Chapter 51: Once Thriving, Thriving Thoroughly. Once Lost, Losing Thoroughly
Jingmen Island, at Jarvis Hotel’s top floor Presidential Suite.
The moment Tang Xiu hung up the phone, a middle-aged man standing next to the window fell down with a pale complexion.
At the next moment, the middle-aged man turned as he fiercely slapped a young man at his side.
The youngster, who looked at the middle-aged man with an anticipating expression, didn’t guard against the anger from the middle-aged man. So he got slapped directly and fell to the floor.
“Eldest Senior Brother… y-y-you… why do you hit me?” Zhang Tiechun stared at Gong Dalong with a puzzled expression.
Jia Ruidao only received 3 apprentices in his whole life. Respectively, they were the Eldest Apprentice Gong Dalong, the 2nd Apprentice Zhang Tiechun, and the 3rd Apprentice Jia Yelei.
Jia Yelei was Jia Ruidao’s son and also his successor.
The 3 brothers had a good relationship. They supported and cared for each other, and were just like blood brothers. Their good relationship was even well known throughout the Shuangqing Province.
The only minor defect to the otherwise perfect brotherhood, was that Jia Yelei loved vanity and glory. His extreme impulsive nature made Gong Dalong and Zhang Tiechun often clean up his mess, even Jia Ruidao also had to do the same.
The reason Jia Ruidao had to rush to Jingmen Island was because Jia Yelei lost a gambling bet very miserably. He even lost his temper after he lost, using his father’s reputation and provoked big trouble.
Jia Ruidao’s reputation might be useful in the Shuangqing Province, but not in other places of the country. Much less Jingmen Island, a place with quite a strong anti-foreigner sentiment. Not only was Jia Yelei unable to deter others with his father’s name, but he also suffered an even more humiliating treatment.
In just 3 days, under the taunts of the opponent, the rash and impatient Jia Yelei was hooked and lost 100 million. When Jia Yelei finally realized the problem, he called his 2nd Senior Brother—Zhang Tiechun.
Zhang Tiechun had mastered most of Jia Ruidao’s gambling techniques. He also doted on Jia Yelei and rushed to Jingmen Island. Without even reprimanding or asking of Jia Yelei’s problem, he leaped into the opponent’s traps and then lost another 50 million.
“Why did I hit you? Right now, you’re still asking why I hit you? Master’s wife’s last will for us was to look after this little guy. But you fucked that up! You didn’t fucking care that he went to gamble on Jingmen Island for half a month. You knew nothing about the circumstances and didn’t tell Master or me when he called you for help. You even played dumb with little brother.”
“Zhang Tiechun, do you realize that if Master is doomed this time, what kind of situation we have to face, hah? Not only would we be bankrupt, but our reputation in Shuangqing Province will also be ruined. You also know Master’s personality, do you think Master would still want to live afterward?”
Gong Dalong almost roared at Zhang Tiechun.
“T-Tang Xiu… H-he doesn’t want to help us?” Zhang Tiechun no longer argued as he asked with a puzzled expression.
“I don’t know whether Tang Xiu’s gambling skills are good or not. But he perfectly knew that this water is too deep. He admitted that his gambling skills are not that good and is unable to help. He simply hung the phone up without even giving me the opportunity to speak.” Having heard it, Gong Dalong’s complexion turned dim as he sighed in desperation.
“T-this… How could Tang Xiu be like this… for gamblers like us, once we thrive, we thrive gloriously, but once we lose, we lose completely. Not only would that affect our master and disciples’ reputation, but also the entire Shuangqing Province’s reputation. He doesn’t have any consideration about that…” Zhang Tiechun replied with a pale expression.
“Master has told us very clearly; Tang Xiu is not a gambler. He is not from our society.” Gong Dalong smiled. He shook his head and added, “Let’s think of other ways first, we can only move Tang Xiu out of favor and speak to him with reason slowly.”
After hanging up the call from Gong Dalong, Tang Xiu cleaned up the villa, and then headed back to school.
Taking leave this time for Tang Xiu was mainly to quench his body and complete the Vitality Tempering stage. Since he had completed tempering his body, Tang Xiu naturally didn’t need to stay outside.
Tang Xiu’s past incarnation was completely obsessed with cultivation, alchemy, refining tools and talisman, as well as manufacturing symbols and charms. He didn’t pay attention to the outside and was almost oblivious to the outside world, to the point that he was betrayed by his lover and close friend at the final moment.
Since he already had the unique and peerless Divine Cultivation Method of the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis, coupled with his past incarnation’s knowledge and experience, Tang Xiu wasn’t worried about his strength’s promotion being slow or not. Therefore, he just wanted to use his time and energy to familiarize himself with the worldly affairs and temper his state of mind at the same time.
When Tang Xiu entered the classroom, he realized that his classmates’ expression when they looked at him was very strange. He even faintly heard some ugly words from them.
“He must have cheated to get the top scorer on the Monthly Test. If he really has the ability, he would be able to take first place again on this Monthly Test.”
“Bah, it’s unlikely for him to create that big sensation again. Yang Jian from Class 5 has continued his first scorer for a few sessions of the Monthly Test. But he didn’t study that serious every day.”
