In fact, Yang Chengzhi had already seen the two as soon as they stepped into the Bookstore. But although they were all students of Zhenguan Academy, Yang Chengzhi didn't get along with them, so he'd simply ignored them.
He hadn't expected them to insult him the moment they came in. Anger surged through him, and he fixed them with a murderous glare.
"Why are you staring at us like that, Senior Brother Yang? You're making us nervous," one of the students said, his tone faintly mocking.
The other student chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. "That's because you said the wrong thing, Junior Brother Wu. How could Senior Brother Yang be called someone who overestimates himself?"
Junior Brother Wu looked puzzled. "Then what would you call it, according to Senior Brother Zhang?"
Senior Brother Zhang smiled. "Of course, it's bringing humiliation upon himself... Haha."
Junior Brother Wu suddenly understood. He slapped his forehead and said, "Senior Brother Zhang is absolutely right... Haha."
The two played off each other, then burst into laughter together.
Yang Chengzhi's face kept shifting between green and pale. Ma Feifei, sitting at his own seat, thought he was about to blow up, but in the end Yang Chengzhi actually held back.
Seeing this, Ma Feifei hurriedly picked up a pen and paper and wrote: "One day, Chengzhi was reading a divine book when he ran into some fellow students and was mocked by them. I thought Chengzhi would rise and fight back, but unexpectedly, he endured it in the end. He has the bearing of King Goujian of Yue, able to endure what ordinary people cannot. Such is a true man."
"Why are you two here?" Yang Chengzhi had lost the mood to read. He closed the book, gazed at its exquisite cover, and asked in a calm voice.
The two newcomers were among the three hundred students sent along with the main force this time. Under normal circumstances, they should have been at the front lines. There was no reason for them to be in Dubian Town.
"Because the Qin State withdrew, of course! Oh, sorry, I forgot you were removed from the three hundred students. You haven't heard the news yet!" Junior Brother Wu said with a smile, though every word was barbed and deeply unpleasant.
Senior Brother Zhang, standing beside him, offered an explanation. "Last night, Qin Sage and Saint Chu boiled tea and discussed the Dao above the clouds. Afterward, the Qin State withdrew its troops. From what Senior Brother Xiaoyaozi later learned from General Baili, it seems Qin Shi Huang suddenly changed his mind and gave up attacking the Chu Kingdom. We don't know the details."
"We have two days off and will stay in Dubian Town for those two days. After that, we'll head back to the academy to prepare for this year's Dragon Ranking competition." At this point, Senior Brother Zhang seemed to remember something. He looked at Yang Chengzhi and asked, "Wasn't the academy supposed to have Senior Brother Yang return immediately? Why are you still lingering in Dubian Town?"
The two seemed to be chatting with Yang Chengzhi in a friendly manner, but every word carried mockery and derision. Ma Feifei was thoroughly entertained by the tense exchange, and even Zhou Zhuling in the corner was drawn in. Though her eyes stayed on her book, her ears were perked up, and she leaned slightly to the side to listen carefully.
"No rush." Yang Chengzhi acted as if he hadn't noticed their taunts. He replied casually, then ignored them and went back to reading.
The two exchanged glances, looking somewhat surprised.
Yang Chengzhi hadn't used to be so mild-tempered. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been impulsive enough to clash with Senior Brother Xiaoyaozi before the great battle.
Getting no response from Yang Chengzhi, the two found the exchange dull and gave up on taunting him. Instead, they turned to look around the Bookstore.
"This Bookstore is truly strange. It seems to have a formation, yet I can't sense any Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy," Junior Brother Wu said as he surveyed the place.
Senior Brother Zhang nodded. He hadn't sensed any spiritual energy in the air either. The formation also seemed to block out the sounds outside the Bookstore. They could hear them faintly, but only just enough—not enough to be noisy.
"What a beautiful woman!" Senior Brother Zhang exclaimed softly when he spotted Zhou Zhuling in the corner.
Hearing him, Junior Brother Wu followed his gaze and his eyes lit up.
"She could probably make the Canglong Fairy Ranking."
Senior Brother Zhang deeply agreed.
Well, Ma Feifei wasn't happy about that.
He knocked on the counter in front of him and said, "You two, loud noise and harassing customers are forbidden in the Bookstore. Please behave yourselves."
Zhou Zhuling was already a little unhappy at being stared at. She had been about to do something when she heard Ma Feifei's words. Her slightly furrowed brows relaxed at once. She blinked her lovely eyes twice, lowered her head, and went back to reading.
Hearing Ma Feifei's reminder, Junior Brother Wu was displeased. To these favored geniuses, the owner of a little shop like Ma Feifei was an insignificant ant, not worth mentioning. They hadn't even spared him a proper glance since entering the Bookstore.
And now this ant dared to warn him? Junior Brother Wu was about to fly into a rage.
But Senior Brother Zhang stopped him with a hand and whispered, "The formation in this Bookstore seems quite extraordinary, and the owner might not be an ordinary person either. We'd better not cause trouble."
