My Master Knows It All

103: Chapter 98: Tai Chu_1 103: Chapter 98: Tai Chu_1 Chao Zi Zai looked around and wondered, “Isn’t my voice loud enough?

Why is there no reaction from any of you?”

What?

Has everyone been struck by a deafness spell?

“I said, the money, when will you give it to me?” he could only say again.

He Xiaofu had always been very fond of various kinds of poetry and was extremely sensitive to language.

She sensitively noticed that Chao Zi Zai’s wording placed ‘money’ at the forefront.

She would also like to give Chao Zi Zai the money right now, but she simply couldn’t.

“Brother Chao,” He Xiaofu said with a troubled expression, “the Sect will distribute rewards uniformly to the disciples selected after the assessment, and since the assessment isn’t over yet, we can’t give you the money directly.”

“No money now,” Chao Zi Zai said, disappointed, thinking he would have been paid first.

Seeing the disappointed look in Chao Zi Zai’s eyes, He Xiaofu felt even worse.

The idiom “a single penny stumps a hero” crossed her mind, imagining Brother Chao’s spirit being caged by money.

If it had been earlier, she could have even taken out some money herself, but the problem was that one of her senior sisters had borrowed her savings to make a quick profit.

As a result, she lost everything and was also strapped for cash.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have come to do the assessment and started with the last few Peaks to try to scrape up some resources.

While thinking, she cast a glance at Cao Zhen beside her—this man was the root cause of the problem.

As she was pondering, Feng Lianxin’s voice came from the side.

“I wonder if there’s anyone else from Seven Star Peak who’s undergoing the assessment?” His attitude had improved a great deal compared to before.

Although he was only facing the second lowest ranked small Peak with a mere seven or eight promising candidates, he wanted to remember the kindness shown by the disciple who had reached enlightenment at Seven Star Peak.

Chao Zi Zai gently shook his head and said, “No more.” He was dragged to the assessment by Cao Zhen, and the other disciples of their Peak had no chance of passing.

A team member from the assessment team nodded and said, “If no one else is undergoing assessment, then we’ll take our leave.”

Suddenly, He Xiaofu turned her head, her eyes sharply fixed on the speaker, as piercing as a sword, as if to stab right into the team member’s heart.

She had just wanted to discuss something with Brother Chao, and this guy interrupted them—was it his place to speak?

Who is the leader here, him or me!

Leave now?

Wait, actually, leaving now doesn’t seem too bad.

Visiting the other Peaks to gather some resources could possibly help Brother Chao out a bit.

With this thought, she quickly turned her head to Chao Zi Zai, her gaze softening instantly, and her voice also became much gentler, “Brother Chao, since no one from your Peak is undergoing the assessment, we will take our leave first.

I too am quite fond of poetry; in the future, I hope to seek your guidance on this matter and hope you won’t refuse.” Her soft voice seemed somewhat bashful.

Chao Zi Zai waved his hands dismissively and said, “Sister has other matters to attend to.

The assessment is a major event for the Sect and must not be delayed.”

Seek advice?

Yeah right, just now those few lines, if you ask me to repeat them, I couldn’t even do it.

If you want to learn folk songs, I could teach you that.

Poems and songs, folk songs count as songs, right?

He Xiaofu took another deep look at Chao Zi Zai before turning around and leading her team away.

Look, this was the magnanimity of Brother Chao; even with his Peak in such difficulty, he first and foremost thought of the Sect.

Once the assessment team left, Chao Zi Zai immediately dragged Cao Zhen towards the deeper parts of the courtyard.

Ninety-nine Peaks were still slightly better off than the Hundredth Peak—at the very least, they seemed to have a few more rooms, and the courtyard was much larger.

At the far end of the courtyard stood a house built with gray bricks.

Outside the house door, a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy, with a food box slung over one arm, stood in front of the somewhat mottled door with a worried face.

Upon seeing Chao Zi Zai, he promptly walked up with the food box and called out, “Big Brother.”

Chao Zi Zai nodded slightly, his concern evident as he asked, “How is Master?

”

The boy helplessly shook his head, “Still the same, refusing to eat or drink, not allowing anyone into his room, just crying alone inside.”

Cao Zhen didn’t even need to be told; as soon as he neared the door, he could hear wailing from inside the room, cries like, ‘I have let down the ancestors of the Seven Star Peak.’ ‘Seven Star Peak will fall into ruin in my hands.’

“Ah…” Chao Zi Zai sighed deeply and looked earnestly at Cao Zhen, “Old Cao, it’s all up to you this time.

Please persuade the Peak Master.”

Cao Zhen felt his scalp tingle under that gaze.

Don’t look at me like that, the way you’re pinning all your hopes on me makes me nervous.

What can I possibly say?

But under Chao Zi Zai’s expectant look, he had no choice but to stiffen his resolve and push open the door.

Immediately, a regretful and pained wailing filled the air.

“I, Deng Qixing, have failed the ancestors of Seven Star Peak!

I thought by offering the Wind Fire Flood Dragon Pearl, I could recruit the genius Yi Sheng and revive our Seven Star Peak, but Yi Sheng still joined another Sect.

He went to our neighboring, lowest ranked Four Treasures Peak!

It’s my incompetence!”

There was a chair in the room, but Deng Qixing didn’t sit.

Instead, he lay sprawled on a cushion with his hair hanging loose, wailing at the top of his lungs.

It seemed as though he heard the door open.

After a wail, he even raised his head to gaze in the direction of the door.

Almost at the same moment he looked up, Cao Zhen heard a ‘squeak’ from behind, and the door closed from the outside.