Li Jinlai trembled on the boat for a long time, and the woman on the boat took care of him in panic for a while, but the woman obviously didn't know how to handle it correctly. It was not until another boat approached and the boatman helped that the man finally got the correct help.
They took off his wet clothes, wiped his body with cotton towels, wrapped him in clean clothes, pinched his Ren Zhong acupoint, poured out the abdominal fluid, and then gave him two sips of ginger soup, before finally helping Li Jinlai to breathe.
This was originally a night full of expectations, but also a night of fear. Li Jinlai was extremely grateful to the boatman who rescued him and gave him half a string of money as a thank you. He knew that this might really be a life-saving grace.
The boatman was naturally in a good mood after receiving the money. He asked his brothers on the boat to row the boat, while he helped Li Jinlai sail the boat back to the shore. Given Li Jinlai's current condition, he definitely couldn't row the boat well.
When Li Jinlai's pleasure boat docked, the boatman who came to help left happily. After all, he did not go into the water to save people. The other party just climbed up by himself and was exhausted and cold. It was a great deal to get half a string of money for helping out.
Li Jinlai was wrapped in two blankets on the soft couch in the pleasure boat, while the woman was taking care of him. Now that both of them had calmed down, they were not acting as panicked or absurd as before.
The Chunhuifu Wharf is relatively quiet at this moment, and most of the flower boats, building ships, and pleasure boats have sailed away from the shore.
As soon as the boatman who came to rescue and help left, Li Jinlai, who was originally trembling and listless, immediately perked up. He first looked outside and then looked at the woman beside him.
"Xiaoyu, that man said I climbed onto the boat by myself. What did you say?"
The woman said with lingering fear.
"I, I told him that I was so scared at the time that I thought you were going to drown, and when I came to my senses you were already on the boat."
The woman was telling the exact truth, but Li Jinlai clapped his hands when he heard it.
"Well said! That's it!"
Li Jinlai knew his own situation. He reached out and touched his forehead. The place where he was hit by the stool leg was red and swollen, and it hurt when touched.
"Hiss..."
The woman didn't dare to look at him when she saw this.
"Mr. Li, I didn't mean it..."
"Hey, it's okay, it's okay. If you hadn't hit it, maybe it wouldn't have happened!"
Li Jinlai waved his hands, with only excitement on his face, without much blame. He loosened his grip on the blanket, pulled out a red brocade bag hanging around his neck, then carefully untied it, revealing the talisman inside.
As the woman on the side watched curiously, Li Jinlai unfolded the talisman and saw a faint green light flashing on it.
“Done! Hahahaha… ”
After laughing for a while, Li Jinlai suddenly stopped laughing, looked around and glanced towards the window of the houseboat. He felt that he should not be so proud on the boat and that he should at least go home first. So he quickly stuffed the talisman back into the brocade bag, but he could not hide the joy on his face.
"Hey, Xiaoyu, you helped me a lot tonight. In two days, I will redeem you and take you home as my concubine."
The women showed surprise on their faces. Although they might seem elegant and glamorous, they were brothel girls after all, and it was the dream of almost every one of them to escape from their status as a prostitute as soon as possible.
"real?"
"Of course it's true! When have I ever lied to you?"
Li Jinlai rubbed the girl's little hand, smiling happily, but thinking of another beautiful thing in his heart.
By the side of the small pleasure boat where Ji Yuan and Bai Qi were, the big blue carp had returned, stirring up ripples in the water below the bow.
"Big Bluefish, you are awesome! You saved another person!"
Hu Yun stretched out his claws and paddled in the water, his eyes and mouth full of praise. Although Hu Yun sometimes hated people, or hated certain people, he had been influenced by Ji Yuan for a long time and his sense of right and wrong was very clear. The big black carp was great.
"Bobo Bobo..."
The big black carp in the water responded with a series of majestic movements, swaying its body and fins in the waves, as if to echo that this was a trivial matter.
"What do you think, sir?"
Bai Qi originally did not think that there was anything special about the man who fell into the water. Instead, he was amused by the "magic operation" of the woman over there. However, when the big bluefish carried the man who fell into the water ashore, he saw a faint magical light flashing on the body of the unconscious man who fell into the water, which showed that he was well prepared.
Ji Yuan looked at Bai Qi and said.
"Mr. Bai is the deity of Chunmu River. You are the one who decides what happens on the river."
…
The next morning, Li Jinlai took the brocade bag and excitedly walked through the streets and alleys of Chunhui Prefecture, heading for the wizard's residence.
Soon, Li Jin arrived at the secluded Willow Leaf Lane and found an exquisite mansion. The gate of the courtyard was not painted vermilion or other colors like other houses. Instead, there were two simple paintings on the gate, one of which was a strange animal with fangs, and the other was a bird with simple lines.
“Boom boom boom…”
Li Jinlai knocked on the door. After waiting for a while, he heard footsteps approaching, and then heard the sound of the bolt being opened. The person who opened the door for him was a boy of about fourteen or fifteen years old. He was wearing a green silk shirt with flowing cloud cuffs, a small crown on his head and a jade hairpin of fine quality. He had red lips and white teeth, and looked very refined.
"Oh, thank you for opening the door, Master. Li is bothering me again!"
