novelraw Chapter 218 Fools Do Foolish Things!
Chapter 218 Fools Do Foolish Things!
Chapter 218 Fools Do Foolish Things!
Ah Gou was stunned for a moment: "So many? Do you have the recipe? If you have the recipe details, I'll go buy them tomorrow and try making them."
"Yes! I've memorized them all! I'll write them down for you!"
Gu Tang's eyes lit up, and she quickly ran outside, heading straight for the main room.
The brush, ink, paper, and inkstone were still in the main room. He picked up the rabbit-hair brush and began to write furiously!
Although she remembered it, it had been a long time since then, so Gu Tang recalled and wrote down her thoughts, filling more than a dozen pages with corrections.
By the time she finished writing, Ah Gou's shredded chicken noodles were ready.
He ladled a bowl of food and brought it to the main room, telling Gu Tang to eat first while he tidied up the papers.
Gu Tang's calligraphy was so ugly it was barely legible, and some characters were just a blurry mess.
Ah Gou looked at her handwriting without saying anything. He had noticed earlier when she was keeping accounts for gold and silver that her handwriting wasn't very good.
Picking up the rabbit-hair brush on the table, Ah Gou copied Gu Tang's recipes again.
Gu Tang glanced at it but didn't say anything, focusing on eating her noodles; she was truly hungry.
The bowl of noodles wasn't much, and Gu Tang finished it in a few bites, then drank the broth, feeling that she was still a little hungry.
She glared at Ah Gou: "Why didn't you serve more? Is there any more?"
"It's too late. You'll definitely go to sleep after dinner, and it's not good to eat too much before bed. If you want something to eat, I'll make it for you tomorrow."
These words were for her own good, and Gu Tang couldn't very well go against them.
I put down the bowl and went over to watch him copy.
Ah Gou's calligraphy is very beautiful, with a strong character, combining strength and gentleness, and is elegant and unrestrained.
The Xuan paper next to him was written by Gu Tang. The contrast between the two made Gu Tang's handwriting look utterly terrible!
Gu Tang twitched her lips and couldn't help but ask, "Are all you ghost messengers this multi-talented?"
Even her calligraphy is so beautiful!
Ah Gou paused, a look of confusion flashing in his eyes. After a moment of silence, he shook his head: "I don't remember when I learned to write, but I guess it was before I became a ghost messenger."
"Now I'm getting more and more curious about who you were before you became a ghost messenger. Aren't you curious yourself?"
"I'm not curious." Ah Gou's tone was firm, without the slightest hesitation.
Gu Tang was taken aback: "When people lose their memory, they usually try to find their past memories. Why is it different for you?"
"Because I gave it up voluntarily." Ah Gou stopped there.
After hesitating for a moment, he told Gu Tang about some things.
"If you want to become a ghost messenger, you have to pass the underworld's examination. After you meet the underworld's admission requirements, the underworld will let you make a final choice."
One option is to become a ghost messenger and forget one's past and present lives; the other is to choose to withdraw because one cannot let go of these past and present lives.
Now that I've become a ghost messenger, I must have made a choice. Having made that choice, I shouldn't dwell on the past.
Gu Tang disagreed: "If you become a ghost messenger, can't you resign and step down?"
This is the first time we've all been ghost messengers. What if someone doesn't like it after a while? Can't we switch jobs and start over?
Ah Gou was immediately stunned.
He had never thought about this question.
Resignation or resignation?
This idea had never crossed his mind.
Seeing that he didn't answer, Gu Tang assumed that the underworld didn't allow ghost officers to resign or step down, and pouted in dissatisfaction: "So, the ghost officers in the underworld are really a trap! Luckily, you kicked me into the 'Reincarnation Pool' back then, otherwise I might have really impulsively taken the ghost officer exam."
Upon hearing Gu Tang mention the Reincarnation Pool, Ah Gou immediately sprang to attention!
Back then, that otherworldly soul, in pursuit of merit, took it upon himself to abduct other soul-capturing envoys' targets, leading to daily battles between him and the soul-capturing envoys of the underworld during that period.
It was quite a coincidence that day. The two were having a great fight when Gu Tang happened to pass by. The otherworldly soul kicked out and hit Gu Tang, sending her into the reincarnation pool.
Although strictly speaking, it has nothing to do with me.
But Gu Tang had been taking her anger out on him all along, and if he brought it up again now, he would only be the one to suffer.
Sure enough, some things are better left unremembered than remembered, and once you start thinking about them, they just get infuriating.
In particular, the dog in front of him was the one that the otherworldly soul had possessed back then, and Gu Tang became angry again.
She glared at him fiercely, then turned and walked out.
