Evening of May 22, 2017
When Wang Jiu returned to Shen Garden with two iron boxes full of gold and silver treasures, he did not receive the hero's welcome he deserved.
Seeing the astonishing wealth worth hundreds of thousands of silver, Li Qingming fell right off the bed.
"Oh my god, what did you do!? Did you sell yourself?"
Regarding his own mount, Wang Jiu had a much richer means of communication, directly speaking into her mind: "Took on a Hundred Families task."
"You're kidding!" Li Qingming couldn't believe it, "I've never heard of a Hundred Families task with such generous rewards! What did you do?!"
"Copy books."
"Copy books?! With your handwriting? Unless they paid you to stop writing!"
"In fact, the income from the book copying task itself wasn't much, only 20 high-grade spirit stones and a white jade seal. The main income came from reaching a long-term cooperation agreement with the task publisher."
"Long-term cooperation agreement?" Li Qingming was more and more confused, "What's going on?"
"It's simple to explain..."
——
At the time, faced with Li Jinglun's question, Wang Jiu decided to return it as is: "What do you think."
As a result, Li Jinglun was left dumbfounded on the spot.
"Cunning, you're really cunning, you're asking me, asking a high-level expert in the Rain Cover Realm, a well-known bestselling author on the Xiangzhou Continent, what price I'm willing to pay for a stupid mistake that could affect my entire career?" Li Jinglun glared with mixed feelings of shock, disdain, and admiration as he looked at Wang Jiu, "So let's calculate this, my current intangible commercial value, according to the last evaluation, is about 100,000 spirit stones, of which one fifth comes from my renowned error-free reputation marketing over the years, that's 20,000 spirit stones. If this mistake gets exposed, malicious hype from competitors could cause me to lose at least 50% of my reputation, that's 10,000 spirit stones. And according to the theory of rational cultivators, as long as it's better than the worst-case scenario, I have a reason to accept, and the maximum number for this is 9999. In other words, your asking price is 9999 spirit stones! Is that right!?"
Such a fluent calculation fully reflected the beauty of mathematics and logic, making Wang Jiu greatly impressed: "Your calculation is very elegant."
"Ha! I knew it!" But Li Jinglun looked irritated, "9999 spirit stones, you really are a daring robber, just because of a chance discovery of a tiny oversight in my book, you want me to pay such a huge amount! But what choice do I have? As a bestselling author, a world-renowned theoretical scholar, to save my reputation, I should spare no expense, so..."
Before he could finish, Wang Jiu sent over a paper flying sword.
"In fact, you could explain the calculation formula error as a result of changing environmental variables. For instance, assuming that when the Wind and Rain Sword Technique was invented 200 years ago, there's a 1% change in the constant in the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi influence factor formula on the Xiangzhou Continent, as long as this condition is met, it can explain why you used a potentially error-prone vague calculation method in your formula."
Li Jinglun held the note for a whole cup of tea's time without moving, and then, as if triggered by some mechanism, he bent over the desk and started recalculating frantically.
After a long time, he looked up with a look of utter exhaustion, on the verge of collapse.
"How did you find out!?"
Wang Jiu had to admit it was a good question because even after thinking for a long time, he didn't know how to answer such a straightforward question, so he could only reply with a question: "Why couldn't you find out?"
Li Jinglun suddenly looked like he'd swallowed a fly, his expression changing in an instant, and after a while, he slowly calmed down.
"First, I want to thank you for providing an extremely constructive suggestion, which indeed can patch up my mistake. Secondly, it's precisely because of your suggestion that allows me to avoid this reputation crisis, so I will pay the hush money matching the 9999 spirit stones standard. Lastly, I have a better suggestion..."
——
"And then you became his special advisor? Responsible for proofreading each published book and regularly providing math guidance, with a reward of one-tenth of his royalties? And this batch is the advance payment?!"
Li Qingming, with an expression as if struck dumb, recited the lines, then fell into questioning the wonders of this mystical world.
A mere whiteboard dull sword, just wandering outside could fetch tens of thousands of silver taels——and this is just the advance payment! In contrast, at 14, she's achieved nothing, living a life of simple broth and cabbage, rare to see any meat, her latest IQ test results still mild... Oh god, if I think any further, I might really doom myself to revolution sacrificial death out of self-loathing!
On the bright side, at least in the short term, she wouldn't have to worry about money anymore, tens of thousands of silver taels would be enough to satisfy her mortal needs. As for the immortal resources needed for cultivation, one-tenth of the royalties from a Rain Cover Realm master cum bestselling author was already a huge fortune for a newcomer in the Wind-Rising Realm.
