Chapter 70: Pocket money

After that day, Lu Qingjiu thought the dragon would find him and tell him something, but for a long time he heard nothing more from him, except for the occasional mention from Bai Yuehu that the dragon had escaped from Shuifu Village and his scent was no longer around.

Lu Qingjiu thought a lot about the word 'go' written on his hand, but no matter how many guesses he had, no one could give him a satisfactory answer.

In spring, the trees in the courtyard are once again in full leaf, and the green vines snake along the shelves, covering half of the sky in the courtyard, cutting off the sunlight and casting black shadows, but providing an early cool spot for the summer heat.

Yin Xun's birthday is a month later than Lu Qingjiu's, in the middle of April. As the saying goes, the peach blossoms and Mandarin fish are in full bloom in April. To celebrate Yin Xun's birthday, Lu Qingjiu went to the town early and bought some fat Mandarin fish, as well as some dishes that he didn't usually eat, and planned to give Yin Xun a big birthday celebration.

Cakes are definitely in order, and this time Lu Qingjiu is planning to make a durian lasagne. Before he came here, Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu had hardly eaten any tropical fruit. Lu Qingjiu casually asked if they liked durian, and Yin Xun said in all seriousness that he didn't eat it for two main reasons.

"Which two," Lu Qingjiu asked.

"One, because durian is more expensive." Yin Xun said sadly, "And two, because I am poor."

Lu Qingjiu: ""What a life his poor son has led.

Lu Qingjiu bought a whole durian at home and didn't throw away the skin to be used in a chicken stew, the peeled durian exuded a rich and unique aroma and he casually fed a piece to Bai Yuehu who was standing next to him.

Bai Yuehu put the durian in his mouth and frowned slightly, Yin Xun also took a small piece, his expression was similar to Bai Yuehu's, both looked quite serious, not sure if he liked it or not.

Lu Qingjiu said: "Do you like it?" After all, some people are not used to eating durian, those who like it like it a lot, but those who don't want to touch it don't want to touch it.

"How much is a catty?" Yin Xun asks in a whisper.

Lu Qingjiu: "This one is over five hundred."

Yin Xun's expression immediately changed: "Give me more if you like it".

Lu Qingjiu looked helpless and said that if he didn't like it, don't force it, he could make a different flavour of lasagne, the mango one was actually good too

But after hearing the price of durian, Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu both said with serious faces that they had never eaten such a delicious fruit before, which made Lu Qingjiu laugh and cry.

The ten chickens we bought last year in the yard have become twelve, or because we ate a lot of them, Lu Qingjiu plans the menu and thinks that we're getting tired of stewed chicken, so we'll just make white cut chicken. The chicken stew is a bit tiresome, so why not make white cut chicken, and Yin Xun's favourite dishes, sweet and sour pork and pickled fish, as much as he can, and there is Bai Yuehu at home anyway.

Lu Qingjiu was about to call Bai Yuehu to ask him to pick some fresh vegetables from the field when he heard the sound of a car engine coming from the door, as if someone had parked in front of their house.

Lu Qingjiu opened the door and saw Jiu Feng, who he hadn't seen for a long time, looking at him with a smile on his face.

"Qingjiu, it's been a long time." Jiu Feng greeted Lu Qingjiu eagerly, the eight heads still hanging from her necklace, and as soon as she had finished greeting them, the eight heads scrambled to greet Lu Qingjiu.

"Long time no see." Lu Qingjiu noticed that behind Jiu Feng stood a tall man wearing a black mask with only one eye showing, "Can I help you?"

"Is Bai Yuehu at home?" Jiu Feng asks.

"He's gone to the ground." Lu Qingjiu said, "I don't think he'll be back for a while." He had a good impression of Jiu Feng, the girl, so he paused and asked, "Are you going in to wait for him?"

"Good." Jiu Feng nodded happily, then turned and pointed to the man standing behind him, "This is Shao Hao, also here to see Bai Yuehu about some business."

