Cultivation: Starting from a Fighting Cock

Chapter 23 Golden Rooster Award

Zhao Mansion.

After packing everything up, Master Zhao prepared to take his fighting rooster out.

Suddenly noticing that Zhao Yan was also dressed and leaning against the door frame, Second Master Zhao asked with concern, "Yan'er, where are you going?"

Zhao Yan didn't answer, but frowned slightly, her gaze falling on the fighting rooster that Second Master Zhao was holding.

It was only after Zhao Kun reminded him that Master Zhao realized Zhao Yan wanted to go cockfighting with him.

Along the way, Master Zhao was overjoyed and told Zhao Yan to walk slowly, as her injury had not fully healed.

He kept talking, but Zhao Yan ignored him.

But Master Zhao was in high spirits, and even started talking to the fighting rooster in his arms. He said:
"Victorious General, Victorious General, the entire Zhao family is now on our shoulders. You don't need to hold back later. Kill one if one comes, kill two if two come. We'll be invincible in Wuzhen, hahaha!"

"It's just a chicken, does it understand what you're saying?"

At this moment, Zhao Yan glanced at Master Zhao and his fighting cock in a cold tone, with a hint of sarcasm.

"Hey, Yan'er, you're wrong, very wrong! This rooster of mine isn't just any fighting rooster; it's an undefeated champion, and it's incredibly smart. Even if it doesn't understand everything I say, it can definitely grasp the general meaning!"

Master Zhao stroked the fighting rooster's feathers, treating it like a precious treasure, his eyes filled with wonder.

"Ha~"

Zhao Yan sneered, thinking that the old man was not far from going mad.

At the same time, she felt very uncomfortable, because her aversion to cockfighting was ingrained in her bones due to her experiences growing up.

Who would have thought that one day the Zhao family would have to rely on Second Master Zhao's cockfighting to make a living? How ironic.

In the past, everyone cursed Master Zhao for being a spendthrift, spending his days idly and indulging in cockfighting for amusement, even losing his own daughter; he was utterly unworthy of being called a human being.

But in the last two months, after Master Zhao won a lot of money from cockfighting, the reputation of him in the Zhao family changed. Even Madam Zhao praised him for his skill in training chickens and asked how many taels of silver he won each day.

Zhao Yan felt this was wrong.

In her view, winning money in gambling is nothing more than a matter of luck.

Even if you win, it's only temporary and short-lived; losing money is the norm.

Based on her understanding of Master Zhao, she knew that the old man would definitely lose all the money he won until he was penniless, and then he could only watch others fight cocks every day while feeling uncomfortable as if ants were crawling all over his body.

Zhao Yan had been looking forward to this day.

However, for more than two months, Master Zhao has become more and more smug, and apart from deliberately losing, he has been on a winning streak.

Zhao Yan's feelings are very complicated right now.

She both hoped that her gambling father would lose everything, but she also didn't want to see the Zhao family lose the income from Zhao Erye's cockfighting.

No chicken can win forever.

Zhao Yan thought to herself, although she didn't know anything about cockfighting, she just didn't believe it. This rooster didn't look like it was very powerful at all.

Because Zhao Yan was injured, it took the father and daughter almost half again as long to get to the market as usual.

"Stop! You bastard! What are you doing in broad daylight?!"

Upon arriving at the market, they happened to see two hooligans harassing the Cui family's daughter, and Master Zhao immediately stepped forward to reprimand them.

"Second Master Zhao, it's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!"

"We'll leave right away, Second Master, please don't be angry!"

The two thugs bowed to Master Zhao to apologize, their greedy and lewd gazes lingering on Zhao Yan for two seconds before they turned and left with grins on their faces.

"Sister Xiangxue, are you alright?"

Zhao Yan went forward to check and learned that Cui Xiangxue had come to the market to buy some rice and flour today. The two hooligans had deliberately blocked her way and teased her, but they hadn't actually laid a hand on her.

"Second Master, Sister Yan, thank you."

Cui Xiangxue bowed to Master Zhao, her large eyes brimming with tears, looking extremely aggrieved.

The Cui family has fallen into decline, and it's inevitable that such a beautiful girl like her would be harassed by hooligans. The fact that she wasn't forcibly bought by wealthy and powerful families is largely thanks to the connections she has with the Zhao and Xu families.

