BXBX NOVEL Chapter 194 - 189 Hypocrisyi
After he cleaned the well, he searched his home thoroughly but did not discover anything else out of the ordinary.
The Pork King meat was hard-won by his hunt and very well hidden; Ah Niu guessed that Old Master Huang likely didn’t have the leisure time to rummage through his belongings.
This time, his residence had been invaded, but his pets proved to be of no use, serving as a wake-up call for Ah Niu.
Scouting pets should be concealed to provide surveillance day and night undetected.
The beehive would have been excellent sentinels, but at night, without night vision, they were essentially useless.
In the future, he might consider taming appropriate insects to serve as guards in the yard.
“Xie Laizi is in trouble!”
“Xie Laizi from the end of the village is in trouble, everyone come and see!”
Someone was shouting loudly outside.
Six hours had passed since Ah Niu used insects to bite people, and only now Xie Laizi was discovered to be in trouble. Such is the bleakness of a bachelor’s life.
No wife, no children, not a single relative close by.
Nobody to care for him if he fell ill.
Even if he died at home, nobody would know.
Xie Laizi, having been bitten by Fourth’s beast, certainly didn’t end well. It could be considered as the end to his life of misdeeds.
Ah Niu naturally did not go to join the crowd for the spectacle.
He was a dignified Insect Master, unable to act as idle as the common villagers.
About half an hour later, Village Head Xu Zhenchang came to seek an audience outside his door.
“Master Qin, our villager Xie Laizi seems to have been bitten by a venomous snake and has died at home without treatment. Now that you are the highest- ranked person in the village, I’ve come to ask for your instructions on how to handle this,”
Xu Zhenchang asked respectfully.
“The man was alone in the world, without kin or children, indeed pitiable. I will go and see.”
Though the Chief was infinitely glorious, and even the village head had to speak cautiously with him,
it also meant he bore great responsibility.
All major decisions in the village were made by Ah Niu.
Accompanying Xu Zhenchang to Xie Laizi’s home, many villagers followed behind.
Ah Niu saw that Xie Laizi’s orifices bled, his expression fierce and terrifying.
The ground was covered with numerous scratches left by fingernails.
“Did anyone check Xie Laizi’s body?”
“We were afraid of the poison and didn’t dare to touch him,”
Xu Zhenchang replied.
Ah Niu felt that Xie Laizi must have gotten hold of Old Master Huang’s wealth, otherwise he wouldn’t have been happily humming a tune.
He squatted down and felt around Xie Laizi’s body, directly finding a two Silver Money weight ingot.
The villagers’ eyes immediately went wide.
All of them were staring intently at that ingot of silver.
Ah Niu then pulled out several dozen copper coins, but nothing more.
“Village Head, how much would it cost to buy a cheap coffin for Xie Laizi’s burial?”
” If we don’t erect a tombstone, two Silver Money should just be enough to handle it.”
“This is what we’ll do, you take charge of the arrangements, and let Xie Laizi rest in peace. If there’s any money left over after using these, divide it among those who carried the coffin and buried the body. If it’s not enough or just barely so, each person involved in the burial will receive fifty Wen Money from me as compensation for their hard work, and I will cover any shortfall.”
Ah Niu effectively ensured the arrangements for Xie Laizi’s funeral.
Two Silver Money for a cheap coffin would leave very little leftover, and decent meals would still need to be provided for those managing the funeral rites.
With so many mouths to feed well for two meals, a few hundred Wen Money was already very modest.
So, two Silver Money was definitely not enough.
Ah Niu estimated he would need to subsidize more than half a Silver Money.
“Thank you, Master Qin! You truly are our village’s great benefactor!”
Xu Zhenchang led the chant, bowing his thanks.
The other villagers also praised Ah Niu as a great philanthropist.
“As villagers, we should naturally care for and help each other. As fellow countrymen, it is my duty to assist where my abilities allow. The locust plague is still wreaking havoc these days, ravaging the crops of the people; I need to help the Yan Family with pest control. The funeral matters of Xie Laizi will trouble you all.”
Ah Niu clasped his hands together and turned to leave.
With the death of Xie Laizi, the secret of Old Master Huang’s visit to him would never be exposed.
He could finally rest easy.
Merely the Executor of the Nine Insect Gang had kept Ah Niu anxious and on edge for over a month, living every day in fear. If he were to provoke the Nine Insect Gang, being marked by them, he couldn’t even dare to imagine.
It would surely be a great calamity.
Returning home, Ah Niu called Xiao Qing back.
She seemed very happy.
Wang Wanyan also followed, with her raised cat trailing behind.
After eating the Pork King meat, the cat’s physique underwent a second growth, becoming much more robust than before.
Moreover, with her taking the cat to hunt in the mountains, allowing it to exercise, its ferocity and wildness were gradually being brought out, giving off a completely different impression.
“Wan Yan, your cat must be much stronger than before, right?”
“It does seem to have become considerably stronger. In the past, whenever it saw Liu Shengli’s big yellow dog from the Liu Family, it would immediately climb to a tree or rooftop to hide. Now, the Liu Family’s big yellow dog immediately tucks its tail and whimpers upon seeing it.”
