Ch. 6 - A sweets party.

Han Xiu still has enough rage left in him to spit out, “Fuck you.”

"That's enough!" Young master Yue frowns. "How disgusting that you attacked your master in front of everyone here! Breaking your arm is a small punishment!"

Han Xiu grits his teeth and stands up, backing away from the man.

Vice President Wan says, "You don't deserve to be a citizen of Yunyue city after an attampted murder, no matter how gifted you are. Please leave Yunyue city as soon as possible."

As the vice president of the Alchemy Association, his duty is to maintain the dignity of the teachers and fairly preside over the competition. He is very proud of the tradition and is most disgusted with this kind of conduct.

Han Xiu clutches his injured arm, his forehead covered with a cold sweat. He looks at the cold face of young master Yue and other masters, and feels the unsympathetic eyes of the audience. His lower lip is about to bleed from being bitten through. Without saying a word, he turns and leaves.

A dark shadow in the crowd also quietly follows.

When Han Xiu leaves the stage, and passes the crowd, he can only hide himself around the corner of a store before he collapses.

How can this happen? He was born with a gold and wood body, he should have a brighter future than any of these people!

It's all Ning Zhao's fault. Han Xiu will never let this go. Even if he has to take this to the afterlife and continue this fight as a ghost, he'll tear Ning Zhao apart!

Someone steps around the corner and stops beside where Han Xiu is slumped against a wall, peering down at him like observing a pitiful stray dog.

The stranger's eyes are full of sympathy, his voice gentle. "Do you want revenge? I can help you."

The stranger crouches down next to Han Xiu. "You only need to surrender to me."

...

On the Master's Oath platform, the situation has finally come to a close.

Huang Xun sighs and says sincerely, "I lost the contest this time."

He really didn't expect Han Xiu to be such an insidious person. If Huang Xun won this competition, if he got in the way of the student's future, would he be poisoned too?

Kong Wuying was already staring at him very eagerly and Huang Xun understands the meaning. He takes out a bag of coins. "This is 10,000 gold coins."

Kong Wuying candidly takes the gold and immediately starts counting it out, as if afraid of Huang Xun cheating him. He can't help it, he's been very poor recently.

Huang Xun puts forward another request. "Your alchemy is excellent. I could learn a lot from you."

Actually, Hunag Xun can't wait to challenge Kong Wuying again, his fighting spirit is positively exuberant, hoping to see more incredible refining from this man.

Kong Wuying eyes curve up in a smile. "Asking for advice comes with a fee. 5,000 gold coins an hour."

Huang Xun blinks.

Kong Wuying puts the gold into a pocket. "Talk to my assistant to set up a time." Kong Wuying gestures off to the side. "Binbin, it's up to you."

Yue Bin, who had been watching the competition the whole time, grimaces. "Um, Ning Zhao, let's talk about it later."

Young master Yue sends Yue Bin a mildly curious glance and then smiles at Kong Wuying. "It's getting late. Ning Zhao, would you like to accompany me to dinner at Fengyue?"

Fengyue is the best restaurant in Yunyue city. A dish there is worth a lot of money. Although Kong Wuying doesn't know this, he readily accepts. It won't take much time and after, Kong Wuying can track down Han Xiu and kill him.

…

In the most luxurious room in Fengyue, Kong Wuying is scanning the menu.

To be fair, Fengyue's dishes are very good. They're cooked with rare ingredients, even including low-grade spirit animal meat. The ingredients are extremely expensive, and can only be dreamed of by ordinary people.

But Kong Wuying isn't considered an ordinary person and the gaze he uses to read the menu can be considered just shy of dislike.

Nine-tailed Anchovy, Golden Silk fungus, Stir-Fried Antler, Insideout Mushroom soup, White Dragon broth...

None of them are to his taste.

Frankly speaking, Kong Wuying is from Yeying. Besides the confusing and inexplicable hatred that the Mingguang people have for Yeying, the most uncomfortable thing for Kong Wuying is the food here.

The overarching taste of Mingguang tends to be salty, while Yeying strays towards sweet. In fact, it's because of Kong Wuying's love of sweet things that lead to the popularity of such dishes all over Yeying.

After reading the entire menu, he orders a basic snack -- bean curd.

The bean curd in a restaurant like Fengyue is not a street stall snack costing 5 copper coins, but it is undoubtedly the cheapest food on this menu.

Xiao Yue is a little surprised. "You're just ordering a bean curd? You're welcome to order more."

"No, I'm not hungry," Kong Wuying insists.

Xiao Yue sighs from the bottom of his heart. He knows that Ning Zhao is short on money recently, otherwise he wouldn't have haggled over the compensation of 100 gold coins. However, the teacher is still frugal enough that he'd only order a bowl of cheap bean curd even with Xiao Yue treating.

