Chapter 63: The Ability to Make Money
“Huh? What kind of situation?” asked Hong Xiaobao with his eyes wide. Quickly pulling Zhao Four to the dining table, he asked them to set the food up and said, “Quick, quick! Let’s all eat together while hearing the story!”
The table was laden with all kinds of delicious food and wine that was fit for immortals!
“Ah?! Your Highness, we can’t do that!” Zhao Four and the rest of the guards were startled. “Your subordinate is only a lowly guard, it’s definitely stepping out of our place to eat together with Your Highness on the same table! And…” Zhao Four looked at Fang Xinghan and said, “Head Teacher Fang is also here. Your subordinates are unwilling to dishonor an honored guest like him!”
It’s no wonder they didn’t dare to eat on the same table. Hong Xiaobao was the ninth prince while Fang Xinghan was the exalted Head Teacher of the Saint Academy while they were only lowly guards. The difference in rank was far too wide. It was already an honor for them to be able to serve these exalted figures, how would they even dare to dream about eating with them on the same table?
However, Hong Xiaobao was a person who has never flaunted his status and still managed to please the emperor and gain the favor of the empire’s citizens. Without a word, he pressed Zhao Four and the others on to their seats and said, “If I say you can, you can. Don’t give me that c.r.a.p. Uncle Fang is not that kind of narrow-minded person you think he is. Come and sit. Let’s eat together!” Seeing the rowdy gang, Qingqing couldn’t help but giggle. This ninth prince is indeed quite the interesting person, she thought.
Fang Xinghan also smiled and said, “Since Your Highness has already said so much, you guys should just do as he says. I am not someone who judges people based on their status.” The guards could only obey since both of them gave their consent.
Zhao Four and the rest sat on the bench with their face red with grat.i.tude. Ever since serving under the ninth prince, they were willing to offer their lives for him without a word so they were relieved that they were ‘ordered’ to sit together with the prince. Zhao Four poured Fang Xinghan a cup of wine before saying, “When we were buying the food, two young men started fighting near the streets where we were at. We couldn’t recognize the first one who looked around 21 years old while the other one was a disciple of the Thunder Sound Pavilion. We really couldn’t figure out why they didn’t leave Chijing City before breaking into a fight.”
These guards were not educated much, so the way they described things were not that detailed. To summarize, they said that the first unrecognizable youth won the battle and the Thunder Sound Pavilion disciple cursed at him and vowed that he would one day make the winner pay.
Usually, when people from the Jiang Hu engaged in battles, the result would be extremely dangerous and catastrophic. However, the guards described the situation rather plainly so Hong Xiaobao shook his head and said, “Sigh, this won’t do… Oh, let me ask you first. Do you know the names of either of them?”
“Huh? Name?” Zhao Four gave it some thought before saying, “The one whom we don’t recognize is called Su Zhan while the Thunder Sound Pavilion disciple is called Deng Yanming. Um, those were their names alright.”
Qingqing and Fang Xinghan were intrigued at how Hong Xiaobao asked about their names rather than getting the guards to clarify what they had just said. “Brother Xiaobao, why did you ask about their names? It’s not all that uncommon for two young martial artists to start fighting, right?” asked Qingqing.
“That’s right,” said Fang Xinghan, “they’re only in their early twenties so they should only be at the 2-star rank even if they were talented. It shouldn’t be anything serious, right?”
Even though Ye Jinning was considered a genius, he was only a 2-star martial artist at the age of 19.
This Su Zhan and Deng Yanming who the guards have mentioned were already in their early twenties and wouldn’t usually be 3-star martial artists. Fights between 2-star martial artists usually weren’t problematic and was even entertaining to watch.
However, Hong Xiaobao shook his head and laughed. “That’s definitely not the case! Think about it, wouldn’t this make a good story for the Jiang Hu Stories? We’re supposed to report all sorts of conflict and fights between those of the Jiang Hu, right? Otherwise, who would want to read our newspaper?”
