After a few days of exploring a town in the Mortal Realm, although earning money was still a distant goal, one could say that I have found methods to fill my empty stomach.
And that was to secretly enter the town, turn into my human form, and then just casually stand next to a really fragrant smelling restaurant. Many men would naturally come flocking towards me to invite me to dinner, and as long as I listened and agreed to what they said, I was able to order whatever I wanted, as well as eat until I'm full. After accompanying them to leave the restaurant, I would casually turn back into the form of a cat to escape while avoiding the eyes of other people, and no one would chase after me.
The other method was to simply search for useless little monsters within the town vicinity, wave my claws at them, and tell them that if they did not obediently listen, then they would be granted a ruthless beating. They all voluntarily went to find me delicious food to eat.
My instincts told me that something may be wrong with the first method, so I did not dare tell Bi Qingshen Jun. I also did not dare use the second method too often. Anyways, he said that I wasn't allowed to hurt human beings, but never stated that I wasn't allowed to hurt monsters and demons, so this should be alright…..
If other people's pain can feed my hunger, then there isn't much to worry about…..
As I noticed a more powerful demon trampling over some flowers and beating up two smaller demons, I hurriedly went and defeated the more powerful deer demon and rescued the little rabbit and frog demon. Unexpectedly, they two immediately transformed into their human forms. The pair of young demons appeared as though they were seven or eight in their human form, and was about the ages of the students at the young demon school, momentarily placing me into a trance.
The little rabbit was called Luo Luo, she was a red-eyed and silver-haired cute little girl, and was probably an arctic snow species of rabbit. I felt bad for her dysfunctional throat, her voice was just a tiny bit louder than that of a mosquito, and right now, she was sitting on the ground crying. The frog boy was either called Jian Nan or Jian Nan*, he was an ordinary looking black-haired black-eyed little boy, and right now he was barely standing straight. He was warily looking at me, but his trembling legs had given to away to his opponent that he was afraid and wavering, which were all the signs of an inadequate and weak guy.
*[TN]: The two names have similar pronuciation but totally different meanings. 剑南 Jiàn Nán – 剑 Jiàn meaning sword and 南 Nán meaning south. 贱男 Jiàn Nán – 贱 Jiàn meaning cheap and 男 Nán meaning male or boy.
When I bluntly asked for food, they promptly looked for and brought back countless delicacies. Seeing that I did not appear as though I wanted to start a fight with them, they instantly burst into tears and sadly held onto my legs repenting, saying that they would be a good demon, would do good deeds everyday, would stop stealing and stealing, and asked if I would please forgive them.
Since they asked for forgiveness, then trampling on flowers must be a really bad thing.
Thus while eating and drinking well, I righteously educated them about how casually trampling on flowers is not right! If they wanted to trample some flowers, there were plenty by the mountain side, so why would they have to trample on the flowers of another's home? Growing and raising flowers is not such an easy thing! Even if the demon wants to trample, they must first get the owner's approval. This I have down many times, trampling down the numerous flowers and grasses at Mo Lin's home, and in the end, I was ruthlessly given a beating by Bi Qingshen Jun. If even I can not do this kind of thing, then why should you be able to do it?
After hearing Bi Qingshen Jun's name, their faces grew even more pale. They kept repeating yes as well as nodding their heads, stating that they would change professions to become gardeners, become honest demons, and seriously start cultivating. They also pleaded on part of their sincerity, that they should be received as disciples or juniors, and protect them from being killed by other ferocious monsters.
Seeing their sincerity, and that the pan-fried fish and roasted was quite to my appetite, I granted them their request, and asked that while they cultivate in the mortal, they would be required to make me food everyday.
Feeling my generosity, they could not contain their smiles and laughter any longer, their courage had also grew by a little, so they came closer to me and asked, "Why did Shifu Miao Miao come to the mortal realm? Did Master Bi Qingshen Jun send you to eradicate evil monsters?"
