The Master and His Wealthy Fiancée

Chen Dong hadn't come just to eat, so he didn't stuff his face just because the ingredients were precious. After he finished his meal, he asked Uncle Tian Hou for a job helping them serve food. His excuse was that he wanted to repay Uncle Tian Hou and the others for their kindness and experience life for a bit.

It was a good thing Uncle Tian Hou was a talkative and kind-hearted person; anyone else would have definitely refused Chen Dong's request.

Soon, the sky brightened. After their morning exercises, the young people of the Tian Family formed two lines to get their breakfast.

Chen Dong waited, holding a large ladle. The first young man came before him and held out his meal box. As Chen Dong took it, his left hand brushed against the young man's.

The young Tian Family member suddenly felt a jolt on the back of his hand, as if he'd been shocked. His heart skipped a beat. Looking at Chen Dong's bald head, he suddenly found the man's features incredibly handsome and refined. It felt like falling in love. He instantly began to question his sexual orientation, but he couldn't stop himself from staring at Chen Dong.

Chen Dong ladled the congee and handed back the meal box, thinking only that the way this young man from the Tian Family was looking at him was not normal. It gave him the creeps.

What Chen Dong didn't know was that this was a side effect of the revival of the Evil Flood Dragon Essence Blood. It was fine with people who had profound cultivation and harbored no strange thoughts toward him. However, the moment he encountered someone who had even the slightest "strange" thought about him, that thought would be amplified and grow uncontrollably. If it were someone with extremely poor self-control, they might even try to have sex with him right then and there.

The young man walked away, looking back at Chen Dong every few steps, unable to tear himself away. The hot Spirit Rice congee was utterly tasteless to him. 'If it's for him,' he thought, 'maybe I wouldn't mind being gay…'

This young man was not the first, nor would he be the last.

The next dozen or so young men were all the same. Each one lingered in front of Chen Dong's pot for a good while, which drastically slowed him down.

Uncle Tian Hou couldn't watch any longer. It wasn't the fawning young men he had a problem with, but Chen Dong's serving speed—it was just too slow. At this rate, it would delay their work, so he had no choice but to ask Chen Dong to take a break.

Chen Dong was initially reluctant, but he had to admit he was much slower than the auntie at the next station. Besides, he'd just discovered an even better post for touching people: handing out the eggs. 'Serving congee only lets me touch people in one line,' he realized, 'but if I hand out eggs, I can get to both.'

Normally, the eggs were left in a large pot for the Tian Family members to grab themselves. A glint flashed in Chen Dong's eyes. He handed his ladle to Uncle Tian Hou, positioned himself in front of the pot of eggs, and began handing them out to the members of the Tian Family.

The eggs were fresh from the pot and quite hot, so none of the Tian Family members thought it was strange that Chen Dong was handing them out. His clothes were different, sure, but everyone needs a change of outfits now and then. Besides, it was just handing out eggs. And so, for the time being, Chen Dong managed to blend right in.

Handing out eggs was a much better cover for Chen Dong's true intentions. All he needed was a light touch; he didn't have to grasp their hands like he did with the meal boxes. He'd found that a bit embarrassing anyway.

Even so, with just a light touch, plenty of people—both men and women—gave Chen Dong looks that were full of meaning.

Chen Dong was secretly delighted. 'Stare all you want,' he thought. In just a short while, he had already screened over two hundred members of the Tian Family.

Just as he was inwardly gloating, a girl he had touched ran back, gave him a sultry look, and furtively slipped a small note into his hand.

Once the first one did it, more followed. Soon, he received a second note, then a third…

Men and women alike were slipping him notes, leaving him utterly baffled. There were 896 members of the Tian Family at breakfast that morning, and he had missed touching 128 of them—either they had gotten their congee from someone else or they simply didn't want an egg.

Chen Dong decided to continue fostering a good relationship with Uncle Tian Hou. 'A couple more mornings like this,' he thought, 'and I'll be able to screen almost the entire Tian Family, with just a few exceptions.'

After things quieted down, Chen Dong finally opened the notes. He had received six notes in total, and every single one had a time and a place written on it.

'Could this be a secret code?' Chen Dong mused with a soft chuckle.

The times and locations were all different, but two were remarkably similar. One note read: *4 PM, halfway up the mountain behind the martial arts field.* It even had a small heart doodled on it. The other read: *4 PM, the summit of the mountain behind the martial arts field,* and was marked with a bright red lipstick print.

Chen Dong considered this and decided he would go take a look when the time came.

After bidding farewell to Uncle Tian Hou, Chen Dong began to wander through the city. It was called a city, but it felt more like a small town to him. The largest portion of its area was actually farmland.

Farmland, right inside the city walls. This led Chen Dong to a realization. 'No wonder the population of the Qiankun Realm is so small,' he thought. 'And why the six great families and other powers in the know are so incredibly tight-lipped about it. When I came down from my mountain, I didn't know a thing.'

'The Qiankun Realm can only produce a finite amount of resources. The more people there are, the less each person gets. So they control the information, keeping outsiders in the dark. Even if someone manages to learn the truth, they're never allowed inside.'

'This Spirit Rice and these other cultivated Spiritual Objects don't even contain that much Spiritual Qi. Eating a little is useless; it takes long-term consumption to actually improve one's constitution. And the Spiritual Qi in the air is thin, too. There must be places in the Qiankun Realm overflowing with Spiritual Qi, but they're being monopolized by a very small number of people.'

After wandering around the city for half the day, Chen Dong figured it was about time and headed for the mountain behind the martial arts field.

When he reached the halfway point on the mountainside, a man with a coquettish air stepped out from a small grove. In an effeminate voice, he cooed, "Big brother, you've come!"