Elixir Supplier

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

He was single and a lazy guy not keen on working. He had done quite a bit of stealing. He believed people would buy the lamb meat that looked fresh. He would sell it to the restaurant in the village to cash in. He would be too stupid not to do it. He thought it would be a win-win situation.

Yes, win-win!

This was the thought of this old bachelor.

Wang Yisheng was worried about the production of the team house. “Uncle Jianli, how come nothing has happened? I hope no one ate the lamb.”

“How could you leave the sheep outside after it had ate the rat poison?” Wang Jianli was a bit angry. The poisoned sheep could kill someone.

Wang Yisheng looked at the ground while smoking. He didn’t know what to say. After all, it was his fault.

“Hey, we have surveillance camera in the village. Shall we take a look?” the village accountant suggested.

“Good idea,” Wang Yisheng said.

They played the video and saw a few cameras around Wang Yisheng’s house. After a short while, they saw the person who took the dead sheep.

“The old bachelor,” Wang Yisheng said.

The old bachelor was Chen Jiagui. He was in his 40s and had never been married. He was known to steal and knock on widows’ doors repeatedly. He was a typical scumbag.

“I’ll go speak to him,” Wang Yisheng said.

They were from the same village, so he knew the old bachelor well. Plus, the old bachelor was notorious.

Wang Yisheng could smell the lamb as soon as he arrived outside the old bachelor’s house.

He’s already cooked the lamb meat!

He knocked on the door, but no one answered.

Where has he gone?

Wang Yisheng climbed to the top of the wall and saw the bloody bones and sheep’s skin on the ground. However, he didn’t see anybody in the house.

“Chen Jiagui,” he called out loudly.

No one answered.

“We old fellows are having a lovely day!” Chen Jiagui was riding an old bicycle and humming a happy tune on his way back from the village next door. He made $300 selling two lamb legs. He bought a box of wine and several bags of salted vegetables from the grocery shop.

He could stop eating for two days, but he couldn’t live without alcohol for a second.

I hope he is not gonna get sick after eating the lamb meat. Wang Yisheng happened to bump into Chen Jiagui on his way back.

Chen Jiagui was wearing shabby clothes and riding an old bicycle. He looked dirty. Wang Yisheng could smell alcohol on him from miles away.

“Chen Jiagui, where the hell have you been?” Wang Yisheng asked.

“It’s none of your business,” Chen Jiagui rudely said.

“Let me ask you, what did you do with the lamb meat?” Wang Yisheng asked.

“What lamb meat?” Chen Jiagui had been a scumbag for over 20 years and lied all the time.

“I saw on the CCTV footage that you took the dead sheep. Where did you get the money for alcohol? Did you sell the lamb?” Wang Yisheng asked.

He became angry as he thought about what Chen Jiagui had probably done. He stepped forward to grab Chen Jiagui’s collar.

“Which eye of yours witnessed me selling lamb?” Chen Jiagui asked.

What a scumbag! He is still denying what he did in front of evidence!

“Did you hear the broadcast?” Wang Yisheng asked.

“What broadcast?” Chen Jiagui asked.

“That sheep was sick. People could die after eating its meat,” Wang Yisheng said.

He was still terrified by the mad sheep when he thought about it. A person who ate the mad sheep could potentially become mad and die.

“What are you talking about? Do you think I’m stupid? Sheep taking rat poison would vomit black blood,” Chen Jiagui said. At least, he was pretty sure about that. All the rats that were poisoned vomited black blood. The dead rats were everywhere in the village.

“Even if someone was dead, it wouldn’t have anything to do with me,” Chen Jiagui said.

“What the…” Wang Yisheng really wanted to beat Chan Jiagui up. However, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t take the consequence of beating up the notorious scumbag in the village. Chen Jiagui would make a scene at his house every single day if he laid a finger on him. Chen Jiagui had nothing to lose as an old bachelor.

Everyone in the village knew he was an old bachelor. People tried to avoid him the best they could since he was like a sticky tape hard to get rid of. Therefore, no one wanted to argue with him.

“Who did you sell the lamb to?” Wang Yisheng asked.

“You guess,” Chen Jiagui said.

Wang Yisheng was so angry that he pushed Chen Jiagui onto the ground. “You will regret this one day!”

