Chapter 55: Awakening

In a bedroom, Li Si lay on the bed, his eyes trembling slightly before slowly opening.

He turned his head slightly to look at his body, only to discover his current state was truly pitiful. Both his shoulders were tightly wrapped in linen, and his feet were covered in dense blisters, smeared with some black ointment, looking extremely miserable.

Li Si rolled over to find a more comfortable position, exhaling deeply. He knew he had barely managed to save his life.
“Young Master Li, you’re awake?” An excited shout came from the doorway.

Li Si turned his head to see a middle-aged man standing at the door. The man had two small mustaches and wore a crimson robe, dressed properly. Seeing Li Si awake, his face immediately lit up with joy.

“Doctor Zhang, thank you for saving me,” Li Si said upon seeing the middle-aged man. He pulled up a nearby garment and was about to get up to bow.

This middle-aged man was the famous doctor of the county town, named Zhang Jingcheng. He was also the one who had treated the original owner last time.

“No need to thank me, Young Master Li. Compared to what you’ve done, what I did was just ordinary,” Zhang Jingcheng quickly walked in and hurriedly helped Li Si up.

Seeing Zhang Jingcheng’s somewhat reverent manner towards him, Li Si immediately knew that his deeds had become known to this man.

He suddenly felt a headache coming on. This Zhang Jingcheng was a gossip. Last time, he had spread the news of the original owner’s critical illness all over the county town. This time, his own affairs had probably been talked about everywhere by this man.

“Young Master Li, you didn’t die from that serious illness last time, and now you’ve even escaped from the jaws of a tiger spirit. You truly have great fortune and luck!” Zhang Jingcheng helped Li Si up, looking him up and down, clicking his tongue in wonder.

At this moment, there was a commotion outside, and a middle-aged man in tight-fitting clothes and a child ran in.
Li Si looked over and saw that these two were Luo Ye and Cao Meng.

He was about to greet them when, unexpectedly, as soon as Cao Meng entered and saw him, his eyes reddened, and he fell straight to his knees.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!…” After falling to his knees, Cao Meng began to kowtow repeatedly.
The sound of the kowtowing was dull, stunning everyone present.

“Brother Luo! Pull him up!” Li Si’s face changed, and he hurriedly called out to Luo Ye.

Hearing Li Si’s words, Luo Ye quickly pulled Cao Meng up.

After Cao Meng was pulled up, the other three people in the room could clearly see the blue bruise on the child’s forehead.

“Teacher… I…” Cao Meng’s head was a bit dizzy, and he looked at Li Si, stammering.

“Alright, you don’t need to say more. I understand your meaning,” Li Si interrupted Cao Meng, sighing deeply. “What’s done is done. From now on, you must live well and listen to Uncle Luo, understand?”

Hearing Li Si say this, Cao Meng hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Luo Ye, hearing Li Si’s words, also patted Cao Meng’s head and said sincerely, “Young Master Li, I will take good care of this child.”

“I’m tired now and need to rest,” Li Si rubbed his forehead, smiling bitterly.

Hearing Li Si say this, the others felt that he was injured and needed rest. So they prepared to leave, letting him be alone.

At this moment, Li Si seemed to think of something and suddenly called out, “Brother Luo, wait a moment. I have something to tell you.”

The three people heard Li Si’s words, paused, and turned back to look at him.

Then Luo Ye smiled at the other two and said, “You two go out. I need to discuss something with Young Master Li.”
After the two left, Li Si found a comfortable position to lie down and looked at Luo Ye, asking, “What happened to Brother Cao’s remains?”

Hearing Li Si ask about Cao Qing’s aftermath, Luo Ye sighed and said, “The body has been buried. The officials had some questions earlier and were going to come here, but Liu Qin stopped them. He said he would come to see you after some time.”

Li Si frowned slightly. He wasn’t sure what Liu Qin’s intentions were, helping to stop the officials and wanting to see him. He didn’t have any close relationship with Liu Qin.

Unable to figure it out, he stopped thinking about it. Then he sat up and gently beckoned to Luo Ye, asking him to come closer.

Seeing Li Si do this, Luo Ye knew that Li Si wanted to tell him something private, so he immediately leaned in.
When Luo Ye’s ear was close, Li Si whispered, “I’ve killed the tiger spirit. There’s some gold at the cliff where Cao Qing was. Find a way to retrieve it yourself.”

Hearing Li Si say this, Luo Ye’s eyes immediately showed a shocked expression, and he was about to step back. He hadn’t expected that the tiger spirit had actually been killed by Li Si. He had thought Li Si had just escaped from the mountain and hadn’t encountered the tiger spirit at all.

Li Si pulled him back and continued in a low voice, “Find a place to hide this money. In the future, this money will be yours.”
Luo Ye’s legs felt weak, and his voice trembled as he said, “I can’t take this money!”

Although he didn’t know how much gold Li Si was talking about, it was certainly a huge sum for him, and he was unwilling to accept it.

“Just consider it as keeping it for me. I might come to get it from you in the future. You can use this money as you wish, improve your life a bit, but you must use it carefully, or it might bring trouble,” Li Si patted his shoulder, then found a comfortable position on the bed and continued, “The choice is entirely yours. Alright, I want to rest now.”
With that, he ignored Luo Ye, turned over in bed, and faced away from him.

Luo Ye opened his mouth, finally sighed, and walked out of the room.

Hearing Luo Ye leave, Li Si turned over, sat up, and pondered for a moment.

Giving this gold to Luo Ye was a spur-of-the-moment decision, because there was about 300 jin of gold, and it would be useless for him to keep it. After all, he couldn’t carry 300 jin of gold to fight ghost creatures in the future.

He only had a little over a year of life left, and he didn’t have time for financial management.

Leaving that 300 jin of gold on the mountain was just leaving it there. It was better to find someone trustworthy to hold onto it, and he could get it from them when needed.

As for Luo Ye, although he was sometimes cowardly, in another sense, this person was very smart, knew how to read situations, and knew when to advance and retreat.

Moreover, judging from his attitude towards Cao Meng, he was also a loyal person, not a villain.

With the money in Luo Ye’s hands, he wouldn’t dare to spend it recklessly. This could minimize a lot of trouble and also allow the unfortunate child Cao Meng to live a better life.

Thinking of this, Li Si felt in his bosom and took out a gold nugget about the size of his palm, then put it back into his bosom.

The amount of money didn’t matter, as long as it was enough to use.

Then Li Si seemed to think of something, and with a thought, he suddenly became excited – the system store had refreshed!

He mentally scanned the nine items in the store, and immediately the information of the nine items appeared in his mind.