Douluo's Gourd

In the quiet night, the chirping of insects and birds could be heard, the leaves and bushes were moved, and a figure staggered out from inside.

Old Xing looked up at the faint lights in the distance and subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, we returned to the village before the sun set. The surrounding terrain was familiar to us, and it was not difficult to walk back even without moonlight.

If you are in a forest, it is pitch dark and you can't see anything, and it is common to accidentally step on air and roll down the mountain.

Old Xing dragged his heavy body back to the place where he usually worked and boarded, the "Not Enough Drinking" tavern.

There is not much to do in the village at night. The liveliest place is the tavern. As one of the only three taverns in the village, the "Not Enough to Drink" tavern opened early. The sounds of patrons laughing and cursing could be heard from the brightly lit room.

Old Xing entered the kitchen from the side door. The aroma of food and wine immediately filled his nose, making his hungry stomach rumble loudly.

After running around in the mountains for a whole day and only eating some wild fruits, it would be strange if I wasn't hungry.

The old lady who was busy washing dishes in the kitchen saw him and couldn't help complaining, "Why did you come back just now? The business in the store is good today and everyone is too busy to handle it."

"Sorry." Old Xing said with a wry smile.

The dishwasher saw that he was covered in dirt and looked extremely miserable. She could only swallow back the complaints that were on the tip of her tongue.

She paused for a moment and reminded him softly, "When the boss found out you were away, he was so angry that he broke two kitchen knives. If you don't want to be fired, remember to apologize to him after business is over tonight. Although Yuri has a bad temper, he is a nostalgic person."

"I understand." Old Xing nodded. As the oldest person who had stayed in the tavern the longest, he certainly knew the boss's true character.

No one would take in a kid who was a dozen years older and knew nothing but fishing, but the owner Yuri took him in without hesitation.

Although he only received food and lodging but no salary, it gave him something to eat and prevented him from starving to death on the streets.

Old Xing returned to the small compartment at the corner of the stairs. This compartment, which was less than five square meters and not even big enough to store things, was the room he had lived in for more than ten years.

He took out a piece of black bread from the bottom of the closet. The bread was flat, dry and hard because it was pressed down by so many clothes. He swallowed it with some water. After his hungry stomach had food, it finally stopped making any noises.

The old man was stuffing the clothes that had been turned out back into the closet. Inadvertently, an old and familiar piece of clothing made him pause.

It was a brown vest.

Looking at it, Lao Xing suddenly fell into memories.

Lao Xing's ancestors and father have always made a living by fishing. By Lao Xing's generation, if nothing unexpected happens, he will also become a qualified fisherman and take over the old fishing boat from his father.

But when he was a child, he encountered a sudden storm during an ordinary fishing trip at sea. The young boy accidentally fell into the water. Fortunately, his father was quick-witted and fished him out with a fishing net in time, and he was fortunately saved.

Unfortunately, the terrible drowning experience made him afraid of sea water. Once in the water, he would tremble all over and his body would become stiff.

Old Xing's ancestors have always been the best at playing in the water. If they found out that they had a descendant who was afraid of water, they would be laughed at.

So Lao Xing concealed the truth from his family and just said that he didn't want to be a fisherman anymore.

The furious father kicked him out of the house with a broom and threatened to sever the father-son relationship with him.

Old Xing was also a tough guy. After leaving home, he never asked his family for money. The money he saved from working was secretly sent to his mother to subsidize the family.

It was not until Lao Xing was working as a handyman in a tavern that he accidentally heard an adventure story with a hunter as the protagonist from the mouth of a drunkard.

The cold snow-capped mountains and the scorching underground world... those were unknown scenery that he could not imagine.

Old Xing, who was in a daze, suddenly realized that since he could not become the fisherman who conquered the sea as his father had said, he might as well become a hunter who conquered the forest.

Since then, he has been determined to become a hunter.

The locals make their living from the sea, and there is no such profession as hunter.

But he did not give up. If no one taught him, he would teach himself. If he could not understand the words in the book, he would start by learning to recognize characters. Even sitting in the classroom with a group of smaller kids and facing their mocking eyes did not dampen his will.

With such efforts, he actually combined what he learned in the book and figured out some practical tricks. Although the traps he made could only catch small animals such as mountain mice and were far from meeting the standards of a hunter, they were enough to save his life in a complex forest.

If you are lucky, you can even pick up some wild delicacies.

Unfortunately, this good luck ends this afternoon.

When he thought about how he almost died in the bear's mouth, Old Xing felt a little scared.