Li Jinlai did not dare to be arrogant at all and quickly bowed to the boy.
"Well, come in, the master is inside!"
The boy nodded to Li Jinlai and opened the door. After Li Jinlai entered the yard, the boy closed the door again.
Although this yard has no pavilions or towers, it has a front yard, a back yard and several houses. When you enter the back yard, you can smell a faint scent of sandalwood.
In a house in the backyard, an old man in a long robe with a Taoist look was sitting cross-legged on a cushion with his eyes closed. In front of him was a small table with an incense burner, a teapot and teacups on it. A stick of sandalwood had been lit. He looked leisurely and peaceful.
When Li Jinlai saw this scene, he became excited again and wanted to speed up his pace, but he still followed the boy who was walking slowly and did not dare to go ahead of him.
Soon, the two men arrived in front of the house one after the other. The boy stood outside the house and spoke respectfully to the people inside.
"Master, Mr. Li is here."
"Um!"
The old man slowly opened his eyes and looked at Li Jinlai, who had a happy face.
"It seems that Mr. Li has gained something?"
Li Jinlai could no longer hold back his joy and a smile appeared on his face.
"Thank you, Master, for giving me the spell. Last night I pretended to be drowned in Chunmu River. I almost became a real person, but I think I finally attracted the magic fish and it rescued me onto the boat. This is the spell."
As he spoke, Li Jinlai pulled out the brocade bag hanging from a red rope, walked a few steps closer to the old man and presented it with both hands.
The old man smiled, stretched out his hand to take the brocade bag, then opened it to check the talisman. He was surprised to see that there was actually a faint green light flowing on it.
"Is there really a magical fish that can save people?"
However, the surprise in his eyes was only fleeting, and because he was looking down at the talisman, Li Jinlai could not see this scene.
"Yes, it is indeed stained with spiritual light. If you find a skilled craftsman to carve a fish statue, then hide this talisman in the belly of the fish and worship it frequently, the divine fish will be able to sense it."
As he spoke, the old man handed the talisman in his hand back to Li Jinlai, who took it and bowed repeatedly.
"Thank you very much, thank you for your guidance, thank you very much, Master. This is just a small token of my respect!"
Li Jinlai took out a silver note from the local Datong Bank from the secret pocket of his sleeve. The face value on it was ten taels of silver.
"Yes, disciple."
The old man gave a reminder, and the boy next to him hurried over to take the silver note and put it in a small box next to him. Then he left with Li Jinlai, who was eager to go home to find the craftsman.
As soon as the two of them left, the old man with a sage-like appearance immediately stood up from the cushion and rubbed against the table, causing the teapot and teacups on it to "ding".
He walked to the small box, opened it, took out the silver note and looked at it carefully, recognizing the red seal and signature on it, as well as some subtle patterns on the silver note, and confirmed its authenticity.
Although I was relieved to see that the banknote was real, I felt inexplicably sad.
"Alas, if I really couldn't stay in the capital anymore, I wouldn't have cared about ten taels of silver!"
"Why… "
Whatever was in his mind, he sighed out.
"Haha, this master just received a lot of silver, why is he sighing?"
The unfamiliar voice rang out, causing the old man to tremble subconsciously, and then he regained his composure in an instant. He turned around with a calm and slightly angry expression, and saw a middle-aged scholar in a brocade robe standing outside the house.
"I sigh that people in this world are still so greedy for gold and silver. They spend gold and silver today in order to get more tomorrow. Alas..."
Shaking his head and sighing, the old man looked at the person who came and then asked.
"Who are you? Although I already knew you had entered the courtyard, it is still impolite for you to come in so quietly, isn't it?"
The man outside nodded and said with a smile.
"Indeed, my name is Bai Qi, and I am the God of Chunmu River. May I know your name?"
Bai Qi had long seen that the man in front of him was of low attainments, and judging by his attitude towards gold and silver, it was even less likely that he was some kind of master.
“Ahahahahaha… Chunmujiang Zhengshen? Hahahaha… Young man, don’t make me laugh!”
The old man laughed out loud for a while before he stood up. He could clearly see that the middle-aged man in brocade robe in front of him was just a mortal, a warrior at most, and he actually pretended to be the God of Chunmujiang.
Bai Qi looked at him with a smile, waiting for the old man's next words.
In fact, the method the old man just taught Li Jinlai did not do any harm to Qingqing, and it even had some benefits. Although the benefits were not many due to greed, there were still some. It was just that for Li Jinlai, there was no benefit at all. Well, maybe it was a little psychological comfort, and he could be bolder. So Bai Qi was neither anxious nor annoyed, waiting for the old man to speak.
The old man looked at Bai Qi and thought that he was a man who was proud of his martial arts skills, so he had to be careful and drive him away.
"Hehe, I am the disciple of the otherworldly Immortal Master Ji Yuan, who was appointed as the Heavenly Master by the late Emperor Dazhen, Du Changsheng!"
After saying this, the old man was very satisfied with the change in the shocked expression of the man in front of him. He thought he would have to use some "tricks" but he didn't expect him to be so easily frightened.
Bai Qi couldn't hide his shock and said in a lost voice.
"Student from... Mr. Ji?"