June 11, 2017, noon
After lunch, Li Fengyun was surprised to find an iron box in the room, looking incredibly familiar.
"Wait, I should have sent this box out this morning... Did I have a hallucination when I was distracted? Never mind, I'll send it again."
Li Fengyun was extremely meticulous, saying this while he began to prepare the cargo flying sword. But before he could put the money box on the flying sword, his wife stormed over and slapped his sword away.
"Stop being foolish! This was returned by your daughter! And there's a letter! It says she'd rather die than accept charity!"
Li Fengyun was stunned for a moment: "But she said she wanted a hundred thousand spirit stones..."
"I told you earlier she was playing you!"
"But her handwriting was very serious..."
"Writing seriously with her left thumb and little finger? Is there something wrong with her brain?!"
While the couple was arguing, the second steward of the estate, standing behind Lu Xin, couldn't help but step forward half a step, opened his mouth, but didn't dare speak.
Lu Xin waved his hand without turning his head: "Speak if you have something to say!"
Li Ping said softly: "I think perhaps this is a misunderstanding. It's definitely a joke to say Miss Qingming doesn't want the money. She's been troubled by poverty for years and is quite persistent about money. That hundred thousand spirit stones thing, while certainly partly in jest, may not be entirely toying with you, sir. The key issue is the method of delivering the money is wrong."
Lu Xin asked: "Sending money requires a method?"
Li Ping explained: "There's much to consider here. Because people need face, even the greediest wouldn't openly admit to their greed, so direct money delivery is usually refused. You need to be a bit flexible, use more tactful ways to give the money."
Lu Xin frowned: "There's such a theory? What do you mean by tactful methods? Write a note in the box: It's not on purpose that we're giving this to you?"
Li Ping said: "… No, it needs to be more ingenious, like a birthday gift."
"Qingming's birthday is in March."
"I know, just giving an example. Or..." Li Ping's mind raced, "Like, Miss Qingming is registered with the Mutual Aid Association, and Madam you're a senior advisor there. You could post a few tasks targeted at Miss Qingming with very simple content, like catching some small fries in nearby towns or making dozens of white talismans. But only she can meet the task conditions — for example, a requirement to have broken the Wind Barrier at age 14, skilled in swordsmanship, proficient in mechanical traps and calculations. Then set the reward exceptionally high, and that way you can cleverly deliver the money without hurting Miss Qingming's dignity."
Lu Xin's eyes lit up, but still hesitated: "It sounds good, but isn't this just your wild imagination?"
Li Ping laughed: "No, actually, this isn't anything new, many people have done similar things. For example, during agency bidding, they set special qualification requirements so all institutions except the predetermined one fail, which is basically handing over project funds, and of course, there'll be kickbacks."
"I see." Lu Xin nodded but suddenly fell silent, and after a moment said: "Speaking of which, the construction team hired for the garden renovation last year..."
Li Ping broke into a cold sweat instantly: "Madam, I am innocent!"
"Hmm, go run around the city ten times and I'll believe you."
After dismissing Li Ping, Lu Xin asked her husband: "What do you think?"
"..."
"Li Fengyun!"
"Sorry, since you all were discussing things I couldn't understand, I zoned out. Anyway, whatever you think works, I'm fine with it."
——
That afternoon, Wang Jiu left Shen Garden, heading to the Mutual Aid Association again to take on new tasks from the Hundred Family.
Driven by financial need, he had no choice.
Shen Garden was now completely penniless after Li Qingming rashly refused the hundred thousand spirit stones of charity. Wang Jiu reviewed Shen Garden's assets and found that due to the recent splurge on shopping and real estate investment, Shen Garden's cash reserves had completely dried up, they couldn't even afford delivery buns.
When Li Qingming was whimpering in bed asking Wang Jiu to help her order food out of humanitarian obligation, Wang Jiu could only suggest she consume local materials like grass roots and tree bark from Shen Garden.
Besides, Wang Jiu recently came up with a few novel ideas that require a lot of funding.
Considering Li Qingming practices the Immovable Tyrant Body, making it inconvenient for her to move, and her intelligence is somewhat limited, Wang Jiu, as the proprietor, can only rely on his own efforts. With no new books from Li Jinglun in the short term, raising funds can only depend on the Mutual Aid Association.
According to the Mutual Aid Association's regulations, newly registered cultivators can claim 3 times the Hundred Families task, after which they are no longer in the novice phase and no longer enjoy novice benefits. Li Qingming's account has 2 chances left, and considering the hefty income from the first Hundred Families task, Wang Jiu is quite looking forward to this venture.
However, his ride, Li Qingming, poured cold water on this idea.
"You're overthinking it. The Hundred Families task is just a novice benefit, not a shower of money. You only got lucky last time meeting that idiot rich man Li Jinglun, chances for a second time are slim!"
