Chapter 35: Making Falsehoods

The headliner of Liyun Tower was indeed the headliner. The moment she made her official appearance, she captured everyone's attention. The crowd below turned to look at the woman gracefully descending the steps; she was truly a captivating beauty, even with her injuries making her appear disheveled.

Wu Jinliang secretly clicked his tongue in admiration. No wonder she was so expensive.

Shi Chun also thought she was very pretty, but what he was calculating in his mind was how to get her out.

Bian Weikang, however, stared with eyes wide in disbelief. He clenched his fist and indignantly demanded of Feng Chi, "Did you hit her?"

Feng Chi calmly waved her handkerchief. "She wouldn't listen to reason and insisted on going with you. I was also doing it for her own good. But now that it's all in the past, if Young Master Bian feels the injury makes it less than perfect, you don't have to take her. Your money can be refunded."

"You..." Bian Weikang trembled with rage, but he was helpless. He turned, pushed through the people in his way, and rushed to embrace Xiang Lan'er, weeping with joy.

The verification of 500,000 sandalwood gold pieces was still ongoing; after all, it was no small sum.

This was the trouble with using hard currency. Originally, it wouldn't have been so cumbersome; transactions were done with gold notes of equivalent value. However, the demonic sect repeatedly tampered with them. Later, they pulled a particularly nasty trick, extensively forging identical notes, causing great chaos in the cultivation world. So, until a way to prevent this was found, they reverted to hard currency transactions.

Of course, large sums could actually be handled through relevant banks, but clearly, that wasn't being done here.

Fortunately, Liyun Tower, which spent money like water, had its own tools for verification: a specialized magical artifact shaped like a funnel, which made verification very quick.

Bian Weikang, who had already explained the situation, brought Xiang Lan'er over to Shi Chun.

Having been involved in such dealings for so long, Shi Chun had a fine sensitivity to unusual reactions. He vaguely sensed that while Xiang Lan'er was thanking him, there was a significant amount of careful scrutiny in her gaze. This made him feel subtly uneasy.

But looking at his own tattered appearance, he immediately felt relieved.

After the sandalwood gold was counted and the amount confirmed to be correct, Shi Chun immediately extended his hand to Feng Chi and asked, "Where is Miss Xiang's deed of indenture?"

If she didn't give it to him, and insisted on giving it to Xiang Lan'er or Bian Weikang, he would then bring up the matter of lending them 50,000 gold and suggest, "Why don't you deposit the deed of indenture with me first?"

In any case, he absolutely had to get his hands on that item. He couldn't let his 50,000 gold go to waste.

Fortunately, Bowang Tower's reputation was strong enough. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, with people from Bowang Tower present, Feng Chi didn't overthink it and reached into her sleeve to pull out the deed of indenture she had already prepared.

Shi Chun snatched it into his hand without even looking at it and immediately asked Bian Weikang, "Do you have a place to stay?"

He wasn't worried at all about the deed being fake. Likewise, under everyone's watchful eyes, it wasn't likely; with countless witnesses, giving a fake one would be useless.

Bian Weikang, still emotional, didn't think twice. He nodded repeatedly, saying, "Yes, I do."

Shi Chun said, "Let's go, I'll take you two over first."

Bian Weikang nodded, expressing immense gratitude.

The group turned to leave, but Feng Chi called out, "Lan'er, are you just leaving like this? Your Mama hasn't treated you badly all these years, have I? You wouldn't resent me, would you?"

Xiang Lan'er stopped, turned, and bowed slightly, without saying a word. After giving Feng Chi a look that they both understood, she resolutely followed Bian Weikang, seemingly with no lingering attachment to the place.

Bian Weikang was quite caring towards her. Unwilling for her to be stared at by a crowd like a spectacle, he took off his jacket and placed it over her head.

As they squeezed out of the crowd, Shi Chun, taking advantage of the confusion, slipped the deed of indenture into Wu Jinliang's hand.

Wu Jinliang casually put it away on his person, with a seamless, imperceptible coordination. It was clear this wasn't their first time doing something like this; they knew the drill well.

After they emerged from the curious crowd, he spoke up, "Chuntian, these rags are too conspicuous. I'm going to buy some clothes. Tell me where you'll be, and I'll find you later."

Bian Weikang quickly pointed in a direction and said, "The 'Worry-Free Inn' over there. You can find me by giving my name when you get there."

"Alright!" Wu Jinliang chuckled, casually grabbed Old Dong's arm, and dragged him away. "You know this area, lead the way."

Da Shitou was just feeling that something was amiss when another hand clapped his shoulder—it was Che Si, who pulled him aside to question him.

He didn't ask anything else, just what was going on.

Da Shitou didn't really know what was happening. He was indeed at Bowang Tower on this side, but as a newcomer, he had a lot to learn and hadn't yet concerned himself with matters of romance and pleasure.

Later, the two simply stopped a passerby who was leaving after watching the commotion. After asking what had happened, Che Si's face turned green again. Given Bian Weikang's situation, he felt that the 40,000 gold was completely wasted.

Feeling extremely annoyed, he deeply regretted not having clarified the situation and having messed up Miss Miao's instructions. But the problem was, who knew that fellow would do something so outlandish? Now, it was unlikely to get Liyun Tower to spit the money back out.

He lost interest in following further and urgently returned. He needed to quickly inform Miss Miao of the situation and let her decide what to do.

