Chapter Five: The Abhorrent Matters of the Red Dust

  However, after Meng Xuan returned home, he had already changed out of his usual clothes and forgotten to take the silver pieces from his bosom. After all, this time was just for returning the bowl, and besides, he was a person who lived a simple life and didn't need much silver in his daily life. When he went down the mountain, he only brought less than ten taels of silver as travel expenses, which had almost been spent.

  "You dare to smash someone's shop with just ten taels of silver? Do you know how much the things in this shop are worth?"

  Meng Xuan awkwardly withdrew his hand and decided to pretend to be as calm as Jiang Yuechen.

  "You... you said... how much... just... just that much..."

  Jiang Yuechen stuttered, he had two teeth extracted, and his speech was already leaking air.

  "Alright, since you've smashed things in this shop, at least you should compensate us with 100 taels of silver. Since Little Qiao owes you 10 taels, you can take out 90 taels and we'll consider the matter settled. Next time I see you show up here again, I'll beat you up!"

  "......good......good......"

  Jiang Yuechen said as he reached for his wallet at his waist.

  "Hmph, you can all stay behind, scram!"

  Meng Xuan pulled down his money bag from Jiang Yue's waist and threw him away like trash.

  "Master... Master..."

  The servants of the Jiang family all rushed over and helped him up.

  "Go..."

  Jiang Yuechen shot Meng Xuan a venomous glance, but didn't dare say anything. He turned around and left with his entourage of servants.

  "This Young Master Meng is really formidable! Jiang Young Master learned his skills from Cold Grandmaster's seven disciples, and he's said to be a master himself. But in Young Master Meng's hands, he was like a little chick, without even the slightest chance of fighting back..."

  "Hey, don't you think that Meng Young Master has studied at the Immortal Gate for seven years? No matter how little effort he puts in, it's not something ordinary people can compare to..."

  "Wow, I heard that Meng Young Master is at the bottom, but he's so powerful. Then how strong must Xiao Young Master be now......"

  The people around were discussing and dispersing while talking.

  "Are you going to tell my father about the missing silver? Why did you go to that Jiang's family pharmacy to buy medicine on credit? Is the Jiang family's silver easy to owe?"

  After returning to the store, Meng Xuan said with some anger.

  He knew his father often helped Qiu Yue and her mother, so it was not right for him to borrow even medicine.

  "I... I really am... at my wit's end..."

  Qiao Yu'er was scolded by Meng Xuan, and tears welled up in her eyes. She turned around and quietly wiped them away.

  Meng Xuan was taken aback and knew that she must have something difficult to say. He sighed and asked her gently.

  Qiao Yu'er was initially unwilling to speak, but later on, she still couldn't help but ask Meng Xuanbo with a raised face.

  Hearing this, Meng Xuan's anger rose involuntarily.

  However, since Meng Xuan went to the Immortal's Gate to learn his skills, Old Man Meng often sent some silver to Qiao's mother and daughter. When Shi Yiniang saw this, although she was unhappy, she didn't say anything because she feared Meng Xuan who was still in the Immortal's Gate at that time. But just a month ago, when news of Meng Xuan being expelled from the Immortal's Gate spread back to Siling City, Shi Yiniang immediately revealed her true nature and forbade Old Man Meng from giving another copper coin to this mother-daughter pair.

  Half a month ago, Qiao Yue's mother's illness worsened and urgently needed silver to buy medicine. She had wanted to ask Meng Lao Ye for help but was met with cold ridicule by Shi Niang at the door, who mercilessly scolded her in a vicious tone. Qiao Yue, after all, was just a teenage girl, how could she bear it? Without even seeing Meng Lao Ye, she returned home empty-handed and cried bitterly.

  Helpless, she knew the Jiang family was not good to get along with, but had no choice but to go and buy medicine.

  As a result, she was indeed calculated by Jiang Yuechen. The medicine that originally cost only one or two silver coins was forcibly raised to ten silver coins, and now he even brought his evil slaves to capture her. If Meng Xuan hadn't been here just in time, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

  "Hmph, Shi Yiniang actually did such a thing, does she really think that just because I was expelled from the Immortal Gate, I'm completely useless?"

  Meng Xuan secretly hated her, never expecting Shi Yiniang to do such a thing, almost causing Qiao Yue'er to fall into hell.

  "Use this silver first, and don't bother opening the shop. Just focus on taking care of your aunt at home. Although her illness has passed, she was sick for too long and her body is too weak, so she needs to rest well for a while. Don't worry about other things, I'll take care of them!"

  Meng Xuan left Jiang Yuechen's purse in the tofu shop and returned to the Meng manor, lost in thought.

  At this time, Old Master Meng had already gotten out of bed and was smoking water pipe in his room. Meng Xuan went to his room and told him what he had been thinking about. He planned to take a sum of silver, buy a farm for the Qiao family, rent several shops, and hire an honest manager to take care of the business, so that Madam Qiao and her daughter would not have to show their faces in public again. Although it was not as good as their previous family business, they could still live a stable life.

