Chapter 10: Gathering Wisdom

“If you want to properly fill that huge hole in the wall, it’ll cost at least two thousand yuan. Just pay me two thousand and we’ll call it even!”

“Otherwise, this won’t end here. You damaged someone else’s property without reason. Even if we end up at the police station, I’m still in the right.”

“And don’t even think about dodging it. I’ll be honest with you: I have not only physical evidence—the wall—but also a witness!”

“I got a call from our neighbor, Mrs. Zhao. She said there was a loud bang from your place early yesterday morning that startled her so badly her heart condition flared up.”

“The moment I heard about it, I knew you must be up to no good in my apartment. And what happened? Sure enough, I caught you red-handed!”

“Now that there’s both evidence and a witness, what do you have to say for yourself?”

Aunt Zhang spoke so quickly and sharply that her words pounded against Chang Yu’s head, his anger rising rapidly with each sentence.

Indeed, the fist mark was his doing.

After learning he’d become a cultivator, he got carried away in his excitement and threw a punch at the wall without considering the consequences.

Now that Aunt Zhang had found out and come to confront him, it was only a matter of time before the truth surfaced.

Chang Yu had no intention of defending himself. He’d punched a giant hole in someone’s perfectly good wall—he was clearly in the wrong.

He wasn’t the unreasonable type. If he’d made a mistake, he would admit it honestly; that had always been one of his virtues.

He was willing to apologize and pay compensation—so long as it was fair and reasonable.

The problem was that Aunt Zhang had opened with a demand for two thousand yuan. Wasn’t that just blatant extortion?

Who spends two thousand to patch up a hole in a wall? Was she planning to fill it with gold?

Plaster is dirt cheap. Even with labor, filling that hole shouldn’t cost more than two hundred.

A tenfold markup—how could that not be a scam?

Clearly, Aunt Zhang saw that Chang Yu was alone in H City, with no friends or family to rely on, and decided to bully the easy target.

If he’d known this would happen, he would have had a handyman fix the punch mark earlier and saved himself all this trouble.

Now he was truly furious; he felt angrier than he had in the entire past year combined.

Chang Yu pressed his lips tightly together, clenched his fists, and struggled to suppress his rage.

He worried that if he lost control, he’d give Aunt Zhang a punch of her own—let her see what it felt like to have a hole in her side.

“Aunt Zhang, it’s not that I don’t want to pay you, but two thousand is a bit much, don’t you think?” He practically ground the words out between clenched teeth.

“Two thousand too much? With the extent of that damage, I could’ve asked for four thousand and still been reasonable!” Aunt Zhang barked, jabbing a finger at his nose, her overbearing manner truly repulsive.

“I checked online before. Two hundred is more than enough to fix that hole. Your price is just too high—I’ll pay you three hundred at most.” Chang Yu wasn’t a fool to be fleeced at will and flatly refused her absurd demand.

No way would he just hand over his hard-earned money. No one’s money grows on trees.

He worked from dawn till dusk, struggling to survive.

If he worked this hard, it was only to carve out a place for himself in this city, to one day live a better life.

Why should his painstaking earnings go straight into the pocket of this greedy Aunt Zhang before he even got to enjoy them?

It was outrageous!

He’d expected her to argue and was already prepared for a fierce debate, but to his surprise, Aunt Zhang’s lips curled into a sly smile.

“Chang Yu, maybe you don’t realize, but Mrs. Zhao next door has a heart condition.”

“Your loud noise yesterday morning almost sent her into cardiac arrest—she nearly died!”

“Don’t you think you owe her some medical fees and compensation for emotional distress? The extra money isn’t just for me; Mrs. Zhao gets a share too.”

“To be frank, if you want this to go away, just pay up. Otherwise, the two of us will show up at your company every day and make a scene!”

Aunt Zhang was a seasoned arguer; she knew that browbeating alone wouldn’t win her the money, so it was time for the carrot after the stick. Her tone softened:

“Actually, two thousand isn’t that much. Is it worth ruining your reputation at work over such a trivial sum?”

“As the saying goes, ‘family shame shouldn’t be aired in public.’ Think about it—what will your boss think if he hears about this mess? Will your company still have a place for you?”

Chang Yu’s heart skipped a beat.

Throughout history, the classic tactics of weeping, making a scene, and threatening to hang oneself had been women’s ultimate weapon. If Aunt Zhang and Mrs. Zhao really stormed his workplace together, his reputation would be utterly ruined.

