"Brother Da Gou, do you have any news of Xiao Lan?"
Three days later, Xiao Fei found Lin Da Gou to inquire about the news.
"Hmm! This matter cannot be rushed. You go back and wait."
Lin Da Gou was perfunctory, but in fact, he had forgotten about it these past few days.
Xiao Fei saw Lin Da Gou's perfunctory attitude, but he had no other way at the moment.
If he wanted to seek others, he couldn't find another way in a short time.
Xiao Fei could only say a few more nice words to Lin Da Gou, hoping he would put more effort into it.
After listening for a few sentences, Lin Da Gou impatiently turned around and closed the door.
Another three days passed, and Xiao Fei found Lin Da Gou again.
"Brother Da Gou, any news?"
Lin Da Gou said with a troubled expression.
"I've inquired about your matter. There is no such person in the handyman courtyard. If you want to inquire in other courtyards, you'll have to grease some palms."
Lin Da Gou rubbed his fingers together, making a gesture of squeezing spirit stones.
Xiao Fei understood and immediately offered another five spirit stones.
Lin Da Gou took the spirit stones, put them in his pocket, and then shook his head.
"These spirit stones are not enough! You need at least ten."
Xiao Fei was helpless, so he had to offer another five spirit stones with a fawning expression, along with a lot of flattering words.
After Lin Da Gou accepted the spirit stones and turned to close the door, Xiao Fei rubbed the muscles in his stiff face. He was so tired from smiling.
Those who flatter are not all bad people. Sometimes it is due to the hardships of life. Who wouldn't want to be a dignified and upright great man?
If he had Foundation Establishment cultivation now, he could directly storm into the Lin family manor, and a scoundrel like Lin Da Gou could be kicked to death with one foot. Even if he had cultivation at the eighth or ninth level of Qi Refining, or even the tenth level, the Lin family would not dare to be too negligent if he visited directly.
But he was only a rookie at the second level of Qi Refining, unable to even cast a decent spell. The watchdogs of the Lin family were much stronger than him.
Although Xiao Fei wished he could soar to the heavens and become a Foundation Establishment expert tomorrow, cultivation is a gradual process and cannot be rushed.
Moreover, Xiao Fei found that his progress was very slow by simply meditating and cultivating. Every time he meditated, he forcibly pulled spirit energy points into his body with his mind, and he could only grasp a few spirit energies a day. Recently, every time he practiced, he held a spirit stone in each hand. This way, his cultivation speed became two to three times faster.
However, using spirit stones to cultivate was too costly. In just a few days, he had used up one spirit stone. The food in his space had been sold, and the Enlightenment Fruit and ginseng were not yet ripe. There were no other sources of income in the short term. Now, in order to find his second sister, he had been extorted for 17 spirit stones by Lin Da Gou without getting any news. The 68 spirit stones he obtained from selling food had been spent, leaving him with only 50 spirit stones. When he found his second sister and wanted to redeem her from the Lin family, he would need to spend a large sum of spirit stones.
In the following period, Xiao Fei would go to Lin Da Gou every few days to inquire about news. He was continuously extorted for more spirit stones by Lin Da Gou. However, since he had already invested so many spirit stones, he was unwilling to give up, so he could only continue to give spirit stones. Lin Da Gou must have seen through his mindset and was playing on his weakness, deliberately stringing him along and delaying the investigation.
Xiao Fei could also guess Lin Da Gou's intentions, but the matter of his second sister was indeed his weakness. In the past, their parents would rather starve to death than leave the chance of survival to their siblings. Then, the eldest brother and eldest sister died one after another, and the second sister sold herself for two guan of money, all of which she gave to him. Their parents and siblings sacrificed their lives to let him live, and all he needed to pay now was some material wealth.
However, in order not to let Lin Da Gou think he was being stalled, he recently extended the time between visits to Lin Da Gou from every few days to every ten to twenty days. Moreover, when he took out spirit stones, he became stingy, showing a sign of giving up.
Today, he found Lin Da Gou again.
"Brother Da Gou, any news recently?"
Xiao Fei's demeanor was a bit listless now.
"There is indeed news. More than a year ago, Young Master Xiang brought back a group of women from outside, and one of them was named Xiao Lan."
"Ah!"
Xiao Fei was momentarily lost in thought, unable to believe it was true. He had finally found definite news of his second sister.
"How is she now?" This was Xiao Fei's most pressing concern.
"Don't worry, Xiao Lan is safe and sound. All the women Young Master Xiang brought back have cultivation aptitude. They are now being housed in the manor to learn immortal cultivation techniques."
Lin Da Gou even showed a rare smile at this point.
"Thank you, Brother Da Gou!"
Xiao Fei solemnly cupped his hands and bowed to Lin Da Gou.
"Can Brother Da Gou help me deliver a letter?"
Lin Da Gou looked troubled. "This is a bit difficult. Xiao Lan is in the inner quarters, and I cannot approach her. This requires bribing quite a few people."
"I naturally understand this."
Xiao Fei was in a very good mood now. This was the best news in years. He immediately took out another five spirit stones and handed them to Lin Da Gou.
Lin Da Gou accepted the spirit stones and helped him find paper and a brush.
"Tian Chang Market, two guan of money, Xiao Fei!"
Xiao Fei only wrote a few simple words. He was still unsure if the news provided by Lin Da Gou was true. If it was indeed his second sister, she would definitely understand.
