Lu Fan hadn't expected his parents to still be awake and worrying about him. Holding the spirit gathering bottle, he mused about how rich he'd be if this thing could produce more spirit liquid.
Hum... hum... Suddenly, the spirit gathering bottle began to vibrate slightly. Though faint, Lu Fan could feel it clearly in his hand.
What's going on? Why is this thing vibrating on its own? Lu Fan was surprised. He carefully examined the spirit gathering bottle. Could it be sensing something?
He walked around the room with the bottle. Hum hum... Suddenly, the bottle vibrated more intensely. Lu Fan looked up. He was standing next to the bookshelf, and opposite him, on the bookshelf, was a foot-long tobacco pipe. The pipe had a white jade mouthpiece, and the stem and bowl were pure copper.
This was something his maternal grandmother often smoked when he was little. After she passed away, she left this sole heirloom to her beloved grandson. However, Lu Fan hadn't inherited his grandmother's habit. Not only him, but his parents didn't smoke this either. So, it had been kept as a memento, placed there for a long time, almost forgotten!
"Holy cow! You don't happen to like smoking, do you?" Chen Bei muttered, looking at the spirit gathering bottle.
Whoosh... Suddenly, the tobacco pipe was sucked into the spirit gathering bottle.
"Holy cow? You really do like smoking... How did it get in there?" Lu Fan was instantly astonished. That tobacco pipe was much longer than the spirit gathering bottle.
Cough cough... Pfft...! Suddenly, the spirit gathering bottle coughed twice and spat out the tobacco pipe with a pfft. Clatter... The pipe fell to the ground. However, the white jade mouthpiece on the pipe was gone.
"What the heck? You ate the mouthpiece?" Lu Fan immediately peered into the spirit gathering bottle with one eye. There was no trace of the white jade mouthpiece inside.
"Xiao Fan? Why aren't you asleep yet? What are you doing?" Zhao Rongrong's voice came from outside the door. The sound of the pipe falling had alerted them.
"Mom! I'm going to sleep!" Lu Fan quickly put away the spirit gathering bottle, picked up the tobacco pipe, stuffed it back into the bookshelf, and climbed into bed.
...
Before dawn the next day, Lu Fan got out of bed, dressed, and tiptoed out of the room.
He went into the yard to check on the pheasants, rabbits, and wild boars, adding some feed for them. Then, he picked up a bucket of water and headed towards the back mountain.
He climbed the mountain and went straight to the pine forest. After setting down the water bucket, he immediately took out the spirit gathering bottle.
"Huh! There seem to be more water droplets!" Seeing that the water droplets in the spirit gathering bottle had increased by one, Lu Fan was overjoyed. Could it be that because this thing swallowed the white jade mouthpiece, the spirit liquid had increased? If so, this thing could increase its output? Hahaha!
Despite his excitement, Lu Fan immediately diluted the spirit liquid with water and began searching for pine mushrooms. Whenever he saw a small mushroom cap, he dripped a few drops of water on it. He wandered through the pine forest for a long time. When the bucket of water was used up, Lu Fan found a spot, sat down cross-legged, and began cultivating the Shen Nong Health Preservation Technique.
The Shen Nong Health Preservation Technique was indeed miraculous. Coupled with the daily refinement of the icy-cold energy within Liu Ruyan's body, Lu Fan felt his body undergoing significant changes. Both his strength and speed had completely surpassed Lu Fan's understanding. He even felt his senses had become much sharper. No wonder Shen Nong dared to taste a hundred herbs and try a hundred poisons while cultivating this technique!
When the sun climbed to the mountaintop, Lu Fan opened his eyes. He immediately saw large mushrooms everywhere. Hahaha! This was truly wonderful! He jumped up with a whoosh and began harvesting. After collecting all the mushrooms, he counted them. There were over a hundred catties. Lu Fan happily descended the mountain.
"Damn it! My electric bike is gone. How am I supposed to get to town?" When Lu Fan returned home, he was filled with despair, remembering that his electric bike was missing. It seemed he'd have to borrow a bicycle to go to town. Thinking this, he glanced at his neighbor Wang Pangzi's house.
Wang Pangzi was twenty-five years old and got married last year. They had a newly purchased bicycle. Seeing that it was still too early, the young couple probably hadn't woken up yet!
Lu Fan went to the gate of Wang Pangzi's house. He pushed the gate, and it wasn't locked. Lu Fan walked directly into the yard. He saw that Wang Pangzi's house still had no lights on. He hesitated for a moment, then walked up to knock on the door.
"Show off! Waking people up so early in the morning. After waking them up, you're done showing off in just two or three minutes. Hurry up and get up to make breakfast!"
Suddenly, Lu Fan heard his wife, Wang Pangzi, scolding angrily from inside.
"Pfft..." Lu Fan couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Who? Who's outside?" Wang Pangzi heard the commotion outside and shouted twice.
"Brother Pangzi! Are you up? It's me, Xiao Fan. I want to borrow your bicycle!" Lu Fan, suppressing his laughter, quickly said.
"Wait... wait! We're not up yet!" Wang Pangzi shouted in exasperation.
A moment later, Wang Pangzi opened the door. "You're going out so early? Why the rush?"
"Brother Pangzi! I'm going to town, then taking a bus to the county. My electric bike was lost in town last time, so I wanted to borrow your bicycle!" Lu Fan said urgently.
"The bike is by the wall." Wang Pangzi threw him a key and pointed to the door of the storeroom next to him.
"Alright!" Lu Fan took the key, opened the bicycle, pushed it out, and left.
"Xiao Fan! Uh, don't say anything you shouldn't!" As Lu Fan was about to leave the gate, Wang Pangzi called out from behind, not trusting him.
"Hehe! Don't worry, Brother Pangzi! I didn't hear anything." Lu Fan chuckled and rode away on the bicycle.
"Damn... Didn't hear anything but told me not to worry!" Wang Pangzi rolled his eyes.
Lu Fan pedaled furiously. When he reached town, he parked the bicycle in the parking lot and locked it. Then, he took a bus to the Yixiangyuan Hotel in the county. He successfully sold the mushrooms to Bai Xuemei and turned to leave Yixiangyuan, preparing to head back. However, as soon as he exited the intersection, he was intercepted.
A blue Porsche. Lu Fan remembered seeing it the last time he came. But he didn't recognize the six or seven burly men blocking his way. However, seeing that they were all carrying iron rods, he knew without guessing what was about to happen.
"Kid! Don't come to this hotel again, or we'll cripple you!" The window of the blue Porsche slid down, and Lin Quan glared at Lu Fan fiercely.
"Hehe! Big brother! I don't know you! Are you guys filming a movie?" Lu Fan rubbed his nose and said with a smile.
"Filming your grandpa! Remember what Young Master Lin said. Come again next time, and we'll break your legs." One of the men next to him cursed fiercely.
"Big brother! Look at me, I've been talking to you with a smile all along. Shouldn't you be smiling too? Talking like that really hurts our feelings! Hehe!" Lu Fan didn't seem angry at all, saying with a chuckle.
"Damn it! You little brat dare to talk about hurting feelings? I'm not smiling when I talk to you. Come on, let me see how you hurt feelings?" That guy immediately stepped forward, pushed Lu Fan, and roared.
Bang... Suddenly, a fist landed squarely on the guy's face. It was so fast that no one reacted to what had happened.
Thump...! The guy stumbled back five or six steps and fell to the ground with a thump. A black eye instantly appeared on his face.