Wu Youren took no part in the subsequent proceedings from start to finish, yet in the end, the quarantine station still gave him ten silver dollars in compensation.
What those fellows had bled was certainly far more than that, but the other participants had to take their cut, didn't they?
The compensation wasn't huge, but it showed goodwill nonetheless. Yet the youth politely declined.
He stated that treating everyone to an extra dish was enough—that the Martial Academy's instructors would uphold justice for their students was something he was already very grateful for.
Even so, rumors still spread through the quarantine station: there was a bird-carrying Red Pine cadet who was not to be trifled with.
By the time the news made the rounds, Wu Youren had already returned to the Martial Academy.
Having returned this time, he had no intention of going out again in the short term. Snowy weather was simply too unfriendly to a solitary traveler like him.
Although it had only been the first snowfall, it took a full half-month to melt, and in many corners hidden from the sun, the accumulated snow remained quite thick.
Yet this snowfall actually made it easier for martial artists to purge the Guizu aura.
Because the nights were no longer pitch-black, much of the Guizu aura had nowhere to hide, greatly boosting the efficiency of clearing Guizu.
As long as supplies were adequately prepared, obstacles in transportation weren't that big of a deal.
Many martial artist teams that had originally lingered outside the mountains plucked up the courage to venture in.
Specifically at Red Pine Martial Academy, quite a few instructors who had already fulfilled their annual quotas unexpectedly set out once again, purely to make money.
Even Kenpa and Rossi had headed out on their own initiative—nobody would complain about having too much money, right?
Rossi had even made a special trip to seek out Wu Youren, hoping he would come along and share the spoils equally, promising not to treat him like a mere apprentice knight.
The youth refused, however. His reply was that temperatures were too low during the thaw, and he had to look after the vegetables in his greenhouse.
Kenpa had also contacted him via smartwatch. Upon hearing this excuse, he merely snorted, "If you don't want to go, then don't. Do you think we're all idiots?"
When the snow had mostly melted, the Captain of the Guard also emerged from the mountains. He had lost a few men, though he himself was unharmed.
His primary goal had been to survey the Guizu situation and report back to Jin to see what friendly assistance might be offered.
These were diplomatic pleasantries, meant only to be taken with a grain of salt; his true objective or whatever exchange of benefits lay behind it was not something outsiders could know.
Hao Wei did not reach out to Wu Youren on his own initiative; this news was relayed through Liu Jingming.
The son of the matrilocal husband had a very clear understanding of his own position and hadn't taken advantage of the snow to join the others in slaying Guizu.
In his words: he had already fulfilled his mandatory task for the year, so there was no need to take that risk.
He knew Wu Youren had made a pretty penny killing Guizu, but he didn't think he himself could earn that kind of money.
So young, yet able to accurately assess his own capabilities without being swayed by outside temptations—one had to admit, there were truly capable people in the hostage contingent.
Perhaps hardship truly fostered maturity?
In any case, Liu Jingming had firmly decided that helping out in the vegetable greenhouse to earn just enough to scrape by was pretty good.
Besides, he had an aggressively extroverted streak; helping Wu Youren handle odd chores or sniff out rumors often yielded results.
"Hey, Moneybags, the Captain of the Guard is leaving. Want to go see him off?"
Wu Youren was unmoved. "Feels like high winds might be coming soon. I need to reinforce the greenhouse."
Lying low and developing quietly was great. In this freezing cold, while others slogged away out in the wilderness, his greenhouse was warm as spring.
Ever since Salim died and the liaison for Life-and-Death Knot was replaced by Talisi, no Liang cadets had targeted his vegetable patch again.
Targeting someone truly never happened without a reason. Without someone stirring up trouble behind the scenes, who would bother with such thankless, grueling tasks?
His days lately had been quite leisurely. Talisi occasionally contacted him via smartwatch, while the new administrator ignored him completely.
Aside from losing out on the income from slaying Guizu, he had nothing to worry about—and he could quietly digest the experience points that surged in from time to time.
Once the vegetables matured, he would regularly gift some to several instructors, and the cafeteria even came to purchase stock directly from him.
In this kind of weather, anyone who bothered about eating fresh vegetables was not short on cash, but Wu Youren didn't sell them at high prices.
Raking in exorbitant profits was certainly thrilling, but it could easily stir up unpredictable trouble. Since he didn't rely on this for a living, there was no need to take risks.
On the contrary, if the big shots accustomed to cheap fresh vegetables suddenly couldn't buy any one day, they might even provide some extra support.
However, Wu Youren had worries of his own, and very, very serious ones at that.
Namely, Xiao Ha... would the little thing suddenly drop another massive one out of nowhere?
Chen Quanxu had made it abundantly clear: the tangerine pit could pass the quarantine station's scans, but it could never escape the detection of a legacy weapon!
Wu Youren didn't even have a clear idea of what a legacy weapon was.
Chen Quanxu dared not say, Hong Da was unwilling to say, and the only person who might have said a thing or two was the Duke of Wei's illegitimate son, Hao Wei.
Yet as fate would have it, Wu Youren had no desire to have much contact with the man.
He had felt the potential threat of a legacy weapon firsthand.
Even now, he had not once thought of scaling the Martial Academy's walls again.
He held only one hope in his heart: that the cooldown period would pass soon—if there was one.
