Chapter 58: The Growing Demon

Chen Fengshi’s master was not actually like this, and also often scolded his master’s wife, but unfortunately his master could not control her… They were too embarrassed to say anything to the master’s wife either, as a master’s order cannot be defied—what difference was there between the master’s wife’s order and the master’s?

As a result, the senior brothers and sisters who originally came to help on weekends found excuses one by one to stop coming. When they occasionally came back to visit the master, they all picked Monday to Thursday, knowing that his wife was busy on those days and unlikely to go to the martial arts hall. As for phone calls, they went unanswered and unreturned in all sorts of ways.

As a result, the martial arts hall was always short-handed, and Chen Fengshi had been acting as the senior brother to teach the junior brothers and sisters for four years. The business of the martial arts hall was not particularly good, so the hired coaches rarely stayed for long.

Chen Fengshi had originally promised his master to help out mostly out of affection, thinking that he would spend some time helping his master properly, and once he started another job, he probably would not have much time to help anymore.

However now, the practical problem in his stomach decided that he could still only go and help occasionally, because the salary paid by the martial arts hall was already very low. Before, he could not care, but now he had to consider the cruel reality that it was not even enough for food.

The food and drinks were quickly served. When Chen Fengshi saw the wine, he thought of Juzi, but so far he had not received any message from her. He had sent her a message after leaving the hotel, but there was still no reply. This made him feel a little uneasy. Although her encounter with the Fungal Demon informant last night was accidental, he was still worried. He felt that this was perhaps what they called being too concerned to think straight.

Skinny drank happily. His alcohol capacity was not much better than Chen Fengshi’s, yet he drained every single cup, shouting how great it felt.

“Damn, this is totally the feeling of being a rich guy! Awesome! I wish I could down a whole bottle in one breath. Oh, wait a sec, I’m going to take a picture and post it on Moments. Such a great chance to show off absolutely cannot be missed!” Skinny took out his phone and started taking pictures. Choosing a selfie angle, he held up his cup and also captured the four bottles of Maotai lined up on the table. When posting to Moments, he even added a caption saying that the food at Xuanxuan Hotel was passable, and the wine was genuine.

After Skinny finished posting, seeing that Big Guy was not joining in, he could not help but urge: “Come on, come on, you two show some affection, and I’ll conveniently get the wine in the picture too.”

Xiao Fei happily agreed, although half of it was to share the joy.

Seeing her enthusiasm, Big Guy very cooperatively completed the display of happiness, but afterwards he sighed and said: “I am sacrificing for love! Originally I wanted to learn from Old Chen. Didn’t he say before that the information on Moments directly reveals part of your mindset, your social class, your spending power, your consumer psychology, and so on? If you’re not a super rich guy, not posting at all is the best way to show off. Xiao Fei, this is my love for you!”

“Why learn from Old Chen? He’s doing that to pursue Shen Ai, persistently practicing being deep and mysterious…” Xiao Fei felt she said the wrong thing. This was Chen Fengshi’s sore spot, wasn’t she just bringing up something that would upset him? So she picked up her wine glass, took a small guilty sip, and kicked Big Guy under the table, taking her anger out on him for steering the topic in this direction.

What could Big Guy say? He was a man. If the woman he loved took her anger out on him, then so be it. Let alone a kick, even a hundred kicks and he would have to grit his teeth and endure it!

“Drink, drink!” Skinny also immediately changed the topic, taking the lead to drink.

Chen Fengshi drank one cup and then said he would not drink anymore. Skinny and the others naturally refused to let him off, until he said he had something to do tonight, something related to money. Only then did Skinny let it go, but he took the opportunity to extort: “Then you didn’t entertain us well tonight, you have to find a chance another day for another round like this!”

“…Damn, do you really think I’m a rich guy? How many days am I going to ache over the cost of this meal!” Chen Fengshi refused. Let Skinny slaughter him like this, was that even possible?

“Cheapskate! I only slaughter you because you can afford it! Wait until you guys have time in the future to come visit my place, damn, I guarantee I’ll treat you so well you won’t want to return to Xuancheng! Can’t you be even one-tenth as generous as me?”

“Don’t brag, I might actually have time to go someday!” Chen Fengshi put the ugly words upfront, plus a little threat.

However, Skinny was not afraid. He would eat what was in front of him first, so he patted his chest loudly. Xiao Fei watched in worry that he would pat himself until he had internal bleeding. “Come anytime! My word as Skinny is here: in Xuancheng, if I can’t afford to host you, at my home, when you come—even if you come in a bus, I guarantee a complete package of food, drink, lodging, and fun all taken care of! Hey, hey, hey—we agreed, I’m not covering your shopping! That has no limit.”

Seeing Skinny being so domineering, Big Guy said: “Old Chen, there’s nothing more to say. Skinny is being so bossy, I should state my position too. I’ll cover the farewell dinner for him, at today’s standard!”

Chen Fengshi and Skinny both stared at him in disbelief.

Xiao Fei was not surprised, but she gave him a sidelong glance and said: “Are you just going to squander the starting funds your parents gave you for graduation?”

“Hey! Are Old Chen and Skinny outsiders?” Big Guy was quite able to maintain his manly spirit at this moment. Xiao Fei still felt it was too wasteful in her heart, but it was not good to say anything more. She knew Big Guy cared about face and valued friendship, and since the words were already out of his mouth, he was absolutely determined. To object further would just be a pointless argument.

