Chapter 16: Zhang Jie: That's right, I am a god reincarnated

"Save, save us!"

The other bandits, seeing that Wang Chuang was dead, begged Zhang Jie for help one after another.

Zhang Jie was not surprised that these bandits hadn't died yet after so long.

In this ancient world where the chemical industry was almost zero, wanting to find a poison that was colorless, odorless, painless,

yet could be fatal in a short time was almost impossible.

Even the representative of deadly poison—the refined arsenic from Mother Wang in Yanggu County—

required anywhere from ten minutes to an hour to be fatal.

And that still required a high dosage (about 100-200mg).

Moreover, because of the effect of the main component of arsenic, arsenic trioxide,

it would cause multi-organ failure in the poisoned person, and the poisoned person would surely be in extreme pain before death.

Even after the magical modification by the old gentleman Shi Nai'an, this world only had the "sleeping drug" used in

*The Wisdom of Seizing the Birthday Gift* that achieved being colorless, odorless, and painless.

And naturally, it couldn't be fatal; after the drug effect passed,

weren't those soldiers and the Blue-Faced Beast Yang Zhi all jumping around alive?

In other words, the poison these bandits had was still potentially curable if treated in time.

Even if some had drunk too much and were beyond saving, there were still a few who had drunk less who could be rescued.

"Save us!"

The instinctive desire to survive made these bandits beg Zhang Jie, the only one now capable of saving them.

"Save you?"

Zhang Jie was almost amused by the naive words of these bandits.

Did these bandits think he had come in the middle of the night to send warmth to their Wild Boar stronghold?

Moreover, the few workers and the guard instructor of his Zhang family merchant caravan who were killed

had not failed to beg for mercy from the bandits of Wild Boar stronghold.

But these guys hadn't spared their lives after seizing the goods; instead, they had tortured and killed them for fun!

*Swish! *

Zhang Jie drew the long sword from his waist.

The clear sword body reflected the cold, metallic light under the firelight.

"Sword Technique of Softness Around the Finger!"

Zhang Jie injected internal energy into the sword body, and the hundred-refined steel instantly became as soft as a finger-wrapping ribbon,

the long sword soft, curved, and elusive like a ribbon.

As Zhang Jie slowly circled the hall, the soft sword lightly slashed across the throats of the bandits

who were lying on the ground, unable to move as the drug gradually took effect.

These guys who had robbed and plundered with Wang Chuang and committed all kinds of evil instantly went to see the King of Hell.

Letting them fulfill the vow of "not seeking to be born in the same year, month, and day, but seeking to die in the same year, month, and day."

"Wang Chuang? He even wanted to touch porcelain (implying a scam) with Li Chuangwang?"

After solving all the bandits, Zhang Jie came to Wang Chuang's tiger-skin chair and looked at his corpse.

Li Chuangwang was, after all, a generation of heroes; how could he be compared to Wang Chuang, a mere bandit leader of Wild Boar stronghold?

"Speaking of which, this guy's performance just now was clearly wanting to run away,

and what is the most important thing for running away?"

Zhang Jie thought while casually playing with the Divine Arm Crossbow he had snatched from Wang Chuang's hand.

"The answer is money!"

The next second, Zhang Jie reached a conclusion.

When running away, you can lack anything, but you cannot lack money!

Even the Hong Kong street thugs who had no culture and only knew how to drink, visit bars, and hack people,

knew to bring big gold chains and gold Rolexes when running away.

Zhang Jie casually threw Wang Chuang's corpse, which was staring with eyes wide open, into the center of the hall to keep company with his brothers,

and then flipped open the tiger skin on the tiger-skin chair,

and a not-so-small package appeared before him.

Zhang Jie's eyes lit up; he used the sword scabbard to pry open the package, only to see it full of white silver,

yellow gold, and colorful jewelry!

Underneath were several *jiaozi* (paper money) issued by the Great Song government.

Zhang Jie picked up a *jiaozi* and looked, seeing the large characters "One Hundred Taels" printed on it.