The name Shao Hao is a very romantic deity in the Shanhai scriptures.

"You must be Lu Qingjiu." Shao Hao's voice was gentle and he seemed to be a man of good temper as he walked up next to Jiu Feng and extended his hand to Lu Qingjiu, "I've heard a lot about you."

Lu Qingjiu, already used to being 'heard', extended his hand and shook Shao Hao's, greeting the two men as they entered the courtyard.

With the pot still cooking, Lu Qingjiu asked Yin Xun to take some snacks for the two of them and went back to the kitchen.

"What are they doing in our house?" Yin Xun has always been wary of strangers.

"I don't know." Lu Qingjiu said, "It seems to be looking for Bai Yuehu."

Yin Xun oh'd and brought the snacks out to the two men.

Some of the snacks were bought in town and some were made by Lu Qingjiu himself, and they all tasted very good. Jiu Feng gulped at the sight of the snacks and didn't hesitate to reach out and start eating them, saying to Shao Hao as he ate, "Try them, they're delicious."

Shao Hao hesitated a little, but seeing how happy Jiu Feng was eating, he reached out and removed the mask from his face. After removing the mask, Yin Xun realised that the lower part of the man's face was embroidered with a black pattern that almost covered half of his face, the pattern was exquisite, but the fact that it was embroidered on his face in such a way inexplicably gave the man in front of him a more treacherous air.

Yin Xun didn't dare to look any further, put the snacks down and turned around and left.

Shao Hao looked at his back and asked, "He is the god of the mountain"

"Yeah." Jiu Feng chewed on Lu Qingjiu's dried sweet potatoes with a satisfied look on his face, "It smells good, doesn't it? It smells like flesh lingzhi, if only I could eat it." Unfortunately, Bai Yuehu was watching.

Shao Hao laughed, "If you eat him, Bai Yuehu can have an extra meal." Jiu Feng had eaten Yin Xun, and Bai Yuehu probably wouldn't have let Jiu Feng go.

Jiu Feng winked, "It's not like I didn't eat it."

Shao Hao took a bite of dried sweet potato and ignored Jiu Feng.

Bai Yuehu returns from the field with a large pile of vegetables, wearing a straw hat on his head and rubber boots on his feet, looking like a peasant boy. When he entered the courtyard and saw the two guests sitting in the courtyard, he did not greet them, but went into the kitchen and handed Lu Qingjiu the vegetables he was holding.

"Your friend is here to see you." Lu Qingjiu said.

"Hmm." Bai Yuehu was cold.

"I think they came to see you for something. I'll come in the kitchen, you go and keep them company." Lu Qingjiu said.

Bai Yuehu nodded and turned to go out.

Lu Qingjiu thought it was a bit strange, so he took an extra precaution and when he washed the dishes, he went to a place near the window, which was facing the courtyard, and from there he could hear the voices of several people talking in the courtyard.

"Bai Yuehu, it's been a long time." Shao Hao said.

Bai Yuehu sat down directly opposite Shao Hao: "What's wrong?"

Shao Hao said, "There's something over here, do you want to take it?"

Bai Yuehu: "No answer."

Shao Hao seemed a little surprised to hear Bai Yuehu turn it down so decisively and said, "The price is quite high, I really won't take it."

"No." Bai Yuehu said, "Don't even bother coming to me in the future."

Shao Hao: "No," he sat up straighter and looked at Bai Yuehu with incredulity, "that's not like you."

Bai Yuehu raised his chin slightly, his expression slightly proud: "No need."

Jiu Feng whispered next to me, "I told you he was doing well now, you can't invite him and you still don't believe me."

She nibbled on two more sweet potato fries and wept sadly, "Where is it like me, there is no meal, there is no next meal."

Shao Hao glanced towards the kitchen with an odd expression on his face, Lu Qingjiu quickly shrank back, but still had the feeling that he had been seen. The more Lu Qingjiu thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong, and his ears perked up in case he had missed something.

