Chapter 33 Put Down That Country Bumpkin, Let Me Do It 9

Chapter 33: Step Away From That Villager, I'll Take It From Here 9

Shi An took the medicine without fuss. Yan Bai checked his forehead.

"This medicine should have you sweating in about half an hour, and your fever should gradually go down. If you're not feeling extremely cold, don't cover yourself with the quilt just yet. You can also take off a couple of layers of clothes—you're wearing too many, bundled up like a little dumpling. Once the fever breaks, you can go back to dressing normally. In the future, you don't need to wear excessively thick clothes, but of course, don't get cold either. Just dress appropriately according to the weather and temperature."

Shi An blushed and took off two layers, revealing a fleece-lined undershirt that looked to be of quite good material.

"Big Brother told me to wear them. He said when you have a fever, you need to sweat it out to break it."

Yan Bai explained to the three of them.

"Sweating out a fever is only good for wind-cold type colds. You happen to have a wind-heat cold, so it has the opposite effect—the more you cover up, the hotter you get."

Seeing that Shi An was now clearly more energetic, Luo Shuisheng's eyes held a deeply hidden gratitude. He also handed Yan Bai a cup of water.

"Yan Bai, I'll go cook. Why don't you keep them company for now."

Yan Bai took the cup, smiling at him.

"Thank you."

The tips of Luo Shuisheng's ears reddened slightly. Ever since he overheard Yan Bai saying he planned to never get married, his thoughts had been all jumbled up. He always felt a bit awkward around Yan Bai.

Luo Shuisheng had no intention of finding a wife ever. One reason was his family situation—no one would be willing to marry into it. The other was that he genuinely wasn't interested.

Luo Shuisheng turned to leave but tacked on,

"The cup is new. I washed it several times."

After saying this, he didn't wait for Yan Bai to respond and walked away.

Yan Bai paused for a moment before it dawned on him that Luo Shuisheng was worried he'd think the cup was dirty, hence the extra explanation.

Yan Bai chuckled to himself and complained to Nine-Tails in his head,

"How adorable!"

Nine-Tails, who had been busy investigating Luo Shuisheng, finally had a conclusion. He said, sounding exasperated.

"This villain is a black sesame stuffed *tangyuan*—sweet on the outside, dark on the inside, quite scheming. Don't be fooled by his appearance. No wonder he's the future richest person; he's got way too many tricks up his sleeve."

Yan Bai shared the candies and pastries he'd bought that day with the two children while taking a book from his bag to read to them.

At the same time, he was multitasking, communicating with Nine-Tails in his head.

"How is he scheming? Elaborate."

Nine-Tails launched into a lengthy explanation.

"His family had a very difficult life years ago, but Luo Shuisheng, since he was sixteen, has taught himself many ways to make money.

In winter, he sets traps to catch rabbits and foxes."

At this point, Nine-Tails gritted his teeth.

"Foxes are so cute, why catch foxes?"

Yan Bai suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for Nine-Tails and spoke in an uncharacteristically gentle tone.

"Maybe... because he was hungry?"

Nine-Tails felt a wave of helplessness.

"He was indeed hungry. In the early years, right after his parents died, all the valuable things in the house were seized by creditors. They were truly scared of starving.

Later, they lived off the land. In summer, they'd dig for mushrooms, pick wild vegetables, and collect bird eggs. In winter, they'd catch wild rabbits, quails, and the like, barely managed to raise his two younger brothers.

But all this was technically forbidden. He'd clean and prepare the game right there on the mountain, secretly bring the meat back to eat, cure and hide the pelts. When he accumulated enough, he'd carry them to the black market in the county town to sell.

He also forages for chestnuts, hazelnuts, and such from the mountains to exchange for money.

These things aren't worth much individually, but he's diligent, and little by little it adds up. Actually, their current life isn't that bad; they have enough to eat and wear warm clothes, and even have a bit of spare cash.

But because there are many creditors, he keeps a low profile. Also, the money he has is a drop in the bucket compared to the debt, so he keeps up the act of being poor.

You probably saw it too—the children's underclothes are quite nice, but they wear tattered outer garments. Their quilts are thick, too.

That said, his character is quite decent. He's genuinely been saving up, meaning to repay the debts.

He has a diary among his belongings, that recorded all the debts his mother had owed to everyone. Luo Shuisheng had kept it safe.

In the original timeline, after he made money, he made a point of returning to the village and repaying all these debts, with interest.

Some people tried to extort more from him, but Luo Shuisheng wasn't one to be pushed around. He stubbornly refused to give a single extra cent. That's why I say he's scheming—it's hard for others to outsmart him."

"What kind of lousy adjective is that? That's not scheming, that's just being shrewd."

Nine-Tails tutted.

"Well, if you say so. If you say so, then so be it.

Luo Shuisheng's trap-setting skills are really impressive now. It's just started to freeze, and he's already stored quite a bit of meat in the cellar, all game he caught recently, mostly rabbit.

Now you know why he asked you back in town if you liked braised rabbit meat, right?"

Yan Bai remembered this too. A warm feeling spread in his chest, and his face lit up.

"He was thinking about cooking rabbit for me that far back? How thoughtful!"

Shi An, who had been listening intently to Yan Bai's story, looked up curiously.

"Brother Yan, Paul is being bullied so badly, why are you smiling?"

Yan Bai was momentarily speechless.

Nine-Tails almost died laughing.

"You're really not very nice! Seeing poor Paul being bullied like that, and you can still laugh?"

Yan Bai couldn't do anything to Shi An, but couldn't he deal with Nine-Tails?

I'll teach him a lesson in a heartbeat!

The Nine-Tailed Fox was quick on the uptake; just one look at the Demon Lord's expression, and he knew trouble was coming.

"You must be trying to teach Shi An that no matter how harsh the world is, we should still face it with a smile. Demon Lord, you're so profound! I'm impressed, truly impressed!"

"Hmph, do you know you were just 0.1 seconds away from bleeding from all seven orifices?"

Nine-Tailed Fox wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, feeling the relief of a narrow escape. Accompanying the Demon Lord on missions was truly life-threatening!

He needed to find Mu Yuyun to calm his nerves.

The Nine-Tailed Fox asked for some time off.

"Wise and mighty Demon Lord, if I made you think that way, it must be my fault. I'll seclude myself to reflect on my mistakes for a few hours and deeply contemplate my errors. Is that acceptable?"

Yan Bai was once again puffed up by the flattery and spoke arrogantly.

"Go ahead, reflect deeply."

"Got it!"

Nine-Tailed Fox slipped out the door, made a hand seal in the air, and suddenly a beam of light materialized, pulling him in before disappearing just as quickly.

He was using the spell Mu Yuyun gave him for the first time, and he watched the shifting lights around him with curiosity.

He traveled through the colorful lights and, unprepared, suddenly fell onto a multicolored auspicious cloud. Only then did he realize he had returned to his own body.

An exquisitely beautiful young man, with nine fiery red tails spread around his overly fair body, lay on the auspicious cloud—truly the most breathtaking sight.

Nine-Tailed Fox looked at the person dressed in black lying beside him, who was eyeing him with great interest, and couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed, using his fiery red tails to cover his body.

"You didn't even put clothes on me?"

Mu Yuyun's voice was lazy and seductive.

"Why bother with clothes? They'll just have to come off later anyway."