Ah Gou followed a few steps behind and asked cautiously, "Where are you going?"
"Where do you think I should go? Where can I go if I'm not going to sleep this late at night?!"
Gu Tang stomped heavily on the ground, as if she were stepping on Ah Gou's neck.
Just from hearing these words, it was clear that she was angry.
Ah Gou dared not chase after them any further. He watched them return to the backyard and went back to the main room to continue copying the recipes.
I'll copy them all out tonight and send them over first thing tomorrow morning. That should be enough to atone for my sins.
Gu Tang's anger flared up quickly but subsided just as fast. By the time she returned to her room, she was no longer angry.
I took the incense sticks I bought out of the box, hugged them to my chest, and used up my sign-in opportunity for the day.
[Ding! Congratulations, host, for completing today's check-in and receiving a set of incense-making tools!]
Incense-making tools?
Gu Tang had never seen anything like it before. She cleared the table and took out incense-making tools from her system backpack—a large gift bag tied with a bow!
Gu Tang: ...? ? ?
Untie the bow, open the gift bag, and you'll find the incense-making tools inside.
A boat mill, a mesh screen, an iron mortar, an incense extruder, an incense drying net, a set of various molds... all were handmade.
These things are more than enough for an individual to start a small workshop.
Gu Tang carefully put it away, intending to leave it to her father so he could teach him how to make incense, let him make incense himself, and open his own shop to sell it—that would be a kind of fun.
After putting her things away, she put some charcoal into the stove to make sure it wouldn't go out in the middle of the night, and opened all the ventilation windows to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.
Rubbing her icy fingers, Gu Tang shivered as she took off her clothes and slipped into bed, instantly enveloped in warmth, prompting a sigh of relief.
The bedding on her bed was from the "Warm as Spring" series she had previously received through daily check-ins. It contained two sets of bedding, one purple and one light green.
The purple set is kept at my third uncle's house, while the light green set is kept in the courtyard.
Of course, when she returns to the village, she will still need to put this set of bedding into her system backpack and take it with her.
She was afraid that if no one lived there for a long time and a thief broke in, stealing her precious bedding, she would be furious!
Lying in bed, she felt warm and cozy all over, as if the blankets were a giant oven. She yawned, turned over, and fell asleep.
……
The next morning, because she was worried about the Cheng family and thought that there were still other valuables that had not been sorted out, Gu Tang, unusually, did not sleep in and got up early.
Ah Gou got up much earlier than her. He went to see the little beggars first and told them that a charity hall would be set up soon, and they would all be able to live in the charity hall.
The little beggars trusted Ah Gou very much. He said that if there was a charity, there would definitely be a charity, and everyone believed his words without question.
Before leaving, Ah Gou gave them some more copper coins, saying that he would come to see them once a day until they moved into the charity hall.
After leaving the beggar boy's place, Ah Gou strolled around the streets and noticed that there were many more constables and men carrying knives.
He knew in his heart that the Cheng family was probably up to something.
He found a teahouse on the street, ordered a cup of tea, and while eating, asked the shopkeeper, "What's going on? Why are there so many constables on the street all of a sudden? And those carrying knives, I've never seen them before, where did they all come from?"
The shopkeeper was quite well-informed; he whispered in Ah Gou's ear, "I heard the Cheng family was burgled and a lot of valuables were stolen!"
The shopkeeper then pointed to the men with knives: "Those are thugs hired by the Cheng family. The Cheng family wants them to work with the constables to search for strangers coming and going in the city."
"The Cheng family is really powerful; they can even order the constables around at will!" Ah Gou exclaimed, feigning admiration.
The shopkeeper scoffed, "Who can blame them when they have a daughter who's a concubine in the palace? These constables have to fawn over her."
Ah Gou paused for a moment. Indeed, with an empress by their side, the Cheng family had reason to be arrogant.
After having tea, he quickly returned to the courtyard and saw Gu Tang coming out of the backyard.
Upon seeing Gu Tang, A Gou was exceptionally attentive, asking her what she wanted to eat for breakfast, afraid that she might still be angry and taking it out on him.
Gu Tang had already put yesterday's events behind her. She told Ah Gou to just cook something simple to fill his stomach, as she still needed to register the remaining valuables later.
Gu Tang said "whatever," but Ah Gou didn't dare to actually say "whatever."
He first cooked some rice porridge, then fried a few eggs, and finally stir-fried a plate of pickled vegetables with pork cracklings.
When the food was finally served to Gu Tang, she nodded in satisfaction.
Ah Gou breathed a sigh of relief and sat down opposite her to practice.
They didn't adhere to the rule of not speaking while eating or sleeping; Gu Tang sometimes even liked to ask him questions during meals.
