Black Pot Hero

Chapter 2 Mission Reward "You brat!

Still trying to deny it?

Here, this is the watermelon rind you left over. I picked it up from the watermelon patch. Let's see what you have to say now.

At such a young age, instead of studying, you're taking my watermelon.

Pay up, or I'll take this to the authorities and send you to jail!"

The old man sneered, and then, as if by magic, produced a watermelon rind and threw it on the ground.

Lin Hao stared at the watermelon rind, then at the furious old man, his expression quite complex.

Even though he had been wronged, he felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.

"I've been searching high and low, only to have it fall into my lap like this! I was just looking for a chance to earn some points to verify the fake system, and here it is, delivered right to my doorstep!"

Lin Hao mentally gave the old man a hundred thumbs up, coughed, and said, "Grandpa, let's talk this over. It was me who lost the melons. Calculate how much you lost in total, and I'll compensate you. Don't go to the authorities to report me."

"Alright, alright, let's do the math.

Listen..." The old man was taken aback by Lin Hao's complete change in attitude. Hearing about the compensation, his face softened slightly, and he started counting on his fingers, "My melons cost ten copper coins a pound. I lost two today, each weighing over ten pounds.

I'll give you twenty pounds in total.

That's two hundred copper coins. Give me two taels of silver."

"Grandpa, melons in this city aren't even this expensive, are they?"

Lin Hao was afraid the old man would try to raise the price and extort him.

Although he had just received some silver, he couldn't spend it, could he?

"You brat, haven't you heard of the principle of 'tenfold compensation for fakes, threefold compensation for stolen goods'?

Besides, can those stinky melons in Qingyun City compare to the melons of my Liu family?"

The old man's face flushed red, and he patted his withered chest, saying, "Let me tell you, our Liu family's melons aren't ordinary melons, they're imperial melons!

The emperor of our Xia Kingdom eats these kinds of melons; they're the emperors of melons. Even gold isn't worth as much as our Liu family's melons.

Charging you only two taels of silver for two melons is already very fair!

And..." Lin Hao's forehead was sweating.

He had heard of the "tenfold compensation for fakes" principle, but what kind of principle was "threefold compensation for stolen goods"?

As for the old man's subsequent rambling about the family's glorious history, he couldn't hear a single word.

"What you say is true, sir.

Your sweet potatoes are worth this much. Here are two taels of silver, please keep them safe."

"What sweet potatoes? Those are imperial sweet potatoes..." The old man was furious. He had clearly said the high-class "imperial sweet potatoes," but Lin Hao had called them "sweet potatoes." That one word difference represented a world of difference in status—it was an insult.

But before he could finish speaking, his eyes widened in an "O" shape.

Lin Hao shoved two gleaming silver coins into his hand. "Sir, you've already lost the money, so please calm down. If you get angry, you won't be able to earn it back even if you sell more sweet potatoes."

I promise it won't happen again.

Lin Hao accepted the money, trying to appear sincere and apologetic to get the other man to "forgive" him quickly.

At the same time, he thought that although the old man was quite old, he was very capable. If it weren't for him, who knew when he would get a mission!

Lin Hao was overjoyed, thinking that he'd already lost the money, and the fake mission was finally over.

The thought of the system reward he was about to receive made him excited.

But as he smiled, he noticed something was off about the other person's expression.

The old man, who should have been wearing a kind expression and saying, "It's good that you know you were wrong, I forgive you," suddenly narrowed his small, cloudy eyes, which gleamed with an eerie green light.

"Young man, those four melons I lost yesterday, weren't they taken by you?"

"What?"

Lin Hao was confused, not understanding what the old man meant.

The old man patted Lin Hao's shoulder with his withered hand: "Young man, you should be honest. Just because I don't say anything doesn't mean I didn't see it.

Yesterday, you carried away the four biggest watermelons from my melon patch all by yourself, and you were sweating buckets.

You're an honest lad, so I won't make things difficult for you, nor will I report you to the authorities about the watermelons. You still have to pay me for those four watermelons, three taels of silver."

"Huh?"

Looking at the old man's seemingly righteous appearance, Lin Hao was dumbfounded. He'd heard of climbing a pole by taking advantage of an opportunity, but he'd never seen anyone climb it so smoothly.

