The value of the Spirit Stones had a tremendous impact on him.
His ideals were shaken.
Not just a simple shake, they were almost uprooted.
It's like meeting the love of your life, and the two of you fall in love.
But her mother throws fifty billion at you to leave her daughter.
Do you choose to stay with the love of your life, or do you choose to meet the next love of your life?
This is a troubling matter for most people.
Troubled by the fact that they haven't encountered such a situation.
Xiaosuo encountered it.
But he still chose to continue researching spiritual energy in the Little Black Room.
Not because he was particularly content with poverty or unyielding in the face of adversity.
He just didn't know who to buy an official position from.
He couldn't just randomly ask around, could he?
If someone with intentions overheard and traced it back to him, he'd be in big trouble.
After all, he had five County Deputy positions in his hand.
Yet none belonged to him.
Such wealth was more than enough to buy his worthless life.
And there would still be five County Deputy positions left over.
Because his life was worth nothing.
Thinking of this, he immediately calmed down, and the clarity and foolishness in his eyes once again took the high ground.
Xiaosuo believed it wasn't because he was cowardly.
But because of his pure thirst for knowledge.
Yes, a thirst for knowledge.
But his heart still ached, and tears of unwillingness still fell from the corners of his eyes.
These few Spirit Stones.
He couldn't use them, and he didn't dare to sell them.
He could only watch them quietly.
Guarding his life's love quietly.
Like a eunuch visiting a high-class brothel.
No way out.
Xiaosuo had no choice but to continue researching the Spirit Stones.
Water immersion, fire burning, soil burial, hammering, he tried all sorts of remedies.
Still no progress.
Finally, one day two and a half years into researching the Spirit Stones, a coincidence led to a qualitative leap in his research on spiritual energy.
He discovered that spiritual energy could not pass through Spirit Manifesting Paper.
When two sheets of Spirit Manifesting Paper were stacked, only the one close to the Spirit Stone would change color.
The sheet behind remained as white as snow.
As if hiding in the shadows, it showed no reaction to spiritual energy.
This discovery was groundbreaking.
In Xiaosuo's eyes, this discovery could lay the foundational theory for contemporary spiritual energy research!
Astonishing!
Comparable to Newton discovering gravity, Oersted discovering the magnetic effect of electric current, and his own discovery in second grade that the sum of two sides of a triangle is greater than the third side.
If heaven hadn't birthed Xiaosuo, no, if heaven hadn't rebirthed Xiaosuo, the Immortal Realm would be an eternal night!
This phenomenon indicated that spiritual energy was a misnomer.
It had particle properties.
More like a particle similar to light.
Just as light cannot illuminate the back of an object, spiritual energy cannot affect the back of Spirit Manifesting Paper, which is why the stacked paper doesn't change color.
If spiritual energy were a gas, capable of random motion, both sheets of Spirit Manifesting Paper should change color.
Too subversive.
Xiaosuo boldly speculated: Spiritual energy, like light, travels in straight lines.
So simple, yet so profound.
After the experiment succeeded, Xiaosuo was ecstatic.
He jumped on the table, pointing at the Spirit Stones and cursing.
Then he burst into laughter, feeling utterly delighted.
But after the brief joy, he fell into emptiness.
"After proving that spiritual energy travels in straight lines, what should I do next?"
The theoretical foundation was laid.
The engineer was stumped.
For two and a half years, he was too obsessed with understanding spiritual energy.
He hadn't considered what to do after the experiment succeeded.
Still unable to cultivate!
This path was a dead end.
Those Spirit Stones were now useless again.
Feeling lost.
After putting away the Spirit Stones, he decided to return to the Braised Chicken Feet Shop.
***
Pushing open the door, the morning breeze blew in.
He shivered.
The shiver brought him back to reality.
Now he was Xiaosuo, the owner of a Braised Chicken Feet Shop.
Living in the present.
The plan to grow big and strong was still in his heart.
Becoming a wealthy man wasn't out of the question.
He shook his head with a sigh, then chuckled softly.
Looking at his Braised Chicken Feet Shop, he was about to muse about life.
But he was dumbfounded.
"Damn it, where's my shop??"
His Braised Chicken Feet Shop was gone.
Where the shop should have been was now a pile of rubble.
The dust hadn't settled yet.
It looked like the shop had just collapsed.
The Shop Assistant sat dazedly on the side, his face full of bitterness.
Xiaosuo took two steps in one stride towards the Shop Assistant.
"What happened?"
The Shop Assistant shook his head.
"I don't know, a group of people came and smashed the shop without a word."
"They didn't give a reason?"
"No."
Xiaosuo looked at his shop with heartache.
In his memory, to open this Braised Chicken Feet Shop, his predecessor had worked hard from the age of eight to save money.
Even though he could only save a penny or two a day, he always believed he could save enough to open a Braised Chicken Feet Shop.
Finally, a few years later, he found a dozen taels of silver on the road and gathered enough money.
He opened this Braised Chicken Feet Shop.
But now, his hard work was in vain.
The people who smashed the shop were too ruthless.
Not only did they tear down the shop, but they also smashed the tables.
All the chairs were broken.