After Xiao Fei sent the letter, only three days passed before he received a reply. When he opened the envelope and saw the delicate handwriting on the letter paper, he was already ninety percent sure that this was indeed his second sister's handwriting. At the end of the letter, a broken plum blossom hairpin was drawn. At this point, he was one hundred percent sure it was his second sister. This plum blossom hairpin was his mother's dowry. Xiao Fei had accidentally broken it when he was mischievous as a child. Fearing punishment, he had blamed his second sister, Xiao Lan. That time, his father had beaten his second sister's palm red. It turned out that his second sister had always known that he had framed her. In the letter, his second sister told him that she was living well and that he didn't need to worry.
With the good news of his second sister, Xiao Fei was in an exceptionally good mood, walking with a spring in his step. As he whistled and hummed a tune on his way back to the dilapidated inn, the innkeeper was holding a large yellow rat.
"Oh ho! In a good mood, aren't we!"
The innkeeper glared at him with his small bean-like eyes, his palm gently stroking the rat's fur.
"If you're in a good mood, come and pay the rent."
"Why do I have to pay rent again? Didn't I just pay?"
"You paid the rent on the fifteenth of last month. It's been a month and one day today. I operate with integrity, how could I cheat you out of a few taels of silver!"
The innkeeper glared at him with his small bean-like eyes and flipped open the ledger, which recorded the date Xiao Fei paid his rent. Xiao Fei didn't intend to haggle over these tens of taels of silver. He was just in a good mood today and liked to banter with the old man. He immediately took out a spirit stone and threw it on the counter. The bean-eyed innkeeper gave him 940 taels of silver in change. In Star Moon City, spirit stones and silver could be exchanged, but silver was too heavy and inconvenient to carry, and it had no spiritual energy, so it could only be used as small change.
"Old man, you're holding this rat all day, and you don't even clean the inn. Is this your wife?"
Xiao Fei pointed at the rat in the green-eyed man's arms and teased him intentionally.
"Don't say it, you two really look alike."
Xiao Fei was also impressed by the old man. As a service industry practitioner, instead of focusing on serving customers well and increasing the inn's revenue, he spent all day holding a yellow rat, making the place dirty.
"You can't get anything good out of a dog's mouth. Didn't you see that this rat is male?"
The green-eyed man glared at Xiao Fei impatiently, but there was no sign of anger in his expression.
"I'm not that kind of perverted person. I don't go around looking at rats on the roadside to check their gender."
"Male? Is it your son? It really looks seven or eight parts like you."
Xiao Fei continued to tease the old man.
"If you keep babbling with me, I'll raise your rent next month."
"Young Master! Come home for dinner!"
At this moment, Huang Feifei heard Xiao Fei's voice and had already come out from the backyard, calling Xiao Fei back for dinner.
When Xiao Fei returned home, Huang Feifei had already prepared several dishes, including stir-fried beef, dry-braised shredded pork, pork rib soup, and oil-braised bamboo shoots... Since Xiao Fei started earning spirit stones, their living standards had risen sharply, and Huang Feifei had also gained weight.
"Young Master seems to be in a good mood today. Have you found news of your second sister?"
Xiao Fei's joy was evident on his face, and anyone could see it at a glance. Huang Feifei naturally noticed it.
"Yes, I found her. She is currently in the Lin family manor and should be fine."
Xiao Fei picked up a piece of beef and put it into his mouth. It was chewy and became more fragrant as he chewed.
"Delicious! Feifei's cooking skills are getting better and better!"
"Hehe! It's because Young Master is in a good mood today that it tastes so good." Huang Feifei had become much more cheerful recently.
After Xiao Fei finished his meal, he returned to his bedroom and began to cultivate, holding a spirit stone in each hand. The spiritual energy from the spirit stones was continuously absorbed into his body, then refined into magic power, and the magic power circulating in his meridians continued to grow stronger. Xiao Fei was engrossed in cultivation, forgetting the time, and he didn't know how long had passed. Suddenly, the two streams of magic power circulating in Xiao Fei's meridians converged and then suddenly split apart. However, the original two streams of magic power had now become three streams. This indicated that Xiao Fei's cultivation had advanced from the second level of Qi Refining to the third level of Qi Refining.
The moment he broke through to the third level, a buzzing sound echoed in Xiao Fei's mind. Then he felt his consciousness seem to break through an invisible barrier and undergo a sublimation, becoming a higher level of divine sense. After his consciousness transformed into divine sense, he could clearly sense all subtle changes within a ten-foot radius even with his eyes closed. It was like a humanoid radar, microscope, scanner, and X-ray machine... For example, an ant in the crack of the floorboards, its leg hairs were clearly visible. His divine sense could even penetrate walls and see that Huang Feifei, who lived next door, was now sleeping soundly on her bed. This fellow slept so restlessly, her undergarments had fallen off...
No, it's improper to look! Hastily withdrawing his divine sense, Xiao Fei's mind was still recalling a certain beautiful sleeping picture... Since he had already seen it once, should he look again? Forget it! It is improper to look, a gentleman is cautious when alone, she trusts me so much, what little separates man from beast... However, it seemed like he saw a flea crawling in the quilt just now... Damn it, how can cultivators have such a function? How can this curious heart of mine be placed?