Junior Brother Wu thought that made sense. He shot Ma Feifei a cold glance and said nothing, though at least he stopped staring at Zhou Zhuling.
Seeing the two wandering around the Bookstore without causing trouble, Ma Feifei couldn't help curling his lip and muttering two words: "Cowards."
He spoke at just the right volume for the two to hear.
Heh—what a troublemaker.
To be honest, in the two months since the Bookstore had opened, Ma Feifei hadn't gotten to experience how powerful the system was. Now that he'd finally had two troublemakers show up, he really wanted to see what the system could do.
But to Ma Feifei's dismay, although the two looked angry at his words, they quickly regained their composure, as if he hadn't been talking about them.
"Are young people these days all so good at holding back?" Ma Feifei glanced at the two, then turned to look at Yang Chengzhi, feeling utterly speechless.
What Ma Feifei didn't know was that his swaggering remark hadn't made the two angry. On the contrary, it had only convinced them even more that their earlier guess was right.
After all, how could someone without any skill say something like that to people's faces? The more Ma Feifei spoke like that, the more they felt his strength was unfathomable.
"Reading costs one Spirit Crystal per hour?" After making a round, the two finally spotted the sign.
"Senior Brother Zhang, could this shop be a scam?" Junior Brother Wu asked.
This was the first time he'd encountered a Bookstore that only let people read books without selling them—and charged in Spirit Crystals, no less.
Senior Brother Zhang's forehead was also full of confusion. He glanced at Yang Chengzhi and Zhou Zhuling, then whispered, "It shouldn't be, right? Even that good-for-nothing is reading here."
"Then I'd like to see what's so special about these books to make them so expensive." Junior Brother Wu gave a cold snort, walked up to Ma Feifei, and handed him two Spirit Crystals. "Shopkeeper, we'd each like to try reading for an hour."
Ma Feifei took the Spirit Crystals, curled his lip, and muttered, "Broke."
Junior Brother Wu was furious. Ma Feifei's punchable face was getting hard for him to tolerate.
Senior Brother Zhang hurriedly pulled Junior Brother Wu aside and murmured, "Junior Brother, hold back. He's trying to provoke you. Don't fall for it."
Junior Brother Wu glared angrily at Ma Feifei without saying a word.
Senior Brother Zhang continued to persuade him. "Junior Brother, the Dragon Ranking competition is what matters most to us right now. We should try not to cause trouble before it's over. This shop looks mysterious and unfathomable. If we get caught out in a moment of anger, it could affect our Dragon Ranking results!"
Senior Brother Zhang wasn't wrong. If the Bookstore's owner truly had unfathomable strength, then forget taking part in the Dragon Ranking competition—the two of them might not even be able to leave the shop.
Anyone who'd made it this far couldn't be lacking in intelligence. Junior Brother Wu gradually calmed down, though he secretly swore that once the Dragon Ranking competition was over, he'd come back and test just how deep this Bookstore's waters ran!
"Why are there so few books in this Bookstore?" Once Junior Brother Wu had calmed down, Senior Brother Zhang went with him to the bookshelf to choose something to read. Only then did they notice that the entire Bookstore contained only a handful of books.
The two exchanged glances. The words "scam shop" surfaced in their minds.
In the end, each picked a book at random.
By coincidence, they chose two Blue Quality books: Andersen's Fairy Tales and Half a Mu of Flower Fields.
"Are the books I wrote really that bad?" Ma Feifei glanced at the few white-quality books he'd written some time ago, which hung all alone on the lowest shelf, and felt a little sad.
Even the system had put his books at the very bottom. It might as well have stuffed them in a cabinet.
"Senior Brother Yang, do you mind if we sit here?" Junior Brother Wu was now fuming with nowhere to vent. There was plenty of space, but he refused to sit anywhere else and dragged Senior Brother Zhang to sit directly opposite Yang Chengzhi. Clearly, he intended to take his anger out on him!
Yang Chengzhi had heard everything that had happened when Ma Feifei had provoked the two. He'd really hoped they would go and feel Ma Feifei up, so Ma Feifei could teach them a lesson and vent his anger for him. But the two had still had some sense and held back, which left Yang Chengzhi a little disappointed.
He hadn't expected them to avoid provoking Ma Feifei and come looking for trouble with him instead.
"Am I really that easy to bully?" Yang Chengzhi looked at the two and said coldly, "No."
The two hadn't expected Yang Chengzhi to dare resist. They froze for a moment. Junior Brother Wu had been angry, but now Yang Chengzhi's words made him laugh. "But we've already sat down. What are you going to do about it?"
Damn it. We backed down from the mysterious shopkeeper, but we definitely weren't going to back down from a good-for-nothing like you.
Yang Chengzhi smiled faintly, closed his book again, and slowly rose to his feet. He stared at the two calmly and said, "Then let's fight!"
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