That's right, our Great Song already had the world's first widely circulated paper currency,

several hundred years earlier than the notorious treasure notes of the Great Ming Dynasty that were considered too hard even for wiping one's butt!

Although the Han Dynasty had the "White Deer Skin Currency" issued by Emperor Wu of Han,

and the Tang Dynasty had "Flying Money," both were only regarded as prototypes of paper currency,

because the former was only used for gifts among nobles, and the latter was actually an exchange certificate; neither entered the field of large-scale circulation.

"Wang Chuang actually embezzled most of the things he robbed!"

Looking at the gold, silver, and jewelry worth at least a thousand taels of silver, Zhang Jie clicked his tongue in wonder.

This Wang Chuang, regardless of his despicable means and ruthless nature, was really a good hand at raking in money.

In this Wild Boar stronghold, where the entire stronghold wasn't worth a few thousand taels,

he had forcibly scraped together over a thousand taels of private wealth,

and still made the other bandits have basically no complaints about him; he was truly a little prince of raking in money.

This art of raking in money was no less than that of Station Master Wu Jingzhong in *Lurk*, who was proficient in the principles of the Jade Seat Golden Buddha,

the principles of the Steampunk car, and the basic principles of recording!

Station Master: Two full carts of stolen goods, didn't you visit them?

Li Ya: I visited them; it can be said to be spectacular.

Station Master: They are being shipped to Nanjing tomorrow; what a pity!

Li Ya: I will escort them personally; rest assured, it's foolproof!

Station Master: I heard there is a Jade Seat Golden Buddha, which is the treasure of Liu Yu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Li Ya: Yes, it's very precious; I happened to run into your wife just now when I passed by your house...

Station Master: How was it????

Li Ya: Your wife wanted to visit the Jade Seat Golden Buddha, but I refused;

this is the property of the state and must be shipped to Nanjing to be placed in a museum!

Station Master: An idiot who can enter a museum!

……

For this money, Zhang Jie, as the victim, naturally accepted it without hesitation.

Come to think of it, he had spent several hundred taels just to compensate the workers and the guard instructor who were killed or injured.

Plus the five hundred taels of bandit-suppression silver sponsored to County Magistrate Wen, he had directly paid out over a thousand taels.

Plus the lost goods, it had to be around two thousand taels.

Taking away the gold, silver, and jewelry that Wang Chuang had embezzled barely compensated for Zhang Jie's losses.

And this didn't even count the loss of several capable hands!

Zhang Jie: In the Great Song, what is the most precious thing?

Of course, it's talent!

After scraping the entire stronghold again and finding over a hundred taels of property from other bandits,

Zhang Jie set fire to the hall of Wild Boar stronghold.

"Let all this return to dust and earth."

Standing in front of the gradually roaring fire, Zhang Jie's expression became relieved.

Ximen Daguanren and Wild Boar stronghold, the two early-stage small bosses he faced, had been settled,

so it was time to welcome greater challenges.

Carrying his sword and gun, and the package on his back, Zhang Jie left without looking back.

Of course, Zhang Jie, who had common sense about fire safety, deliberately left a firebreak to keep the fire confined to the Wild Boar stronghold hall.

How did that jingle go?

A fire on the mountain, the station chief falls in love with me.

Fire on the mountain in the morning, me in the station in the afternoon.

A wisp of smoke on the mountain, a god in prison.

A fire on the mountain, you and me in the station.

Bring fire up the mountain, sit in prison until you die.

A fire on the mountain, the station chief comes to find me.

……

Zhang Jie, who already had experience, traveled the road, climbed over the city wall, and climbed back into his room through the window with ease.

Then, he discovered that Pan Jinlian, who should have been fast asleep, was actually sitting on the bed, looking at him with bright eyes.

"Jinlian, aren't you asleep already?"

Zhang Jie's hand holding the package froze in mid-air.

"If I could fall asleep when my husband isn't here at night, then I wouldn't be a competent wife."

