Chapter 131 - A Girl Who Loves Money So Much That She Could Die for It
“Fang Haoran!”
After the middle-aged man finished speaking, he grew impatient. “Quickly speak!”
His tone of command was very annoying, but Hua Rou didn’t dare to get angry because the other party’s attitude clearly showed that he was used to ordering others from a higher position.
Bluntly speaking, Hua Rou couldn’t afford to offend such a person.
“The other party is named Sun Mo, and it seems that he is a teacher of the Central Province Academy. He came here with a few students to take a bath and during his time here, two of his students achieved a successful breakthrough.”
Hua Rou was quite pleased. She managed to gain an origin nurturing pill that was valued at tens of thousands of taels with a piece of information. This was a business that only needed a small capital to bring back huge profits.
“Central Province Academy? Isn’t that old headmaster dead already? Without him, how come the school hasn’t been delisted yet?”
Fang Haoran felt curious.
“Right now, the old headmaster’s granddaughter is running the school.”
Hua Rou explained.
In Jinling, everyone knew about An Xinhui’s fame. She was a 3-star great teacher under the age of 30. Such talents could be counted on fingers, and An Xinhui was precisely one of such talents.
“I see!”
Fang Haoran frowned and gave up the thought of directly looking for Sun Mo. “I’m staying on the governor’s manor. In the future, if this Sun Mo comes to take a bath again, inform me immediately!”
After Fang Haoran finished speaking, he turned and went up the stairs, wanting to inspect the bathwater even further.
After hearing that Fang Haoran was staying in the governor’s manor, Hua Rou had a slightly shocked look on her face. She didn’t dare to slight him and immediately followed after. “What does esteemed customer want to do? I’ll accompany you!”
The Jinling Governor was a major character with the greatest authority in Jinling as well as the surrounding counties. With a single command, he could determine the life and death of 100,000 citizens.
Being able to become a valued guest of the Jinling Governor clearly showed that the status of this Fang Haoran was much more respected than what she had guessed.
Hua Rou followed Fang Haoran and saw him entering the single room. He didn’t care about becoming filthy and directly jumped into the common bath pool. He cupped his hand and scooped up some water. Not only did he bring it near his nose to smell it, but he even stuck out his tongue to lick the water.
“Esteemed customer!”
Hua Rou was badly shocked. Other than the behavior of the other party being too disgusting, she was also worried that he would cause countless troubles to fall on her head if he died because of it.
Usually speaking, all the medicine packets were for external usage during baths. One mustn’t consume them or something bad would happen.
“Noisy!”
Fang Haoran was very angry upon being disturbed. “All of you, scram!”
Hua Rou was scolded ruthlessly, but as a businesswoman, she endured it and put on a smiling face as she retreated. After that, she instructed her workers.
“Pay close attention and observe him!”
Hua Rou’s ample figure shook as she went down the stairs. However, her mind was filled with Sun Mo’s image. How miraculous was his medicine packet exactly? It actually managed to gain the interest of a major character?
After returning to school, Sun Mo parted ways with Xuanyuan Po and the others.
“System, can the prescription of the medicine packet be bought from the merchant store?”
Sun Mo asked. “You can purchase it for 50,000 favorable impression points!”
The system’s words were concise and comprehensive.
“The pricing is actually the same as the great teacher halo?”
Sun Mo clicked his tongue.
“The majority of the prescriptions in the store were even more expensive!”
The system explained. For something like that, once one learned it, they would be able to benefit from it their entire life. Hence, the price was expensive.
It intended to let the host learn how to treasure things.
“Forget it, in any case, 100 favorable impression points aren’t expensive either. It should be sufficient if I bathe with the medicine packet once a week.”
Sun Mo gave up the idea of getting the giant medicine packet’s prescription. He returned to his dorm and took his spirit rune tools as well as a potted plant. He then headed to the Sorrowless Lake and continued doing his mission.
