Chapter 412: Unlicensed Taxi
“No need to thank me. It’s your reward.” Tang Xiu said lightly, “You have done a lot of things for the Everlasting Feast Hall for the past few years, so it’s time to give you this chance. I hope you can cultivate well in the future. Obtaining this chance is but only the beginning. As to the heights you can achieve in your cultivation later, it will depend on your efforts, as well as correlates with how much you pay it back to the Everlasting Feast Hall.”
“On what basis is it related, Boss?” Chi Nan curiously asked.
“It’s heavily related. I’ve made a decision that every core member of the Everlasting Feast Hall can’t get cultivation resources unless they make significant contributions to the Everlasting Feast Hall. Otherwise, the members must work hard and go all out in their cultivation. In regards to cultivation speed, those who don’t get cultivation resources obviously will have slower cultivation speed than those who get it. Furthermore, whoever can obtain a lot of resources and hand them over to the Everlasting Feast Hall will also get cultivation resources.”
“For example?” Chi Nan quickly asked.
“For example, you get a lot of precious medicinal herbs, minerals, bones or other materials from fierce beasts. After you hand them over to the Everlasting Feast Hall, you can get medicinal pills, magical objects, and other items.”
Chi Nan’s eyes lit up as her breathing turned faster. She nodded repeatedly as she looked at Tang Xiu with a grateful expression, “I understand, Boss.”
“Ji Chimei hasn’t called you yet. That means that my command has yet to go through.” Tang Xiu smiled and said, “Therefore, you are the first one to know about it. If you’re smart enough, I’m sure you don’t need me to continue giving you pointers, no?”
With an exceptionally brilliant smile, Chi Nan nodded and said, “You don’t need to give me any more pointers, Boss. While Elder Ji hasn’t yet started to summon everyone, I’ll start buying a lot of materials in advance. When everyone gets this news, they will struggle to purchase various materials from all over the country. By then, the purchased materials’ price will rise, and the things they want to buy will also be reduced.”
“You’re promising and worthy to be taught!” Tang Xiu nodded as he got up and said, “Well, I’m full now. Drive me back to Bluestar Villa Complex! I need to rest before leaving for Shennong Ridge.”
“Affirmative!” Chi Nan wanted to immediately start buying the materials, but she first sent Tang Xiu back to Bluestar Villa Complex.
Inside the villa.
Xue Chao was in the courtyard basking in the sun, while his wife, Du Juan, was knitting a sweater. In front of the two of them was their son, soundly sleeping on a small bed.
“You’ve finally come back, Boss Tang!”
Seeing Tang Xiu, Xue Chao immediately got up and said with a smile.
“Is your injury better?” Tang Xiu looked at him and said with a smile.
“Though I have yet to fully recover, it’s already much better.” Xue Chao nodded and said, “I can walk and do normal daily activities as long as they are not too demanding.”
“Rest well to fully recover.” Tang Xiu said with a smile, “The military training should be almost over. We’ll start attending classes after it’s over.”
“I’ll attend the classes, Boss Tang.” Xue Chao let out a simple and honest smile and said, “And about the job you told me… can you introduce me now? Despite my injury not being fully better yet, but I have a strong body as a mountain dweller, so it won’t affect my work.”
As if realizing something, Tang Xiu quickly asked, “Are you running out of money? I’ll give…”
“I still have 1,000 yuan remaining from the money you lent me, Boss Tang.” Xue Chao waved his hand and said, “It’s still enough for my family to spend for some time. I just don’t want to stay idle at home every day. I feel like I’m about to rust if I don’t move my body.”
After thinking for a moment, Tang Xiu then nodded and said, “All right! Do you have a driver’s license?”
“No.” Xue Chao forced out a smile and shook his head.
“The place I’ll introduce you to work at is a bit far from here.” Tang Xiu said, “You’re still injured, so you might as well live there if you have to commute every day. How about letting big sis-in-law and your son live here while you rest there in the evening?”
“Is there a place to live there?” Xue Chao asked.
“I’ll call her to provide you a place to stay.” Tang Xiu said with a smile.
Looking at his wife and child, Xue Chao suddenly asked, “Boss Tang, what kind of accommodation does it have? If possible, I want to bring my wife and son too. We’ve been here for more than ten days. If I can work there and there’s a place for us to stay, we’ll all live there.”
“All right! I’ll give you the address.” Tang Xiu nodded and said, “Go there and look for someone called Chi Nan. Tell her what I told you and she’ll make the arrangements. Furthermore, I may have to leave in a few days, so I’ll see you again after I come back.”
“Okay. Thanks, Boss Tang.” Xue Chao said gratefully.
“What are you thanking me for? We’re classmates, man.” Tang Xiu waved his hand and said, “Like people say: Being classmates in one lifetime, for three lifetimes will we become family, hence, we must help each other. That’s right, when are you going there? If you’re in a hurry, I can drive you there now.”
“Nah, forget it.” Xue Chao shook his head and said, “We’ll go by bus. You’re busy with your things. Anyways, I’ll use my salary to buy you a drink after you come back.”
“All right!” Tang Xiu nodded with a smile.
