Chapter 11: Uninvited Guest

“Even if you say that, I still will not accept it.” Li Si still handed the pork toward Yu San and said calmly, “If I accept your pork, what will the parents of the other children think when they hear about it? Will they have to give me pork too?”

In this world, pork was still very difficult for ordinary families to afford. The expense of meat was one aspect, and another was that the seasonings for cooking meat were expensive. Most ordinary families could only eat meat once a month, or even once every few months.

“Forget it. I will consider this meat bought by me.” Seeing that Yu San would not take it, Li Si placed the pork on the table, took a handful of copper coins from his sleeve, counted out more than a hundred, and stuffed them into Yu San’s hand.

Since Li Si had inherited this body, he could not ruin the original owner’s reputation. Now that he had been reborn, he also did not want to live as calculatingly as he had in his previous life. He wanted to change his way of living and live a little more freely.

Moreover, what he lacked right now was not money, but soul points. Money truly was not that important to him now. Besides, if he could subdue demons and eliminate devils in the future, he could earn great heaps of silver whenever he wanted.

For example, Squire Zhang’s household had already spread word that whoever could subdue their family’s ghost creature would receive one thousand taels of silver. Even if he did not have that ability now, he would have it in the future.

“This... this, how can this be?” Yu San held the money, a troubled expression showing on his face.

At this moment, Uncle Zhou had also finished making Li Si’s tofu pudding. He carried the tofu pudding over and scolded Yu San with a smile, “You fellow, why make things difficult for Scholar Li? It is not as if you do not know his character. If he says he will not accept it, then he definitely will not accept it.”

“How about this? From now on, when I buy pork from you, pick me the better cuts,” Li Si said with a smile, giving Yu San a way out.

When Yu San heard Li Si say this, a smile appeared on his face. Then he said, “Then I will trouble Teacher with my son from now on. I still have matters at my place, and my wife cannot manage everything alone. When Teacher has time, please come to my home as a guest.”

After saying this, he hurried toward his butcher shop.

“Heh.” Uncle Zhou gave a heh, placed the tofu pudding on the table, and smiled at Li Si. “That Butcher Yu wants his son to become your student. So, Scholar Li, do you want to take a few disciples?”

“What ability do I have now? I have not reached the point where I can take disciples.” Li Si laughed and began eating the tofu pudding with a spoon.

Seeing Li Si say this, Uncle Zhou knew that Li Si was not planning to accept disciples. He shook his head with a smile, turned around, and went back to work.

After Uncle Zhou left, Li Si began eating the tofu pudding, spoonful by spoonful. Feeling the warmth of the tofu pudding sliding down his throat, his eyes narrowed, and he felt extremely comfortable.

Before long, he finished eating. He left five copper coins on the table, said something to Uncle Zhou, then carried the 1 kg (~2.2 lb) of pork and left.

After leaving the tofu shop, Li Si headed toward the market entrance. Today, he planned to buy more vegetables. Eating at restaurants here always felt somewhat unsuited to his taste, so today he planned to go back and make himself a good meal.

After reaching the market entrance, he bought some greens, green peppers, ginger, scallions, and garlic, then walked home feeling perfectly satisfied.

Today, he was going to make greens with mashed garlic and stir-fried pork with green peppers. They were both very simple dishes, but they were also dishes he liked very much.

After walking for a while, when he was near his home, Li Si’s footsteps stopped. He saw a carriage parked in front of his door. He recognized this carriage. More accurately, the original owner recognized it. It was precisely the carriage of the Zhang Residence in this county town.

Combined with the rumours he had heard recently, Li Si knew what this was about. The Zhang Residence must have learned about his demon-subduing and ghost-eliminating deeds. They had come to ask him to subdue demons and eliminate ghosts.

Thinking of this, Li Si immediately turned around and left, preparing to avoid them and not meet them. Whoever wanted to go could go. With his body so weak right now, if he went, who knew whether he would subdue the ghost creature or the ghost creature would subdue him?

Right now, he only had one low-level ghost creature in his hands. What if the one at the Zhang Residence was a mid-level ghost creature, or a high-level ghost creature? Although he had the Protective Talisman, he still could not court death like this. If that ghost latched onto him, he would still be finished after one month.

“Hey, is that Scholar Li?” However, at this moment, it was clearly a little too late. A man dressed as a servant on the carriage saw him from far away and called out.

Li Si’s departing steps stiffened. His expression turned somewhat ugly as he turned around and watched the man quickly run over.

Looking at the man’s sturdy build and the speed at which he ran, then feeling his own legs, which were sore and weak because of his morning run, he wisely gave up the idea of immediately fleeing.

“Scholar Li, my master has a matter and asks you to come over.” The servant ran up close and bowed to Li Si.

“I still have matters to do. I have to go home and cook later.” Li Si lifted the vegetables in his hand for the servant to see, showing that his words were not false.

“Scholar Li, please do not make things difficult for this lowly one.” The servant looked at Li Si and continued bowing, a pleading expression appearing on his face.

“Ah, I really do have matters. Right now, I have to go marinate the meat and wash the vegetables. Otherwise, I will miss the noon mealtime.” A helpless expression appeared on Li Si’s face, indicating that he could do nothing.

He had no desire to go to the Zhang Residence right now. What kind of joke was that? He had prepared nothing and knew nothing about the ghost creature at the Zhang Residence. How was going now any different from seeking death? At the very least, he had to wait until his body was trained, and he also had to prepare a peachwood sword before going.

“Scholar Li, you are a magnanimous gentleman. If I do not invite you back, Master will definitely beat me to death!” The servant cried out, fell to his knees, and kowtowed to Li Si, knocking his head against the ground with bang, bang sounds.

“Ah.” Li Si sighed inwardly. Then, while the man was kowtowing, he quietly tiptoed past him. Before long, he had reached his own door.

Even if this man kowtowed himself to death in front of Li Si’s door, it had nothing to do with him. He was the one who wanted to kowtow. What did that have to do with Li Si? Could it be that Li Si deserved to follow him to the Zhang Residence and seek death?

Inserting the key into the door lock, Li Si thought to himself, How does this world also have moral coercion? I refuse to go, and he even starts kowtowing to me. Thinking of the kowtowing, his hand paused. When had the kowtowing stopped?

“Scholar Li, what are you doing?” Suddenly, a low, hoarse voice came from behind him.

Li Si turned his head back and saw the servant with blood from his forehead flowing all over his face, looking at him expressionlessly.

Then a black shadow flashed, and Li Si only felt a heavy blow strike the right side of his cheek. His head began buzzing at once, and his body went limp and collapsed to the ground.

As the last of his consciousness remained, he only heard one sentence: “Refusing face when given face.”

“What are you looking at?” The servant cursed at several people watching from the side. Then he lifted Li Si onto his shoulder and stuffed him into the carriage.

The people by the road looked at one another, but seeing the servant’s face covered in blood and looking ferocious, they immediately mumbled in fear and did not dare make a sound.

With a cry of “Giddyap,” the carriage slowly began to move, driving away from this street.