Peach Haven Village (4)

After taking two blows from Ding Shi's stick, A Cai finally spoke clearly. "Village chief, he... he knows sorcery."

The crowd burst into laughter.

A Cai was so anxious his face and neck turned red. "Really! A-Wang and I saw it with our own eyes. He was holding my family's woodcutter in his left hand, then it suddenly vanished into thin air. When we caught up to him, he made the woodcutter appear out of nowhere."

The players knew it was an item card, a skill exclusive to players, but in A Cai's eyes, it was sorcery.

The village chief said, "Impossible. Since the founding of the nation, there have been no demons or ghosts."

Ding Shi reminded him, "Village chief, we're in Ita World, not Earth. The local currency is knives, not yuan."

The village chief found that reasonable and eyed Li Si warily. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Li Si laughed in exasperation. "Isn't it just a woodcutter?"

The village chief said, "We're talking about sorcery."

Li Si said, "Hasn't the system blocked off your awareness? You're just NPCs. This is a skill we players have."

Li Si looked at Ding Shi. "He can do it too. All us players can. It's not sorcery."

Ding Shi protested, "I can't. I'm just a college student." Fuck. He was trying to drag everyone down with him.

For example, if a powerful alien came to Earth and pulled a gold bar from thin air, would Earthlings automatically overlook the suddenly appearing gold bar? Of course not. Yet Yita had never used the words "game" or "player."

The villagers and village chief could accept ghosts and gods, but they had no concept of players. Naturally, they believed Ding Shi. After all, no normal person would believe Li Si's explanation.

The village chief said, "Put the knife down first."

Li Si asked, "And then?" If returning the knife would settle this, he was willing to return it.

After hesitating for a moment, the village chief said, "You did take A Cai's family's woodcutter. You should leave our village."

Someone nearby chimed in, "We Peach Haven Village don't welcome thieves." He did not believe in sorcery, but the woodcutter was in Li Si's hands. Li Si taking A Cai's knife was a fact.

"Right, right." Some people took the attitude that it was better to believe in sorcery than not. Since they now had a reason to send him away, that was for the best.

Li Si looked around. The villagers were clearly hostile toward him, so he gritted his teeth...

Ding Shi received a system notification: Li Si had transferred two knives to you. Click to accept.

Not bad. He had gotten money. It was probably stolen loot. Villagers could not see personal system interfaces, and players could not see one another's system interfaces either.

Ding Shi accepted the money without hesitation. "Village chief, I don't think what he used was sorcery."

The village chief asked suspiciously, "Then what was it?"

"Magic." Ding Shi rubbed his hands together and blew on his left hand. A clump of earthworms appeared in his palm, startling everyone on the spot. Several young wives and girls disliked soft-bodied creatures and shrieked in fright.

Ding Shi raised his right hand to draw their attention, then blew on his left hand again. Only one earthworm remained inside. At that moment, a child exposed Ding Shi's trick. "There are earthworms on the ground. He secretly threw them away."

Ding Shi chuckled. "That's magic, not sorcery."

The village chief believed him somewhat. After all, that satisfaction rating of 10 was right there. He hesitated. "But the woodcutter..."

Ding Shi leaned close and whispered into the village chief's ear, "Village chief, the night patrol is short-handed. Everyone will be watching him now, so he won't be able to steal anything. Instead of letting a thief leave, why not make the thief do more work? If you really don't trust him, just search him before he leaves Peach Haven Village. The ritual is what matters most, Village Chief."

The village chief deeply agreed. He nodded and said, "Li Si, return the woodcutter to A Cai, and I'll believe you for now. But let me make this clear: if your hands aren't clean again, we'll break them."

The village chief was not joking. In those days, when thieves were caught, it was extremely common for them to be beaten to death or crippled. Some were thrown into rivers or dung pits and drowned. The authorities could not catch anyone because thieves usually appeared during market days. A whole market would surround the thief so tightly that not even water could pass through. One person threw a punch, another kicked, and no one knew who had beaten the thief to death.

The villagers had only blocked him without attacking, and the village chief had remained polite earlier, only because they feared his so-called sorcery—not because they feared thieves.

Li Si was a smart man as well. He immediately returned the knife and apologized.

Ding Shi, the lackey, waved his hand. "All right, disperse."

The village chief watched the crowd depart and nodded in satisfaction. "Little Ding, come eat at my place at noon. Don't forget."

Village chief satisfaction: 13.

Dispute quest completed. Rating: A. Received 0.9 knives.

Ding Shi was still thinking about the Treatise on Ghosts in the library. He climbed the steps and headed for the library when the village chief, who had not gone far, shouted, "Little Ding!"

Ding Shi quickly walked over to him. "Village chief, I'm here."

A married woman stood beside the village chief. The village chief said irritably, "Go keep Auntie Wang company for a while."

Ding Shi was shocked. He looked at Auntie Wang's pockmarked face and was even more shocked. He immediately lowered his voice. "Village chief, isn't this improper? It's indecent."

The village chief sighed and lowered his voice as well. "Auntie Wang is really into that sort of thing. She's addicted too deeply. It's fine. I'll have my daughter-in-law bring you lunch at noon."

Ding Shi's pupils instantly widened. It was only a little after nine. Lunch? How long was this supposed to last? And his daughter-in-law would bring lunch? What the hell did that mean?

Ding Shi hurriedly said, "Village chief, whether I have principles is one thing. The key is that I have standards." If it were Haitang, it might not be impossible. After all, she had no boyfriend and he had no girlfriend, so there would be no moral pressure.

After thinking for a while, the village chief pulled out a five-knife bill from his pocket and slapped it into Ding Shi's hand. "Put it on my tab."

Five rolls of toilet paper? Was I really that cheap?

While Ding Shi haggled with the village chief, Auntie Wang impatiently said, "Why are you dragging this out? My two companions are already tired of waiting. Can you do it or not?"

A cold sweat trickled down Ding Shi's temple. He suddenly understood why Li Si had wanted to steal the woodcutter.

He definitely could not do this. He began considering whether he could knock Auntie Wang out with the Stone Card and make a run for the village.

The village chief patted Ding Shi helplessly. "If you lose, it's on me. If you win, it's yours."

"Huh?" The village chief expected him to win? Where did that confidence come from? Had he never heard of a bull being worked to death?

By the time Ding Shi figured it out, he was already seated at the mahjong table, cursing inwardly, Fuck, couldn't you have just said so? Three Missing One meant you needed a fourth player? You scared the hell out of me.

Auntie Wang introduced Auntie Li and Auntie Zhang, then explained the mahjong rules. They used Japanese scoring rules: Riichi, Pure Double Sequence, Mixed Triple Chow, Half Flush, Pure One Suit, and so on.

Ding Shi actually understood it. Back when he had been a street punk, he had managed arcade parlors for the gang. The arcades had mahjong machines, and the games inside were Japanese mahjong matches. But in a match against the machine, skill and luck alone were not enough. The owner could adjust the payout rate, generally between 60% and 75%. At 60%, for example, if you put in 100 tokens, the machine would return 60 tokens. It was something that guaranteed you would lose in the long run, yet it still attracted plenty of people who thought they were chosen by heaven.

(Not talking about stocks. Definitely not talking about stocks. Don't read too much into it.)

Once Ding Shi confirmed that this was an ordinary mahjong table rather than an automatic shuffling table, the three aunties became three fat sheep in his eyes. He had managed gambling dens for the gang and caught many cheaters. To wreck rival gambling dens, he had learned plenty of cheating techniques, practicing them for fun whenever he had free time.