"Don't even bother looking for me in the future." Bai Yuehu said, "I won't do it anymore."

Shao Hao said, "Your standard of living is going up, see if this is okay, I'll give you an extra 500 yuan"

Bai Yuehu: "Five hundred"

Shao Hao: "It's enough for you to have a meal of xiao long bao."

Lu Qingjiu, who was eavesdropping at the back, had a very mixed feeling, what 500 yuan?

But apparently Bai Yuehu's brain was not quite the same as Lu Qingjiu's, who actually sensed hesitation in his silence. Lu Qingjiu couldn't believe that his family's little farming pro was compelled by 500 yuan!

"Going?" Shao Hao asked again, chewing on a nut.

Bai Yuehu said, "Let me think about it."

Lu Qingjiu couldn't stand to hear any more, so he put the dishes in his hands and came out of the kitchen in a rage, flashing a fake smile at the three people chatting in the courtyard, "What are you talking about?"

"He asked me to do something." Bai Yuehu is quite frank.

"What to do" Lu Qingjiu couldn't really think of anything to spend five hundred dollars on Bai Yuehu.

Shao Hao saw Lu Qingjiu with this protective look but smiled, "Don't worry, I just asked him to go and help me eat something."

"Eat what?" Lu Qingjiu looked suspicious like a parent who had seen his child being abducted.

"A group of animals called quail have come into my territory." Shao Hao said, "It has been hunting the birds I keep and because there are so many of them, it's a pain to clean them up, so I wanted Bai Yuehu to help."

Lu Qingjiu said, "How much do you pay?"

Shao Hao said, "Usually we give a thousand at a time, but this time we add five hundred more." So that's a thousand and a half.

Lu Qingjiu said, "Is this quail good?" He was asking about Bai Yuehu.

Bai Yuehu shook his head, "It's awful to eat."

Lu Qingjiu: "How does it compare with the corpse of the Yu Shi concubine"

Bai Yuehu thinks for a moment, "It's a little better." He pauses for a moment to add, "At least the meat is soft."

Lu Qingjiu looked at Bai Yuehu with pity, what kind of life was his fox spirit leading?

Shao Hao had obviously seen through the fact that Lu Qingjiu was Bai Yuehu's owner and stretched out his hand somewhat helplessly, "Well, I know you won't let him pick it up, but at least let me rub it in for lunch."

Lu Qingjiu said, "Sure, it's Yin Xun's birthday today, so you and Jiu Feng can stay for dinner."

Jiu Feng was happy to hear this and began to bicker with his other eight heads again until he got bored with Bai Yuehu and then reluctantly quieted down.

Shao Hao ate some snacks before stopping his movements and putting his mask back on again.

Shao Hao shook his head, "No, I was born with it, and some people were afraid to look at it, so I covered it up."

Unlike Bai Yuehu and Jiu Feng, who are completely removed from the crowd, Shao Hao seems to live in human society, and Lu Qingjiu notices the car he drives to the door, a Porsche supercar. The car parked in front of their house was out of keeping with the simple style of their home.

But it did make Lu Qingjiu wonder why some mythical creatures fit into human society and others don't, and after he asked his question, Shao Hao smiled and said, "Because those creatures live with people in mythology, or are people themselves."

Lu Qingjiu says: "So if one is not a mythical creature close to man, one cannot integrate into human society."

Shao Hao: "Well you can't say that either." He takes Bai Yuehu as an example, "For example, if Bai Yuehu wanted to work in human society, the effort he spent going out would not be enough for what he earned back."

Lu Qingjiu says, "That's because he hasn't found the right way to work." With Bai Yuehu's pretty face, he's more than capable of being a vase star, and even if he doesn't act, he should still be very popular for hardcore photos.

"I can't help it." Shao Hao stretched his hands, "He doesn't have an ID card, he doesn't have a family register, and he doesn't have a degree." Seeing Bai Yuehu's expression grow darker and darker, Shao Hao hurriedly added, "Of course, these things aren't very important."

