"In the past twenty years, the only one who could rescue someone from Yihong House was impressive!"
All of a sudden, Chen Jie’s name spread throughout Jianghu, and someone even came up with a nickname, "Little Meng Chang," suggesting Chen Jie’s wide influence.
"Like one of the Four Lords of the Warring States, he must be given face wherever he goes."
"Of course, this was entirely a random nickname. Chen Jie didn’t succeed here because of his influence, but rather by going with the flow. Calling him Little Meng Chang might not be as appropriate as calling him Little Zhuge."
But many outsiders couldn’t understand the intricacies of this matter.
"They just thought Chen Jie had a lot of influence. First, he managed to enlist the help of Sun Bu’er from Shunfeng Escort Agency, Mr. Sun, then Peng Shizhong of White Tiger Hall, arrest officer Zhang Liye, and finally even Bai Mosheng, the second-in-command of Guild Cao, and Qin Ying, the Eagle Hall Master."
"There were even shadows of Liu Laoguai and Nan Batian behind these two later."
"Chen Jie almost managed to invite all the big figures of Mianshui County. Isn’t that enough influence?"
"Therefore, someone compared him to Lord Meng Chang of the Four Lords of the Warring States."
Of course, Chen Jie didn’t even know he had a new nickname, and it had already spread throughout Mianshui County at lightning speed.
At this moment, Chen Jie bade farewell to the seniors who had helped him and promised to prepare generous gifts for his gratitude in the future.
Then he took Ruirui home alone.
Before leaving, Zhou Chu slipped a stack of silver notes to Chen Jie, startling him; it looked to be worth one thousand taels.
"’Found this in the Beggar Sect’s lair, a total of two thousand taels. I shared two hundred taels with the brothers, kept eight hundred taels for pocket money, and these are yours.’"
Chen Jie couldn’t refuse. Zhou Chu said,
"’Don’t be so polite. Go buy something nice to eat for Ruirui. She must have been really scared this time.’"
Chen Jie couldn’t turn it down and could only nod, then led Ruirui home. As Ruirui walked a few steps, she suddenly saw oranges being sold at the corner of the street.
"’Brother-in-law, I want to eat oranges!’"
Chen Jie saw the orange vendor. Somewhat embarrassed, he said,
"’Ruirui, they’re sour.’"
"’They’re delicious.’"
Chen Jie, having no other choice, bought a few overpriced oranges for Ruirui. The young man selling oranges recognized Chen Jie and said in surprise,
"’Mister, you’re taking your daughter to stroll around Yihong House?’"
Chen Jie cleared his throat and said,
"’To see the world.’"
Chen Jie could see the compliment in the staff’s eyes, then the staff was astonished to see Ruirui eating a green orange right in front of her, which was so sour that it made him grimace.
"’Can this be eaten?’"
Ruirui was puzzled and looked at the vendor,
"’Can’t it be eaten? Why are you selling it?’"
The vendor was taken aback by the question, and then quickly said,
"’Alright, let me give you two more.’"
"’Thank you, uncle.’"
The vendor looked at Chen Jie and said, "’Mister, if I may say, this place, don’t bring your daughter here. It’s dirty.’"
"’Hmm, understood. It won’t happen again.’"
With that, Chen Jie led Ruirui away. Ruirui was eating an orange and said,
"’Brother-in-law, where did the uncle say is dirty?’"
"’You’ll understand when you grow up.’"
"’Oh, brother-in-law, can I come here to play again in the future?’"
"’What’s so fun about this place?’"
"’I made a friend, a sister named Cuicui. I want to play with her, but she told me not to look for her again. It’s so strange.’"
Caught off guard by Ruirui’s words, Chen Jie patted her head and said,"
"’She’s right. It’s best not to come here again; it’s not a good place!’"
"’Hmm? It’s not a good place? Then why is it so lively here, and why is Sister Cuicui here?’"
Chen Jie was at a loss for words. *He found it really difficult to answer this question. How should he put it? Just saying that Cuicui was sold here, and would...*
*Ruirui might not understand, and even if he told her, how would she accept it!*
*Moreover, Chen Jie felt powerless to change any of this. The world was as it was, and it was already hard enough to protect his family. If he had any extra capacity, he would protect those he knew. If he had even more capacity, only then would he consider sheltering all the poor scholars of the world.*
*But what a hard-to-achieve great ambition that would be.*
Chen Jie glanced at the sky. *The world was , devouring people, and simply taking care of oneself was hard enough.*
*Chen Jie thought, when, at that moment, Ruirui suddenly spoke,*
"’Brother-in-law, do you often come here?’"
"’Hmm, I don’t. Don’t talk nonsense.’"
"’Oh, but these oranges, my friend and I checked, and they’re not sold anywhere else; they’re only sold here? Brother-in-law, didn’t you also buy them from that uncle last time?’"
Black lines appeared on Chen Jie’s forehead.
"’Uh, when you get home, don’t say anything. These oranges, uh, just say Uncle Zhou Chu gave them to you, okay?’"
"’Why lie to my friend?’"
Little Daisy asked while eating the oranges.
"’It’s not lying—it’s love. You’ll understand when you grow up.’"
"’Oh, okay, but brother-in-law, you should come here often to buy oranges for me.’"
Little Daisy continued.
Chen Jie was a bit embarrassed, *wasn’t she forcing him to do something wrong?*
"’Yes, brother-in-law will try his best.’"
Chen Jie nodded, and Ruirui said,"
"’Mm, thank you, brother-in-law.’"
Under the long night sky, the silhouettes of a large and a small figure vanished at the end of the street.
Meanwhile, at the West City Branch of the Beggar Sect, a man returned from outside and was immediately met by a panic-stricken beggar. As soon as the beggar saw the man, he wailed,
"’Third Master, you’re finally back. Something happened, something big!’"
"’Stop howling, what’s wrong?’"
The man frowned slightly.
"’Third Master, Fourth Master is dead!’"
The man’s eyebrows shot up, and his eyes turned blood-red in an instant,
"’This is how it happened, Third Master...’"
A large pear wood table was split in half by a golden knife, the man’s eyes bloodshot,"
"’Chen Jiusi! Chen Jiusi!’"