DiploNovel #289 - Broken Heart
#289 - Broken Heart
Chapter 288: A Broken Heart
Zhang Chen wasn't stupid. If the Great Virtuous Teacher's will was focused here, the main hall would definitely be under his intense scrutiny. If he inexplicably went for a walk around the main hall, he would surely be discovered by the Great Virtuous Teacher. The Great Virtuous Teacher's level was unknown and not easy to fool. He had to be vigilant when facing such an existence.
After pondering for a moment, Zhang Chen turned around and walked back. The best course of action for him was to wait and see. If the Great Virtuous Teacher was truly that powerful, he would naturally discover Zhang Xiaohua's methods. If the Great Virtuous Teacher was a fraud, unable to even detect Zhang Xiaohua's preparations, then that was all he was.
Zhang Chen returned to the small courtyard and lay low, not daring to continue stealing points. Compared to the cultivation method after Qi Refining, stealing points could be delayed slightly.
In the afternoon, Li Donglai, feeling bored, walked out of his room and clamored to drag Zhang Chen to Huangli Temple for sightseeing. As they strolled along, admiring the scenery of Huangli Temple, Li Donglai's eyes fell on the snow-white strands of hair on Zhang Chen's head: "Hey, Zhang brother, the hair on your head is quite unique. It looks very distinctive and handsome."
Zhang Chen glanced at Li Donglai. This kid really didn't know how to talk. If he had a choice, Zhang Chen would rather have a full head of black hair. This full head of white hair was something he had exchanged for his life.
Just as they were talking, Cheng Yu encountered trouble at the mountaintop pavilion in the distance.
Inside the mountaintop pavilion, a dozen figures sat around, drinking and making merry. They passed around a luminous cup, admiring it. Chu Mingyue described its magical properties: "This Moonlit Cup is a supreme treasure, containing a mystical power. Whether it's clear water or any other liquid, as long as it's poured into the cup, it will instantly transform into fine wine and delicacies. Most importantly, this wine can nourish the soul and beautify the complexion, which is very miraculous."
"Oh? Is there such a magical thing in the world? Doesn't that involve mystical power?" Zhang Xiaohua immediately became interested upon hearing this. Ever since he came into contact with mystical power, he had been interested in everything related to mystery.
Seeing that Zhang Xiaohua was interested, Chu Mingyue quickly called out: "Bring a cup of clear water and let the Prince experience the magic of this cup."
Xiaodouding, like a little servant girl, immediately brought over the prepared clear water. Zhang Xiaohua poured it into the Moonlit Cup for a test and saw that the clear water had indeed turned into wine. He immediately praised it incessantly.
"If the Prince likes it, I will give this item to the Prince," Chu Mingyue said quickly.
Zhang Xiaohua understood the implied meaning, knowing that the other party wanted to curry favor with him. So he nodded: "If I don't accept my nephew's kindness, it would make me seem unreasonable."
Zhang Xiaohua played with the cup for a while. This cup involved mystical power, and he was indeed moved. So he held the cup, intending to turn around and find a jade box to store it. But who knew that at the moment he turned around, he happened to bump into Xiaodouding, who was craning her neck to watch the excitement, and the cup directly fell to the ground, instantly shattering into eight pieces. The atmosphere in the pavilion immediately froze.
A million curses ran through Chu Mingyue's mind. This cup was his capital for ingratiating himself with the Pingbian Prince's Mansion and achieving promotion. And now it was broken? He had to find a scapegoat.
Needless to say, although the cup slipped from Zhang Xiaohua's hand, did he dare to find trouble with Zhang Xiaohua? Did he dare to say that Zhang Xiaohua was at fault?
So his gaze shifted and fell on Cheng Yu. He knew this little girl; she was his little fan girl. But so what? He had to find a scapegoat to perform a show, so that Zhang Xiaohua would know how precious this cup was. So he said with a burst of anger: "Where did this lowly servant come from? This is a gathering of our fellow Daoists. No one invited you. Who told you to sneak in here?"
As he spoke, his palm slapped over.
Meanwhile, Zhang Chen and Li Donglai were strolling in the mountains when suddenly a noisy commotion came from the mountaintop, accompanied by the wailing of ghosts and wolves, echoing through the forest.
Upon hearing this, Li Donglai looked curiously in the direction of the noise. After listening carefully to the crying, his heart tightened: "Is that Cheng Yu's voice? But didn't Cheng Yu go to chase after Chu Mingyue? Why is she crying in this remote mountain forest?"
"Sounds like that little thing's voice?" Li Donglai turned his head to look at Zhang Chen, his voice somewhat uncertain.
Without saying a word, Zhang Chen quickly ran towards the mountain. Seeing this, Li Donglai followed closely behind. The two quickly went up the steps towards the mountaintop. Li Donglai, following behind Zhang Chen, saw Zhang Chen climbing the steps as swift as the wind. He, a Strength Realm expert, was actually having some trouble keeping up, and he couldn't help but be secretly shocked:
"This Junior Brother Zhang doesn't seem simple either."
