Chapter 5

  Inside the earth house, a candle was lit, and on the kang sat a woman in red clothes. The flickering flame made her face even more rosy, with a delicate nose and jade-like complexion, black hair cascading down like a waterfall, falling over her shoulders.

  Cheng Dairens heart skipped a beat, what a quiet and elegant woman. Probably only in this ancient era could such a clean and pure woman be raised. She sat there, her eyes clear and clean, like water and ice, making one feel ashamed of their own inferiority, yet also stirring up covetous desires.

  Cheng Dalai suddenly had an evil thought in his heart: This is mine, mine. In this mountain stronghold, no one can stop oneself, everyone has defaulted that the woman is their own Zhens wife, in this earthen house, on this earthen bed, one can do anything to her.

  At this thought, Cheng Dairens heart suddenly panicked. When people are in an unconstrained environment, morality and principles quickly degenerate, and evil thoughts that he had never had before began to grow uncontrollably.

  Hmph, righteous young man, because you have a kind heart, you triggered the second stage of the task to win over the village headmans wife: use non-violent means to move Su Qings heart.

  "Huh? Cheng Dairen opened his eyes wide, how did he end up with kind intentions himself? Cant you get it straight? Morality has always been a weapon to criticize others, not a tool to restrain oneself."

  A real man should have both the ambition to conquer the world and the tenderness to capture a womans heart. Justice-seeking youngster, keep it up!

  Shut up, youre just a broken system trying to act cute, Im so fed up with these cheesy lines full of middle school syndrome.

  This matter truly reminded Cheng Dairen that being overly sentimental is unbearable and being pretentious is always a kind of sickness.

  However, the system has already made such a request, and it seems that violent means can no longer be used. He took a deep breath and put on what he thought was his most handsome and elegant expression.

  Coercion is not a violent means!

  "The long night is endless, and Im too restless to sleep. I thought I was the only one who couldnt fall asleep, but it turns out that Jingjing - no, its actually Su Qian who cant sleep either?"

  "Suzhen opened her eyes wide: My family is the Four Seas Trading House of Luoye City, as long as youre willing to let me go, there are people who will give you wealth or goods. I also have another identity, that of the future mistress of Heishi City. Hurting me would come with a price, no need for me to say it, you understand?"

  Luoye City is the closest city to Gama Ridge, except for Heishi City. Su Qing told Cheng Dali her value at the first time, not only with benefits but also with threats.

  " Misunderstanding, misunderstanding." Cheng Da Lei tried to salvage his image: "Miss Su Qian must have taken me for an ordinary mountain bandit, but this times matter is because I have a vendetta against the lord of Hei Shi City for killing my father. Once this matter is over, I will safely send Miss Su Qian back."

  "Its fake." Su Ying said calmly: "Ive been able to sense whether a person is lying since I was young, and from your eyes, I see greed, desire, no different from other men. I just want to say, dont hurt me, everything else can be discussed."

  Cheng Dairens words were always sharp, and everyone said that he was big-headed but brainless. Could it be that this young lady was an exception? He focused his attention on Su Qing, scanning her information.

  Name: Su Ying (an ordinary merchant from a merchant family)

  Age: 17

  Skills: None

  Hidden attributes: clearly see autumn hair.

  Is it because of keen insight that one can distinguish lies? Cheng Dairen was very depressed, this is even unable to deceive.

  Cheng Dali made a final effort: "Miss Su Qing, I know that in your eyes, Im just a rough and unrefined rascal, but if I can live a stable life, who would want to be a fugitive? In fact, I was also an idealistic young man a long time ago."

  "Ideal, youth?" Su Yings face showed confusion, feeling that these two words had nothing to do with Cheng Darui.

  Cheng Dairen adjusted the muscles on his face, controlled his breathing, and decided to start his most energetic performance ever. He paced back and forth in the room, sometimes waving his arms with enthusiasm, sometimes revealing a sad expression with sighs and groans.

  “…These hands of mine once held sacred books and grasped a sword, I also wanted to master the arts of literature and martial arts, and befriend emperors. I said, "Why not wear a Wu hook, take in the 50 states of Guan Shan?" But as I traveled far and wide, I saw refugees like pigs and dogs, and the powerful like tigers and wolves. I was indignant at the sages, and only wanted to ask why the world is this way. At that time, I had an ideal: to save humanity from water and fire, to rescue the people from hanging upside down. I had an ideal: to break the old world and rebuild a new universe. I had an ideal: to let everyone have their own home, and those who till the land have their own fields...”

  Finally, Cheng Dairen stretched out his hand to Su Qian, gazing deeply into her eyes with a profound and sentimental look.

  "Now, I just want these hands of mine to hold onto a girls hand tightly. Su Nian, are you willing to fulfill this dream with me?"

  "Its fake." Su Ying blinked her big eyes and said, "But although you say its fake, I can feel that you dont want to hurt me, I dont know why."

  Cheng Dalai helplessly patted his forehead, was it that his acting skills were not good enough? How did he get seen through? Was it because his emotions had risen too high, or was the previous setup not enough?

  Why dont I want to hurt you? This question I am unable to answer, please hand over the microphone to the system.

  "You can tell me anything you want, as long as you dont hurt me." Su Qing.

  Cheng Dali sat down opposite Su Ying, finally saying the only sincere sentence after entering the room.

  "Can you tell me about the outside world?"

  He cant imagine the degree of information blockade in this world without experiencing it personally. The only channel for spreading information might be rumors. Ten miles away is a completely different world, some people havent even left their village their whole lives, and they wouldnt know about changes in the outside world.

  If someone is willing to spend over a decade traveling around various states, then they can be described as having seen and experienced much.

  Now Cheng Dairen only knows that he is in the empire of Dawu, and apart from this, Cheng Dairen knows nothing about the whole world.

  He urgently needs to know everything about this world, what people eat, wear, read, entertain themselves with, what kind of culture they have, and what kind of religion they believe in... Cheng Dairen knows that these seemingly insignificant things are actually extremely important.

  In such an era of closed information, traveling merchants possessed more information. Now sitting in front of me is a merchants daughter.

  This opportunity is invaluable.

  After talking for a long time, Cheng Dairen left the room and rested somewhere in the mountain stronghold.

  Su Ying sat alone in the room, the red candlelight illuminating her hands as she dipped her fingers in water and wrote two lines on the wooden table.

  Why should a man not wear a Wu hook? Take in hand the fifty states of Guanzhong.

  Su Qian furrowed her brow, gazing intently at these two lines of text: What is Wu Gou, it should be a very sharp weapon, where is Guan Shan located, the empire only has thirteen states, how can there be fifty states...

  Su Ying was more and more puzzled, muttering to herself alone.

  "Although he knew his words were false, these false words were spoken so beautifully, indeed not like they came from a mountain bandits mouth..."