Hearing Ying’s words, Zhang Chen was utterly speechless, as if he’d taken a critical hit: just how unlikeable did he have to be for the other party to say something like that?
Ying looked at Zhang Chen, her words growing colder and colder. She felt that the reason Zhang Chen had quietly snuck into her room was to keep pestering her. In order to completely sever the karma between the two of them, she could only spit out the most vicious words she could.
She’d tried to talk sense to him twice before, but clearly he still hadn’t taken it to heart, so he’d kept clinging to that sliver of hope and continued to entangle himself with her.
"Am I really that annoying?" Zhang Chen asked.
"Way more annoying than you think! I wish you would just disappear from my sight forever and never show up in front of me again. The moment I see you, I’ll be in a bad mood the whole day; if I don’t see you, I’ll be in a good mood all day. You’re like a fly, and not just any fly—a fly smeared all over with shit!" Ying said.
Zhang Chen’s face turned iron-blue at those words. Even with his Enlightenment, he couldn’t endure this kind of humiliation.
"You don’t need to say any more, I get what you mean. I came today to completely settle the karma between us. This token is for you; from now on, the karma between us is written off in one stroke." Zhang Chen finished speaking, slammed the token that represented entry to the Inner Courtyard onto the table, then slowly stood up. "From today on, the karma between us is completely over; even in the Yellow Springs, we won’t meet again!"
After speaking, Zhang Chen’s figure vanished, leaving Ying stunned in place. She quickly hurried to the table and looked at the token lying there, dazed on the spot. After quite a while, she absentmindedly picked up the token, standing there in a trance, lost in thought.
Only after a long time did she let out a faint sigh and murmur, "What a pity..."
In the Shen Family’s private residence
Shen Ling sat with Shen Qiu and Zhang Gaoqiu, the three of them looking at each other.
"What? You’re telling me to give him my slot?" Shen Qiu suddenly raised his voice, glaring angrily at Shen Ling, disbelief written all over his words.
"What are you yelling for!" Shen Ling snapped impatiently. "If you give your slot to Zhang, he can enter the Mysterious Inner Courtyard and regain Transcendent Power, maybe even go a step further. Behind Zhang is the Zhang Family of Kyoto. If he can advance further and raise his status in the Zhang Family, how many resources from the Zhang Family do you think he’ll get? As long as the Shen Family lets a little slip through their fingers, it’ll be more than enough for you and me to enjoy endlessly. You know your own talent, don’t you? Even if you get into the Inner Courtyard, you might not gain much. Better to give the slot to Zhang. Once he gets the slot, he can once again master the Mysterious Power, and at the same time gain another step up in the Zhang Family. When that happens and he turns around to pull you up, won’t that be more than what you’d get by entering the Inner Courtyard yourself?"
At those words, Shen Qiu’s expression immediately turned hesitant. Zhang Gaoqiu, at the side, also opened his mouth with a solemn guarantee: "Shen, don’t worry. As long as I gain enough benefits in the Inner Courtyard and my status in the Zhang Family rises another step, I won’t forget you. In the Zhang Family’s treasury, there are countless kinds of Mysterious Creations, enough for you to enjoy benefits without end. At the very least, those benefits won’t be less than what you’d get in the academy."
Seeing Zhang Gaoqiu beating his chest and making promises, speaking with such conviction, and with Shen Ling at the side constantly chiming in with sweet words, Shen Qiu wavered.
Entering the Inner Courtyard was just to study the Mysterious; it didn’t necessarily mean earning benefits. But if he handed the slot over to Zhang Gaoqiu, given Zhang Gaoqiu’s status in the Zhang Family, there would be no shortage of benefits coming his way in the future.
"My marriage with your sister is already on the agenda; we basically count as one family now. You think I’d shortchange you?" Zhang Gaoqiu said again when he saw Shen Qiu still hesitating.
Hearing this, Shen Qiu gradually made up his mind. Rather than gambling on an uncertain future benefit, he might as well choose to support Zhang Gaoqiu. That way, whether or not Zhang Gaoqiu actually gains anything after getting the slot and entering the Inner Courtyard, Shen Qiu himself won’t come up short.
Meanwhile, Zhang Chen had returned to his own large courtyard, standing in the open-air courtyard and absorbing the Great Sun Essence from the sky, feeling a little doubtful about his whole life.
"This is just fucking insane! Do I look like that kind of bootlicker who shamelessly throws himself at someone? Ying really looks down on me way too much!" Zhang Chen cursed under his breath, then severed the stray thoughts in his heart and began his daily contemplation of the Law of Heaven and Earth.
Time rushed by, and the family’s life fell back into its rhythm. The next day, Zhang Chen once again came to the academy. He saw Ying standing at the door, her eyes on him, wanting to speak but stopping herself. Zhang Chen, however, acted as if he hadn’t seen her at all, walking past Ying on his own. Ying watched Zhang Chen’s back, her lips moving slightly, but in the end she didn’t say anything.
Zhang Chen had just reached the doorway when he heard Tushan Qing’s demonic laughter, just as expected. When he walked into the room, sure enough, he saw Tushan Qing running a gambling ring, and this time the stakes Tushan Qing put up were his own tags. This not only drew everyone in the Class A Academy into the betting, it also attracted students from other classes to crowd over and join in.
The entire Class A Academy room was already packed full of people; Zhang Chen stood outside the door and couldn’t even get in.
"No wonder Ying is waiting outside; turns out it’s because it’s jammed with people in there. Tushan Qing really knows how to play with people’s hearts—he’s got everyone dancing in the palm of his hand." Zhang Chen muttered to himself.
