To be honest, Wei Changtian’s words were somewhat impulsive.
But he knew he had to do this.
Otherwise, he might never find anyone willing to fight him, and even if he did, they would probably be like Fan Hong, fawning and flattering.
Moreover, this was also a way to pressure himself.
Xiao Feng was still alive, and the threat remained.
He needed to rapidly improve his strength in the shortest possible time.
As for whether he could achieve the goal of “100 victories,” Wei Changtian wasn’t worried.
With the backing of the Wei family and the system, if he couldn’t do it, then what was the difference between him and the previous useless master? He might as well just kill himself.
Although his ultimate goal was to live a carefree life in this world, he still needed to have some ambition.
Thinking this, Wei Changtian paused, his gaze sweeping over the silent crowd below, and he asked again:
“Now, is there anyone willing to come up?”
……
“Young Master Wei, are you serious about this?”
“Give up, this is probably going to become the biggest joke in the Imperial Court.”
“50 silver taels as a reward, and it’s considered a great achievement. If it’s real, that’s too good to be true!”
“Why don’t you go up and try it out, brother?”
“I’m not going up, you go up first.”
“Heh, I’m not stupid.”
“So you think I’m stupid then?”
“No such intention.”
“I think you do! The fourth rank is currently vacant, dare you to take me on?”
“……”
It was clear that most people didn’t believe Wei Changtian’s promise.
An ordinary clerk at the Suspense Mirror Agency earned about one or two silver coins a month, plus some gray income, which could add up to another one or two.
Two silver coins a month was already a high salary in the capital city.
It was enough to guarantee a comfortable life, with meat on the table every day, and occasional visits to the Pingchang Pavilion for a drink.
The only difficulty was buying a house, but otherwise, life was already quite comfortable.
Now, Wei Changtian was offering them two years’ worth of income, which was hard to believe.
However, as the saying goes, “great rewards require great courage.”
Under the huge temptation, someone would dare to take the risk and give it a try.
“That, Lord Wei…”
A somewhat slender man in plain clothes suddenly raised his hand in the crowd, looking a bit nervous.
“May I, Shi Yue, try my luck on stage?”
Wei Changtian nodded at him: “Of course, you can!”
“Thank you, Lord…”
It was clear that the slender man was very tense, and after going on stage, he didn’t know what to say, so he simply gritted his teeth and took a stance.
“I’m Shi Yue, eighth rank, daring to ask Lord Wei for guidance.”
“I’m Wei Changtian, seventh rank.”
Wei Changtian seriously introduced himself, and similarly, took a stance with his fists up.
“Whoosh!”
“Boom! Boom!”
The two quickly engaged in a fierce battle, unlike the previous “one-hit win,” this time it was quite evenly matched.
However, this wasn’t because Wei Changtian had suddenly improved, but because Shi Yue’s level was actually not that great.
The Suspense Mirror Agency’s information collection department, where Shi Yue worked, wasn’t good at direct combat.
Moreover, Shi Yue was only eighth rank, one level below Wei Changtian.
So the two could exchange blows, which only highlighted Wei Changtian’s weakness.
From the scene, it seemed he was already on the verge of losing.
“Thud!”
Wei Changtian barely blocked Shi Yue’s elbow, taking two steps back, his arm numb.
If he weren’t one level higher than Shi Yue in internal energy, this elbow would have been impossible to block.
Breathing a sigh of relief, “close call,” he hadn’t even steadied himself when another fist suddenly appeared before his eyes.
Wei Changtian didn’t expect the punch to come so fast, and since he was distracted for half a second earlier, he couldn’t dodge in time and was hit by Shi Yue for the first time.
This one hit decided the outcome.
There was no reversal, and Wei Changtian fell to the ground.
“Lord Wei!”
Shi Yue’s face showed no joy of victory, and he immediately retracted his stance, hastily rushing over to carefully help Wei Changtian up from the ground: “Are you okay?”
“Cough! Spit!”
Wei Changtian grabbed Shi Yue’s shoulder with one hand and rubbed the spot where he was hit with the other, furrowing his brows and spitting out a mouthful of blood: “I didn’t…”
“Prince!”
