Promise!

Chapter 61, No Regrets

"Master Tang, sit down, I'll make you some tea!"

"No need, Zhuang Jin, I congratulate you on breaking through the three classics...it's just that, alas, I didn't give you enough." Tang Wentao felt a little embarrassed, but family disgrace should not be made public, and it was difficult to say it. After giving the gift, he stood up.

"Master Tang, what are you talking about? It's all a token of my sincere gratitude. I'd like to thank you here." Seeing that Tang Wentao refused to sit down, Zhuang Jin stood up and saw him out.

After a while, Lin Hong also came over. He also chose the Shen family headquarters this month. Upon hearing the news of Zhuang Jin's breakthrough, he sent two taels of silver.

Zhuang Jin glanced at the silver and asked, "Lin Hong, you have also reached the Second Scripture Breakthrough now, right?"

"I just broke through two days ago." Lin Hong replied.

He has good qualifications and comes from a good family. He has an adequate supply of food for cultivation. His home also has medicinal food and meat of exotic animals that he occasionally buys at high prices, which invigorates his qi and blood and speeds up his cultivation.

Of course, these things only speed up the cultivation process, but are useless for bottlenecks. If you encounter a bottleneck, you will still get stuck. However, they can also allow the accumulation of each realm to be completed earlier, and it is natural to break through faster.

Zhuang Jin pushed the silver back and said, "Lin Hong, congratulations."

Seeing this, Lin Hong sighed inwardly, secretly regretting not getting closer to Zhuang Jin in the dormitory. However, he finally fought for it again: "My family is well off, and Brother Zhuang has recently made a breakthrough. If you are short of money and need it, feel free to borrow ten or twenty taels."

"No need, it's enough for now." Zhuang Jin declined politely. If he really wanted to borrow money, he would rather borrow from Ping Yongfeng and Chang Hetong, who he was more familiar with and knew better than Lin Hong.

"That's fine." Lin Hong felt a little bitter. He understood a little what his father had taught him. He had to make a decision about investing in people he recognized and admired, and he had to be decisive and act early.

He once again felt regretful that he had not established good relationships earlier, but if he wanted to be like Qian Wende, he would never be able to do it.

Seeing Lin Hong's reaction, Zhuang Jin thought for a moment and said, "At the end of last month, Bi Kai and Qian Wende came to see me for a small gathering. If you're willing, you can come over at the end of this month."

Lin Hong's personality is quite good, and his family seems to have some resources. Although it is not easy to accept investment without knowing his background, it is worth bringing him into the small circle and making equal exchanges if necessary.

With Lin Hong's intelligence, how could he not understand after hearing this? Zhuang Jin was willing to accept him into his own small circle?

What a twist!

Although the investment was not as good as expected, it was still good. He was happy in his heart, but after thinking for a while, he gritted his teeth and confessed: "To be honest, Brother Zhuang, my family owns two restaurants. They are not as good as the top ones in the capital, but better than the bottom ones. I am the second son in the family. I can't inherit the family business like my brothers, but I also have some resources."

"Now, we have medicinal food delivered to us every day. Although it is not as delicious as the meat of exotic beasts, it has about 20% to 30% of the effect of invigorating Qi and blood and accelerating cultivation. If Brother Zhuang needs it, I can get another portion."

"Oh? Thank you very much."

Zhuang Jin broke through the third sutra yesterday. After practicing and sensing this morning, he realized that the accumulation of the third sutra realm is much higher than that of the second sutra. He feels that he has sufficient cultivation resources. It is a bit difficult for him to break through the fourth sutra before the end of the four months of the self-selected task.

If one wants to speed up cultivation, exotic beast meat is naturally the best choice, but the monthly benefit is just a drop in the bucket. Now that he hears that there is a medicinal food alternative, he is naturally happy.

"I wonder how much it costs?" Zhuang Jin asked.

