One day, Jun Xie was idly amusing **, and during this period, due to the drastic changes in his demeanor and character, the little girl was finally no longer as afraid of him as before. Although she still wouldn't approach him closely, she no longer exhibited extreme aversion, especially not towards the stories Jun Xie told. At such times, the little girl would sit before Jun Xie, resting her small hands on her cheeks, her large eyes blinking slowly as she listened with rapt attention, terrified of missing a single word. Her expressions would shift with the fortunes of the characters in the tale—sometimes sorrowful, sometimes joyful, sometimes her eyes widening in suspense…

Jun Xie recounted the story of a mermaid, which moved the little girl so deeply that her tears flowed like a breached river dam, causing her to sob inconsolably for an entire day…. From that moment on, Jun Xie swore an oath to himself never again to tell a tragic story to a woman!

Tears… they could drown a man!

“Young Master, Young Master Tang has arrived.” Jun Xie was just reaching the part where the Monkey King was imprisoned in the Eight Trigrams Furnace. The little loli before him was resting her chin on her hands, her eyes wide and unblinking, completely absorbed in the narrative. Her small hands were clasped together, betraying her extreme anxiety over the Monkey Great Sage’s plight, when suddenly a guard burst in to report.

“Young Master Tang?” Jun Xie looked up in surprise, instantly accessing the memories associated with this person. “Quickly, invite him in.”

From the courtyard, a small sphere came rolling along, crying out mournfully as it tumbled: “Third Brother, Brother Mo Xie, save me! This time, it’s truly disastrous!”

Jun Xie stared, mouth agape, utterly bewildered by the sight of the rolling ball that spoke! It wasn't until the flesh-ball rolled close that Jun Xie realized it was actually a person!

This person certainly lacked a neck—at least, not one visible to the Third Young Master’s discerning eye. His shoulders were wide and thick, his arms exceedingly short and stout. Below his round head, his body tapered into a streamlined shape. His two legs were barely a foot long but were each as thick as an embrace! As he walked, the massive rolls of fat on his body undulated magnificently, like the surging might of a great river; in short, anything but a bamboo pole could describe him, but he hardly resembled a human being.

It seemed only a short distance from the courtyard entrance to where he stood, yet he was already gasping for breath and constantly wiping away sweat, clearly exhausted. This man was none other than the eldest young master of the Tang family, a house as renowned in Tianxiang City as the Jun family—Tang Yuan!

It was certainly a resemblance, just several sizes larger. Jun Xie thought to himself.

“Uh… Eldest Young Master Tang, what has happened to you? How did things escalate to the point where you need saving? Did some blind fool provoke you?!” Jun Xie asked, barely suppressing the urge to laugh as he regarded this sworn friend of Jun Mo Xie.

“Damn it all, it’s those bastards from the Li family and those scoundrels from the Meng and Song families!” Eldest Young Master Tang was furious, struggling to peel open a slit of an eye from between his rolls of fat. “These past few days at our Thousand Gold Hall, I haven’t stepped out for ten days, and I lost a whopping one hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver! Third Brother, you have to save me, or else… or else when I get back, the old man will definitely beat me to death!”

“One hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver!” Jun Xie was startled. “How could you lose so much? Where did you even get that much money!”

Tang Yuan sighed mournfully. “I was winning on the first day, I won a full fifty thousand taels…”

“If you weren't allowed to win, would you have stopped gambling? What were you even playing that you lost so much? You really dared to play!” Jun Xie glared at him.

Tang Yuan dared not retort, muttering, “Didn’t you lose a hundred thousand taels last month too? I only lost a bit more than you, and you’re lecturing me…”

“What’s the use of bringing that up. Hey, I say, a mere one hundred and fifty thousand taels—you, Eldest Young Master Tang, aren't someone who can't afford to lose it, are you? Why come to me crying for help?” Jun Xie suddenly remembered that these individuals couldn't be judged by common standards; they were all textbook examples of prodigal sons! “Even your father wouldn't beat you to death over a mere one hundred and fifty thousand taels, right? You’ve lost that much before…”

“But, but I ran out of silver! When I said I was going home to fetch more, Li Bo goaded me, saying everyone was tired and if I left, the game would break up; I got stubborn and…” Tang Yuan looked at Jun Xie pitifully, his face a mask of deep regret.

“And what?” Jun Xie suddenly felt a prickle of unease.

“Lose the match, but not the spirit… I panicked and…” Tang Yuan wrung his hands, his voice trailing off, “I wagered my jade pendant and my treasured sword, betting them against three hundred thousand taels of silver, thinking I could win it all back quickly. I never imagined… I never imagined… in the end, I lost them both,” Tang Yuan lamented, his face ashen.