During this week, Sun Mo had created a spirit gathering potted plant for each of his personal students. His drawing technique was also steadily improving.
With his improvement in his skill, he began to start imagining more stuff.
Sun Mo was already not satisfied drawing spirit gathering runes on ordinary green plants. Thus, he spent a huge amount of money to purchase a pot of snowrose.
Snowrose was a plant with many leaves, roughly about several hundreds. It was suitable to be an ornamental-type of potted plant.
Sun Mo not only wanted to draw a spirit gathering rune on each of the leaves, but he also wanted to link them all up into a spirit gathering formation.
Sun Mo’s trip to the Sorrowless Lake lasted until late at night. The moon was high in the sky, cascading down its silvery-white rays.
Sun Mo stood up and stretched. After that, he glanced at the quiet campus. He was speechless.
No matter how strong a body was, it also needed sustenance. At the very least, Sun Mo didn’t feel hungry at all. This was why he was so concentrated and could put in all his effort, causing him to end up forgetting the time.
“The canteen should be closed by now,
right?”
Sun Mo packed his stuff and headed outside the school, intending to look for food. When he stepped on the main path, he saw a young girl pulling along a handcart walking past him.
“It’s that 777!”*
Sun Mo’s eyes brightened. He was acquainted with this girl. Back then during the first day of the student recruitment meet, she told him she could become his personal disciple, but he had to pay her 100,000 taels of silver first.
It was a young girl who loved money so much that she could die.
However, after seeing the clothes the girl was wearing, Sun Mo understood.
Her name was Ying Baiwu. This name was very nice to hear and was also unique. She wasn’t like other teenage girls who had long hair and would maintain their looks meticulously. She directly chose to cut her hair and keep it short instead.
This was naturally not because of any special reasons. The only reason was because she was too busy and too tired of life. She basically had no time to maintain her long hair. Besides, she could save some money on soap if she had short hair.
Although soap wasn’t expensive and cost only a few copper coins, Ying Baiwu couldn’t afford it.
Her figure was thin, and signs of doing physical labor could be seen from her pale countenance and fatigued expression. However, her gaze was sharp. With her clearly defined features, she seemed to exude an aura of sharpness like an unsheathed dagger.
Sun Mo followed her. He watched as she pulled the handcart and stopped at the back entrance of the canteen.
Ying Baiwu entered, but not long later, she carried out a rubbish bin that was even taller than her. She then poured the swill and slop in the bin into the large wooden bucket on the handcart.
Huala- Huala
A rancid and pungent smell permeated the air.
Sun Mo covered his nose. However, Ying Baiwu glanced at the swill. Her throat moved as she involuntarily swallowed a gulp of saliva. After that, her stomach began to grumble.
“Damn!”
Ying Baiwu lifted her feet and ruthlessly kicked the rubbish bin as she cursed, “Is there a need to waste so much food? Do you guys know how many people go hungry every day?”
There were still bits of meat and noodle strands in it, and these were things Ying Baiwu usually couldn’t afford to eat.
Ying Baiwu only managed to fill her handcart completely after entering and exiting the canteen three times. After that, she pulled her handcart along, intending to head to the rubbish area in Jinling to throw it.
Ying Baiwu had this job for three entire years. In the past, she was only assisting her father, but after her father’s legs were broken because he owed debts through gambling and couldn’t walk anymore, Ying Baiwu could only do it herself.
A job such as the transportation of swill was too dirty. If she did it in the day, it would affect Jinling City’s environment and cause inconvenience for pedestrians and merchants.
The entire Central Province Academy, with students and teachers, exceeded 10,000 in number, and they produced plenty of rubbish every day. Ying Baiwu had to use the entire night before she could barely transport all the trash over.
Looking at Ying Baiwu’s skinny figure pulling the handcart, slowly making her way to her destination, Sun Mo couldn’t help but sigh.
She was wearing clothes made from sackcloth. Not only was her clothes completely bleached due to washing too many times, but over ten patches could also be seen on it. She was really poor to the extreme. No one could be poorer.
