Wu Youren did not care about Cynthia's phrasing.
What drew his attention was the matter itself. "If I don't want to take this instructor as my master, that wouldn't be strange, would it?"
"A little strange, but... not too bad," Cynthia answered thoughtfully.
Then her eyebrows lifted as a new idea struck her.
"I can introduce you to another instructor. Once you become someone else's student, it'll just be an issue between instructors."
"We'll talk about it later," Wu Youren replied evasively. "It's so late. Wait a moment... take some vegetables back with you!"
Ten-odd minutes later, the female knight departed with light steps.
Wu Youren stood dazed before the house, blankly watching Cynthia's retreating figure disappear.
Only after quite a while did he sigh and turn back inside. "Not strange at all, right?"
The next day broke overcast, looking like it would soon rain again. Wu Youren hurriedly harvested a large batch of vegetables.
After a rainstorm, some ripe vegetables would spoil, so he needed to sell a batch.
The martial academy had a flea market, which he had strolled through a couple of times.
Few of the sellers peddled vegetables, and foreign students were practically never seen running stalls.
Wu Youren planned to give some to the administrator first to see if there were other avenues.
The man's current attitude toward him was somewhat subtle.
Still, Wu Youren had already explained before that farming was just to earn a bit of extra pocket money, and it wasn't something he could simply stop doing.
At any rate, even if the man refused, he wouldn't lose anything.
The administrator accepted the vegetables he brought and offered to check with the cafeteria to see if they had any demand.
However, the boy from Jin grew so few vegetables and couldn't guarantee a steady supply, so the price... well, you understand.
Wu Youren said this was completely normal and told him to set the price as he saw fit. Furthermore, they would split the earnings from selling the vegetables fifty-fifty!
He didn't care in the least how much the other man pocketed. As long as the vegetables didn't rot in the fields, it was all profit to him.
The administrator sold them for less than half the market rate, claiming the cafeteria felt their quality and appearance weren't up to par.
Wu Youren had no way to verify this, but it hardly mattered; he still handed half the proceeds over to the man.
The administrator also mentioned that many acquaintances knew someone was growing vegetables on his turf, so they came asking for handouts.
Favors and social connections—I get it! Wu Youren didn't consider it a bad thing, nor did he dwell on whether the man was profiting off him.
Anyone who had grown vegetables knew that once they ripened, anything you couldn't sell had to be given away. People would eat long beans until they were ready to vomit!
Another day passed, and the rain truly began to fall. Fortunately, most of his vegetables were already sold off.
"Continuous drizzle," Wu Youren muttered, sitting by the doorway and looking out into the pitch-black night sky. "The income isn't very impressive."
At this rate, selling vegetables for a month would probably only yield around two silver dollars.
Totaling a mere hundred-odd square meters—a fifth of a mu—such earnings were already plenty satisfying.
The problem was that he couldn't grow them year-round; at most, he could only earn money for three or four months a year.
Just then, a voice rang out. "Why haven't you gone out lately?"
The burly man from the Life-and-Death Knot! Wu Youren started for a second before blurting, "I want to report someone!"
"Report someone?" The burly man sounded clearly surprised. Only after two or three seconds did he say, "Let's hear it."
"I am reporting Instructor Kelly," Wu Youren said in a low voice. "She might be a spy from Jin."
"A Jin... spy?" The burly man was dumbfounded. Damn it, is there something wrong with my ears?
Seven or eight seconds passed before he spoke again, his voice sounding odd. "Well, there are several people named Kelly in the martial academy."
"Her grandfather was a prince of the State of Xi."
"Oh." The burly man grunted, clearly recognizing the one he meant, before asking curiously, "You... are reporting a spy from Jin?"
"Yes." Wu Youren gave a slight nod, replying calmly, "I am merely a hostage from Jin. We are not on the same path."
The answer made no conventional sense, yet it was undeniably logical.
"Oh? Tell me more," the burly man said, his tone having regained its composure.
Wu Youren recounted their conversation from start to finish, adding no extra embellishments, much less any personal analysis.
As a native of Great Jin reporting a spy from his own homeland, he shouldn't say too much.
"She was willing to reduce your tuition—isn't that a good thing?" The burly man sounded baffled. "You're actually biting the hand that feeds you!"
"I am merely doing my duty as a hostage," Wu Youren stated calmly. "I don't want any unnecessary complications."
"Cold-blooded indeed," the man muttered. Even if he worked in this line of business, was he not allowed to have his own personal moral compass?
Pausing for a moment, he asked again, "You're so poor, yet you still want to cultivate. Does this mean you've decided to collect money from us?"
After waiting a good while, he spoke up once more. "Why aren't you answering?"
"Oh, me, poor?" Wu Youren finally snapped out of it. "Could you not rub it in so bluntly?"
His momentary lapse of attention had been due to a startling discovery: Holy crap... experience points?
Selling someone out granted experience points too? This was... quite hard to comprehend.
Yet Wu Youren could be certain that another sum of experience points had been credited, for his internal breath was already swelling again.
Exactly how much it had increased was hard to determine for now, but it felt noticeably higher than slaying the orange monkey-tiger.
Because both were at the knight rank?
Rossi had been the main force in killing the monkey-tiger, so Wu Youren's cut of experience points must have been much smaller; receiving more now was only reasonable.
"Whether you're poor or not, don't you know in your own heart?" The burly man snorted coldly. "Do you plan to collect money from me?"
"I have no such intention." Wu Youren shook his head. "I hate getting dragged into whirlpools. I just want to be a quiet hostage."
"Too late! Haha!" The burly man actually laughed. "Reporting a spy means you've made an enemy of Jin. It's treason.
"Your family will suffer because of this!"
Wu Youren showed no panic. Instead, he asked in a deep voice, "Sir, have you ever been a hostage?"
"What kind of bullshit question is that?" the burly man flared up in annoyance.
"Hostages have a code of conduct. You can look it up," Wu Youren answered unhurriedly. "What can be done and what cannot.
"We came to Great Liang to safeguard eternal peace between Jin and Liang, not to manufacture friction!
"'Avoid instigation by others' is written clearly and plainly in the code!"
That was practically a given. Great Jin would never tolerate hostages succumbing to Liang's enticements and turning traitor.
As for cooperating with spies from one's homeland, that was also theoretically expected, but it was something to be done, not spoken of, and certainly never written into an official code.
Just like the Seventeenth Prince's Hidden Dragon Plan—did anyone think the people of Liang couldn't see through it? Yet it could never be spoken aloud!
So was there anything wrong with his interpretation? Even if the Court of Judicial Review of Great Jin came, they would be hard-pressed to convict him.
"This kid is interesting," the burly man chuckled again.
Mid-chuckle, his voice abruptly sharpened. "If you intended to report her, why didn't you make a move until now?"
Three days had passed since Kelly visited, and he chose to spring the question now.
Wu Youren answered calmly, "I didn't know the Life-and-Death Knot's... office address."
"Holy crap," the man was caught off guard. "So it's our fault now? Clearly, you were holding out hope."
Wu Youren nodded slightly. "It's my first time reporting someone, so mentally it was a bit awkward to get used to. But primarily, I really didn't know where you were."
Chapter 38