Forcing him to start from scratch.
At this moment, he saw Old Huang leisurely wandering over on the street.
"What, the shop got smashed?"
Old Huang asked, looking at the ruins.
"Do you even need to ask? Can't you see?"
"Don't take it out on me, who did it?"
"I don't know."
Xiaosuo didn't have the patience to chat with Old Huang.
But Old Huang seemed unaware of how annoying he was.
He found a three-legged stool that could barely be sat on and sat next to Xiaosuo.
"I don't know who did it, but I heard something."
Xiaosuo heard the implication in Old Huang's words and tilted his head to wait for more.
But Old Huang was in no hurry, slowly taking out some tobacco and a rolling paper.
He rolled a dry cigarette, lit it with a flint stone, and started smoking.
He didn't seem inclined to continue.
Xiaosuo asked: "Short of money or short of work?"
Old Huang took two puffs, spat out some saliva, and said:
"Neither. I just wanted to ask what you plan to do next."
"What do you mean?"
Xiaosuo felt Old Huang was meddling.
But Old Huang said: "Besides the Shop Assistant, we should be the closest. I'm like a grandfather to you, can't I care about you?"
Xiaosuo didn't know what Old Huang was up to.
But although Old Huang came to the shop every day, they barely nodded to each other, rarely talking.
This was the most he'd ever said.
Something unusual was definitely happening.
Xiaosuo had a feeling that how he answered Old Huang's question would affect his future.
But he couldn't say too much to Old Huang.
After all, they weren't that close.
Who knew what his intentions were?
After thinking for a moment, Xiaosuo said: "Accept the situation and wait for the right time."
Old Huang's hand holding the cigarette paused slightly, and the ash burned his leg.
When he reacted, he grimaced in pain.
Once Old Huang recovered, he nodded repeatedly at Xiaosuo.
"Accept the situation and wait for the right time, indeed!"
Old Huang's pained expression showed approval.
"Get to the point."
Xiaosuo didn't like Old Huang's mysterious demeanor.
"I heard that Constable Bao Hui's brother-in-law wants to open a Braised Chicken Feet Shop on this street."
"Bao Hui?"
"Yes."
Xiaosuo was a bit confused, turning to ask the Shop Assistant:"Didn't you pay the membership fee this year?"
The Shop Assistant was also puzzled:"I did, but it was thirty percent less than last year."
"Thirty percent less? Why?"
"I don't know."
Old Huang spat again and said:"I heard that the day before yesterday, Constable Leader Qian Banshi was transferred to Mountain Chicken County and promoted to Head Constable."
"Qian Banshi was transferred? So he no longer oversees this area?"
"You could say that."
"No wonder he collected thirty percent less membership fee, he must have known he'd be promoted halfway through the year. It's going to be troublesome from now on."
Xiaosuo tapped his forehead with his fingers, sighing repeatedly.
The Shop Assistant was very dissatisfied:"We paid the membership fee, shouldn't the Glory Association help us?"
Xiaosuo smiled wryly:"You're mistaken. The Glory Association isn't yours or mine, it's Qian Banshi's. Now that Qian Banshi is gone, the Glory Association naturally has no meaning."
"Exactly."
Old Huang chimed in.
"The day before yesterday, when Qian Banshi was transferred, the new Constable Leader took office and disbanded the Glory Association."
The young Shop Assistant, full of anger, cursed:"We paid the membership fee to Qian Banshi! Even though he's been promoted, if they demolish our shop, they'll offend Qian Banshi, and he won't let it slide!"
Old Huang looked at the young Shop Assistant, shook his head, and didn't answer.
Xiaosuo, considering the Shop Assistant a friend, decided to clear things up for him.
"Assistant, how much membership fee do we pay Qian Banshi each year?"
"A few hundred copper coins."
"How much does he collect in total?"
"I heard it's a few hundred taels of silver."
"Exactly, so the little we pay only covers us until he leaves. He needs to take care of the big-paying shops."
Xiaosuo patted the Shop Assistant's shoulder, offering comfort.
"Demolishing our shop would offend Qian Banshi? You're overestimating us. Even if this whole street were demolished except for the Ma Family Cloth Shop, Qian Banshi wouldn't say a word."
"But... why doesn't the new Constable Leader set up his own Glory Association? We're willing to pay the membership fee..."
Seeing the Shop Assistant's grievance, Xiaosuo felt a bit sorry.
"Assistant, the new Constable Leader's priority isn't collecting money, but stabilizing his subordinates' morale. He has to feed them first to smoothly accomplish his own tasks."
Then he glanced at a new shop being renovated not far away.
"Bao Hui has had his eye on our shop for a long time, hinting several times for us to transfer it to him. If we hadn't paid the membership fee, our shop would have been smashed long ago. It seems that dog got lucky."
Hearing this, the Shop Assistant understood the intricacies and fell silent.
At this moment, Old Huang suddenly clapped and laughed.
"I was worried that you were too young and immature, that a good opportunity would turn into a bad one. Now I'm relieved, young master, you're truly a hidden gem!"
Xiaosuo was taken aback.
Young master?
Old Huang continued: "Young master, I have great news for you, your father is gone!"
Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan