A Mortal’s Immortal Gourd
Chapter 23: The Shocking Turn of the Huang Family

When Ergouzi returned to Shexi Village, the first thing he did was wander near his uncle’s house, looking for Xiao'e.

He didn’t want to go inside and face his aunt’s sour face again, so he could only wait outside.

Fortunately, he didn’t wait long before he ran into Xiao'e.

“Xiao'e, look! I bought you some nice things!”

The two squatted in a quiet corner against the wall, and Ergouzi took out the pair of hairpins.

“Wow! So pretty!”

“Are these for me?”

Xiao'e clearly liked the hairpins. Her dimples showed as she smiled.

“Of course they’re for you. I don’t need them.”

Xiao'e took the hairpins and didn’t even bother with a mirror—she just stuck them into her hair and gave her head a little shake, looking very pleased.

“There’s more, look!”

Ergouzi then started showing off his treasures one by one—sugar-coated hawthorns, malt candy, osmanthus rice cakes.

At first, Xiao'e was thrilled. Her eyes sparkled at the sight of so many treats.

But soon she seemed to realize that all of this must have cost a lot.

“Brother Gouzi, don’t buy so much next time. What if you run out of money and go hungry?”

“Just yesterday, Santouzi from the west end of the village died of starvation. He was too lazy and had no food left.”

Xiao'e reluctantly rewrapped the osmanthus rice cakes.

“You should return these. They don’t taste good.”

Her tone was firm, but she couldn’t help sneaking a lick at the crumbs on the corner of her mouth.

“Don’t worry, Xiao'e. I won’t be going hungry anymore.”

Ergouzi stuffed all the treats into her arms.

“Old Huang already sold me the land at Shekou Mountain, and he’s letting me pay it off slowly.”

“Really?”

Xiao'e’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Of course it’s true.”

“My big brother always wanted that land, but I heard Old Huang refused to sell no matter what. I can’t believe he agreed to sell it to you.”

Now it was Ergouzi’s turn to be surprised.

“Your family already has dozens of acres of good farmland. Why would your brother want that barren mountain?”

“Hee hee… You probably don’t know, but my brother recently bought more land. Now we have over a hundred acres of good farmland.”

As the two chatted away idly, the front door of the uncle’s house creaked open.

Ergouzi immediately shrank back. He didn’t want to run into anyone from that household.

A government officer was the first to step out, followed by Zhang Youliang, who was seeing him off.

The two exchanged a few words at the door before the officer left.

“Why was a constable at your house?”

Ergouzi was curious. Common folks usually avoided officials like the plague. No one wanted to deal with them.

“That was Constable Wang, a friend of my brother. He came to arrest someone in the village and stopped by to catch up.”

“Arrest someone? Who messed with the authorities?”

Shexi Village was so far from the county that it took a full day to make the trip. Unless it was something serious, the county office wouldn’t get involved.

Usually, the local gentry and bailiffs would settle things among themselves. No need to bother the magistrate.

Like the time Bald Wang stole Deaf Li’s wife. The gentry fined Bald Wang a sheng of grain and dunked the woman in a pig cage.

Everyone praised the gentry for being fair and just.

The day they dunked her, the entire village went to the river to watch. It was livelier than the Lantern Festival.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you.”

“Old Huang’s eldest son killed someone. The victim’s family went to the county yamen to file a complaint.”

Xiao'e remembered the big news in the village and added the detail.

“Something happened at Old Huang’s place? I have to go check. I still owe him hundreds of taels of silver.”

As he spoke, Ergouzi stood up and ran toward Huang Laocai’s house.

The constables had already left, but the entrance was still crowded with tenant farmers watching the scene and gossiping, though none dared to go inside.

Ergouzi pushed through the crowd and entered.

The house was a mess. Boxes and cabinets overturned, clothes and belongings scattered all over the floor.

The second daughter sat crying at the doorway, with footprints on her clothes.

Old Huang sat on a stone, his eyes lifeless, letting the women in the house wail and sob.

This was exactly why common folks feared constables the most.

When they came to arrest someone, they didn’t just take the person and leave. They made the long trip worthwhile by looting anything of value.

So villagers often used “the constables are coming” to scare kids into silence.

“Master Huang!”

Old Huang didn’t respond at first, but after a while, his eyes slowly came back to focus.

“Ergou… sob…”

Like a child, Old Huang suddenly threw his arms around Ergouzi and broke down crying.

“Don’t worry, Master Huang. We’ll figure something out.”

“I still owe you 800 taels. I came today to pay back some of it.”

With the constables’ raid, there probably wasn’t anything valuable left in the house.

Ergouzi’s money might help in a pinch.

When Old Huang heard he came to repay debt, he seemed a bit shaken and gradually calmed down.

“Do you want me to figure out a way to pay back the whole 800 taels early?”

