When Chen Lin heard Zhang Shan's question and was about to ask who Ding Yushi was, information about the woman suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Ding Yushi was a female martial student who trained at the same martial arts school as Chen Lin, and the object of the previous owner's long-standing secret crush.
A few months before the martial exam, the woman had suddenly begun acting warmly toward the previous owner, making him believe for a time that she had feelings for him as well.
Delighted, he had spent plenty of time tangled up with her, wasting much of the time he should have spent training.
After he failed the martial exam, the woman had never appeared again.
After carefully recalling the previous owner's memories from before the martial exam, Chen Lin strongly suspected that the person who had drugged him before the exam was, nine times out of ten, this woman.
The reason for his suspicion was the man at Ding Yushi's side—Duan Xingze.
As the two strongest martial students of the new generation at Lieyang Martial Arts School,
Chen Lin and Duan Xingze might not have been mortal enemies, but they were still like fire and water.
Whenever they met, sparks practically flew through the air.
And in their struggle for Lieyang Martial Arts School's sole upper academy slot,
they had clashed openly and covertly more than once.
Because Duan Xingze was weaker than Chen Lin, he had always been the one to suffer losses.
This had caused Duan Xingze to develop immense resentment toward Chen Lin.
Given Chen Lin's strength, even if he could not enter Nanqing Martial Academy's upper academy, getting into the middle academy would have been more than easy.
Yet in the first match of the selection tournament, the drugged Chen Lin had encountered a Duan Xingze who had been lying in wait, ready to strike.
During the match, Chen Lin's physical condition left him unable to withstand Duan Xingze's relentless onslaught. He was severely injured and fell unconscious, losing his chance to take part in the later matches.
As a result, he had failed to enter even Nanqing Martial Academy's lower academy.
Although Chen Lin had no direct evidence that Duan Xingze was the mastermind who had ordered someone to drug him, he followed the principle that whoever profited was the culprit.
In Chen Lin's eyes, Duan Xingze was the most suspicious.
Without Chen Lin competing against him, the upper academy qualification issued by Nanqing Martial Academy to Lieyang Martial Arts School had practically become something already in Duan Xingze's pocket.
And when he considered Ding Yushi's drastically different attitude toward the previous owner before and after the martial exam, along with her intimate behavior with Duan Xingze now, Chen Lin became even more certain that Duan Xingze was the mastermind.
"A Lin, why are you spacing out? Did you and Ding Yushi really have a falling-out?" Zhang Shan looked at Chen Lin's expressionless face and cautiously asked.
Chen Hongbo, who was driving the donkey cart, also unconsciously eased the motion of his whip.
"There's nothing between her and me. We're just ordinary friends," Chen Lin explained expressionlessly, then fell silent.
But inwardly, he reminded himself, Women are calamities. I need to learn my lesson from now on. I can't let myself be played again.
"Well, well, isn't this Lieyang Martial Arts School's genius martial student, Chen Lin? Tsk, tsk. What a pity. Before long, you'll be nothing more than a mud-legged peasant working like an ox or horse. Hahaha!"
Riding a tall horse, Duan Xingze looked down at Chen Lin and mocked him loudly.
"You son of a bitch, what the hell are you talking about?" Zhang Shan flew into a rage at once.
"Isn't it true? He's already eighteen this year, isn't he? The martial academy won't accept nineteen-year-old martial students. If he can't enter the academy, then for the rest of his life, he'll only be able to toil like an ox and horse, scratching out a living from the dirt! Just thinking about that scene makes me feel incredible."
Duan Xingze felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment at being able to humiliate his former rival as he pleased and personally ruin his rival's life.
"You—"
Zhang Shan was about to curse again when Chen Lin raised a hand to stop him.
"A Shan, don't bother with him. There's no need to argue with a mad dog." Chen Lin glanced at Duan Xingze and calmly advised Zhang Shan. Then, with an even expression, he questioned the silent Ding Yushi, "Did you drug my food before I took the martial exam?"
