Li Huowang didn't know what she was performing, but soon, he saw the farmers below the stage start standing up and taking out some coins before throwing them onto the stage. They all threw a single bronze coin or two.
Since most of them were farmers, in addition to money, many also threw food such as corn cobs or potatoes onto the stage. Some of the wealthier families even tossed out some salted fish and preserved meat.
Meanwhile, Luo Juanhua did not decline anything, thanking everyone for their generosity.
Is that their way of asking for payment?
Li Huowang was quite surprised by this.
Meanwhile, Luo Juanhua was humbly kneeling on stage as she carried her crying child and sang, all the while picking up the items and placing them into the basket she was holding. She even bowed toward the people below as a token of appreciation.
Li Huowang sighed as he saw how hard it was just to survive in this world.
As Luo Juanhua was happily picking up the money and food, a small chunk of silver was thrown onto the stage.
Her eyes lit up, and she inspected the chunk of silver. When she realized it was worth at least 500 bronze coins, she started performing even better, thanking the fat old man wearing silk clothes.
"Great! Your singing is amazing!" the old man said, raising his head and tossing out another piece of silver.
Feeling exhausted, Li Huowang yawned and rolled over on the rice stalks. He told Zhao Wu, who was just beside him, "I'm going to sleep now. Help me keep an eye on everyone."
"No problem, Senior Li."
By the time Li Huowang opened his eyes again, it was already late in the morning. The others around him were chatting leisurely. It seemed that everyone had made do with the rice stalks and decided to sleep outside for the night.
Further down, the stage had already been disassembled by the Lu family and packed into their cart.
"Zhao Wu, how much food do we still have?" Li Huowang suddenly asked.
"Not much. If we ration it, we'll probably last only three days," replied Zhao Wu.
Li Huowang took out the money he had gotten from selling the guiding drug ingredients earlier. He counted dozens of coins and one small blackened piece of silver, then passed it to Zhao Wu. "Go and buy some food. We might need to travel for quite some time."
There were quite a number of young people in their group, so they would need to eat a lot. They had initially taken a large amount of food from the Zephyr Temple, but most of it was already gone.
Zhao Wu perched on Simpleton's back and was just about to enter the village when he suddenly thought of something. He called over one of the assistants, entrusted the money to him, and informed him of what to do.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang was staring at the Lu family's stage from his makeshift bed.
"Old man, when will we depart?" Li Huowang asked Lu Zhuangyuan.
Lu Zhuangyuan replied quickly, sounding anxious, "Young Taoist, please be at ease. My daughter-in-law took her daughter somewhere early this morning. As soon as they return, we can depart."
"Hmm? They went somewhere? Isn't that her?" Li Huowang replied, feeling puzzled.
When Lu Zhuangyuan followed Li Huowang's finger pointing toward the village entrance, he saw his daughter-in-law holding some fabric while carrying her daughter and walking toward them with a smile on her face.
Looking at his daughter-in-law, Lu Zhuangyuan was angry at how carefree she was. He took his smoking pipe and went over to scold her.
In the face of his anger, Luo Juanhua said defensively, "But weren't you the one who asked me to buy fabric in the village? You said fabric in towns would be more expensive."
After scolding her a bit, Lu Zhuangyuan turned around and chuckled. "Young Taoist, we can depart anytime now. Let's go."
"Hold up! We can't leave just yet. When I went to buy the fabric, I managed to find a business opportunity for us!"
Li Huowang and Lu Zhuangyuan asked at the same time, "What business?"
"What else? Of course, it's an opportunity to perform! Our employer would be the old man who gave us a lot of money yesterday! Why don't you go and talk to him? He said he wanted to discuss the details with you."
When he heard this, Lu Zhuangyuan didn't move immediately. He slowly turned around, chuckling sheepishly at Li Huowang.
Even though he didn't say anything, Li Huowang knew what he was thinking. "Don't worry. It's more important to earn money. It'll just mean delaying our departure for a day."
"Aiya! Thank you so much! I'll go and come back quickly." Lu Zhuangyuan happily followed his daughter-in-law into the village while holding his smoking pipe.
Li Huowang sat down once more on the rice stalks and took out the dented bronze bell from his sleeves. Bored, he decided to examine it closely.
If I can summon the Wandering Gods, I'll be able to increase my fighting strength! But... I can't summon them with the bell in its current state. I need to fix it.
After examining it, Li Huowang didn't see any issues besides the dent.
If I fix it, does that mean it will become usable again?
Li Huowang thought about it, then picked up a stone from the ground. He placed the bell on a relatively flat rock and began pounding it with the stone.
A sharp ringing sound echoed, immediately giving him an explosive headache—he could barely keep holding the stone.
No, I can't do it this way. I need to ask if there's a blacksmith in the village.
Li Huowang cradled his spinning head, deep in thought.
Just then, he saw the assistants exiting the village with two sacks full of food.
He stored the bell and approached them along with Zhao Wu, who was perched on top of Simpleton.
"Senior Li, we were only able to exchange for these," said the assistants sadly. While they were just children, they were extremely capable. If not, they would have long since been killed by Dan Yangzi.
Li Huowang opened the sacks and saw they contained only dried sweet potatoes.
"Senior Li, these lack the nutrients we need. At the same time, Simpleton ends up eating half a kilogram of these per meal. Additionally, eating too many may result in heartburn," said Zhao Wu.
Zhao Wu's statement caused Simpleton to lower his head in shame. "I... I... will... eat less. Don't... don't... abandon... me!"
Since there wasn't enough food, Li Huowang was desperately trying to come up with a plan.
Lu Zhuangyuan had already told him there would still be some time before they reached Jianye Village. If they ran out of food halfway through, they might have to chew on tree bark for the rest of the journey.
He rummaged through his robes and found a red-threaded golden anklet.
He thought about it for a moment, then passed it to Bai Lingmiao, who had been holding onto him.
"Take this and exchange it for something." Li Huowang then took out the jade pendant he had stolen from the previous Xuan Yang and passed it to Zhao Wu.
"Senior Li, I don't think we can exchange it. There's no pawn shop here, and none of these farmers would be able to give us change or recognize the true worth of the pendant."
Even the jade pendant can't be used to exchange for food. Then what should I do?
Just as Li Huowang was trying to figure out what to do about the food crisis, he saw Lu Zhuangyuan bringing his daughter-in-law out of the village and heading toward him.
"Young Taoist... I might need a favor from you; we'll need your help with this particular business opportunity. Would you be willing to help us?" Lu Zhuangyuan asked in a sheepish voice.
"Old man, I can't sing or dance. I'm afraid I won't be of much help," Li Huowang said, feeling bewildered.
Don't tell me he wants me to go on stage and perform a sword dance?
"No, no! It's something you can definitely do." Lu Zhuangyuan carefully glanced around before whispering, "Old man Hu wants us to perform for the dead."