Chapter 60: Better And Better

Near the Zhaoge prison, everyone from the Dragon-Tiger Gang was staring at Xiao Haonü in the middle.

Xiao Haonü was nine chi tall. Even squatting on the ground, he was still a massive lump, let alone now, when he stood ramrod straight. His burly build, eyes as large as bronze bells, and the scar over his left eye made him look even fiercer and stronger.

Everyone in the Dragon-Tiger Gang had originally thought their boss was merely a dragon trapped in shallow waters. It did not matter. They had already served their sentences and been released. Once they walked out of Zhaoge, they would all be fine men again. But they had never expected their boss to actually want to put down roots in these shallow waters!

One underling questioned him in disbelief, “Boss, our cultivation has all come back. What are you still worried about? What’s so good about this place?”

Xiao Haonü asked instead, “Is there anything bad about this place?”

The question left everyone stunned. The underling stammered, “There’s a spiritual vein here, but where on the Immortal Continent doesn’t have spiritual veins? Are we supposed to stay here and swallow humiliation instead of going to the Immortal Continent?”

Xiao Haonü asked, “Does going to the Immortal Continent mean we won’t be mistreated?”

Then he added, “I heard a boat ticket to the Immortal Continent costs ten spirit stones, and once you’re on the boat, you still have to pay protection money.”

The scene fell silent.

After a long while, Xiao Haonü said, “So many people outside want to get in and can’t. Anyway, I’ve already decided to stay here until Foundation Establishment. Those of you who want to stay can stay. Those who want to leave can leave. Just take it as if we were never brothers.”

The underlings looked at one another.

Seeing that no one moved, Xiao Haonü turned and went back to his prison cell to pack his things.

In truth, there were some heartfelt words Xiao Haonü could not say plainly to his underlings. Otherwise, it would damage his dignity as the boss. Though ever since his real name had been exposed, he did not have much dignity left.

At first, Xiao Haonü had only wanted to recover his cultivation and leave Zhaoge. Later, once Zhaoge gained a spiritual vein, Xiao Haonü’s plans inevitably changed. His spiritual power had been sealed, not crippled. He could still sense spiritual qi, and he could still use Zhaoge’s spiritual qi to cultivate. During this time, his cultivation had already quietly risen to the seventh level of Qi Refining. He simply had not mentioned it to anyone.

But that alone was not enough to make him stay in Zhaoge. What truly made him set his mind on it was what had happened in the Punishment Hall today.

Xiao Haonü had never dared hope he would be let out. He had only thought of finding a chance to pledge allegiance to Zhaoge’s master after his cultivation improved. As for whether he would turn against them in the future, that would depend on when he could use Zhaoge’s spiritual qi to become a practitioner.

But Zhaoge was actually willing to let him go! They had truly given him a fair trial!

No one could understand the shock Xiao Haonü had felt at that moment. This bandit chief with a notorious reputation had almost burst into tears right there in the Punishment Hall.

It was as if he had always been walking through a swamp, and could only climb ashore by stepping on others. Xiao Haonü did not want to sink into the swamp and suffocate, nor did he want to be trampled down by others, so he could only be vicious. He could only resort to any means necessary to rob and plunder…

He could no longer remember what he had once been like. He only knew that he had become fiercer and fiercer, cruder and cruder. Every time he stepped on someone, he had to mock them as much as he pleased. After all, that was how he himself had been stepped on before. Now that it was his turn to step on others, of course he had to vent that anger viciously. Occasionally, he would also be stepped on by others, but that did not matter. He would gather his strength and make a comeback!

But now, among those people standing high and lofty on the shore, someone had actually looked back and reached out a hand to pull him up. They had told him there was such a place, a place where he could live another way, where he did not have to step on others to reach the shore.

Xiao Haonü had originally thought this world was all the same, that whoever was most ruthless was strongest. Yet the facts told him otherwise. At least Zhaoge was not like that.

The world he had once perceived seemed to overturn in an instant, leaving him dazed for a long while. It was not until Granny Mo handed him that bag of money that he slowly came back to himself.

On the way back to the prison cell, no one made things difficult for him. There was only a Xuanyuan Guard informing him that he had to move out of the cell.

And those two people he had beaten before—one was the hall master of the Punishment Hall, and the other now held an important post inside Zhaoge. Yet neither of them bore a grudge against him. Even with old resentment between them, they were still willing to let him go!

All kinds of tangled thoughts ran through Xiao Haonü’s mind, but in the end, only one thought remained: perhaps he really could stay in Zhaoge and live another way.

Xiao Haonü was not the sort to drag his feet. He quickly packed his luggage and left the prison cell. During this period of working for Granny Mo, he had saved up a modest sum of money and planned to rent a room in Zhaoge.

Zhaoge was carrying out construction every day, and outsiders were entering every day. Housing had always been in short supply, so some residents rented out rooms in their own homes.

However, no one nearby would rent to Xiao Haonü. Only Granny Mo would give him a kind look. But Xiao Haonü knew that everyone living in this area was among the first batch of residents who had clashed with him back then. He did not want to stay here and annoy people, much less make things difficult for Granny Mo, so he took his luggage to the west side of the valley to rent a room.

But renting a room in Zhaoge’s inner city was not easy. After all, some people still had no choice but to live in temporary shacks built in the outer city!

Xiao Haonü did not hold out much hope, but unexpectedly, he really did find a household with an empty room.

