48 Hours a Day

Chapter 813: Do You Know What I Like Most About You?

The contest between Zhang Heng and Terufelos was undoubtedly the most exciting performance of today. Both top-tier gladiators, the battle between them was intense and exciting. And the twists and turns had fully satisfied the audience’s strong desire to watch an earth-shattering battle. In the end, Zhang Heng made a critical move in time to turn the tide around and neutralize his dangerous situation. And it caused all 90,000 spectators to cheer for him.

Although the performance was not over yet, there was no doubt in the audience’s eyes that Zhang Heng would claim the championship this time. Even Terufelos could not beat Zhang Heng with his “hidden strength,” and the audience would not expect the weakened Sartonilos and other gladiators to come up with something to defeat Zhang Heng. And the final result was indeed what they expected.

After solving the only “tricky and powerful opponent,” Zhang Heng decided to deal with the rest of his opponents as quickly as possible. And finally, he won the championship of this gladiatorial show. When the judge announced Zhang Heng as the final winner, everyone, including Commodus, stood up from their seats, cheered, and gave their blessings to the champion.

A shower of rose petals came raining from the sky. After that, the judge presented Zhang Heng palm branches and laurel crowns that symbolized his victory. Under the gaze of 90,000 people, he put on the laurel crown, raised the palm leaf in his hand, and circled the arena.

“Congratulations. You made a lot of money this time. You made me a little jealous.”

Pompeo Nuss looked at Lucilla next to him. Since she was one of the first ones who bet on Zhang Heng, his odds were still relatively high at that time. Thanks to that, Lucilla could almost earn twice as much from what she bet on Zhang Heng. In other words, she had just doubled her investment in only three days.

“We have to take risks sometimes.” Lucilla smiled.

Pompeo Nuss smiled and nodded. “You are right.”

“Do you know what I like best about you?”

“Hmm?”

“Even if you disagree with a point of view, as long as your interests are unaffected, you’ll never go against that person. Instead, you will pretend to agree with them. But, deep inside your heart, you think that there’s an 80% chance that person is acting like an idiot.”

“What caused my beautiful wife to misunderstand me?” Pompeo Nuss smiled bitterly. “I really envy you. You view people and the world so uniquely and courageously. This courage even surpasses those men around you. You’ve just made an income that even I would be jealous of. How could I…”

Pompeo Nuss hadn’t yet finished talking when all of a sudden, Lucilla tapped his lips and planted a kiss on him. Unlike the other women that Pompeo Nuss had met. Lucilla’s kiss was quite powerful, just like herself—bold and open without hiding her charm.

The two smooched like there no other people in the stands. While Lucilla kissed Pompeo Nuss, her eyes were staring at Zhang Heng in the arena. And at the same time, a playful smile appeared at the corners of her mouth. She looked like a little girl who suddenly found a new toy.

…

When the audience’s cheers started to subside, Commodus cleared his throat.

“Come forward, brave gladiator. Let me take a good look at you,” Commodus said.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Zhang Heng acted as if they never had the one-on-one training last night. He then walked towards Commodus’s pedestal.

Zhang Heng was becoming more and more pleasing to Commodus’ eyes. He thought that his easterner was very powerful, and it was extremely rare that he was brilliant too. Zhang Heng could somehow always figure out his intention. And now, he so happened to be lacking such an employee.

To be more precise, Commodus lacked all kinds of talented people around him. Although his father left him a group of experienced individuals to assist him, he always felt that it was not as easy as using his own people. Besides, Commodus could feel that although they were very respectful towards him, they did not think that he had the ability to rule the empire.

All those old-timers kept following the traditions and regulations left by the Aurelius era. Instead of assisting Commodus, they were actually making sure that Commodus would carry out Aurelius’s legacy. For that reason, they would order Commodus to carry out specific demands.

Earlier, when Commodus wanted to make peace with the Germanic tribe, the higher-ups from the military attempted to stop him, feeling that such a deed would insult the empire’s honor. Since they could defeat the Germanic tribes in just a few years, it did not make sense for Commodus to make peace. And, they were going to pay them as well.

On the other hand, Commodus felt that the empire had used too many soldiers in recent years. Since he was born, he had witnessed his father declaring war in one region after the other. Once he completed a war, a second war would always break out. Those barbarians were like weeds that choked a field. After they were eliminated, another batch of the insufferable plant would somehow sprout up.

In other words, there was actually no point in eliminating the Germanic. They would always come back to fight again after they had recuperated at a different place. It was simply better to just end the war now. Besides, Commodus felt that after they fought for so long, the military had earned many merits. The people of Rome, however, were getting increasingly tired of the war. Hence, Commodus was trying to give what Rome truly wanted.

Simultaneously, the military had been attempting to use Aurelius’s legacy to pressure the new emperor. If Aurelius were still alive, Commodus would have chosen to listen to his order. However, now that he was the Roman emperor and tasted the sweetness of power, he realized that it was hard to get anyone to execute his orders. It made him feel how pointless it was Rome’s new emperor.

Hence, it was not his top priority to form a team of talented people willing to follow his orders to assist him in ruling Rome.

Right now, an exceedingly talented young man was standing in front of him.

“My people, please tell me. How can I reward him for his wonderful performance?!” Commodus pointed at Zhang Heng in the arena.

At first, some shouted “money,” and others shouted “women.” Everyone was giving out different opinions, but in the end, their voices finally unified. And the word they shouted terrified Mark Reuss.

“Freedom!!!”

This was the thing that every slave gladiator dreamt of. Without freedom, everything that they possessed would never truly belong to them. However, according to typical rules, an ordinary gladiator had to fight in the arena for quite some time and provide the audience with dozens of exciting battles. Only then would the audience ask the arena to grant the gladiator the freedom he had been dreaming of.

However, Zhang Heng’s epic performance had caused the majority of the audience to ask the arena to grant him freedom. And the other reason was that Zhang Heng was not their property. That was why they did not mind that Zhang Heng would become a free man again. Mark Reuss was the only person that was going to suffer from this matter.

Although Zhang Heng had won the championship on behalf of Victor Arena and captured the hearts of Rome’s entire city in one fell swoop, the problem was that Mark Reuss did not have the time to cash out all these honor and attention that Zhang Heng earned. The hen who had laid the golden egg was about to run away.