Mortal Mirror

Li Ergou picked up the fish basket and said, "Alright, Old Man, you're straightforward. To tell you the truth, I find this fish so adorable that I can't bear to kill it, so I'm going to release it. I'll take the fish basket too."

As he spoke, without waiting for Old Wine Head to reply, he took out a large handful of copper coins from his pocket.

He thought to himself that the fish basket should sell for at least a hundred coins, while the fish might only be worth a dozen or so.

Although the old man might not be a good person, he was definitely a straightforward one, and he admired that kind of personality the most. He had plenty of money on him and didn't need to be too stingy. With that thought, he counted out two hundred coins and handed them to Old Wine Head, saying, "Take a look, Old Man, is this enough?"

Old Wine Head was overjoyed to see so much money.

He couldn't help but feel that this day was worthwhile. He made the fish baskets himself, and they weren't worth much. It only took him half a day to make another one. He didn't expect this young man, who looked ordinary, to be a wealthy fellow.

He immediately reached out with his rough hands, took the money, and said with a grateful expression, "Good, good, good, this young man is considerate. I, Old Wine Head, have met a benefactor today."

The other fishermen, seeing this scene, couldn't help but feel envious and jealous, but they didn't have that luck, so they naturally wouldn't say much, though they were indeed unhappy.

The old man who wanted to buy fish for his grandson, upon hearing the price, couldn't help but scold Li Ergou for being a spendthrift and not knowing how to manage his money.

Li Ergou just smiled and ignored him.

He was about to leave when he saw a young man rushing over from a distance. This person was tall, about 1.8 meters, wearing a white shirt with a golden thread stitched vertically on each sleeve, looking like a young master from a wealthy family.

As soon as he stepped into the fish market, he shouted, "Don't sell those fish in your hands anymore, I'll buy them all!"

"It's Young Master Lu," a fisherman said happily.

It turned out that this person was Lu Changsheng, the young master of the Lu family, one of the three major families in Tiangou Town, and the grandson of Lu Tianlin, the head of the Lu family. He was righteous, had a cheerful personality, loved making friends from all over the world, and was very popular in Tiangou Town. Many people were his friends.

Lu Changsheng was approachable. Although he was the young master of a large family, he didn't put on airs and even greeted everyone warmly.

The fisherman asked, "Young Master Lu, why are you buying so many at once? Can you finish eating them all?" It was actually just a polite question, asked casually.

Lu Changsheng waved his hand and said, "Eat what? I'm the least fond of eating fish. My grandmother had some dream last night and told me to buy fish to release this morning, so I rushed over after finishing my chores."

Li Ergou wondered what was going on, this guy was so anxious. Rich people were different, even a dream cost a lot of money. He sighed in his heart, not knowing what to say, and decided to quickly find a place to release the little fish.

Just as he took a step, he heard Lu Changsheng urgently say behind him, "Friend, please wait. How about I pay a high price to buy the fish in your fish basket and the big fish on your back as well? Don't worry, I, Lu Changsheng, will pay three times what you bought them for."

If it were before, Li Ergou would naturally have sold these two fish to this person without hesitation. But these days, he had been feeling unhappy and was too lazy to pay attention to this person. Since everyone was releasing fish, he might as well accumulate this merit himself. Two hundred coins used to be a huge sum in his eyes, but now, hehe...

So he shook his head and said, "I'm also going to release them, so there's no need for you to spend money."

Lu Changsheng raised an eyebrow, not expecting such a coincidence. He happily said, "Since we have the same purpose, why not go together? I feel bored alone anyway."

This Lu Changsheng was really a natural at making friends. If it were another family's young master, someone like Li Ergou who didn't have eyes and didn't give face would have been ordered to be stopped within ten steps.

But that was what made Lu Changsheng different. He didn't feel like he lost face at all, but felt that this was too coincidental and very interesting.

Li Ergou was stunned and pointed at himself, saying, "You mean, with me, together?"

Lu Changsheng nodded while taking out silver and handing it to the fishermen. Then, carrying a fish basket on his back and two fish baskets in his hands, he looked at Li Ergou and said, "Yes, what's the point of being alone? It's good to have a companion."

Li Ergou didn't refute, but just nodded lightly. In fact, for a moment, he felt a little touched, because it was the first time someone had called him a friend.

From childhood, in the landlord's house, he had been called a dog崽子 (dog cub), 小王八犊子 (little bastard), 杀千刀的 (deserving a thousand cuts). When he came to town, those boxers didn't treat him like a human either; they treated him like a punching bag.

The word 'friend' stirred up countless waves in his heart. Just for these two words, he was willing to accompany him on this trip.

Lu Changsheng came to Li Ergou's side and said happily, "Friend, let's go."

As he spoke, he strode forward, walking side by side with Li Ergou.

"Why, you don't look too good, you look unhappy. Did you encounter something difficult?"

"Uh..." The matter of cultivating martial arts true qi naturally couldn't be told to outsiders, lest it lead to a fatal disaster.

He could only say, "It's nothing, I'm just wondering why you want to go with me. I don't even know your name, and you don't know my name."

Lu Changsheng chuckled and said, "Heaven and earth have affection until white hair, the human world is indifferent to vicissitudes. Why must we have known each other before we meet? Meeting is fate, and fate is beyond our control."

Ergouzi was stunned. Although he didn't know what those words meant, he felt that his words were profound and awesome. Having knowledge was different. No wonder everyone loved learning knowledge. It was a pity that he couldn't enter school, and he really envied him.

"My name is Lu Changsheng, what's your name?"

"I... I'm called Li Ergou."

Lu Changsheng widened his eyes, wanting to laugh, but seeing Li Ergou's serious expression, he forcibly suppressed it, almost causing internal injuries.

He forced back his laughter and said, "Is that your real name? It's too... too casual." Lu Changsheng really didn't know what to say, and finally could only utter these few words.

Li Ergou didn't feel anything wrong. He said with an innocent expression, "Almost everyone in our village has this kind of name. Look, Tiedan (Iron Egg), Sizai (Fourth Son), Gousheng (Dog Leftovers), Mawaizi (Hemp Doll), only the young masters and misses of the Huang family have different names. But they have culture and knowledge, and can come up with good-sounding names.

I heard my second uncle say that when my mother gave birth to me, my family's big yellow dog happened to give birth to the second puppy. My dad slapped his thigh and gave me the name Ergou, saying it would be easy to raise. He said that when I grew up and had money, he would find a scholar to give me a proper name.

Later, my mother died, and my father also died. I was sold to the landlord's house and lived a life worse than a cow or horse. Every day, I only worked and worked, and I couldn't even eat enough. How could I have the mind to think about my name? It's just a title, and I'm used to this name. I think it's pretty good."

Lu Changsheng originally wanted to laugh, but after hearing his words, he felt a thud in his heart. He had never thought that there were such miserable people in this world, and he couldn't help but feel pity.

He said, "I really didn't expect you to be so miserable. I see your clothes are okay, did you run away from the landlord's house?"