Yu Qing beamed with joy. Now he no longer needed to worry. He clapped his hands in delight and truly felt a sense of perfect agreement. He said, “Sir, rest assured. If anyone asks how your teaching is, I will definitely praise that sir’s knowledge is profound and the student has benefited greatly. What do you think?”
Teacher Ming, wrapped in a blanket, hummed in agreement and said, “Even if it is just for show, there must be some basic appearance. You should at least pick up the brush and write a few sheets, right? Just copy something and fill a few pages.”
“Alright, I will listen to sir.” Yu Qing obediently agreed.
However, he was not one to take things lying down. Since this Teacher Ming could earn money while sleeping, he could not remain inactive. On this point, he was not someone who would willingly sink into depravity. His eyes rolled and he tried asking again, “Sir, I heard you also teach a student from another family?”
Teacher Ming hummed in agreement, looking as if he was about to fall asleep. He mumbled vaguely, “It is different from you. That family has a young boy who is learning step by step.”
What Yu Qing wanted to ask was not this. “Sir, that family should also be a wealthy one, right?”
He felt that someone who could become friends with Squire Zhong and could afford to hire this teacher should also be a rich person.
Teacher Ming hummed again, “It is a wealthy and noble family…” Suddenly he felt something was wrong. He abruptly opened his eyes and became fully awake. He turned around on the spot and stared at him intently. “Why are you asking this?”
That look in his eyes seemed to suspect that Yu Qing wanted to rob someone.
Yu Qing hurriedly waved his hands and said, “Sir, please do not misunderstand. Do not misunderstand. Let me first show you something good.” After speaking, he immediately ran off.
What the hell? Teacher Ming’s sleepiness was completely gone. He slowly sat up, yawning repeatedly. He had indeed indulged too much last night.
Before long, Yu Qing returned again. He even brought in a complete tea set. He placed it in front of the low couch, sat opposite, and pointed at a metal jar. “This is really good stuff.”
Teacher Ming bent one leg, hugged his knee, and waited to see.
Yu Qing unscrewed the jar lid, pulled a thin silk thread, and lifted out a strange insect with a large head and small body. It was precisely the fire cricket.
The fire cricket had also become used to being lifted by him. Its six jointed limbs with sharp barbs moved slightly, then it obediently hung there motionless like a hanged ghost.
“…” Teacher Ming blinked his eyes repeatedly. He even thought the woman sent by the Zhong residence last night had caused him to indulge in excessive lust and blurred his vision. He rubbed his eyes. It was correct. It was an insect, at most a strange beetle.
He had thought the metal jar was a tea canister and that Yu Qing had brought fine tea for him to enjoy. He had not expected it to be an insect.
He could not help sucking his teeth and said, “Walking dogs, fighting cocks, raising insects. You rich people’s hobbies probably do not suit me. Go play by yourself.” He was about to lie down and continue sleeping.
Yu Qing hurriedly called out to stop him, “Sir, you misunderstood. Wait a moment. I will definitely open your eyes wide.”
“Oh.” Teacher Ming then patiently waited.
Yu Qing immediately added some water to the small teapot, then lifted the insect and submerged it into the water in the teapot.
Teacher Ming watched with his eyelids twitching. Putting an insect in the teapot. Why did it look a bit disgusting?
However, something strange soon happened. The teapot seemed to emit red light, and gradually hot steam rose.
What was going on? Teacher Ming immediately knelt and sat up straight. He stretched his head to look into the pot and saw the insect soaking in the water emitting red light. The water in the teapot also quickly boiled and gurgled.
Yu Qing lifted the silk thread up and down. “Do not worry that the insect is not clean. First rinse it with boiling water.”
After rinsing, he lifted the insect out. Once the insect left the water, it struggled slightly and then became obedient again. The red light on its body gradually faded.
He poured out the water from the small teapot, rinsed it with clean water and poured it out again, then added water to the pot once more. This time he added quite a full amount. Yu Qing then submerged the insect into the bottom of the teapot water again.
The problem was that after entering the water there was no movement. It obediently sank to the bottom, then red light began to emerge from its body.
“Will it drown?” Teacher Ming tried asking.
“It will not. This little fellow cannot be burned to death by fire or drowned by water.” Yu Qing gave full assurance. This was not a lie. It could not drown even in lava, so naturally it would be hard to drown in water.
And this fire cricket had been played with by him for more than two months. Every day on the journey it had been soaked in water by him. It had already been trained into a rhythm. As soon as it entered water, it knew what it should do. Otherwise Yu Qing would wonder why it had no reaction and would always poke its belly with chopsticks.
After a long time and many repetitions, even a fool could form a habit.
Every time at this moment, the fire cricket knew it should boil the water itself. It cooperated without making a sound.
Soon, a pot of water was boiled. Teacher Ming watched and clicked his tongue in wonder.
Yu Qing lifted the thread, took out the fire cricket, and threw it back into the jar. Then he threw in some tea leaves into the boiling water.
After the tea was brewed, Yu Qing first poured a cup for the teacher, extended his hand to indicate please drink, then poured a cup for himself. He put down the teapot and saw that the teacher looked very hesitant and did not dare to taste it. He could not help laughing. He first picked up the tea and took several sips himself before saying, “Sir, do not worry. There is no poison. It is clean and absolutely will not have any problem.”
The confidence in these words came from him testing it on quite a few people. First the insect child, then Xu Fei, and later he had the insect child occasionally deliver tea to other examination candidates to drink. On this journey, at least dozens of candidates had drunk it for at least a month or so. Only after seeing there was no problem at all did he dare to drink it himself for final confirmation.