Thinking that he could sell more Strength Pills and quickly gather the money, Ergouzi offered.

“No!”

“Absolutely not!”

Surprisingly, even in this state, Old Huang was still stubborn.

“Let’s stick to the original agreement—40 taels a year, 20 years to pay it off.”

“We’ll go to the yamen tomorrow and get the official stamp.”

Normally, land sales among civilians needed to be stamped at the county office to be officially recognized.

Since Old Huang insisted, Ergouzi didn’t push it and handed over 40 taels of silver on the spot.

“I need money to handle things at the yamen tomorrow anyway.”

They agreed to leave in the morning, and Ergouzi returned to his Shekou Mountain.

Back on the mountain, the two big geese and their goslings surrounded him, begging for feed.

He had been feeding the geese spirit-rich forage, so they’d grown strong and healthy.

Not long ago, they laid eggs and hatched goslings.

Ergouzi enlarged the gourd and poured out some feed into the trough.

The geese immediately crowded around and began gobbling it down.

After feeding them, he watered all the crops on the mountain, then worked through the night making Strength Pills.

This batch sold for over 200 taels of silver per dan—he was really seeing profits now.

He planned to use the 200 dan of grain in the gourd to make more Strength Pills.

After working nearly all night, he only made one dou of pills.

Early the next morning, Ergouzi went with Old Huang to the county office.

At the gate, Old Huang bowed low, plastered a flattering smile on his face, and offered two pouches of loose silver.

The gatekeepers took the silver with cold faces, weighed it in their hands, and slipped it into their sleeves.

“Go on in.”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

Old Huang bowed repeatedly like they had done him a huge favor.

At every stop, he kept smiling, bowing, and offering silver.

Even when people inside mocked or insulted him, he responded only with more smiles.

Ergouzi silently followed, watching Old Huang hand out silver 16 times and say “thank you” 106 times before they finally saw Huang Fugui in the dungeon.

In just one day, Huang Fugui’s leg was broken, cheeks swollen, and blood at the corner of his mouth—he had clearly suffered.

“Son!”

“Dad!”

“Dad, I didn’t kill anyone! I just pushed that beggar…”

Old Huang hadn’t known the details until now. Hearing Huang Fugui’s account, something felt off.

That day at a wonton stall, a beggar spat yellow pus into his bowl.

Furious, Huang Fugui yelled and pushed the beggar down.

The beggar laughed, got up, and ate the wontons anyway.

Then Huang Fugui left.

Now, the beggar’s family was accusing him of murder.

Normally, no one cared if a beggar or two died.

They saw several frozen dead beggars just on their way here.

Even ordinary villagers who killed each other in brawls wouldn’t face legal trouble unless someone reported it to the county.

But now, because of one beggar, Constable Wang led a team through wind and snow to arrest someone.

“Dad! I’m innocent! Get me out of here! I can’t take it! They beat me, won’t feed me, and even forced me to drink p*ss…”

Old Huang spoke many kind words and gave the jailers silver.

The warden, after accepting the bribe, promised to give Huang Fugui two meals a day.

After visiting the jail, Old Huang and Ergouzi finally handled the paperwork for Shekou Mountain.

It was a simple procedure, but still required smiles and three silver bribes.

At the county yamen, you couldn’t get anything done without greasing palms.

Ergouzi held the deed stamped with the county seal. From today on, he was officially the owner of Shekou Mountain.

But the land required an annual tax of 20 dan of grain.

That was for barren land. Once cultivated, the tax would increase.

On the way back, Old Huang stayed silent.

“Master Huang, if you’re short on money, I have some I can lend you.”

Ergouzi noticed that Old Huang had already spent 20 to 30 taels just for the jail visit.

It would take much more to bribe his son out.

Old Huang gave a bitter smile.

“Don’t call me ‘Master’ anymore. I’m your father’s peer. If you respect me, just call me Uncle Huang.”

“No need for a loan. If you have spare silver, I can sell you the fields at the foot of Shekou Mountain too.”

“Why?”

Old Huang used to value land more than his own life.

Land meant roots and the hope of rebuilding.

“Our Huang family’s foundation, built over generations, probably won’t survive.”

“If I had known this would happen, I should’ve sold everything to support Fugui in studying martial arts and earning a title.”

Old Huang sighed, looking up at the sky. Though once the richest man in Shexi Village, he was still as insignificant as an ant before the authorities—his home destroyed by just a few constables.

“Ergou, when you make enough money, don’t hesitate to spend it on martial training and getting a title. Book learning is useless. A Martial Xiucai outranks a scholarly one any day.”

He deeply regretted it now.

Everyone knew martial training was costly. You needed not just enough to eat, but meat, eggs, and even expensive supplements.

One Peiyuan Gutben Pill cost as much as six or seven dan of grain.

Even as Shexi Village’s richest man, he couldn’t afford that long-term.