Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation
Chapter 778 - 465 Thousand Miles Journey_2

Chapter 778: Chapter 465 Thousand Miles Journey_2

Tourists exclaimed in surprise.

Xue Yuantong was equally astonished; it was her first time seeing a live monkey.

A young woman took some food out of her bag, ready to feed the monkey. Barely had she opened the plastic bag when a monkey sprinted over and agilely took the food away.

The young woman was content and began admiring the photos she had just taken.

Xue Yuantong felt tempted and fished out a peach from her little purse, placing it on the fence.

Thinking of the monkey eating, she felt a little peckish and tore open a honey-glazed chicken leg, ready to have a taste.

A monkey hopped over, and Xue Yuantong thought it was going for the peach, but the monkey, seemingly having become picky from being fed, didn’t spare the peach a second glance.

It kicked out its leg and reached out its claws, savagely snatching the chicken leg from Xue Yuantong’s hands.

Xue Yuantong was petrified with fear.

The monkey was full of wild instincts, baring its teeth and brandishing its claws—enough to intimidate any ordinary person.

Nearby tourists couldn’t help but shriek.

Just as the monkey was about to grab Xue Yuantong, Jiang Ning stepped forward a pace and "smack," his palm struck the monkey’s red face.

It was momentarily dazed.

By the time it came to, it was baring its teeth fiercely.

"You think you have the right to steal?" Jiang Ning added two more slaps.

This commotion drew the attention of others, "My God, he’s hitting the monkey!"

Those two slaps, heavy and forceful, nearly gave the monkey a concussion. It had been sitting on the railing but now was teetering, looking like it might fall off.

Jiang Ning reached out to steady it, then pointed towards the azaleas in the distance.

To everyone’s eyes, it seemed as if the monkey understood as it leaped away, picked two bright red azalea flowers, and came hopping back, presenting them to Jiang Ning as if offering a treasure.

Jiang Ning gestured to Xue Yuantong beside him, and the monkey obediently offered them up.

Xue Yuantong dazedly accepted the azalea flowers, their radiant beauty complementing her exquisite face.

The other tourists were bewildered—could things really play out like this?

Jiang Ning pulled out his smartphone camera to capture the moment.

Afterward, he picked up the peach left on the railing. The monkey, highly intelligent, rubbed its hands excitedly, thinking he was going to give it the peach.

But instead, Jiang Ning ate the peach in front of the monkey and handed it the pit.

The monkey, furious yet not daring to protest, took the peach pit and left indignantly.

...

August 10th, Ceramic City.

Inside a room filled with porcelain,

Xue Yuantong had spent four hours crafting a tiny porcelain vial, upon which a fragrance of ancient charm from the ink-colored silhouette shone upon its pure white surface.

"Jiang Ning, Jiang Ning, look!" she showed off, her muddy little hands nearly smeared on Jiang Ning’s face.

Jiang Ning seriously suspected she did it on purpose.

"Does it look good?" she asked.

"Of course it does; after all, the silhouette is me," replied Jiang Ning.

"Ha!" Xue Yuantong pouted. She had wanted Jiang Ning to guess.

Soon after, she tilted her head, "Right, last time I went to Changqing Liquid Company, their Evergreen Liquid bottles seemed to be made of porcelain too."

The pottery master teaching pottery DIY nearby said with a smile, "Young lady, the packaging for Evergreen Liquid is all custom-made here."

His words were filled with pride, considering Evergreen Liquid was a product that sold well overseas.

Holding the porcelain vial in her hand and comparing, Xue Yuantong said blankly:

"But the Evergreen Liquid bottles aren’t that pretty, and not as nice as the vial I made."

The pottery master paused, recalled the packaging of Evergreen Liquid which indeed wasn’t particularly outstanding, and to save face, he blurted out:

"Do you even understand cultural connotation?"

Xue Yuantong didn’t understand but imagined, "If only they would use the vial I designed, how great that would be!"

Jiang Ning took her words to heart, recorded a video of the vial, and sent it to Shao Shuangshuang.

...

August 14th, Yunnan, West City.

Its exquisite scenery has made this place a must-visit destination for travelers since ancient times. Jiang Ning and Xue Yuantong wandered without a care, completely at ease.

The tour bus was winding through the forest, the view from the windows lush with ancient trees that touched the sky, as Jiang Ning’s Divine Sense spread out and detected monkeys dwelling amongst the foliage.