Still, it was strange: how could a mere intermediate martial academy possess a legacy weapon?
That thing could harm the Mount Xuanling Guizu domain!
Rounded up, wouldn't that mean Red Pine could wipe out the Mount Xuanling Guizu domain?
Wu Youren truly couldn't fathom the logic behind it, and could only lament that whoever came up with this whole information barrier scheme was a real piece of work!
Putting these wild thoughts aside, what forced him to sleep with one eye open right now was Xiao Ha's condition.
Given this pressure, after the Captain of the Guard departed, Wu Youren reached out to Daiqisi on his own initiative.
He expressed his gratitude to the quarantine station instructors for standing up for him last time.
Now that the greenhouse vegetables were entering their peak yield, he wanted to send some over for them to taste.
If possible, selling them at the quarantine station wasn't out of the question either—after all, why not make money together?
Daiqisi knew his vegetables were good; she had previously thought she wasn't fond of greens, but now she rather fancied them.
Her stance was: gifting a bit to our Red Pine folks was fine, but selling them in the quarantine station was unnecessary!
That was a place for quarantining people. Anything would sell effortlessly, and not at a low price either.
Offering them such goods held little point.
Those people were risking their lives chasing wealth and lived strictly in the realm of hard realism—would anyone die from not eating vegetables?
Wu Youren smiled. "But their money comes fast. And since today might be their last day... Hongxiuzhao does brisk business, doesn't it?"
"Pah! Don't bring up that disgusting place with me!" Daiqisi's voice abruptly turned cold. "You seem to know the trade pretty well."
"Nothing to do with me. My mom told me to observe male virtues," the youth could only explain. "It's a friend of mine..."
"I know, Li Jingming. Every bad deed is his doing, while you're completely pure."
"It's Liu Jingming," Wu Youren replied helplessly. "Instructor, had a bit to drink today?"
"In any case, you're not allowed to touch any of that sordid nonsense. Do you hear me?"
"Mhm, mhm, I understand. I observe male virtues."
"Fine then, I'll ask around for you tomorrow," Daiqisi made up her mind. "Fresh vegetables in snowy weather—those have got to be sold by the stalk!"
And sure enough, once fresh vegetables were introduced at the quarantine station, people actually bought them.
The people quarantined there were martial artists from all directions, reasonably well-traveled and experienced.
Yet eating fresh vegetables in the dead of winter was truly a rarity.
The side dishes people usually saw were either pickles, sun-dried preserved greens, or cold-hardy wild herbs.
The quarantine station marked them up tenfold over the purchase price, operating strictly on a take-it-or-leave-it basis!
It was ridiculously expensive. Even though every Guizu relic the martial artists harvested counted as a windfall, it was money earned with their lives!
Yet some came here with other motives, like polishing their credentials or biding time for seniority; making money was merely secondary!
The fresh vegetables sold at the quarantine station weren't many and couldn't absorb all the greenhouse's yield, but there were sales every single day!
This was exactly what Wu Youren wanted: keeping the supply chain running smoothly. How much sold didn't matter; what mattered was having the freedom to come and go every day.
Entering and leaving Red Pine at night remained an issue, but this was already the limit of what he could manage.
The good news was that even though he only fed the little snow harrier during the day and adamantly refused to feed it at night, the little fellow was still growing rapidly.
A month later, the second snowfall arrived, even heavier than the first.
The heavy snow fell intermittently for three days, piling up to a foot deep on level ground.
At noon on the day after the snow stopped, Wu Youren began clearing the accumulated snow off the greenhouse.
While he was busy, Liu Jingming came looking for him. "His Highness has fallen ill!"
His Highness... Wu Youren felt the title was quite unfamiliar to him now. "Did he catch a cold?"
"Probably more than that," Liu Jingming said worriedly. "I heard they might recall us."
"Might?" Wu Youren showed some doubt regarding his intelligence network. "Heard it from whom?"
"A name you wouldn't care to know," Liu Jingming answered vaguely. "My point is, we should make some preparations in advance."
"In this weather?" Wu Youren replied nonchalantly. "Just keep an eye on it."
He didn't believe that with the roads blocked by heavy snow, Hostage Manor could summon them back right away.
Waiting a couple more days would basically confirm the news.
Yet before he could receive any news, another wave of experience points struck that very night.
At first he didn't take it seriously. Experience points had been arriving very frequently of late, which was also why he was holed up in Red Pine and refused to leave.
Lying low to cultivate without drawing attention—wasn't that better than anything else?
This time, however, it simply wouldn't stop. The experience points provided in a single hour had already surpassed what he got from killing that grand knight Guizu last time.
Yet it didn't cease after two hours, and then came the third hour...
Having barely held out until dawn, Wu Youren contacted Liu Jingming, saying he was going to deliver some vegetables to the quarantine station.
"I might not be back for a day or two."
Hearing this, Liu Jingming showed that he understood. "Take extra supplies. With the temperature outside, it's cold enough to freeze someone to death."
Martial artists were far more resistant to the cold than ordinary folk, but there was a limit after all, and enduring prolonged cold was more than anyone could bear.
Wu Youren had delivered vegetables to the quarantine station many times. Aside from what was sold, quite a bit had been given away to others to eat, earning him a fair bit of goodwill.
He had claimed a small cubicle here, where he stored some daily necessities—mainly food, clothing, and medicines.
Chapter 206