Not only Ying was standing outside; Little Prince Zhang Xiaohua was also out there. With his status, he naturally wouldn’t squeeze into the room with everyone else.
Inside, the room was a riot of noise, like a bustling tavern, the clamor boiling over to the heavens.
Zhang Chen stood quietly outside the door. After another half an hour or so, someone suddenly shouted, "The dean’s here!"
With that shout, everyone scattered like a flock of birds.
Zhang Chen looked off into the distance and saw Zhou Qiucheng in a flowing white robe, his hair meticulously groomed, walking over from afar. Behind him followed a young girl in a blue dress, just at the age of budding youth, with a face that spoke of peace and prosperity. Her figure was slender and graceful, and an invisible air of wealth and nobility seemed to swirl around her, making her look very out of the ordinary.
It was as if there was light on that girl’s body; the moment she appeared, she drew everyone’s gaze.
"This is the most favored princess of the current Royal Family of the Great Victory: the Ninth Princess—Chai Wenji." Tushan Qing had somehow sidled up beside Zhang Chen and murmured in a low voice, "Whoever marries her can at least save themselves five hundred years of struggle!"
"Is it that exaggerated?" Zhang Chen asked.
Hearing Zhang Chen’s words, Tushan Qing nodded very seriously. "Yes! Unfortunately I’m from the Chai Family, with Chai blood flowing in my veins, otherwise I would absolutely have to get this girl into my hands."
Speaking up to this point, Chai Chuanxin turned his head to look at Zhang Chen. "But although I have no chance, you do! I can lend you a hand."
Zhang Chen shook his head at that. This girl practically reeked of wealth and honor; in terms of looks she was no worse than Xie Daoyun, so how could she possibly fancy him?
He couldn’t even handle a single Jiang Nan, let alone the girl before him.
While the two of them were muttering to each other, Zhou Qiucheng had already walked up in front of the crowd. He did not enter the building, but stood at the main door and said, "The slots were already filtered out yesterday. Counting the exempted slots, there are a total of forty-seven people qualified to enter the Inner Courtyard."
Zhang Chen’s heart stirred when he heard that. "That’s so few slots! Most of the serial number tags weren’t drawn at all."
"Everyone who drew a serial number tag, stay. The rest, disperse at once, no loitering." With Zhou Qiucheng’s single command, some people left with faces full of disappointment, while others stayed put where they were, overjoyed.
What surprised Zhang Chen, though, was that Shen Qiu actually left, while Zhang Gaoqiu remained where he was.
With Zhang Chen’s level of wits it wasn’t hard to guess the crux of it. A bunch of question marks popped up over his head: "What’s going on? Shen Qiu actually gave his slot to Zhang Gaoqiu? Does the Shen Family know the inside story? Did that kid Shen Qiu get water in his brain?"
Over on the other side, when Shen Ling heard Zhou Qiucheng’s order to clear out, she reached out and grabbed Jiang Nan’s hand, ready to leave. "Let’s go."
But Jiang Nan’s hand trembled slightly, shaking off Shen Ling’s pull. "I have a slot. You guys go."
At those words, Shen Ling froze, Shen Qiu also stared in astonishment, and Zhang Gaoqiu’s face was even more full of disbelief.
"Where did you get a tag?" Shen Ling looked at Jiang Nan in utter disbelief, with a strong sense of "we all agreed to flop together, and you secretly made it out."
Jiang Nan shook her head and said, "I have my own fate, I have my own qi fortune."
The words were simple, but left Shen Ling with nothing to say. Seeing Shen Ling still in a daze, Shen Qiu reached out and took Shen Ling’s hand, and the two siblings quickly left.
In fact, at this moment Shen Qiu’s heart was full of regret, because if he had also entered the Inner Courtyard, he could have had more time to interact with Jiang Nan.
Watching the departing brother and sister, Zhang Gaoqiu turned his gaze toward Jiang Nan. "Cousin Jiang Nan, since we both got slots, once we enter the Inner Courtyard, we’d better look out for each other."
He now had no Bloodline Power at all, so of course he wanted someone to rely on.
Jiang Nan thought of Zhang Gaoqiu’s background, pondered briefly, then nodded, which counted as agreeing with Zhang Gaoqiu’s words.
"Tell me, did Shen Qiu get his head slammed by a door or something? The era of great change is about to arrive, and the Academy is the vanguard of the tide, standing at the very front of the age. Once you enter the Academy, you become a trendsetter of the era. How could he think of giving his slot away? If you can’t keep up with the footsteps of the geniuses of your generation, sooner or later you’ll be thrown aside by the tides of the times and end up as nothing but a background prop. Didn’t you see Zhang Gaoqiu coming all the way from afar just to join the Inner Courtyard of Chongzheng Academy, hoping to seize an advantage in the future?" Tushan Qing’s eyes were full of confusion; he really couldn’t understand the other party’s move.
"Under calamity, fortune fades; this is what comes of being blinded by profit and out of luck." Zhang Chen said thoughtfully, "It seems the Shen Family really is about to go downhill."
"Look at Zhang Gaoqiu sticking together with Jiang Nan, they actually do look kind of like a thing. Tell me, with time passing, will they..." Tushan Qing winked meaningfully at Zhang Chen, his face taking on a lewd expression.
Zhang Chen’s heart gave a little jump at that. Zhang Gaoqiu was no easy one to deal with, and Jiang Nan wasn’t easy either, was she? The brother-in-law stealing his big brother-in-law’s fiancée? Not impossible at all!