Lu Ling

At noon, Lu Li sat down in front of a buckwheat noodle stall, yawning as he quietly watched the owner cook the noodles.

This owner hadn't poisoned anything, so it should be safe to eat.

Lu Li was in a good mood. He had sold three spots that morning, amounting to dozens of jin of spirit ore, and earned thirty spirit stones in total. His total assets had successfully surpassed one hundred spirit stones.

In just five days, the false name Duan Li had spread through nearly all of Treasure Flow River. Every gold panner who passed by bowed and scraped before him. The way they addressed him had risen from "kid," to "Brother Duan," "Big Brother Duan," and now, even mortals called him Young Master Duan.

Yet whenever people saw the little bundle he carried with him, they could not help revealing greedy looks. A hundred spirit stones—such an unexpected fortune was more than they could earn in a lifetime.

Under Lu Li's watchful gaze, the noodles came out of the pot. His meal had also gone from a bowl of buckwheat noodles with two liang of beef to a bowl of buckwheat noodles with two liang of beef and one liang of pork head meat.

Lu Li held chopsticks in one hand and picked up a piece of pork head meat to put into his mouth, while his other hand covered the bundle resting on his thigh.

Inside were his hundred spirit stones. This was money that could save his life. He was afraid someone might steal it if he left it on the boat; only keeping it close to his body was truly safe.

He was only halfway through his meal when a portly middle-aged man suddenly approached from the front. Unlike the other gold panners, he had not lost his hair from exposure to spirit ore.

"Yo, Young Master Duan, eating?"

"You are...?"

"Young Master Duan forgot me so quickly? Truly, noble people have poor memories. My surname is Liu—you rented that boat of yours from me."

"Oh..."

Lu Li remembered. This fellow was Old Liu, the boat renter. Before Lu Li could speak, Old Liu called out to the noodle stall owner behind him.

"Shopkeeper, bring out a jar of wine. This meal is on me, for Young Master Duan."

The man's enthusiasm made Lu Li uncomfortable all over. He was practically a different person from that day. Was he trying to sweet-talk him into buying a boat?

Lu Li wasn't falling for it.

"Young Master Duan, to be honest, the boss sent me to have a little talk with you."

"The boss?"

"Our boss is Lord Monkey King. Give your brother here the truth—how many spots do you still have in hand?"

"What do you want?"

"That river map of yours—Lord Monkey King wants to buy it."

As for how he could find so many spots, Lu Li's explanation was that his father had left him a river map, marked with many places where spirit ore easily settled.

In reality, there were no so-called spots. Every night, he poled his boat out to find them, then sold them the next day. There wasn't even one extra, so where could he possibly produce some river map?

Besides, after these past few days, Lu Li had already picked the spots within a dozen or so li clean. Even if he found any remaining ones, he did not plan to sell them. He would keep them to dig himself, then leave once he gathered one hundred and seventy spirit stones.

So Lu Li said directly, "They're basically all sold."

"Lord Monkey King wants every last one. One spirit stone per spot. Are you selling or not? Give me a straight answer."

The final price of a spot had settled at around two spirit stones each. Lu Li had thought this Monkey King was some extravagant tycoon. One spirit stone per spot—how did this guy have the nerve to offer that?

"I know the price is a bit low, but think about it. Monkey King is our boss. He controls more than a hundred li of the lower reaches of Treasure Flow River. Sell to him cheaply, and there'll definitely be benefits for you later."

"I'm terribly sorry, but I didn't bring the river map with me. Maybe next time."

Lu Li put on an apologetic expression, quickly finished his noodles, stuffed the remaining pork head meat into his mouth, then got up and left.

It was not as if Lu Li had never considered making a fake river map, marking a few extra spots on it, swindling some money, and running away.

But on second thought, in three days at most and two days at best, he would have enough money to leave this place. At such a critical juncture, Lu Li did not want to stir up extra trouble.

The moment he left, Old Liu's smile gradually stiffened, and a trace of viciousness flashed through his eyes.

The dim room was so quiet it was frightening.

Lu Li opened his eyes and felt an indescribable strangeness in his body. Looking down, the ground seemed much farther away than he remembered. Had he grown taller?

No—he was hanging from the ceiling beam!

Lu Li moved his feet, only to discover that they were off the ground and he could not move at all. An odd sensation came from around his neck. He raised a hand to feel it, and it seemed to be a hemp rope.

This sight... why did it feel like he was hanging himself?

Why would he be hanging himself!?

Lu Li looked around. The stove, the heated brick bed... the furnishings around him were so familiar. This was his home, that dilapidated thatched hut.

I'm back?

Why am I back?

Could this be a dream?

Countless thoughts flashed through Lu Li's mind. He vaguely remembered that he should have been at Treasure Flow River. His hands and feet could still move, but he simply could not exert any strength.

Or perhaps the hundred spirit stones, the First-Turn Breath Furnace, and the immortal granny had all been nothing but a grand dream. In truth, he had never left this thatched hut, not once.

Everything had been a fantasy before he hanged himself.

Lu Li wanted to get down, only to find that he could not. So he felt himself over, confirming his current condition—but when his hand reached his chest, he actually touched a soft mass?

Hey, hey, hey—what kind of joke is this? Was hers really this big?

Uh, it wasn't that big either, but no matter how you looked at it, it didn't look like a man's size, did it? He—he—he really turned into a girl!?

Not something like this!

Bang!

Just then, the wooden door was pushed open, and a withered, gaunt woman walked in. Her skin was dark, a bundle of firewood was strapped to her back, and a few bits of grass clung to her graying hair.

That was his mother.

"Ling'er!"

Ling'er? Was she calling him?

Lu Li's confusion deepened, because Ling'er was his little sister's pet name. Her full name was Lu Ling, and she had been frail and sickly since childhood.

The woman rushed over in a fluster, hugged her, then lifted her down from the beam. She slapped her across the face, and pain burned hot against her cheek.

"You foolish child! Are you trying to anger me to death? Why aren't you lying properly in bed? Why are you tormenting yourself like this?"

Lu Li had just opened her mouth to speak, but her mouth would not obey her. A childish, weak voice choked with tears came from her throat.

"Mother, I'm a burden."

"You silly little fool, what nonsense are you talking about?"

Drip~

A warm, wet sensation slid down her cheek, yet Lu Li did not know why she was crying.

"Mother, tell me—if I die, will there be money for Brother to attend the private school?"

At those words, the woman bit her lip hard, then stepped forward and slapped Lu Ling across the face again. She pointed at Lu Ling, trembling all over with rage, unable to speak for a long while. In the end, she pulled Lu Ling into her arms and broke down sobbing.

"You foolish child, why must you make yourself suffer like this? Even if you die, what use would that be?"

"Mother, I remember Father bought insurance for me before. As long as I die, you'll be able to get money. My illness can't be cured anyway, so I might as well die sooner. Brother has been clever since he was little. As long as he can study, he'll surely become a great master metalworker like Father someday."