Su Jingyang unsurprisingly harvested another wave of positive energy from Ling Li. He occasionally did good deeds these days, but the positive energy from them basically wasn't even a fraction of Ling Li's. Therefore, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that most of the energy he had collected as of the moment had come from Ling Li.

After absorbing positive energy that day, he found that a progress bar vaguely appeared in front of him! It showed that the energy progress was... 0.0001%? ? ? ?

This heart-piercing number made Su Jingyang feel as if blood was stuck in his throat, "It's better to not let me see!"

The system said:

"I'll kill you, dog stuff!!" Su Jingyang gritted his teeth and said angrily.

After he was inexplicably brought into this world, he met Ling Li and lived with him till now. In fact, he has gradually gotten used to his circumstances and even became numb to what happened every five days. But his biggest wish was still to return to his own world. After all, that was the place he truly considered home, he grew up there and had a sense of belonging in his heart.

Although he also knew that hope had always been very slim, he wouldn't give up. Sooner or later, he would leave this world!

The system ridiculed him again by saying that idiots really didn't know how high the sky was. Su Jingyang wasn't in the mood and had no time to quarrel with it. He arranged Ling Li's matters properly, cleaned up, and went out on his own.

Of course he wouldn't be rest assured on leaving a wounded person at home, not to mention that there was still Ah-Xuan there, so he went to the bookstore to ask for leave and to ask them to find someone to replace him, but when he got there he found that Liang Lu was already waiting there with his foot dangling on his leg. He sat on the place where Su Jingyang usually lounged and drank tea, he fully presented the image of wealth and leisure.

Before Su Jingyang could ask for leave, Liang Lu looked at his slightly pale complexion and asked him if he was uncomfortable.

Su Jingyang said, "I don't have much to say..."

Liang Lu was still playing with the folding fan in his hands. He waved his hand and interrupted Su Jingyang’s denial, "If you do, don’t be stubborn. Where are your injuries from catching that thief? Go to the doctor if you feel uncomfortable. Come back again after a few days when you're done resting."

"Really? Then who'll collect the money..."

"That's easy." Liang Lu said, "I'm here in person anyway, I'm really way too leisurely these days."

Seeing that he was serious and didn't look like he was joking, Su Jingyang looked at him suspiciously, "Really?"

"Naturally it's true, why would I fool you." Liang Lu sat upright and smiled at him, "You go rest for a few days, and I'll stay here for a few days."

"Just about two days is enough, you can directly deduct my wages..." It may have been because Su Jingyang didn't sleep well that night, his dull brain only realized that something was wrong now, "Wait, wait! What you said just now, what do you mean I caught the theif? How did you know?"

As soon as Su Jingyang's words fell, Liang Lu laughed again, "You really have such a slow reaction."

Liang Lu stretched out his hand and gave him a folded bill between his index finger and middle finger, motioning him to take it. Su Jingyang took it and unfolded it, his eyes almost fell out of their sockets; it was actually five silver bills, each worth one hundred taels!

In this era, five hundred taels was a relatively generous sum, equivalent to approximately 20 years of wages in this bookstore! It was simply a huge sum of money!

Seeing him so stunned, Liang Lu knocked his forehead with the fan handle. He hummed and said, "You said you're not stupid. When you caught the thief, you didn't claim the bounty. When asked where you lived, you didn't say anything. Why? Do want to be a good nameless person? When I took your portrait to apply for the ID card, an officer recognized you, they came to me and asked me to transfer the money to you. Oh, yes, they gave me this silver. I don’t think you can spend so much in a short while so I deposited it for you, it'll be much more convenient for you to collect it."

It turned out to be like this! Su Jingyang held the silver bills and suddenly his whole body felt as light as a petal.

The reason why he didn't tell those people where he lived yesterday was because he didn't feel comfortable taking the money. Moreover, he had heard that the bounty was a few taels of silver at most, but he didn't expect that there would actually be so much.

Hearing from Liang Lu, it turned out that the garbage had killed many children and had been wanted for a long time now. He was a felon. The bounty had been raised again and again. That's was why there was such an obscene amount.

Not only was Su Jingyang not excited when he got the silver taels, he also frowned. Liang Lu couldn't bear it and said, "Hey, hey, what are you thinking about? If you have money, don’t take it for nothing! Even if you didn’t catch him yourself, you still have a share, right! Do you still want to return that?"

The officers were all so persevering in sending it over. Su Jingyang didn't even think about sending it back. He raised his face to look at Liang Lu, "I'm just thinking, I actually like holding silver coins more, not bills."

A boss like Liang Lu probably couldn’t understand his want to experience the feeling of being a nouveau riche. Sure enough, Liang Lu’s mouth twitched twice and he finally said helplessly: "Let’s go, let’s go, I'll go through all the trouble, give it to me and I'll redeem it for you."

Su Jingyang put the bills in his arms and carefully collected it, "Forget it, I'll run the errand myself."

Then he turned around and left in strides. Liang Lu tilted his body, staring intently at Su Jingyang's leaving back. He forgot that he was still fanning himself and hit his face a few times. As a result, his aura chilled rapidly and he threw the fan aside with a sullen expression. Just then, someone came over to check out a book, so he really took over for Su Jingyang's work and got busy.