That family’s surname was Hao. Their household of five consisted of the old, the weak, the sick, the young, and the thin, and they were all true mortals besides, the sort he could knock down ten of with one punch. Xiao Haonü was somewhat worried. With his huge build and fierce reputation, would they be willing to rent him a room?

Little did he know that Granny Hao’s family was worried too!

Their family’s situation was special. With care from the Poverty Relief Office, they had not only received light work, but during the second lottery for housing, they had also been arranged to draw first. That was how they had obtained a house in the western district of the inner city. At the time, many of those arranged to draw later had houses that had not even been built yet, and at night they could only squeeze into shacks with others!

However, Zhaoge was very fair. Although Granny Hao’s family had received care and had priority in drawing lots for housing, their wages were thirty percent lower than others’. As for those who drew lots later than them, their houses were somewhat larger than theirs.

But Granny Hao’s family were not the kind of greedy people who did not know gratitude. The Poverty Relief Office treated them generously and even provided free medicinal decoctions to nourish their family members’ health. They were already endlessly grateful.

The family did light work while nursing their bodies back to health. Seeing that more than a month had passed and everyone in the family was getting better and better, especially Granny Hao’s sickly son, who now had more flesh on his face and a sturdier body, the whole family was happy from the bottom of their hearts.

Once their bodies improved, the family naturally had new plans.

A few nights ago, when her daughter Hao Jinhua was sitting with Granny Hao picking vegetables, she brought up the matter of renting out a room.

Granny Hao had never considered it before. Hearing this, she shook her head. “That only works for people with big houses and few family members. How could our family earn that money?”

Hao Jinhua did not agree. She said, “Right now, there are many people who want to enter Zhaoge and too few rooms. If we don’t take this chance to earn a little more, we won’t have the chance later.” She analyzed it for her mother. “Our family’s bodies are more or less recovered now. Next month, we can go talk to the steward and ask to switch to different work. That way, we can earn more money and save it up. Since our family came here, we haven’t saved a single coin! The family next door came with us, and yesterday I saw them go to the Heavenly Garment Workshop to buy cloth for clothes!”

The Heavenly Garment Workshop had already opened for business. They had never even seen the silk produced there before. Of course, the cloth bought by the family next door could not possibly be silk. Families like theirs could not afford silk either. It was the cotton cloth that the Heavenly Garment Workshop had recently begun producing. It was said that the City Lord had brought the seeds back from other continents, and the cloth woven from it was both soft and thick. Hao Jinhua was very envious when she saw it.

She said, “The weather’s getting colder by the day. In another two months, it’ll be New Year. At the very least, our family has to make padded clothes for the winter, right? Little Bao is growing up too. I asked around and heard there’s a Miss Lu in the eastern district teaching children. We need to prepare a little tuition and send Little Bao over to learn a few characters…”

Hao Jinhua rambled on for a long while, and only then did Granny Hao realize their family was far more short of money than she had expected. Their family had not been born slaves, so they naturally knew how important reading and writing were. Moreover, this New Year would be the first New Year after the family’s hardships had finally ended. In their simple way of thinking, they had to prepare properly to drive away bad luck.

Granny Hao was persuaded by her daughter. After mother and daughter discussed it for a while, they decided it was fine for the family to squeeze together and free up one room to rent out for some silver.

The house Zhaoge had allocated to them was the same kind of small courtyard as the first batch in the eastern district. It had two floors. Upstairs were two bedrooms, while downstairs were the main room and the kitchen. In one bedroom, Granny Hao lived with her daughter and granddaughter. The other room would be rented out. Her son and son-in-law would make do by sleeping on the floor in the main room.

However, the sign had been hanging outside for several days, and they had also asked the neighbors to help introduce people, yet somehow, they had still been unable to rent it out.

There was no other reason. The people who came to see the room either disliked that their family had too many people and found it inconvenient, or wanted to bring a huge family along to rent that one room in their house. The former was something other people could not accept, while the latter was something their family could not accept.

Now that someone had finally come to the door today, Granny Hao instructed her daughter, “What hardships didn’t we endure when we were slaves before? Why have we become so delicate now? This time, you’re not allowed to be picky. As long as we can rent it out, that’s enough!”

Hao Jinhua muttered, “Weren’t you picky before too?”

When they opened the door and saw a tall, sturdy man, the whole family’s eyes lit up. Wonderful, there was only one person!

Before Xiao Haonü came to Zhaoge, he had been a bandit. He carried a fierce bandit air that said he was not easy to provoke, and he had committed plenty of deeds robbing passing practitioners and wealthy people. He knew very well how afraid ordinary people were of people like him. One look at this family, and he assumed the rental definitely would not work out.

Looks like I can only sleep on the street!

Unexpectedly, Granny Hao’s family seemed afraid he would run off. They grabbed him and warmly welcomed him inside.

Xiao Haonü asked strangely, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll hit people?”

Granny Hao’s family thought, Zhaoge’s public security is excellent! The Xuanyuan Guards pass by the door every day. If he dares hit anyone, all we have to do is shout, and the officials will immediately drive him out. But on the surface, in order not to scare off the tenant, they remained warm and enthusiastic, asking after his well-being.

Xiao Haonü did not know what they were thinking. Seeing that this family did not recognize him, was not afraid of him, and was so warm toward him, he could not help feeling somewhat moved. His decision was not wrong. Zhaoge really was a good place! The common people here were so simple and honest.

Next Chapter >