Chapter 13

"Who could it be at this hour?" Jiang Chenxing frowned, a sense of caution rising in his heart. After all, he held the secret recipe, and although Mo Hongxian had taken over and suppressed all the restaurants, who knew if there were any desperate ones out there. He was all too aware of the saying, 'People die for wealth, birds die for food.'

Walking to the gate, Jiang Chenxing lowered his voice and asked, "Who is it?"

"Is this Master Jiang Ling? I'm from Chunxiang Tower, and I want to discuss a business deal with you!" a man's voice came from outside the gate.

"Isn't that where Mei'er works hard?" Upon hearing it was Chunxiang Tower, Jiang Chenxing felt his anger rise. The little girl worked hard all day, ending up with a hand full of injuries, and only received two copper coins!

"I have no business to discuss with you. Please leave!" Jiang Chenxing's tone was harsh as he turned to walk back.

The person outside the gate clearly wasn't willing to give up. His voice suddenly rose, "Twenty yellow crystal coins! I'll give you twenty yellow crystal coins for your slave!"

Jiang Chenxing's eyes narrowed. He turned and opened the gate, stepped out, and then closed it behind him. He knew how sensitive the little girl was to the word 'slave' and couldn't let the other person continue shouting.

Outside the gate stood three people. The one in front was a middle-aged man with a slick face, followed by two large men.

In a more distant place, Jiang Chenxing seemed to see a vague figure that quickly disappeared.

Seeing Jiang Chenxing come out, the middle-aged man couldn't help but smile and said, "Master Jiang, twenty yellow crystal coins is no small amount. It's just that we from Chunxiang Tower..."

"Who did you call a slave?" Before the middle-aged man could finish, Jiang Chenxing interrupted, his face cold.

"Huh?" The middle-aged man was slightly taken aback. He had thought that Jiang Chenxing coming out meant he agreed to the deal, but now, from his expression, it seemed he had no intention of discussing business.

"Mei'er, the girl!" The middle-aged man answered Jiang Chenxing's question and was about to start negotiating.

However, before he could speak, Jiang Chenxing interrupted again, "I'm telling you, Mei'er is not a slave. She is my sister!"

"Sister!" The middle-aged man chuckled, "She doesn't even have an identity badge. If she's not a slave, what is she... Master Jiang Ling, you just want to sell her for more, right? Fine, I'll add two more yellow crystal coins!"

Hearing the middle-aged man's words, Jiang Chenxing felt his heart constrict as if it were being squeezed. "No identity badge, so the little girl has known she was a slave all along... She only cared about my attitude towards her... The little girl's heart is far from as strong as her appearance suggests..."

Taking a deep breath, Jiang Chenxing stared at the middle-aged man and said firmly, "I'll say it again, Mei'er is my sister, and I'm not selling her!" With that, he turned and walked back.

The middle-aged man's expression darkened, and he sneered, "Don't be too greedy! I call you Master Jiang out of respect, but you think you're still a noble... We know your current situation. How long do you think you can stay in this house? It's getting colder. If you don't want to freeze to death, you'd better..."

"Get lost!" Jiang Chenxing suddenly turned, staring at the middle-aged man and growling angrily. He already had a bad impression of Chunxiang Tower, and now, with the other party's persistent纠缠, he could no longer control his anger.

As his emotions fluctuated, the countless Yuan Springs in his mind vibrated violently. Under the bright moonlight, a clear ripple spread out around his head.

The middle-aged man saw this scene and the anger he felt from Jiang Chenxing's insolent words instantly dissipated. He was stunned on the spot. Even the lowest of the commoners had heard of the phenomena that occurred after activating Yuan Springs.

"He actually activated Yuan Springs..." The middle-aged man broke out in a cold sweat. With Jiang Chenxing activating Yuan Springs, he was no longer a commoner but a noble! And Chunxiang Tower was just a low-end pleasure house in the commoner district, and he was merely a wealthy commoner. If he used force and the matter reached the security team, the noble would be fine, but he, a commoner, would be in serious trouble, at the very least losing a layer of skin.

"Master Jiang!" The middle-aged man swallowed hard, bowed, and said humbly, "Please consider my words as mere nonsense. Please don't..."

The sudden change in the middle-aged man's attitude left Jiang Chenxing momentarily stunned. After a moment, he understood the reason and was surprised by the status of the nobles: "Just activating Yuan Springs, not even having power or influence, and he reacts like this. It seems the privileges of the nobles in the Qiankun Empire are significant!"

Thinking about this, Jiang Chenxing felt a sense of satisfaction and waved his hand with authority, interrupting the other party, "Get lost quickly, and don't let me see you again!"

"Yes, yes, yes..." The middle-aged man and the two large men behind him hurriedly responded and quickly left, no longer daring to think about Mei'er.

Just then, a dozen figures suddenly rushed out from the shadows nearby, surrounding the three men and beating them mercilessly. The shrill cries and wails echoed far into the quiet night, scaring many children in the commoner households to cry.

