Cornered
“How far has the news spread on the black market?”
“Mm… It’s rather weird. It seems somebody is deliberately restricting its spread. There aren’t a lot of people in the capital who know about it.”
The weirdest part about it was the restriction. Who exactly did they want to know about it because the entire imperial court was aware I was an amateur at martial arts? Tianhu’s hair was sacrificed to cement the fact; His Majesty saw with his own eyes. If the imperial court heard an amateur could no longer fight, they’d just say, “My condolences” at most. His Majesty might even piggy back off it to have me tackle more civil-servant-type of tasks. That was no skin of off my back. I was unsure how many people in the capital were interested in my head, but relying on that news to assassinate me was an inefficient tactic.
“You have let your emotions cloud your judgement. If the information was too widespread and your sect found out, who’d be able to harm you?”
The older the wiser, they say. Now I understand why they confined the news to the capital. You bunch of conniving pricks.
No matter if the bounty hunters knew who I was or not – even if they were after indirectly defeating Mount Daluo – there’d be no shortage of bounty hunters willing to give it a crack. Suffice to say, people who were willing to risk their lives for the fat sum would come after me, too. As for those who genuinely hated my guts, if they happened to be in the capital and caught wind of it, why wouldn’t they try to use me for training? There was motivation for every sort of character to come after me.
“Whoever came up with it is ruthless; it looks like they won’t stop until you’re dead. Any clue who they might be?”
Is that a trick question? Who else would it be besides Jingan?! Who else would have so much free time and spare money to do this? Now I know what she wanted me to be careful of. No wonder why I felt like some sort of hunter was watching me when I left. If it wasn’t for my handicap, you pricks would…
As I bit into the last bone, I asked, “Ol’ Shi, how many people do you think will come after me?”
“That’ll depend on how many people you’ve accosted.”
D-does the capital even have enough space for that many?! Is the imperial court opening tourism for funds?! Am I the imperial court’s new commodity?! You sure are your money-grubbing father’s daughter, Jingan, never forgetting to fill the national treasury at the same time you harm someone.
“Relax. Didn’t I tell you that the news hasn’t left the capital?”
“That doesn’t reduce the numbers to comfortable levels. I just have to walk out the door to have haters.”
Proprietor Shi shook his head and then casually took two bites. “It’s you we’re talking about. You have your ways, right?”
“No need to worry about getting burnt when you’re watching a fire from the other side of the bank, huh?”
“What do you mean? I’ve warned you. How you deal with it is your problem. More importantly,” Proprietor Shi grinned, “when are you getting married?”
“Is this the right time for this?!”
“How is it not? I watched you grow up. If you have even 10% of your shifu’s luck with women, you should have girls chasing you now, r-”
“Ming Feizhen!”
The two of us looked behind Proprietor Shi to see a young girl glaring daggers at me.
“Sh!”
“Sshh!”
We both understood that was a cue to pause our talk regarding the pugilistic world.
“Hahaha, welcome back, my daughter.”
“Wow, my nephew has grown so big already. Let Uncle…”
“Ming Feizhen, that’s inappropriate. Eh? Wait.” Proprietor Shi looked back to his daughter and then me. “Wait! Wh-wh-what have you done?”
“You’ve got it all wrong! The pace just threw me off. What could I have done when I was gone for months?!”
“Is this appropriate?! We’ve known each other for so many years, y-”
“You’re jumping to wrong conclusions on your own!”
“What are you two talking about?” Shi Weiliang looked at us as though we were crazy.
We awkwardly chuckled and then glared at each other.
“Who are you calling your nephew?” snapped Ol’ Shi.
“Dad, take a seat first. I need to speak to Ming Feizhen.”
“Ming Feizhen! Are you still going to claim innocence?!”
“I told you that you’ve got it all wrong! But I’ll go.”
“Is this appropriate?! Is this appropriate?!”
I jogged downstairs with Shi Weiliang before Ol’ Shi burst a vein. She led me to a quiet corner.
This… is inappropriate, isn’t it?
Without realising I was still mulling over what her dad said, Shi Weiliang said, “You’re finally back.”
“Uh, yeah, I am.”
“So, what do you think?”
Huh? This is definitely not appropriate.
“I think we should just forget it. After all, there are a group of people I’m still having trouble sorting out.”
“What?! Xiao Han didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“The academy idol contest!”
Ooooh, I totally forgot about that. Nearly forgot I had to win that darn thing to repay my debt.
“What about it, though? I heard from Xiao that preparations are going well. I’ll bring Tang Ye along on time, so we’re good, aren’t we?”
“Are you getting senile?”
“Huh? What’s the problem?”
“Tsk, seriously! The idol contest and special exams fall on the same day!”
“Ah?”
So? So what if they’re on the same d-, hold up!
“You’re joking me!”
“You finally realised?! This means you have to take the special exams. Not only you, but several others in our class have to take them, too. You and He Shi have been ordered to take part in the exams. I heard His Majesty named you two in particular; everyone in the academy knows.”
Doesn’t that mean our hopes of winning the contest are dashed? Even if we do win, how can I convince them to let me hog the prize? Am I not cornered?! I get it now. Even if you don’t send assassins, you can still publicly end me. You Lis are picking on me! Fine, let’s see who ends who!
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