Chapter 45: Jiang Cheng Draws Talismans Again
Jiang Cheng stood at the entrance of Wuyue Advanced Middle School, yawning.
He had accompanied Liu Qing shopping until late the previous day, not only helping her buy clothes but also some daily necessities and bed sheets and thin quilts.
In short, Liu Qing had been settled into the house Jiang Cheng had just bought, so there was no need to worry about her revealing her Snake Demoness identity by sleeping on tree branches anymore.
In stark contrast to the drowsy Jiang Cheng, Cao Wang had slept soundly until nine o’clock the evening after drinking himself drunk the day before yesterday. Even though he had stayed up all night, he was still full of energy now.
It was only eight o’clock in the morning, and Wuyue Advanced Middle School had not yet opened its doors to welcome returning students.
The reason Jiang Cheng and Cao Wang had come so early was that Cao Wang was too energetic, having been excited from last night up until now.
“Jiang, we’re about to get our grades! I’m so nervous!”
“What are you nervous about? You’re going to repeat the year anyway. It doesn’t make a difference what you score.”
Cao Wang refused to accept it, “What kind of shitty talk is that? Can’t you console a brother?”
Jiang Cheng thought for a moment, then with high emotional intelligence said, “Actually, Cao, if you think about it carefully. Even if you study every day, do well on your exams, and get into university, won’t you end up just like now, having to go back home to take over your dad’s factory?”
“That makes sense!”
Cao Wang pondered deeply for a while and realized that things were indeed just as Jiang Cheng said.
No matter what he accomplished academically, he would have to return home and take over the factory.
What’s the point of studying!
Forget it!
“Jiang, I don’t want to repeat the year anymore. Do you have a solution?”
“Whether you repeat the year or not isn’t the issue. The problem is what your parents think. If your parents tell you to repeat the year and you don’t, they might think you’re unreliable and might decide to have a younger brother while they’re still young…”
“Ahahaha, then I think repeating the year sounds pretty good.”
In the end, Cao Wang decided to firmly grasp onto the factory that was meant for him.
Jiang Cheng was not worried about Cao Wang at all. As long as Cao Wang didn’t mess up, he would live a worry-free, ordinary, and wealthy life for the rest of his days.
That’s pretty good.
Rather than worrying about Cao Wang, Jiang Cheng might as well worry about himself first.
He had sold the copyright of the Muscle Relaxation Talisman and received forty thousand yuan in royalties, which was a happy event for everyone involved.
But who could have expected that he would go slightly over budget when buying the house?
He had only planned to spend thirty-two thousand, but he ended up spending forty-three thousand. He had overspent by eleven thousand low-grade Spirit Stones.
Fortunately, Jiang Cheng still had the extra seven thousand or so Spirit Stones he had earned from accepting tasks before, which could be used to fill the shortage.
Now, after deducting expenses for Liu Qing’s clothes shopping yesterday, along with the two thousand he lent to Cao Wang, Jiang Cheng only had a little more than three thousand low-grade Spirit Stones left on him.
That amount of money was definitely not small for a high school student, even quite a large sum of wealth. But Jiang Cheng had to pay Liu Qing a high salary every month.
And Liu Qing liked to spend her salary in advance on shopping.
This bit of money might not last until September when he could sell the house and the capital would flow back in.
Once, when Jiang Cheng had no money, he was indeed penniless.
Now that he had some money, Jiang Cheng was still penniless.
The more money you have, the more you spend. The more you spend, the less you have.
So, the more you have, the less you have.
Just as Jiang Cheng was thinking about how to earn some extra pocket money, his communication talisman timely rang.
Jiang Cheng picked it up and saw that the person looking for him was He.
“Hello?”
“Jiang Cheng, are you free right now?”
“What’s up, He?”
“I mentioned a ‘Fluorescence Talisman’ to you before. Do you remember?”
Jiang Cheng, of course, remembered. A Fluorescence Talisman for four thousand low-grade Spirit Stones was the kind of money-making task no one could forget.
“Of course.”
