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Mutated Tao - Chapter 30

Published at 29th of May 2023 05:31:39 AM


Chapter 30

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(Everyone, please comment more so that I know if there are any issues with the translation and how to improve it)

Just when Li Huowang didn’t know what they were singing, the farmers sitting below watching the show began to move. They took out one or two copper coins and threw them towards the platform. 

The audience were all farmers who worked in the fields. Only a few of them threw money, while more threw some corn sticks, potatoes, and other grains. Those who had a little more money at home would at most throw some salted fish or preserved meat.

Luo Juanhua accepted all rewards without discrimination and thanked every person who gave them.

“So singers always get paid like this?” Li Huowang suddenly realized.

Luo Juanhua humbly knelt on the platform, holding her daughter while continuing to sing with a sobbing voice. She also picked up things from the platform and put them in the basket, occasionally bowing to the people cheering below.

As Luo Juanhua happily picked up the rewards, a small piece of silver was thrown up to her.

Her eyes lit up as she reached out to pick up the silver and lightly weighed it in her hand, realizing that it was at least 25 grams. Immediately, she sang in a theatrical tune and kowtowed  to the only plump old man in silk among the crowd.

“Bravo! You sang so well!” The blushing old man looked up and another piece of silver flew towards Luo Junhua, followed by waves of gratitude from her.

Li Huowang became a bit tired of the scene in front of him. He yawned and then lay down on the pile of rice straw next to Zhao Fifth, saying, “I’ll take a nap. Keep your an eye out.”

“Sure thing, Senior Brother Li,” replied Zhao Fifth.

When Li Huowang opened his eyes again, he found that it was already broad daylight and the others were chatting around. It seemed that everyone had spent the night here huddled together in this pile of rice straw.

The theatrical platform in the distance had already been dismantled, and the Lv Family Troupe was packing the equipment and luggage into box of  carriage.

“Zhao Fifth, how many days of food do we have left?” Li Huowang suddenly asked.

“Not much, we can only eat frugally for up to three days,” replied Zhao Fifth.

Li Huowang handed over several dozen copper coins and a small piece of black silver that he obtained from the material room to him. “Go to the village and exchange for some food. We still have a long way to go,” he said.

There were more than ten of them, mostly young men, so their food consumption was very high. They had already consumed most of the food they brought from Qingfeng Temple.

Zhao Fifth, who was lying on Plonker’s back, was about to let Plonker go to the village to exchange for food, but after thinking for a while, he called over a Taoist child who looked somewhat normal. He placed the money in the child’s hand and whispered something to him.

Li Huowang walked towards Lv Zhuangyuan’s direction and asked, “Elder, when will we start our journey?”

Lv Zhuangyuan seemed a bit anxious at the moment. “Little Taoist Master, please wait for a moment. My daughter-in-law took Xiu and ran off somewhere this morning. We’ll leave as soon as she comes back,” he replied.

(The author previously wrote Cui, but both here and in the following chapters are Xiu, which should be due to the author’s mistake)

Li Huowang felt puzzled. “What? She’s gone missing? Wasn’t she here?”

As Lv Zhuangyuan followed Li Huowang’s finger and looked towards the village, he saw Luo Juanhua holding a few feet of cloth in her hand, carrying her daughter with a smile on her face as she walked towards them.

At the sight of his unruly daughter-in-law, Lv Zhuangyuan immediately became furious and rushed over with tobacco pipe in hand, scolding her fiercely.

Faced with Lv Zhuangyuan’s anger, Luo Juanhua appeared very innocent. “Dad, didn’t you ask me to go to the village to buy cloth? You said the cloth in town was expensive…” she explained.

After venting his anger, Lv Zhuangyuan turned around and smiled at Li Huowang, saying, “Little Taoist Master, it’s okay now. Let’s go.”

“Hey, Dad, don’t leave yet. When I went to buy cloth just now, I got a business.”

Upon hearing this, both Li Huowang and Lv Zhuangyuan turned to look at Luo Juanhua. “What business?”

“Of course it’s the business ofsinging operas. The employer is the landlord who gave us the most money yesterday evening! You should go see him,he said he wants to discuss some matters with you,” 

Upon hearing this, Lv Zhuangyuan suddenly didn’t want to leave. He turned around slowly and smiled awkwardly at Li Huowang.

Although Lv Zhuangyuan did not speak, Li Huowang understood his meaning from his expression. “It’s okay, making money is more important. We can delay our departure for a few days,” he said.

“Oops, my bad. I’ll be right back,” said Lv Zhuangyuan, pulling his daughter-in-law happily as they walked towards the village.

Li Huowang returned to the straw heap and, with nothing else to do, took out the concaved copper bell and examined it closely.

If he could really summon and control Master Wander, his power would undoubtedly be greatly enhanced. Unfortunately, this thing cannot summon Master Wander at present and must be repaired before it can be used.

After flipping it over and carefully examining it several times, Li Huowang found that there was no problem with anything else except for the shell of the copper bell, which was the only possibility.

(https://ml.mbd.baidu.com/r/ZkPqRhZ2Le?f=cp&u=889a245d8e9e01b7)

“If we can make it return to normal, can we use it again?” Li Huowang pondered for a moment, then placed a square stone under the copper bell and picked up another stone to strike the shell of the bell.

But as soon as he struck the bell with the stone, a piercing ring immediately echoed through the air. Li Huowang’s head throbbed with pain and he could barely hold onto the stone in his hand.

“This won’t work, I need to ask if there is a blacksmith in this village,” Li Huowang shook his dizzy head with force.

Just then, Li Huowang saw a few Taoist children dragging two sacks towards him. He put away the copper bell,then  followed Plonker and Zhao Fifth towards them.

“Senior Brother Li, we only get these,” said one of the Taoist children with an innocent look on their young face. Although they were all children, they were very sensible and capable since those who were not had already been killed by Dan Yang Tzu.

Li Huowang reached out and opened the sack, only to find that it was filled with dried sweet potatoes.

“Senior Brother, these things won’t last long without any oil,Plonker can eat one kilograms in one sitting, and eating too much of this is bad for our health.”

Zhao Fifth’s words made Plonker, the simple-minded bald man, hang his head in shame. “You guys…you guys don’t…don’t leave me…I…I’ll eat less!”

With the shortage of food, Li Huowang looked at the sack in front of him and pondered on how to solve the problem.

Lv Zhuangyuan mentioned that there is still a long way to go to Jianye Town. If they run out of food halfway, they’ll have to gnaw at the bark of the tree.

Li Huowang reached into his pocket again and took out a golden foot ring wrapped in a red thread. After some thought, he handed it over to Bai Lingmiao, who was holding onto his clothes from behind.

“Take this and exchange it for food,” said Li Huowang as he took out Xuan Yang’s jade pendant and handed it to Zhao Fifth.

“Senior Brother, how are we going to exchange it? There’s no pawnshop in the village, and nobody else can give us change for it. Plus, those bumpkins might not even recognize what this is.”

Just as Li Huowang was troubled by the food crisis, he saw Lv Zhuangyuan and his daughter-in-law walking towards him.

“Little Taoist Master, I’ve run into some trouble with my business. Can I trouble you for some help?” Lv Zhuangyuan looked very embarrassed as he spoke.

“Troupe Master Lv, I don’t know how to sing opera either,I’m afraid I can’t help you with your trouble,” Li Huowang felt very absurd. Did Lv Zhuangyuan want him to go on stage and perform sword dancing?

“No, no…you can actually help me. It’s just that…” Lv Zhuangyuan looked around discreetly, then leaned in and lowered his voice,”Lord Hu wants me to sing a ghost opera…”





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