Lying Low

It was only on the fifth day that Wu Youren learned the administrator had been replaced. The new administrator was in his thirties and looked quite amiable, wearing an easy smile before he even spoke—a rarity among Liang natives. He came by to inspect the site, introduced himself, mentioned he would be overseeing this area from now on, and reminded them to keep construction work up to code. He did not say much else, but gave the impression of being easy enough to deal with. Wu Youren, however, was not naive enough to take that at face value—could Liang natives not produce smiling tigers? Fortunately, he had no intention of getting close to the man either. As long as neither encroached on the other, that was plenty. He even casually asked where the previous administrator had gone, remarking that the man still owed him eight silver dollars. Sure enough, the new administrator simply smiled and claimed ignorance, dodging the topic of owed money without uttering a single word about it. The boy put on a dejected look and muttered under his breath, "Skipping out on a debt... I'm tight on cash myself." Hearing this, the administrator casually cast a glance across the site, smiled, and took his leave. Erecting a greenhouse this massive and claiming to be tight on cash? Heh. In the end, glass had been chosen for the greenhouse. Being fragile, it was divided into numerous small panes. Plastic sheeting would have been cheap, but it was hard to find and impossible to buy; it seemed the chemical industry here was not up to par. While the glass was being set in place, Liu Jingming dropped by again. He had finally dug up some information on Chen Quanxu. No one in the hostage circle liked discussing the man, though someone had mentioned in passing that he seemed rather formidable. Even though he was only a knight, the Captain of the Guard treated him with great courtesy. No wonder the matrilocal son had suspected Chen Quanxu might be a grand knight; subconsciously, he had already sensed that the man's strength was not to be underestimated. No one knew anything about the fall of his state, but it was certain that Chen Quanxu had lived in extreme isolation at Hostage Manor, rarely seen interacting with others. Liu Jingming did not mention a word about ability masters, clearly a blind spot in his knowledge. Opinions also varied on whether Chen Quanxu was dead or alive. Following his escape, Hostage Manor had been placed under strict lockdown for half a year. His escape had occurred six years ago, when the former owner of this body was not even ten years old and had paid little attention to such news. Most importantly, regarding the accusation of treason... no one had heard of it. The Liang guards' claim stood as uncorroborated testimony. Toward the end, Liu Jingming cracked a joke. "Now that I think about it, you're actually quite a bit like him." "Neither of you likes socializing, both of you are surprisingly strong—no wonder you wanted to look into his motives for treason." The man was an ability master who had to cultivate in secret! Wu Youren could not be bothered to indulge the fool. "Take a look at this greenhouse, give me some feedback and suggestions, and help brainstorm what to plant." "Such grand scale! I can come help you farm later," Liu Jingming offered with a grin. "Just keep me fed with meat!" He was less than two years older than Wu Youren, turning eighteen soon. At this age, an appetite was boundless, and once he turned eighteen, he could make an attempt to advance to knight, which demanded plenty of nutrition. His monthly allowance was larger than Wu Youren's, but his earning capacity was far inferior. After shutting down his Spring Delight business, he still had not finished repaying his debts for cold weapons; times were indeed tight for him. "If you're not afraid of danger, be my guest," Wu Youren replied calmly. "You only see the thief feasting on meat, not the thief getting beaten." He had no intention of elaborating further; a hint was enough. Saying less was, in truth, a way of protecting the other boy. "I'm not afraid of anything except being poor!" Liu Jingming declared with utter seriousness. "So we have a deal?" "Look at how easily bought you are," Wu Youren rolled his eyes at him. "How much can a bite to eat possibly cost?" To say the least, a single day of Xiao Ha's rations was enough to support Liu Jingming cultivating at full capacity for half a month—and that was accounting only for the consumption of resentment crystals. Thinking it over, he felt he could not let the other boy enjoy such benefits for nothing—too great a favor could breed resentment. "Can you help me contact my family?" The matrilocal son's answer surprised him a little. "You think I haven't tried?" Liu Jingming wore a helpless look. "I've been looking for ways to pay you back and give you a pleasant surprise... The Liu family never accepts favors for free. "But it's easy for me to contact my own family. Inquiring about yours... is truly inconvenient." "Understood. You don't have the standing or authority for it," Wu Youren nodded slightly. "I was just asking on a whim." "For that kind of thing, you'll still need to go to the Captain of the Guard or His Highness," Liu Jingming stated seriously. "They're watched closely, but their clearance is high." After a pause, he added, "By the way, Life-and-Death Knot isn't happy with you. Word is they're trying to push to have you transferred back to Hostage Manor." "Back to Hostage Manor?" A cold glint flashed in Wu Youren's eyes, though his face remained bright with a smile. "Salim?" "I don't know who you're talking about," Liu Jingming shook his head blankly. The person contacting him was not Salim. He was quite young and liked to lie in wait for Liu Jingming outside the cafeteria at mealtimes. Whenever he caught Liu Jingming, he freeloaded food and drink. Other students who saw this merely assumed it was bullying, and no one wanted to poke their nose into it. Yet Liu Jingming was remarkably adept, having somehow managed to turn the fellow into a "friend"! Recently, the young man had told him to steer clear of Wu Youren, claiming the fellow did not know his place and higher-ups were