The dignified leader of the Linglong Temple had really put in effort just to earn some money.
Teacher Ming was also somewhat curious. Seeing that Yu Qing had drunk it himself, he also held the teacup and slowly took several sips to taste. After tasting, he shook his head. “I thought there would be some special flavour. It is just the taste of tea water.”
This was denying the results of his more than two months of experiments! Yu Qing widened his eyes and reminded, “Sir, no other flavour is exactly right. If there was flavour, who would dare to drink it?”
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Teacher Ming thought about it. It seemed to make sense. The tea was not bad. He picked it up again and slowly tasted it.
Yu Qing put down the teacup, rubbed his hands, and pointed at the metal jar. “Sir, do you know what this item is?”
Teacher Ming drank his tea and hummed in agreement. “I am willing to hear the details.”
Yu Qing said, “This item is called the fire cricket. Sir, have you ever heard of the幽崖 at幽角埠? This item is something that even the幽崖 issues tasks to find. It normally lives deep underground and survives in underground fire lava…” He rattled off a bunch of introduction.
Teacher Ming listened patiently.
As someone who had long mixed in the capital, he also frequently entered and exited wealthy and noble families. In this world where demons and humans coexisted, what rare things were there that he had not seen? He had also opened his eyes to various things. So this insect that could boil water would not make him feel particularly surprised.
At least he had more experience than this countryside person Yu Qing.
After listening, he put down the teacup. He did not quite understand what the other party meant by rambling on for so long and asked, “What do you want to say?”
Yu Qing said with self satisfaction, “Does sir not think this item is a rare commodity worth hoarding?”
Teacher Ming gave an “oh” and said, “And then?”
Yu Qing hurriedly added more tea for him again. “Sir teaches another household. Perhaps they would be interested in this item. Why not help this student sound them out and see if they are willing to buy. Or if sir knows other wealthy families, you can help ask them all. This student sincerely wants to sell.”
Teacher Ming’s eyelids twitched. He asked, “Your sincere sale, how much money is it?”
Yu Qing gestured with both hands to form a “ten”.
Teacher Ming sighed and said, “Ten taels of silver, do not trouble others. Forget it. I will take it.”
Yu Qing’s face sank. “Sir, this joke is too big. A fire cricket that the幽崖 issues tasks for. How could it only be worth ten taels? I mean one hundred thousand taels!”
“How much?” Teacher Ming asked in surprise.
Yu Qing spoke in a steady tone for the price. “One hundred thousand taels!”
Teacher Ming immediately reached out, lifted the silk thread, and took out the fire cricket that looked like a hanged ghost from the jar. He turned it around and looked at it all over. He really could not see any impressive appearance. After looking carefully, he put it back and asked, “What is the use of buying this from you?”
Yu Qing said, “It can boil water for making tea! It is much faster than a charcoal stove. It can boil a pot in just five counts.”
Teacher Ming blinked, raised his hand to stroke the small tuft of beard on his chin, and remained silent, waiting for the rest.
Yu Qing gave a dry cough. After finishing his words, he also felt the value seemed a bit thin. So he added, “It can also boil more boiling water. When it is inconvenient when going out, not to mention making tea, it can even help boil hot water for bathing together.”
Teacher Ming said, “Just these?”
Yu Qing gave a dry laugh and said, “If it can boil water, it can make fire and can also set fires.”
Teacher Ming felt puzzled. “Anything else?”
Yu Qing said awkwardly, “Sir, it is just one insect. Do not make things too difficult for it. Having this ability is already very good. It is already very rare. A rare commodity worth hoarding!”
“A rare commodity worth hoarding?” Teacher Ming glanced at him. That look in his eyes was almost saying, do you think I am stupid? He picked up the tea and took a sip. “Do wealthy families lack something to boil water for making tea? How inconvenient can wealthy families be when going out that they must rely on one insect?”
Yu Qing hurriedly said, “This is not because sir has a big face? Some families might buy it just for sir’s sake. I will not let sir help for nothing. As long as it is sold, I will give sir two tenths. How about it?”
“One insect for one hundred thousand taels. You really dare to ask for that price. Alright, I cannot enjoy such fortune. You had better find someone else to sell it to.” After Teacher Ming finished speaking, he pulled the blanket over himself and lay down again.
Yu Qing immediately walked around to him, squatted at one end of the low couch, and stretched out five fingers. “What about fifty thousand? What does sir think?”
He halved it in one go? Teacher Ming opened his eyes to glance at him, then closed his eyes again. This time he completely ignored him…
It was nearing evening when Teacher Ming woke up and left. He did not accept the Zhong residence’s invitation to dinner.
That night, big bones were delivered. Yu Qing let the fire cricket gnaw until it was full.
Taking advantage of the darkness, he several times carried the fire cricket, whose belly was swollen to the size of an egg, to the edge of the small pond in the courtyard. He submerged the fire cricket into the water and let it release several bubbles in the water before lifting it back. He only stopped after letting the fire cricket eat its fill several times.
The next morning, when Steward Li routinely came to the east courtyard for a walk, he passed the small pond and suddenly stopped. He squatted down and muttered, “Why has the water turned black?”
Yu Qing passed such boring days for a full half month before a slight ripple finally appeared.
Outside the main gate of the Zhong residence, a young boy timidly approached. It was no one else but the insect child.
The insect child paced back and forth at the entrance several times, looking as if he wanted to approach but hesitated.
Later the gatekeeper felt something was wrong, took the initiative to appear, and scolded, “Sneaking around suspiciously. What are you doing?”