Chapter 8: Official Students of the Missionary Academy buzzing... My ears are ringing and my head is buzzing. After falling to the bottom of the river, Tao Tie was unconscious for only a short while before waking up. Gently shaking his head which was definitely suffering from a concussion, Tao Tie was once again thankful that he had mastered the bird trick this morning, which greatly improved his physical fitness and aerobic endurance. "Go up first and then talk about other things." After slowing down for a while, Tao Tie floated to the surface of the river before he could no longer hold his breath. There was a crash. Tao Tie broke out of the water, clinging to the edge of the pier and gasping for air. Li Zeyuan was holding a large bow in his hand and flying over like a big bird with its wings spread.
He looked at Tao Tie with some surprise, as if he was wondering how Tao Tie escaped. But it was better not to die, so that he would not be criticized by the eldest lady and would not have to pay a fine to the county government. Passing over Tao Tie who seemed to be still in shock and gasping for breath, Li Zeyuan's gaze immediately fell on the Yudai River, his eyes gleaming as he searched carefully. From the ghostly aura emanating from the water, it can be confirmed that the water ghost, which cannot even be considered as a monster, is indeed completely dead. Li Zeyuan breathed a sigh of relief, but his heart immediately tensed up again. Water ghosts are easy to kill. They are just the lowest level of sneaky ghosts that are not even considered evil spirits. It's not so easy to deal with the eldest lady. After all, this time the eldest lady came back from Jingling Mountain with great momentum, saying that she would carry out drastic reforms and lead the Shahe Gang to clean up its image and reach new heights. Otherwise, it was just a small water ghost and it wouldn't have caused such a big fuss. It's nothing more than a trick of killing the chicken to scare the monkey. Use Li Zeyuan as a target to warn the old men in the gang, warn the managers of other docks, and warn the ship bosses who run river transportation! Thinking of this, Li Zeyuan's heart shuddered, and he remembered a detail that he had previously overlooked. Why would the young lady know about the water ghost incident at the dock late last night before him? Li Zeyuan immediately ruled out the possibility that the eldest lady directed and acted in the film herself. Li Zeyuan pondered in his heart, and concluded that the eldest lady had planted spikes at the dock, or bribed his men. "so……" Glancing at Tao Tie who was climbing onto the dock from the water, Li Zeyuan gave up the idea of accepting the fifteen taels of silver reward he had promised in public. Li Zeyuan even felt that he should offer the reward in public, just as he had offered it before. Only in this way can the young lady's bribed subordinates report his trustworthiness.
Thinking of this, Li Zeyuan gave a signal and asked several of his men to bring back the porters who had evacuated the dock. Soon, the porters who made money by carrying bags at the dock returned one after another. Li Zeyuan stood on a high platform, looking down at the porters who were lined up neatly and silently, and he couldn't help feeling emotional. The imperial court spared no effort in teaching literacy and eliminating illiteracy to enlighten the people, but this was not only troublesome, it also had benefits. At least the discipline and obedience in the formation are very commendable. Taking a deep breath and suppressing his distracting thoughts, Li Zeyuan stretched out his finger and pointed at the wet Tao Tie, and said loudly: "Just now, I promised a reward of fifteen taels of silver, fifteen taels! Now, I will fulfill it in front of everyone!" After he finished speaking, Li Zeyuan didn't say any more nonsense and directly took out two silver ingots, one large and one small. The large silver ingot weighs ten taels, and the small one weighs five taels. Dozens of porters looked at the silver ingot in Li Zeyuan's hand, and all of them felt a burning desire. It is them, not Tao Tie, who are eager to collect the reward later. Li Zeyuan enjoyed this feeling very much, but he was not overly indulged in it. He threw up two silver ingots, weighed them casually, and threw them to Tao Tie. Looking at Li Zeyuan's condescending attitude, Tao Tie seemed to hear a voice saying "Hey! Come and eat!" and felt disgusted and almost vomited. However, Tao Tie could not show any strange emotions. He had to quickly reach out to catch the silver ingot and put on a smile and said, "Thank you, steward. Thank you, steward." But after he finished speaking, he immediately sniffed and sneezed hard, "A-choo!" Then, as Li Zeyuan frowned