Dao Of The Salted Fish (Salted Fish Cultivator)

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After Sun Fuyu left, Wen Zhihao decided to return to his room and sleep, since he was woken up way too early that morning!

By the time he woke up, it was an hour before he needed to go. He checked that he had all the things in his spatial ring. He also skimmed over some of the jade slips. The beginner information flowed easily into his mind, as the original ‘Wen Zhihao’ had already thoroughly learnt these things. As for the sword cultivation manuals...it was really too much effort to try and practice the moves. Wen Zhihao had no allusions about his level of body coordination.

Before he left, Wen Zhihao stuck a sign on his door.

He reached the meeting point 5 minutes or so before time and was surprised to see that Sun Fuyu was already there, carrying a folded up blanket.

“Wen-shixiong!” Sun Fuyu immediately looked embarrassed at his outburst. “Wen-shixiong,” he repeated more quietly. “Are we going to the town?”

Actually, Wen Zhihao had meant to go out to the forest, but he didn’t want to make Sun Fuyu feel even more embarrassed.

And...Wen Zhihao forgot that there was a town.

“Yes,” Wen Zhihao said, “That was exactly what I was planning to do.” 

The town should be in the opposite direction of the forest-area that Wen Zhihao previously explored.

Sun Fuyu smiled happily. Wen Zhihao placed Sun Fuyu’s things into his spatial ring—which was starting to get full, given that it was only a small (cheap) one.

The two stood on their swords and flew. Luckily there was a clear road towards the town, or else they would get lost.

“...Go away! There’s no more space for you on the ox cart!”

“...But all my things...How about another two wen¹a unit of money; a copper coin? I need to get to the town—”

“—I don’t want you nor your money! Go and walk!”

Wen Zhihao looked down at the people and the ox cart over on the road to the left that would later merge with the road the two were following.

A person...needing help to carry things...offering money…

See, Wen Zhihao was very clear that he didn’t have any ‘normal’ money. If he could acquire some so that he and Sun Fuyu could actually do more than just look around in town, wouldn’t that be a good thing?

Wen Zhihao beckoned to Sun Fuyu and both of them descended as the ox cart pulled away, leaving a frustrated woman, her child, and their baskets of things on the roadside.

“Good evening, ma’am,” Wen Zhihao greeted. Sun Fuyu echoed the greeting.

The woman gave them a frightened look. “G-good evening, master cultivators! How can I help you?”

“I think we can help you,” Wen Zhihao said. “We can carry these things for you. We can even fly you straight to town!”

The woman gripped her child’s hand. “...A-and….how much would that cost me?”

“10 wen?” To be honest, Wen Zhihao had no comparison point for the ancient money.

The woman shook her head. “No, I won’t dare do such a thing.”

“...Five wen? The faster you agree, the faster we can go,” Wen Zhihao said. “Truthfully, I need a tiny bit of mortal money...five wen is perfect.”

Sun Fuyu spoke up, “Wen-shixiong is dependable, we really are going to the town.”

After tense deliberation, the woman agreed. In her heart, she knew that if these cultivators truly wanted to do something, she couldn’t stop them anyway.

Wen Zhihao helped tie the woman’s baskets to his sword—he didn’t put them away into his spatial ring, because he suspected she would be extremely nervous. Sun Fuyu was smaller and looked cuter, so he had the woman and her child climb onto Sun Fuyu’s sword to fly to town, with them holding onto Sun Fuyu’s back.

They flew slowly and relatively low to the ground. Eventually, the woman and child eased up a little.

And then they passed by the ox-cart that previously rejected the woman.

Wen Zhihao laughed at their shocked expressions, especially as they bypassed them.

“Where do you need to go? We can take you and these things there directly. It’s no bother for us at all,” Wen Zhihao said graciously and very much in a good mood. “Just point the way”

The woman relented. She was scared when the two of them flew up higher—as going over the town buildings was much faster than weaving through the roads—but she pushed down her fear to direct them to her parents’ house.

Wen Zhihao and Sun Fuyu soon descended. The woman and child quickly hopped off Sun Fuyu’s sword, while Wen Zhihao untied all the baskets.

“Thank you so much!” the woman said in relief. “I can only afford 100 wen—”

“Five was the price,” Wen Zhihao said.

“But—”

“Five, ma’am.”

The woman made a complicated expression but eventually gave them six copper coins. By this time, the gate of the house had opened, and an old man had come out.

“...Daughter? Xiao²little Ling? Why are you here?”

“...Father died, grandma doesn’t want us…” the child answered.

“Those cultivators…”

“They helped me here!” the woman quickly answered.

Wen Zhihao ignored them and gave those coins directly to Sun Fuyu. “Spending money! We even got an extra wen! It’s all yours. If you want more money, Wen-shixiong will try to find more work, hahaha.”

Sun Fuyu stared at the coins. Unlike Wen Zhihao, he did know that six wen was not a huge amount—Wu Qingqing often spent silver taels of money at a time (1 silver tael = 1000 wen). Even as a child, Sun Fuyu had earned more than this.

But the important thing was that Wen-shixiong had given it all to him! (He conveniently forgot that he had helped carry the woman and child.)

Wen Zhihao felt a little hopeless at Sun Fuyu’s wide-eyed expression. “Come on, the town awaits us, Sun-shidi.”

Sun Fuyu: *carefully holds the six coins* Thank you, Wen-shixiong 🥺🥺

Wen Zhihao: This kid...too easily pleased! How is he going to survive in the harsh world... (little does he know Sun Fuyu's background)