Ch 112

Chapter 112: Rumors Spread

The news that Ye Shi had been promoted to an eight-star martial artist and had exited seclusion shocked many people.

There is still a gap even within eighth-grade qualifications. Originally, Ye Shi and Zhuang Yu were both five-star martial artists. After just half a month of seclusion, Ye Shi had become an eight-star martial artist. Compared to Zhuang Yu, he was doing even better.

As the news of Ye Shi's promotion spread, many rumors about him began to circulate.

For example, it was said that the Ye family—Ye Shi's birth family—was in dire straits and Ye Shi ignored them.

That Ye Xun, Ye Shi's father, had fallen into poverty.

That Ye Xun had gone begging, but Ye Shi turned a blind eye to it.

Because Ye Shi had excellent qualifications and such a perfect fiancé like Mu Chen, countless people were jealous. So, once negative news about Ye Shi began to spread, it instantly became widespread.

The rumors came from a few teens who followed Zhuang Yu. These people had been publicly humiliated by Ye Shi that day and couldn't take it anymore, so they spread malicious gossip about Ye Shi wherever they could.

In the cafeteria, Ye Shi was ferociously gnawing on a chicken leg. From time to time, curious gazes shot toward him.

Mu Chen saw Ye Shi's angry expression and said helplessly, "The clear are always clear. These rumors are nonsense. Don't get angry over them."

"I'm not angry about the rumors. Ye Xun went begging? I'm thrilled!" Ye Shi pouted.

Seeing Ye Shi's angry face, Mu Chen could only smile helplessly.

"Then why are you mad?" Mu Chen asked.

"It's because of that b*tch Zhuang Yu! He blocked my way and made me accidentally break the academy's stone monument, and now I have to pay 100,000 yuan stones in compensation!" Ye Shi gritted his teeth.

Mu Chen raised his eyebrows and thought, That monument was shattered into pieces. Ye Shi accidentally did that?

"100,000 stones... Didn't you try bargaining it down to 80,000?" Mu Chen asked to console him.

"Even 80,000 is too much!" Ye Shi said, clearly displeased.

"It's just 80,000. If you can't recover it by selling half a talisman, just treat it as spending money to avoid disaster," Mu Chen said casually.

"The master said that the price of Flame Talisman has dropped. We need to save money," Ye Shi replied seriously.

Mu Chen scoffed. "You can spend money—it's fine. Yuan stones are only useful if you earn and use them. Saving everything won't help. Even if the price of the talisman dropped, it's still more than enough to cover the damages."

"That stone pillar was weak. I didn't even use my full strength." Ye Shi said angrily.

Mu Chen rubbed his forehead, exasperated. "...Fine, don't talk about that pillar anymore. It's already broken."

"Mu Chen, do you think Ye Xun will really become a beggar?" Ye Shi asked with shining eyes.

No matter what, Ye Xun was once the head of the Ye family. He had always lived luxuriously and cared deeply about his image.

Mu Chen had heard that Ye Xun sold the Ye family's ancestral martial arts manual for over a million yuan stones.

Martial arts are the foundation of a family's survival. If Ye He (a Ye family elder) found out that Ye Xun had sold off the ancestral skills, he would probably rise from his grave in anger.

"Maybe," Mu Chen said indifferently.

Ye Shi's eyes gleamed with vicious delight. "That old bastard has such a thick skin. If he really becomes a beggar, that would be hilarious."

"He's so fat. Even if he begs, no one would want to talk to him," Mu Chen added with a smirk.

Ye Shi burst out laughing at that.

"Are you full?" Mu Chen asked.

Ye Shi looked at the pile of bones on his plate and said awkwardly, "I'm full."

"Should I get you another chicken?" Mu Chen teased.

"And two pork knuckles too!" Ye Shi quickly added.

Mu Chen raised his eyebrows, chuckled, and said, "Alright."

Mu Chen got up to buy more food. Ye Shi looked around, bored. Some people who had been hoping for drama were clearly disappointed to see that the relationship between Mu Chen and Ye Shi was unaffected by the rumors.

Ye Rong felt a deep sense of frustration upon seeing how close Mu Chen and Ye Shi were.

During this time, Ye Xun had been constantly pressuring her to call Ye Shi, and she was getting annoyed by it. But Ye Shi completely ignored her—no matter how much Ye Xun pushed her, it was useless.

---

Elsewhere, in the Mu Residence…

Mu Yuanfeng sat silently with a gloomy face. After a long sigh, he wrote a letter and sent it to Saint Star Academy.

Recently, he had been avoiding Ye Xun, but when he went to the company today, he accidentally ran into him. Mu Yuanfeng suspected that Ye Xun had been stalking him for a while. After all, the Mu and Ye families had been longtime allies. Mu Yuanfeng couldn't just pretend not to know Ye Xun, so Ye Xun dragged him into a restaurant for a serious talk.

