Luo Ran remained seated on the floor, staring blankly at the ground. For once, there was no ridiculous shouting, no dramatic posing and no curses. Just silence as he recollected.
Jin Huang waited patiently and after a while, Luo Ran sighed. "I was born in Nightfall Province to the south, in a little town called Creston. For a time, it was just my father, mother, older sister and I. However, when I became old enough, my mother immediately left us."
"My father was never the same after that. He lost all motivation for anything, and took to gambling for whatever reason. My sister did what she could to help raise me, but it was hard for a girl of ten to take care of a toddler."
"Ever since I was young, I was completely useless at cultivation." Luo Ran held up one finger. "I couldn't even enter the Body Strengthening Realm."
Jin Huang's expression slowly changed. That was actually impressive... in a sad kind of way. Not being talented was one thing. Failing to enter even the very first realm was another. He couldn't help thinking back to his own predicament back at the academy.
"In a world where everyone around me could cultivate," Luo Ran continued, "I couldn't even gather enough magical energy to strengthen my body."
He laughed bitterly. "So eventually, I stopped trying."
Jin Huang didn't interrupt.
"I figured that if I couldn't become strong, I'd just have to become clever." Luo Ran leaned back against the wall. "I learned how to lie. How to steal. How to pretend. And how to look important enough that people wouldn't question me."
Jin Huang's eyebrows rose and Luo Ran gave him a crooked smile. "Like that ridiculous noble act I put on. I've been doing that for years."
Jin Huang stared at him. "You're actually pretty good at it."
"Thank you."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"I'll take it anyway."
Jin Huang snorted; Luo Ran continued. "I learned which merchants were too proud to admit they'd been fooled. Which wealthy families were too embarrassed to report someone like me. Which ordinary people could be convinced that I was some important young master."
He shrugged and his expression became somewhat sheepish. "And whenever talking didn't work… I managed to intimidate them with my superior acting skills."
Jin Huang stared. "So you robbed people."
"Sometimes."
"And scammed them."
"Frequently."
"And even threatened them."
"Only the wealthy ones."
Jin Huang shook his head, "That somehow makes it worse."
"I had to eat!" Luo Ran rushed to his own defense.
"You could've worked."
"No palace wanted to hire a talentless country bumpkin with no good qualities!"
Jin Huang was suddenly both confused and irritated. "A palace!? Why didn't you get a job sweeping floors at some low-end restaurant?"
"I have standards!"
Jin Huang stared at him with narrowed eyes and Luo Ran stared back with a weak smile. "Fine. I have some standards."
Jin Huang sighed. "So that's how you survived? By robbing and scamming people?"
"Yeah." Luo Ran's smile faded and he looked toward the outside, watching the various flying carriages and arks go by in the busy imperial city. "For years."
"Spearhead City is a big place, though. When I eventually got there, I came across so many people with more money than they knew what to do with, too much pride for their own good, and plenty of people who just don't look too closely at someone as long as they speak confidently."
His fingers tightened slightly against his robe. "I became very good at manipulating the weaker minded of that class. Eventually, I had accumulated quite a considerable amount of money. Not enough to become some great clan young master, but enough to live comfortably in the slums somewhere, you know?"
Jin Huang nodded, even though he truly did not know. He had pretty much no idea regarding that kind of environment. After all, he grew up in the countryside, on a small farm, with barely anything. Growing up, he had never even seen a real city or even the slums of one.
"It was just enough to rent a decent place and buy food without counting every copper. Enough, perhaps, to finally start over."
Suddenly, Luo Ran's expression turned ugly and darkened. "Then... somehow... my father reappeared in my life."
Jin Huang's eyes narrowed. "The gambler?"
"Yeah." Luo Ran laughed without humor and rubbed his cheek. "My wonderful father. I don't know how, but he found out I'd saved quite a bit of money. I found out from him that he had incurred a heavy debt, and that his life had been threatened."
"That was also when I found out that he had sold my sister to those people to try to pay back some of what he owed, but only ended up incurring even more debt due to his horrible choices."
