The next day, nearly everyone in town had heard the news—Third Young Master was no longer stupid. It caused quite a stir.
This incident even triggered a strange phenomenon: a bunch of people were struck dead by lightning. Why? Because they too wanted to become smarter—but unfortunately, not many could survive the experience.
Over time, people stopped trying to imitate him. The mortality rate was just too high! When enough people die, fear sets in. Of course, there were still a few fearless souls who kept throwing their lives away.
Also, from that day forward, the pharmacists who treated the Third Young Master vanished. But for the Mo family, it wasn’t a big deal. Few even remembered them. They weren’t critical personnel—easy to replace.
As for the Third Young Master himself, he officially began his training. He was determined to catch up to the others. Now that his intelligence had vastly improved, his progress was no longer the same. At the very least, he could keep up with an average person.
Time passed. People seemed to remember only the present-day Third Young Master, forgetting how he used to be—and along with that, they also forgot someone named Xiaoyao.
On this particular day, Xiaoyao had been summoned once again—this time to the alchemy room!
The Mo family’s alchemy room wasn’t very busy to begin with. Ever since those pharmacists left, it had grown even quieter. Perhaps because of the incident with the Third Young Master, the Second Master had come to view pharmacists as useless—less valuable than even a household servant. So the Mo family hadn’t hired replacements.
To keep the alchemy room operational, Xiaoyao was often conscripted to help out. He’d become a regular there. In his spare time, he would read the medical books kept inside, studying them—either to do his job better, or perhaps simply because he wanted to learn.
“Xiaoyao!!”
“Here! What’s up?”
Xiaoyao quickly answered the call, even as he was tending to both the flame and a book. As a servant, fast reactions were a must.
“Hurry up and come with me—the Young Lady is summoning people.”
“The Young Lady is gathering people?”
Xiaoyao tossed a few more ingredients into the alchemical furnace and fed the fire. Then he followed. By his estimate, the concoction should be fine—he could return to open the furnace after handling the Young Lady’s task.
At worst, the pill’s quality would suffer a bit. But these were ordinary materials for an ordinary pill—nothing special.
As for why the Young Lady was calling people, Xiaoyao didn’t give it much thought. Not because he couldn’t figure it out, but because there was no need to. Everyone knew the answer.
“Is everyone here?”
A captivating voice rang out from the lips of a girl so beautiful she seemed to be a miracle of creation.
They were inside the Golden Jade Pavilion—the grandest, most luxurious restaurant in Qingyun City. It was a favorite haunt of the city’s elite and also a hotspot for drama and disputes.
Right now, one such conflict was unfolding. It was both extraordinary and common at once.
The dispute involved two members of Qingyun City’s top families: the Mo family’s Young Lady and the Nangong family’s Fourth Young Master. Both were elite figures of the younger generation, and their families had a famously hostile relationship. When the two met, it was like flint meeting steel—especially when one of them was the Mo family’s Young Lady.
And now, they were face-to-face again.
“We’re almost all here, Young Lady. Don’t worry, we outnumber them—we definitely have the advantage in headcount,” said a maid beside her.
Of course they did! They’d even dragged in the lowliest servants to make up numbers—how could they not outnumber the opposition?
Seeing this, the Nangong family’s Fourth Young Master could only glare arrogantly at the Mo family’s Young Lady. His expression said: So what if you have more people? Your side’s overall strength is garbage compared to mine.
A numerical advantage couldn’t make up for a lack of quality.
Look at this guy, look at that one—all just filler!
“Good. Even in numbers, we can’t lose face,” Mo Eldest Daughter said coldly. “Of course, I could take down this whole bunch of idiots by myself. But then people might say we had no men and had to send out a poor little girl.”
That seemed like a direct response to the Fourth Young Master’s earlier glare.
“Don’t get cocky, Little Mo Fish! Don’t forget—you’ve lost to me before!” the Nangong Fourth Young Master said arrogantly. His confidence wasn’t unfounded—Mo Eldest Daughter had indeed once been defeated by him.
The Nangong family was a martial family, unlike the Mo family, which specialized in crafting. The Nangongs had deep martial roots—a strength the Mo family couldn’t match.