"What's going on?" Jiang Chenxing was momentarily confused by the sudden change. Once he reacted, he immediately ran back into the courtyard. He had been on guard against the two large men all along.

But as he turned, a slender, well-dressed young man suddenly appeared behind him, startling him.

"Master Jiang!" The young man had a fawning smile, but Jiang Chenxing found him repulsive.

However, sensing no ill intent from the other party, he relaxed and quickly figured out why the young man was there.

"I don't seem to know you," Jiang Chenxing said coolly.

"I am Sun Sanqiang, and I run a small restaurant called Xianxiangju outside the commoner district! I was at the Zijin Mercenary Group's entrance earlier and was very impressed by Master Jiang's skills!"

"Oh!" Jiang Chenxing's expression was indifferent, and he humbly replied, "It's just a small recipe, not worth mentioning! And it won't belong to me anymore in the future!"

After saying this, Jiang Chenxing nodded to Sun Sanqiang and walked past him into the courtyard.

Sun Sanqiang didn't expect Jiang Chenxing to leave so abruptly. By the time he turned around, the courtyard gate had already slammed shut, and all his prepared words were useless.

"Master!" A large man walked up to Sun Sanqiang and whispered, "We shouldn't keep watching Jiang Chenxing. If the Zijin Mercenary Group finds out, that woman Mo Hongxian..."

Mentioning Mo Hongxian, Sun Sanqiang couldn't help but shudder. But then he glared and said, "I'm not after their secret recipe. So what if I know?"

"If not for the secret recipe, why are we here?" The large man asked subconsciously.

"Slap!" Sun Sanqiang slapped the large man's neck and scolded, "You know nothing. I've already found out that Jiang Ling didn't just bring out one secret recipe, but two... If he can casually come up with two recipes, who knows if there's a third? Getting involved with him won't be a loss. As long as we don't touch those two recipes, Mo Hongxian can't be unreasonable!"

The large man pouted and rubbed his neck, flattery in his voice, "Right, right, right, Master is so thorough!"

"Ah!" Sun Sanqiang sighed, looking at the group of large men still beating the three from Chunxiang Tower, and said regretfully, "What a good opportunity! If only Jiang Ling hadn't activated his Yuan Springs, I could have made him owe me a favor today!"

Waving his hand, Sun Sanqiang shouted, "Bring them over!"

The dozen large men stopped and dragged the three men, who looked like they were barely alive, to Sun Sanqiang.

At this point, the three men were almost unrecognizable, their bodies limp, faces swollen like balloons, and their groans barely audible.

"Did you hit them too hard?" Sun Sanqiang frowned.

"Don't worry, Master, they're just flesh wounds, they won't die!" The large man bowed and replied.

"Not too hard?"

"Absolutely not too hard!"

"Then it's not enough!" Sun Sanqiang stepped forward, lifted his foot, and stomped on the middle-aged man's face, cursing, "I'll teach you to back down so early, I'll teach you to mess with my plans, damn it, if you had been a bit more stubborn, I could have gotten close to Jiang Ling..."

The large man, drenched in sweat, quickly pulled Sun Sanqiang back, "Master, this time it's really too much, we might kill someone!"

"Yes, Master, they were shouting so loudly just now, the security team might come soon!"

"Phew~" Sun Sanqiang stopped, took a deep breath, and patted his hands, saying, "Take them to see a doctor, give them some money... Tell everyone to be careful around Master Jiang Ling, don't cause any trouble for me!"

Soon, a group of people carried the three men, who looked like pig heads, away...

In the courtyard, Jiang Chenxing scratched his head. Creating two secret recipes had changed his life, but it also brought subsequent problems. Although Sun Sanqiang had no ill intent and even seemed to be flattering him, he had still come. Today, he could leave without giving Sun Sanqiang a chance to speak, but who knew if someone bolder would come in the future? It seemed Mo Hongxian couldn't intimidate everyone.

"I really need to work on improving my status. Being a small noble without a background isn't safe... But I can't practice martial arts... And I don't know what the sensitivity array does yet..." His mind was a jumble of thoughts, and he felt a bit dizzy.

"Whatever, I won't think about it anymore!" Jiang Chenxing shook his head and walked into the room.

Inside, Mei'er was lying on her side, wrapped in a blanket, breathing evenly.

"She's asleep! Good thing the little girl was exhausted today, otherwise the commotion outside would have woken her up! Hearing Chunxiang Tower come to buy her, who knows what she would have thought..."

Walking to the bed, Jiang Chenxing tucked the blanket around Mei'er, then turned and blew out the oil lamp, lying down to sleep.

However, he didn't notice that as the oil lamp went out, a smile bloomed on Mei'er's face. In her mind, the words her brother had said at the gate kept echoing: "Mei'er is not a slave, she is my sister!"

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