“Like I care,” Chen Jiagui said with contempt. He had heard these kinds of threat many times.

After Wang Yisheng arrived at home, he grabbed his motorcycle and went out again.

“Where are you going?” his wife shouted.

“Looking for the meat!” Wang Yisheng shouted back.

“What meat are you talking about?” his wife asked with confusion.

Wang Yisheng left without responding and immediately got on the road.

He had watched many detective dramas, so he began to deduce where to go. There were not many places selling lamb meat. Everyone in the village had heard the broadcast. Chen Jiagui wouldn’t be able to sell the lamb to people in this village, so he probably had sold it to one of the neighboring villages or a restaurant. Given that Chen Jiagui was a lazy guy whose only transport was an old bicycle, he wouldn’t have gone too far.

Wang Yisheng soon had his target: the restaurant in the next village next.

“Chan Jiagui? Yes, he’s been here to sell lamb. Is there any problem?” the restaurant owner asked.

“That sheep ate rat poison,” Wang Yisheng said.

“What?” The owner was shocked. “Damn! I knew that scumbag wouldn’t sell me anything from a good source. I must be dumb to have believed him. The meat hasn’t been touched.” He took out two lamb legs and a piece of lamb chop.

Since the meat looked very fresh and was the prime part of the sheep, he bought it from Chen Jiagui. He certainly didn’t expect something like would have happened. Fortunately Wang Yisheng came to him in time. Otherwise, horrible things would have happened if his customers had eaten the meat.

“It was your sheep?” the owner asked.

“Yes. It was dead, so I threw it away. Then, Chen Jiagui took it. The meat is poisoned,” Wang Yisheng said.

“That bastard,” the owner said. “Here you are.”

Wang Yisheng took the lamb home and burned it. He then buried it behind his house.

“Chen Jiagui ate the meat?” Wang Yisheng’s wife asked with surprise.

“Yes, I’ve just been to his house. The lamb soup was still warm.” Wang Yisheng became cranky when he mentioned Chen Jiagui.

“Do you think he’ll be alright?” his wife asked.

“I don’t care,” Wang Yisheng said.

“What are you talking about? If he dies, we would be responsible for his death,” his wife said.

“Who could tell that his problem was caused by the lamb? Plus, he cooked the meat, so I don’t think there will be an issue,” Wang Yilong said.

In a shabby courtyard of a house, which hadn’t had any maintenance for years, a man in his 40s was sitting at the corner of the courtyard. He looked dirty. He sat in front of a square broken table with two corners missing. In front of him was a bottle of wine, a bag of spicy sliced vegetable, and a bag of preserved vegetable.

“I have wine today! I get drunk… Ah… Pretty girl, please don’t go!” Chen Jiagui was humming a tune half drunk. “Ah-oh!”

He was lazy and absolutely useless. His mother died because she was so upset with him. None of his relatives wanted to have anything to do with him. He had been on his own all the time.

“Aye!” He sighed. He loosened his clothes, which he hadn’t washed for ages. His chest was exposed to the cold spring air.

Suddenly, he felt hot and dizzy.

A shadow of person appeared in front of him. She was humpbacked. Her face was full of wrinkles. Her hair was all white.

“Son, can you try to change yourself? I’ve gone. Find someone to look after you,” the shadow said.

“Seriously? You’ve been dead for years. You are still trying to educate me?” Chen Jiagui shook his hand since he didn’t give a damn.

He continued to drink his wine.

…

Di-Di-Da! The radio was suddenly turned on.

What is that?

Chen Zhou looked at the radio in his hand.

“Haha!” Chen Ying shook her head and smiled.

The old radio used to belong to the landlord of the house they rented. It looked ancient. Chen Zhou saw it the other day and suddenly wanted to fix it. He took a whole day repairing the radio, which eventually started to make sounds belonging to the stone age.

Creak! Creak!

Then, even the creak sound had gone.

“Nothing else?” Chen Zhou wondered.

“Alright, it’s an ancient object. All the parts of it are too old to be fixed,” Chen Ying said.

“I like listening to the radio. There are a big variety of programs on the radio. It’s better than TV,” Chen Zhou said.

“I can buy you one in the afternoon,” Chen Ying said.