Looking at Kong Wuying's thin body, Xiao Yue inexplicably felt some heartache. With a wave of his hand, he orders, "I'll have one of all the dishes on the menu."

The bean curd quickly arrives. All the dishes in Fengyue are elaborately decorated. The snow-white tofu is as white as jade, carved into the shape of a fruit. Many people can't bear to eat something so beautiful. The faintly red soup is bright in color, with some minced meat side dishes on the edges.

Kong Wuying eats a mouthful and spits it back into a napkin. "So salty!"

Xiao Yue laughs. "You're kidding me, of course the bean curd is salty."

Kong Wuying frowns.

The system speaks up, "Of course bean curd is salty, what else can it be? You can't say that you want to eat sweet bean curd. People who eat sweet bean curd aren't true Mingguang. Of course, those annoying Yeying can eat sweet bean curd but that's because there's something wrong with them. Master, you can't say that you like it, this is taboo in Mingguang. You may be mistaken for a Yeying spy…"

At this point, the system suddenly realizes something and becomes abruptly silent.

Kong Wuying ignores the system. "Spicy foods are much more delicious."

Xiao Yue is dumbfounded. "It seems that you like spicy food. Try this boiled canary meat."

Kong Wuying looks at the salty dish pushed in front of him, his smile a bit blank. But there's no other way, he has to eat something.

...

Yue Bin goes back home with an air of smugness. His father-in-law is a well known man in Yunyue city and his father is also an alchemy master. No one can make Yue Bin do what he doesn't want to.

Anyway, there wasn't a third person when the bet was made to stand as witness. If Yue Bin refuses, Ning Zhao can't do anything. But the man seems to be very good at alchemy, and with that display earlier…would Ning Zhao poison Yue Bin secretly?

Yue Bin was so distracted, he ran head first into his father.

Yue Yang frowns and reprimands his son. "You're a full grown adult and yet you still toddle blindly when you walk. What would it look like to others?"

"Father!" Yue Bin's face flushed red and his expression becomes bitter. "I lost a bet and this awful person will force me to be his servant for ten years!"

"What!" Yue Yang's face distorts in anger. "Although I'm not talented, I still deserve respect. Tell, which bastard with no sense would dare to make my son a servant?"

…

After a hot and spicy dinner, Kong Wuying gets home feeling sick.

At this moment, the long silent system suddenly says, "Host, you're… Who are you?

In fact, as early as the Master's Oath competition, it knew that the host was not the real Ning Zhao. If Ning Zhao had this kind of ability all along, how could his life still be so miserable?

But it doesn't matter who it is, as long as the body is compatible with the system. Yet the system now deeply suspects that the host may be a spy from the Yeying continent.

The system is not a product of this world, and it started out treating all people fairly, but it also spent so much time with Chu Liyuan since it gained its own consciousness. It has long regarded its homeland as Mingguang and has taken on a hatred for Yeying.

The new host is a citizen of Yeying, which is absolutely not acceptable!

So the system says, "Host, you are not from Yeying, are you?"

Kong Wuying smiles, as sweet as honey. "Am I? What if it's true?"

The system retorts, "Citizens of Yeying are despicable, if you really are, please forgive me for not staying with you but our roads are different, goodbye!"

After that, the system begins the evacuation procedure.

It starts, but doesn't work.

Kong Wuying's fingers gently pinch the stone hanging down in front of his chest. His smile turns into a wicked smirk. "What was that? I didn't hear what you said just now."

The system only feels that its data is glitching, and a sense of impending destruction washes over it. How could this man...

The system does an immediate flip. "It's great that the host is from Yeying. I've always admired Yeying's decisiveness and wisdom. It's my great fortune to be able to fight with you. You can tell me what you want, I'm at your service."

Chu Liyuan, I'm sorry, but this system also needs to survive.

"Let's unlock the second-level recipes first," Kong Wuying orders.

"A-according to regulations, the task must be completed..."

Kong Wuying's smile falls away. "Oh? You're quite bold."

Kong Wuying is about to discipline the system, when a knock raps against the front door.

Who is it that's looking for him at such a late hour? Kong Wuying goes to open the door and finds his new servant on the other side.

Yue Bin's back is straight. If he was alone, he might be a little afraid, but now his father is backing him up. "Ning Zhao, you-"

Yue Bin topples forward from a kick and face plants. Yue Bin scrambles up, turning around in shock because the only person who could have kicked him was his father standing behind.

Yue Bin sees his father, usually majestic and domineering, was now bowing respectfully to Ning Zhao.

"Ning Zhao," Yue Yang begins in a simpering tone. "My son lost a bet today and I've brought him to fulfill his side of the deal. From now on, hecs your servant for the next ten years. If he's not satisfactory, you can scold him. If the boy dares to talk back, I will be the first to put him back in his place!"

Yue Bin is speechless.

This...is my father?

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