“You call that ‘lose the match, not the spirit’! I remember your sword being that famous blade, Blowing Snow, which your father acquired at a high price—a divine weapon that can slice through iron like mud! Coupled with your exquisite jade pendant, crafted from the warmest jade, I recall the two items cost a million taels when purchased! How could you put both together for only three hundred thousand taels? Even selling them off wouldn't be this cheap?!” Jun Xie was speechless; this fellow… was too profligate!

“I had no choice at the time! Besides, I don't know what happened, but my mind got foggy, and then…” Tang Yuan mumbled defensively.

“Even if you lost those two items, you said it was a pawn agreement at the time; couldn’t you redeem them later? Your father dotes on you; at worst, he’d just scold you a few times. Could he really kill you? Your family has plenty of silver! A few million taels—do you really take that seriously?!” Jun Xie snorted twice.

“Nonsense! Those two items are treasures! Don’t you think I wanted to win them back immediately?” Tang Yuan retorted indignantly. “You know the family discipline of the old master. You witnessed me experiencing it once before… that can peel off a layer of skin!”

“So you kept gambling? What did you bet this time? You have quite a few valuable things, but nothing worth a million taels, right?” Jun Xie, having experienced the world, especially understood the gambler’s mentality. This fatty must have put up the one thing he shouldn't have, or he wouldn't be this desperate.

“Right! I truly had nothing valuable left on me. In the end… in a fit of desperation… I, I, I… I pawned my fiancée…” Tang Yuan wailed, looking as though he wanted to commit suicide then and there. “She’s the woman I was supposed to marry!”

“Ah?” ** let out a gasp, her beautiful eyes widening as she stared at Tang Yuan, filled with disbelief. Beneath the surface lay a faint thread of disgust! She mentally grumbled: The Young Master had finally improved, and now these hoodlum friends had come back!

“What? You pawned your fiancée? And you brought your fiancée with you to do something like that?” Jun Xie nearly fell off his chair, almost fainting from shock! It was too unbelievable! Utterly preposterous!

Tang Yuan’s fiancée was more than just his future wife; she was the daughter of Sun Chenghe, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice—a true young lady from a prestigious family! If this matter got out, the joke would be enormous.

The son of the Minister of Revenue gambling away the daughter of the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice… If this news spread, the Tang family patriarch would surely have every ounce of fat on this fatty rendered out and set alight!

“I… I didn’t bring her with me…” Tang Yuan was on the verge of tears. “But I signed an IOU, using her as collateral for one million taels… Black ink on white paper, that thing… and my signature too…”

“You pig! You absolute pig!” The daughter of a Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, the future daughter-in-law of the Minister of Revenue—a matter that impacted the reputation and future of two great families—and he only used her as collateral for one million taels?! Jun Xie was so angry he started laughing. “You even signed it! … Where is that one million taels?”

“Lost… it was lost too….” Tang Yuan collapsed onto the ground, wailing loudly, causing the earth to tremble momentarily. “They said if I don’t produce one million and five hundred thousand taels within three shichen [six hours], they won’t want the money or the person, and they’ll just publicly display the IOU…”

“My heavens!” Jun Xie was speechless. “Why one million and five hundred thousand taels? Wasn't it one million?”

“This… this is the condition for extending my grace period of three shichen…” Tang Yuan wept, snot and tears streaming down his face. “Third Brother, you must save me, I… I have no way out.”

“I’ll save you? How am I supposed to save you? Where would I get that much silver?” Jun Xie flatly refused. This was a joke; he had more than enough scoundrels like this he’d like to kill, yet he was expected to fork over silver to support a gambler? Not only did he not have it, but even if he did, he wouldn't lend it!

“You don’t need silver!” Tang Yuan suddenly brightened, his small eyes blinking. “Li Feng and Meng Haizhou set a condition: as long as I bring you to gamble a few rounds with them, the IOU will be returned to me.”

“I have that much prestige?” Jun Xie shook his head. Considering the past actions of the dissolute rake whose body he now inhabited, he likely wasn’t very skilled in the gambling den. As for reputation… it was probably the pinnacle of infamy!

(A couple of embarrassing incidents happened a few days ago. Two, actually. Three days ago, I posted the group chat number below the book description, and after two days, no one joined. I was puzzled, so I checked it, and damn! I had written down the wrong digit… I quickly corrected it, then waited another day, still no joins. Sugar10PointsSweet left a comment saying the group was set to reject applications. I rushed to check, and I had set the permissions wrong… Heavens above, I almost slammed my head against the group number…)

(Thanks to 'RunawayMadman', 'DreamSeaOfHeart', 'MortalRealmGoldenScale', 'NightAfterNightNeverStopping', 'NightCurtain,', 'PirateReaders', 'Fantasy~Mystery', 'BookFriend100114122717088', 'Sugar1PointSweet', and 'Demonish》BeaconFire' for your tipping support! Some brothers and sisters have done this for the third or fourth time! For this, Feng Ling offers his sincere gratitude.)