Chapter 27 - 27: Recognizing Talents with Wisdom
Su Changyu ultimately couldn’t make it.
Within just seven or eight days, Su Changyu gave out and died.
When his body was brought back, Li Fan went to take a look.
Nothing but a tangle of mangled flesh was left, utterly devoid of human form and extremely horrifying to behold.
The flesh would even twitch inexplicably at times, which sent shivers running down people’s spines.
The newcomers from the otherworld couldn’t even gather enough money to buy a plot of land for a grave.
Originally, they planned to bury him at sea. However, Li Fan took pity and offered some of his money, thus allowing Su Changyu to be laid to his final rest.
Everyone was heartbroken.
Among them all, Xiao Heng cried the hardest.
Li Fan didn’t particularly feel anything, he was just a bit regretful.
Humbling through the dusty world of reincarnations for nearly three hundred years, Li Fan had developed his own ways of reading people.
In his view, Su Changyu handled affairs and behaved in a decent manner, and also had a strong determination. Although he wasn’t considered a rare outstanding individual, he was far from mediocre.
Among this group from the otherworld, Li Fan thought he was the most likely to make a name for himself.
Such a person died quietly without even passing the initial requirement of purification for Cultivation.
The path of Immortality is tough!
Li Fan felt even more sentimental.
And this sentiment deepened even further during his subsequent cultivation of the “The Mysterious Yellow Heart-Purifying Mantra”.
Reality proved that Li Fan was not a person of exceptional talent.
Over the span of nearly a month, Li Fan led a secluded life, only going out to take on a job to avoid suspicion. At other times, he stayed at home, practicing the Heart-Clearing Mantra.
Generally, after half a month’s cultivation, one would witness obvious improvements such as an improved spirit, faster thought process and others.
But a month had passed and Li Fan didn’t feel any changes at all.
Li Fan guessed that it was probably because his spiritual strength had already far exceeded that of an ordinary person after experiencing multiple cycles of Reincarnation and centuries of tempering by [Real] , causing the Heart-Clearing Mantra to exert less effect on him.
Li Fan didn’t rush though, he simply treated it as a daily cultivation task.
Another half a month passed like this, and the person from Tianbao Building finally arrived.
Li Fan followed the messenger and met Manager Zhao in a courtyard at his own home in Tianbao Building.
“Greetings, Manager Zhao, it’s been a long time.” Li Fan greeted, putting his hands together in salutation.
“Do you realize, I only have two to spare? My own men are short of them. Why should I give one to you?”
“The voyage of a ship is simply for profit. I wonder, what does Manager Zhao think of the profits from catching Liuli Fishes compared to finding treasure directly from sunken ships at the bottom of the sea?” Li Fan said with a slight smile.
Not seeming to think Li Fan was bragging, Manager Zhao pondered seriously for a moment: “I’ve also heard about the ship that unexpectedly harvested more than ten boxes of jewels earlier. After the government’s calculation, the harvest was worth several regular voyages for catching fish. However, such a good thing can’t happen every time, I’ve been on this island for more than a decade, and I remember only a very few times when there were such large gains. ”
He paused, and then continued: “From what you just said, it seems you…”
Li Fan nodded: “If I were to take charge of a ship, I can guarantee that every voyage will bring back a certain amount of treasure.”
A strange light flashed in Manager Zhao’s eyes as he stared at Li Fan for a few moments before exclaiming: “You’re not lying.”
Now it was Li Fan’s turn to be surprised: “It’s true that I wasn’t bragging, but how did Manager Zhao figure it out?”
Manager Zhao chuckled: “1 was born with a pair of strange eyes that can recognize talents and distinguish truth from falsehood. Just now, when you spoke, I saw a soft white glow around you, indicating that you weren’t lying and had no ulterior motives. If there were flashes of dark energy, it would show that you had an ulterior motive.”
“Is there really such a peculiar skill?” Li Fan was instantaneously surprised. “On the day of naturalization, Manager Zhao’s attitude towards me seemed slightly different from others. What did you see actually?”
“I can only see a rough idea, not everything. I saw that you have immense wealth and your hands are stained with much blood. It’s obvious that you’re not an ordinary person. That’s why I was polite to you.” Manager Zhao smiled wryly as he explained. “The will of Heaven is unpredictable, and who knows what kind of achievements a person like you could achieve in the future? It’s better to forge a good relationship with you in advance.”
Li Fan nodded, but then he heard Manager Zhao sigh: “In recent years, there have been frequent disasters, and there are many people like you, very wealthy, but stranded on our Liuli Island. Some people merely hibernate for a few years and then rise again; others become indistinguishable from the masses, vanishing into obscurity.”
Listening to Manager Zhao, Li Fan suddenly thought of something: “In that case, you realized that what Sun Zhang of Tianbao Building said on our naturalization day was untrue?
“True or false, what does it matter? Sometimes it’s not a good thing to be too serious. My responsibility is just to make sure there are no subversive elements on the island. Regardless of where you came from, as long as you stay law-abiding, you will not be troubled,” Manager Zhao said indifferently. “There is an Immortal Teacher presiding over the island, so there’s no need to fear any chaos. ”
“Moreover, gathering refugees is also the Immortal Teacher’s command. Sun Zhang has brought so many ‘refugees’ to my Liuli Island, how could I find fault with him?”
As Li Fan listened, he began to grasp the principles by which Manager Zhao conducted his affairs.
Thus, the conversation between the two returned to the topic of the sea voyage.
“Since Manager Zhao can see that I’m not lying, would you consider the quota for the sea voyage?” asked Li Fan.
Manager Zhao tapped his fingers lightly on the table a few times before finally saying: “You’re new here, have no foundation, and suddenly handing the ship’s crew over to you would definitely cause much dissatisfaction.”
“How about this, you can come along on the next voyage. If you really can bring back treasure on everv vovaze, then after a few times, the crew will
surely be convinced by you. Then, you can rightfully take over the crew.”
“Even if your gains are substantial enough, I may speak to the lord and snatch another crew from Mr. Qian to give to you. It won’t be impossible.” “Manager Zhao’s consideration is thorough.” Li Fan had no objections.
And so, the matter was surprisingly settled easily.
The details of the conversation were unknown to Tianbao Building, but when they learned that Li Fan had easily persuaded Manager Zhao and obtained a spot for the next voyage, they were shocked.
“Could it be that old man wasn’t bluffing, and he really has the confidence to take over a ship?” In Tianbao Building, a woman in a yellow dress rested her chin on her hand, her eyes sparkling.
“I wonder what he’s relying on?” Sun Zhang was extremely puzzled. No matter how he looked at Li Fan, he was nothing more than an ordinary middle-aged man.
“Send him the deed to the empty small courtyard on East Street in the city.” The woman in yellow suddenly said.
“What?” Sun Zhang took a moment to react..