At that point, whether he paid or not, the two old women would make his life miserable. He’d likely be branded as disrespectful and heartless, and the company might even fire him for poor character.

There was a certain kind of older woman you could never afford to cross.

They could dance in the square in the morning and roll up their sleeves for a fight by afternoon.

Trying to reason with them was a fool’s errand.

Resigned, Chang Yu could only accept his misfortune despite his seething anger.

“All right, all right! I’m just unlucky, I’ll pay you!” He reluctantly pulled out his phone and transferred the money to Aunt Zhang, his expression dark as thunder.

Aunt Zhang cheerfully opened the transfer, grinning so widely her smile nearly reached her ears. She thought to herself, What a windfall!

Two thousand yuan in less than fifteen minutes—who else could make money like this?

Only she, Aunt Zhang, had such a talent!

Meanwhile, Chang Yu stared at his dwindling balance, his heart bleeding. Every part of his body ached at the loss.

Two thousand yuan was no small sum for him—it was an entire month’s salary.

Why are there so many wicked people in this world? It was truly infuriating.

“Well, since I’ve got the money, I’ll be going,” Aunt Zhang said, pocketing her phone and heading straight for the door.

As for the hole in the wall... she didn’t even spare it a glance, acting as if it didn’t exist and offering no word on when she’d have it fixed.

It was as if her earlier display of distress had been nothing but an act.

Truth be told, she cared far less about the wall than she let on.

Her heartache was just a pretense, a way to extort money from Chang Yu.

“Oh, and one more thing!” Aunt Zhang paused at the door, turning back to him. “Your rent is due soon. Don’t forget to have it ready by the end of the month. I don’t tolerate late payments.”

“Understood.” Chang Yu replied weakly, feeling as though all life and spirit had been drained from him.

He’d forgotten about the rent—there were only three days left until it was due.

Misfortune never comes singly. How could so many bad things happen in one day?

Her reminder made him recall his bank balance.

99.8.

Just ninety-nine yuan and eighty cents.

That was all he had left.

He’d started with 2,099.8, but after handing over two thousand to Aunt Zhang, only the change remained.

Even without considering the rent, it would be hard to survive until next payday on what little was left.

Now he could barely afford food, let alone the rent.

Once Aunt Zhang was finally gone, Chang Yu collapsed onto his bed, feeling both miserable and despairing.

“There are only three days left to pay the rent. How am I supposed to earn eight hundred yuan in three days?” he muttered, his brow creased in worry.

His wages were low, barely enough to cover his monthly expenses. He had no savings to speak of.

In a city as expensive as H City, simply surviving was already an exercise in thrift.

“Maybe I could pick up trash on the street? No, that’s too slow. Even after a month I wouldn’t earn eight hundred.”

“Beg on the streets? Impossible! Even if I could endure the humiliation, I couldn’t stand the shame.”

“Should I just go out and steal? No way! I grew up under the red flag, a model citizen—I can’t do anything illegal!”

He racked his brains for a solution but came up empty.

At last, he could only sigh from the bottom of his heart, “A lack of money can bring even the mightiest hero to his knees!”

If only he could come up with a way to make money, he thought.

Maybe he should just change jobs.

Working as a doorman just didn’t pay enough.

...

Chang Yu slouched toward the guardhouse, looking so dejected he resembled a young woman scorned by a heartless lover.

“Xiao Yu, what’s troubling you? Why so down?” Fatty Wang asked with concern.

“It’s just been a rough day,” Chang Yu replied absentmindedly.

All the way to work, his mind was preoccupied with how to earn enough money to resolve his current crisis.

Though he hadn’t come up with a concrete plan, he did have one idea.

If he couldn’t think of a solution himself, why not crowdsource one and ask others?

Some problems might be beyond him, but that didn’t mean others couldn’t help.

So, pushing aside the turmoil in his mind, he pulled out his phone and logged onto the country’s largest online forum.

His fingers flew as he composed and posted the following:

Newbie seeking help from the seasoned veterans of this forum—urgent advice needed...

A few days ago, I had a dream. In the dream, I met an old immortal.

He kindly took my hand, wanting to take me as his disciple and insisted on teaching me the ways of immortality.

I immediately thought this was my chance to turn my life around, so I accepted, acknowledged him as my master, and received his teachings.

I thought it was just a dream.

But to my surprise, when I woke up, I discovered I could actually use magic!

So, I am now a bona fide cultivator.

May I ask, is there any fast way for a cultivator like me to make money?

I’m really strapped for cash right now and feeling lost.

You’re all good people—could you give me some advice? May you all have peaceful lives!