Fanfiction System in the world of Eastern Fantasy

But to his surprise, the noble gritted his teeth, and then, with a huff of disdain, barked at his coachman. "We're leaving. This isn't worth my time."

He cast a final glare at Qin Wei and turned back to the woman, who was still trembling beside her stall. "You're lucky today. I'll find you again when this clown isn't here."

But he didn't try to grab her this time.

The coachman lashed the reins, and the carriage rolled away, ignoring the unconscious guards left groaning on the ground.

Qin Wei remained where he stood, back straight, arms relaxed at his sides. He didn't chase after the enemy because he didn't have the strength to fight. In the meantime, the cheers that broke out from the crowd drowned out the hum in his ears.

"Good work, young master!"

"That noble brat deserved it!"

"Thank you for standing up for us, Mister."

At the same time, a chime is heard in his head, and a holographic screen appears before his eyes.

Mission Complete: "Damsel in Distress"

Talent Points earned: +4

A light breeze swept the street as he exhaled, his body still slightly sore from expending too much energy in too short a time.

Just then, the duck meat dumpling vendor, the woman he had just saved, stepped forward.

She wore a grateful smile on her face, but… her eyes flickered oddly, an emotion he couldn't quite name. Anger? Annoyance? Suspicion? But it vanished the next second, replaced by gratefulness.

She bowed with her hands clasped formally. "Thank you, young master… for helping me," she said, her voice controlled but polite.

Qin Wei nodded, brushing soot from his sleeves. "Are you alright?"

"I am. Just… shaken." Her voice softened, and then… "May I know your name?"

He met her gaze evenly, letting his voice rise just enough for the surrounding onlookers to hear clearly.

"Qin Wei."

Her eyes widened instantly. "Qin Wei!? You mean, Yongzhou's Scourge, that Qin Wei?"

The street hushed around them.

Someone suddenly spoke aloud with a gasp, "Lady Xue's husband?"

"He's that matrilocal husband?"

"I thought he was a trash of the Qin Clan?"

"So, Young Master Qin can fight?"

"Young Master is actually righteous. Who spread such blatant lies about him?"

Someone whispered, "Did you see the technique he used? Lightning dragons… I've never seen anything like that!"

Qin Wei's ears perked up, listening to the praises. He couldn't help but open the missions list, and he saw that the reputation points slowly started improving, only when they got to know his name.

At this, Qin Wei understood that being grateful to him is useless, but the people should change their views about the Yongzhou Qin Clan's Qin Wei. That's when his reputation points will improve.

As murmurs broke out among the spectators, the street vendor woman blanched and bowed her head quickly. "I… I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

Qin Wei raised a hand, dismissing it with calm indifference. "It's alright," he said, but then his voice grew firmer as he spoke aloud. "I understand that there are a lot of rumors passing around my name.

He stepped forward, making the face of a righteous man, although someone found it a bit shameless or thick-skinned.

"But don't believe every rumor you hear, especially ones crafted by bitter cowards envious of my background. Rumors spread more easily than the truth. But actions speak louder than words, do they not?"

A pause followed. The vendor blinked at him, confused… doubtful, even. But she didn't speak. The surrounding crowd, however, began to murmur again..

"Indeed, Young Master Qin saved that girl… and fought for her."

"Doesn't act like a villain to me."

"Maybe the rumors were blown out of proportion?"

"Did you see those lightning dragons? Those weren't the skills of a coward."

In his mind, more notifications chimed like soft rain on tiles:

Reputation Improved: +1

Reputation Improved: +1

Reputation Improved: +1

Reputation Improved: +1

He offered a slight smile to the vendor, then turned away from the crowd, his robe fluttering faintly behind him. Roulan followed him in silence.

After a moment, she glanced at his back, thinking. "For one moment, I thought he was righteous, for another moment, it seemed as if he staged this incident to write off his fame, as he didn't have any authority or protection in Beiling City. Or were those rumors exaggerated or something?"

However, she wasn't the only one staring at his back.

There was another woman; the street vendor stood motionless in the middle of the street, still clutching the dumpling basket as she stared at him. But the grateful smile was gone. Instead, it was replaced by a sharpened gaze with unmistakable loathing.

Her fingers curled tightly around the edge of the bamboo tray.

"Damn you, basta*d."

The words slipped from her lips.

"Six weeks. I worked hard for six painstaking weeks, crafting a persona of a dumpling seller on this exact corner, wearing this exact mask of modest beauty, over Imperial City, then Nanjing, and now Beiling. All in the hopes of falling in the eyes of Xu Xianfeng. And today was the day he was finally going to take me to his house, I got the perfect chance to finish off Xu Xiao."

And then this man appeared. Interrupted everything. Spouted righteous nonsense. Set her entire operation ablaze with one flashy fight and a smug grin.

She spat on the ground behind him, her smile now turned cold. Her aura of a plainfolk flared up into rank 9 instantly.

"Knowing your identity, you think I will believe for a second you did that out of chivalry?" she whispered venomously. "Either you're trying to seduce me… or worse, you're aware of the Shadow Sect's operation and you're deliberately interfering."

Her eyes narrowed, recalling the details.

Multiple elemental affinities? Uncommon, very uncommon even in the top sects.

Even more suspicious? She couldn't see through his cultivation level at all. Not even a hint.

And the woman beside him, that one was clearly a rank-8 martial artist. A bodyguard of that caliber shadowing someone the whole empire labeled as trash?

No. None of this added up. Or atleast for her.

"I'm starting to think those rumors about him being trash were planted on purpose by the Qin Clan… to hide him." Her voice dropped to a hiss, sharp with realization.

She exhaled slowly, forced calm over her features, and picked up the bamboo tray again. With a fleeting glance around, she stepped back behind her stall and packed it up quickly.

"Whatever the case, this has to be reported to the elder. The Shadow Sect's mission cannot go unfulfilled."

Her steps quickened as she melted into the flow of the crowd, disappearing like she didn't exist.