“The way I see it, Tang Xiu thought that graduation is near. So he couldn’t bear to act crazy once. He must have thought that at least he would be remembered by everyone. By his IQ, I don’t think he really could’ve gotten first place.”
****
Suddenly hearing these words, it made Tang Xiu’s heart very uncomfortable.
But after he thought deeper, he slightly relaxed.
He had “fallen” for so long after all. His marks were at the very bottom. Suddenly, he leaped up to first place. It’s no wonder that others wouldn’t feel good about it. So how would he expect that they would like and respect him in an instant?
Perhaps the instant results might cause a sensation for a moment, as well as shake some people. But as time passed by, the sensation caused by it would gradually disappear. Some people with ill intentions would always provoke and spread rumors to express their jealousy and resentment, and even slander him.
“Eldest Brother, just fucking ignore them. They just have too much time and got no balls. They’re just the kind of sh*ts that will bite their own tongue one day.” Seeing that Tang Xiu had come back, Yuan Chuling couldn’t help but become overjoyed. After chatting for awhile, he realized that Tang Xiu’s face was a bit unusual. He quickly understood and whispered to comfort him.
“It’s fine really. We’ll slap them with our marks.” Tang Xiu nodded. He then opened his school desk and prepared to flip over from the inside.
The moment he opened his desk, Tang Xiu was shocked. 10 days had passed since he left school, and the desk had been fully stuffed with white paper exams.
“Eldest Brother, I really admire your wise choice. You strolled out there and had some fun. You don’t need to face this sh**ty endless torture… Hey, hold on… why do I feel that you’re whiter and taller than before? You didn’t get a plastic surgery, did you?” Yuan Chuling suddenly realized something was wrong while he was speaking and then shouted.
Since his voice was quite loud, everyone’s eyes in the classroom shifted their sights on them all of a sudden. And then their eyes brushed over at Tang Xiu’s body.
Tang Xiu’s heart thumped and his expression changed as he heard Yuan Chuling’s words.
Although Tang Xiu also found that his height became taller after he quenched his body, but after he had a few phone calls and pondered about other things, he had forgotten about the changes in his height.
But when he prepared to explain it, the others’ words suddenly echoed behind him, making him shocked.
“Damn Fatty. You think you’ll die if you’re not boasting, won’t you? Tang Xiu still owes his tuition fee, how the hell would he have the money to do plastic surgery, huh?”
“If plastic surgery can make my height taller, I’ll have one too.”
“Bah, I know that that Fatty only shouted to attract everyone’s attention, don’t pay attention to this bastard.”
****
Tang Xiu had become taller. But because he had entered Class 10 for a month only, much less he sat in his seat most of the time and didn’t move nor interact with his classmates, resulting in others feeling that his presence in the classroom was very weak.
If it were not because of intentional provocations by Su Xiangfei, the Class 10’s students might have ignored such a student like Tang Xiu. They didn’t care about his height, neither would they pay attention if his skin was white or black.
Tang Xiu also thought that the change in his height might cause a sensation and suspicion. But the fact that it happened made him felt at ease.
Everyone was simply ignoring Yuan Chuling and only mocked and ridiculed him before they got busy and back to their own things, no longer responding to him.
“Huh? Could it be that I was really wrong?” Yuan Chuling looked at the Tang Xiu with a puzzled expression. But he couldn’t help but also whisper, “Man, my eyes could’ve really fooled me and made me mistaken. But… could it be that I also had mistakenly read the exam papers and my eyes were blurry?”
Tang Xiu now thoroughly felt at ease when he heard Yuan Chuling’s words.
Yuan Chuling was his closest buddy at Star City First High School. If even Yuan Chuling were not sure that he had undergone tremendous changes, others surely would be unable to see anything.
As for his family members, Tang Xiu was never worried from the start.
17 and 18 years old was the age when one’s body had tremendous changes. He only went home once a month. His Mom was also not necessarily concerned about his height. She might be stunned when seeing that his height suddenly became taller. It was very likely the she would only be pleasantly surprised, but she wouldn’t have any suspicions or fears.
After having chatted for a while with Tang Xiu, Yuan Chuling began to seriously read the book review.
The knot in Yuan Chuling’s heart perhaps had been untied completely. Maybe after the circumstances and environments had changed, his mentality also changed along with it.
Tang Xiu could tell that Yuan Chuling was no longer a laughing slapstick chap like he was before because he was attentively studying right now.
Having swept the exam papers in his school desk, Tang Xiu scraped them out and threw them into the trash can. He didn’t want to waste his precious time on boring exercises and exam papers.
“The wealth, the companion, the cultivation method, and the place. The wealth is put in first place. So the next priority for me is carving the path to make money. Not this shitty College Entrance Test.”
Treading on the cultivation path particularly stressed on these 4 aspects, “The Wealth”, “The Companion”, “The Cultivation Method”, and “The Place”.
With the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis, Tang Xiu had no worries with cultivation methods. Earth was a world with the final stage law. Apart from himself, Tang Xiu hadn’t found any other cultivators and had no thought of finding other cultivators. As for the cultivation locations, since the Heavenly Palace’s construction started to be built on Walled Hill Village, Tang Xiu temporarily didn’t have to worry about it.
But regarding the “wealth” aspect, Tang Xiu more or less had no choice but to pay attention.