Hectic Life With My Companions

Chapter 2 Starting Now

     “Hey, stop right there! You scumbag!! Thief!!!”
     A lady screamed as she chased after a muddy looking boy who was running with her newly bought hairpin.
     The boy kept running and dodging past people who tried to stop him cause of the woman chasing behind him
     As he kept running, he thought to himself ‘Doesn't this miss get tired, why is she still freaking chasing me! This won't do, I have to escape her somehow’
     He saw a nearby clothing shop and ran into it. The lady saw him enter and hurried in after him but surprisingly when she entered, she couldn't spot his dirty clothing at all or his muddy hair.
     She was puzzled and decided to ask one of the young boys attending to customers “Excuse me, please have you seen a muddy boy about this height enter this shop?”
     The young man excused himself from the customer he was attending to and replied her politely “Young miss, no one such as that as stepped foot into this establishment today”
     The lady stomped her foot in anger and mumbled to herself “That bastard peasant got away! I must find him somehow, I'll go report this to big brother”
     The young man was terrified by the sudden burst of anger and asked carefully “Young miss, am sorry, did I offend you? You can take your anger on me. It isn't good for a beautiful young miss such as you to stomp your foot against the hard wooden floor. You might hurt yourself, do be careful”
     The lady blushed and said “You're pretty good with words, young man. You're also very dashing”
     The young man smiled shyly “Young miss, you're praising me too much. Oh right, you said you wanted to report something to your big brother, what is it if I may ask? Maybe I could be of help to you”

     The lady scoffed “It was just a stupid peasant who snatched my hairpin right before I even paid for it so I had to pay for the stolen hairpin since the seller wouldn't let me go thinking I wanted to rip him off
     When I finally paid the seller, I searched for the boy and saw him when he was about to steal something for someone again so I screamed ah thief then he ran and I ran after him. We kept running until I saw him enter this shop buh now that I have confirmed from you, he is truly not here”
     The young man held his chin and nodded “I think I have heard cases like this before, pickpocketing is very common around here, there are a lot of rascals here who snatch things from noble people like yourself and it is truly not good thing”
     The lady snapped her fingers “You're absolutely right, young man”
     The young man then asked again “So your big brother that you wanted to report to is?”
     The lady said proudly “My big brother... wait why should I even tell you? We're strangers!”
     The young man replied “Young miss, I just want to help, see I know someone in the Municipal Bureau who could help you investigate and get your valuable hairpin back, I just cannot bear seeing a young lady such as yourself in distress”
     The lady smiled and said “Well, no need to trouble yourself with that, my brother is also a municipal bureau officer and he is second in command, he can find out in a snap. Well I must be going now thank you for the hospitality, I will definitely patronize this shop of yours next time”
     The young man bowed “Thank you young miss, please come back soon”
     The lady proudly left

     After making sure that the lady had truly left, the young man sighed and thought ‘That crazy bitch thought she could catch me but was actually completely fooled by me, what a duffus. Go on, go report to your brother. I'll just have to avoid him, hahaha’
     The young man strolled calmly out of the shop while the hairpin in his hand and heading for the pawn shop
     When he arrived, as usual, it was totally empty. Not many people liked pawning off their stuff unless they were truly poor or being chased by loansharks
     But actually, this young man was neither of these two types as he only stole to sell for money to get somewhere as for where that is, it shall be made known later
     The young man knocked on the little window beside the always locked door then someone opened the window and said “Oh, not surprising, Long'er is here again with some very valuable goods I suppose”
     Tang Xilong raised his sleeve and brought the hairpin he took from that lady and a few other stuff he stole then asked with a raised eyebrow “Would these suffice? And you better not think of cheating me like the way you cheat your other customers”
     The middle aged man's eyes kept shining with greed as the value of the things Tang Xilong brought to his shop was higher than the last so he cleared his throat “Well, I have carefully appraised it and your money is one platinum coins”
     Tang Xilong stared at him with suspicion “Laozi, are you sick? These things are definitely not up to even fifty gold coins, okay I get that the hairpin and jade bottle are a bit expensive but altogether they are not up to fifty so what the heck are you giving me a freaking platinum coin for??”
     Gong Panzi sighed “The time for the entrance competition into the three sects is drawing closer and I know that you have been saving money from stealing so you could afford a ship to go the Banggu Island which is in the middle of the ocean and as it is very far from here also is the main place for the entrance competitions for everyone who wants to enter one of the sects, the ship to take you there is naturally expensive”
     Tang Xilong sneered “Let me guess, the cost is a platinum coin, right?”
     Gong Panzi nodded “You're correct, boy. As you have been coming here every week since you were seven years old, it's like I have raised you cause I saw you grow from an amateur pickpocket to an expert thief. I want to at least give you something as farewell”
     Tang Xilong smirked and said “Or is it that you're afraid of the fact that I could possibly come to steal from your treasury if I realized that I don't have enough money for survival”
     Gong Panzi laughed wryly “Kid, you got me so please take the coin, I beg of you and enjoy your ride, you should leave early in case of circumstances”
     Tang Xilong leaned in and said “Laozi, don't you have any special artefact to give me to aid me on my journey or something?”
     Gong Panzi slapped his head in surprise “That's right, I do have something I specially kept for you, wait here and I'll go get it”
     Tang Xilong grinned “Hehe, I knew it. Laozi, you're so forgetful”
     Then Gong Panzi came back with a silver bracelet and said “Here it is”
     Tang Xilong raised an eyebrow at the bracelet and said “Laozi, I know you're the most thrifty person in the world but seriously, a plain silver bracelet? That's your parting gift to me?”
     Gong Panzi almost smacked the boy's head and said “Silly boy, this was the cheapest storage space artefact I could get. For a thief like you, you can't always carry the things you take and hide them in your clothes. You need this and it has two cubic meters space, don't steal too much and don't get into too much trouble like you usually do here.
     You should know that you barely reached Body Tempering middle stage in four years of body cultivation and that is still the first level in body cultivation. There will be others who cultivate spiritual energy and those demons who cultivate demonic energy, there will also be other body cultivators who will be much stronger than you
     Most important of all, don't be sympathetic to anyone, don't befriend anyone, don't ever reveal your true emotions, don't involve yourself with the matters of others. You are not their family and always be vigilant even in your sleep, okay?”
     Tang Xilong bowed in appreciation “Although you're a stingy old man, your words are exactly my thoughts right now, I shall heed your words and repay you when I am able”
      Gong Laozi nodded “Okay okay bye, I want to go sleep now”
     Tang Xilong wore the bracelet, smiled at Gong Laozi and left
     Gong Laozi was stupefied “In all my ten years of knowing that boy, that is the first time I have seen his sincere smile... I hope he survives this competition”
     
     A few days later, Tang Xilong set off from his old home which had only him living there since he only has memories from when he was five years old.
     He had begged on the streets for two years and when he realized others didn't even bat an eyelid towards him, he resorted to pickpocketing to make a living for himself.
      The first time, he almost got caught but Laozi saved him and he brought him to his shop, fed him and told him that he should be more proper and careful when he took things.
      Laozi also told him that he would buy whatever he stole and that was how his life as a thief started.