Outside the school, there were three shops that operated for 24 hours a day. Sun Mo wasn’t choosy, and he casually ate something and he got the waiter to pack his take-away of 0.5 kg of beef and two baked sesame seeds-coated cakes.
Sun Mo didn’t return to the dorm. Instead, he sat on the grassy area at the roadside. While he drew spirit runes under the light of the moon, he was also paying attention to the canteen’s back entrance.
After half an hour, Ying Baiwu returned. Her sackcloth clothes were already drenched in sweat. Every step she took would cause droplets of sweat to fall onto the ground, forming a tiny wet spot.
After another round of being busy, Ying Baiwu once again filled the wooden bucket on her handcart with swill. After that, she left and headed toward the rubbish area once more. However, before she walked too far, she stopped and directly walked to the grassy area.
“Have you watched enough?”
Ying Baiwu roared in a low voice, akin to an enraged tigress. When Sun Mo stood up, her expression immediately changed upon noticing that he was wearing the azure-colored teacher robes.
“Oh damn! Why is it a teacher?”
Ying Baiwu wanted to leave, but she was worried that this teacher might report to the school if she left right away. If that really happened, she would lose this job.
Honestly speaking, this job was very tiring. Ying Baiwu had long since wanted to quit. But if she didn’t have this job, what should her whole family eat? They couldn’t possibly depend on her mother’s income that came solely from embroidery, right?”
“There’s someone who watched you before?”
Sun Mo was curious. From Ying Baiwu’s meaning, it seemed that this was not the first time she had encountered something like this.
Ying Baiwu didn’t reply, but her hand was holding onto the firewood knife attached to her waist.
During these three years, she had encountered too many people who wanted to harass her. Beggars who were sleeping by the side of the roads, gangsters who idled their time away, and those two school workers who were disgustingly lecherous. All of them wanted to take advantage of her. If it wasn’t for the fact that Ying Baiwu was ruthless enough, she would have been dragged by someone into the grassy areas and raped.
Sun Mo furrowed his brows, but he involuntarily nodded after thinking about it. A young girl transporting swill in the middle of the night. It would be strange if nothing happened to her.
“You should be hungry after doing so much work, right?”
Sun Mo took out a paper bag. “Take it. I finished my supper and I got some food for you too!”
Ying Baiwu’s eyes narrowed, and her gaze was filled with a little bewilderment. After that, her expression turned ferocious. “I have my limbs with me, I don’t need your sympathy!”
After she finished speaking, she suddenly moved forward and snatched the paper bag away.
“Eh!”
Sun Mo was stunned. (I thought you didn’t want it from your words?)
“Hmph, this is the compensation you own me for insulting my character.”
Ying Baiwu glared at Sun Mo.
“Hehe!”
Sun Mo smiled. This was a girl who felt inferior yet was also very cunning. She didn’t want others to look down on her, but she was unwilling to miss out on so much food as well. Hence, she used such a method to obtain the food, changing the terms from sympathy to compensation. “Had people attacked you before?”
Sun Mo was curious. “Earlier when you came over, what were you intending to do?”
Ying Baiwu didn’t say anything. She went back to her handcart and continued to work.
“You can’t possibly be threatening others to extort them of their money, right?”
Sun Mo followed her. He recalled her look of wanting money so bad that she could die for it when he first met her in the past.
“Who the hell are you to care?”
Ying Baiwu glared at Sun Mo. After that, her gaze turned to his teacher robes. “If you have not joined the faculty officially, you would be in huge trouble if you wear such clothes.”
“I’m a teacher, an official one.”
Sun Mo laughed. “An official one?”
After hearing this, Ying Baiwu seriously surveyed Sun Mo for the first time. Wait a minute, why did he seem so familiar. Had she met him before in the student recruitment meet?
[1] 777 is referring to the girl’s stats when Sun Mo first met her during the student recruitment meet.