“The client for the Fluorescence Talisman has put the task up again. Apparently, the previous Talisman Master simply couldn’t solve the issue. Furthermore, the task reward has increased by two thousand, making it six thousand low-grade Spirit Stones now.”
Good heavens!
Six thousand low-grade Spirit Stones for one Fluorescence Talisman?
Jiang Cheng subconsciously touched his strong, youthful waist.
If it weren’t for the Immortal Sect’s rule ensuring peace and order everywhere, he really wouldn’t dare take on such ludicrously profitable missions.
He’s voice sounded quite urgent, “Jiang Cheng, if you’re available, hurry over. There’s a second-order Talisman Master in the Task Hall who wants to take on the Fluorescence Talisman mission! If you’re late, I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to hold the task for you!”
“Okay, I’m on my way!”
Short of money and a mission at hand, there was no reason for Jiang Cheng not to take it!
He hastily said to Cao Wang, “Old Cao, I have a new task. Can you get my diploma and transcript for me?”
Cao Wang looked bewildered, “Are you coming back to school today?”
“I’ll try!”
“You’ve got to come back, we’re taking graduation photos today!”
Watching Jiang Cheng’s departing figure, Cao Wang wasn’t sure if he had heard him.
The Task Hall.
Jiang Cheng saw He again.
She was pulling him along, hurrying toward the small meeting room inside the Great Hall.
“The patron and another Talisman Master who wants to take on the task are already in the meeting room. I’ll take you there right now.”
“Do you have the patron’s information?”
Jiang Cheng asked, as he never fought an unprepared battle.
“Yes, but we need to retrieve it from the archives.”
“Then let’s go to the archives first,” Jiang Cheng said.
Although He really wanted to help Jiang Cheng secure this mission since it was worth six thousand Spirit Stones in performance pay, since Jiang Cheng had said so, she couldn’t argue and had no choice but to lead Jiang Cheng to the archives, to first show him the patron’s information registered in the Task Hall.
After such detours, Jiang Cheng confidently arrived at the door of the small meeting room.
He politely knocked on the door and said to the two cultivators discussing inside, “We have another Talisman Master here interested in the Fluorescence Talisman task. Would it be convenient to discuss this together?”
“Sure, let him come in,” a middle-aged man’s voice came from the meeting room.
He gave Jiang Cheng a meaningful look, and Jiang Cheng smiled to reassure her before walking into the meeting room.
The meeting room was compact, with four chairs and one table—much smaller than the one used by Lei Buxiao and the others for their meetings.
But the decor was by no means inferior, the setup virtually identical to that of the larger meeting rooms.
There were two people in the meeting room: a middle-aged man with a steady appearance and a young girl with her hair tied into a high ponytail.
According to what Jiang Cheng had learned on the way and in the archives, the middle-aged man’s name was Zhou Yunshan—a very low-profile wealthy man in Wuyue.
And the young girl, named Yue Linger, appeared to be a student at a prominent university in the Capital.
The university had an early summer break, so Yue Linger could return to Wuyue at the end of June.
Yue Linger had considerable talent in the art of talismans and was already a second-order Talisman Master at her young age.
For this mission tender, she was undoubtedly a strong competitor for Jiang Cheng.
There were four seats in the meeting room, and following the usual convention of parties involved, Jiang Cheng took the seat opposite Zhou Yunshan, next to Yue Linger.
Zhou Yunshan, though the patron, did not have a stern expression, instead, it was Yue Linger who looked unhappy, her brow furrowed.
“Junior fellow, how may I address you?” Zhou Yunshan asked Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng replied, “My family name is Jiang, given name Cheng, and I am eighteen years old.”
Zhou Yunshan smiled, “Junior Jiang, you’re so young, you must be a first-order Talisman Master, right?”
“No, I’m not,” Jiang Cheng responded truthfully.
Zhou Yunshan’s eyes lit up, and even the slightly unhappy Yue Linger beside Jiang Cheng turned to him with a look of mild surprise.
“Junior fellow is not a first-order Talisman Master, could it be you’re a second-order one?”