The moment Ye Xun opened his mouth, he proposed dissolving the engagement between Ye Shi and Mu Chen and instead marrying Ye Rong to Mu Chen.

Mu Yuanfeng nearly laughed out of anger and told Ye Xun that Mu Chen had already acknowledged Ye Shi as his future spouse. Even without an engagement contract, Mu Chen would still marry Ye Shi.

Feeling cornered, Ye Xun tried to settle for second best, saying Ye Rong could at least be Mu Chen's concubine.

Mu Yuanfeng smiled wryly. Ye Shi and Ye Rong were at each other's throats. If both became his sons' partners, they'd be fighting to the death every day.

He immediately rejected Ye Xun's request.

Standing nearby, Chen Da looked dazed. That guy Ye Xun is really a disaster. Young master finally improved, and now he's here to mess it all up.

Mu Yuanfeng rubbed his forehead in frustration. Ye Xun used to care so much about appearances, but now he was completely shameless. As he was leaving, Ye Xun even clung to him, begging for money—a whole million yuan stones! In the end, Mu Yuanfeng could only lend him 100,000.

---

In Ye Xun's temporary residence…

"Mu Yuanfeng is too stingy. A million yuan stones is nothing to him, but he only lent 100,000. Is he treating me like a beggar?" Wang Li complained.

Ye Xun had previously sold the ancestral martial arts manual for over a million yuan stones, which made Wang Li rich for a while.

In the capital, there are endless gold-digging opportunities. Once they tasted luxury, both Ye Xun and Wang Li felt their previous hardships even more bitter.

"Exactly! Mu Yuanfeng is a third-level alchemist. He can easily make hundreds of thousands just by refining a few pills, but he's that stingy?" Ye Xun grumbled.

"Hmph. What's wrong with Rong'er? She's perfectly qualified to marry into the Mu family. He acts like she's not good enough." Wang Li said in annoyance.

Ye Rong was now a student at Saint Star Academy, and many Ye family members held her in high regard.

Back when the engagement between the Ye and Mu families was set, Wang Li purposely asked around about Mu Chen. She was disappointed to find that, back then, Mu Chen was considered trash.

At the time, she thought marrying her daughter to Mu Chen would be like sticking a flower into a pile of cow dung.

Even though Mu Chen had now improved, Wang Li couldn't erase that impression. She still thought her daughter deserved better.

"Did you hear from Rong'er? Ye Shi has exited seclusion?" Ye Xun asked.

Wang Li nodded. "Yes, and he's already an eight-star martial artist. Poor Rong'er is only at four stars now. The difference is too big."

Ye Xun stood up abruptly, pacing angrily. "If he's already out, why hasn't he come to see me?"

Wang Li sighed. "Rong'er said Ye Shi doesn't want to see you."

Ye Xun ground his teeth. "That little bastard! If I'd known it would come to this, I would've strangled him when he was born."

Wang Li hesitated and added, "Rong'er said that Ye Shi claims you're not his biological father."

Ye Xun's face instantly changed. He had promised Ye Shi's parents he'd treat the boy like his own, and they'd agreed never to tell Ye Shi the truth. For years, Ye Shi had thought Ye Xun was his real father.

It wasn't something he could proudly announce. How did Ye Shi find out? He probably didn't know when he first left the Ye family...

Could it be Chen Da? But Qu Xinyang wouldn't have told a servant like Chen Da either…

Ye Xun's expression darkened. If Ye Shi already knew the truth, then he'd lost a major bargaining chip.

Wang Li watched Ye Xun's shifting face and suddenly thought, Could it be true that Ye Shi isn't really his son?

Ye Xun narrowed his eyes. If Ye Shi already knew, there was no point hiding it anymore.

"Rong'er said Ye Shi went to the Mingyue Commercial Bank before his retreat and accessed a safe deposit box. It was said that someone had stored something there for over a decade. Rong'er said that's likely how Ye Shi advanced so quickly," Wang Li added.

When Ye Xun heard that, he stood up abruptly and shattered the teacup in his hand.

His face turned sinister. He had served Qu Xinyang for years, yet she'd still hidden something from him.

That woman's a liar, and Ye Shi's no better—pretending to respect me, calling me "father," while secretly being just like her...

Ye Shi must have known about the vault long ago.

With Ye Rong's limited ability, there's no way she'd learn about it. Lan Ruofeng must have deliberately leaked the information.

---

Guys I will be frank I didn't quite like this book the whole plot is so confusing and I find it so similar to many of cultivation novels I have read. However I will try my best to complete it .