At Chen Lin's accusation, a trace of panic flashed through Ding Yushi's eyes. Then, her face flushed with shame and anger as she retorted, "Chen Lin, don't spit blood at people! I, Ding Yushi, have always acted openly and honorably. How could I be that kind of petty villain?"
"Yushi, it's already been a month since the martial exam. What is there to worry about with someone destined to become a mud-legged peasant? What's done is done. What can he do to you? He has no evidence anyway, so what are you afraid of?"
Duan Xingze brazenly admitted his wrongdoing without the slightest attempt to conceal it.
He was desperately eager to see Chen Lin's reaction after learning the truth.
So it was exactly as I thought, Chen Lin said inwardly.
Exposed in public by Duan Xingze, a flash of annoyance crossed Ding Yushi's eyes. Yet she did not dare complain at all, forcing down her discomfort as she coquettishly said, "Xingze! Why did you have to expose me? Now you've made me lose so much face!"
Chen Hongbo, who had remained silent beside them, learned that the culprits behind his son's martial exam failure were actually these two. He immediately roared in fury, "You... how could you do this? How did my son offend you for you to harm him like this? You... you're simply beasts!"
"Hahaha! Curse, then! Go on, curse to your heart's content! This young master loves watching you mud-legged peasants rage in helpless fury. Seeing you so enraged and exasperated yet utterly unable to do anything to me makes me feel much better."
Duan Xingze did not care about Chen Hongbo's furious curses in the slightest. Instead, his expression grew even more manic as he wantonly mocked them.
"A Lin, let me go! Even if I can't beat this bastard, I'll fight him to the death! This is too much bullying!" Zhang Shan struggled relentlessly, trying to break free of Chen Lin's restraint.
"Don't do anything pointless. Sooner or later, I'll settle this score with him. Believe me, that day won't be far off." Chen Lin's face was cold and grim as he tried to comfort him. He did not want anyone else to be hurt because of his affairs.
He would avenge the previous owner himself!
Pointing at Chen Lin, Duan Xingze said to Ding Yushi with a face full of contempt, "Look, Yushi, did you hear that? A man about to become a mud-legged peasant is actually spouting wild boasts, saying he'll settle accounts with me someday. Isn't that laughable?"
"Xingze, let's go! The celebration banquet Qunxing Tower is holding for you is about to begin. If we don't leave now, we'll delay the auspicious hour!" Ding Yushi reminded him bashfully.
The last shred of conscience she had left made her afraid to keep facing Chen Lin.
"Hahaha! You're right! We can't let these mud-legged peasants delay this young master's important business!"
Duan Xingze laughed loudly. After giving Chen Lin a contemptuous look, the two of them rode their horses toward the distance at full speed.
A flash of coldness passed through Chen Lin's eyes, while an indescribable emotion continued to grow within his heart.
As a city bordering East Yan and the Demonic Beast Territory, Nanqing City was divided into inner and outer cities, with six main streets separating it into sixteen wards.
Chen Lin's home was in Willow Leaf Alley, Huailiu Ward, in the Outer City.
Around a dozen households lived in the alley. The relatively well-maintained two-story courtyard at its entrance was his home.
However, his family was not the only household living in that small courtyard. Two other branches of the Chen Lineage lived there as well.
Back when Chen Lin had been tested and found to possess talent for martial arts, the Chen Clan Patriarch had specifically allocated part of this residence to Chen Lin's family so that he could train without worry.
If Chen Lin had entered Nanqing Martial Academy's upper academy, this residence would most likely have been awarded to him outright as a reward.
But with Chen Lin's failure in this martial exam, let alone receiving the deed to this residence, if he could not become a member of the War God Temple or obtain the status of a Demon Slayer Envoy within the next month,
then his entire family would have to move out of this residence and head to a mountain estate in the suburbs, where there was not the slightest guarantee of safety, to labor bitterly.
Such things were far from rare in the memories Chen Lin had inherited.
Any family in the city with even a little influence operated this way.
All those who failed the martial exam, unless they could repay every bit of the silver subsidized by the Lineage along with the interest in one payment, would all have to sell themselves to repay their debts.
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