Chapter 761: Chapter 50: A Matter of Time? Chapter 761: Chapter 50: A Matter of Time? Hong Liangyu turned back to Creek Tower, not wanting to disturb his brother and sister-in-law, he slipped into the side room in the dark. He used scissors to cut out the bloodstained cloth from his clothes, planning to throw the pieces into the stove and burn them the next day. Seeing that it was still dark outside, he curled up and went to sleep.

Early the next morning, Hong Liangyu, as usual, got up to carry water and chop wood. Madam Liu woke up quite early. She had noticed that Hong Liangyu had not returned the night before and was planning to scold him this morning. Now seeing him busy with work, the words she had wanted to say were swallowed back down. However, it was Hong Liangyu who saw Madam Liu and took the initiative to greet her.

“Sister-in-law.”

Madam Liu saw that his clothes were torn with several large holes and shook her head, then, carrying a basket, she turned and left the house.

Hong Liangyu didn’t mind.

The Scholar got up later, wearing his shoes loosely as he stepped out of the room and took a draw from his tobacco pipe before speaking to Hong Liangyu in the courtyard.

“Liangyu, come here.”

Hong Liangyu went over, puzzled.

Hong Liangzhang sat on a chair, with the pig’s head that had been delivered the day before on the table, and ordered, “Later, you go to the Dong Family’s residence with two pounds of yellow wine and a hand-copied Avatamsaka Sutra. Go quickly and return quickly.”

“Alright.”

Hong Liangyu didn’t think much of it.

“You are not getting any younger, and I’ve been arranging a marriage for you. In the Dong Family, there’s a senior maid called Meixiang, still unmarried at over twenty, she’s virtuous by nature, and her appearance–well, is also decent. What do you think?”

Hong Liangyu was silent for a while before saying, “I’ll follow whatever decision my brother makes.”

The Scholar’s face relaxed, and he nodded, “Once you’re married, I hope you’ll become more settled. I’ll find a way to cover the cost of the betrothal gifts.”

“Brother, I have some savings. There’s no need for you to spend the extra money.”

Hong Liangzhang’s face darkened, “How can we use the money you’ve earned through unjust means?”

Hong Liangyu’s cheeks tightened, but he held his tongue.

Realizing his words had been harsh, the Scholar lowered his voice, “You’ve not been home for a while, and if you suddenly come up with a significant amount of money, wouldn’t it just arouse suspicion? Besides, the fields and properties left by our parents are supposed to include your share. As the eldest brother is like a father, it’s right for me to pay.”

Hong Liangyu knew his brother always cared about him, “I – I’m just worried, it’d be difficult for you to explain to sister-in-law.”

“Eh,” Hong Liangzhang waved his hand dismissively, “What does a woman of the household know about these matters? It’s not a bother.”

Hong Liangyu left his elder brother’s room and closed the door. Just then, Madam Liu returned and saw him coming out of her husband’s room. She asked, “Did you argue with your brother again?”

“No, sister-in-law, the elder brother just had a word with me.”

From her basket, Madam Liu pulled out a piece of coarse cloth and some needles and thread, then said to Hong Liangyu, “I’ve brought back a new piece of cloth and bought some needles and thread. I’ll go in and mend it for you. Come on, take off your clothes.”

Hong Liangyu felt a warmth in his heart and somewhat embarrassedly took off his clothes and handed them to Madam Liu, “Thank you, sister-in-law.”

“We’re family, no need for such polite words.”

Madam Liu took the clothes, and Xiao Zhier, bare-bottomed, ran over and grabbed onto Hong Liangyu’s pant leg, “Uncle, the pinwheel you made for me is broken. Make me another one, please.”

Hong Liangyu’s mood inexplicably soared, and he picked up his nephew to give him a kiss, his stubble scratching the child’s face into a rub.

“Come on, Uncle will make you a big one.”

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“Leader of the Five Dragon Sect?”

Li Yan was a bit dazed for a moment.