Jin Huang had a bad feeling. "And your sister...?"
Luo Ran waved his hands, "He assured me that she was taken care of. In fact, he said that they put her to work in one of their establishments and that she was making good money. He would have gone to her, but she was under their protection as one of their employees."
Jin Huang let out a breath. "Thank goodness. So... did you help him out?"
Luo Ran shook his head, "I didn't. So he beat me within an inch of my life and took every last coin."
Jin Huang's face went blank. "What an asshole!"
Luo Ran sighed. "Perhaps I could have at least sympathized if he had done it just to escape his dire situation. But no. He lost it all in an attempt to turn the money into more money by gambling."
Silence.
"All of it. Everything I'd spent years saving. Gone. " Luo Ran looked down.
Jin Huang scratched his cheek. "Oh. When was this?"
"Less than a week before I met you."
That made Jin Huang pause. Suddenly, several things about Luo Ran's behavior made considerably more sense. The desperation and that ridiculous scam. The exaggerated threats and his sheer determination to squeeze money out of absolutely anything.
Luo Ran gave a weak laugh. "When I met you, I had nothing left. I'd spent years convincing myself that if I could just survive long enough, things would eventually get better."
"But after losing everything…" Luo Ran's voice became quieter, then he suddenly shook his head. "I didn't know what I was supposed to do anymore."
For the first time since Jin Huang had met him, Luo Ran looked genuinely tired.
"So, I wandered into the forest. I wasn't planning on coming back. I just wanted everything to stop for a while." He let out a slow, shaky breath. There was no dramatic declaration. No grand gesture. Just a young man who looked as though he had run out of options and didn't know where else to go.
"Then I saw you." Luo Ran actually smiled. "You were wandering around completely alone, looking like you had absolutely no idea where you were."
Jin Huang frowned. "Hey! I knew where I was."
"You were totally lost, literally wandering around."
"Whatever."
Luo Ran chuckled. "And then I thought… Why not?"
Jin Huang tilted his head. "Why not what?"
His grin returned, "Why not run one last scam? One final job."
He spread his hands, "I figured I'd run one last little job while posing as some kind of noble badass. You looked dumb enough to believe it. I'd just scare you a little, demand money…" Luo Ran paused.
Jin Huang's eyes widened. "What was that you said?"
Luo Ran laughed, "Oh, nothing, nothing. Anyway, where were we?"
This time, it was Jin Huang's turn to rumble with him, and Luo Ran cried out as if he was being murdered. "I'll show you who's stupid!"
In the end, they both wound up laughing as they lay on their backs. Finally, Luo Ran sighed. "I guess that's the whole story."
Jin Huang stared at him for several seconds. Then he suddenly sat up and slapped both hands onto his knees. "Alright!"
Luo Ran blinked. "Alright... what?"
Jin Huang pointed dramatically at him. "I've decided! You're not allowed to be useless anymore."
Luo Ran stared. Jin Huang's eyes burned with determination and he cracked his knuckles. "If pills don't work… We'll try something else."
Luo Ran's expression slowly changed. "Boss…"
Jin Huang grinned. "Don't you worry, Luo Ran. I, Jin Huang, swear that I shall find a way to turn you into the most amazing scammer this world has ever seen, and allow you to take revenge on that scummy dad of yours! If I can't do that, then my name isn't Jin Huang!"
Luo Ran could see the laughter in Jin Huang's eyes, which would normally make him not take a person seriously. However, when he looked into Jin Huang's pale silver-blue eyes, he felt as though he absolutely could believe his words.
Not only that, but he also felt as though Jin Huang's words weren't just a statement. It felt like he was speaking into existence itself and changing the very course of destiny.
But, of course, Luo Ran only had a feeling. A talentless wastrel like him couldn't possibly be sensitive to the enigmatic Laws and Concepts that govern the Three Realms. Surely, a pretentious poser like him had no way of accurately gauging the reaction of something magnificent like destiny to Jin Huang's words.
There was no way a scandalous scammer like Luo Ran had even a single clue!
Or did he?