considering sending him back to Hostage Manor. Crucially, even His Highness and the Captain of the Guard seemed somewhat keen on the idea, and might very well cooperate! Fortunately, Liu Jingming was well aware that they were "friends" only in quotation marks, and paid it no mind. "Lying in wait outside the cafeteria?" Wu Youren pondered and nodded. Every gain had its loss; living in dormitories did have its perks! When Salim came looking for Wu Youren, it was always in the dead of night or at the crack of dawn—simply because Wu Youren had no roommates! Sure enough, different starter village maps spawned different mobs. "Do you know where they gather?" "Where they gather?" Liu Jingming's eyes lit up immediately, his voice dropping. "Are you planning to..." "To avoid them, obviously," Wu Youren shot him an annoyed look. "Do you think I can afford to mess with them?" "I think you have what it takes," Liu Jingming muttered under his breath, before grinning again. "A month ago, I wouldn't have had a clue where they were, but now... what a coincidence!" He truly did not dare ask around recklessly, but his instinct for seizing opportunities was razor-sharp. Over a month ago, the barbarians had stirred up trouble on a massive scale. The Court of State Ceremonial of Liang stepped in to coordinate—besides managing foreign affairs, they were also responsible for communicating with vassal states and dependencies. Life-and-Death Knot, as an agency subordinate to the Court of State Ceremonial, had a duty to get to the bottom of what was happening. The reason they had not caused trouble for Wu Youren for a while was very likely because their attention had been tied down by this crisis. Once things got busy, they naturally left more tracks. Liu Jingming had watched with his own eyes as they gathered and shifted their focus from inside the Martial Academy to the outside. Thus, the main gathering spots for Life-and-Death Knot were now on the perimeter of Red Pine, rather than within the academy itself. The hostages felt heavily monitored, but in truth, there were only five hostages in all of Red Pine! Outside Red Pine, how many barbarians were there? Over ten thousand! People felt the barbarians were not that numerous only because that was all they could see from the direction of Red Pine! "The good news is, we're not that important," Liu Jingming said with a chuckle. "The bad news is, we really aren't that important." "We never were," Wu Youren rolled his eyes. "Stop speaking in riddles and go mind your business." "Let me give you the general locations anyway," Liu Jingming said, watching him cautiously. "Whether you can use it is up to you. Just sharing intel, you know? They have four main gathering spots in total..." He would not ask if Wu Youren needed it; volunteering the information was enough, and he cared about nothing beyond that. Do good deeds and ask not of the future—well, to be honest, he was still a little curious inside. Still, that bird on Little Wu's shoulder was truly a bit of an inconvenience. It clung to him relentlessly, making him instantly recognizable whenever he entered or left Red Pine. Add to that the occasional screech... pulling off a sneak attack would be near impossible. What he did not realize was that Wu Youren's instinctive first reaction upon receiving the intel was: Is this reliable? As for the matrilocal son's motives and credibility, Wu Youren did not want to overthink them—water that is too clear harbors no fish; a man who is too scrutinizing has no followers. What he pondered was: if someone truly wanted to send him back to Hostage Manor, how feasible was it? He was not sure about the hostage faction's attitude, but that nauseating bunch in Life-and-Death Knot might indeed try to push for it. Cleaning up his own doorstep still had not settled things... Thinking of this, he felt a bit helpless. Still, repulsive people specialized in repulsive deeds; one just had to get used to it. Yet this news did have some impact on his plans for daily life. He had to do something—he could not let others dictate his pace, but preparing for a rainy day was still necessary. That day, Manna came by the cabin to check on the progress of the greenhouse construction. A greenhouse of over nine hundred square meters had attracted the attention of quite a few students and instructors, with people coming around for a look from time to time. Mingling among them under the guise of curiosity, she was not particularly conspicuous. Aside from feeding Xiao Ha, she had another purpose for coming: cashing out the profits from Mount Xuanling. Wu Youren did not have a large share in the team; particularly after entering the Guizu domain a second time, he was in the lowest tier. The boy's contribution was beyond doubt, but it was an undeniable fact that he had essentially slacked off the entire time and took no part in combat. Even Chief Instructor Hong Da had joined the fight, and multiple members of the team had been wounded along the way. As a hostage from Jin, being able to receive a payout at all was already an acknowledgment of his capabilities. The profit came to a little over seven thousand silver dollars. Manna explained that Instructor Hong's expenses had been substantial, and this was only the first payout. The offers for some of the spoils had not met Hong Da's expectations; liquidating them would take more time. Instructor Hong had been considerate enough to provide three thousand silver dollars in cash, as well as a resentment crystal to feed Xiao Ha. Wu Youren expressed his thanks and casually informed Manna that he was planning to leave the Martial Academy for a walk outside in the near future. The female instructor was slightly surprised. "Weren't you hell-bent on coming back before? Why head out now?" The boy looked a bit helpless. "After building the greenhouse, I don't have much money left, and I still have to feed Xiao Ha. I'm going out to try my luck." He did not complain that Instructor Hong had given him too little, but crying poverty could not hurt, could it? "There are so many barbarians outside right now," Manna said, feeling a headache at the thought of them. "And that bone glue hasn't even been sold yet!"