Chapter 53: Mentality Collapse
"Haha..." Ah Man laughed and patted Ye Liting on the shoulder: "Brother Li, hurry up and work. I'll invite you to go to the city to have fun at Yihongyuan tonight. You don't have to pay!"
"Really?" Ye Liting said excitedly, "Are you serious?"
"Keep your word!" said Ah Man.
"If I go, I'll have to drink better wine!" Ye Liting said, "You should know that I'm not used to drinking ordinary wine."
"I know you always drank top-grade aged Huadiao before, it's only five spirit stones for a pot, okay? How about it? Isn't it nice?" Ah Man patted his chest and said, "I won't say much today, since you said you want to treat Brother Li to a good time, I won't be reluctant to spend money!
I won't talk about the distant future. I'll just take out the total income from the last three days of slacking off, and we two brothers will have a good time tonight!"
"That's very nice!" Ye Liting patted Ah Man on the shoulder: "You've earned at least fifty dollars in three days, right?"
"Of course I have!" Ah Man said proudly, "Although I'm not as good as you and can catch more than 20 fish every day, it's still easy for me to catch 17 or 18 fish a day!"
"Then let's go with the standard of fifty tonight?" Ye Liting looked excited.
"Of course I have to!" Ah Man patted Ye Liting on the shoulder again: "Brother Li took good care of me in the Ye family before. You have been here for more than a month and I haven't treated you to a meal. Today I should treat Brother Li to a drink!"
"No!" Ye Liting suddenly shook his head and looked at Ah Man in disbelief: "I feel like you are just trying to make me happy. I've been here for so long, and you haven't even treated me to a meal. Today, you suddenly want to treat me to a drink. I don't believe it!"
"How did I make you happy? Brother Li, don't you really believe in my character?" Ah Man looked disappointed.
"Unless you put fifty spirit stones on me, I will believe that you will take me out to play tonight!" Ye Liting said.
"Brother Li, look at what you said... You underestimate me too much!" Ah Man immediately counted out fifty spirit stones and slapped them on Ye Liting's hand: "Come on, I'll do as you said, and the spirit stones will be on you. Now you should finally believe me!"
"Brother, you are so kind!" Ye Liting counted out twenty-five spirit stones happily and put them in his arms, then stuffed the remaining twenty-five spirit stones into Ah Man's hand: "Brother, I just suddenly remembered that I have to work overtime tonight to earn tuition for my son, so I won't go to Yihongyuan. Just cash in on your kindness!"
Ah Man: “…”
What the hell...
Discount?
What kind of operation is this? Is it possible to play like this?
"Brother Li, do you really have to be so frugal?" Ah Man said with disdain: "Men's hands are not meant for touching women. Sometimes you should give your hands a rest and touch a woman occasionally."
"Look at our hands now. How can we touch women? We will definitely cut some wounds on their delicate skin!" Ye Liting said.
"Brother Li, I don't care. If you don't go, you have to return the spirit stones to me!" At this moment, Ah Man felt like a big victim: "How can you play like this? I invited you to go because I love your partner. How can you cash it in? This is unreasonable..."
"Oh... the tide is rising, the fish are coming!" Ye Liting suddenly exclaimed, stood up and dived into the sea.
Ah Man: “…”
"Damn it, you might as well die of suffocation for your son!" Ah Man complained and was about to go to the sea, but at this moment, an old man's voice suddenly came from behind him: "Layman, I want to ask you, where is Ye Liting?"
"Hmm?" Ah Man turned his head and looked up and down at the old Taoist priest in front of him.
The old Taoist priest was in his seventies or eighties, with messy white hair and looked very sloppy. His robe, which had been washed so much that it turned white, was not only dirty, but also had several holes in it. He was holding a pipe about a foot long in his hand and was puffing on it.
It is obvious that this person could be anyone else but Wang Ergou.
If Ye Fei knew that his master had traveled thousands of kilometers overnight, he would definitely be amazed.
You know, the Qianxian Sect is only a little over a thousand miles away from Tianluo City, and Tianluo City is another thousand miles away from the Sea of Death.
