Risk Investment

Risk Investment

The moment morning sunlight streamed through the window the next day, Xia Fan woke up.

Without the jolting of a carriage or bothersome mosquitoes, he had slept exceptionally well. The fatigue from his previous journey had vanished without a trace.

Even the Fox Demon from last night felt like a dream—

Wait!

Xia Fan leaped out of bed, jumped onto the battered wooden table, and craned his head out the window.

Then the corners of his mouth curled upward.

The dish on the windowsill was completely empty.

So it had not been an illusion.

Since it had taken the braised beef, did that mean it had accepted the agreement?

All at once, he found himself looking forward to tonight.

After putting on his outer robe and briefly washing up by the well in the back courtyard, Xia Fan went to the main hall and spent two silver coins on a serving of steamed corn bread.

It was not that he was wasteful. Ever since he had gained Qi Awakening and Qi Guidance, his appetite had grown enormously. His body had not grown much, but the amount he ate had multiplied several times over. As long as he did not eat his fill for one meal, his bodily functions and Qi Guidance efficiency would noticeably decline.

The same was true for other Fangshi.

Xia Fan attributed it to the conservation of energy always revealing itself in strange ways somewhere or other.

"Good morning, Brother Xia!"

Someone suddenly called out from behind him.

Even without turning around, he knew who it was.

Sure enough, Wei Wushuang's familiar face soon appeared before him. "You don't mind if I sit beside you, do you?"

"Not at all." Xia Fan blinked. It seemed this fellow townsman had not taken his stealing the beef to heart.

Along with Wei Wushuang came a heaping plate of breakfast. Besides corn bread, there was rice porridge, tofu pudding, and pan-fried flatbread.

Xia Fan finally understood where that slightly pudgy build of his came from—given a Fangshi's expenditure, gaining weight was truly no easy feat.

"Brother Xia, you were right. I thought about it all night, and I've made up my mind," Wei Wushuang said seriously instead of immediately digging in.

"Made up your mind about what?"

"A post at the Bureau of Military Affairs... doesn't suit me." He paused. "I'm not saying eliminating evil for the people and protecting peace in a region is bad. But whenever I think about possibly facing terrifying Evil Spirits and demons, I can't even eat..."

"Hmm???" Xia Fan glanced at the lavish breakfast spread across the table... Then what exactly was this?

"Taking the examination was only because my father forced me. I never made the corresponding resolve. Even if I pass, the outcome probably won't be any good. So during the Scholar Examination, I plan to stay in a teahouse or inn until the assessment ends." As he spoke, Wei Wushuang's tone grew lighter and lighter. "I won't need to contend with anyone, nor will I need to run out in the dead of night to dig up ghost-fire graveyards. As long as I hold on until the last day, I'll have something to tell my father when I return. Of course, without your guidance, Brother Xia, I could never have made up my mind so quickly. Even if you see me as a coward, I still wanted to thank you in person—"

"A coward? I never said that." Xia Fan cut him off with a smile. "On the contrary, your courage is far from lacking."

"Brother Xia, you don't need to comfort me..."

"I'm not comforting you. In my view, the courage needed to be honest with yourself is no less than the courage needed to face Evil Spirits head-on. Quitting has nothing to do with courage. It's simply that compared to becoming a low-ranking Fangshi in some remote place, being a rich family's son has a brighter future."

Wei Wushuang stared at him for a long while before letting out a soft laugh. "To be honest, not many people think like you do. Once one is recruited by the Bureau of Military Affairs, even the lowest Fangshi is still an official, while a merchant is ultimately just a merchant. Yet I feel that what you said is not without reason."

As if a weight had been lifted from his heart, he picked up a flatbread and took a huge bite. "Brother Xia, if you don't pass the examination, come find me at Dawan Grain Shop. I said I'd treat you to a proper meal."

Xia Fan rolled his eyes. "Shouldn't you be wishing me smooth sailing at a time like this?"

"I want to, but this assessment is nowhere near as simple as it looks." Wei Wushuang spoke as he ate. "Yesterday, someone already asked around and got a general picture of Qingshan Town. There really is a ghost-fire site there, but its scale is pitifully small. Ordinarily, if hundreds of candidates are all expected to collect a full bottle of Spirit Fire, there should at least be a mass graveyard. But I heard that place only has a few dozen scattered grave mounds."

"That's far too few..." Xia Fan said in surprise.

"Indeed. Even if every grave produced Spirit Fire, it would only be enough for around a hundred people. If this continues, conflict will be unavoidable." His fellow townsman sighed. "Perhaps that is the examiners' true intention. Unless you fight others for it, don't even dream of obtaining the qualifications to pass. It's simply far too unfair to those who aren't from great families..."

"Besides that, the cost of food and lodging for seven days is also a constraint. Though I imagine you noticed this long ago, you started with only half the funds of others. If you fail, it won't be because of insufficient ability, so don't force yourself."

"True." Xia Fan admitted frankly. "I had originally planned to settle the matter in three days, but now three days doesn't seem safe. If the information you heard is correct, this struggle may very well last until the very last moment of the examination."

"Unfortunately, I can't help you any further."

Wei Wushuang did not hide or evade the matter. Their relationship was still shallow, after all. Gratitude was one thing, but he could not possibly risk sleeping outdoors and save his money so that Xia Fan could complete the examination. That sort of self-sacrificing generosity was beyond him.

"It's fine. Your willingness to share information with me is repayment enough." And that braised beef too, Xia Fan thought. "If it had been yesterday, I truly would have had no good solution. But today, there may not be no hope."

