Gouzi

After arriving in Yangcheng, Gouzi first helped me find a hotel and put my things away. I didn't bring much, just a few magical artifacts and a couple of changes of clothes.

After settling my things, Gouzi and I found a nearby restaurant.

The restaurant wasn't large, but it looked very clean.

It was only ten in the morning, so it wasn't too crowded.

We've known each other for years, and the first thing we always do when we meet is have a good drink. We'll talk about other things while drinking, or after we're done.

We casually ordered four dishes. It's not for any other reason, but when ordering food, you either order two dishes or four.

In our Northeast region, three dishes are usually for offerings or placed before a coffin when someone passes away. In plain terms, three dishes for the living is considered unlucky.

For a while, people online used this as a joke. When they wanted to insult someone, they'd say, "With your kind of personality, you'll never get to eat four dishes in this lifetime," which is a serious insult.

Also, when guests visit our home, we definitely serve four to six dishes; even numbers are considered auspicious.

If we go to someone's house as guests and they only serve three dishes, we definitely won't go again next time. It's a way of insulting you.

Perhaps sometimes people don't think about it that way, but it also means they don't take you seriously.

Gouzi and I ordered a plate of smashed cucumber, a must-have when drinking, and then garlic chicken feet.

We also ordered two hot dishes: Golden Needle Beef and Braised Eggplant.

Before the food was ready, we asked the owner to bring a dozen cold beers, which is six bottles. Of course, we weren't just drinking this much, but we were afraid if we took too many, they wouldn't stay cold.

The owner brought us a plate of peanuts and sunflower seeds to snack on.

My brother and I clinked our bottles. While shelling peanuts, we chatted about our experiences over the past period.

After all the dishes were served, we each downed four or five large green bottles.

I was the first to bring up the matter at hand.

"Old Gouzi, what's the deal with Teacher Wu?"

"Damn, I don't know either. His house is pretty far from mine. I live at the west end of the village, and he's at the far east end. I was in Beijing for years, you know that.

Then I went south with you. After returning home earlier this year due to family matters, I haven't been in much contact with the villagers. I didn't even know Teacher Wu had gone crazy until my mom told me.

The villagers had already called the police. The police and people from the mental hospital came, but they couldn't do anything.

But the villagers wouldn't stand for it. They kept going to the township office to protest, demanding that Teacher Wu's situation be resolved. Otherwise, the common people wouldn't have any peace, and I heard that several sows had already been harmed.

The township office realized they couldn't ignore it. If the situation escalated and reached higher authorities, it wouldn't be good for anyone.

So they thought about spending some money to find someone who could handle such matters, like a Spirit Medium. They tried five different groups, but none of them worked. They either burned paper and drew talismans or chanted scriptures loudly, but it was all useless.

I thought, aren't you, Old Ghost, cultivating Buddhism and understanding the Dao? I always heard you talking about your Dharma Body and Supernatural Abilities and whatnot. I don't understand it, but I figured if you could handle it, wouldn't that be perfect? We brothers could just make this money."

Since Gouzi and I met, he's always called me Old Ghost because back then, when I was live-streaming, my online name was Gui Gui, and his was Gouzi, so I called him Old Gouzi, and he always called me Old Ghost.

Hearing this, it wasn't hard to guess that Gouzi might not have had a great time during the past six months he was back, or perhaps he hadn't earned much money at all. What he had told me before about things being good and fine was probably just him saving face and not daring to say it directly.

I took out two Hongta Shan cigarettes and offered him one.

After Gouzi lit mine.

I exhaled, chuckled, and my demeanor suddenly changed. I said seriously:

"It's not me bragging to you, brother. I'll tell you the truth, some of the things I said when I first achieved enlightenment might have sounded a bit crazy.

But today, it's not just because I've had a few drinks and I'm bragging to you, brother. In this world, anything that isn't human, I can handle!"

Upon hearing this, Gouzi's small eyes, hidden behind his gold-rimmed glasses, instantly lit up.

He knew me. I wasn't the type to brag after a few drinks.

Since I could say something like that, it must be something I could genuinely do, because I never say things I can't accomplish. Even when I brag, I only brag about things I've experienced.

"Holy shit, this is perfect, Old Ghost! If this works out, we'll make a solid thirty thousand. Isn't this great? Haha, damn, once I get the money, I'll treat you to the big bathhouse near the station."

Hearing this made me laugh.

I said with a sly smile:

"Haha, the whole package?"

"Heh heh, it has to be the whole package!" Gouzi replied with a sly grin.

Seeing Gouzi already fantasizing about the outcome before the job was even done, I joined in the banter.

Some friends might not understand what "the whole package" means, and some might.

Let me put it this way: this dragon isn't just any ordinary dragon; it's a coiled dragon, the kind that wraps around pillars.

I'm just having a few drinks and talking nonsense with him, joking around. How could a cultivator be tempted by such things? Even if I were to go, it would definitely be to borrow the experience to temper my resolve, not because I genuinely desired it.

It's like how Teacher Zhao Wenzhuo played Fahai, who was tempted by Green Snake to help him practice his skills. Unfortunately, he couldn't maintain his composure at the time and was "kneaded" bigger by Green Snake.

I definitely wouldn't be like that. With my self-control and my perfectly healthy body, it would get bigger even without being kneaded. But it's okay, I can maintain my composure. I wouldn't get angry and hit Green Snake like Fahai. I would just say thank you afterward. That's called a state of mind.

No matter how decadent the external appearance, the heart remains untainted. Cough, cough, cough.

After three rounds of drinks and five courses, as my brother and I became tipsy, Gouzi returned to his own hotel room.

Of course, don't misunderstand, everyone. He booked his own room; he didn't stay with me.

Someone might ask, what are two grown men afraid of?

This has to do with me, not Gouzi. When I was about eighteen or nineteen, a childhood friend of mine went out and got some kind of disease from who knows where.

He came over to my place and stayed the night. We were messing around, wrestling for the blankets, kicking each other. After he'd stayed two nights, I suddenly felt this itch down there, and in my groin too. Damn it!

When my mom finally took me to the hospital, the doctor said there was a 100% chance my friend had infected me. I said, "We didn't do anything, no real physical contact, just tussled over the blankets."

The doctor said this disease could spread through touching things, so it must have been from fighting over the blankets.

I didn't believe it at first, but when I called my friend, holy crap, he actually had the disease. He really screwed me over! It took a week of drinking and applying herbal medicine before I got better!

Ever since then, I've been super uncomfortable sleeping with men. Plus, I can't sleep if someone snores.

So, I either sleep alone or sleep with a woman. I absolutely do not sleep with men.

Why is it okay with women? What if a woman has this disease? Damn it, I don't want to talk about this topic anymore.