Nine Transformations of the True Spirit

Mrs. Chen Li was driving an ox in front, and Chen Tiezhu was carrying farm tools in the back, walking slowly towards this side.

After the Chen family got rich, they bought an ox and iron plow. They no longer had to borrow money from Chen Rongcai, which saved a lot of rent.

The little girl had a wild flower in her ear and followed them, jumping up and down.

The three of them were unable to see Chen Yuan, so they saw his appearance clearly after they got closer. The younger sister shouted in surprise, opened her hands, and ran towards him.

"Second brother, you are back!"

Chen Yuan let go of the reins, went up to meet him, lifted up his little sister, rubbed her face affectionately, and said with a smile:

"My little sister is getting more and more beautiful. Do you miss me?"

"Think! I miss my second brother every day, why did you just come back!"

Chen Yuan held the little girl with one hand, turned around and came to the horse, opened the cloth bag, exposed the sugar, rice cakes, hairpins and toys inside, and said:

"Look what I brought you back?"

The little girl's eyes were shining, she picked up an exquisite wooden hairpin, looked at it from left to right, and couldn't put it down.

Chen Yuan picked up a piece of rice cake and put it to the little girl's mouth:

"I picked this specially for you, try to see if it tastes good..."

The little girl opened her mouth and took a bite, her big eyes shining brightly:

"Uh-huh, it's delicious! Um...thank you, second brother, second brother is so nice..."

Seeing his little sister's happy appearance, the smile on Chen Yuan's face grew stronger:

"Eat slowly, there are two kilograms here, all for you to eat..."

Chen Li came over with the ox, looked at the things on the horse, and complained:

"You kid, come back as soon as you come back. Why did you buy so many things? It's just a waste of money, so you can keep it to marry a wife."

Chen Yuan smiled and said:

"It's okay, mother. These things don't cost anything. They were given to me by the shopkeeper because he saw my diligence."

Mrs. Chen Li then smiled, her wrinkles piled up layer by layer, and while opening the copper lock, she said:

"Then you have to work hard and don't make your employer angry."

Chen Tiezhu smiled and said:

"Okay, Erniu has grown up, it's not your turn to worry about it, just stop saying a few words!"

Mrs. Chen Li opened the door and turned back to glare at him:

"No matter how talented Er Niu is, he is still a child! There are people as old as him in the village who have babies. He hasn't married yet. If I don't worry, who will?"

Chen Tiezhu followed her through the door, snorted and said:

"Er Niu is so capable, how can he talk about the girl in the village? You just have long hair and short knowledge. From now on, Er Niu is determined to find a wife in the county town, right, Er Niu?"

Chen Yuan hugged his little sister, led the horse, and finally walked through the door and said:

"Father, mother, you don't have to worry. It's not the time to marry a wife yet. When I come back this time, I have something important to tell you."

Chen Tiezhu asked:

"What's the matter?"

Chen Yuan did not answer, but put the little girl on the ground, put rice cakes, hairpins and toys into her hands, touched her head and said softly:

"Go and put your things away. Second brother will play with you later."

"Um!"

The little girl nodded obediently, took the things, and ran back to her room with a bound.

Chen Yuan took the pork, cotton cloth, and fine grain flour to the main room, put them on the table, and then said:

"I will be transferred to the county town in a few days. When I come back this time, I will give you money."

He took out the twenty taels of silver from his pocket and handed it over.

Chen Tiezhu's expression changed, he took it, weighed it, and exclaimed:

"There must be more than ten taels, right?"

Chen Yuan smiled and said:

"This is twenty taels of silver. It was awarded to me by the deacon of the main hall. He took a fancy to me and wanted to take me to work in the county. This is my settlement fee. You should keep it and don't let others know."

Chen Tiezhu said happily:

"Er Niu is really promising. It's great to go to the county and get ahead. This is a good thing to honor our ancestors!"

"Dad, show me."

Mrs. Chen Li took the silver and looked at it carefully, then silently put it down, looked at Chen Yuan, and said:

"Er Niu, when you go back to the county town, are you going to have a knife with someone?"

Chen Yuan looked at Chen Li with a worried look on his face, felt a warm feeling in his heart, and said with a smile:

"Don't worry, mother, I know what's going on, everything will be fine."

Chen Tiezhu sighed and said:

"Okay, kid, if you want to get ahead in this world, how can you not take risks. Erniu has been smart since he was a child, so don't worry about it. Erniu, don't work too hard, our family is living a good enough life. , your mother and I will collect these twenty taels of silver for you. If you feel tired and tired, go home. We have our own oxen and plows, and we will buy a few acres of land. We will have no worries about food and clothing. It’s not a bad time either…”

Chen Tiezhu rambled on, and his voice sounded very rough because he talked loudly in the fields all year round and was exposed to wind and sun.

But Chen Yuan looked at Chen Tiezhu with a much more sincere expression than when he faced Wei Wuding and Shopkeeper Sun, and grinned:

"Okay, Dad, I listen to you."