The two climbed all the way to the mountaintop and saw a pavilion in the distance. Inside the pavilion, a dozen figures sat, various wines and delicacies were laid out, and Prince Zhang Xiaohua, Chu Mingyue, and other core disciples of Wu Changming's lineage gathered together.
However, at this time, the atmosphere in the pavilion was tense. Xiaodouding's cheeks were red and swollen, her hair disheveled. She stood there, at a loss, crying loudly and apologizing.
Chu Mingyue, however, had a cold expression and stood up, glaring angrily at Xiaodouding, his eyes full of murderous intent.
Zhang Xiaohua watched coldly from the sidelines, leisurely drinking his wine.
"Senior Brother, I didn't! I really didn't," Xiaodouding stood outside the pavilion, pleading and apologizing bitterly.
However, Chu Mingyue's voice was cold at this time, and his eyes were full of cruelty: "Shut up! Everyone saw it with their own eyes. Could we be wrongly accusing you? Do you know how much the Moonlit Cup is worth? Even if you sell your lowly self, you wouldn't be able to afford it. This is a supreme treasure that I specially purchased from the Sea Country, worth eight thousand taels of gold. Are you saying that just by saying you were wrong, I should let eight thousand taels of gold go down the drain?"
Upon hearing this, Xiaodouding sobbed and hiccuped incessantly, her voice full of grievance: "Senior Brother, don't be angry anymore. It's really not my fault…"
"Bang!"
Before Xiaodouding could finish speaking, Chu Mingyue kicked out, and Xiaodouding didn't dare to dodge. She rolled directly down the steps, immediately falling and breaking her head and nose, but she couldn't care about the injuries on her body. She climbed up and continued to apologize.
"Senior Brother, it's really not me, it's really not me!" Xiaodouding cried and sobbed, repeating these two sentences over and over again, but she didn't know how to defend herself.
"Stop!"
At this moment, Zhang Chen arrived from afar. Seeing Chu Mingyue kicking Xiaodouding down the steps, he was immediately filled with anger, his voice containing suppressed rage.
"Who do you think you are, daring to interfere in my business?" Chu Mingyue stood in the pavilion, looking down condescendingly, his eyes overlooking Zhang Chen and Cheng Yu.
Zhang Chen ignored Chu Mingyue and looked at Cheng Yu. Seeing Zhang Chen, Xiaodouding seemed to have found her backbone and rushed into Zhang Chen's arms, calling out with full of grievances: "Junior Brother!"
As she shouted, she spat out a mouthful of blood, and two white baby teeth also fell out, making Zhang Chen's heart clench.
"Junior brother, I didn't! It wasn't me who broke it! I was just watching from the side. Zhang Xiaohua turned around and bumped into me, and the cup fell to the ground and broke," the little bean sprout said, his voice full of grievance.
Zhang Chen looked at the little bean sprout with two missing front teeth, and a burst of anger surged within him. Such a cute child, how could he be treated like this?
"Who do you think you are?" Zhang Chen's gaze shifted from the little bean sprout, his eyes fixed on Chu Mingyue above: "You can lay your hands on a child?"
"Child? I don't care about any child. All I know is that this lowly servant broke my Moonlight Cup. Since you want to stand up for her, then compensate me for the Moonlight Cup first," Chu Mingyue said, his voice full of coldness, looking down at Zhang Chen from above.
"Junior brother, I didn't! Zhang Xiaohua bumped into me..." the little bean sprout carefully explained the cause and effect in Zhang Chen's ear.
After hearing the cause and effect, Zhang Chen looked at Zhang Xiaohua: "Young Master, what do you say about this matter? A real man takes responsibility for his actions. You wouldn't push all the responsibility onto a child, would you?"
Zhang Xiaohua was gloating and watching the excitement from the side: "Zhang Chen, I drank too much wine today. I forgot what happened just now when I was dizzy. But just now, all the junior nephews said that this girl broke the Moonlight Cup. Since everyone says so, then I can't distort the facts."
Zhang Xiaohua played the rogue, simply staying out of it and watching the show from the side.
"Pay up! Return my Moonlight Cup, or this matter isn't over today," Chu Mingyue said, his voice full of ruthlessness.
Hearing this, before Zhang Chen could speak, Li Donglai had already caught up. Hearing these words, he shouted from afar: "Want to pay? No problem. But you kicked my junior sister, causing her to roll down the stairs and hit her head. How is this debt to be settled?"
Li Donglai's voice was full of righteous indignation: "If you want us to compensate, you can, but first let me slap you twice on the head and kick you once in the chest. Settle this debt first, and then I will come forward and return your Moonlight Cup. Isn't it just a broken cup? What's the big deal? I'll give you two back then."
Li Donglai's voice was full of coldness, his expression full of ferocity.