“Oh, so that’s the case!” Upon hearing what Hong Xiaobao had said, Fang Xinghan nodded. “I see, however, fights between 2-star martial artists are merely the crossing of fists and kicks and are not that interesting, right?”
Live fights between 2-star martial artists were already plain enough. If it were to be reported on the newspapers, it would only be something like “on some day at some time, Su Zhan and Deng Yanming fought, with Su Zhan emerging victorious”. That was even more sleep-inducing and wasn’t anything worth reading.
“It definitely isn’t that simple,” said Hong Xiaobao as he giggled. With a light of wisdom in his eyes, he looked at Zhao Four and said, “Old Four, do you remember how they fought? Demonstrate how they fought for me roughly.”
“No problem, we remember the simple moves clearly enough!” Zhao Four asked another guard to be his partner and they moved to the center of the courtyard. Zhao Four asked, “Your Highness, should we start now?”
“Don’t be in a rush. Let me get a brush and some paper,” said Hong Xiaobao as he motioned for the other guards to retrieve his writing tools. He handed them to Fang Xinghan and said, “Uncle Fang, I write quite slowly so I’ll have to rely on you.”
“Haha, great. This one will be your scribe for this time!” Fang Xinghan made his preparations and said, “Let’s begin.”
At that moment, Zhao Four and the other guard started demonstrating. The two of them were merely mimicking what they had seen, so their moves were rather slow. Hong Xiaobao instantly started narrating from the side. “Even though it may sound slow on paper, the scene that unfolded at that time was lightning fast. Su Zhan’s spear struck out as if it were a poisonous dragon with a faint red light emanating from its tip! The spear swirled and shot straight towards Deng Yanming’s chest! Seeing his opponent’s formidable attack, Deng Yanming didn’t dare to take it head on and used the signature move of the Thunder Sound Pavilion……” At that point, he stopped narrating and turned to Fang Xinghan. “Uncle Fang, does that move have a specific name?”
Fang Xinghan thought for a bit before saying, “Oh, it’s the Thunder Sound Pavilion’s Dashing Thunder Slash.”
Hong Xiaobao continued, “… the Dashing Thunder Slash! Dodging the savage spear by a hair’s breadth and thrusted his sword towards the shoulder of Su Zhan! Su Zhan said, ‘That’s a good move!’ before dodging to the side and flipping his left wrist before attempting to hit Deng Yanming’s chest a palm strike! Deng Yanming also lashed out with his own palm strike and both their hands clashed! With a loud booming sound, both of them retreated three steps back! Su Zhan was ferocious as expected and focused his attention on striking with his spear once more. Thrusts, strikes, flicks, sweeps and parries were all unleashed into a flurry of red flashing lights! What amazing spear technique!”
He described the whole fight as if it were an action novel and Fang Xinghan wrote all of it down by the side.
When all of them were done, Fang Xinghan gave the story some edits before rereading it and giving it loud praises. “Splendid! What a great piece of wrist clenching fighting! Oh, Xiaobao, you’re really something. For you to be able to describe such a simple child’s play fight into a battle to the death between experts really is quite amazing! En, I’m confident that everybody will love it! Haha! With several more reports like these, the sales of the newspaper would definitely not be low at all!”
What he said was the truth.
It was quite common for the people in the Jiang Hu to engage in conflict. However, most of the battles were never as exciting as what had just been narrated by Hong Xiaobao as the more higher ranked martial artists wouldn’t use moves that ruthless. That’s why duels usually were treated as something entertaining and not really taken that seriously. However, with a simple addition of detail by Hong XIaobao, it totally morphed into a far more interesting experience that far exceeded that of actual fights.
It seemed that with only that, the Jiang Hu Stories newspaper would no doubt sell quite well. Additionally, Hong Xiaobao was also going to serialize his retelling of “The Legend of The Condor Heroes” in the paper!
No wonder he dared to get on the Thunder Sound Pavilion’s bad side. While other factors were still uncertain, when it came to making money, if Hong Xiaobao claimed that he was the second best at it, n.o.body else would claim to be the first!