On his way home, Su Jingyang was about to go to a restaurant to take some food as lunch and dinner. A slightly familiar figure slowly broke into his sight, heading in his direction. Even if you couldn't see his face, that slender and tall figure would still stand out in the streets.

Wasn't that the young man in black who saved Ah-Xuan's from the poisonous pervert?

Su Jingyang's body reacted faster than his brain, and he immediately speeded up his pace to move forward, "——Young Hero!"

The young man in black seemed to be in a bad mood, frowning and looking a little irritable. After being stopped by Su Jingyang, he raised his eyes and looked at Su Jingyang unpleasantly, "It's you? What's the matter?"

Regardless of his apparent impatience, Su Jingyang took out the bills he had just received and explained to him in the shortest possible terms. After understanding the cause and effect of the matter, he motioned to him to take the five hundred taels of silver.

The young man in black raised his eyebrows and looked at him unexpectedly. Seeing Su Jingyang's eyes wide open and full of sincerity, he folded his arms and didn't take it, but his tone suddenly became more much polite, "No need, you keep it. Take it and buy more longevity fruit to eat."

"Oh, okay." Su Jingyang immediately took it back after hearing the words. What kind of fruit was longevity fruit? Would you live longer if you eat it?

The young black-clothed man stared at his movements with dark and deep eyes, the corners of his mouth raised, he looked at his face and said, "It seems that you were just waiting for me to say this?"

Su Jingyang said: "Since you don't want it, I can't force you." His dark eyes looked at the young man who was taller than himself, and his smile became a bit mischievous: "After all, I'm a stupid person. I should clearly know the boundaries between being pushy and polite¹."

The young man in black looked at Su Jingyang quietly, he pursed his lips and spoke in a low voice after a moment of silence: "It seems you know your condition quite clearly, not entirely hopeless after all."

"......Farewell!" Pooh.

Su Jingyang didn't look back, but after walking a long way, he felt that there was a strong gaze behind him staring at him. It was impossible to ignore, Su Jingyang glanced behind him and saw that young man was still standing there. Su Jingyang felt a little unsettled in his heart, he speeded up his pace and ran away.

He was about to leave after buying the food in the restaurant and carrying the food box, but he still returned because he couldn't help asking the young servant² what a longevity fruit was.

The young servant told him with a very good attitude that the longevity fruit was a kind of nut that nourished the brain.

"..." Fuck.

Su Jingyang left in anger. Didn't he just mistake him for the thief? He had also apologized, how could he hold such a grudge at a young age! Hateful! There was no charming and chivalrous demeanor at all!

Su Jingyang hurried back home and found that Ling Li had listened to his instructions and was lying halfway down to rest, while Ah-Xuan was lying on his side by the cabinet, pulling out all the clothes inside and throwing them on the ground. Su Jingyang walked over and hugged him, "Little guy, are you looking for gold?"

Ling Li said with a headache: "He's looking for candy to eat." Ever since Su Jingyang gave Ah-Xuan candy once, he had been obsessed with the sweet taste and had to eat one every day, but he was still young and Ling Li couldn't indulge him. He hadn't dared to feed him more and hid it in the cabinet, and now Ah-Xuan had learned to look for it inside the cabinet by himself.

Ah-Xuan arched his arms twice while being held by Su Jingyang, he suddenly poked his head in the direction outside the hall. He licked his fingers and began to drool, he smelled the scent of the food that Su Jingyang had brought back.

Su Jingyang refused to let Ling Li stand up and directly brought the food to the room to eat together. After eating, Su Jingyang talked with Ling Li for a while. Ling Li soon fell asleep again, and Su Jingyang took Ah-Xuan to the yard to bask in the sun.

Ah-Xuan couldn't sit still, he took a handful of millet and began to chase the chickens in the yard. These chickens were bought and raised by Su Jingyang. There were five in total, those randomly chased by Ah-Xuan flapped their wings to evade.

Su Jingyang sat on a pony sack, eating pumpkin seeds and watching Ah-Xuan while secretly planning something. Suddenly, there was a lot of movement from next door on their right.

Su Jingyang couldn't help but freeze for a moment. He stood up and walked out of the yard. He walked around at the door connecting them to the next door, only to discover that someone was coming to clean and repair the house, and some people were constantly moving new furniture and objects in orderly arrangement, coming in and out. The battlefield there was quite big.

A middle-aged duo who once lived next door was one of the initiators of spreading rumors about Ling Li. Two years ago, his son built a house in Jincheng and gave the house to acquaintances to help sell it. However, for reasons known to all, it hasn't been sold ever since.

But now, it seems that a new owner was about to move in.

Su Jingyang turned his head and found that Ah-Xuan had also ran out and followed behind his butt, probing his head around like him. Su Jingyang saw someone inside looking at him strangely, as if he seemed suspicious of his appearance, he hurriedly showed an apologetic smile and then hugged Ah-Xuan to go inside again.

When he entered the room, Ling Li was awakened by their movements. He held his aching head, gently frowning, and sat up slowly to ask Su Jingyang what happened. Su Jingyang sat on the bed and told him.

Ling Li's eyes opened in an instant and his expression was stagnant, it was a while before he asked in disbelief, "Really... someone's moving in?"

_____

Notes:

1- Not very sure but fits with context

2- Originally Xiao Er