Chapter 3: This Damn Feudal Cultivation World

Jian Huaifeng was stunned for a moment. The man looked vaguely familiar.

Click, click, click.

High heels tapped against the floor behind him. His parents caught up, their concern completely sincere.

“Xiaobao, don’t run so fast. You can’t afford to hit your head again!”

“…”

Wei Shulan noticed someone beside her son and was about to ask what was going on. Then she saw the young man’s face and said in surprise, “Nanting? What are you doing here? Xiaobao, this is your uncle. Say hello.”

Uncle?

Jian Huaifeng seemed to remember. He did have an unusually young uncle. The two families were distant, only seeing each other on major occasions. In his last life, he had met this legendary uncle once or twice, but he had been young and hadn’t remembered much.

The system suddenly reminded him, [Nine forty-three.]

“!”

Phantom pain seemed to throb in his head. Jian Huaifeng dodged around the young man and ran out fast. The driver had already parked at the hospital entrance. When he saw the young master rushing out, he immediately opened the door for him.

Wei Shulan couldn’t stop Jian Huaifeng, so she smiled apologetically at Wei Nanting. “This child has been sick recently. His temper is a little worse. Please don’t take offense. By the way, Nanting, is someone in your family ill? Why are you at the hospital?”

Wei Shulan spoke warmly, but she and Wei Nanting’s branch of the family were truly distant. They had met only a few times. Still, Wei Shulan knew how much weight this young man carried in the Wei Group. The Jian family might rank among the notable families in Yan City, but they were nowhere near the Wei family’s level.

The Wei family was one of Yan City’s true top elite houses, with deep influence in both politics and business. No matter how far one’s connections reached, they could not bypass the Wei family.

Wei Nanting was young, ruthless, and fiercely ambitious. At twenty-two, he already held most of the Wei family’s power. Barring accidents, he would one day steer the Wei Group. Connections like this could not be wasted. A good relationship could only help.

Wei Nanting’s presence was intimidating, but his manners were impeccable. He was not overly friendly.

“My mother had a minor surgery. I came to see her.”

Wei Shulan asked, “Your mother is ill? Is it serious?”

Wei Nanting said, “Nothing serious. She’ll be discharged tomorrow.”

Wei Shulan made a few more polite remarks. Then she saw Jian Huaifeng poke his head out from the car window and urge her with his eyes. She had to end the conversation, saying she would visit his mother another day.

Wei Nanting politely watched the two distant relatives leave. His gaze lingered for a moment on the boy in the car, his head wrapped in gauze, his face anxious. Then he turned and walked upstairs without hurry.

The hospital was not far from the Jian family mansion, and the roads were clear. They reached the gate in fifteen minutes.

Jian Huaifeng was watching the time. He shoved the car door open and ran upstairs. Wei Shulan chased after him at a jog.

“Xiaobao, what’s the rush? Wait for Mommy.”

Jian Huaifeng threw down the words “I need to study” with great force and slammed the door shut.

Wei Shulan: “…?”

To his parents, that sentence meant the same as “I’m going to cause trouble.”

Wei Shulan was worried, but she found that her youngest son had locked the door. No matter how she knocked, there was no answer.

She looked at Jian Zhenjiang anxiously. “Xiaobao must have been traumatized. What if he hurts himself in there?”

Jian Zhenjiang comforted her. “Don’t worry yet. I’ve already contacted the best psychologist and told him to come right away.”

Wei Shulan was still uneasy. “But Xiaobao locked himself in and won’t come out. He won’t even answer us. I’m afraid the doctor won’t help. How about we call Junya back? Xiaobao listens to his second sister the most.”

Jian Zhenjiang nodded and went to call Jian Junya.

The Jian family had three children. The eldest, Jian Congyu, was a workaholic. Staying at the office until nine or ten at night was normal for him. He had moved out at twenty and rarely returned to the Jian mansion.

Jian Congyu was also fourteen years older than his youngest brother. Jian Congyu was freakishly self-disciplined, while Jian Huaifeng had been playful and willful since childhood. Their personalities were worlds apart. Jian Huaifeng was actually a little afraid of his eldest brother.

When Jian Huaifeng was kidnapped this time, Jian Congyu only helped arrange the police report after hearing the news. Once he confirmed his little brother was safe, he said he would visit when he had time.

Jian Congyu treated his younger siblings the same way, with the same indifference. That naturally made the two younger ones cling together for warmth. Their relationship was decent.

Jian Junya had graduated from a drama academy and entered the entertainment industry as an actress. She had not used the family’s connections, and her career had remained lukewarm. Recently, she had gone a long time without announcements or scripts. When she heard her brother had been kidnapped, she took a leave of absence and planned to stay at the Jian mansion for a while.

Jian Junya soon arrived at the Jian mansion. She joined Wei Shulan’s team of people who could not break down the door and could not calm down. When there was still no response from inside, her patience ran out. She pounded on the door.

