After traveling on the sea for five or six days, the fishing boat finally reached the shore safely.
Old Li showed a smile on his face and arranged for people to distribute the fish. He was busy for a while before he remembered that there was a girl collecting clams on the boat.
"Oh, by the way, girl Xu, since you are not from our Black Fish Island, then you have nowhere to go here, right? It's not easy for you to be a little girl, why don't you stay at my house? There are only my wife and I at home, and there is plenty of space!"
Xu Chunniang was surprised. In fact, she was only ten years younger than Lao Li, but because she was mistaken for a clam collector, she was treated as a junior and taken care of all the way.
She felt guilty and revealed her identity as a monk intentionally or unintentionally. She also took some spiritual wine and mixed it with spiritual dew and asked them to drink it.
But after Uncle Li and the fishermen learned that she was a monk, they still did not take it seriously and treated her as a junior.
Xu Chunniang really wanted to tell them that she was not as weak as she appeared, but she was worried that if she told them her true level of cultivation, she would scare them.
In the end, she simply stopped talking and let the situation go.
"Thanks to Uncle Li for taking care of you along the way. I have caused you a lot of trouble. I dare not bother you anymore."
Old Li frowned, revealing the wrinkles of varying depths on his face, and spoke without leaving any room for doubt.
"What's the point of bothering me? You are unfamiliar with this Blackfish Island. Stay at Uncle Li's house for a few days. I will take you back when I go out to sea in a while.
Although you have some skills, this is your first time back to Black Fish Island, so there will always be many inconveniences."
Xu Chunniang refused several times, but Lao Li put down the work in his hands and pulled her towards home.
"Why are you so stubborn, girl? Or do you dislike Uncle Li's house because it's too shabby and refuse to live there?"
Having said that, Xu Chunniang didn't know how to respond. She just kept being dragged forward in silence, but she felt a little sour in her heart.
The world of cultivation is full of cultivators, but there are often intrigues and deceptions among the cultivators, and they will fight for a little benefit.
On the contrary, it is the weak and short-lived mortals who do not hesitate to show a little kindness to strangers.
Lao Li's house is near the sea, and most people living in this area are ordinary people.
Occasionally, there are one or two cultivators who are like Uncle Li, who are still in the initial stage of Qi training at an old age.
Along the way, people would greet Lao Li with a smile from time to time.
"Old Li is back? What did you gain from this trip?"
"This girl looks so strange. Is she your distant niece? Why haven't I seen her before?"
"Go away, don't scare the baby."
Old Li smiled and waved, protecting Xu Chunniang behind him, taking her through several dilapidated alleys and knocking on the door of the house at the end of the alley.
The person who opened the door was Lao Li's wife, Aunt Li. She was a mortal with no spiritual roots at all, and had more wrinkles on her face than Lao Li.
Seeing that Lao Li returned safely, she smiled, the wrinkles on her face deepened, but her eyes were filled with relief.
"You're back, who is this little girl?"
"I am a clam collector I brought back from the sea. My last name is Xu. I am not from Blackfish Island. I came to stay at my house for a few days."
“I see.”
Aunt Li nodded and took Xu Chunniang's hand with a smile, "Come in, it's just that the house is a little shabby."
Xu Chunniang felt the rough touch on her hands, smiled and shook her head.
"This is already very good, why would I dislike it?"
She has never valued external things. She is willing to live in a cave in the mountains. Having a roof to shelter her is already very good.
Aunt Li's smile deepened. "I'm glad you don't mind. Just stay here and treat this place as your own home. I'll get you something to eat."
Xu Chunniang quickly refused, but Aunt Li insisted on doing it and turned around to carry some firewood from the yard into the kitchen.
She had no choice but to follow behind and help Aunt Li with the chores and lighting the fire.
She had been doing these things since she was a child, and now when she did them again, she felt familiar with them as if it was instinct.
Looking at the bright flames burning in the stove, Xu Chunniang was rarely distracted.
The last time I went home was more than 30 years ago... I wonder if my mother, brothers, sisters-in-law and other relatives are doing well
As human life is coming to an end, she did not dare to think too much and hurriedly added firewood to the stove.
Seeing that she controlled the stove very well, Aunt Li praised her generously.
"Looking at this fair-skinned girl, I didn't expect you to be so efficient as a waiter. When Lao Li told me that you were a clam collector, I didn't quite believe it. But now it seems that I believe it."
Xu Chunniang just smiled and didn't answer, listening to Aunt Li's chattering on and on.
The two of them had just finished cooking when the gate of the yard was pushed open.
Aunt Li looked over and showed a look of surprise, "Yuan'er is back!"
The person who came was a teenager, none other than Li Yuan, the son of the old Li family and the young master of the Lin family.
Li Yuan nodded to his mother and was about to ask about his father when his eyes suddenly fell on the strange woman beside him and he let out a soft "eh".
"Mom, who is this?"
"This is the clam collector your father brought back from the sea. He will stay in our house for a while."
Hearing that the woman was a clam collector, Li Yuan was a little disappointed. It turned out that she was just an ordinary woman.
Seeing that she had a good temperament and a ring on her hand, he thought she was a monk.
But think about it, how could a monk sit at the same table and eat with a mortal woman like his mother
That ring doesn't look like a storage ring. It's probably just an ordinary decorative item.
Li Yuan instantly lost interest in this strange woman and turned to ask about business.
"Mom, where's my dad? Hasn't he come back yet? I heard that he caught a black fish this time. Is that true?"
"At this time, your father should be back soon. He just came back and didn't say he caught any snakehead."
Li Yuan frowned. He heard the news from others. After receiving the information, he asked for leave from Young Master Lin Qi and went home, just to get the fish.
Li Yuan wanted the black fish not to eat it himself, but to present it to Young Master Lin Qi.
If Young Master Lin Qi is happy, he will naturally benefit from it.
"I'll go out and see if Dad is back."
He was worried that if he went too late, his father would sell the black fish.
After Li Yuan finished speaking, he was about to walk out. Aunt Li became anxious when she saw him and followed him for a few steps.
"Your father will be back soon, why are you in such a hurry to leave? The food is still hot, and it happens to be the food you loved when you were a child. How about eating some before you leave?"
Li Yuan glanced at the dishes on the table and a hint of impatience flashed across his face.
Eating these grains without spiritual energy would only hinder his practice. No matter how many times he had been told this, his mother always persuaded him to eat them.
If his family could provide some spiritual food, even if it was just the lowest grade spiritual food, he would not object.
But he knew that the spiritual stones in his home were not enough for him to practice, so how could he have more to buy spiritual food
"I just took a fasting pill, so I'm not hungry anymore. Let's go. I'm afraid if I go too late, my father will sell the black fish."