“Since both of you are so incredibly generous, fine, let’s make a date another day and have another meal.” Since it was a collective expense, it would be meaningless if he backed out now.

Skinny curiously pressed Big Guy: “Didn’t you guys already find jobs? Why did your parents give you money as starting funds for starting a life?”

“Did you think it’s for starting a business? I’m not cut out for that! Aren’t Xiao Fei and I getting ready to get married? The marital home is already there, and it’s close to where we work, so we moved in together right after graduation. My parents gave us two hundred thousand as starting funds for life, saying that since we’re starting a family, it wouldn’t be good to have to ask them for money every time we decide to buy something.” Big Guy did not hide it and said directly, making Skinny full of envy, jealousy, and hate. “I… I’m starting to doubt my life!”

Chen Fengshi also said directly: “Getting married early is great, I hate that I don’t have such luck!”

Chatting about everything under the sun, rambling, eating, drinking, and talking among friends is in itself a joy in life. Chen Fengshi felt that there might not be many more opportunities for this kind of spiritual enjoyment in the future. Clothes are best when new, but friends are best when old. How many chances would there be for old friends to gather in the future?

Big Guy and his wife would probably have many, but with Skinny, probably not many.

Chen Fengshi ate and drank happily. The meal lasted for over two hours, and afterwards they sang and drank in the private room. The four of them, who hardly knew how to play, even had a sudden urge to sit around a table and play mahjong for a while.

It was Skinny’s suggestion, with plenty of reasons. “It’s rare to act like a rich guy once, wouldn’t it be a pity to leave so soon? We should hang out as long as we can, I even want to sleep in here tonight!”

Chen Fengshi was speechless, but this was Skinny’s style: if you don’t take advantage of a good deal, you’re an idiot…

Chen Fengshi was very happy, but at this time Little An was incredibly busy and stressed. After some consideration, she finally changed to a long-term phone card, and then dialed the number of the President of the Mutual Aid Association.

‘Love is not something you can just buy, wanting to buy it doesn’t mean you can…’ the ringtone blared on the quiet, empty little beach.

Black, wearing a black bikini, sat on the beach, letting the sea breeze blow. Her long hair sometimes fluttered in the sea breeze, and sometimes fell down.

Hearing the phone ring, she stood up and walked toward a cluster of tents on the beach behind her. In the tent belonging to the President of the Mutual Aid Association, she found the ringing phone.

On the screen, the caller ID name was: Goddess Shen An.

Black did not answer. She checked the messages and call logs, and there were no special traces, just content arranging to meet and chat, and all from quite a long time ago.

She scrolled through the contacts and found that the names in the contact list were very distinctive. Most of the men were labeled Rival So-and-so, Goddess So-and-so, Beauty-level So-and-so, and so on…

“A President with a brain full of women?” Black glanced at the figure lying quietly in the tent, whose original appearance was already indistinguishable, who had become skin and bones just like Juzi, and had fallen into an abnormally deep sleep.

Yes, her efficiency was just that high.

After leaving Juzi’s house in the early hours, she was very satisfied with the hotpot flavor Juzi had prepared. So before leaving, she used Juzi’s computer to log into her Q and sent a message to Juzi’s mother: ‘Mom, save me!’

And before she left, she had already used Juzi’s phone to arrange a seaside gathering with the President of the Mutual Aid Association to welcome the new friend. To arouse the President’s enthusiasm, Black even found an excuse to record a short video showing off her hot body.

Then she texted the President with Juzi’s phone for a long time, praising him until his confidence doubled and his ego doubled. He practically felt that this shy, face-hiding new beauty partner already had a strong fondness for him just through the information on Moments, and was full of admiration for his leadership ability and sense of responsibility as the President.

As a result, to show off his ability, the President immediately organized this seaside gathering, taking only three hours. To prove his organizational skills, he paid for all the expenses out of his own pocket. Among those who hurried to attend, almost all had made time. Since they were giving face to the President, and even more so giving face to Juzi, more than half of them were people who had chatted well with Juzi in the past, and even had private connections.

Before lunch even started, Black made her move. Taking advantage of the moment when these people were changing clothes in their tents, she went over one by one, knocking each out with a single hand chop. After they were all down, she absorbed their Power of Life one by one.

She had no interest in dragging it out, nor any interest in waiting, because in the Association’s group chat, she had already seen that among the rest who did not come, very few would be willing to join the gathering. They were all people who did not want to interact too much with their peers, were extremely cautious, and feared attracting the attention of the Fungal Demon.

And by the next time, the people who came today would likely be too lazy to waste time and break their promises, so the number might not be as high as today.

She was already checking the messages on the phone, looking for possibilities to use them to lure out other people who possessed the Power of Life.

She had not even looked at the President’s phone yet when the ringtone sounded.

Black was very disappointed to find that out of more than twenty people, there were only three opportunities to use them to lure out other companions!

The worst part was that the lunch the President had prepared was all sorts of junk. Not only was it cheap, but it was also all sweet-tasting! This felt terrible, so Black dug a hole and buried the sleeping President in it.

“Go to hell, you scumbag! You think you can play me with this kind of stuff? Am I that cheap? Am I?” After covering him with sand, Black still did not feel her hatred was relieved, so she stomped hard on the sand, saying as she stomped: “For looking down on me! For being sleazy! For being unwilling to spend money! Go to hell, go to hell…”

The sea breeze rose and fell from time to time.

This beach was remote and desolate, which was originally why the Mutual Aid Association specifically chose it as a gathering place.

Therefore, what happened here was, for a time, known to no one…