. Li Banfeng ate the watermelon pulp without restraint, and they didn’t show any hostility towards him.

After eating the watermelon pulp and sweating profusely, Li Banfeng looked around the watermelon room and quickly crouched down.

The house had several glass windows, providing excellent lighting, allowing one to clearly see the scene outside the yard.

Outside the house, two guards stood watch. These two were Geng Zhiwei’s trusted subordinates, specially assigned to guard the Watermelon People because of their importance.

Having heard the sound of the Watermelon Person exploding, the two were peering inside.

Fortunately, this Watermelon Person had been standing in the corner, outside the field of vision from the window.

One man whispered, "You keep watch here, I’ll go in and take a look."

The other shook his head. "What’s there to see? These things are scary."

"You know how to be afraid? Last month, when the young master asked you to collect debts, you killed all the men from a family of over a dozen people, and you slept with all the women. Even ghosts shiver when they see you. What’s so scary about these watermelons?"

"That’s different! These are watermelons that have turned into demons! You saw them in battle during the day. These things are eerie!"

"These are watermelons the young master bought at a high price. If something happens to them, we can’t afford it. Why don’t we both go in and take a look?"

"You’re really…"

The two guards unlocked the door and cautiously entered the house, seeing a Watermelon Person burst open, watermelon pulp scattered all over the ground.

The two were shocked. One asked, "What happened?"

The other looked back at the other Watermelon People and found one standing in each water basin, perfectly intact.

If every Watermelon Person was accounted for, then what was the meaning of the shattered melon?

Had one more appeared?

Impossible…

The man’s hair stood on end, and he re-examined the group of Watermelon People, realizing something was wrong.

In fact, one Watermelon Person was missing. Li Banfeng stood expressionlessly in a water basin, pretending to be a Watermelon Person.

The Home Cultivator had the ability to be ignored, and the two gatekeepers hadn’t noticed it at first glance.

One of the guards walked up to Li Banfeng, his eyes wide. "This one isn’t…"

Li Banfeng swung his sickle and slit his throat.

The other guard was still examining the shattered watermelon on the ground. Hearing movement behind him, he was just about to turn around when he saw a sickle across his neck.

"Don’t make a sound. I’m a good person," Li Banfeng whispered in his ear.

The man didn’t dare to make a sound. Li Banfeng asked, "I’m going to ask you something. If you tell the truth, I’ll let you go. Where are the valuable medicines in your pharmacy stored?"

"They’re all in the medicine vault. The east wing in the front yard is the vault," the man answered truthfully.

"What good medicines are there?"

"Do you mean medicinal herbs or elixirs? I don’t recognize all the medicinal herbs, but I know some of the elixirs."

"Then tell me about the elixirs."

"There are dozens of Serpentine Pills. I don’t know the exact number."

Li Banfeng didn’t believe him. "Such a big Geng Family Pharmacy only has Serpentine Pills? I’m a good person, don’t lie to me."

"The good medicines aren’t on the shelves; they’re all in the Master’s house."

The man wasn’t lying. Pharmacies didn’t usually keep too many valuable elixirs on hand. If you wanted to buy valuable elixirs, you had to arrange a time in advance, and the seller would retrieve the goods.

Li Banfeng asked again, "Where is the money in the pharmacy stored?"

"There’s some in the front counter, but the large sums of money are in the backyard, in the young master’s room."

"Where does your young master live?"

"In the backyard, he sleeps in Third Mistress’s room."

"Are there guards in the backyard?"

"Yes, usually ten people."

"Do they have cultivation?"

"Yes. Big Shot Song Boming is a Second Level Body Cultivator, and he has two First Level Martial Cultivators under him."

This was going to be difficult. One Second Level, two First Level, and seven lackeys; Li Banfeng couldn’t handle that alone.

"What about the other guards?" Li Banfeng remembered that Geng Zhiwei had over thirty guards.

"The others are sleeping in this courtyard. Good sir, I’m telling you the truth. You promised to let me go. Please spare my life. I promise not to alarm anyone." The guard was crying.

"Okay, I’ll let you go," Li Banfeng smiled. "You didn’t spare a family of over a dozen people; I heard it all just now."

The guard said through his tears, "Good sir, those were our young master’s orders. We do whatever he tells us to do. Don’t listen to that bastard’s nonsense. He’s even more ruthless than me, he’s killed even more people!"

"More than you?" Li Banfeng looked at the corpses on the ground. "I think you two have a deep friendship. I’ll send you to join him."

"Spare me…" the guard wanted to shout, but couldn’t.

Li Banfeng gently swung his sickle and slit the guard’s throat.

End of Chapter