A shout interrupted him.
Wang Er rushed onto the stage, his eyes fixed on Shi Yue with an unfriendly gaze.
Wei Changtian glanced at him and commanded, “Get out the silver notes.”
Wang Er hesitated for a moment before fishing out a silver note from his pocket: “Prince, for…”
“Okay.”
Wei Changtian took the silver note and placed it in Shi Yue’s disbelieving hands, patting his shoulder heavily.
“You’re Shi Yue from the Sticky Pole Agency, right? I’ll remember your name. I’ll explain the situation to my father tonight and make sure you get credited for your achievement!”
“Wei, Lord Wei, this…”
Shi Yue held the genuine “Shun Chang Bank” silver note worth fifty taels, feeling like he was dreaming, and even forgot when he got off the stage.
Several colleagues swarmed around him, some asking him to treat them to drinks, others to take them to the brothels… Even strangers were now looking at him with envy, regretting not being bold enough earlier.
Meanwhile, Wei Changtian, who had realized he wasn’t seriously injured, stood up straight again and asked loudly, “Who’s up for the second round?”
“…”
The crowd was silent for two seconds before erupting.
“I’ll go!”
“Lord Wei, look at me!!”
“Pick me, pick me!!”
“I don’t care about the money; I just want to exchange a few moves with Lord Wei!”
“…”
…
“Ouch!”
In the quiet and peaceful Wei Manor at night, only a certain candle-lit room would occasionally emit strange, agonized cries.
“Prince, does it hurt a lot…”
Qiu Yun held a medicine jar and looked worried, unsure what kind of trouble her prince had gotten into to come back with such injuries.
She had asked Yuer several times, but Wei Changtian only said he had gone to compete with someone.
She didn’t know which family’s person was bold enough to beat her prince like this.
“Plop~”
A teardrop fell, and Wei Changtian, lying on the bed, let out another pained cry.
“Damn it! Autumn Cloud, can you not cry when you’re applying the medicine?”
“It didn’t hurt that much initially, but now your tears are all over my wounds…”
“Ah?”
Qiu Yun was taken aback, her face flushing as she hastily wiped away her tears: “I’m sorry, Prince, it’s all my fault…”
Wei Changtian sighed helplessly: “It’s okay, just continue applying the medicine.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Qiu Yun suddenly let out a soft cry, and then she heard Lu Jingyao’s voice in her ear.
“Qiu Yun, you can go down now. I’ll help…apply the medicine to the prince.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
It didn’t take long for the soft touch on his back to return, and although Wei Changtian remained lying on the bed without turning his head, he knew that the person applying the medicine had changed to Lu Jingyao.
He closed his eyes and casually asked, “How did you get here?”
Lu Jingyao’s hand trembled slightly, and after a long pause, she stammered, “You… you’re my husband…”
“Aren’t we just pretending?”
Wei Changtian ruthlessly cut her off, “What? Have you come to your senses now?”
“I…”
Lu Jingyao was at a loss for how to answer this question.
She didn’t know why she was now filled with thoughts of Wei Changtian, even going so far as to take the initiative to apply medicine to the man she had once hated.
Was she trying to curry favor with him?
Although she didn’t want to admit it, the facts seemed to suggest that this was indeed the case.
Just as Lu Jingyao was in a state of extreme confusion, Wei Changtian, who had been silent for a while, seemed to have lost interest in the topic and suddenly asked, “By the way, do you want to listen to a story?”
Lu Jingyao was taken aback, “Listen… to a story?”
Wei Changtian replied seriously, “Yes, I think you’re idle at home with nothing to do, so I’ll tell you a long story. If you think it’s good, we can write it down and take it to the publishing house to make some money.”
Lu Jingyao hesitated, “Can this really work…”
“It’s worth a try. If not, we can just treat it as a way to pass the time.”
From noble mtl dot come
“Okay, I’ll listen…”
Lu Jingyao nodded, although she didn’t know why the topic had changed so quickly.
Then she listened as Wei Changtian cleared his throat and began to speak slowly:
“A long, long time ago, in a country called Ao Guo, there was a Flower Fruit Mountain by the sea, and on the mountain top, there was a magical stone…”