chapter 15

"Gu Yue Fang Yuan"

In the Gu Yue Village Academy

it was nearing night, and a day at the academy was almost over. But the students remained seated as the academy elder called names from above the stage.

Normally, the a day in the academy would have ended by now, but today was different. It was the end of the week, the day for the academy's allowance distribution.

At the end of each week, the academy gave subsidies to each student to help with their cultivation.

Even though the students were at the lowest stage of being a Gu Master, being one was still costly, with expenses like feeding their Gu worm. To support the students with their expenses and aid their growth, the gu yue village academy would give every student a allowance of three primeval stones in the end of each week.

When his name was called, Fang Yuan stood up and walked to above the stage, towards the academy elder to collect his weekly allowance.

The academy elder handed him two bags: one with the standard three primeval stones and another as a reward for his outstanding performance and taking the first place in today's test.

On the stage, Fang Yuan took the bags from the academy elder hand, at this moment elder said something to him, it couldn't be heard but it was probably just a praise for fang yuan's good work today.

Fang Zheng watched as Fang Yuan nodded at the elder's words and quietly descended from the stage.

After that other names were called by academy elder and more students stepped up to receive their allowances. Soon it was Fang Zheng's turn. He went up and took a bag from academy elder's hand.

"Well done, young lad, Keep working hard, I'm sure you can take first place in the next upcoming test" the academy elder said with a broad smile as he handed Fang Zheng the bag in his hand.

"I will, I definitely will" Fang Zheng cupped his hand and responded politely, before leaving and going down the stage.

The academy elder's smile widened. It was a genuinely happy smile—he was pleased to see Fang Zheng showing signs of recovery from what happened.

Who would have thought that what happened before might be a blessing in disguise.

Fang Zheng's failure to take the first place in the Gu refinement exam had caused him to feel down and a little depressed. But now that academy elder thought about it, he realized that if that wouldn't happen and fang Zheng wouldn't be depressed like that and recovered, Fang Zheng would put all his effort into today's test only to see Fang Yuan take first place again, in that case it would have been an even bigger blow to fang Zheng than just simply losing one time.

As academy elder watched Fang Zheng return to his seat, his previously regrets turned into happiness. He had once regretted why he didn't reached to Fang Zheng earlier, to console him, but now he was glad he hadn't interfered in this.

Unaware of the academy elder's complex feeling, Fang Zheng sat back at his previous place. He glanced at the bag of primeval stones he had received, thinking about what awaited him when he went back home "Hehehe, this academy allowance, can be said is just a little bonus. The real reward are waiting for me back at home..."

Over the past few days, Fang Zheng had trained hard with the Moonlight Gu. While part of his skill was because using moonlight gu was a little easy for him, either be because talent of his previous life experience, but a even bigger part of it was the result of genuinely training hard.

But his motivation wasn't something like getting the first place in this test or restoring his lost reputation—those were just extras, it was good if he could achieve them, but they weren't the main reason for all that.

The real reason lay in the conversation he had with Gu Yue Dong Tu, his uncle, a few days before. Fang Zheng had done something that the naive original fang Zheng, because he was literally brainwashed by uncle and aunt, never would have done: he asked for rewards for his accomplishments in the academy.

It wasn't just as easy as simply asking from uncle, but after some talk and showing a bit of reluctance on doing things, his uncle decided to "encourage" him and to promised him some rewards after each accomplishment.

It wasn't as great as getting allowance each week, where he could earn primeval stones without any effort, but it was still better than the academy's prizes for first place in any test, and the best thing was, It didn't need for him to take the first place, just being one of the top three would do, and he can get rewards from uncle.

Fang Zheng watched as more names were called, he waited patiently until the whole allowance distribution was over. Of course he didn't just seat there idle and used this time to cultivate, he was really dedicated to doing cultivating, even kinda addicted to it.

After about half an hour, all the students had received their allowances, and the academy elder announced details about the next test, that will determine the class monitor and two vice-class monitor.

With that, the students began to leave, chatting amongst themselves while walking towards the academy's gate. Some students pointed at Fang Zheng, but this time, instead of mocking him, they spoke of how good his performance was today, or he definitely could get the first place in the next test.

It was really funny for Fang Zheng that how quickly these people attitudes could change.

Suddenly, a commotion arose near the academy gates. Curious, Fang Zheng quickly made his way over, but his face turned pale when he saw what was happening.