Pan Jinlian got up, took the package and long sword from Zhang Jie's hand with fluid movements,

and then served him to take off his night-travel clothes and change into pajamas, just as she usually served Zhang Jie in dressing.

"Young Master, did you go to kill and set fire?"

Pan Jinlian wrinkled her delicate nose and smelled the lingering smoke and fire on Zhang Jie.

"Uh~"

Zhang Jie, caught red-handed, nodded blankly.

"Jinlian, how did you discover something was wrong?"

However, Zhang Jie was still a bit curious, so he asked.

"Of course, I saw it from your performance at night."

Pan Jinlian replied with a slightly red face.

Zhang Jie hadn't dared to touch her at night before,

but how did his performance these past two days look like that of a sickly young master who had been weak since childhood?

He was clearly an untiring wild bull!

If Zhang Jie's words and actions hadn't been as usual, she would have thought her Young Master had been swapped!

"Uh~"

Zhang Jie scratched his head; he found that he had indeed been too excited these past two days.

However, leaving such a beautiful,

charming, and enchanting beauty like Pan Jinlian unused, wasn't that a waste of heaven's gifts?

If the flower can be plucked, pluck it now; don't wait until there is no flower and just pluck the branch.

And heaven knows how hard Zhang Jie had endured these past few years.

Plus the beast-like physical fitness of the Yitian Zhang Jie, how could he endure it?

"Young Master, why has your change these past two days been so big?"

Pan Jinlian, pulling Zhang Jie to sit on the bed, asked curiously.

"How should I put this?"

Zhang Jie frowned.

The matter of the shared space definitely couldn't be told to anyone,

but such a big change before and after really couldn't be hidden from Pan Jinlian, who was his pillow-mate,

so he had to give a plausible reason.

And Pan Jinlian had indeed been devoted to him these years,

so she was a candidate to whom a few unimportant secrets could be leaked.

"Young Master, if it's difficult, I won't ask."

The clever Pan Jinlian said understandingly.

"Ahem~"

Zhang Jie coughed twice, cleared his throat, organized his language, and spoke slowly:

"Jinlian, do you believe in gods?"

"Believe, of course I believe.

If there were no gods, how would I have met you, Young Master?"

Pan Jinlian said, full of happiness.

When she was most desperate and helpless, and could only pray to gods and Buddhas,

Zhang Jie descended from the sky like a god, saving her from fire and water.

To her, Zhang Jie was her god,

and the hero stepping on colorful clouds in her heart!

Speaking of which, that monkey stepping on colorful clouds was something Zhang Jie had told her about!

Zhang Jie: The old gentleman Wu Cheng'en is still several hundred years away from being born;

Brother Monkey is still on the Flower-Fruit Mountain in the Aolai Country of the East Sea, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth and the spiritual energy of the sun and moon!

In order to let that monkey, who was liked by the masses, appear in the world early, Zhang Jie "borrowed" a little from *Journey to the West*.

Speaking of which, before the shared space came, Zhang Jie still had a plan to, after completing the imperial examination,

properly transport literary works like the Four Great Classical Novels!

Zhang Jie: I don't produce literature; I'm just a porter of literature... "

"In that case, Young Master, you are a god from heaven reincarnated, and now you have awakened your original divine power?"

Pan Jinlian explained Zhang Jie's change in a way she could understand.

"This, you could say that."

Zhang Jie said uncertainly.

Looking at the technology of the 21st century, it really was no different from the Immortal Realm compared to the Great Song.

Where everyone had "thousand-mile eyes" and "wind-following ears," and could all transmit sound for a thousand miles (mobile phones, computers, the internet),

and even the fantasy of the great magical powers and great divine abilities of immortals—traveling to the North Sea in the morning

and to Cangwu in the evening—could be achieved with a little cost (spending money to take a plane).

And because of the technological explosion, the products of the 21st century were unprecedentedly rich,

at least in the country he traveled from, as long as one had the heart, one basically wouldn't starve to death.

