Chapter 3

Aside from all kinds of shops, restaurants, hotels, there are also local branches of Five Kingdom Merchant Bank and Mercenary Alliance in the market area. Yang Xiaotian decided to visit the bank, he got down from the carriage and paid the driver. He began walking when suddenly he heard some commotion. He saw several people berating an old beggar.

"Bastard, what the hell is this? You old fucker, you are already old and dying yet you are swindling little children."

"Where are the guards? Why aren't they throwing this old bastard out of the market?"

These kinds of shouts can be heard one after another. Yang Xiaotian walked towards a guard and asked: "Excuse me, sir, what is going on here?"

"Ohh.. young master Yang! How do you do? This old beggar appeared about half a month ago and began tempting children into buying what he calls 'legendary cultivation manual'! Several children bought his so-called manuals and now their relatives are causing a ruckus. Technically, he did nothing wrong, so we can not just evacuate him from the area for trying to make a living. I mean, there are others who are doing worse!" the guard informed Yang Xiaotian with an amiable smile.

"I see. Thank you for the information, keep up the good work." Yang Xiaotian replied and tipped the guard with a golden banknote.

"Thank you so much young master Yang!" the guard excitedly thanked.

Yang Xiaotian began walking towards the bank when he heard the old man shouting: "I did nothing wrong! I sold a legendary cultivation manual to your children! It will make them great masters! They just need to patiently cultivate!"

Saying this, the old beggar shrugged off the people surrounding him and began running towards Yang Xiaotian!

"Handsome little boy! Handsome little boy! Wait a bit!" he got closed to Yang Xiaotian and yelled.

This caused everyone around to be stunned. The guard who was just talking to Yang Xiaotian became angry looking at this.

Yang Xiaotian also became stunned, he thought: "Don't tell me that he wants to swindle me now!"

"Handsome young boy! Ahhh... magnificent.. wonderful! You have such a refined aura! Let me take your pulse!" the old beggar extended his hand to touch Yang Xiaotian's hand.

The guard from earlier furiously shouted: "Stop this at once! Old man get back to your area and stop bothering people!"

"I am not bothering anyone! This handsome boy has great destiny! I am just trying to help him!" the old beggar retorted.

"Why you..." the guard almost decided to hit the old beggar but stopped after hearing Yang Xiaotian's voice.

"It's fine! Let him take my pulse!" Yang Xiaotian said after carefully thinking.

Many people have been complaining about this old man but the guards did not want to do anything. If they took action now, everyone would say that they are favoring the rich and abusing the poor.

The old beggar held Yang Xiaotian's right arm with a serious expression on his face. He looks as if he is truly taking pulse.

"Ahh.. magnificent.. superb... you are so young, yet you have the bone structure and Chí flow of a great Kung Fu master! If you could harness your inner strength and master it, you could become a great master of the world!" the old man said with a very shocked expression.

"Huh? Did he just say Kung Fu? Isn't the physical training exercise taught by teacher is also called kung fu?" Yang Xiaotian showed a shocked expression as he thought.

"This is indeed destiny! Boy, you truly have a great destiny! Our meeting is also fate! Since fate brought us together, I will sell you this great kung fu manual! It is a rare and priceless item but since we are fated, I will sell it to you for only a hundred golden notes!" the old beggar took out a booklet, showed a few pages for everyone to see, to have them look that he is not selling blank paper.

Surrounding people started snickering, until now their children have been swindled by this old man and now it is the turn of a rich kid. They are all feeling quite vindicated and many of them began giving the guards looks, indicating them not to interfere or there will be a riot. The guard earlier has a pale face. He was just praised and tipped by Yang Xiaotian and now Yang Xiaotian is being swindled.

"Boy, what do you say? Opportunity doesn't come knocking at the door all the time. Once it is gone, you won't find it again!" the old man said with a smile, he showed all of his filthy teeth with great joy.

Yang Xiaotian has been curiously looking at the book cover. The name of the book attracted him a lot, 'Tai Ji, Harmony of Yin and Yang, Become one with heaven and earth!'. There is an odd symbol drawn below the title. He has been looking at the symbol when the word 'opportunity' entered his ears.

"Wasn't teacher just talking about finding opportunity and boldly accepting it?" Yang Xiaotian thought.

