"Boy, did you really write this poem?" Old Master Tang asked casually, though the anticipation in his eyes was impossible to hide.
"Heh, of course I did." Tang Yan grinned.
"Oh ho, I call you fat and you start panting! Tell me the truth!" Old Master Tang showed him no mercy, grabbing his ear and demanding an answer.
Tang Yan felt terribly wronged. What was wrong with the world? Couldn't a man even tell the truth anymore?
"Easy, easy! I'll talk, I'll talk! A while back, I met a poor scholar. I thought this lyric he'd written was pretty good, so I bought it.
"He told me that if I learned to write a fine hand and copied out this lyric, I'd have no trouble winning over young ladies from distinguished families. I got carried away and not only memorized it, but practiced my calligraphy too..." His ear aching under Old Master Tang's grip, Tang Yan hurriedly invented an excuse to brush him off.
The explanation sounded reasonably plausible, and Old Master Tang finally let go.
Tang Yan rubbed his reddened ear and said with a miserable expression, "Grandfather, I helped resolve this crisis too. Could you reward me with a few tens of thousands of taels of silver to spend?"
The matter of the City Lord's residence coming to demand an explanation had been smoothly resolved, leaving Old Master Tang in a fairly good mood. But at Tang Yan's words, his face instantly darkened. "What do you need so much silver for? Planning to go out drinking and whoring again? I'm warning you, if you dare squander the family fortune again, I'll break your damned legs!"
Tang Yan silently fretted. If you won't give me money, how am I supposed to buy an alchemy cauldron? Without a cauldron, how can I refine medicine?
"Don't worry, Grandfather. I definitely won't go drinking and whoring. I've just suddenly come to my senses lately. I really was an ignorant good-for-nothing before, and now that I can't cultivate, I want to give up martial arts and go into business. I just need a little silver to try my hand at it," Tang Yan said solemnly.
Old Master Tang was slightly moved. Although he still didn't believe Tang Yan would actually go into business as he claimed, wasn't that explanation enough to warm his heart?
"Then go to the accounts office and collect two... hundred taels of silver. Once you've achieved something, I can consider giving you more. If I discover you've spent this money on drinking and whoring, I'll cut off all your future allowance too!" With that warning, Old Master Tang turned and left.
Tang Yan's heart turned ice-cold... Grandfather, I'm your own flesh-and-blood grandson...
Young Master Tang wanted to cry but had no tears, yet he refused to sit and await his doom.
In a little under an hour, Tang Yan gathered everything valuable in his room. With silver tucked into his robes and a folding fan waving in his hand, he headed out with Xiao Cui.
Since he wasn't getting any money, he might as well take a look around, buy some low-grade herbs, and mix up a basic vitality-nourishing medicine.
Tang Yan sauntered down the street, ostentatiously fanning himself with his folding fan, his gaze frivolous and his manner utterly carefree. The graceful air he'd possessed while reciting the lyric had vanished without a trace.
Xiao Cui tilted her little head as she watched her young master. Why was he so different from how he'd been in the main hall? Could it really be as the ancients said-rivers and mountains are easy to change, but one's nature is hard to move?
Young Master Tang surveyed the street with keen interest. Hawkers' cries, idle chatter, and the sounds of labor mingled endlessly. The taverns, tailors' shops, farm-tool stores, weapons shops, smithies, and other businesses lining the street all exuded an old-world charm.
Markets like this had still been fairly common on Earth in the previous century, but as society progressed, they had gradually been replaced by supermarkets, shopping malls, and even online shopping.
"Well, if it isn't Young Master Tang! Why are you wandering the streets instead of visiting the Red Flower House? I heard your grandfather cut off your allowance. Can't even afford one of the old girls at the Red Flower House anymore?" a mocking voice called out.
Tang Yan turned to look and discovered that the newcomer was Liu Yuan, the Liu Family's third young master.
Much like Tang Yan, Liu Yuan was one of Cloud City's wastrels.
Liu Yuan's lot in life was much better than Tang Yan's, however. The Liu Family had plenty of sons, including six or seven young men in the direct line alone, and quite a few of them showed promise. Thus, even though Liu Yuan was a wastrel, the Liu Family didn't have to beat their chests in anguish over having no worthy successor.
"What, looking to give me some spending money?"
Although Liu Yuan was a wastrel, he wasn't stupid. The Liu Family's longstanding desire to swallow up the Tang Family was no secret among Cloud City's prominent families. If he could teach Tang Yan a lesson, he would surely receive a reward from his lineage when he returned.
But his lineage had also explicitly warned the younger members of the Liu Family never to provoke Tang Yan first. If Old Master Tang went mad, he could bite.
To teach Tang Yan a lesson, he would have to make Tang Yan strike first.
"Give you money? Dream on! I thought only your dantian had been crippled, Young Master Tang. Turns out your brain broke along with it." His venomous words brought flames of anger to Xiao Cui's eyes.
"Fuck you! Whose brain are you calling broken? Believe me, I'll beat you up!" Tang Yan roared, glaring at him.
"You want to beat me up?" Delight stirred in Liu Yuan's heart, and he couldn't help laughing. "Young Master Tang, it's not that I look down on you, but even if I gave you a one-arm, one-leg handicap, I could still beat you like a dog."
Tang Yan's eyes reddened and his breathing quickened. Pointing at Liu Yuan, he snapped, "You're only fourth-grade Origin Tier, so what the fuck are you so smug about? Think you're that amazing? Let's make a bet. If I knock you flat, you owe me ten thousand taels of silver. If you knock me flat, you can have the two hundred taels on me! Dare to bet?"
Liu Yuan was delighted. On the martial path, every tier was another mountain to climb. Though he usually idled his days away, he genuinely possessed fourth-grade Origin Tier strength.
This fellow's dantian had been crippled, and years of wine and women had drained his body. He probably couldn't even handle an ordinary person.
"I don't have ten thousand taels, only two thousand. Besides, if I win, I only get two hundred. That's hardly fair!" Liu Yuan's eyes shifted as he chuckled. "How about this? If you win, I'll give you all two thousand taels. If you lose, you'll kowtow to me three times, with your forehead hitting the ground loud and clear. What do you say?"
You fucking Liu Family bastard. Just watch me pound you flat in a moment!
Suppressing his urge to hit him, Tang Yan kept up the act. "Fuck, one kowtow from me isn't even worth a thousand taels? If I lose, I'll kowtow once at most!"
Liu Yuan's heart bloomed with joy. Young Master Tang really was as brainlessly arrogant as ever, a complete and utter idiot.
Once you're on your knees, what difference does it make whether you kowtow once or a hundred times?
If he truly made Tang Yan kneel today, he would have rendered a great service, and his lineage would be even less inclined to rein in his dissolute behavior in the future.
Having made up his mind, Liu Yuan said, "In that case, I'll do Young Master Tang the honor!"
"Young Master! Let's go home!" Xiao Cui tugged at Tang Yan's sleeve, her voice trembling on the verge of tears.
"Move aside! Today, I'll beat him until even his parents can't recognize him!" Tang Yan flung his sleeve free.
"Young Master, Liu Yuan is deliberately provoking you. He wants you to take the bait so he can seize the chance to humiliate our Tang Family. Don't fall for his trick!" Xiao Cui's voice grew increasingly urgent.
Liu Yuan took in every bit of Xiao Cui's reaction. It seemed Tang Yan's crippled dantian was indeed as certain as a nail driven into iron.
But if Xiao Cui actually persuaded this idiot to leave, wouldn't all his scheming have been wasted?
"Do you dare fight or not? Give me a straight answer," Liu Yuan goaded.
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