Reported

"I don't mind wasting my own time," Wu Youren replied expressionlessly. "I appreciate your good intentions." "Suit yourself." The female martial artist chuckled dismissively. "Academy life is very long." "If you regret it, you can have your roommate let me know. But by then, the terms might not be as good as they are now." "Understood, I'll keep that in mind," Wu Youren nodded. "Whenever I feel helpless, I'll be sure to remember your concern!" The female martial artist froze for a moment before remarking, "You're quite the smooth talker." The next moment, however, she turned to leave with her best friend. "But martial artists speak with their fists. Words... are useless!" The culture in Great Liang truly was fierce—even women pursuing men could be this aggressive! Wu Youren glanced at the dumbfounded Subar. "Will she report me for growing vegetables?" "How idle would she have to be?" Subar looked at him, utterly speechless. "Red Pine is an intermediate martial academy. Everyone is busy!" He felt the question was completely baffling. How many people who made it into Red Pine were simple? Rather than getting caught up in petty squabbles, it was better to do something worthwhile. Most importantly, from a tiny vegetable patch like this, how much money could he even make? Was it worth anyone's time to sabotage him? "Yeah," Wu Youren nodded at that. "That's for the best. The sowthistle will be ready in a couple of days. You two should come grab some to eat when it is." The status of vegetables in Great Liang was rather delicate, mainly because most vegetables did not replenish qi and blood. Yet it would be untrue to say vegetables were completely useless. Trace elements and vitamins... The people of Liang had not researched such things, but everyone knew the consequences of going without vegetables for long periods. Such produce was not cheap in Liang, but ordinary people could manage with less; if they endured, they could hold out for quite some time. At worst, they could pull some wild weeds by the roadside to eat; as long as they weren't poisonous, the effect wasn't much different. However, if vegetables weren't sold, they would grow tough and spoil. So offering some was a small gesture of goodwill. Little did he expect that two days later, people from the academy actually came to investigate. "Who's farming here?" Wu Youren was standing in a post stance beside the vegetable patch. Hearing this, he glanced at them sideways without uttering a word. It was impossible for them not to have seen him, but since they hadn't addressed him directly, he wouldn't chime in. "I'm asking you!" Two people had come: one was a knight, while the one asking the questions was an apprentice knight. "I don't know you," Wu Youren answered cleanly, his gaze cool and detached. "I asked you... who is growing vegetables here!" The apprentice knight grew somewhat annoyed. "I answered: I don't know you!" "Then it's your doing!" This fellow was clearly not one to reason with either. "I have no need to talk to you," Wu Youren stated unhurriedly. "Someone oversees this place!" The administrator happened to rush over upon hearing the commotion; hearing this, his face instantly changed. Yet Wu Youren had no intention of using him as a shield. "I'm farming here with permission from the Life-and-Death Knot. I paid the fees!" Not that he thought the Life-and-Death Knot was stronger than the other side, but if he could stir up friction between them, why not give it a try? "The Life-and-Death Knot?" Hearing this, both of them were taken aback. The apprentice knight genuinely looked bewildered, but the knight's gaze turned rather intriguing. After a brief pause, the knight, who had remained silent all this while, finally spoke up. "Are you... one of theirs?" "I'm not sure either." Wu Youren's eyes were completely clear and guileless. "When they collected the money, that's what they said. The fee was... pretty high. Was I scammed?" The apprentice knight finally came to his senses. "Then call them over!" Invoking big names as a shield—he had seen this sort of thing plenty of times. Don't brag about who's backing you; can you even contact them? "Hold on." The knight was wiser to the world after all, looking at Wu Youren thoughtfully. "A Jin native?" "Yes." Wu Youren nodded. There was truly no dodging this question, and it wouldn't withstand any scrutiny anyway! "Are you certain the ones who took the money were from the Life-and-Death Knot?" "Yes." "Fuck me..." The knight shook his head and couldn't help muttering, "What a load of bullshit. Let's go." "Hold on, my lord," Wu Youren called out instead. "Are you two responsible for this area?" "I oversee discipline for the entire academy," the knight rolled his eyes at him. "What, got a problem with that?" He truly did have the authority to look into this matter; strictly speaking, no one could fault his jurisdiction. However, his visit today was also at someone's instigation, intentionally coming to make things difficult! He just hadn't expected that behind this foreign youth lay that repulsive faction. He didn't wish to provoke them, yet within his official duties, he wasn't afraid of going head-to-head—the academy would be his solid backing. Yet thinking that the youth before him also had support within Red Pine, he didn't want to touch such trouble. "I just wanted to ask..." Wu Youren wore an expression of sheer sincerity. "Is it really that wrong for me to grow vegetables here?" "It is wrong," the knight said, not one to shirk responsibility over such a thing. "The academy has never allowed this!" "Though we mainly came today because someone reported it!" The entire investigation ended with a whimper, making it feel as though the two from the academy had marched into battle completely unprepared. It wasn't hard to understand. The instigator was merely the daughter of a viscount; if she wanted to throw her weight around as she pleased in an intermediate martial academy, she still fell a bit short. As the knight was leaving, he still told Wu Youren: growing vegetables like this violated academy regulations. Yet he didn't demand the vegetable patch be removed either; he merely stated that if Wu Youren didn't believe him, he could ask around. In the end, he simply didn't want trouble. It seemed the Life-and-Death Knot still held a certain deterrent power in certain realms. The administrator, however, chimed in, "Xiao Wu, pick some of your vegetables for these two gentlemen." The knight glanced at him, caught between tears and laughter. "Don't push it. It's already good enough that we're not holding you accountable!" After the two left, Wu Youren glanced at the administrator. "Pick some vegetables for them?" He couldn't shake the feeling that the administrator's words had been somewhat provocative. The administrator rolled his eyes at him. "Make a joke, and the matter blows over. Otherwise, they'll inevitably come back around." "Oh." Wu Youren understood; this was the worldly wisdom of Great Liang society. Still, this wasn't something he could easily adopt. Conditions differed from country to country. While worldly customs were largely similar, slight differences born of cultural divides could spawn fatal misunderstandings. Now that someone had come looking for trouble, he went out even less, doing his utmost to keep his presence even lower. Yet some things truly couldn't be avoided. Another two days later, two more female martial artists came knocking. Both were strangers, and one was even from Jin; both trained under the same instructor. The instructor was a senior knight named Kelly, a native of Liang who had taught at Red Pine for over ten years. The Jin martial artist explained that the instructor held no prejudice against Jin people, and that she herself could provide some money to sponsor a fellow countryman. Most importantly, Kelly had heard about Wu Youren and was willing to offer a modest discount on the tuition fee.