He knows in his very bones that he is being swindled but he is also very curious. The money is no problem to him, after all, he has a lot. But being swindled is a great humiliation. He looked around and saw the gloating look of the crowd.

Yang Xiaotian let out a sigh and said: "Alright old man, you convinced me! Here 100 golden banknotes!"

As soon as he handed over the notes, the old beggar greedily grabbed them, he even began salivating. He did not even care that he dropped the 'Great Kung Fu manual'! Spectators began laughing loudly and mocking the 'stupid rich kid' and began walking away.

The guard from before arrived in front of Yang Xiaotian who is busy picking up the Tai Ji book and said: "Young master Yang, we are really sorry.. we.."

"It's fine. That old man looks so feeble, he must not be eating much. I will consider this a good deed helping an elderly." Yang Xiaotian said with a smile and began walking again.

Soon enough, he reached the bank. He checked his latest investment situation and found out that he made a profit yet again. These lucrative business investments are quite risky but Yang Xiaotian keeps constant tabs on what people are currently trading most through his father's business connections as well as the bank's own network. If he sees any favorable trading opportunity, he immediately invests in it. Such was the case for this spirit stone mining operation he invested in and he made 100% profit. Naturally, his father doesn't know that Yang Xiaotian has been tipping his father's employees for this information. He also doesn't know that Yang Xiaotian is actually investing money, he only knows that Yang Xiaotian is taking care of Yang Xiannu's bank account.

After doing all of these Yang Xiaotian returned home. He freshened up, took bath, changed his clothes and was called on by his parents to go eat lunch.

"Tian-er, you are here! Come sit beside mother!"

"No! Sit beside big mother!"

As soon as he arrived at the dining room, both Zhu Qing and Zhu Lian called out to him with smiles on their faces. Yang Xiaotian shook his head with a dry smile on his face and then sat down on a chair a bit further from both of them. This caused both women's smiles to vanish immediately, their expressions instead became filled with sadness.

At this time Yang Cheng said: "Tian-er, after lunch. We want to speak to you about something important. Come to my study room."

"Yes father." Yang Xiaotian dryly replied. He quietly ate, his mothers' attempts to chat him up got replies like "Hmmm." or "I see."

After they finished eating, all 4 of them arrived at Yang Cheng's study room. Yang Cheng sat at the central desk, his wives sat on both sides beside him. They expected Yang Xiaotian to sit at the central desk facing Yang Cheng but Yang Xiaotian pulled up a chair and sat facing the three of them from a distance. It looks as if he is a criminal and his parents are now sitting in judgment of him.

"Tian-er, why are you sitting there? Come here." his mother said.

"Didn't you just want to scold me for my behavior? This sitting is better for it!" Yang Xiaotian curtly replied.

"Enough! I am through with your nonsense! You have shamed me in the Mu family! Where did you get this much courage? That was an important meeting, we had to look presentable in front of them at all cost and you ruined it!" Yang Cheng furiously said.

"Why do I have to look good at your engagement? It is not like I was the one getting married!" Yang Xiaotian said with a sneer.

His answer made Yang Cheng even more furious. He really wanted to go over and slap Yang Xiaotian but both of his wives grabbed his arms from both sides and stopped him.

"Tian-er, we adults sometimes have to do things we don't want for the sake of our entire family. This marriage is also one of those things. We don't want to intentionally hurt you. Tian-er, you will understand better once you take over our business. Tian-er, we already have plans to marry you to a girl from a prominent family in the Yang imperial city, not in our Yun imperial city but Yang imperial city! When she grows up, she will be more beautiful than little sister Meiér!" Zhu Lian said.

"Big mother, who gave you the idea that I want to take over your business? And who told you that I want to marry a girl from Yang imperial capital?" Yang Xiaotian said with an amused expression.

His words made his parents dumbfounded. Then Yang Cheng furiously yelled: "You little..."

"Your plan to fix my marriage with someone from Yang kingdom completely depends on our relationship with Mu family right?" Yang Cheng could not finish his yelling when Yang Xiaotian suddenly said.

His words shocked his parents a great deal. To them, he is only a 10 years old boy, he is someone what people say 'barely off his mother's milk'!

