Chapter 312: Despair
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“Don’t you like these two?” Chen Fei asked somewhat helplessly.
“With so many in the basket, why are you only selling these two? 1 want others,” the old woman replied, her tone cold and menacing.
“You’ll buy others?” Chen Fei turned to the old woman.
“Yes!” The old woman nodded stiffly.
“Then let me find some!”
Chen Fei began to rummage through the basket, instinctively feeling that some fruits were important and setting them aside. After a moment of searching, he found a small white sweet potato in his hand.
Inside the white sweet potato, Chen Fei saw a figure standing in front of a stove, vigorously stir-frying food. Chen Fei tried to identify it, and it seemed to be stir-fried pork liver?
But why use only a small piece each time for stir-frying pork liver?
And does white sweet potato count as a fruit?
Chen Fei was puzzled, but he still handed the white sweet potato to the old woman. She took it without hesitation.
The white sweet potato had skin on it, but the old woman didn’t bother to peel it and directly ate it, skin and all.
Chen Fei watched as the old woman finished the sweet potato, feeling like he had lost something in his mind. He recalled the images of stir-frying pork liver that appeared in the white sweet potato earlier. Was it an experience of cooking pork liver countless times?
Chen Fei thought for a moment, imagining his right hand gripping a spatula, with an iron pan in front of him, flipping it a few times in the air.
He might have forgotten how to stir-fry pork liver, but he still remembered how to stir-fry other foods. In fact, cooking vegetables, if you disregard the taste, is all about stir-frying. You can even skip the step of adding salt.
The onlookers watched Chen Fei’s bizarre display of stir-frying in thin air. Then someone noticed that the white sweet potato that Chen Fei had just sold had reappeared in his basket.
My goodness!
What kind of sorcery is this? Is this person still a human cultivator? Why is he so strange! Fruits that have been sold multiple times keep reappearing!
The old woman looked at Chen Fei, her body trembling slightly, clearly infuriated.
Compared to the complete absence of taste in the earlier white sweet potato, this time, the white sweet potato had something, an experience-rich process of stir-frying pork liver!
The old woman was momentarily stunned, more shocked than when she tasted empty air.
Wasn’t it supposed to be all about cultivation experiences, absorbing Chen Fei’s source of cultivation through eating these? What were they eating now? They hadn’t absorbed any source, and they had wasted precious money.
“Fresh white sweet potato, anyone want one?”
Chen Fei opened his eyes, found the white sweet potato in his basket, and his eyes lit up. He glanced at the old woman, thinking she probably wouldn’t buy the white sweet potato again.
Chen Fei handed the white sweet potato to the old man, who didn’t move. He then looked at the others, but at this moment, no one was willing to buy Chen Fei’s white sweet potato.
“Do you want to buy or not? What are you all still doing here if you’re not buying anything!”
Chen Fei looked at the people around him. He didn’t know if it was the confidence given by the fruits in the basket or the few coins, but he directly scolded the people around him.
The people around him looked at Chen Fei with cold eyes, but they couldn’t make any other move in response to Chen Fei’s scolding because what he said was true – if they continued to gather around without buying, it was against the rules.
“If you’re not buying, then I’ll leave.”
Chen Fei looked around, tried to put the carrying pole on his shoulder, and when no one stopped him, he lifted the carrying pole and walked forward.
People were coming and going around him, and the place was bustling. Only a few people stood still, staring at Chen Fei’s back with icy and murderous intent in their eyes, but they were helpless.
In the courtyard, Chi Shuqing didn’t find the kitchen’s location. She couldn’t find anyone else to ask, and at that moment, all the servants had disappeared without a trace. It was as if the vast courtyard only had her and the young lady left.
Chi Shuqing wanted to ask the young lady about the kitchen’s location, but just as she was about to speak, she stopped. A sense of danger prevented Chi Shuqing from asking, as if this one question might lead to something even bigger.
In the end, Chi Shuqing didn’t find the kitchen’s location, and the young lady directly took a whip and struck Chi Shuqing.
The imagined intense pain didn’t occur, but as the whip came down, Chi Shuqing’s face turned pale, and her whole body felt weak. Chi Shuqing realized that she had lost something precious, but she didn’t know exactly what it was.
“Reminding you to be more mindful is for your own good!”
The young lady sat in a chair, looking at Chi Shuqing with a smug smile. This smile was just like the one before, devoid of any real warmth, a mere movement of the facial muscles.
“Thank you for the guidance, Miss,” Chi Shuqing replied.
A sudden sense of unease filled Chi Shuqing’s heart, but she couldn’t pinpoint what had gone wrong.
“Have you given all the instructions to the kitchen staff for the dishes?” the young lady asked.
Chi Shuqing’s eyes widened, and she looked at her mistress in disbelief.
Why was she being asked this question again? Hadn’t she already been punished for it? Why was it being brought up once more?