At the academy gate, several students were sprawled on the ground, including Mo Bei and Chi Cheng—two of the academy's top students. Standing at the gate was Fang Yuan, blocking the way, not letting anyone to to go out.

"One piece of primeval stone to pass through" Fang Yuan declared with a cold tone, to the new group of students.

Angered, the students shouted at him in defiance. Among them, Fang Zheng was stunned "W-w-wait a minute, what's going on?" he thought in confusion. but soon he realized what is going on here, He start to remember the original story.

"How could I forget this..." Fang Zheng thought, recognizing this moment from the novel.

It was around the start of the academy in the story that Fang Yuan began extorting primeval stones at the academy gate to increase his cultivation speed and feed his gu worms. Fang Zheng had known about this, but he had forgotten it would happen right after the test wich they most perform with moonlight gu.

Fang Zheng was lost in his own thoughts, barely noticing what is happening around him at this moment. Fang Yuan knocked out some students who refused to pay primeval stones, one after another.

"Hu-" Before fang Zheng could even utter even a complete word, Fang Yuan's quickly came in his direction, and at the next moment everything went black in the next moment and he was knocked unconscious by fang yuan, and he couldn't even react.

...

"$#&$$*#$#&#"

"Huh..."

"$#$&&#up"

"U-up..."

"$*#$$ get up."

"Please get up."

Fang Zheng slowly opened his eyes, hearing someone's voice. As his vision start to get clearer, he saw a person in front of him cheering because he had finally woken up, shouting to others nearby.

Focusing more, Fang Zheng recognized this person—it was one of the guards who stood at the academy's gate.

Fang Zheng tried to wake up, be struggled a little, but with a bit of effort, he managed to stand up.

Looking around, he realized he was still in the academy. A few guards rushed over, asking if he was okay, offering him a cup of water.

He took the cup and drank it in one gulp. As the buzzing in his head began to fade, the memories of what had happened slowly came to his mind.

"Oh right, it was... Fang Yuan... extorting others...." Fang Zheng muttered, putting his hand on his hand behind his neck, where he could feel a little pain.

He thanked the guards and returned the cup before quickly heading toward home.

"Sigh, I hope this won't be another huge blow to him" the academy elder thought as he watched Fang Zheng walk away.

The academy elder had conflicted feeling at this moment, unsure how to feel about Fang Zheng's situation. Should he be happy that Fang Zheng was regaining some confidence or feel sorry for the constant bad luck and beatings Fang Zheng get from his older brother?

After Fang Yuan had beaten some students and taken a primeval stone from each of them and then left, the academy elder had sent guards to collect the unconscious students bodies from the ground.

He made sure Mo Bei, Chi Cheng, and especially Fang Zheng received special attention and treatment from the guards in this process.

Seeing Fang Zheng get up now, the academy elder sensed something different about him, it was weird but he could feel fang Zheng was a little different than normal, maybe what happened was another blow to him as well, after all who had beaten him was fang yuan.

"Maybe this time, I must really approach him and console him..." academy elder thought as he returned to his office. He wasn't too concerned about the other unconscious students that didn't work up; the only reason that he personally stood there, watching students, was because the three high talent students, mo bei, chi Cheng and fang Zheng were still unconscious, about others, he didn't pay any special attention to them, the guards would do rest of the work.

....

"This is the reward I promised you, my dear nephew" Gu Yue Dong Tu said as he handed a bag to Fang Zheng personally.

Fang Zheng took the bag and thanked him.

"There's actually something I've wanting to tell you for a while now, but I couldn't find the right time" suddenly Uncle said with uncertainty in his voice.

Without waiting for Fang Zheng's response, he continued "Your aunt and I have been talking about this for quite some time, and... now that you're fifteen and officially a Gu Master, we thought maybe it's time for us to adopt you and become a real family."

This unexpected statement left Fang Zheng momentarily speechless.

But After a few moment, he finally spoke "Uncle, this... this is really amazing, but... I'm afraid I can't do that right now, I don't think I'm ready for it" Fang Zheng said hesitantly, with sadness on his face.

Hearing his response, Uncle sighed deeply. "I understand, my dear nephew. Don't worry, and don't force yourself. Take your time to think about it."

"Thank you, Uncle, for understanding. I hope this won't affect our family relationship" Fang Zheng said, still wearing a sad expression.