Yang Xiaotian continued: "Mu family has a large stake in Five Kingdom Merchant Bank, even great cultivation families have to give them face. So naturally, with their connection you will be able to accomplish that but aren't you overestimating yourselves? Do you think you will be more than some common business associates with Mu family if you impregnate Mu Meiér?"

His words yet again shocked his parents. They can't believe that a boy of 10 years old just talked about pregnancy in such a casual way!

After collecting himself, Yang Cheng took a deep breath and said: "It seems we have been underestimating your intelligence far too much!"

"Tian-er, we are still adults and we have thought everything through. You are heavily underestimating us! Despite our current position, our network is far superior to the current Mu family patriarch! He doesn't even know that little sister Meiér's younger brother has been accepted as a personal disciple by Yang imperial capital's Pure Sun Sect's Grand Elder! He has a superb grade spiritual root and that Grand Elder is personally taking charge of his cultivation! That Grand Elder is also a direct descendant of Yang imperial family!" Zhu Lian said with great enthusiasm.

"That's right! Mu Chen is doted upon heavily by Mu Meiér. The very reason he traveled to Yang imperial capital was to gain enough strength to support his older sister. Now that little sister Meiér is our family, we will surely gain great support from Mu Chen!" Zhu Qing added.

"That's right! We will only have to coax Mu Meiér! Treat her with great care and have her give birth to my child! At that time she will completely accept us as her family and even take the initiative to have her brother help us!" Yang Cheng said with a stern voice.

"Really? This is your plan to go up in social status? Who came up with this 'brilliant' idea?" Yang Xiaotian said with a mocking tone.

"How dare you continue to mock your parents? You are looking for a beating!" Yang Cheng furiously slapped his desk as he stood up.

Yang Xiaotian shook his head and said: "There is a path to heaven and you jumped into the pits of hell! Let me spell it out for you since you fail to understand the situation. Mu Chen loves his sister very much and wants to obtain strength to protect her. Mu Meiér is being forced by Mu Chi to marry you and you are the ones who proposed this marriage. In Mu Chen's eyes, what are you? Let me tell you, you are Mu Chi's accomplice! You are not some loving brother-in-law in his eyes! After he returns, he will deal with Mu Chi first and then you, along with the rest of us! You god damned fools!"

Hearing his words, his parents' eyes became wide in shock! They never thought of it like that. Their thought revolved around coaxing Mu Meiér but the main person of interest, Mu Chen, they have forgotten about his way of thinking, his mentality.

"But..but... women change after giving birth.. little sister Meiér will surely.." Zhu Lian could not finish before being cut off by Yang Xiaotian: "Do you think she is the same as the two of you? Did she go through life and death with father? In her eyes, you are already enemies. If you did not go to propose marriage, she would not be in this kind of situation. It is clear that Mu Chi has been abusing his position to harass her and her parents. In her eyes, you are just as bad as Mu Chi. And even if you manage to coax her into giving birth, she would only do it to protect her parents."

"You have already said that Mu Chi doesn't know about Mu Chen's accomplishment. That means Mu Meiér and her parents also don't know. This means she would also worry about Mu Chi's retaliation against Mu Chen. So all of her actions would be from the fear of losing her family! And once Mu Chen appears grandiosely, what would happen? She would flip in an instant! You think she would care about the child she would be forced to give birth to? Would she care about the family that forced themselves on her?"

His words caused his parents' expression to grow very pale. Each and every part of their so-called plan has been filled with holes. Holes they could see but chose to ignore. They are desperate and they are willing to take the risk. But now they have brought even more trouble on themselves.

After being silent and stunned for a while, Yang Cheng spoke up: "No matter what, it has already been decided! In a year's time, Mu Meiér will be here to take the first shipment of spirit stones. At that time, you will treat her the same way you treat your mothers and address her as 'mother'! Understood?"

Yang Cheng sharply gazed at Yang Xiaotian. Yang Xiaotian's face became a bit twisted. He stood up turned to leave but then placed his left hand on the top of the chair he sat on. He grabbed hard and then pressed down.

Creak..crack..crack...crush...

The chair broke apart completely. It turned into several pieces. Its legs broke apart, the seat broke apart, not to mention the backrest. This situation shocked even Yang Xiaotian, he became dumbfounded at his own strength.