This suggestion made me very depressed, pulling out and staring at my six copper coins once more, I asked them, "Do you know any methods to earn money in which you do not steal, rob, or trick someone?"
"If Shifu needs money, this little one will offer up, how can I make Shifu do labour?" Jian Nan quickly let out a laugh, and said to the Luo Luo that was still shaking in the corner, "You go and quickly open up the box, bring all the money out, and gift it to Shifu for her journey."
Luo Luo was scared into jumping by the voice, she immediately turned around ran, and almost hit a pole. When she came back, in her hands was a small box filled with glittering and heavy gold, her hands were trembling and she stammered, "This…..this…..is…..is all…..all of…..our life…..savings...we please ask…..ask that…..Miao Miao Shifu…..to kindly accept….."
Her hands were still shaking, the tears in her red eyes kept falling to the ground, and no matter what, she did not dare raise her head.
I stood up, circled and walked around her, and then squat down to take a good look at her face, but contrary to what I expected, she suddenly let out a loud scream, threw the box into the air, and then turned back into the body of a rabbit and ran towards a nearby chair. She held it very tightly and refused to come out.
"Shifu please have mercy, please have mercy," Jian Nan hurriedly picked up the gold from the ground, pulled Luo Luo out, and said with an apologetic smile, "She has a timid nature, extremely fearful of sounds, and she can not even speak properly. Back in the days when the Deer Devil captured us to become subordinates, he kept harassing us, but Luo Luo's memory is really good, she does things carefully, therefore she was sent to look after the belongings and cleaning and doing chores. She can also help Shifu with chores, so please do not blame her."
Staring at the exposed little white butt and the shivering short tail, I endured the impulse to grab in order to preserve my dignity as their Shifu. Without fussing with that matter any longer, I went back to the chair, stared at the gold, and asked, "This is money? Are you guys lying to me?"
"Is it too little, that it does not catch Shifu's eyes?" Jian Nan fearfully asked, "Why don't we go steal some more and bring it back?"
"This is really money?" One, two, and three people have already shoved these things in front of me, so I became confused, so I took out the copper coins from my baggage and asked, "Isn't this supposed to be money?"
Jian Nan gave me several strange looks, then changed his expression back to his normal face, and explained with a smile, "This is also money, but is less in value than other money….."
"Then…..then how silver and gold is one chain of copper coins?" There was some unrest in my heart, so I jumped up to ask.
Jian Nan's face went rigid as he said, "One silver is equal to one chain of copper coins."
I foolishly sat in the middle of the room, the food beside me no longer had the ability to seduce my interests. In my heart, I felt remorse and sadness, Yin Zi's treasures and, the husband and wife Yun Ou and Ningxin's baggage, although it was not the money that the teacher required, when I was at Qi Feng Lou, the 52 silvers Granny Song gave me for receiving customers ah…..no more ah…..no more ah…..my five chains of copper coins all gone…..the chances of passing this assessment, are all gone…..
With excessive sadness and frustration, I stumbled onto a chair with my ears drooped. My paws clawed excessively and randomly at the marble table. I did not speak for a long time.
Jian Nan seeing me sad, he encouraged, "Shifu, we have money here, you can think of how we can use this money first, and then later, we will go get some more."
"Teacher Huang and Blue Feather Goddess will check where the money came from…..this kind of money can not pass the test….." Growing more and more frustrated, I lay on the ground and rolled. I shamelessly made my two disciples think of other methods to make money, and even the Luo Luo that was hiding was forced to come out.
They were anxious and sweating profusely, as well as constantly comforting me. They said that all of their methods in making money in the past, involved stealing, or finding a wealthy family and cause them mischief, frightening them, and then let the Deer Devil pose as an exorcist and demand them for money.
In the evening, I told all of these gold ideas to Bi Qingshen Jun, but he shook his head and said that I was absolutely not allowed to fall in to the business of fraud, thus my only hope was gone again.
Are the heavens really against this cat's choices?