The rich begger

Zhao Feng was slowly trodding through the forest. He had a stick in his hands which head picked up from somewhere which he was using to support himself. He found out that his body had not recovered completely and he needed help walking.

He was not walking for long when he heard noises of people. They were speaking the same language as his place on earth, he could make out some familiar words but couldn't hear them clearly due to the distance.

He quickly put on the best smile he could on his face and ran to the place where the noise was coming from. When he got closer he could see a group of four men, who were talking among themselves. it appeared as they too were going out of the forest, but they had come from another direction. He quickly stopped when he got closer.

The four men looked like hunters or adventures one would see in stories they had leather armor and bows and 2 were even carrying a sword. The reason he stopped was that the men wore a sad and disappointed expression on their faces, clearly, they did not have a good day and he didn't want to approach them without a plan.

He looked in his money pouch and picked out a small rock which had a cool sensation to touch, this was the smallest and dullest one inside and must be the lowest form of currency here, he taught as the rest were gold and silver and some shiny jewels. He wanted to be able to hold their interest without inviting their greed.

After picking out the 'bait' he bent down and picked up a fist full of normal rocks from the forest floor and put it inside his pouch. He kept doing that until no more rocks could fill the bag. he kept the small rock on top and closed the pouch.

Now showtime. He ruffled his hair some more and smeared dirt on his face to make it look more miserable than he was now. He took a deep breath to steady himself and screamed loudly and jumped behind the group.

He taught that they would turn around and he would make them think he was a beggar and then use his wit to scam them, like all the legendary protagonists. But all he got was nothing, they completely ignored him and proceeded on, as if nothing had happened.

He ran after them and went to the front of the group and started screaming and laughing again. Still, they continued on as if they had not seen him. He couldn't understand what was happening and started doing all sorts of actions and foolery, at one point he just lost himself and started hurling curses at them, still nothing, it was as though he didn't exist.

He felt like punching and hitting them to get their attention but decided against it as he looked at their weapons. So he resigned to his fate, disappointed that he couldn't put the scheme he had come up with to practice. He quietly went to the back and followed them with his head down in sorrow.

Following them for some time and listening to their conversation he learned that they were from a nearby village and they had come here to hunt, but unlucky they lost a companion and they had to return empty-handed. They also talked about their personal life which he decided to let out the other ear as he was sure that they were small fries and he would have no further interaction with them.

The only other thing he learned was the name of the forest which was called a 'river of life and death' for some reason. He would like to see the idiot who named the forest a river. Soon they were out of the forest and all the four men let out an audible sigh, he had not noticed it before but all of them were on their guard and only relaxed after exiting the forest.

He followed them for some more distance, but he felt a need to turn back, and as he did, his jaw dropped. He finally understood why someone would call this forest a river. The blue mist had settled at the bottom and in the moonlight, it really looked like a calm river. The mist slowly twisting and turning had a magical quality. He would have been fully charmed by the scene were it not for the fact that he still clearly remembered the stuff he went through inside.

He shook his head and turned back to follow the men, while he was looking at the forest they had already reached some distance so he had to run to catch up behind them. After walking for just five minutes they came across a town gate, it was a wooden one and had no guards.

He passed through and went inside the town. The town was completely silent as there were no people around since it was nighttime. He parted from tailing the four men and began wandering about.

He came in front of a small wooden building which had a signboard which identified it as an inn. It was closed so he knocked on the door and called out. "Boss come out you have got a customer here. Boss.." He kept on knocking and calling until he could hear movement inside. He could hear footsteps coming closer and it finally stopped in front of the door.

"Who's there? I'm here stop knocking"

Zhao Feng stopped his hand which was still beating on the door and the door opened. He saw an old man with an amicable expression open the door, but his expression quickly changed to one of furry. Before Zhao Feng could react the man started rushing forward and nearly collided with Zhao Feng if the latter hadn't moved aside quickly.

The old man looked around and started raining curses. "Who is disturbing this old man at night, come out now" he looked around and started cursing again, As for Zhao Feng he had been ignored again.

Zhao Feng walked up to the old man put his hand on his shoulder, previously he had been too scared to touch the four armed men. the old man shivered and looked at where a hand had touched his shoulder. Thinking he had finally found the prankster he was prepared to let one loose, but the face that greeted him truly scare him and he let out a scream.

What he saw was a face covered with blood and dirt and the hair was all over his face, coupled with the night it would not be an exaggeration to call it stuff from nightmares.

Zhao Feng was also taken aback by the old man's reaction that he got startled and fell back on his butt. The old man came to his sense quickly when he saw the ghostly figure which scared him fall on his butt, after all, how often have you heard of a ghost or monster being scared of a humans screams that it fell back. The old man took a deep breath and started examining the figure before him.

With each passing second, the old man's breath became quicker and his face turned red. The man on the ground was clearly a beggar. Dressed in rags and covered in dirt and filth he could be one of the many beggars one could find on the street.

He walked up to Zhao Feng and started hurling cures at him. He wanted to kick him to but stopped seeing how dirty the latter was. "Get out you dirty beggar, and don't come back".

Zhao Feng wanted to quickly explain himself, as he too was surprised at how the old men couldn't see him at first but could suddenly see him once he touched the former's shoulder. He wanted to say to the old man that he was here for a room but was not given a chance.

Zhao Feng quickly shot up and opened his pouch and took out the small stone he had selected earlier and pointed it at the old man and said."If you let me stay ill pay you with this".

The stone to him was like an ordinary stone but slightly special due to its slight glow. He felt like it would be the lowest form of currency here, and even if the old man didn't agree there was still silver and gold in his pouch, but he felt it wouldn't come to that as 'how much can a stay in a shabby old in cost'' if this was not enough he would perhaps give 2 or 3 more pieces.

But the old man's reaction upon seeing the stone left him completely flabbergasted. The old man's cheeks which had become red from anger earlier had already become redder and his breathing also became more rapid, his eyes had the look of a pervert who had seen a naked woman.

This creeped out Zhao Feng and he wanted to run away, But the old mad Quickly caught Zhao Feng's hand and kept his eyes on the stone as a disgusting smile blossomed on his face. "Respected sir you can stay as long as you like here, this humble one would be at your service".

Zhao Feng really wanted to run away but the old man's grip was really tight and he couldn't escape. He knew that he had really messed up when he saw the old man's expression, he had grossly underestimated the value of the small stone, it was clearly one of the most expensive things on him.

Zhao Feng was already very tired from his ordeals and really didn't have enough energy to care anymore about how he would be overpaying for everything, so he decided to take advantage of everything he could from the old man.

"Prepare a bath and meals for me and the best room." he let go of the small stone which quickly disappeared into the old man's hand. The old man then proceeded to lead Zhao Feng into the inn.