An Honest Man and a Loaded Bastard

Although Shen Qian had always claimed that if he had not devoted so much energy to martial arts, his academic grades definitely would not have been bad.

That was just talk, though. Shen Qian still knew his own limits.

At least when it came to studying, his talent could only be called average.

But after reading through History of Huaxia that morning, Shen Qian was surprised to find that he had remembered seventy or eighty percent of the key points he had just read. At most, he would only need to review them a few more times before he could basically memorize everything.

His brain seemed to be working better.

As for the reason...

Shen Qian touched his chest and pulled out a pendant. Hanging from it was an irregular stone as black as ink. If he stared at it long enough, he could catch the faint glimmer that occasionally flashed and vanished.

Obsidian Spirit Stone!

Spirit stones could nurture Mental Power, but Shen Qian had only worn it for a few days. Could the effect really be this obvious?

Unable to figure out what was wrong, Shen Qian stopped dwelling on it. He quickly concluded that he had always been exceptionally intelligent; he simply had not put his mind into studying before.

After spending an entire day swimming through the ocean of knowledge, it was soon time for school to end at five in the afternoon.

With hope of improving his academic score, Shen Qian slung his backpack on again, intending to make good use of every moment outside of physical training.

"Shen Qian!"

As Shen Qian walked out of the school gates, reciting ancient poetry from his language textbook, he heard a familiar voice calling his name.

"Old Wang?"

Shen Qian turned around and saw Wang Yangming standing behind a tree, furtively waving at him.

Shen Qian walked over in confusion. "Why are you acting like we're spies meeting up?"

"Hey, isn't it because I'm scared of running into Teacher Liu? My mom thought I was dying last night, so she opened her mouth and got me three days off. If Teacher Liu sees me showing up here all lively and kicking, won't he chop me to death?" Wang Yangming pressed down his baseball cap as he explained.

"You're okay now?" Shen Qian looked Wang Yangming over but could not see any major changes.

"Of course... Huh? Why are you holding a language textbook? Damn, you're even carrying a backpack?" Wang Yangming asked in surprise.

"Zhang Liangwei made a study plan for me. I'm supposed to make full use of even the time I spend walking and going to the bathroom. After all, there are only a little over two months left."

"You, you..." Wang Yangming froze, then looked conflicted. "So you've already given up on martial arts? Is that why you gave such a good potion to me?"

"Did you take it? How was the effect?" Shen Qian asked impatiently.

Wang Yangming perked up and said excitedly, "Shen Qian, that potion you gave me was freaking miraculous. After I endured that inhuman pain, I happened to get a physical test at the hospital this morning. Guess what happened?"

"Mm-hmm, yeah, yeah... Cut the crap and tell me the result." Shen Qian gave him a perfunctory response and urged him on.

"Five kilograms! My strength increased by five kilograms overnight!"

Wang Yangming said excitedly, "My Burst Strength had been stuck at the threshold of 109 for ages. This morning, it jumped straight to 114. My speed shot up by a lot too... Shen Qian, for the first time, I feel like Martial Arts University is waving at me!"

Five kilograms?

Shen Qian pondered it and silently made an estimate. The effect was actually a little better than he had expected.

Before dilution, the potion he had given Wang Yangming only contained about one-quarter of the essence of the original Stamina Potion. Once Wang Yangming fully absorbed its effects, he would probably still have room to improve by another two or three kilograms.

"I remember you used a Body Tempering Potion before. How effective was it back then?" Shen Qian asked.

"I took one when I graduated middle school. Over two or three months, my Qi and Strength increased by around ten extra kilograms. But that was my first time taking it, so I couldn't possibly get that kind of effect again afterward."

Wang Yangming still could not calm down. "But your new potion didn't conflict with the previous medicine in my body, and it took effect in just one night. It's seriously incredible!"

"There must still be residual medicinal power in your body. Don't slack off this coming week. Make sure you keep training every day. There should still be room for improvement," Shen Qian instructed.

Wang Yangming nodded. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "Shen Qian, this potion must have cost you quite a bit, right? I looked online, but I couldn't find anything similar."

"Uh, it was all right." Since it was an unregistered product, Shen Qian did not know how to price it and could only answer vaguely. "I used a relative's connections to get it through a special channel."

Wang Yangming struggled for a moment, then dragged Shen Qian into an empty corner. He opened his backpack, took out two bulging envelopes, and stuffed them into Shen Qian's hands.

"What's this..." Shen Qian was taken aback.

"My parents originally wanted to invite you over for a meal, but I know you don't like that kind of thing, so I turned them down for you... There's fifty thousand yuan in the envelopes. It might not be enough, but consider whatever you lose as something I owe you."

"I can't take the money. It wouldn't be right."

Though Shen Qian had some ideas of his own, he had never intended to make money off Wang Yangming. He gave Wang Yangming the potion not only because they were close, but also because he had wanted to use him as a test subject.

"If you don't accept it, then we can't be friends anymore."

Wang Yangming gave a bitter smile, then turned serious. "Your family isn't well-off either. Besides, my parents had originally planned to spend two hundred thousand on a Special Effect Potion for me. When you put it that way, I've already gotten a huge bargain."

"All right, then." Shen Qian thought about it. Wang Yangming was indeed not losing out. While his family was not wealthy, fifty thousand yuan would not hurt them badly, and Shen Qian really did need money right now.

"But why split it into two envelopes?" Shen Qian asked curiously.

"Ahem." Wang Yangming said somewhat guiltily, "I originally wanted to give you half and keep some for myself. But when I thought about how you gave the Special Effect Potion to me and chose to focus on academics yourself, how could I still have the nerve to keep your money?"

Seeing Wang Yangming's moved expression, Shen Qian patted him on the shoulder, his face full of emotion.

Old Wang really was an honest man!

If he knew my total cost was only three thousand yuan, would he still feel this way?

Still, it could not be calculated like that. That wild Seven Flavors Fruit had not cost him anything, but on the market, it was something valuable and hard to come by.

And the formula itself had intellectual property value, just like how I had always insisted on reading officially licensed novels...

Thinking of it that way, Shen Qian felt perfectly justified again.

"Old Wang, you're free now, right?" After putting away the money, Shen Qian put an arm around Wang Yangming's shoulders and walked forward. "Come on, let's stay overnight at the VR Hall."

"No, I've already come to my senses. I thought about a lot last night..."

"You mean that essay you sent me?" Seeing Wang Yangming's righteous expression, Shen Qian activated his wristband and began reading with great emotion. "Shen Qian, I feel so useless. I'm nothing but a complete and utter piece of trash..."

"Good godfather, stop reading!" Wang Yangming, instantly dying of embarrassment, hurriedly covered Shen Qian's mouth.

"Are you going or not?"

"I'm going!" Wang Yangming added through gritted teeth, "You're loaded now, so you're paying!"