He just "whooshed" to the top of the pole, without any hesitation.

But couldn't he have arranged the time a little more professionally?

He hadn't even arrived in this world yesterday, okay?

Lin Hao felt indignant; he'd never seen such a greedy old man.

However, he didn't feel bad about it. After all, this wasn't hard-earned money; it was a system reward.

Perhaps the more money he lost, the greater his eventual reward would be.

Thinking this way, he immediately felt much better. He gave the old man a thumbs-up and laughed, "Grandpa, you have a sharp eye!

Yesterday's melon was indeed mine, and this three taels of silver..." The old man greedily eyed the silver in Lin Hao's hand. Before Lin Hao could even offer it to him, he snatched it away and then opened his yellow teeth to bite it.

Perhaps the silver was too much, hurting his loose, yellow teeth, because the old man immediately bared his teeth in a groan, making Lin Hao's teeth ache just watching.

"Grandpa, are you satisfied now?"

The old man looked at Lin Hao and chuckled. His thin, almost sunken face resembled a skull when he smiled, but his sunken eyes were fixed on Lin Hao's money pouch. Then, a sentence tumbled from his yellow teeth, startling Lin Hao.

"Young man, I lost twenty melons the day before yesterday.

Were they yours too?"

"Twenty?!"

Lin Hao was shocked. He had kept admitting to losing melons to complete the fake mission, but he hadn't expected the old man to push his luck.

He quickly calculated that he definitely didn't have enough money left to pay for another twenty melons. Thinking about how he had spent so much silver and still couldn't complete the mission, he immediately became angry. "Hey, old man, do I look like someone who can carry twenty melons by myself?

I'm only being respectful to you because of your status, don't think I'm easy to bully."

He rolled up his shirt sleeves, and in his anger, the aura of a mid-level martial artist unconsciously emanated from him.

Old Liu was slightly taken aback, only then realizing that the man before him was actually a martial artist. He was just an ordinary melon farmer, and facing a martial artist with martial prowess, his power immediately diminished.

But he wasn't willing to give up so easily.

Old Liu struggled with his conscience for a moment, then gave an awkward smile. "Alright, young man.

Those twenty melons aren't necessarily all yours.

But since you're here, you're the prime suspect. I'll count fifteen as yours, no… ten, please."

Seeing Lin Hao's face darken, he quickly changed his tune, "Ahem, I've had a tough time too. Melons have been disappearing every day lately, I'm almost starving.

I see you're an honest man, so I won't make things difficult for you. These ten melons, I'll give you a discount, only eighty coins each.

Total..." "Eight taels, please."

Lin Hao sneered, "I'll give you eight taels now, but are you going to try and extort eighty taels from me later?"

"Ahem, young man, what are you saying? A person should be reasonable. Do you think I'm that kind of person?

My Liu family produced a top scholar in the imperial examinations back in the day. Although we now just grow melons to make a living, we still have integrity, okay?

We never extort money!"

The old man patted his chest, speaking righteously, making anyone who didn't know him truly believe he was a noble and virtuous elder.

But the unnatural blush on his old face betrayed his true feelings.

He felt guilty.

"As long as you give me these eight taels, I promise I won't make things difficult for you again."

The old man added.

"There are still five taels of silver..." Lin Hao counted the silver in his money bag.

"Five taels!"

The old man's eyes lit up, and before Lin Hao could finish speaking, he snatched the money bag from him.

Lin Hao glared at the old man. He only refrained from arguing with him to complete his mission; otherwise, given the old man's brazen behavior, he would have already taught this greedy old fellow a lesson.

The old man left happily, tossing his rusty hoe on the ground.

Ten taels of silver was enough for him to buy many brand-new hoes and avoid farm work for several months.

Lin Hao felt a pang of pain.

That was ten taels of silver! He had never possessed so much real silver in his entire life.

However, his frustration quickly vanished, because shortly after the old man left, a cold, mechanical voice echoed in his mind.

"Ding, Beginner Quest: Imposter Thief, Quest Completed.

Imposter Points +3.

System Value +3."

"Ding, 100 Silver Coins Obtained."

"Lucky descendant of China, congratulations on completing your first Imposter Quest.

The system will randomly award you one reward."

"Ding!

Martial Skill Obtained: Tiger Roar Fist."