"Three taels of silver every month." Lin Hong didn't say he didn't want the money. Firstly, he knew that Zhuang Jin was not the kind of person who would take advantage of others. Secondly, he couldn't afford it even if he really didn't want the money.

In fact, three taels of silver was already the cost price, and even the price was secondary. The key was that some medicinal herbs were difficult to obtain. If he asked for an extra batch from home, he would have to spend a lot of effort to convince his father when he got home. But he was confident. "I can afford this price."

Zhuang Jin also guessed how difficult it was to obtain the medicinal food, and not wanting to take advantage of it, he offered four taels of silver: "This is for the rest of this month, and there's also money for next month."

He really wasn't short of money for the time being. The gifts he received today totaled nearly 15 taels, plus the remaining 6 taels and 9 qian, and the 1 tael and 3 qian from Hou Yong and the other two, totaling more than 23 taels of silver.

"I thought I might be short of money next month and was planning to borrow money, but now I don't need it. As for the month after next and the last month of the optional mission, we'll see then!" Zhuang Jin thought to himself.

……

On this day, Chen Yun met her cousin Ni Ying who had entered the inner courtyard. She was a kind and elegant girl. When she talked about Zhuang Jin's breakthrough to the Three Sutras realm, she observed Ni Ying's expression.

"Master Zhuang Wu has broken through the three classics?" Ni Ying was surprised and blinked her pair of eyes as bright as autumn water.

'really. ’

Chen Yun was very familiar with her cousin and noticed her subtle expressions. She knew that her previous guess was true. When asked, Ni Ying told her about herself and Zhuang Jin.

"Sister Ying, you did a poor job on this matter. Since you chose Master Zhuang, why did you participate in the selection of the inner courtyard maids? If I had known that, I would have stopped you. The inner courtyard also has its own difficulties, and it may not be better than choosing Master Zhuang."

Ni Ying has already felt it.

The third-class maid in the inner courtyard is only theoretically equal in rank to a first-class servant, but it only looks good on the surface. As for the real situation, one can only say... only the person knows the ups and downs.

In the inner courtyard, above the third-class maids, there are second-class maids and first-class maids. Because the maids' promotion depends more on the favor of nobles, there are a lot of human relationships and intrigues in the inner courtyard, which is quite frustrating. It is far inferior to the great power of warriors. Once they achieve the fourth level of the realm, they will be able to hold real positions and duties. At the very least, they will be guarding a street outside and have real power in their hands.

Let me put it this way, if the third-class maids in the inner courtyard were allowed to choose and marry a servant, more than half of them would be willing, and this is without knowing the other party's character, appearance, and potential.

——When one reaches the level of a servant, he is not allowed to marry a maid from the inner courtyard, but only a first-class maid from the outer courtyard. It is not because the Shen family is stingy, but because they take into account that warriors have more contact with maids from the outer courtyard and are more willing to help them. Also, maids from the inner courtyard may be exposed to the private secrets of some nobles, so it is not easy to marry them.

"Even if you think it's better to go to the inner courtyard, you should tell Master Zhuang Wu."

“I originally…”

Ni Ying did not do so at the beginning, and went to participate in the selection directly. The first reason was that she saw that Zhuang Jin was only at the second level of the Sutra Realm, and he still had a long way to go before he could realize his potential; the second reason was that she was afraid that Zhuang Jin would stop her after knowing about it and would overreact, so she acted first and asked for permission later. She thought that once she entered the inner courtyard, the gap between her and Zhuang Jin would widen and they would no longer have any intersection, but she did not expect this day to come.

"Sister Yun, now that it's like this, I have no choice." Ni Ying said softly.

You have to walk the road you choose even on your knees!

Moreover, when she entered the inner courtyard, she also learned that the three and four classics of warriors were a big hurdle. Could it be that Zhuang Jin was stuck here?
It’s too early to say which option is better now. She, Ni Ying... may not be wrong.

……

(End of this chapter)