Perhaps he had been hypnotizing himself for so long that even he thought he had some talent to become a hunter. It was not until he faced real death that he realized that his previous efforts were ultimately a joke.

Maybe it's time to accept reality.

As Old Xing, who had just changed into his work clothes, came out of the cubicle, he saw his old partner holding a tray high in both hands, which was filled with beer, and he was busy at work.

"Oh, Old Xing, it's great to see you. There was a silly boy in the tavern today, and I was almost too busy to handle it."

Old Xing took the tray from him calmly, placed the beer on the guest's table, and asked casually, "What's going on?"

The old partner pursed his lips and said, "See that silly young man at the bar? As soon as he came in, he offered a glass of beer to each of the drunks present. He also said that he was a traveling writer and that if anyone could tell a story he had never heard of, he would pay for all that person's meals tonight."

"Thanks to him, less than an hour after opening tonight, only two-thirds of the wine in the warehouse is left."

Old Xing followed his gaze towards the bar counter, where there was indeed a young man whose appearance and temperament were totally out of tune with theirs. There was an indescribable feeling in his every move, and even the extremely beautiful female companion next to him seemed a little dull next to him.

Suddenly a heated argument broke out among the crowd.

It turned out that the story told by the previous storyteller was a nursery rhyme that had been circulating in their town for a long time. Any child could hum a few lines of it. It was not a story at all. A drunkard couldn't stand it and said a few more words, and a fierce quarrel broke out.

But the young man at the bar didn't seem to care. He just said that he had never heard of the nursery rhyme and asked the bartender to put the man's consumption tonight on his account.

And the drinkers who stood up for him were not ignored.

The young man took out a purse full of money from his pocket and grabbed a handful of gold soul coins from it and placed them on the bar. There were at least twenty of them.

The young man said that the kind-hearted customer could continue drinking for free in the pub until the money was spent.

Compared with the other two taverns in the town, the "Can't Drink Enough" tavern has always been known for its high cost-effectiveness. You can get a full glass of beer with two copper soul coins.

This amount of gold soul coins can last at least a whole year.

The drinkers looked at the lucky drinker with envy, regretting why they didn't step forward just now.

The young man who calmed the situation asked, "Any other interesting stories?"

"I'll do it, I'll do it." Seeing the rich man's real financial strength, the drunkards no longer remained reserved and enthusiastically signed up to recommend themselves.

No matter how long the night is, there will be light; no matter how interesting the story is, there will be an ending.

Through word of mouth, most of the drunkards in the town gathered here tonight. After eating and drinking so much, not a drop of alcohol was left in the tavern.

Not to mention the ingredients, there wasn't much seasoning left.

The boss had anticipated this and went out overnight to order food and drinks. Even if the big money sponsor left tomorrow, he could still make a fortune in the next few days by taking advantage of this opportunity.

Drunkards who were not satisfied with their drink rushed to the next one, while those who were unconscious were dragged away by their companions. The "not enough to drink" pub was forced to close its business hastily.

After sending his female companion back to the room, Wang Xiaofeng returned to the first floor and chatted and laughed with the bartender. Even Old Xing sighed in his heart that this young man was really energetic.

After settling the drunkard who had passed out from drinking, Lao Xing and his partner skillfully cleaned up the messy place.

His old partner nudged him and whispered, "I remember you told me the story of the turtle and the crab before. It's rare to meet a big boss who is interested in this kind of thing. Why don't you give it a try? If he's happy, any drop of liquid that leaks through his fingers could be enough to pay you several years' salary."

Old Xing didn't say anything, he just lowered his head to clean up the vomit of some drunkard.

That was not actually a story, but the scene he saw at the bottom of the sea after drowning. It was just too bizarre, so no one took it seriously.

Wang Xiaofeng stood beside the two of them at some point and said with a smile, "I seem to hear someone talking about a story."

Old Xing cleaned the floor and said seriously, "That's not a story, but an experience I had when I was a child. It may not meet your requirements."

"I have my own judgment."

Wang Xiaofeng asked the bartender to take out four clean cups and place them on the table. He poured the mellow wine from the gourd to fill the cups and pushed them in front of everyone.

"Come on guys, put down your work, let's enjoy some wine and listen to the last story of the night."

Before leaving, the tavern owner told everyone to take good care of this big money sponsor no matter what, so everyone sat obediently at the bar.

Old Xing silently raised the wine glass in his hand and took a big gulp. The spicy wine went down his throat and straight into his stomach.

It's very spicy, but very fragrant. I didn't expect that a high-concentration alcoholic beverage could be so delicious. It's a completely different style from beer.