"You have a way to raise money?" the other asked in surprise.

"More or less." Xia Fan nodded. "By the way, did you have a nightmare last night?"

"A nightmare?" Wei Wushuang scooped up a mouthful of tofu pudding. "No memory of one... I hardly ever dream."

Xia Fan's expression froze, and suddenly he felt uncertain. "Uh, then let me put it another way. Suppose you had a nightmare, dreamed of a blood-red moon and monsters covering the ground. Would you be afraid?"

Wei Wushuang thought for a moment. "Of course I would! That is a scene found only in Purgatory, isn't it? If I were in such a place, I'd probably be frightened unconscious on the spot."

No way... Was it that exaggerated? Xia Fan stared blankly. "But it's only a dream..."

"Dreams are very important omens," he said seriously. "Though I do not dream much, I know that dreams are extensions of consciousness. This is even more so for those who practice Qi Guidance. You must never take the revelations of dreams lightly."

So that was it... Xia Fan suddenly understood.

This was a world where consciousness could affect matter, which meant dreams were no longer merely ordinary deep activity of the Brain. Measuring dreams purely by how frightening they were was like using old common sense to consider a new problem—it was nothing but marking a boat to seek a sword.

"Then that's good." He smiled in relief. "I only wanted to give it a try before, but after hearing you say that, I think success is basically in the bag."

"Really?" Wei Wushuang set down the flatbread in his hand. "Can you let me see it? Oh, I'm not trying to take advantage of you. I'm just extremely curious—"

Xia Fan pointed behind him. "Come with me. While it's still early."

Qingshan Town, before the suspension bridge connecting the mountains to the outside.

Xia Fan waited for a candidate carrying a pack and hurrying along.

"Brother, please wait." He stepped forward and cupped his hands. "I am Xia Fan, a candidate from Fenghua County."

The other man gave him a suspicious look and slowly stopped. "Chu, from You Province."

"A pleasure!" Xia Fan glanced back at the suspension bridge behind him and said with feigned regret, "Once you cross this bridge, you'll have failed this Scholar Examination."

Perhaps he had struck a sore spot, for the man's expression immediately darkened. "What does that have to do with you?"

"I have no intention of mocking you, nor do I wish to ask why you are leaving." Xia Fan spoke gently. "The reason I waited here is simply because I wish to form a connection with you."

"Get to the point."

"I hope you can lend me the money you have left unused, and lend me a hand."

"Are you insane?" the man said incredulously. "Why should I help you?"

"If I pass the Scholar Examination, I will certainly repay you tenfold in the future." Xia Fan completely ignored the mockery in his words, as though he had not heard it. "Even if I fail, I will repay the portion I borrowed. This promissory note will serve as proof. What do you think?"

As he spoke, he took a sheet of Drafting Paper from his pocket—this palm-sized paper was originally used to make Talismans, but he had now written it into an IOU.

The other examined him for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Do you think you're some Luo Family prodigy? If you can pass—heh, what can you use to guarantee that?"

"The Scholar Examination's pass rate is not low."

"But it won't be your turn. Move aside!"

Xia Fan stepped to one side and made a gesture of invitation.

The candidate surnamed Chu glared at him, then strode onto the suspension bridge without looking back. "Since we happened to meet, I'll offer you a warning too. Something is not right about this place. If you don't have a couple of tricks up your sleeve, you'd better leave early, lest you lose your life!"

"Uh... Brother Xia, is this what you meant by a method?" Once he had gone far away, Wei Wushuang emerged from behind the tree where he had been hiding, his face filled with bewilderment.

"That's right." Xia Fan's expression did not change.

"Borrowing money in Qingshan Town... I'm afraid that will be rather difficult."

"This isn't 'borrowing money.'" He narrowed his eyes and looked into the distance. "Keep hiding. Someone else is coming!"

Wei Wushuang could only duck back behind the tree.

The second and third candidates were no different.

But the fourth brought a different result.

He took Xia Fan's IOU and handed five taels of silver to him.

Then came the seventh, and the tenth.

Watching all this secretly from behind the tree, Wei Wushuang was dumbfounded. He could not understand why anyone would lend money to Xia Fan based solely on a single meeting. What he understood even less was how, on only the second day of the examination, Xia Fan could wait at the suspension bridge and find so many people giving up on the examination!

How did he know these people were leaving Qingshan Town??

By the time the thirty-sixth person arrived, the situation changed again.

"Sorry, you're too late." The man spread his hands. "The Fei Clan bought my money, medicine pack, and Drafting Paper. Now, other than two sets of clothes, I have nothing on me."

"Bought them? What did they use?"

"Gold." The man answered bluntly. "They said that as long as I hand the receipt to the servants waiting outside town, I can immediately exchange it for an equivalent amount in gold leaves."

"Is that so? Then I wish you a smooth journey home."

After bidding the man farewell, Xia Fan called toward Wei Wushuang's hiding place, "Come out. We can return to town now."

"You're not waiting any longer?" the latter asked, poking his head out.

"Mm. There's no point in waiting any longer. The candidates who cross the bridge next are probably all penniless, just like that man." Xia Fan looked up at the sky. "They reacted in less than an hour... As expected of children from great families."

"I don't understand." Wei Wushuang jogged over, unable to wait any longer.

Xia Fan cheerfully weighed the slightly heavy money pouch in his hand. "You can ask."

"You said this wasn't borrowing money. Then what was it?"

"This?" Xia Fan smiled faintly. "This is called venture capital."