“I had already received the news when I was in Borneo, though it’s at least half a month outdated, claiming he gathered nearly ten thousand followers. I fear the news might be outdated now; the numbers could only be higher, what to do?!”

Cha Xiaodao’s tone carried a hint of murder, he had invested a lot into the Red Flag Gang, putting in more effort than Li Yan had, and reaping immense profits. Now, someone was impersonating him, trying to carve a piece from his flesh–as if poking the anus of a tiger;
if he hadn’t been stuck in Borneo, he would have slaughtered this so-called Five Dragon Sect Leader without hesitation.

Li Yan also felt it strange. He hadn’t ruled out such a possibility, but this had happened too quickly. Within just two short months, someone managed to raise such a large force, indicating that this person was by no means ordinary.

Could there be…
Li Yan frowned.

“I’ll handle it, don’t worry. Just focus on managing Borneo well. The Treasure Ship King isn’t an ordinary character either; he’s a local serpent. Be careful yourself; safety comes first.”

“Okay.”

Upon hearing Li Yan say this, Cha Xiaodao also felt relieved.

After ending the call, Li Yan immediately opened the exploration records of the Yan Fu Fruit, finding that compared to the time he first entered Yan Fu, the functionality of the exploration records had greatly improved.

The earliest exploration records felt more like a deserted forum, where later visitors could only “dig up graves” in the form of older forum posts to get fragmented and claw-like information, which wasn’t very helpful. This was due to the vast number of Daqian Fruits and too few who had traversed Yan Fu.

However, with the Yan Zhao Club’s decision to greatly expand its recruitment passing, the number of those traversing Yan Fu increased dramatically. The quantitative change at a certain level induced a qualitative change; now the exploration records had set up dedicated entries and search functions. While some parts were paid access, the value of the information and convenience had improved beyond comparison to the initial stage.

As a second-seat representative, Li Yan enjoyed unimaginable conveniences in the exploration records. For example, he could now fully check the number of those currently involved in events in Yan Fu on this fruit, and he could also issue temporary events to these people. Of course, he had to provide the rewards himself, and there was no standard punishment mechanism for Yan Fu events.

Another example would be that he could look up all currently surviving Yan Fu travelers, how many Yan Fu events each person had completed on this fruit, and their ranking by the total value of rewards harvested. Of course, he wouldn’t know the details of the events or the nature of the rewards.

From this ranking, he could see that the number of Yan Fu events he and Cha Xiaodao had completed on this fruit wasn’t particularly high; they only ranked eighth or ninth. However, in terms of the value of rewards obtained, they were second and third, while the first place was anonymous–even Li Yan couldn’t see who it was, but he had a rough guess about the person’s identity.

As for the Five Dragon Sect Church, there was no need to look it up; this entry had already become the hottest pinned entry for the South Seas fruit.

In the past two months, the number of Yan Fu travelers who completed events related to the Five Dragon Sect Church reached over seventy. Many of them received very generous rewards from the Five Dragon Sect Church. If they joined and aided the Five Dragon Sect Church, rewards often involved powerful and instantly-acquired spells. Or by killing the Five Dragon Sect Church’s leading figures, they could also gain rewards such as Yan Fu points calculated by the official salary, as well as various advanced medicines and firearms from the East India Company.

Li Yan casually opened a few ongoing Yan Fu events by others; it wasn’t hard to spot objectives like “Assist the Five Dragon Sect Church in attacking Shaoguan,” or “Kill the Red Dragon Envoy Hong Liangyu,” and so on.

What made him both laugh and cry was that the hottest entry under the Five Dragon Sect Church was actually himself.

The most popular record title was: “It’s only a matter of time until second-seat Li Yan claims this fruit, brothers better hurry up.”

The name of the author of this record was hidden, but Li Yan could see that it was someone named Wang Sheng, a Golden Crow Proxy. Aside from himself and Cha Xiaodao, this person ranked fourth in terms of the value of rewards achieved in this event.