Ah Gou knew about her hobby, so he took the initiative to talk about what he had seen and heard outside.
"The Cheng family has made a move. They released all the thugs they had raised and also brought out many constables. Both sides are searching the city for unfamiliar people."
"Was this ordered by the Cheng family?" Gu Tang raised an eyebrow. If it really was ordered by the Cheng family, then the person who gave the order was definitely not smart.
Is this because they're afraid the Cheng family hasn't made enough enemies, and they want to create even more hatred for their own family?
"It must have been the Cheng family who gave the order... Almost everyone in the city thinks so."
idiot!
If the entire Cheng family were such idiots, then there would be nothing to worry about.
In fact, the Cheng family was also arguing about this matter.
The order to do this was given by the eldest son of the Cheng family. After learning that her house had been ransacked, Old Madam Cheng went to check the storeroom in her yard. Sure enough, everything in her storeroom was gone.
This scene was too much of a shock; Old Mrs. Cheng fainted on the spot, causing chaos in the Cheng family!
At this moment, Cheng the eldest son appeared, sending people to fetch a doctor while simultaneously summoning all the guards and thugs employed by the Cheng family.
Cheng Laoda himself had also lost a lot of his belongings, and at this point he was already consumed by rage and had lost all reason.
At that moment, all he was thinking about was getting people to search and find the lost property. He never imagined the consequences of his ostentatious behavior.
When Grandma Cheng was revived by the doctor and learned what her son had done, she was so angry that she almost couldn't catch her breath.
Then Old Mrs. Cheng chased away all the maids and servants in the room, leaving her son alone. She pointed at her son's old face and started cursing loudly.
"Fool! When something like this happens, we're trying to cover it up, but you're the one who's eager to spread it around!"
"Why are you covering it up? We've lost so much silver..."
"Shut up!" Old Mrs. Cheng grabbed a pillow from the bed and threw it at the person. "The silver that went missing from the storeroom wasn't all from the Cheng family! The gold and silver that the Shen and Bai families entrusted to us are all gone too!"
Boss Cheng's expression changed. After being reminded, he belatedly realized that the Shen family and the Bai family were involved.
"Although the main families of these two households had their property confiscated, their collateral relatives were still holding official positions! Fearing that their collateral relatives would also be confiscated, the two families did not dare to send gold and silver over, so they settled for sending it to our family instead."
As a result, the Cheng family received money and other benefits from both families, which also benefited the empresses in the palace.
“We haven’t taken good care of the two families’ property. If word gets to the Shen and Bai families, and they come to our door saying they want to take away all that gold and silver, what will you give them?”
Old Master Cheng's face turned deathly pale, but he still forced himself to say, "So what if they come? Nobody can predict when thieves will come to steal..."
"Who would believe that?" Old Mrs. Cheng looked at him coldly. "Most of the lost property was gold and silver, and all of it was cash. This is no small matter!"
There are over a hundred chests! Who could move all that gold and silver without alerting anyone?
"...We weren't alerted because everyone in our household was drugged!"
Grandma Cheng looked on with disappointment: "I'll say it again, who would believe it? Who would believe that all the hundreds of people in our household have been drugged? Don't even mention the doctor's diagnosis as proof, outsiders will only say that we bribed the doctor to fake it!"
Especially after the Shen and Bai families learned of this, they were even less likely to believe it. They would only think that we were too greedy, not content with the benefits, and wanted to swallow all the gold and silver!
Cheng Laoda's face turned deathly pale, but he still stubbornly insisted, "We have always had a close relationship with the Shen and Bai families, they won't disbelieve us."
"If you were in this situation, and you entrusted your entire clan's property to another family, and they later told you that all the gold and silver had been stolen by thieves, would you believe it yourself?"
Do not believe!
These two words popped into Old Cheng's mind subconsciously, and when he came to his senses, he was stunned.
Soon, his energy and spirit visibly declined, and he finally admitted that he had lost his mind and messed things up.
"Mother, please...please take a look...is there any way to remedy this?"
Old Mrs. Cheng's forehead veins throbbed, and she felt a splitting headache.
Her son is truly useless!
After calming herself down, Old Lady Cheng said, "Call them back first, and give them plenty of money to shut them up!"
Old Master Cheng paused, somewhat distressed about the money: "There's not much gold and silver left in the house..."
Old Mrs. Cheng's eyes flashed fiercely as she glared at her son: "I may be old, but I'm not senile! All the missing items in the courtyards are cash, the banknotes are untouched! And the dowries of your daughter-in-law, your second son's daughter-in-law, and your third son's daughter-in-law are all perfectly intact!"
Boss Cheng's face flushed red, and he fell silent.