Chapter 53: Another Reason

“Ah, you’re awake, Boss!”

Yuan Qinghua almost spilled the bowl of medicine onto the ground when he saw Xu Yi sitting coldy by the bedside. He quickened his pace and stepped towards the bed, anxiously saying, “Lie down, lie down. The doctor said that the damage to your internal organs was not light. You have to rest.”

He barely finished his sentence before Xu Yi grabbed the bowl of medicine and threw it out the window. “Rest my foot. How could I not know how badly hurt I am from an injury I inflicted on my own? On the other hand, you rascal, to think you would just leave me at the doctor’s and then run off on your own!?”

“What? Self-inflicted injury? What do you mean? Ah, I understand!”

Yuan Qinghua slapped his thigh as his eyes opened wide. He stuck out his thumb and said, “Up there…way up there. Boss, this move of yours is so up there that it’s even higher than the viewing platforms of the Rising Dragon Platform. It’s breaking through the heavens! Hahaha, a fake injury? That’s simply too brilliant. With a hundred thousand audiences as witnesses, the betting house can’t set up a smokescreen even if they wanted to. There’s no way for your odds to not be high now; we’ll win big for sure this time.”

Yuan Qinghua was right. Xu Yi faked an injury precisely because he wanted to raise his odds. Money was hard to earn, and this was a rare opportunity that even required him to put his life on the line. If he did not grab the chance to earn some money, he would be letting himself down.

But the betting house was cunning, creating such lousy odds for him. Since it has come to this, he might as well spew some blood in front of a hundred thousand-strong audience and see if the betting house could manipulate his odds any longer. With this, he would be able to earn a bit more cash to spend.

“Cut the praise. I want to know what you have been busy with all afternoon. If you don’t have a good answer, I’m docking half of your salary this month!”

Xu Yi was not done with his grievances.

Yuan Qinghua leapt three feet into the air. His plump face distorted as he raised his voice. “What! Boss, how could you say such a thing and not worry about getting struck by lightning? You would be truly wronging me by docking my pay. Don’t you know what I’ve been busy with this whole afternoon? The soles of my feet are still numb!”

“Didn’t you just redeem your betting ticket? How did that take up your whole afternoon?”

Xu Yi furrowed his brows as he responded.

With the mention of betting tickets, Yuan Qinghua’s distorted plump face finally began to return to normal. He took out two bank notes and handed one over. “Boss, you’ve made it big this time. Capital of 1000 gold and interest of 500 gold for a total of 1500 gold. Hehe, I have you to thank for earning a bit on my own as well.”

With those words, a smile appeared back on his plump face. If not for Xu Yi, he too would have been like most of the gamblers in the city and would have fallen into the deep ditch known as “Gao Pan,” never to crawl back out again.

Today, with his bet of 30 gold and his earnings of 15 gold, it was definitely the most profitable bet Yuan Qinghua had ever made in his entire gambling career.

Xu Yi took the bank note that was handed over, eyed it for a moment, and curiously asked, “Why is the total amount 1600 gold?”

“That’s what I need you to understand. Did you think the only thing I did all afternoon was to redeem a betting ticket? After your fight, you simply collapsed, leaving a mess behind that I had to deal with all on my own. Gao Pan died, so all the items he had with him belong to you now according to the regulations. Since you were not there to collect them, I had to go. And let me add, I even had to let them test that I had a blood pact with you before they reluctantly let me collect the items,” Yuan Qinghua replied with attitude.

“Of the 1600 gold, 100 gold comes from the miscellaneous items that Gao Pan possessed. To save the hassle, I had them combined for you when redeeming the betting voucher to be placed on the same gold voucher. Other than that, there was also Gao Pan’s golden armour, which I have also collected for you. On the way back, before even leaving the place, there was already someone trying to buy it. You still had not woken up, so I dared not take matters into my own hands. I brought it back along with Gao Pan’s silver spear, and placed them under your bed.” With that, he pointed to the empty space at the bed.