Bai Yuehu didn't say anything, picked up a dried sweet potato and bit it off with a click.

Shao Hao laughed awkwardly, feeling a little cold in his neck, he was really drifting a bit, that is, he took advantage of Lu Qingjiu's presence Bai Yuehu did not dare to get mad, this is why he was desperate to flirt a little.

The more Lu Qingjiu listened, the sadder he felt. His fox spirit had suffered so much over the years that he couldn't even afford to buy seeds for growing vegetables, and he could only suck in his saliva when he passed by the bun shop. When he thought about it, he felt a fatherly compassion in his heart and wanted to take Bai Yuehu into his arms and stroke his head and tell him that he had a father for everything.

Shao Hao didn't get Bai Yuehu, but at least he got a lunch and looked quite satisfied.

Lu Qingjiu told Bai Yuehu to decline Shao Hao's invitation before he was relieved to go into the kitchen and cook the rest of the dishes.

It had been a long time since Yin Xun had a birthday and when the cake was brought to him he was in tears of excitement. Lu Qingjiu put a paper shell crown on Yin Xun's head and lit candles on the cake, and together they gave him

Singing the birthday song.

Yin Xun whimpered and cried, saying that he was grateful to Lu Qingjiu for giving him the chance to be a new man.

Lu Qingjiu: ""Forget it, don't bother with children.

Lu Qingjiu had made the cake last night and put it in the fridge to freeze, so now he took it out and cut it into pieces and distributed it to everyone after Yin Xun had blown out the candles. The cream was filled with durian paste and had a rich flavour.

After eating the cake for dessert, the table was set for the main meal. Lu Qingjiu cooked all of Yin Xun's favourite dishes, including chicken, duck and fish.

Shao Hao took a bite of Lu Qingjiu's dish and looked amazed: "Good work."

Lu Qingjiu is a bit embarrassed: "It's all the fragrance of the vegetables grown in Bai Yuehu, and this is Cong Long's meat, so it smells good when you just stir-fry it."

Shao Hao laughed, "You are too modest."

Lu Qingjiu didn't say anything more, anyway he actually really thought his cooking was quite ordinary, mainly because he didn't have anything else to do normally, all his energy was focused on eating, and with the special ingredients, it was normal for the taste to be better than normal food.

Jiu Feng and Bai Yuehu didn't say a word the whole time, and their meals were like a war.

Shao Hao's appetite is similar to that of a human, and he almost puts down his chopsticks with Lu Qingjiu. Lu Qingjiu was a little surprised: "You're not eating anymore".

"Satiated." Shao Hao wiped his mouth, "If you have time, come and play in my bird garden."

Lu Qingjiu responded, "Yes."

Having had his fill, Yin Xun rubbed his belly and said he couldn't eat any more, slumping into a pancake in his chair. Lu Qingjiu noticed that Shao Hao seemed to be interested in Yin Xun from the moment he entered the room. Yin Xun, the thick-headed one, was completely unaware of this.

"Is he special?" Lu Qingjiu asked.

Shao Hao realised Lu Qingjiu was asking about himself and smiled, "No, I just found the scent of him very inviting."

Yin Xun, who was already on the verge of falling asleep, woke up immediately when he heard this. He was not so narcissistic as to think that Shao Hao meant something else to him.

Lu Qingjiu said, "You have eaten the meat lingzhi."

Shao Hao said, "I ate it." He licked his lips, "It tastes good." He smiled at Yin Xun as he said this, a rather gentle smile but one that made Yin Xun's eyes go wide with nervousness.

Lu Qingjiu said, "He's my friend, so don't worry about him, have something else."

Shao Hao said, "Good."

Lu Qingjiu watched the two men walk to the door and get into their sports car, disappearing into the village, before turning back to the house.

