Chapter 289: Lil Thing accomplishes great deeds (1/2)
Chapter 289: Lil Thing accomplishes great deeds
Just as Lil Thing was gingerly tiptoeing his way to the entrance, someone suddenly cried out, “There’s a rat! A rat!”
Fortunately, Lil Thing didn’t understand human speech, or else it would’ve kept creeping forward. It wasn’t a rat, after all. As it was, the sound of the voice made Lil Thing look up in time to see a large man take off his shoe to hit him with it! Lil Thing quickly darted out of the way, allowing the man to see him more clearly.
“It’s not a rat, but a squirrel!”
Behind him, another man was starting to take off his shoe. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a rat (老鼠 laoshu) or a squirrel (松鼠 songshu). We can’t allow any types of shu (鼠) inside!”
The high-class Medical Materials Association and other, more ordinary medicine shops both held grudges against two types of pests: insects and shu (鼠). Both species of animals were capable of ruining medicinal ingredients by eating them. If the ingredients were just for personal use, one could still salvage a portion. But when it came to ingredients for sale, tampered goods would drive the price down or even make it impossible to sell. Thus, all places that sold medicine used precautions against shu and insects.
The first man allowed the other to shout as he stared at Lil Thing, who had hidden itself in a corner of the wall out of desperation. It stared back at him as well.
“This is a white squirrel. It’s tiny, but it doesn’t look like a baby!” the man said, outlining Lil Thing’s difference from other squirrels.
“Are you sure you didn’t make a mistake? How could there be white squirrels?” the younger man behind him ran forward for a look, and immediately retracted his words. “It really is a squirrel.”
“Let’s catch it first,” the first man said, signaling with his eyes for them to surround the animal. Thus, they surrounded Lil Thing on both sides, each wielding a shoe. Lil Thing’s round black eyes darted back and forth between them before it suddenly leaped up into the air. Both men reacted at the same time, trying to grab it with their hands. But Lil Thing pushed off from the wall to land on top of the door, causing the two men to knock into each other.
“Yowch!” What a painful hit! Both men were bewildered by Lil Thing’s jumping skills.
“This little plaything’s pretty interesting!”
“Catch it first, it’ll be big trouble if it gets inside.”
Lil Thing was having so much fun that it completely forgot how it’d been exposed. It crouched atop the door and started hopping around as it chittered. Both the older and younger men were surprised, but they didn’t have time to bother with the details. Once again, they pounced at Lil Thing and shouted, “Someone come, there’s a shu trying to get inside! Stop it!”
Lil Thing waited until they were almost upon him before jumping up again, causing the two guards to topple into a pile in front of the door.
“Cheechee! Cheechee!” Lil Thing leaped down in a straight line to land on the older man’s head, before dashing over to his younger companion in amusement. It was entertaining itself at their expense. It had been ages since it’d fooled around like this. It could still remember how it used to hop around everyday when its old master had been alive. Now that the Poison Sect was gone and its old owner dead, it’d finally found a new master with effort. But all it could do was obediently hide away. It knew that there were tons of people in the world after itself, so it couldn’t implicate its new master. Lil Thing got sentimental easily, so when it thought this far, it stopped hopping around to sit on the man’s face, its head tilted to one side in sadness.
At the same time, a large crowd had gathered around the Medical Materials Association to marvel at the sight of Lil Thing.
“I’ve never seen a white squirrel before!”
“It’s so small, too cute.”
“Is this squirrel for sale? After you guys catch it, just sell it to me, alright?”
… …
Between all the chatter, Lil Thing was still deep in thought. It had no idea that the man was about to reach out and grab it, much less that the other guards were standing by with rat nets to wait for their chance. Very soon, the leader swiped his hand down, signaling two large nets to drop on top of Lil Thing’s head!
“Cheee…!” Lil Thing cried out shrilly. It wanted to escape, but it was already too late. The guard retrieved the net with Lil Thing and all before lifting it up. Now everyone crowded in to look even more closely at Lil Thing.
“Aiya, it’s too cute. Where did it come from?”
“There aren’t any species of squirrel like this one, right? Did someone dye its fur?”
“How much are you selling it for? Name a price!”
“I’ll buy it, I’ll buy it! I’ll buy it no matter how much it is!”
… …
All of the people who could buy ingredients at the Medical Materials Association were wealthy types. They could throw away money like dirt without blinking an eye. In their world, they never had to fear not having enough money, but not having enough things to buy instead. It was rare to see such a unique squirrel, so everyone started speaking up until they begin to argue.
Lil Thing wasn’t afraid. It was actually very easy for it to escape. It stared with wide eyes at the people around it, wondering why their ears and faces were so red. What were they arguing about?
When the guards saw the situation, they exchanged glances before one spoke up, “Everyone quiet down, quiet down. How’s this? You can all compete for prices, with the highest bidder winning.”
In any case, it was a team effort that had captured the squirrel. The animal didn’t belong to the Medical Materials Association either, so they might as well take advantage of these rich people before the head guard was alerted! When Lil Thing saw everyone suddenly quiet down, its eyes started darting back and forth in bewilderment. What was going on now?