That was why Mo Eldest Daughter had brought so many people today—to make up for their martial disadvantage with numbers.
“Damn you! You trying to die?! My name is Mo Yu! If you can’t read, go back to kindergarten!” she snapped.
“Does it matter?” the Fourth Young Master sneered.
“…” Mo Yu fell silent. She couldn’t deny the truth—in pronunciation, there really wasn’t much difference between “Mo Yu” and “Mo Fish.” But the implication annoyed her deeply—she couldn’t stand it.
“Of course it matters. One is ‘yu’ as in gentle words, the other is ‘yu’ as in fish! Didn’t your teacher teach you how to read? You really are a big-headed idiot!” she shot back, sharp as ever.
Big-headed idiot?!
Just arriving at the back of the crowd, Xiaoyao glanced at the Nangong Fourth Young Master. He did have an unusually large head—far larger than average. It was clearly one of his most distinctive features…and likely a sore spot.
“Damn woman! I hate it when people talk about my head. You’re dead!!”
Sure enough, the Fourth Young Master exploded.
“Oh, I’m talking about your head all right—your big head, your massive head…” Mo Eldest Daughter teased mercilessly. A woman with the upper hand never lets up—especially someone like her.
“Get them! Take that woman and her people down!” the Fourth Young Master yelled, leading the charge himself.
“We’ll see who takes down who! Boys, go get that big-headed freak! Big rewards if you hit that massive melon!” Mo Yu shouted back, charging right into battle herself!
At that point, chaos broke out—both sides entered a fever-pitched brawl.
And what was Xiaoyao, the lowly servant drafted just to boost the numbers, supposed to do?
“Xiaoyao! Stop playing with your little beast and help out! What’s with you and that useless animal?” another servant yelled.
Indeed, Xiaoyao was feeding a tiny beast. It was snow-white and fluffy, shaped like a round ball, with matching white wings, bright red eyes, and limbs hidden under its thick fur.
Purely in terms of looks, it was adorable—many people kept such beasts for their appearance. They were beloved pets of bored nobles and girls who liked cute things.
Xiaoyao’s little beast was just such a creature—one of the common “snow imps.” The only difference was that his was extra fat and extra round.
Because it was always eating. It would eat anything—even rocks.
The strangest part? Despite being so round and chubby, it could still fly—and very nimbly at that. A true oddity.
No one really remembered where the beast had come from. They just knew that Xiaoyao had raised it for a long time. It didn’t seem to have been with him from the beginning, but it had been there a while.
It was just an ordinary beast. Nobody paid it much attention.
“Oh, got it! I’m coming…” Xiaoyao called back and got to work on his real job—
“Go, Young Lady! So mighty! So dazzling!” he cheered loudly.
He wasn’t just spectating. As a lowly servant drafted into the mix, his job was to stand in the back and cheer. That’s what they were here for—filler. If they went up front, they’d just get beaten. No one expected them to fight.
“Nice! Keep it up!” the other servant approved. He was in the same position as Xiaoyao—just another low-level servant.
“Chi-chi…” chirped Xiaoyao’s beast beside him. It seemed to be helping too. That sound—“chi chi”—was all it ever said.
Since the creature was always eating and always chirping “chi chi,” Xiaoyao had named it “Chi Chi.”
Just like that, the battle continued, and the cheers carried on. As it turned out, the eldest daughter of the Mo family wasn’t just all talk—she truly had some skill. At the very least, when it came to dealing with the Fourth Young Master of the Nangong family, she was more than capable.
At this moment, the Fourth Young Master of the Nangong family furrowed his brows tightly. The more the fight dragged on, the more surprised he felt. As he had said earlier, the Mo family’s eldest daughter had once been defeated by him—not too long ago, either. But now, it looked like she could actually hold her own against him.
That kind of improvement in strength was incredibly obvious!
Logically speaking, when it came to martial cultivation, the Mo family was supposed to be inferior to the Nangong family. If their family standings were reversed, then this current situation would make perfect sense. But as things stood, it felt... off.
Could it be that the Mo family’s eldest daughter had some sort of new opportunity or fortuitous encounter?
(End of Chapter)