Jiang Zhaoyu's Residence.
Jiang Zhaoyu held a small copper kettle, his wrist perfectly steady.
A thin stream of boiling water ran down the inside of the cup. The tea leaves turned over, bobbing and sinking as they slowly unfurled.
His expression was calm, even leisurely.
But anyone looking closely would have found not a trace of interest in tea in his eyes, only a glint of cold light.
Li Chuan had won two thousand contribution points from him.
The money was a trifling matter.
Any single trade route belonging to the Jiang Family brought in more than that in a month.
But in front of Ren Pingsheng, Ma Fufeng, and all the others...
He had transferred two thousand points from his token to a mud-legged bumpkin from Sanyuan Prefecture.
That was a debt money alone could not settle.
Jiang Zhaoyu lifted his cup and took a mild sip.
The tea was good, yet it tasted bitter.
He recalled their faces at the time.
Ren Pingsheng had kept his head down, but his eyes had rolled upward.
And those who normally clustered around him, those quickest to call him Senior Brother Jiang, had all held their breath, not daring to make a sound.
The Outer Mountain's Core Area was only so large. A passing remark could spread throughout it in half a day.
Jiang Zhaoyu had lost to Li Chuan.
Even after he calmed down, that pent-up anger remained lodged in his chest, neither rising nor falling.
Why should he?
A thing from Sanyuan Prefecture.
Sanyuan Prefecture... Jiang Zhaoyu's gaze grew colder still.
His younger brother, Jiang Zhaowu, had met his end in Sanyuan Prefecture back then.
Jiang Zhaowu's talent had been unremarkable, and no one in the family had cared. Only he, the elder brother, remembered.
Ever since then, not