"Good that you know it. You being alive till now is all thanks to ."
"But if you hadn't been beaten up, they wouldn't have thought I was with you, they wouldn't have hit , I wouldn't have hit them, you wouldn't have latched onto and insisted on dragging to that ruined temple, and I wouldn't have beco a beggar."
Shi Tou: …
Shi Tou yelled, "What do you an I latched onto you and dragged you to the ruined temple? If I didn't take you there you wouldn't even have a place to sleep. If you don't be a beggar what else can you be? You expecting to walk down the street and have so rich family pick you up and take you ho to be their young master? Stop daydreaming in broad daylight."
"So by common sense, I owe my life to you." The little beggar looked at Shi Tou.
Shi Tou got smug again. "Now you're talking. From now on, whenever you get sothing good, you give half, that's how you properly repay ."
"If I could grant you one wish right now, any wish at all, as long as you make a wish to , what would you wish for?" the little beggar asked.
Shi Tou once again gave the little beggar a are-you-sick look, stared for a while, then snorted with laughter. "Hey, don't tell you heard that storyteller talk about that snail maiden or whatever, and all those pay-you-back stories and took them seriously? Make a wish? What do you think you are, a god?"
"If I really could make a wish, I'd wish to be the Emperor. Lie around all day doing nothing and people would wait on hand and foot, food and drink on demand. Black stead buns—no, white ones—I'd eat one and toss one. And that pork head at, and mutton soup, I'd eat them every day until I puked!"
The little beggar looked at Shi Tou with a you-didn't-make-a-serious-wish-at-all expression.
Shi Tou didn't notice the little beggar's look at all; as he talked he amused himself. "But that's all just talk anyway. There's no Emperor now, even if I wanted to be one I couldn't."
"Let think, if there really was a god who could let make a wish."
"I'd want parents."
"Parents?" the little beggar repeated in confusion.
"Having parents would be great." Shi Tou showed a look of longing. "Back when Gouzi still had his parents, he never worried about food or clothes, he could go to school. If soone bullied him, he'd go ho and complain to his parents, and he wouldn't get beaten up."
"His mom would sew clothes for him, take care of him when he was sick, hold him when it thundered, and coax him when he cried."
"His dad would buy him candy, buy him dough figurines, take him to the temple fair."
"If I had parents and they treated like that, that'd be enough. But I don't have a dad or mom, and ever since I can rember I never had any. I don't even know what I'm called. Gouzi at least used to have a proper na, Wang Shujin or sothing, such a tongue twister. , I didn't have a na at all. Shi Tou is a na I gave myself."
"Sa as you."
"Hey, what were you called before?"
"I told you, I don't have a na," the little beggar said calmly. "I get it now. You don't just want parents, you want parents who treat you as well as Gouzi's did."
Shi Tou snorted. "You really think you're a god. If you really were so god whose every wish cos true, I'd bang my head on the ground three tis for you right now—no, I could do thirty."
The little beggar said nothing and went with Shi Tou to look for water to drink.
Standing off to the side, Qin Huai carefully observed the little beggar's expression. His gut told him the little beggar wasn't just asking casually. After all, the kid was not soone who talked much—he hardly spoke at all.
The whole winter, if he hadn't been so hung up on why Qin Wan wanted to make Qin's Stead Bun to give away to beggars, and why she gave him a cotton-padded jacket just for him, the little beggar basically didn't talk.
Most of the ti he was like a philosopher, pondering who am I, where did I co from, and where am I going.
Once spring started, there were more places to beg from. Shi Tou, very dutifully, led the little beggar all around the city to every spot he'd scoped out the previous year as being pretty suitable for begging. In the process they got into three fights with other beggars over territory, got chased off four tis by shopkeepers and clerks from street-front shops, and in between Shi Tou also took the little beggar to take a look at the legendary Taifeng Building.
Pretty impressive. Qin Huai felt that this Taifeng Building outside the border was on par with the one in Beiping, and the plaque even looked like it was the sa one.