When Yin Xun saw Shao Hao leaving, he said that this person was really a beast with a human face and actually discussed in front of the person concerned whether the person was good for food or not in an open manner

Lu Qingjiu thought it was a bit funny, but didn't laugh for fear that Yin Xun would get angry, so he reached out and patted his silly son on the shoulder.

Bai Yuehu ate his fill and went to lie down in the courtyard again. Lu Qingjiu remembered something and went to his room to get his coat, then called Yin Xun to come to the courtyard as well.

"I've decided to give you guys some pocket money." Lu Qingjiu pulled his wallet out of his jacket, thinking that since his fox spirit and little mountain god were so old, he must have some pocket money on him, or else Shao Hao would suddenly come along and cheat them out of five hundred dollars. He usually does all the shopping himself, so he hadn't noticed this for a while, but Shao Hao was a wake-up call for Lu Qingjiu.

"Money, why should we be given money." Yin Xun looked at Lu Qingjiu blankly, obviously not understanding why Lu Qingjiu had suddenly brought this up.

Lu Qingjiu said, "Keep the money to buy snacks or anything else you want to buy, our family is in a very good condition now, so we can't have enough to eat, so buy whatever you want, don't save it either." They have to thank the ghost lady in the backyard for living like this, she has really given so much to this family

Yin Xun wanted to say something else, but when he saw Lu Qingjiu's firmness, he did not insist on it.

Bai Yuehu wanted to say no, but when he saw Lu Qingjiu's grave expression, he didn't say the words out loud.

Lu Qingjiu said, "Two thousand dollars of pocket money every month, not enough to ask me again, not allowed to go out and take jobs Shao Hao that kind of work must first talk to me before taking." He said, "Don't let five hundred dollars fool you."

Bai Yuehu wants to say something but doesn't.

Lu Qingjiu ignored him and took a wad of money directly out of his wallet, then counted out two thousand and shoved a wad into each of their hands.

Yin Xun's palms trembled slightly as he looked at the amount of red RMB and said, "This is too much." He had never seen so much money before, and usually Lu Qingjiu paid for his groceries, not more than a hundred yuan, or just swiped a QR code on his mobile phone for larger items.

Bai Yuehu looked grave: "Yes, too much."

Lu Qingjiu sighed: "Take it". He couldn't bear to see his two suffer, and it was totally unacceptable for Shao Hao to have to go and chew mud for a thousand and a half Bai Yuehu. His vixen was so cute and fluffy, how could he be made to do such a rough job again?

Although both Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu were uncomfortable with the large sum of money, they eventually accepted it at Lu Qingjiu's insistence. Yin Xun said he wanted to deposit it on his bank card, while Bai Yuehu, who had no ID, fished an old jar from the utility room, cleaned it and carefully counted the money before stuffing it inside.

Lu Qingjiu said, "By the way, Bai Yuehu, even if you don't have an ID card, you should be able to earn money in other ways, right?" He had the impression that Long Du was a representative of the rich, so how could he be as poor as Bai Yuehu, who could not even afford to eat buns?

Bai Yuehu says: "I can't make money directly from humans."

Lu Qingjiu: "Why?"

Bai Yuehu: "I'll be hungry."

Lu Qingjiu is somewhat bewildered.

"The more you earn, the hungrier you get." Bai Yuehu explained slowly, "It's better to do nothing at all." Before Lu Qingjiu's arrival, he had been starving almost day and night, and human cooking would have been a good food for hunger, but he had no money to buy it, so he had to eat mythical creatures like manta rays to satisfy his hunger.

Lu Qingjiu said, "Then I'll give you money and you're not hungry, are you?"

Bai Yuehu shakes his head.

Lu Qingjiu is now relieved, he looked at Bai Yuehu pityingly, thinking how these two had lived without himself ah, he must treat them well, give them the warmest fatherly love bah, is friendship.

The author has something to say: Bai Yuehu: Although durian is stinky, once you think about the price, it feels delicious.

Yin Xun: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Lu Qingjiu.