The longsword's momentum was incredibly surging, hanging upside down like a rainbow as it slashed down towards the three scholars.
Chen Zhang was so frightened that he took a sudden step back.
Meng Hao followed suit, and Chen Dexing was so frightened he almost lost his courage.
Click.
The longsword cleaved a huge, deep pit into the ground.
"Master Chu, please don't be angry. Let me speak and try to persuade them. What if these men surnamed Meng and Chen aren't such scoundrels? Let me ask them first. If their answers are unsatisfactory, then you can kill them without any rush."
Ye Tian quickly patted Chu Feng on the back to comfort him.
"Hmph." Chu Feng snorted coldly and said nothing.
Ye Tian chuckled awkwardly and said to Meng Hao and Chen Zhang, "Gentlemen, please understand, our Chu Keqing has a bad temper. But there's nothing we can do, our Wuqing Sect is in such a terrible state right now. My fellow disciples are all seriously injured and we have no money for treatment. My master is heartbroken and spends every day in the sect in tears, unable to find peace."
"Such a thing is true." Chen Zhang was shocked.
"Yes, Academician Chen. That's why my senior brother asked for more money, just so that our cultural gala could be held even better."
"This..." Chen Zhang hesitated, glanced at Chen Dexing, and asked, "How about we..."
"No, Master, if we agree to his terms, our party budget will be cut!" Meng Hao hurriedly objected.
"Forget it. I'll just kill him!" Chu Feng raised his longsword, ready to strike.
Meng Hao and Chen Dexing were so frightened that their eyelids twitched wildly.
"Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic! Guest Master Chu, you must calm down!" Ye Tian advised sincerely.
"Academician Chen, what do you think of my proposal?"
Chen Zhang swallowed hard and gritted his teeth, saying, "Let's go with your sect's suggestion: five thousand taels of silver. It's not like we can't afford that price."
"My fellow disciples are all seriously injured, and he only offered five thousand taels? I'm still going to kill these people! He's so stingy!" Chu Feng raised his sword again.
"How could you do this? It's just an injury, isn't five thousand taels of silver enough? How much do you want? You can't possibly want ten thousand taels of silver."
"Is ten thousand taels of silver a lot? Did the performance go to waste? Shouldn't they be paid for all that hard work?"
"At least ten thousand taels," Chu Feng said.
He heard that it was ten thousand taels of silver.
Chen Zhang, Chen Dexing, and Meng Hao from the academy all turned pale.
That's too much; they can't afford to pay that much money.
Ye Tian sighed and said, "Guest Master Chu, you are too greedy. We should consider the people of the academy. Where would they get so much silver? I think we should ask for less. After all, we should be considerate of each other."
Hearing Ye Tian's words.
Meng Hao, Chen Zhang, and Chen Dexing all looked somewhat surprised; they hadn't expected Ye Tian to speak up for them. He was such a kind person, and they were deeply moved.
"Eight thousand taels of silver is the bare minimum. Our Ruthless Sect has been doing this for so long, it's impossible that we've come up empty-handed. Eight thousand taels is our absolute bottom line," Chu Feng said indignantly.
Tell me about the eight thousand taels.
Meng Hao's eyelids twitched rapidly, Chen Dexing's heart sank, and Chen Zhang felt extremely distressed.
That's way too much. Where did the academy get so much funding? Even though this cultural event at the bookstore had to be impressive and grand, spending so much money to hire Taoist cultural figures is just too much of a rip-off.
At this time.
Ye Tian, however, advised, "Guest Master Chu, we must be honest and upright. How can you make such an outrageous demand?"
“Let’s be honest. We can take the money for the medicine to treat our senior and junior brothers. Since this event is for promoting Taoist culture, we can also do a charity performance. We can manage to collect six thousand taels of silver.”
Having grown accustomed to hearing "eight thousand" or "ten thousand taels," hearing "six thousand taels" brought a sigh of relief to Chen Zhang, Chen Dexing, and Meng Hao.
After all, I had already agreed to five thousand taels, so six thousand taels doesn't seem like much now.
At least they didn't ask for a ridiculously high price of ten thousand taels.
They now feel that Ye Tian is a pretty good person. They can still get to know him and interact with him more often in the future.
"Six thousand taels? Are you kidding me? Did we work for nothing? Impossible!" Chu Feng refused outright.
Ye Tian smiled and said, "Guest Elder Chu, I've made my decision. You can discuss anything with my master. Anyway, this six thousand taels is absolutely the maximum. I can't let others say our Ruthless Sect is a swindler. I'm not afraid of being crushed to pieces; I want to leave a clean reputation in the world!"
His powerful words stunned Chen Dexing and Chen Zhang. Even Meng Hao was speechless for a long time.
Ye Tian's moral character has actually reached this level.
He'd rather take less money than compromise on promoting Taoist culture. And he can even utter phrases like, "I fear not being shattered to pieces, as long as I leave behind a pure reputation."
It's truly moving and admirable!
Ye Tian's originally not-so-tall frame suddenly appeared imposing, like a giant. In an instant, he became majestic and dignified.
“Alright! On behalf of the academy, I thank you, Brother Ye. I admire your character. The six thousand taels of silver is settled then. Junior brother, quickly give it to him,” Chen Zhang said.
Chen Dexing was also deeply moved and hurriedly took out six thousand taels of silver from his storage bag, which was quite heavy.
Seeing that it was indeed enormous, Ye Tian couldn't help but say, "It's too heavy to carry. Why don't you leave the storage bag here for now and return it to you another day?"
Upon hearing this...
Chen Dexing was naturally relieved. With Ye Tian's upright character, he would never cheat him out of a small storage bag.
Ye Tian put away the storage bag, his smile widening.
"Master Ye. 'I fear not being shattered to pieces, but only wish to leave my integrity in the world.' What a fine poem! May I ask what the entire poem is about...?"
"That's all," Ye Tian said directly.
"This... is such a pity," Chen Dexing sighed. The poem's content is so thought-provoking; if the complete poem had survived, it would surely have made him famous for all time. What a pity.
"It's alright. These two lines alone are enough to prove Master Ye's character and poetic skill. Master Ye, how about I take these two lines back and have them engraved on the poetry stele of my Hanlin Academy?" Chen Zhang asked.
"Another day, another day. Let's talk about it when we Taoists and Confucians promote our culture together." He was joking; how could he let him take it without money? However, since he'd already asked for so much today, Ye Tian felt embarrassed to keep it all and would have to wait a few days.
"That's good, that's good." Chen Zhang nodded.
"I fear not being shattered to pieces, but only wish to leave behind a pure reputation in the world," he murmured.
"A fine poem, a fine poem."
"Good silver. Good silver." The first two sentences were Chen Dexing's exclamation, and the last two sentences were Ye Tian's praise.
Let's go back to our sect!
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