Mrs. Chen Li also had a smile on her face, picked up the pork, walked out the door, and said:

"You two sit down while I cook. Erniu finally comes back and needs something good to eat..."

At this time, the little girl ran in and almost bumped into Chen Li. She staggered two steps and threw herself into Chen Yuan's arms.

Mrs. Chen Li was in a good mood and laughed and cursed:

"You are so old and you still don't look like a big girl. I wonder how you will get married in the future!"

The younger sister held Chen Yuan's arm tightly and said loudly:

"I'm not getting married. I'll stay at home with my parents and my second brother!"

Chen Yuan laughed loudly, pinched the little girl's cheek, and said:

"Okay, I will support you from now on. If you want to get married, you can get married. If you don't want to get married, you don't have to!"

...

Chen Yuan and his younger sister played for half an hour. Chen Li prepared the meal and the family sat at the table.

Chen Li cooked four dishes and cut two pounds of pork. When the dishes were served, the younger sister's eyes lit up. She scooped the meat into the bowl and ate it in big mouthfuls.

Although the Chen family lived a better and better life, they were not rich and could not eat meat several times a month. They could only have a good meal during festivals.

Chen Yuan put the meat into the little sister's bowl and said with a smile:

"Eat slowly, don't be too full."

Mrs. Chen Li looked at the two children with a smile:

"Erniu, you eat too. You have a big appetite, so I cut two pounds of meat. The rest will be left tomorrow. When your elder brother and sister-in-law come back, I will cook a few more dishes and we can have a good meal together."

Chen Tiezhu also smiled:

"That's right. You used to go home only during the New Year and couldn't come back during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Today you finally come back and let your elder brother and sister-in-law know."

Chen Yuan paused, looked at the little sister, nodded gently, and said nothing.

After dinner, Chen Yuan played with the little sister for an hour. After coaxing her to sleep, he came to the main house again.

Chen Tiezhu and Chen Lishi hadn't rested yet, so Chen Yuan said to them:

"Dad, Mom, I have something urgent to do, so I have to leave tonight. If you have something to say, let Uncle Erhua pass on the message, and I can also receive it in the county city."

Chen Tiezhu was surprised:

"What's the matter? Why are you so anxious?"

"Yes, it's so inconvenient at night, let's go tomorrow!"

Chen Lishi also tried her best to keep him, but Chen Yuan shook his head and said:

"I also want to stay at home for two more days, but there is really no way. If my little sister asks about it tomorrow, you can coax her more."

The two looked at each other and stopped persuading each other. Chen Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and asked Chen Lishi to prepare more dry food.

When Chen Lishi started to cook and make pancakes, Chen Yuan, with the help of Chen Tiezhu, filled two large sacks with the grass for the family's yellow cattle.

Chen Tiezhu and Chen Lishi were a little confused. The county city was not far away, and they had to pass through two county towns on the way. They had no worries about food. Why did Chen Yuan look like he was going on a long journey?

But they didn't ask much, and Chen Yuan also told them that if anyone asked, they should say he was back in the county.

An hour later, Chen Yuan took enough dry food for four days and two large sacks of fodder and left Chenjia Village.

It was a sunny night, the moon was high, the stars were hanging in the sky, and the moonlight and starlight illuminated Chen Yuan's way forward.

He did not go to the county, nor did he return to the village, but followed Yuanpingxing and entered the Chimang Mountains.

There were very few pedestrians in Yuanpingxing at night.

Chen Yuan galloped on his horse, relying on his amazing five senses, and avoided pedestrians from a distance, and they lived in peace with each other.

Two hours later, he suddenly stopped, turned into a mountain road, dismounted and walked, and came to a dense forest with few people.

Chen Yuan tied the reins to the tree, patrolled around, climbed to the top of the tree and observed carefully. After confirming that there was no one nearby, he took out the coarse cloth bag he kept close to his body and took out the jade pendant.

The jade ornament was bathed in the starlight, emitting a faint green light.

The stars in the sky shone together, gathering into a thin starlight, falling from the sky, covering Chen Yuan, and a cool and numb feeling permeated his body.

Chen Yuan was ecstatic. The jade ornament did not lose its effect, and it could still attract starlight to infuse his body!

This time, Chen Yuan did not close his eyes, but opened his eyes wide, lowered his head and carefully observed the starlight on his body.

He found that the starlight was a little deeper than before, no longer a faint white, but a very light silver.

After twenty breaths, the green light dissipated, the starlight withered, and the familiar feeling of hunger surged up.

Chen Yuan took out the only remaining Peiyuan Pill and swallowed it. The feeling of hunger was relieved a little, within the tolerable range.

Then, he carefully put away the jade ornament, did not eat any more dry food, endured the hunger in his stomach, led the horse out of the dense forest, and set off again along Yuanpingxing.

Chen Yuan rested his horse during the day and traveled at night. His speed was much faster than the Fuhu Gang's large group of people. It took him two days to return to the burned Black Wind Village.

Looking at the collapsed and charred houses in front of him, Chen Yuan smiled, tied up his horse, and followed the route he remembered to the cliff where the bodies were thrown in the Black Wind Village.