Old Xing coughed twice and, under the influence of alcohol, began to recall his story.

"Children of poor families have to grow up early. I started helping my family with chores when I was four years old. When I was ten, I went fishing with my father."

"Due to the limitations of our family's fishing boats, we usually only fish within a 50-mile radius of the coast. Although the catch is not as much as those fishing boats that travel a hundred miles to fish, the daily catch is enough to satisfy the family's basic needs."

"The offshore waters are very safe. Our ancestors knew exactly where the reefs and undercurrents were. But when I was thirteen, during the annual migration period, my father and I were fishing in the waters twenty miles away when we suddenly encountered a storm."

"Without any sign or warning, dark clouds suddenly covered the entire sky, and brilliant lightning kept falling like an electric net. Our fishing boat was like a dead leaf caught in a whirlpool, and could only be pushed around by the violent waves."

After saying this, Old Xing was silent for a long time. It can be seen that he has not been able to get rid of the shadow brought to him by this incident until now.

Old Xing took a big gulp of wine, calmed down, and then continued, "Humans are too small in front of nature. The waves exhausted all my strength. I fell into the sea, and then I saw a scene that I will never forget in my life."

"Endless flames burned at the bottom of the sea. The flames that should have been extinguished by the sea water burned so fiercely. In the center of the flames was a crab with flames all over its body, and a white turtle."

After waiting for a long time, Lao Xing did not continue to speak, and the bartender could not help but ask: "And then?"

"There was nothing else. That one look exhausted all my strength." Old Xing drank the last drop of wine in the bottom of the glass. "When I regained consciousness, it was three days later. My mother said that I had a high fever and was unconscious for three whole days. We spent all our savings to barely save my life. This is the end of the story."

Everyone looked at each other. This really wasn't an interesting story, but that wasn't what they were saying.

Everyone turned their eyes to the big moneybag, only to find that he was muttering something and there were several sheets of full manuscript paper scattered on the desk.

Well, that's totally in line with their perception of writers, that's what a talented writer with a little quirk is like.

Old Xing put down his glass, wiped his mouth, and added: "And I don't know if it was because I was drowning that I had hallucinations, but I actually vaguely heard the sound of a bell, which was similar to the sound of the big bell that rings every day in the town's Wuhun Hall to tell the time."

"Great story, I feel like inspiration is flowing." Wang Xiaofeng stood up happily, "I'm sorry, gentlemen, I have to leave first."

Having said that, he picked up the manuscript papers on the table and walked up the stairs without looking back.

The partner looked at the figure disappearing down the stairs and smacked his lips, "What a shame, it looks like he has no money left in his pocket."

Old Xing said nonchalantly: "I think it's enough. This wine tastes good, doesn't it? It looks like I can sleep well tonight."

I thought it was just a minor incident, but the next morning, Old Xing was rudely woken up by his boss Yuri, "Wake up, kid, you are so lucky."

Even when he sat down at the table, Old Xing still looked confused.

Looking at the temporary employment contract in his hand and the fifty gold soul coins neatly placed in front of him, Lao Xing's heart suddenly beat unconsciously. No one could remain calm in front of a pile of glittering gold soul coins. The boss sitting next to him wanted to push him away and sign his name on the contract.

Wang Xiaofeng gently stirred the coffee in his hand with a spoon. "Your story gave me a lot of inspiration. I believe I can write a very good story, but I want to make this story more perfect, so I want to go to the source of the story to see it."

"It's not worth that much money." Old Xing put down the contract in his hand and shook his head.

"I really didn't make a mistake." Wang Xiaofeng pointed to another authorization statement outside the employment contract. "Don't rush to refuse. This is the money for two contracts. I'm just avoiding some unnecessary trouble. Besides, my money is not that easy to take."

When Old Xing heard that the other party wanted to take a boat back to the original place, he was stunned for a moment, and a hint of hesitation flashed in his eyes.

Although his hydrophobia has not recurred over the years, it may be related to the fact that he has never been close to the sea again.

But looking at the glittering gold soul coins in front of him, and thinking of his fourth sister who was still unmarried, Old Xing gritted his teeth and said, "I'll sign."

Even if it was money to buy his life, he would accept it.

Wang Xiaofeng looked at the tavern owner beside him, "Yuri, are my things ready?"

Yuri perked up and couldn't wait to take credit: "Of course, when I was shopping for ingredients, I also bought your portion and it will be delivered within an hour."

Wang Xiaofeng nodded with satisfaction. "I like to leave things to professionals. This can save me a lot of unnecessary time."