  Old Man Meng heard this and hesitated, saying: "This will probably cost three thousand taels of silver. Our Meng family can still afford it, but now all the business at home is being taken care of by your elder brother. Such a large sum of money needs his approval before it can be taken out... Let's do it this way, when your elder brother comes back, I'll go talk to him. We are also old friends with the Qiao family, so we should help with this matter!"

  Meng Xuan nodded, since his father had spoken, he didn't ask any more questions. Anyway, Qiao Yue now had the money pouch he had snatched from Jiang Yuechen, which didn't have ninety taels of silver, but had twenty or thirty taels, enough for her to spend lavishly for a while. As for helping the Qiao family buy a house, it only needed to be done before he left Sicheng, no need to rush at this moment.

  After finishing breakfast, a servant came to report that the young master had already sent a message and wanted him to return before dusk.

  Old Man Meng was delighted and ordered his servants to book a banquet, preparing for the whole family to gather together that night.

  Meng Xuan also misses that big brother, when he hadn't entered the immortal gate yet, his relationship with that big brother was still quite harmonious. After all, at that time, he looked younger than the big brother, but in reality, he had an old soul from another world inside him. Many times, it seemed like the big brother was protecting the little brother, but actually, it was always the little brother teasing the big brother, their relationship couldn't be more wrong.

  He later entered the immortal gate and left for seven years, and I don't know what kind of person Big Brother has become now.

  It was not yet evening when he sat with Old Man Meng in the main hall, waiting for his elder brother to return.

  However, he waited and waited until sunset, when the lights were first lit, but still did not see the young master return.

  Mr. Meng became somewhat uneasy, and several times he sent his servants to make inquiries. Although it is now a peaceful world and there are rarely any rumors of great demons appearing in the vicinity, he still worried that his eldest son had been taken away by some demon. It was just like what happened to Qiao Yue's father, who was taken away by the demon from Hei Mu Shan while on his way back home after collecting a debt, which led to the decline of the Qiao family.

  After inquiring several times, the family servant only said that no one was seen, and Mr. Meng sat up all night, his heart burning with anxiety.

  It wasn't until after midnight that the food and wine had been warmed up several times, that the elder brother finally returned home in a drunken daze.

  Old Master Meng was furious, and as soon as he went up, he scolded: "Don't you know that your brother has already returned? We've been waiting for you for so long, but you ran off to drink with someone else! Even if you were going to drink, couldn't you have sent a servant to send word?"

  "Who am I going drinking with? Ask him!"

  Big Brother Meng Shan burst into flames, pointing at Meng Xuan's nose and scolding: "This waste, was kicked out of the fairy mountain, let our Meng family lose face together, but after coming back, you actually didn't behave yourself, and even beat up the young master of the Jiang family! Who did I go drinking with? I went to apologize to the young master of the Jiang family, as soon as I entered the city, the people from the Jiang family stopped me, saying that this waste had injured their young master, they wanted to report it to the authorities, if I hadn't drunk a bellyful of wine and apologized, the yamen would have arrived at our doorstep by now!"

  Meng Xuan looked at his elder brother who was furious, without saying a word.

  He didn't know if the big brother was really drunk or pretending to be drunk, really angry or pretending to be angry. But with one mouthful of "trash", he showed no mercy, and it was clear that the emotions he had accumulated from deliberately getting along with him in the past had become very thin. Seven years is enough time to change a person's temperament.

  "What... what... you said your brother is?"

  Master Meng actually already knew that Meng Xuan had beaten Jiang Yuechen, but he never mentioned it. At this time, hearing his eldest son repeatedly scolding Meng Xuan as a waste, he was unhappy in his heart and his hands were shaking with anger.

  "Hmph, you're originally just a piece of trash, and yet you won't let people say it?"

  Shi Yiniang walked out of the house and took a towel from the servant's hand to wipe Mengshan's face, saying with a sarcastic tone.

  "I had a reason for hitting the young master of the Jiang family, didn't he tell you?"

  Meng Xuan said calmly, suppressing his anger, and picked up a cup of wine to drink.

  "What reason? Dog fart's reason!"

  Meng Shan rushed into the room, slapped the wine out of Meng Xuan's hand and scolded: "Look at the young master of the Xiao family, then look at you, what face do you have to enter this house? The other became a formal disciple of Xiān Shān, still gentle and courteous, who in the entire Four Symbol City doesn't praise him as good? And you? A waste who was expelled from his sect, actually dared to fight with the young master of the Jiang family for a tofu seller, how do you have such great ability?"

  "It's not that simple, huh? What kind of man finds a woman like her? You're still not satisfied with stuffing her with silver every day and even went to fight for her. Don't you know who the young master of the Jiang family is? He's a precious person, and if you hurt him, can you afford to pay for it?"

  Shi Yiniang also followed along, helping to provoke him, and her words were even more cutting and sarcastic.