"No, no, why would it effect anything ? You're still my dear nephew, and we are still family" Uncle quickly reassured.

Fang Zheng nodded and left the room without any other word.

A few minutes after Fang Zheng left…

Bam!

Uncle slammed his fist on the table in anger "This Fang Zheng... This Fang Zheng. Haha, how bold, how courageous..." Gu Yue Dong Tu muttered furiously, thinking back to what happened these days.

From two days ago, Fang Zheng started to put his mask down and stop pretending, at least that's what Uncle believed.

Since Fang Zheng and Fang Yuan were children, Uncle had always tried to manipulate them. But Fang Yuan was clever, having early wisdom and showing his talent, making poetry, he gained attention the villagers attention as well as clan elders and even the clan leader.

This forced gu yue Dong Tu to hold back, Fang Yuan reputation and the attention he get from the villagers made it impossible to use any underhanded methods against him.

However, the village's attention was mainly on Fang Yuan, allowing Dong Tu to use some of those methods on Fang Zheng.

He made life difficult for Fang Zheng, pretending to show more concern for Fang Yuan while neglecting and even scolding Fang Zheng for many troubles, that wasn't even his fault.

As a naive child, Fang Zheng could easily be manipulated, it was unknown exactly when but from one day he start to resenting his own big brother—as gu yue dong tu planned.

But lately, he began to question everything, the evidence showed him otherwise, that he was wrong all this time, that all this time fang Zheng was tricking him into believing this, that he had successful took control of fang Zheng.

It was a harsh blow to Dong Tu's pride, something he struggled to accept. But the more he thought about it, the more he watched, the more undeniable it became.

And the worst part was that he needed Fang Zheng, He needed him to deal with Fang Yuan, and having Fang Zheng as part of the family also boosted his reputation, making others to show more "sincerity" towards him.

So abandoning Fang Zheng wasn't an option, specially when he was a A grade talent, he had truly stocked between a rock and a hard place.

If Fang Zheng accepted the adoption proposal, Dong Tu would have been pleased and he would even willingly help fang Zheng, because if fang Zheng accepted this, it would have given him a kind of control over Fang Zheng, a restrain on him. But not only did Fang Zheng refuse, but he also had the audacity to say "I hope this won't affect our family relationship."

To Gu Yue Dong Tu now, it was no different from saying, "I'll eat in your home without paying back anything, what you want to do ?"

It wasn't the loss of some primival stones that angered Dong Tu; it was Fang Zheng's attitude, This disregard hurt his pride more than anything else.

...

"Hmm, let's see... Oh, twenty-five! That's quite some primeval stones" Fang Zheng said, counting the primeval stones he received from his uncle, He was pleasantly surprised by how generous his uncle had been.

Because of gu yue dong tu's works in the original story, he didn't expect much, he had expected to get at most ten primeval stone from this sly fox, but receiving this many was unexpected.

"Maybe I should have try raising the price next time" Fang Zheng thought, licking his lips, making a note if this in his mind.

He didn't think this was his uncle's limit; Fang Zheng knew well how much wealth his uncle truly had. Of course, they might use some excuse later, just like they had done to original Fang Zheng, but he could think about that later.

"now that I think about it, It's actually foolish of them, why not help the talented and definitely loyal Fang Zheng to grow, to restrain fang yuan and stopping him from getting the family inheritance ? That's what I would do if I were in their position…"

He shooked his head, shifting his focus back to the primeval stones in front of him.

Counting his recent expenses, he had given Zhou Ba two primeval stones to spy on Yang Wan and used another one to buy food for his moonlight Gu, leaving him with six primeval stones.

As for his earnings, he got three primeval stones from the academy's allowance, but he lost one thanks to the surprise fang yuan gave him today, leaving him with two. Adding the reward from his uncle, he now had a total of thirty three primeval stones.

"Oh, and there's tomorrow's allowance from Uncle too" Fang Zheng remembered that tomorrow he would get the allowance from his uncle too, with that, he would have thirty nine primeval stones in total.

But putting that aside and Reflecting on today's events, Fang Zheng was reminded of how important remembering his knowledge of the future was, if he remembered sooner, he could prepare himself for what happened, at least act better, or maybe pretend in front of fang yuan, not just be beaten without having the chance to even react.

Thinking about it all this gave him a headache. He felt exhausted from today, so instead of cultivating, he decided to sleep. after all even if he really loved cultivating his body still needed sleep.