The bus was packed with people, elderly couples and parents with their children, as well as a contingent of youths. Jiang Ning and Xue Yuantong sat in the last row.

The bus approached a clearing, where two stalls had been set up on the road ahead, manned by a few men selling hats, clothes, and handicrafts.

The bus slowly came to a stop.

A puzzled couple asked, "Haven’t we not reached our destination yet? Why are we stopping?"

They weren’t alone in their confusion; similar questions buzzed from other tourists on the bus.

A cacophony filled the interior of the vehicle.

The tour guide, a woman in her forties, shouted through a megaphone, "It’s not easy coming all the way to West City. Get off the bus and buy something to commemorate your trip."

The girl of the couple, trendy and with tattooed wrists, said impatiently, "This is the middle of nowhere, what am I supposed to buy here? Let’s just get moving!"

An elderly woman in the back echoed, "Exactly, exactly, let’s go."

The passengers were incensed.

The tour guide’s expression darkened, "If you all don’t buy anything, how will we make money? If we don’t have money, how are we supposed to drive you around?"

The young man in the couple shouted, "Are you trying to scam us or what?"

The tour guide argued, "We only open for business for two months a year. We have to make a year’s worth of earnings in those two months, so hurry up and get off the bus and buy something."

"I don’t have any money," boasted a defiant tourist.

The guide smirked; to her, these were pigs ready for slaughter. If she couldn’t fleece them, what kind of guide would she be?

She said sarcastically, "If you don’t have money, you shouldn’t come out to play. What are you doing causing trouble for others without any money? Get off the bus if you’re not buying!"

With her command, a burly driver quietly picked up a tool, and there was also a menacing big man inside the bus.

He strode over to the vocal couple and, with a slap, the bus fell silent.

The guide bellowed, "You think you can travel without spending a penny? Do you even know where West City is? Everyone get off and buy something, spend at least a thousand yuan each!"

There were clearly just three thugs, yet somehow they intimidated the twenty or thirty tourists on the bus into silence.

After being hit, the couple quietly complied. They obediently got off the bus in the face of the big man’s tool and shopped at the ramshackle stalls.

With someone setting the precedent, the elderly, and families with children all got off to shop.

In this place with no village in sight nor store nearby, they were only here to travel, daring not to risk their lives over a thousand yuan.

So, everyone shopped while holding their noses; one of the elderly women, trying to save face, laughed awkwardly, "Ha ha ha, look at the quality of these clothes, not expensive at all!"

Xue Yuantong and Jiang Ning got off the bus too, preparing themselves to swallow their pride and purchase a thousand yuan worth of goods.

She knew Jiang Ning was formidable, but Xue Yuantong wasn’t the type to resort to violence or intimidation, especially when they were away from home, unfamiliar with the place. If a conflict arose, it was unthinkable.

She didn’t want Jiang Ning to get hurt; she would rather spend money to avoid disaster.

Reluctantly, Xue Yuantong picked out a ’wool’ hat and bought two wooden plaques, and just like that, a thousand yuan was gone.

Noticing this batch of tourists seemed wealthy, the guide picked up the megaphone and raised the price: "A thousand yuan is not enough, everyone buys three thousand worth!"

If you’re going to slaughter a pig, do it well and thoroughly.

As expected, this only infuriated the crowd further, and after some haggling and reluctant spending, the guide graciously reduced the price to two thousand.

"Alright, everyone who’s finished shopping, hurry up and get on the bus, we’re about to head to the next site," the guide called out.

Jiang Ning and Xue Yuantong were the last ones to board.

The tour guide, noticing their delay and with an unkind tone, urged, "Aren’t you getting on the bus?"

This stop was over, but the next site awaited for further exploitation!

Jiang Ning fiddled with the wool hat, giving it a light tug, and some strands came loose. He said, "This wool hat is fake. According to market price, you should compensate me tenfold."

"Ha ha ha ha!" The man peddling the wool hats, the tour guide, and the people around all laughed.

The guide shot back, "And what if I don’t compensate? What can you possibly do to me?"

The hat seller retorted in dialect, "Stick a feather on a bat—what kind of bird do you think you are?"

Jiang Ning righteously declared, "What you’re doing is illegal!"

Laughing heartily, the guide replied, "I find it amusing that you even mention the law."

Jiang Ning squeezed Xue Yuantong’s hand and with resignation asked, "Do you see how arrogant they are?"