Translator: CKtalon
Zhou Wen hurriedly found an empty spot and took out a mirror from his chaos space to take a look at his face.
Zhou Wen was immediately stunned.
There was a pitch-black word, “slave,” on his originally smooth forehead. It looked as if it had been written in ink, and was written beautifully.
“Ol’ Ante, what’s going on? Are you up to no good?” Zhou Wen hurriedly rubbed it with his hand, but no matter how he rubbed it, the word “slave” seemed to be embedded into his flesh. Despite abrading his skin, the word “slave” was still clearly visible.
The antelope wore an innocent expression like a human. Then, it wrote a line on the ground with its hooves. “I told you to carry it, but you didn’t. You can’t blame me.”
“You mean that piece of wood?” Zhou Wen was slightly taken aback.
The antelope nodded with a faint smile as it looked at the word “slave” on Zhou Wen’s head with an admiring gaze.
Zhou Wen hurriedly took out the wooden log from the chaos space and placed it on the ground. He asked the antelope in an extremely distrustful tone, “Tell me honestly, what is this?”
The antelope looked at Zhou Wen with an innocent look as though it was saying: “I’m just an antelope. I can’t speak.”
Zhou Wen had no choice but to grit his teeth and ask, “Will the word on my forehead disappear if I carry it?”
The antelope quickly nodded as though it was waiting for Zhou Wen to say that.
Zhou Wen had tried all sorts of methods to remove the mark on his forehead to no avail. All he could do was give it a try. He raised one end of the log with both hands and lifted it with his shoulder.
The log was really heavy. Even with Zhou Wen’s strength, he found it difficult to lift it up.
However, when Zhou Wen looked into the mirror, he realized that the slave word on his forehead had really vanished.
Zhou Wen placed the log on the ground and the word “slave” appeared again. When he lifted it up, it vanished.
“Ol’ Ante, what the hell is this? Are you expecting me to carry it all the time?” Zhou Wen felt like killing the antelope, but he was no match against it.
Antelope didn’t give excuses. It drew another line of words on the ground with its hooves. “Go to the Imperial Capital and terminate the contract.”
“You mean that as long as we get it to the Imperial Capital, we can terminate this contract?” Zhou Wen asked.
Seeing the antelope nod, Zhou Wen asked, “Then can I put it away and take it to the Imperial Capital?”
Zhou Wen planned on wearing a hat to cover the word “slave” on his forehead. The log was just too heavy. He could forget about doing anything while carrying it.
“If you aren’t afraid of death, sure.” The antelope wrote a few succinct words.
Zhou Wen immediately felt his balls ache as he thought to himself, If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have shot my mouth and tried to share the benefits with the antelope.
Suddenly, Zhou Wen realized that something was amiss.
With the antelope’s usual lazy personality, it wouldn’t have dug itself. It would definitely have gotten Zhou Wen to help it.
However, it had started the digging itself and at an extremely slow pace. Zhou Wen realized from recalling the sequence of events that the antelope was clearly trying to entice him into offering his help.
What kind of society is this? Even an antelope will lie? Zhou Wen was somewhat depressed. It was too late to say anything now. If he were to question the antelope now, not only would it not help matters, but he would also be making a fool of himself.
“Isn’t it just carrying a log to the Imperial Capital? What’s the big deal? I, Zhou Wen, have nothing else but strength,” Zhou Wen said as he lifted the piece of wood.
How freaking heavy! Zhou Wen took a few steps and felt his body break out in sweat.
The log was about three meters long and was about fifty to sixty centimeters in diameter. Its density and weight were about the same as steel. Zhou Wen found it taxing.
After walking half a street, Zhou Wen felt that he couldn’t let things continue. He would probably die of exhaustion on the way before he reached the Imperial Capital.
After some thought, Zhou Wen summoned the Great Might Vajra Bull. He carried the wooden log and got the bull to carry him. This way, he could save some strength.
“This isn’t against the rules, right?” Zhou Wen looked at the antelope.
The antelope nodded and didn’t object.
Zhou Wen heaved a sigh of relief and ordered the Great Might Vajra Bull to continue traveling. He was in no mood to carry such a piece of wood. All he wanted to do now was rush to the Imperial Capital and get rid of the slave word on his forehead.
“Is that person a fool? He’s riding a bull and carrying a piece of wood? Doesn’t he know that he can place the piece of wood on the bull’s back?”
“You don’t understand. He’s just showing off.”
“In what sense?”
“He’s showing off his great strength that he’s able to carry such a huge log. He’s showing off his ferocious mount that’s capable of lifting him and the log together.”
“Haha, that makes sense, but no matter how I look at it, I find him a little foolish!”
Wherever Zhou Wen passed, people wagged their tongues at him as though they were looking at a fool. The number of heads turning became even higher than before.
Zhou Wen ignored them and urged the Great Might Vajra Bull to speed up. He hoped to leave the city as soon as possible. Once he entered the wilderness, there wouldn’t be so many people gawking at him.
“Interesting!” On the second floor of a cafe, three men were sitting by the window and drinking coffee. One of the men saw Zhou Wen riding the Great Might Vajra Bull.
The other two men looked towards the street and immediately discovered Zhou Wen.
One of the men’s eyes suddenly lit up as he said to the other two men, “Dugu Ge, Zhang Chunqiu, why don’t we use that person as a bet and decide the ownership of that thing?”
“Tell me about it,” Dugu Ge said expressionlessly.
Zhang Chunqiu also smiled and nodded. “As long as it’s fair, I have no objections.”
“It’s definitely fair. Let’s guess when that person will put down the log on his shoulder. Whoever guesses the closest time will get the thing. What do you think?” Xia Liuchuan said.
“Sure,” Dugu Ge said directly.
“I have no objections,” said Zhang Chunqiu.
“Eh, you guys actually didn’t suspect that I arranged this person? Could it be that you guys know him?” Xia Liuchuan asked, a little surprised.
“Wang Mingyuan’s disciple, adopted son of Madam Lan of the An family. It’s quite difficult to not know him these days,” Zhang Chunqiu said.
“So he’s Zhou Wen.” Xia Liuchuan thought for a moment before smiling again. “That’s good. None of us will be at a disadvantage by using a third party as a bet. It’ll be fair and square. No one will complain even if they lose.”
After a pause, Xia Liuchuan continued, “If it were an ordinary person, after hearing so much from wagging tongues, he would probably put down the log very quickly. Since he’s not an ordinary person, it depends on when he plans to put down the log to rest. I guess it won’t take long. It should be around seven in the evening. What do you think?”