slightly, he smiled awkwardly, hid the silver in his wet clothes, and asked shyly: "Manager, you see my clothes are all wet, can I take a day off, go back to change clothes and have a rest. Hehe..." After saying this, Tao Tie looked towards Li Zeyuan with a look of deep pleading. Li Zeyuan instantly understood what Tao Tie wanted to express. Wealth is not revealed in vain. So many people would definitely have some thoughts when they knew that Tao Tie received a reward of fifteen taels of silver. Some familiar porters might lend you money; members of the Shahe Gang might lend you money. The former still has a chance of getting the money back, but the latter is very likely to be a waste of money and never get it back. Therefore, it is very reasonable for Tao Tie to spend the money now in a hurry, such as buying a house, or depositing it in the court's bank in a regular form and asking the bank to keep it for him. "Well, you go." Since Li Zeyuan had the intention of flattering the eldest lady in vain, he naturally had to pay attention to his image. He agreed to Tao Tie's request with a wave of his hand. "Thank you, Steward. Thank you, Steward." Seeing this, Tao Tie continued to pretend to be grateful, holding the two silver ingots, and hurriedly left the dock. Li Zeyuan's gang members, dozens of porters, all watched Tao Tie leave. The one with the most complicated emotions is Uncle Hui. "My dear..."
Uncle Hui muttered silently, then slowly lowered his head without saying anything more. He just felt that his friend seemed to have suddenly become a stranger, like a different person, but it didn't seem like he was possessed by evil spirits or ghosts as the instructor at the missionary academy said. At least the daily interactions we had these past two days were no different from before. "I hope Tiezi is really okay." With a deep sigh, Uncle Hui stopped thinking about Tao Tie. Whether or not Tiezi had been possessed by evil spirits was not something a dock porter like him could control. Everyone has his own destiny. Uncle Hui is not the only one who is secretly keeping an eye on Tao Tie. There is also Mo Yuhan, the eldest daughter of the Shahe Gang, and her personal maid Xiuxiu, who left on the surface but was actually observing everything going on at the dock. "Miss, this person is quite interesting." Xiuxiu was as charming as she was yesterday. She pointed at Tao Tie who had left the dock and headed straight for the county government office and various functional departments, and said in a delicate voice, "He practiced the Five Animal Exercises yesterday, and he practiced very seriously. His co-workers asked him why he practiced so seriously and whether he wanted to become a practitioner. He replied that if a person has no dreams, he is no different from a salted fish. Haha..." At this point, Xiuxiu laughed as clear as a silver bell, and then said, "I asked Li Zeyuan to arrange for him to move the salted fish for a day. Hehehe..." “Salted fish.” Mo Yuhan repeated the word without saying anything else. He just stretched out his hand and touched the basin in front of him, inputting a little magic power, and continued to maintain the [Circular Light Technique] of the water mirror that reflected Tao Tie's figure. Then he watched Tao Tie carry fifteen taels of silver, pass the money shop, pass the county government office, and enter the missionary house. Not long after, Tao Tie changed into a set of dry clothes and walked out. The three words "Missionary College" were embroidered on the left chest of the clothes, which was the uniform for the official students of the Missionary College. "what?" The pretty maid Xiuxiu also saw this scene and exclaimed, "He really wants to complete the '100-day foundation building' and practice Taoism? How old is he? If he really had the qualifications to complete the foundation building, he would have practiced Taoism long ago! Why wait until now? What on earth is he thinking?" The missionary academy teaches words and phrases for free, eliminates illiteracy and enlightens the mind, and teaches methods of practice for a fee. Students can also pay a considerable amount of money to become formal students. Generally speaking, those who are willing to pay to become formal students of the missionary academy are all determined to practice Taoism, and most of them are young people whose family conditions are not good enough and whose conditions do not meet the admission standards of the county literature and county martial arts schools. It’s not that there aren’t any people like Tao Tie who are over 18 years old, but they are relatively few. Mo Yuhan recalled the whistle that Li Zeyuan and Xiuxiu had not noticed before, and said lightly: "It's not impossible." (End of this chapter)