Da Shitou was also very surprised and doubtful. How could the Boss be so certain that Bian Weikang could repay double this amount?

In his heart, he secretly rejoiced that he hadn't taken the risk, but also felt strange, as the Boss couldn't possibly throw so much money without understanding the situation first.

The onlookers had dispersed, but Feng Chi, the madam, stood on the steps for a long time without going inside. It was midday, and there were few customers anyway. She kept watching the departing figures until they were out of sight.

Although things had taken an unexpected turn, and the melodrama intended to bind Bian Weikang had been disrupted before it even began, the overall direction had not changed.

She beckoned. A pockmarked, expressionless attendant came to her side, and she quietly instructed, "Do some digging. Find out their background."

The attendant left without a word.

Regarding his background, Shi Chun didn't hide much during their casual chat on the way. When Bian Weikang and Xiang Lan'er asked, he told them he had just been released from the land of exile.

It wasn't that he wanted to be honest, but that he knew he couldn't keep it a secret. Later, Wukang Mountain would probably not readily accept someone of unknown origin.

The two surprised lovers instinctively looked back at Da Shitou, who was following them. Their puzzlement was clear: "When did people from the land of exile become so high-class that they could travel with escorts from Bowang Tower?"

Bian Weikang was somewhat better. After all, he had previously witnessed Shi Chun's wildness; he had either been yelling about killing someone or about smashing Liyun Tower.

Xiang Lan'er, however, didn't quite believe it. Could this gentle, refined-looking person truly be from such a coarse place?

Shi Chun saw their doubt and explained, "Don't you see how dark he is too? He just got out a month or so before us. We used to scrape by together. He got lucky and joined Bowang Tower. He knew we were out, so he came to catch up."

The two lovers then half-believed him, but they were still curious: Could someone from the land of exile really possess such extravagant boldness? Perhaps what they had heard before wasn't entirely true, as they had never truly interacted with such people.

The Worry-Free Inn was a good place, an inn embedded in a cliff face. And it was a relatively high-class one, offering good views of the great canyon. Bian Weikang usually stayed there; in Feng Chi's words, he was supported by Xiang Lan'er.

On the winding stone steps leading upwards, just as the group arrived at the entrance of the Worry-Free Inn, the quick-moving Wu Jinliang swiftly ran up and arrived, with Old Dong following behind.

Wu Jinliang at this moment looked like a changed man. He had actually bought a set of snow-white clothes, which suited his thick eyebrows and large eyes well; the contrast with his dark skin was rather striking, especially as he was also carrying a large black saber.

Yet Wu Jinliang himself, beaming with satisfaction, asked everyone, "How do you like the clothes I picked out?"

"Not bad, not bad, brother, you really have good taste," Bian Weikang complimented him sincerely. Then he couldn't help but exchange a look with Xiang Lan'er. With this aesthetic sense, they both now believed he was indeed a brave man from the land of exile.

"Well, well, how about the clothes?" Wu Jinliang then circled around Shi Chun, and, while out of others' sight, slipped a folded piece of paper into Shi Chun's tattered clothing.

He had only bought one outfit. Wasn't he in a hurry? Plus, he didn't know Shi Chun's clothing size, and he really hadn't paid attention to clothing sizes in the land of exile.

"The clothes are good, the person not so much," Shi Chun casually remarked.

After that, they saw the good deed through to the end, escorting them all the way home.

After entering the Worry-Free Inn and reaching the door of Bian Weikang's guest room, Shi Chun stopped and refused to go further inside. He pointed to himself, self-deprecatingly saying, "We're dirty, so we won't go in."

"No, no, not dirty at all," Bian Weikang hastily insisted, eagerly inviting him in. "Senior Brother..."

Every time he got to that point in the address, he would pause. He was still a bit unaccustomed, realizing that this guy's surname was truly unique; anyone being polite would end up being taken advantage of.

Shi Chun seriously raised a hand to stop him. "Just coming to recognize the door is enough. We wouldn't want to disturb your romantic bliss. We still have friends to visit. We'll meet again later. Oh..." he said, as if remembering something, and pulled out that deed of indenture from his person.

He opened it on the spot, ignoring the freshness of the ink and numerous bright red fingerprints. He directly read the content: it stated that she sold herself for thirty years to heal her father's injuries, specifying the amount borrowed, and that she must obey all commands within the term of indenture, provided they didn't lead to death or permanent disability, and could even be resold, and so on.

He couldn't help but look at Xiang Lan'er. "So, you sold yourself to Liyun Tower to treat your father's illness!"

Xiang Lan'er nodded sadly.

Shi Chun then looked at the deed and said, "Thirty years... looks like there's still about ten years left..." As he spoke, he loudly tore the deed to shreds, crumpled it into a ball, without letting them get a good look at it. He then directly used a spell to grind it into dust, threw it away, and clapped his hands. "There! Miss Xiang, from now on, you are free."

Old Dong, standing nearby, watched with his mouth twitching. He had personally witnessed Wu Jinliang forging a fake deed of indenture, and it was the fakest of fakes. It bore Wu Jinliang's own clumsy handwriting and his own fingerprints. Such brazen forgery, outsiders from the Living Prison probably couldn't pull off such a crude job.

If the torn deed were real, he would gouge out his own eyes.

Based on his understanding of the two, they were clearly up to something. He thought it over and over, and there was only one possibility: they were feigning generosity, and if the other party couldn't repay the money as agreed, they would then use the real deed of indenture, which they secretly kept, as a threat.