Feng Qianjun and He Wenhao had only just mentioned it, so of course Wu Youren remembered.
And now, the Life-and-Death Knot had actually brought news of his family!
"Doesn't matter," he let out a soft sigh. "They don't consider me family anymore."
"Cut the act!" The burly man scoffed softly. "I'm talking about your mother, your brother, and your younger sister!"
"..." Wu Youren fell silent, taking a long time before replying. "No need to say another word. Just pretend I'm dead."
"Your elder brother joined the Department of Construction," the burly man said with a chuckle, "carrying on your father's unfinished wishes."
"As for your mother, her lung ailment lingers, but your grandfather is still looking after her..."
"Stop," Wu Youren sighed. "Milord, if you want me to plot against Instructor Hong, you can just say it directly."
"You little bastard..." The burly man shook his head helplessly and held out an envelope. "A letter. Read it yourself."
"Milord, burn it for me," Wu Youren said, waving a hand. "I'm already dead!"
And it was true—his predecessor really was dead.
"So that means... you could become a man of Great Liang?" The burly man finally revealed his intent to recruit him.
It was not that he had been unwilling to recruit him before, but hostages were far too scarce a resource—far more valuable than ordinary Jin citizens. One had to wear them down slowly, like taming a falcon.
The key issue was that these people knew one another; if an attempt to win someone over failed, the fallout would be severe.
In short, caution was essential. The hostages thought their lives were hard, but wasn't his just as hard?
Wu Youren remained silent. Only after a long while did he slowly utter three words: "Out of the question!"
"Then act like I never said it," the burly man said, showing unprecedented tolerance.
Hesitation was a good sign. If it was possible to win him over completely, why serve up a half-cooked meal?
Besides, Great Liang and Jin were not merely observing a ceasefire now; relations between them were actually quite decent, so the urgency was not pressing.
He even added, "Your brother seems to have the makings of an architect, too. Well... he's just a bit short on coin."
"I've forgotten all those people," Wu Youren said, shaking his head. "My memory's filled only with things here in Great Liang."
"Well, you certainly don't owe him anything," the burly man said, continuing to rub salt into the wound. "He was supposed to be the one who came, but he fell into a river and caught a high fever while working to support the family, so you stepped up and volunteered."
"You're really insufferable!" Wu Youren glared at him.
Even on a dark night like this, where the man could not see his gaze, he could feel his fury.
"All right, regarding your income this time," the burly man said calmly. "The usual rules: turn over twenty percent."
"Don't have any," Wu Youren answered bluntly. "Didn't make any money this time."
"You took ten silver dollars from Rossi." The burly man's intelligence was exceptionally well-informed. "Guess who told me?"
Ninety percent chance it wasn't Rossi! Wu Youren reckoned it must have been the people from the Intelligence Bureau.
To think he wouldn't be able to freeload off them anymore felt a little...
Forget it. He sighed. "Sixty percent went to Instructor Hong. I haven't even broken even!"
"What?" The burly man's voice rose noticeably. "What did you say?"
"I need sixty percent for my own use," Wu Youren replied. "Uh, slip of the tongue."
"Don't joke," the burly man sneered. "As if Hong Yan would care about a measly six silver dollars?"
What a joke. That was a woman whose entire family had been slaughtered by Jin folk—a distinguished grand knight—and she would care about your six silver dollars? If you had claimed sixty thousand—or even six thousand—it might pass, but a measly six? What kind of farce was this?
"She definitely wouldn't care about it," Wu Youren replied coolly. "But it's the thought that counts."
"You..." The burly man pointed at him, speechless. "You'd better not be lying to me!"
"You lot take four dollars from me every month, and you've taken it for twelve years!" Wu Youren sighed softly. "Have I ever lied to you?"
The burly man fell silent. After a long pause, he said, "Stay in touch with Sister Hua. She'll pay you, and I won't take a cut!"
"Sister Hua?" Wu Youren was baffled. "The people I know in Great Liang can be counted on one hand!"
"The one who keeps trying to poach you." With a flicker of movement, the burly man vanished without a trace.
"That... female knight?" Wu Youren pondered.
The next few days passed without incident until Cynthia came looking for him again.
This time, she brought along a male martial artist, also an apprentice knight.
Her expression was calm. "The Martial Academy recently posted an expedition quest to the town of Suotu. I'd like to invite you to join us."
"Not going," Wu Youren said, shaking his head calmly. "I can't even leave the Martial Academy grounds."
"You have Senior Instructor Hong's pass," Cynthia said, her face equally calm. "I don't believe you can't get out."
"Red Pine's grapevine... just how fast does it spread?" Wu Youren let out a wry smile, then said seriously, "The pass was only valid for a single use."
"A Cloud-Soaring Pill," Cynthia said slowly. "I know you're not lacking, but consider it a small token."
A Cloud-Soaring Pill, true to its name, was an auxiliary pill that could help one soar into the clouds—designed to aid apprentice knights in making the breakthrough to knight.
Pills like that were extraordinarily expensive; considering how many apprentice knights in the Intelligence Bureau had failed to advance to knight, one could well imagine its value.
It did not guarantee success, merely offering a sliver of higher probability.
Moreover, it had no noticeable side effects. Its only flaw was that it was expensive!
Thus, genuinely wealthy families would casually pop one when attempting the breakthrough to knight.
Cynthia's family was likely well-off, but tossing out a Cloud-Soaring Pill so casually was still beyond her personal spending power.
*Quit playing around, buddy's got a cheat!* Wu Youren's expression darkened. "How much does the quest pay?"
Cynthia was instantly struck dumb. Even if they achieved a top-tier completion on the mission, the reward would not equal the value of this Cloud-Soaring Pill.
"Forget it," Wu Youren said with a dismissive wave, his tone casual. "I don't care for piddling sums like that. As you know, I'm not short on money!"
"You!" Cynthia glared daggers at him, spun around, and stalked off, her pace quickening with every step.
"Everyone says you're flat broke!" The male apprentice knight could not hold back and glared furiously at him. "She even had a fight with her family just to get that Cloud-Soaring Pill!"
As he spoke, he turned and hurried after Cynthia.
*Who leaked that?* Wu Youren furrowed his brows in thought. *The fact that I'm dirt-poor should only be known to our own people, right?*
That really... hurt his pride!
Still, poor was poor. As long as he refused to admit it, it remained nothing more than baseless rumors.
And if someone really stepped forward to testify? That would be fine too—at least it would expose an issue within the hostage circle.
Two days later, the administrator came looking for him to ask if he had any leopard cat meat left, offering to pay for it.
Wu Youren naturally would not take his money—his first batch of vegetables would be ready for harvest soon!
However, he was genuinely out of leopard cat meat. He sighed and called Rossi on his comm-watch.
Rossi answered quickly enough, though he said he did not have any left either, only a few chunks of python meat on hand.
When Wu Youren said he wanted to buy some, Rossi hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "I'll just give it to you!"
Getting it for free was certainly nice, but Wu Youren could sense that Rossi... ninety percent likely knew his true identity by now.
Yet so what? Everything had simply returned to square one; when all was said and done, paper could not wrap up fire forever!
Having kept their mouths shut while outside, keeping it secret in the short term was already enough to be content with.
So then, this python meat... should he take it?
Of course he would. The youth felt he owed Rossi nothing—when they went out, Rossi was the one who had insisted on tagging along.
As for any negative impression the man might form because of this, he cared even less.
Chapter 33