“Have you given all the instructions to the kitchen staff for the dishes?” the young lady repeated, but her smile had vanished, replaced by a numb, unfeeling expression as she stared at Chi Shuqing.
“I…,” Chi Shuqing hesitated, unsure of what to do. If she couldn’t find the kitchen staff later, would she be whipped again? Chi Shuqing didn’t want to endure another whipping, even though her body didn’t feel pain. She could sense that she had lost something important.
“Have you given all the instructions to the kitchen staff for the dishes?” Before she could answer, the young lady’s tone had already turned icy.
“I’ll go ask right away!” Chi Shuqing hurriedly ran out of the room. She needed to find the kitchen staff, and if she couldn’t, Chi Shuqing felt she might not survive this ordeal.
Chi Shuqing ran through several courtyards but quickly lost her bearings. Each courtyard looked exactly the same, with no variations in decor or the surrounding flora.
After circling around a few times, Chi Shuqing had no idea where she was anymore.
The cold, eerie sensation enveloped her once again, making Chi Shuqing shiver involuntarily. She sensed that her mind was continuously on alert, warning her of danger, but she didn’t know how to find her way.
“Why are you standing here? Why aren’t you moving?” a cold voice suddenly sounded behind Chi Shuqing, startling her nearly to the point of jumping. She turned to look back and found her mistress standing there silently, unmoving.
Only her mistress’s eyes were fixed on Chi Shuqing, and there was a faint smile on her lips.
“Why are you standing here? Why aren’t you moving?”
Inside the clinic, Ren Zhongyang felt the increasingly strange atmosphere around him and instinctively placed his hand on the pulse of the village woman.
A chilling sensation spread from his fingertips and swept through Ren Zhongyang’s entire body, causing him to shiver involuntarily.
At the same time, whether it was an illusion or not, Ren Zhongyang felt as if something was dispersing and disappearing with the movement of his fingertips, and the speed was increasing.
“You’re not in any danger. Just go back and rest,” he assured her.
Ren Zhongyang instinctively withdrew his hand, cutting off the sensation of being drained. He couldn’t help but exhale a breath of relief.
The feeling of continuous dissipation and loss was terrible. Ren Zhongyang felt as if he was being devoured.
“My belly is so swollen; how can there be nothing wrong?” The village woman’s face bore a strange smile, and she forcefully patted her own belly, producing a sound like a drumbeat. Following her motion, Ren Zhongyang noticed that the woman’s belly was indeed incredibly swollen, as if she were pregnant.
“My belly hurts a lot, doctor, please help me!” The village woman looked at Ren Zhongyang, urging him.
Ren Zhongyang hesitated, but as he remained still, the eerie atmosphere around him grew thicker. Delaying further, he felt something terrible might happen, something significant.
However, Ren Zhongyang had no medical skills, and the act of checking pulses gave him a sensation of being consumed. He was at a loss for what to do.
“Doctor, please help me!”
“Doctor, please help me!”
“Doctor, please help me!”
The urgency in the pleas intensified, the voices turning colder, and cold sweat broke out on Ren Zhongyang’s forehead.
Chen Fei walked along the street, calling out as he went. The street was long, and people occasionally gathered to look at the fruits in Chen Fei’s basket.
At moments like these, Chen Fei would enthusiastically produce jujubes, small apples, and that piece of white sweet potato. Those who wished to buy didn’t hesitate when they saw the fruits Chen Fei offered. They bought them without any reservation and promptly devoured all three items in one go, not in small bites, but by stuffing them into their mouths.
It seemed like they couldn’t wait to gobble up all the fruits from Chen Fei’s basket in one breath.
However, after finishing these three fruits and seeing Chen Fei’s performance of cooking in thin air, as well as the reappearance of jujubes, small apples, and white sweet potatoes that he offered again, the buyers fell silent.
The insistence on purchasing all of Chen Fei’s fruits had disappeared, replaced by a sense of uncertainty and anger at being deceived.
Whenever this happened, Chen Fei would kindly lift his carrying pole and continue walking forward. With so many people on the street, there was no need to waste time on a single person.
Chen Fei aimed to make money, capitalizing on the fruits to make a fortune.
As his money accumulated, that discomfort he had been feeling gradually disappeared. Meanwhile, some images started flashing in his mind.
However, these images flickered too quickly, and before Chen Fei could grasp them, they vanished.
But Chen Fei knew these images were important to him. The more money he had, the more these images would appear. Therefore, he was determined to sell fruits vigorously.
Moreover, some items sold at the stalls on the street always seemed to ignite desires within Chen Fei.
It was as if those things were all excellent and waiting for Chen Fei to purchase.
As Chen Fei passed by a medical clinic, his footsteps involuntarily slowed down. The doctor sitting in the clinic looked somewhat familiar.
After a moment of thought, Chen Fei entered the medical clinic.
“Want some fruit?” Chen Fei called out.
Inside the clinic, everyone instinctively turned their gaze towards Chen Fei..