Brian Clark does not compete; gentle and unassertive, yet this gentleness is not weakness or cowardice—it carries a much deeper philosophical meaning...

　　Back to the main topic, although Mike Clark knew that Brian Clark could not cultivate qi and had basically given up on the possibility of Brian Clark pursuing martial arts, he was different from the other villagers and still treated Brian Clark quite well, letting him learn as much as he could.

　　“No, Mike Clark, I want to practice swordsmanship on my own. I’m looking for Emily to borrow the sword from her house.” Brian Clark shook his head in reply.

　　“Oh, that’s fine, then go ahead and practice by yourself. If you don’t understand something, come ask me.” Mike Clark didn’t mind. He thought that when Brian Clark said he wanted to practice swordsmanship, he meant practicing the basic sword techniques he had taught him. He also thought Brian Clark, like many others, was simply trying something new after feeling unsuited to one thing.

　　“Okay, got it. Emily, is that sword from your house still around?” Brian Clark turned and asked Emily.

　　“That sword from my house? My dad probably threw it in the cellar. It’s all rusty now. I don’t know if it’s suitable for you to practice with.” Emily replied.

　　The sword from Emily’s house was just an ordinary iron sword, not worth much. But Brian Clark was frugal, so borrowing it was better than buying a new one, and even if he had to buy it, it would be much cheaper than a new sword.

　　“It’s fine, as long as it has some weight.” Brian Clark replied.

　　“Alright, then come with me to get the sword.” Emily didn’t mind either. It wasn’t some precious sword, so giving it to Brian Clark was no problem at all.

　　Not long after the two of them left, a young girl and some boys walked over...

　　“Hey, Brian Clark, your sweetheart is here.” Emily’s tone changed, glancing teasingly at Brian Clark as she looked at the girl.

　　As for the girl’s appearance, she was very beautiful—the kind rarely seen in such a small place. Coupled with her youth, she was the object of many people’s affection, and Brian Clark and those around her were among them.

　　Every time Brian Clark saw this girl before, he would look for a chance to get close, staring at her foolishly, and sometimes even giving her gifts. However, the things he gave were never appreciated.

　　Once, Brian Clark steeled himself and bought a jade hairpin in the county town, spending a month or two’s worth of income—a big deal for him. But when he gave it to her, she casually tossed it aside, saying the jade was too poor and unworthy of her.

　　Immediately, Brian Clark felt depressed...

　　At that time, Emily happened to see this and tried to comfort Brian Clark, but soon realized her comfort was ineffective. She then understood that Brian Clark’s frustration was because he had wasted money on the hairpin and was heartbroken over the loss.

Chapter 8 Emily Thompson (Part 2)

　　So, Emily said she really liked it and that he should give it to her instead, so it wouldn’t go to waste.

　　But Brian Clark replied, “Giving it to you is just as much a waste. How about this, I’ll sell it to you at a 20% discount?” Emily immediately turned and left, not bothering with Brian Clark anymore. In the end, Brian Clark chased after Emily for quite a while, lowering the price from 20% off to 70% off, and his pained expression made Emily just want to hit him.

　　What made her even more speechless was that afterwards, Brian Clark still kept trying to get close to the girl in front of them. She could only say two words: shameless!

　　Of course, she knew that Brian Clark was only doing this to marry a beautiful wife, not because he truly loved her. But that only made his shamelessness stand out even more.

　　Emily never tried to persuade Brian Clark to give up—not because she thought there was a chance, but because the girl in front of them was close with most of the outstanding young men in the village, and there was no way it would ever be Brian Clark’s turn.

　　She didn’t try to persuade Brian Clark because she knew it would be useless, and besides, she had a bit of a mischievous streak and liked seeing Brian Clark get put in his place, so her teasing wasn’t entirely mean-spirited.

　　No matter what, when she saw the girl coming over, she was sure Brian Clark would go over as well, and she was already waiting to see him get rejected.

　　But what she didn’t expect was that Brian Clark didn’t act as he usually did. He didn’t even glance at the girl, just casually said, “I see her. Isn’t that just Olivia Harris?”

　　“??” Emily found this very strange. What was going on? From his tone, it sounded like he was just looking at a passerby. Could it be that this guy had finally come to his senses and realized he had no chance?

　　What she didn’t know was that after Brian Clark had met Grace Bennett and Ashley Carter, ordinary beauties no longer impressed him. As for someone like Olivia Harris, he used to care about her beauty, but now he found it quite ordinary—no different from Emily.

　　In this situation, and since he had no real feelings for Olivia Harris, how could he have any interest in pursuing her?

　　“Hurry up and get the sword!” Brian Clark urged Emily, leaving her no time to think about what was going on.

　　At that moment, the girl glanced curiously at Brian Clark, seemingly finding his reaction a bit odd, but only for a moment—she quickly put it out of her mind.

　　Brian Clark got the iron sword, and as soon as he had it, he immediately left Emily behind and walked off. This left Emily speechless—he really didn’t treat her as an outsider, not even bothering to say thank you.