And this was unimaginable in ancient society; opening history books, one would find

that what was recorded was "In such and such a year, there was a great famine, and people ate each other."

To be honest, if he hadn't been born into the Zhang family this time,

and not knowing if he could "re-open" (restart life) after dying,

before the golden finger came, Zhang Jie had wanted to "re-open."

Moreover, wait until the shared space brings a few more big-shot Zhang Jies, such as those from Xianxia, mythology, Primordial, etc.

This "god" thing, he, Zhang Jie, could also be one!

Zhang Jie: As the saying goes, the emperor takes turns, and this year it's my turn; the same goes for being a god!

"Then, Young Master, will you leave me and return to heaven?"

Pan Jinlian grabbed Zhang Jie's hand tightly, fearing that he would fly away to the clouds the next moment and never return.

"Of course not."

Zhang Jie hugged Pan Jinlian into his arms and promised solemnly.

Pan Jinlian's tense body then softened.

"In that case, Ximen Daguanren was also killed by you, Young Master?"

The clever Pan Jinlian immediately associated this with the death of Ximen Qing.

"Yes, he plotted against my Zhang family and already had a way to die."

Zhang Jie admitted frankly.

"Being slapped to death by you, Young Master, is really letting him off easy."

Pan Jinlian's words were full of hatred for Ximen Qing.

Whenever she thought of Ximen Qing's disgusting, drooling eyes toward her in the past, she felt itchy with hatred.

If it weren't for Zhang Jie's protection, she didn't know what kind of humiliation she would have suffered if she had fallen into Ximen Qing's hands.

"Jinlian, look, what is this?"

Zhang Jie flipped his palm and handed an object to Pan Jinlian's eyes.

"Wow! This hairpin is so beautiful!"

Pan Jinlian looked and found it was a gilded, carved hairpin inlaid with pearls and jade.

This hairpin was the best jewelry Zhang Jie had found in Wang Chuang's private small treasury.

According to Zhang Jie's estimation, this should have been obtained by Wang Chuang robbing the young lady of some big family, and it was worth a lot.

Zhang Jie saw that the style and appearance were both good, so he wanted to borrow flowers to offer to Buddha and give it to Pan Jinlian.

"Come, Jinlian, I'll put it on for you," Zhang Jie said.

"Hmm~"

Pan Jinlian lowered her head shyly.

"Young Master, does it look good?"

Pan Jinlian took a mirror and, by the candlelight, carefully displayed it.

"Good-looking, of course it's good-looking."

Zhang Jie, who was no longer Chulan, naturally knew what to say at this time. 【200】 "What I like most is when you don't have these decorations, hehe!" 【201】 Zhang Jie leaned into Pan Jinlian's ear and said with a lewd smile. 【202】 Pan Jinlian, who had been with Zhang Jie for many years and was of one heart, 【203】 and had been open and honest with him many times these past two days, naturally knew what he meant: 【204】 Clothes can also be considered decorations~ 【205】 "Oh my, Young Master, you are so bad!" 【206】 Pan Jinlian lightly pounded Zhang Jie's chest, acting coy. 【207】 "Haha, Jinlian, look, the night is already deep; let's rest." 【208】 Zhang Jie picked up Pan Jinlian and headed toward the bed. 【209】 The Second World War of tonight began! ===== CHAPTER 17 =====

"What I like most is when you don't have these decorations on, hehe!"

Zhang Jie leaned into Pan Jinlian's ear and said with a lecherous smile.

Having been with Zhang Jie for many years, their hearts were in sync,

and Pan Jinlian, who had been intimate with him many times over the past two days, naturally understood what he meant:

Clothes count as decorations too, you know~

"Oh my, you are so wicked, Young Master!"

Pan Jinlian lightly hammered Zhang Jie's chest, acting coy.

"Haha, Jinlian, look, the night is already deep, let's rest."

Zhang Jie scooped Pan Jinlian up and headed toward the bed.

The second World War of the night had begun!