"Hmm, for a mount who basically can't support itself and relies entirely on the owner for sustenance, your decisive conclusion really highlights a mysterious confidence."
"I... hmm, I'll lay it out right here, if you can earn even 100 Spirit Stones on this second Hundred Families task, I'll, I'll agree to any one condition of yours. If you don't earn it, you'll agree to one of my conditions, how about that?"
"If I agree now, does it mean I'm agreeing to your condition already, as if you're advancing the reward for winning the bet?"
"...Of course not."
"Then why should I agree to you?"
"Because... I... hey, you're so annoying!"
—
At noon, Cyan Cloud City was as bustling as always. As a majestic city with a population exceeding two million in Xiangzhou, this city is the essence of over ten cities and hundreds of towns within a few hundred miles. More than ten thousand cultivators, and ten times more elite civilians are busy day and night in the central district of Cyan Cloud City, maintaining the city's prosperity.
And the Cyan Cloud Mutual Aid Association, even in the Central District famous for its bustling life, holds a preeminent popularity, operating without rest for twelve hours a day, and anytime you come here, you'll see crowds thronging at the entrance.
Today's situation was even more intense, Wang Jiu saw from a distance the thronging crowd at the entrance of the three-section tower, the clamor deafening. Upon squeezing into the tower and arriving at the spacious first floor hall, Wang Jiu found that people were indeed more than at least twenty percent from last time, and most of them were novice cultivators in the Wind-Rising Realm—even though their realm was not high, they were cultivators, so much so that a queue was formed even at the VIP window.
Holding Li Qingming's VIP number card, Wang Jiu once again came to the window where he had previously received the Hundred Families task, coincidentally meeting the same girl from the last encounter. Upon seeing the colorful dwarf-looking Wang Jiu, the little girl was momentarily stunned, then sweetly smiled and said: "Is it Cultivator Li Qingming? Good afternoon, delighted to serve you."
Wang Jiu handed the number card over while writing a note: "I have come to claim the Hundred Families task."
The little girl said, "Well you've certainly come at the right time today. Someone has issued two Hundred Families tasks with incredibly rich rewards, unprecedentedly rich I should say, look, here are the two tasks."
The little girl lifted the bamboo scroll on her desk, which was showing information on two Hundred Families tasks.
The first task involves assisting a scholar cultivator in researching Immortal Techniques, handling some simple calculation work, and judging from the task briefing, the calculation work is indeed very simple, yet the reward is as high as five thousand Spirit Stones.
The second task involves assisting in the creation of guidance film talisman stones for the low-level swordsmanship "Windchasing Sword". Simply put, it's by having a swordsman skilled in Windchasing Sword fully perform the swordmanship, while professionals capture the entire performance through Recording Technique, sealing it into talisman stones, and selling it at low prices to martial artists or novice cultivators who lack dedicated guidance. In fact, many cultivators from ordinary backgrounds have taken such tasks, and rewards generally aren't much. But this task, as a Hundred Families task, offers a reward of up to ten thousand Spirit Stones!
"What do you think, isn't it outrageous? I've been working here for over a year, and it's my first time seeing a Hundred Families task with ten thousand Spirit Stones as reward. Generally, tasks of this level only appear in the tower's highest floors, even if I work hard my whole life, I wouldn't see that many Spirit Stones." The little girl stuck out her tongue, "But the conditions for claiming these tasks are particularly tricky, today many have come to try claiming them, but not a single person perfectly meets the requirements set by the issuer."
Next, the service girl laid out the task conditions, which was more than tricky, almost tormentsome.
Task requirements: Female, 14 to 15 years of age, height below 1.5 meters, realm requirement Wind-Rising Realm Early Stage, skilled in swordsmanship, mathematics, mechanical traps, and writing with the left thumb and pinky...
"What do you think, isn't this excessive? Such tricky conditions feel almost like a joke, though each single requirement isn't outrageous, combined altogether, there's basically no one who can fulfill them, we all think the issuer is probably flaunting wealth... Anyway, next I'll recommend a few more normal Hundred Families tasks to you..."
Before the little girl finished speaking, Wang Jiu had already written the note and handed it over.
"I want to claim these two tasks."
"...Huh?" The little girl squeezed the note hard, repeatedly checking, afraid that the quirky handwriting might have caused her misreading, before confirming, "You want to claim these two tasks? You can meet the claiming conditions?"
Wang Jiu thought for a moment, although strictly speaking, neither he as a Sword Spirit nor Li Qingming as a mount can completely meet the claiming conditions, but combining the two is no problem.
"Just a moment, I'll confirm your information first, gender matches, age matches, height... hmm, also counts as matching, the hardware conditions are fine. Now, here are a few test questions, as long as you can complete them all, you can claim the tasks... My goodness, you can really complete them? Yu Yun, Ah Ling, come quickly and see, those two tasks have been claimed!"