Taifeng Building's business was booming, custors coming in an endless stream, all high officials and nobles. When Shi Tou took the little beggar to see Taifeng Building, they only dared to look from afar, not daring to go near.
"You see that? If I can eat there just once in this lifeti, I could die happy," Shi Tou sighed.
"In this lifeti, if you can eat once inside Qin's Stead Bun Shop you could die happy, if you can eat ten sticks of candied haws you could die happy, if you can eat pork head at you could die happy, if you can drink mutton soup you could die happy—you'll have to die a lot of tis in this lifeti," the little beggar rcilessly roasted him.
Shi Tou: …
Because that day he'd acted as a coat and had money to buy Baked Buns, Shi Tou didn't take the little beggar to beg at the back door of Qin's Stead Bun Shop. Of course, that kind of good day only lasted one day. The next day the begging duo went back to begging.
Chun He was still handing out buns.
Qin Wan's successful engagent didn't make her stop doing good deeds, but because spring had started, Chun He no longer gave each little beggar two buns; she changed it to one each. The beggars also no longer got hot water to drink. Instead, Chun He would draw a bucket of well water every noon and set it by the back door; whoever wanted a drink could co ladle it themselves.
After drinking so well water, Shi Tou sincerely sighed:
"Miss Qin really is a good person. Good people get good in return—she's sure to live a long, long life!"
The little beggar didn't speak, offering no comnt.
So the begging duo went on begging for another week after spring started.
Then Shi Tou was taken in by a farming family.
The adoption experience was quite legendary. The farr ca to town to buy things; Shi Tou, with the little beggar under him, was kowtowing for alms at their usual begging spot. The farr's wife had only ant to kindly give Shi Tou a sweet potato, but when she saw his face she suddenly burst into loud sobs.
Turned out the farr's only son had drowned the year before, and Shi Tou looked about thirty percent like the farr's boy, and was about the sa age. The farr's wife insisted on taking this little beggar ho as an adopted son, and the farr agreed. Just like that, Shi Tou had parents.
Shi Tou was dazed.
At first he thought the farr was a human trafficker trying to abduct him and he yelled for help. After the farr took him to the shop he'd been dreaming of and treated him to a al of pork head at and a bowl of mutton soup, he stopped yelling. In Shi Tou's words, after a al like that, dying would be worth it; even if the man really was a human trafficker who wanted to chop him into pieces and butcher him, he'd accept it.
As for the little beggar, the farr had no intention of adopting two children.
Shi Tou used the excuse that he wanted to say a few words to his brother-in-begging. Before going back with the farr, he ran to the ruined temple, stuffed all his worldly possessions—the money left from selling the coat—into the little beggar's hands, and then gave the little beggar a solid thirty kowtows.
Not full-force banging; if he'd done thirty of those his head would have split open.
After he finished kowtowing, Shi Tou felt a bit woozy, his speech also a bit fuzzy. Even the way he looked at the little beggar had changed; with great reverence he asked, "Are you a god?"
"No," said the little beggar.
"Then you're a demon."
"Not exactly," the little beggar said. "You have parents now. I've paid you back."
Shi Tou's gaze at the little beggar was full of respect.
"Then do you… still beg? Do I have to make offerings to you every year? Is it enough if I burn incense for you, or…?"
"No need," the little beggar said. "You told your wish, and I've fulfilled it. That's enough."
"You saved , and I saved you."
"Gouzi died; you won't die."
Shi Tou didn't really understand, but sohow also felt like he understood a bit. He gave the little beggar another three solid, echoing kowtows, then left and went ho with his new parents.
Qin Huai, off to the side, was dumbfounded.
At this mont, there were only two words in Qin Huai's heart.
Holy shit.
Holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit!
What the hell is this? What kind of spirit is this little beggar? So damn aweso! A Wish System Spirit?
A Luan bird?
Is a Luan bird really this aweso?
Bro, no wonder he always has that philosopher vibe, pondering life with this nothing-in-the-world-can-touch- aura—turns out he has the backing for it.
For so reason, Qin Huai suddenly felt Shi Tou got the short end of the stick.
He hadn't wished to be Emperor.
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