Speaking of this matter, her face was brimming with a happy smile.
Seeing her own pet get stronger naturally made her happy.
“Hehe, it seems that the pig king meat wasn’t wasted after all, it did have some use. How’s your interaction with it now? Can you command it to do some things?”
“It can understand some of my simple commands and our relationship has gotten closer and closer. But it seems like it still can’t understand complicated orders. For example, when hunting, I told it to ambush a fox from behind while I distracted the fox with bait from the front. In the end, it just lay there motionless and the fox got away. I was almost driven mad by it.”
Wang Wanyan expressed her troubles during the beast taming process.
This is an experience common to all Insect Masters or Beast Tamers.
Qin Niu had just subdued the Ant Queen recently, and because he hadn’t grasped insect language, he couldn’t communicate with the termites at all. The tender leaves he threw at the entrance of their nest were completely ignored.
Later, after mastering the insect language, things gradually improved.
By now, he already had a spiritual power that wasn’t too weak, and he had learned to communicate with his pets using spiritual power.
Even when facing beast or avian pets, he could communicate with them.
“Take it slow, I believe it will get better and better. You can carefully observe its actions, expressions, and the sounds it makes in different situations to learn the language of the cat. Also, you can make eye contact with it and focus your thoughts to communicate, which is a more advanced way of communicating.”
Qin Niu taught her some techniques to master beast language.
“Ah Niu, you know so much. I’ll have to come to learn these beast taming skills from you often in the future.”
She looked at Qin Niu with admiring eyes.
With Qin Niu’s help, she was gradually becoming a qualified Beast Tamer.
“You’re welcome to come over any time. Since Xiao Qing is already quite familiar with you, even if I’m not home, you can come visit Xiao Qing and chat with her.” Qin Niu had always had a deep fondness for her.
If she would agree, Qin Niu would be very happy to marry her.
Even when Tang Caixian was chasing after him, he had already reserved the position of the main wife for Wang Wanyan.
Even the Jade Emperor had countless fairy wives, and as a mere mortal, marrying two wives was truly no big deal.
Rich families nearly all had multiple wives and concubines.
“Don’t just stand outside, come on in and sit down! We can’t become strangers just because I built a new house.”
Qin Niu invited her to sit inside.
“Your house is really beautiful and very imposing.”
She praised Qin Niu’s new house as she walked inside.
It wasn’t her first time visiting.
Every time she came, she praised it. What does that imply?
Is she hinting to Qin Niu that she really likes this house?
“If Sister Wan Yan likes my master’s house, she could marry my master and become my mistress!” Xiao Qing was a small creature with big ideas, and it was hard to tell where she got so many notions from.
She spent her days arranging for Qin Niu to get married.
“Children say the darndest things, don’t take it to heart.”
Upon seeing that Wang Wanyan’s fair face had turned quite red, Qin Niu quickly spoke to ease her embarrassment.
At that moment, her cat, as if it had encountered something terrifying, made a strange cry, tucked its tail, and turned to flee.
“Xiao Hua, come back!”
Wang Wanyan called it, but to no avail.
In the blink of an eye, it had disappeared without a trace.
“I don’t know what frightened it, but I need to go back and check. I’ll come over again another time. Xiao Qing, if you’re scared at night and alone at home, you’re always welcome to stay at my place.”
Clearly, Xiao Qing had already told her she could stay at her own home in the future.
“Ah Niu, I have to go back now. There’s nothing scary in your yard, so why did it frighten my Xiao Hua like that?”
Qin Niu was also puzzled.
The Diamond Ink Turtle was still at a very low level, inherently timid, and spent all day hiding under the rocks at the bottom of the water. It couldn’t have scared Wang Wanyan’s cat like that.
Xiao Niu was even more unlikely.
It was just a lazy ox, which had been sleeping all the time recently.
The only possibility that could have frightened the cat into running away was the newly acquired Golden Toad.
It was a Grade Seven beast pet, terrifyingly powerful.
Even Qin Niu’s Ant Queen was a whole three grades lower than it.
He went to the backyard, where the Golden Toad was sitting next to the well, looking like it wanted to enter the well as it circled around it.
“Golden Toad, hold back your aura in the future; you’ve scared away the guests. As my pet, you must remember, the more low-key, the better. Pets that are too showy often don’t live long.”
Qin Niu wasn’t just scaring it.
No matter how strong a demon beast was, as long as it flaunted itself everywhere, nine times out of ten it would be taken by a powerful human as a mount.
Some unlucky ones got directly wiped out by humans.
“Croak!”
It agreed.
But its croaking was still loud, probably loud enough to be heard halfway across the village.
” Is this you agreeing verbally but resolutely refusing to change? In the village, do you think you’re in the mountains? Don’t go croaking around without reason in the future.”
Qin Niu glared at it in critique.
The Golden Toad looked back at him with its red eyes, seemingly aggrieved.
“If you like staying in cool underground places, I can dig a well for you. Of course, you can also choose a spot in this backyard and dig a hole for yourself. But let me give you a heads-up, don’t touch those medicinal herbs. If you dare cause any damage, I’ll skin you and feast on frog meat.”