Ten minutes later, Tang Xiu had packed a simple change of clothes and directly left Bluestar Villa Complex. Since Shanghai was thousands of miles away from Shennong Ridge, he booked a flight ticket to Fei City. However, he was speechless, because the tickets had all been sold out due to many passengers’ flowing in during summer vacation. He had no choice but choose the high-speed rail. Fortunately, this time his luck was quite good, as there still had a few tickets left.
At 3 AM, in the middle of the night, Tang Xiu came out of the Fei City High-Speed Rail Station.
There was a busy stream of people busily arriving and leaving. The night was not quiet at all. Tang Xiu went out along with a stream of people extending for dozens of meters. He then saw an astounding sight when he stepped outside. There were eight burly men in a black suits standing behind a tall woman in white, and no one around dared to approach them. Many were pointing at them and whispering to each other.
With his good hearing, Tang Xiu learned from the whisperings that the woman was the secretary of Fei City’s Yellowsteel Group’s Boss, a relatively famous woman in Fei City.
Tang Xiu didn’t stay long here. Those people didn’t have any slightest relationship with him. He had checked the map before coming here, and he knew what travel route he should be taking. He knew that before going to Shennong Ridge from Fei City, he must drive to Ziming County near Shennong Ridge. After that, he could then go to Ghost King Valley in Shennong Ridge from Ziming County.
“Brother, want a ride?”
A young man in his 24s or 25s, with yellow-bleached hair and earrings, greeted him with a smile after seeing Tang Xiu walking out with one of his hands empty.
“Do you know Ziming County?” Tang Xiu looked at him and asked.
The young man scrutinized Tang Xiu and then hesitantly said, “Brother, the fare to Ziming County isn’t cheap!”
“The money doesn’t matter. But I need to hurry there.” Tang Xiu said.
“450 yuan. Gimme 450 yuan and I’ll drive you there.” The young man said.
“OK. Where’s your car?” Tang Xiu said.
The young man subconsciously traced his waist before he pointed at a place nearby, “Just over there, come with me!”
The young man brought Tang Xiu to a black Mazda and stretched his hand to open the door, saying, “Brother, the road to Ziming County is quite rough. Even if we go there at a fast speed, it will take more than two hours to get there.”
Taking the front seat, Tang Xiu nodded in a response and said, “It doesn’t matter. Just drive slowly and pay attention to safety.”
“Okay!”
The young man replied and took the driver’s seat, starting the car and leaving fast. However, the young man was apparently of a sanguine type. After he took a glance at Tang Xiu, he opened up conversation while driving, “Brother, my name is Chang Hao. What’s yours?”
“I’m surnamed Tang!”
“Brother Tang, listening to your accent, you shouldn’t be a local, right? Are you here on vacation or visiting relatives?”
“I’m on vacation!” Tang Xiu said.
“There are tons of tourists coming to our resorts on vacation. Many of them especially come to visit the Shennong Ridge at this times of the year.” Chang Hao nodded and said, “But you came here alone and with no baggage at all, this is the first time I see this.”
“It feels great to play outside alone.” Tang Xiu calmly replied.
“That’s so natural and unrestrained of you, Brother Tang.” A sliver of envy appeared on Chang Hao’s face as he said, “I myself am thinking about traveling everywhere alone. But heck, I’m forced by life and can only work from dawn to dusk. Alas… if I don’t go all out to make money, I won’t have money to buy formula milk for my child.”
“You’re an unlicensed cab driver, right? Why don’t you get a business license?” Tang Xiu said.
“Nowadays, applying for a business license needs quite a long time, including tons of money.” Chang Hao forced a wry smile and said, “Besides, the price for a taxi is sky-high, and there are also tens of thousands of them. Although I drive an unlicensed cab, I can earn clean money. At the worst, I would only be cracked down and have to stay behind bars for some time.”
Tang Xiu nodded in response and no longer wanted to chat, “I’m going to sleep, call me out if there’s anything.”
“Alright!” Chang Hao replied.
Time passed by.
It wasn’t long after Tang Xiu fell asleep, as the sudden brake instantly woke him up. He stretched his hand to the dashboard in front out of reflex, as the seat belt also held his body.
"What happened?" Tang Xiu growled.
Looking pale, Chang Hao turned to Tang Xiu and forced a smile, “I seem to have hit something.”
Tang Xiu’s brows raised. After getting out, he found the car had traveled to the empty suburbs. The road was rough and there were ditches on both sides. Far beyond was a boundless stretch of fields. He made a strange expression as he looked at the thing in front of the car, because something what was hit by the car, was actually a wild boar. At the moment, the wild boar was lying 7-8 meters away on the ground, and there was a pool of blood around it.
“Your luck is kinda bad, don’t you think?” Tang Xiu said with a smile.
Chang Hao’s expression was rather unsightly. The car’s front was smashed and the left headlights were completely destroyed. It would probably cost thousands of yuan to fix them.
Tang Xiu then walked toward the wild boar. He then picked it up and said with a smile, “Anyhow, it hasn’t died yet, but it can’t live any longer either. To my surprise, this place actually has wild boars, and it’s not dead yet though it got hit by a car. Its luck is a bit too bad.”
“You…”
Chang Hao was shocked as he could clearly see Tang Xiu picking up the wild boar under the headlights.