As he spoke, his palm turned bronze and slapped on the bluestone beside him, and the entire bluestone shattered directly.
If Chu Mingyue were to receive this slap, he would surely die!
Seeing this scene, Chu Mingyue suddenly changed color. Who could survive this slap? By then, his entire head would probably be a rotten watermelon. Of course, he was unwilling: "You return my Moonlight Cup first, and then naturally I will apologize to your junior sister."
"Heh heh, apologize? Knocking out two teeth, how can a simple apology be enough to gloss over it? Today, either you let us pay you back, or don't mention the Moonlight Cup again," Li Donglai said with a sneer: "Even if you take the case to the elders of the sect, we will still have this attitude. As long as you let us return two slaps and a kick, we will compensate you with eight thousand taels of gold."
Chu Mingyue's face darkened. Meeting such an unreasonable person like Li Donglai, he also had a headache.
The most important thing was that, for him, eight thousand taels of gold was by no means a small sum. This time, in order to buy the Moonlight Cup to please the Young Master of the Pingbian King's Mansion and seek a future, it could be said that he had already reached the point of selling everything.
If he lost the Moonlight Cup and couldn't please the Young Master of the Pingbian King's Mansion, it would be difficult for him to get ahead in the future.
But if he were to be slapped twice, he would probably lose his life.
"Heh heh, choose for yourself," Li Donglai said with a smug expression: "If you don't make a choice, we're leaving."
As he spoke, Li Donglai was about to pull Zhang Chen away.
"You're being unreasonable. Return my Moonlight Cup. If you don't give me an explanation today, don't even think about leaving." Seeing this scene, Chu Mingyue immediately became anxious. He took a step forward and grabbed at Li Donglai. He saw Li Donglai's body turn bronze, and he slapped directly at Chu Mingyue on the opposite side.
"Bang~"
After one blow, Li Donglai took a step back, and Chu Mingyue retreated three steps, staring at Li Donglai with a dark expression.
"What, you want to be unreasonable? If you want to be unreasonable, I'll be excited," Li Donglai said, fearing that the world would not be in chaos, his voice full of excitement.
Zhang Chen, holding the little bean sprout, left with Li Donglai. Today's matter was their fault, but Li Donglai was just being unreasonable and taking advantage of three points of reason.
Everyone present was on the other side's side. As long as the other side insisted that the little bean sprout did it, even the King of Heaven would be useless.
Seeing this, Li Donglai glanced at Chu Mingyue and joked: "Come find me when you've thought it over. I'm leaving first!"
After saying that, he had already gone far away, leaving Chu Mingyue standing in the pavilion in silence.
Li Donglai caught up with Zhang Chen and muttered to Zhang Chen: "Don't worry, I will definitely cripple this guy with my own hands on the arena to vent your anger. Now that the Young Master of Pingbian is here, we shouldn't argue and cause trouble. If it gets big and the elders of the sect come down to punish us, and if it delays tomorrow's competition, we will miss the opportunity. The other party has the Young Master of the Pingbian King's Mansion on their side. If we start a conflict and make a big deal, the Taoist temple will definitely favor the Pingbian King's Mansion, and even punish us in order to please Zhang Xiaohua. It would be a bit of a loss to start a conflict at this time. What we have to do now is to delay, and when the big competition comes, I will accidentally beat that kid to death, and this mess will naturally be over."
The sect does not allow private fights. Once a fight breaks out, they will be punished. At that time, there will be no need for a competition, and the two of them are likely to be imprisoned, thus missing a great opportunity.
Hearing this, Zhang Chen looked at Li Donglai with new eyes. They had only known each other for a few days, but this guy was willing to stand up for the little bean sprout. He was really a friend worth making.
At this time, Li Donglai patted the little bean sprout's shoulder: "Three-inch nail, do you think I'm good enough to stand up for you directly? Do you still admire that Chu Mingyue? You should admire me from now on. What is that Chu Mingyue? How can he compare to half a hair of mine? You little thing doesn't know what's good or bad. You're simply blind."
Cheng Yu was originally gritting his teeth in pain, but after hearing Liu Donglai's words and looking at Liu Donglai's smug expression of wanting to be praised, he couldn't help but chuckle, revealing the gap in his front teeth. He was not annoyed by what the other party said about being blind.
Li Donglai looked at the two missing front teeth of the little bean sprout and couldn't help but sigh softly: "Fortunately, you are still in the teething period, so it doesn't matter if you lose two front teeth. If you have grown up, if you lose two front teeth, I'm afraid you won't be able to find a husband for the rest of your life."
The little bean sprout was a little touched when he heard Li Donglai's words before, but when he heard the other party making fun of his teeth again, his face suddenly collapsed. He rolled his eyes angrily and turned his head away from him.
Seeing that the other party stood up for him, he wouldn't argue with him.
"Why didn't you fight back?" Zhang Chen asked as he held Cheng Yu.