bookcurios Chapter 18 Reciprocity
Chapter 18 Reciprocity
Zhu Wenbo had noticed Gu Lan's movements a long time ago. At first he thought she was going to clean up after flying for a day, but he didn't expect her to be roasting a rabbit. He was speechless.
"You haven't practiced fasting yet?" Zhu Wenbo walked over to Gu Lan and sat down next to her. He said in disbelief, "I heard that you have established your foundation, so you should be able to practice fasting now."
Gu Lan didn't expect Zhu Wenbo to take the initiative to walk over and sit next to her. She was quite surprised by his actions. This person's personality seemed to be somewhat different from the description in the original novel.
Where is that saw-mouthed gourd? Why did it take the initiative to talk to me?
Although he was surprised, Gu Lan did not show much expression, and just replied calmly: "Life is all about eating and drinking. Cultivating immortals is already hard, and if you deprive yourself of your appetite, wouldn't it be pitiful?"
"Your idea is quite novel." Zhu Wenbo's eyes widened as it was the first time he heard someone say this. After thinking about it again, he realized that the long journey of cultivating immortals was indeed quite hard, so it didn't seem to be a problem to eat and drink a little.
Seeing that he didn't speak for a long time, Gu Lan just stared at his rabbit meat, and asked politely, "Do you want to eat?"
It was originally a polite remark, but Zhu Wenbo was not polite at all. He reached out and took Gu Lan's rabbit meat, blew on it carefully, and when it cooled down a little, he took a bite.
The delicious rabbit meat rolls between your lips and teeth. It tastes better and better the more you eat it, and you simply can’t stop eating it.
Soon he had eaten half of a fat rabbit.
Gu Lan looked at his empty hands and sighed, I shouldn’t have been polite to others.
While Zhu Wenbo was feasting, the other fellow students gradually gathered around, sitting silently by the fire, staring at Gu Lan like hungry children.
Being stared at by these "innocent" eyes was really uncomfortable. Gu Lan rolled his eyes and thought: Since everyone wants to eat my roasted rabbit meat, I can just make some money from them.
They didn't feel any burden on their conscience. Normally, this group of disciples discriminated against the people from Qianji Sect. It wasn't excessive for them to take advantage of them now.
Gu Lan licked his little fangs and smiled with his eyes narrowed into a line, looking as cunning as he could be. Everyone felt uneasy when they were glanced at by those little eyes, as if they were going to lose something.
Regardless of everyone's suddenly tense nerves, Gu Lan clapped his thighs, as if he had made up his mind, and said: "Since fellow Taoists think highly of me and want to eat my roasted rabbit meat, I will reluctantly roast it for you fellow Taoists."
When the Tianyan Sect disciples heard her say this, they suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. It was an illusion, an illusion, it was all an illusion. Their faces lit up, and some of them showed quite satisfied smiles.
That’s good enough. It’s worth our care today.
But the next moment, they wanted to swallow their absurd thoughts. This man was simply a street profiteer. How could he have the innocence and loveliness of a cultivator?
Satisfied with everyone's expressions, Gu Lan smiled even more happily. It was obvious that the disciples of Tianyan Sect did not understand the writing technique of first praising and then criticizing.
"It was really hard to catch rabbits today. How about this, since we are neighbors and we will see each other every day, I will give you a discount and sell it at a friendly price: 50 low-grade spirit stones for one roasted rabbit."
"You might as well just rob it!"
"That's it!"
"Wild rabbits are worth nothing, not even a low-grade spirit stone. They can be caught anywhere. How can you ask us for 50 low-grade spirit stones?"
"Yeah, you are such a vicious person!"
When the disciples of Tianyan Sect heard that she wanted 50 low-grade spirit stones for a roasted rabbit, they immediately became unhappy. Asking for spirit stones was already outrageous, and what was even more outrageous was that she wanted so many spirit stones.
This was intolerable, and some of the hot-tempered ones left with their sleeves swung, still gathering around Lingyao, muttering and complaining. Others really wanted to eat, so they bargained to see if they could get less.