"If I weren't injured, I would have caught those two guys and given them a good beating today!" Zhao Yan said angrily, hating that she was now powerless to even kill a chicken.

Only then did Cui Xiangxue remember and hurriedly asked Zhao Yan how her injuries were. She had heard that Yanmei was seriously injured a few days ago.

Zhao Yan held Cui Xiangxue's hand and said, "Sister Xiangxue, don't worry. My injury is slowly recovering. I can walk without any problems these past two days, but the old man said it will take at least a hundred days to fully recover to normal."

"Alright, my dear niece, you should go back and take care of your father. If you need anything in the future, just come to the Zhao residence."

Master Zhao told Cui Xiangxue not to linger outside for too long.

He had indeed looked down on the Cui family before, but now that the Cui and Zhao families had become in-laws, he naturally began to treat them as family.

"Yes, Second Master."

Cui Xiangxue lowered her eyes, bowed to Master Zhao, and then bid farewell to Zhao Yan: "Sister Yan, I'm leaving."

After Cui Xiangxue had walked away, Master Zhao sighed, "It's Zhao Kun's good fortune to have such a wonderful wife!"

Zhao Yan nodded emphatically, rarely agreeing with Second Master Zhao's point of view.

Among the seven towns and thirteen villages surrounding the area, Cui Xiangxue's appearance is undoubtedly among the best. She is also very well-mannered, gentle, virtuous, knowledgeable, and courteous.

Of course, Zhao Yan is also extremely beautiful, but she is too chivalrous and lacks the gentleness and virtue that a traditional woman should have. She is a completely different style from Cui Xiangxue.

Afterwards, the father and daughter entered the Snake Gang's cockfighting arena.

This was Zhao Yan's first time at the cockfighting arena since she grew up, and her appearance quickly attracted everyone's attention.

Wang Lei, who injured Zhao Yan, is a disciple of the Wang Family Martial Arts School, which is in cahoots with the Xiang She Gang.

Logically speaking, when Zhao Yan came to the cockfighting arena under the jurisdiction of the Xiangshe Gang, some minor conflicts between the two sides were inevitable.

But that's not actually the case. Cockfighting arenas are open for business and only want to make money. They welcome anyone to come and have fun, and they don't participate in gang wars.

Soon, a chicken farmer surnamed Wu proposed to have a fight with Master Zhao.

Master Zhao readily agreed, immediately attracting a large crowd.

"Wu Hong, black-footed chicken, 12.2 jin!"

"Master Zhao, the golden rooster weighs ten catties and one tael!"

"The market is now open!"

"Bet on Wu Hong to win, odds of 10 to 14!"

"Bet on Master Zhao to win, odds of 10 to 16!"

Under the manager's direction, the onlookers began to discuss the matter animatedly, and some who had made up their minds immediately took out their silver to place bets.

Zhao Yan watched silently from the side. In terms of appearance, the other party's black-footed chicken was much more robust and majestic than her own golden chicken.

Since Wu Hong didn't have much money, he only gambled five taels of silver with Master Zhao.

Master Zhao could only make more money by placing bets, so he said, "I'm betting on my fighting cock to win, twenty taels!"

When he arrogantly handed the two silver ingots to the manager, the scene erupted in uproar.

Zhao Yan also glanced sideways and said, "Twenty taels. Is the old man so confident in our fighting rooster?"
Soon, the two fighting roosters were released into the cockfighting arena, and the cockfight officially began.

Uncle Zhao explained to Zhao Yan that among the five major fighting cock breeds, the black-footed chicken is undoubtedly the biggest and strongest, relying on its weight and strength to win, and it is also very durable.

The black-footed chicken often wins relatively easily, relying on sheer superior strength to crush the opponent.

But when faced with a very agile fighting rooster, the Silkie chicken feels like it's hitting cotton with all its might, and after chasing for a long time, it only exhausts itself.

At this moment, in the cockfighting arena.

Ji Cheng could have easily defeated his opponent in one move, but for the sake of acting, he chose to dodge and flee first, creating the impression of a stalemate.

"Our fighting rooster is so agile!"

Zhao Yan was somewhat surprised by how perfectly Ji Cheng dodged; all of the black-footed chicken's attacks missed their mark.

Despite the golden rooster being at a disadvantage and constantly dodging and fleeing, the black-legged pheasant actually had no way to deal with it.

(End of this chapter)