It took them father and son more than half a month to walk from Tianluo City to Qianxian Sect, but Wang Ergou only took one night, or to be exact, only half the night, to cover more than twice the distance.
"Master Taoist, may I ask what you want to see Ye Liting about?" Ah Man asked politely.
"I am his son's master, and I have come here specially to discuss something important with him!" Wang Ergou said expressionlessly.
"Ah?" Ah Man exclaimed, "Master, could it be that something happened to his son? If that's the case, please don't tell him, because I'm afraid my brother Li can't bear it. After all, the only thing he cares about now is his adopted son!"
"No, no!" Wang Ergou shook his head: "I just came here to collect a debt."
"You want a debt?" Ah Man exclaimed again: "What debt do you want?"
"One is his son's subsequent tuition fees, and the other is some miscellaneous expenses such as living expenses that his son owes me." Wang Ergou said lightly.
"Oh, I see!" Ah Man nodded, and then immediately dragged Wang Ergou aside, turned his back to the sea, took out a bag of spirit stones from a storage ring and stuffed it into Wang Ergou's hand:
"Master, this is 1,200 spirit stones. I will pay for two months' tuition for my brother Li's son, but you have to keep this a secret from my brother Li, okay?"
"Hmm?" Wang Ergou frowned, "Why is the layman so generous?"
"Haha, it's nothing!" Ah Man smiled and said, "Brother Li used to take good care of me in the Ye family, and I never had the chance to repay him. In the past month or so, I saw that he, a pampered young master of the Ye family, actually came here to follow us and risk his life to fish. I felt really distressed when I saw him.
Later I found out that he was saving money for his son’s tuition, so I saved some money to help him share some of the burden.”
Ah Man said here, suddenly changed the subject: "Master, how about this, from now on every time you come to collect tuition, come to me secretly, I will help Brother Li pay half, so that his adopted son can study for a few more days.
But you must tell Brother Li about this. He has a stubborn temper. If he knew that I paid so much money for him, he would definitely try his best to pay me back.
As for him, you can comfort him by saying that his son is doing well in school and is a good candidate for cultivation, and then you can give him a 50% discount on the tuition fee. Taoist priest, is it okay for you to tell him this?"
"Of course!" Wang Ergou nodded to Ah Man and said, "Good people will be rewarded. You will surely have great fortune in the future!"
"Haha, we are just worthless, what's the point of worrying about luck or not. Maybe one day we will go fishing in the sea and never get out again." Ah Man smiled bitterly.
"No!" Wang Ergou smiled slightly: "Just because of your kindness just now, you will definitely be rewarded in the future."
"Hehe..." Ah Man shook his head and didn't care about Wang Ergou's words. He changed the subject directly: "By the way, the Taoist priest just said that Brother Li's son still owes some living expenses. I wonder how much he owes?"
"I don't remember the exact amount. We have to look at the account book." Wang Ergou said.
"Master, then you should quickly check the account book! I have also paid for his living expenses. Don't ask Brother Li for these living expenses later, so as to avoid adding extra burden to him!" Ah Man said, and took out a bag of spirit stones from the storage ring: "I still have more than a hundred spirit stones left. Although it's not much, it should be enough to pay for his living expenses."
"Haha, maybe a little short of a hundred." Wang Ergou took out a small notebook from his arms, flipped open a few pages, and handed it to Ah Man: "Take a look first, start from this page, all are that boy's, I remember there is a total on the last page."
Ah Man lowered his head and looked through the account book a few times, and was instantly petrified.
"This, this is just a little bit short?" Ah Man immediately stuffed the small notebook to Wang Ergou, feeling as if he had taken a hot potato: "Master, you should go ask his father about this matter!"
Ah Man turned his head and looked towards the sea, with a look of despair on his face.
Hey, Brother Li, even if each of us had eight hands, we still can't pay off the debt owed by your prodigal son.
Originally I wanted to share the good and bad times with you and help you, but now I'm really upset.