“Jian Huaifeng! Get out here! Let me see where you’re hurt! I’m going to the police station right now to drag those two traffickers out and dislocate their jaws!”

“…”

Inside the room, Jian Huaifeng shuddered to the depths of his soul.

In his memory, Jian Junya practically had split personalities. She had trained in performance at a drama academy. She could sing leading female roles in opera, and she could kick hooligans, bandits, and street thugs. If she said she would dislocate the kidnappers’ jaws, she really would do it.

Actually, compared to his eldest brother, he feared this hot-tempered second sister more.

But he knew in his heart that his second sister was sharp-tongued but soft-hearted. After Su Lin came back, she was the only one who still cared about him.

His thoughts suddenly drifted. The system frowned. It even put down the book in its hands and said fiercely, “The host is distracted. Studying is not being taken seriously. Electric shock!”

“Bzzt.”

Jian Huaifeng knocked his head hard against the solid wood desk. He endured the headache and continued previewing his middle school textbooks.

In his last life, he had just been lazy and disliked studying. He wasn’t stupid. After two electric shocks from the system, his mind felt even clearer.

Seeing the system satisfied and returning to its old-man reading posture, Jian Huaifeng split his attention and asked, “Learning has a broad definition. It generally refers to the process of acquiring knowledge. The methods can be reading, thinking, practice, and so on. So does my basic learning task check-in have to be reading middle school textbooks?”

Earlier, his head had been muddled and he hadn’t thought carefully. When he heard the system mention learning check-ins, his first thought was schoolwork.

Now that he was clear-headed, it felt strange. Had the system bound itself to him just to urge him to do well on the high school entrance exam?

Because the binding had happened late, the basic tasks were urgent. The system had not had time to fully introduce the task content. He put down the book again, pushed his glasses up with his middle finger, and said, “The basic task is a long-term task. It is based on the principle of learning until old age. Targets are set according to the host’s current educational stage. For example, the host is currently in the third year of middle school and about to take the high school entrance exam. The final goal of the basic task is to get into the best high school in the city.”

“This is, of course, not the end. Learning has no end. More skills never weigh you down. Moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education all coexist. Beyond the basic task, there are countless rich categories of knowledge and skills waiting for the host to learn and check in.”

Jian Huaifeng wrote furiously while asking, “For example?”

Daidai jumped up from the chair and brought up the task library. A task panel immediately appeared before Jian Huaifeng. In the upper left corner was a progress bar that read: Daily Basic Task Progress 40%.

Below the task bar were many options. Daidai pulled the formal tasks in front of him. Jian Huaifeng tried tapping the buttons in the air with his pen, and sure enough, many sections appeared.

Rich categories of knowledge and skills flashed past him one by one like game cards being selected. The arts category included music, dance, fine arts, calligraphy, and antique appreciation. The competitive category included horseback riding, shooting, and combat. The life category included cooking, tea ceremony, embroidery, and handicrafts.

Each category had many smaller classifications. In short, it covered every human skill in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education.

Daidai suddenly pointed at the dice in the lower left corner and urged him, “Host, press that button.”

Jian Huaifeng pressed it without thinking. The dice began spinning faster, then stopped a few seconds later. But what appeared on the panel was not a number. It was four cards.

The cards flipped over at the same time. They read: Pear Garden Oriole, Black-and-White Key Sprite, Taste Bud Master, Frontier Swallow.

“?”

Daidai grinned slyly. “That means opera, piano, cooking, and horseback riding. Formal tasks run on multiple lines at once. You draw one group at a time and must achieve the title accomplishment within the time limit to complete the task.”

Jian Huaifeng suddenly wanted to die again. Wasn’t this just attending interest classes in disguise?

“How do I achieve the title?” He scratched his head with the end of his pen.

A light suddenly flashed in Daidai’s eyes. It waved both arms excitedly. “Naturally, by becoming a god in that field!”

Jian Huaifeng: “…”

Psycho.

Daidai added, “If the drawn mainline task cannot be completed, the host will be sent back to before his rebirth.”

“…” What a tactful way to put it. Before rebirth just meant death.

Jian Huaifeng neither agreed nor disagreed. He continued the basic task and glanced at the progress bar. Half of it was still unfinished, but there were only thirty minutes left until midnight.

“!”

The system screwed me over!

Jian Huaifeng tried to struggle. “What if the basic task cannot be completed because of system interference?”

The system was impervious. “Electric shock. Lifespan reduction.”

Jian Huaifeng: “…”

Five seconds later, Jian Huaifeng threw down his pen, lifted the blanket, and crawled into bed.

Giving up on treatment.

Daidai: “…Slacking off already? You’re the worst batch I’ve ever trained!”

“…”

“Can completing tasks make money?” he suddenly asked.

Only a small night lamp was left by the bed. The light was dim. Jian Huaifeng’s pale eyes flashed with a few deep gleams.

If he failed the tasks, he would die. If he continued relying on the Jian family like in his last life, he would also die. At this moment, he had a plan in mind.

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