Chapter Eighteen: Let Me Perform a Show for Everyone

In the end, it was Aunt Li who finally revealed the truth.

She also tactfully mentioned that all the previous talk about her daughter had just been idle banter, clearly expressing her doubts about his kidneys.

Women, he thought.

Yu Ge had no idea what had started this, but it seemed to have something to do with the wild beasts he had hunted and killed.

As the saying goes, “You are what you eat.” Supposedly, recently the shops in town had been receiving game missing certain odd parts, and the rumor was he wasn’t in the best of health. According to some secret, unspoken remedies, eating that part of an animal was supposed to be good for the kidneys.

When Yu Ge learned that such rumors were about him, his face was as dark as the bottom of a pot, completely unreadable.

He never would have imagined that all this had begun because of the unique properties of a black-iron dagger. It was so well-balanced and easy to use that he’d managed to catch many animals, but because certain parts were missing from the carcasses, gossip had twisted the story into something he couldn’t quite comprehend.

No wonder, he realized, people he knew seemed to look at him strangely these days.

Even Zhao Ziming, whom he’d run into a few days before, had warmly inquired about his health.

At last, he understood the root of it all.

But to trigger such an achievement in such a way, he felt a complicated mix of emotions.

On his way home from Aunt Li’s bun shop, he encountered quite a few familiar faces. If he paid attention, he could detect the brief, lingering stares they gave him.

Then he discovered that the progress on his "Lifetime Reputation" achievement had increased over a dozen times.

Clearly, the way to complete this achievement was as simple as the description: to face people’s odd and curious looks without so much as a change in expression, unmoved as a mountain, and remain calm and collected.

It didn’t seem difficult—except that even with those dozen or so increments, it was a drop in the ocean compared to the daunting requirement of ten thousand.

How to complete it was now a pressing issue.

Yu Ge dismissed the idea of relying on Meng Xiaoya. With such a massive requirement, she alone would never suffice.

If he depended on her, who knew how many years it would take to finish this achievement?

After some thought, he realized only a crowded place would do. Without further hesitation, Yu Ge left his house.

He headed to the north side of town and found a lively teahouse. Going upstairs to the main hall, he ordered a pot of tea and several plates of pastries, then sat leisurely by the window, taking in the view.

Wasn’t it just enduring the odd looks of others?

He thought it would be easy enough.

An old man performed with his erhu, the melody winding and mournful, drifting like light clouds without form or destination.

Yu Ge’s mood, too, drifted uncertainly.

For after a quarter of an hour, he realized just how mistaken his earlier thoughts had been.

The progress on his "Lifetime Reputation" achievement had only increased by a few—not at all the leap he’d hoped for.

Slightly puzzled, he glanced around at the sparse crowd. Only a handful of gazes lingered on him. Yu Ge began to understand the problem.

Yunji Town was a small place.

The town wasn’t large, but still home to two or three thousand households—five or six thousand people at most.

He lived in the western part of town.

There, plenty of people knew him, but compared to the total population, it was a small fraction.

So, coming to this teahouse, he realized that far fewer people recognized him than he’d imagined.

They were all strangers, really.

And the rumors about him had not spread as far as he’d thought; naturally, few paid him any attention, let alone cast him those peculiar glances.

For the first time, Yu Ge felt it was a pity that gossip about him hadn’t spread farther.

Propping his chin in his hand, he drank a few more cups of tea. As he watched the erhu player across the room, suddenly a plan came to him.

It was, admittedly, a little embarrassing.

After a moment’s hesitation, Yu Ge approached the old man, slipped him a few coins, and asked him to stop playing for a moment.

Then, standing in the middle of the hall, he clapped his hands to draw the attention of the teahouse patrons. Once he had it, he spoke in a calm, steady voice:

“Since everyone’s in such high spirits, let me offer a little performance as well.”

Yu Ge’s unconventional move caught the eye of every guest in the teahouse; all eyes turned to him, curious to see what he would present.

Feeling a surge of embarrassment, Yu Ge took a deep breath and raised his voice.

“I have a little donkey I never ride,
One day on a whim I rode it out to market,
With a little whip in hand, my heart was full of pride,
But somehow—oh, what a mess—I fell into the mud…”

The old erhu player stared, bewildered.

Everyone gaped at Yu Ge in astonishment.

Even the old musician at the next table was stunned, as were the rest of the patrons.

A performance? And he chose to sing a children’s song?

Yu Ge, however, paid no heed to their shock or the peculiarity of their stares. As soon as the song was finished, he sat back down, expressionless, and continued to sip his tea and nibble his pastries, calmly watching the achievement progress in his mind soar.

He was a practical man—if it meant achieving his goal, what did a little public embarrassment matter?

For Yu Ge to do something so utterly unexpected, and then sit back down as if nothing had happened, unflustered and serene, was a feat beyond the composure of the other patrons.

A hush fell over the room. After the initial shock, people began to whisper among themselves, casting him sidelong glances again and again.

What sort of person could do something so bizarre?

That was the question on everyone’s mind—a consensus of curiosity throughout the teahouse.

As countless eyes swept over him, Yu Ge watched the progress of his achievement tick upward at a rapid pace.

He was quite pleased with the result. With just one idea, he’d multiplied his gains and had nothing to complain about.

The more often people observed him with odd looks, the more progress he made toward his achievement.

In just a quarter of an hour, surrounded by so many curious stares, Yu Ge’s "Lifetime Reputation" progress had risen by over two hundred.

He continued to sit by the window, face impassive.

Never before had an achievement proved so easy to advance—he didn’t even have to move, simply maintaining his calm and tranquil demeanor while the numbers climbed.

Yet, perhaps, he felt the slightest hint of inexplicable pressure.

Amid the strange gazes surrounding him, one young man’s eyes shone with particular intensity. He fixed his gaze on Yu Ge by the window, his eyelids flickering with intrigue.