Xu Yi was overjoyed. At that time, when he had the idea of pretending to lose consciousness, what he could not bear to leave behind was that silver spear that he had managed to get his hands on.

Unexpectedly, the policies were very user-friendly. Not only have they given him the silver spear, even the golden armour was in his hands now.

“It’s been tough for you, Brother Yuan.”

Xu Yi was done with the poor life, and his money-grabbing tendencies were not in the least bit above that of Yuan Qinghua’s. Hearing that both the silver spear and the golden armour were in his hands now, his heart blossomed with delight.

“It’s been tough. Of course it’s been tough. Did you think that was all that I was busy with? Didn’t you instruct me to move house? I had planned to look for a place tomorrow, but with your battle complete, you suddenly became a big name in Guang’an, comparable to the most famous that I’ve seen out there. Back at the office that we were staying at, people kept coming to the door. It was just too noisy, so I had no choice but to hurry and find a new house. I put in lots of effort before I could buy this mansion, then I hurriedly brought you over from the doctor’s. Haven’t you noticed that this bedroom is different from the one at your workplace?”

Yuan Qinghua had a mountain of grievances. As he spoke about the heartfelt parts, he even shed a tear.

Only now did Xu Yi realize that the room was indeed different. Although the design was still simple, it was a lot more lavish than before.

“And that’s not all, after bringing you here to rest, I rushed out to hire a nanny and two maids. The moment I got back, I went to prepare your medicine only to come in and face your aggressive questioning. What did I do to deserve this!”

Yuan Qinghua seemed to have no end to his grievances.

Xu Yi suddenly understood. “You can stop now. Thirty percent bonus for this month’s salary!”

“Boss is wise!”

The dark clouds on Yuan Qinghua’s face dissipated immediately. He rushed to the window, stuck out his body, and shouted, “Aunty Zhang, Lotus, go to Tianxiang Restaurant to order a meal for the Master. Get all the meat dishes, no vegetarian ones.” But after he spoke, he realised something was amiss. The boss was still feigning injury. How could he be feasting on lavish meat dishes? He immediately took back what he said. “Forget it. The Master is still injured and needs something light. Get the kitchen to prepare something lighter.”

“Enough, you don’t need to keep acting with me here. I have a few tasks for you; get them done for me tomorrow.”

Xu Yi did not mind Yuan Qinghua’s money-minded attitude. He and Yuan Qinghua had only just met, and for Yuan Qinghua to work to such an extent just because of his loyalty to money, Xu Yi was more than satisfied. “Firstly, take that silver spear and settle it for me at Linglong Hall. At the same time, help me inquire as to how the herbs I asked for are coming along. If possible, I can pay more to have Linglong Hall purchase them from other prefectures.”

After the battle with Gao Pan, Xu Yi fully understood the importance of Martial Technique. If he had not used trickery and faced Gao Pan head on, he would have had to go through a lot of effort to successfully take down Gao Pan.

And after this battle, his style of fighting would no longer be a secret. The plan to use his strengths to target the opponent’s shortcomings worked only on the premise that others were not familiar with his patterns.

This time, Black Dragon Hall had taken a painful blow. They would surely plan to unleash their true capabilities.

As such, for Xu Yi, a Martial Technique was the most imminent need.

Yuan Qinghua: “The buying of the herbs should be no problem, I think. As long as you can pay the price, there should be nothing that you cannot get. Don’t worry, I will get it done properly for you. Oh yes, what do you plan on doing with that armour? Keeping it would be a waste since it does not match your build. Why don’t we pay a bit and exchange it for another one at the Alchemist Chamber.”

Xu Yi: “That golden armour is not suitable for my use, so take care of it for me. Didn’t you say someone wanted to buy it on your way back? Find a high offer and sell it.”

Yuan Qinghua: “For a high offer, shouldn’t you go to Linglong hall? How could a private buyer afford it? This is a low grade magical armour from the Alchemists’ Chamber worth 2000 gold.” As he said those words, his eyebrows suddenly shot up. “That’s not right. You never make a bad deal, Boss. There must be another reason behind this. Tell me, quick.”