Gu Lan refused to lower the price. She wanted to eat it or not. She calculated that 50 low-grade spirit stones per roasted rabbit was already very affordable. She even complained that it was too expensive. She couldn't help but grumble, "Is roasting rabbit an easy job? Besides, I also provided salt and labor. Isn't it natural for you to pay a little spirit stone to buy my labor? It's not good for cultivators to haggle."
Good fellow, this is moral kidnapping. Gu Lan smiled cunningly. The monks were so innocent that they would not notice it.
After Zhu Wenbo finished eating a whole rabbit, he felt that the taste was endless and he wanted to eat more. Seeing several of his fellow junior brothers and sisters bargaining over a few low-grade spirit stones, he felt that they were being petty and not decent. Besides, it was just a few dozen low-grade spirit stones, so it shouldn't be that serious.
He couldn't help but look at his fellow disciples.
He has never been talkative. Although he looks handsome, he has a serious look. When he is not talking, just looking at people makes people afraid to approach him. Now that his eyes are a little stern, his junior brothers and sisters still feel pressured.
With Zhu Wenbo's help, Gu Lan succeeded in bargaining. She happily skinned and cleaned the rabbit meat, found a few branches, skewered the rabbits, and hummed a song while roasting them, feeling very happy.
When the roasted rabbit meat was handed to the Tianyan Sect disciples, they were still quite unhappy. However, after eating a few bites, they were already captivated by the delicious taste and no longer said a word of objection.
A few monks who had walked away and surrounded Lingyao glanced over here from time to time, saying that the food was not tasty but swallowing their saliva secretly.
Lingyao was not feeling well either. She had always loved eating, but she was determined to practice cultivation. She had been fasting as soon as she had established her foundation. Now she was craving for rabbit meat, but she didn't dare ask Gu Lan for it, so she had to endure it in secret.
Gu Lan collected the spirit stones from everyone and put them in a mustard seed bag. The little chicken looked down on the low-quality spirit stones, so he didn't eat the low-quality spirit stones. Gu Lan then boldly put the high-quality spirit stones in the mustard seed bag.
At this time, Gu Lan collected the spirit stones and was eating happily, his heart bubbling with joy. He couldn't help but think that if he could let them buy barbecue with spirit stones in the next few days, he could earn at least a thousand or eight hundred spirit stones in this trip.
Thinking of this, her face became even more excited. Zhu Wenbo couldn't help but sneer when he saw her blushing face and looking so happy.
The Qianji Sect is indeed still poor. They are so happy just to get a few spirit stones.
After eating, everyone planned to rest. Gu Lan did not leave the fire, but leaned down beside it. After eating her barbecue, everyone in Tianyan Sect became familiar with her. When they saw that she had made a fire, they also lay down around the fire to rest.
Because there were so many people around, it was difficult for Gu Lan to practice sword skills and he could only absorb the spiritual energy floating around him.
Because Gu Lan had spent a lot of spiritual energy in tempering his meridians in the first half of the night and practicing sword in the second half, he could not continue the next day. So he secretly reminded himself to absorb spiritual energy for practice all the time, so that he could make up for his shortcomings with hard work.
Because of this, Gu Lan accidentally learned the breathing method. This breathing method allows one to absorb spiritual energy and practice between breaths, which is much faster than others who have to meditate.
Therefore, when Zhu Wenbo and Lingyao were meditating, they saw her lying on the ground, snoring and shaking her head. She was indeed a member of Qianji Sect, and it was obvious at first glance that she was a person who would never amount to anything.
Unfortunately, how could they know that the guy who was snoring so loudly was absorbing spiritual energy crazily and practicing in full swing!
Everyone was resting or meditating, and everything was going well. However, in the second half of the night, there was a sudden loud thunder and the earth shook.
A violent wind that shook the mountains swept over, blowing away all the embers of the charcoal fire. The wind and sand were blinding, and everyone hurriedly gathered around Zhu Wenbo, not knowing how something unexpected had happened.