Getting out of poverty and achieving prosperity had been Li Qingming's long-held wish. Now that her dream had come true, her heart overflowed with joy, she could barely resist the urge to grab her divine sword and give it two kisses.
Wang Jiu had to remind her: "I strongly don't recommend you doing that, much like how some people enjoy being licked by pets among dog owners, but many also have issues with saliva..."
"Alright, I was just thinking! Now get out of my head and stop peeking at my thoughts!" Li Qingming waved her hand, though she couldn't suppress her excitement inside, "Wang Jiu, Wang Jiu, can you bring me the latest Dobao Pavilion shopping catalog from the table, please."
Wang Jiu puzzledly did as requested, only to see the little girl quickly immerse herself in that finely printed, richly illustrated merchandise world, her eyes continuously shining with dazzling brilliance, her little nose crinkling, her breathing steadily growing heavier.
"Wang Jiu, I remember you mentioned before wanting the Celestial Decree Spirit Seal? This store just got new stock, want to order a batch, you can use silver taels to pay, only fifty thousand taels per piece, limited supply, I'll add it to the cart first... Ah, and there's Vortex Copper, although it seems less tiered compared to the Vortex Gold you mentioned, but it's cheap, only twenty spirit stones each! I'll add them to the cart too... Look, Fulfillity Record has launched new desserts, they look delicious, I haven't had proper desserts in ages, let's get two boxes to try, one for you, one for me, hehe."
This self-talking akin to an incantation continued for nearly half an hour, afterwards, Wang Jiu had to interrupt the girl's silly smiles.
"I think I need to remind you, your cart total has exceeded what I earned from this task."
Li Qingming woke up like from a dream: "Really? How did it get so much without me realizing it!? Never mind, let me see how to cut it down."
This time, Li Qingming was silent for a long time, her little face also drooping down.
"It's so hard, deleting from the cart feels like cutting off my hands... Wang Jiu, is there a way to take another Hundred Families Task for quick wealth? Or, or let that sucker writer release another book quickly? Speaking of, who exactly is that guy?"
"He's your relative, Li Jinglun."
Immediately, Li Qingming's face froze, gradually turning cold.
"Li Jinglun? It's actually him!? This is ridiculous!"
Wang Jiu asked: "What's wrong with him?"
Li Qingming breathed out: "Li Jinglun, descendant of the Li Family from Lingshan City, a distant relative of the Cyan Cloud Li Family, same generation as Li Fengyun, ranked thirteenth in the family. He left home 12 years ago to study in Qingshan City. Despite having Li Family's blood, his comprehension is top-notch, but his inherent quality is mediocre, considered an expert in Lingshan City, yet average in Qingshan City. However, by chance, he befriended Lu Xin during his studies, and thus became her best friend in the Li Family Mansion, so what do you say?"
"I say, what's wrong with him?"
Li Qingming, conceding to the sword spirit's insensitivity, had to reveal the answer herself: "That means he's an enemy! Anyone on the same side with Lu Xin is an enemy!"
Wang Jiu thought for a while: "If according to your theory, since Li Jinglun is Lu Xin's friend, he's an enemy, then as Li Jinglun's partner, profit sharer..."
"You're different!" Li Qingming was resolute, "You're my Sword Spirit, definitely not in the same camp as Lu Xin!"
After a pause, Li Qingming then spoke with a tone of painful yet determined heroism: "Since it's his money, it should be returned."
"Why?"
"It's the enemy's money!" Li Qingming said seriously, "I can't use the enemy's money!"
"But..."
"No means no! It's a matter of principle! I'd rather be poor and destitute than accept the enemy's aid!"
As she spoke, with a tragic and resolute expression akin to a hero severing his own wrist, Li Qingming tossed aside the Dobao Pavilion shopping manual, taking a deep breath, and enduring her body discomfort, jumped off the bed.
"Later, I'll go to the Mutual Aid Association, we'll look for a new Hundred Families task together, there will always be a suitable one."
"Actually..."
"No more talking, my mind is made up!"
Wang Jiu continued: "Spending the enemy's money on your own stuff essentially means offsetting losses and gains, weakening the enemy, strengthening oneself."
"... Go on."
"Through one's own efforts, obtaining money from the enemy in a way that they're not genuinely willing to accept is essentially a kind of war prize. Freely disposing of spoils is a privilege exclusive to the victor."
Li Qingming fell silent immediately, and after a while, slowly climbed back onto the bed.
"Wang Jiu, bring me the Dobao Pavilion manual again, I'll take another look."