The burly man fell silent, his thoughts impossible to guess.
Only after a long while did he react. "You don't act your age... What is it you actually want?"
"I just want to survive," Wu Youren sighed softly. "Do you know, my lord? Instructor Kelly can help me return to my country!"
"I was tempted, but I didn't dare believe it, and even less did I want to disrupt peace between our two nations."
The man sneered. "If I believe a single word of that, I'd be a fool!"
Ever since entering this line of work, he had seen far too many people lie through their teeth.
Wu Youren did not take the bait. He fished out two wolf peaches, handed him one, and began munching away on his own with smacking lips.
The man was taken aback for a moment, then started gnawing on it as well. He truly did not believe the boy would dare poison him at a time like this.
Chomping on it, he remarked, "Our operational funds are exceptionally generous."
*If I believe that, I'd be the fool!* Wu Youren gave a faint smile and continued eating without answering.
Seeing no response, the man shifted the topic directly. "Who else have you told about this?"
"Huh?" This caught Wu Youren somewhat off guard. "I could tell other people?"
"The other four, for instance," the burly man answered casually. "Just because you refused doesn't mean you should block others' paths, right?"
"No," Wu Youren shook his head and answered frankly. "There's a huge difference in status between us. Someone else ought to be looking out for them."
The man nibbled at the wolf peach with surprising elegance, remarking lazily, "Then don't speak of this to the outside world, either."
"Hmm?" Wu Youren blinked in slight surprise. "You aren't going to deal with her?"
The man shot him a sidelong glance. "So curious... Want to hear what happens next?"
"Not at all." Wu Youren shook his head decisively. "Some things are better left unknown."
"Vigilant, aren't you?" the man remarked with a faint smirk. "Aren't you afraid she'll come back to settle scores with you?"
"Whoever comes to settle scores with me, it doesn't matter," Wu Youren answered nonchalantly. "I'm just a nobody drifting with the current."
Pausing, he added another sentence to convey a touch of resentment. "I want to live too, but do I have a choice?"
"You could choose us," the man replied.
This time, he truly had no intention of convincing the boy, merely tossing it out casually. "You won't be able to dodge it sooner or later anyway."
Wu Youren chuckled without a word. Finishing the wolf peach, the man stood and vanished into the rainy night.
He returned to a pitch-black shack, where someone inside inquired, "Still no harvest?"
"Harvest... a little, I suppose," the man replied. "This fellow is slippery as an eel, far too mature for a youth."
"Circumstances simply force them to grow up," the other replied dismissively. "How is progress with the other four?"
***
Several more days passed. Wu Youren continued his routine, strictly moving along the three-point line between the cafeteria, the vegetable plot, and the martial practice grounds, never attending public lectures.
He did not inquire about Instructor Kelly's situation, tacitly assuming the matter was settled.
Even if it wasn't settled, it didn't matter. If she truly was bait, would she come back to settle scores with him?
And if she was indeed a Jin spy and the Life-and-Death Knot wanted to play the long game to catch bigger fish, he would remain safe for the time being.
As for other possibilities, there was no point in guessing. The more he thought, the stronger his sense of powerlessness grew, and since he couldn't change his circumstances anyway, why borrow trouble?
Neither of Instructor Kelly's two students ever came by.
Cynthia, on the other hand, visited twice.
The first time, she came to pick vegetables; the produce she had brought back that day had earned high praise from her friends.
She tried to pay, but Wu Youren refused the money, telling her to just take them whenever she wanted.
The second time, she wanted to find out what price the administrator was getting when selling the vegetables to the cafeteria.
Wu Youren really hadn't paid much attention to the price; he just took half of whatever amount the man claimed to have sold.
Still, he remembered the rough ballpark. When Cynthia heard it, she noted that it wasn't even thirty percent of market value—barely over twenty percent.
Learning that even this meager sum had to be split fifty-fifty with the administrator, she found it unbearable.
"That's sheer extortion. Let's switch to supplying another cafeteria; I have some connections too."
Under ordinary circumstances, inquiring into cafeteria purchase prices for a Jin youth showed she genuinely cared.
What Wu Youren cared about, however, was that this woman had already dragged him into whirlpools twice.
Even setting aside whether she had ulterior motives, looking at it from a metaphysical angle, wasn't her aura just incompatible with his?
He had no desire to explain to Cynthia what kind of relationship he actually shared with the administrator.
Why bother lecturing a girl under twenty on the worldly ways of social navigation? Did he really think she would accept it?
Wu Youren could only offer a smile. "These vegetables won't fetch much money in total anyway. It's not worth the trouble."
Yet barely two days later, the administrator showed up, looking rather displeased. "Do you think I sold the vegetables too cheap?"
"Not at all," Wu Youren said with utter astonishment written across his face. "I haven't gone anywhere these past few days. Where did you hear that?"
His recent behavior was beyond homebody-level reclusiveness, and as a native of Jin, he barely had any friends to begin with.
"The cafeteria folks told me," the administrator said, his face sour as could be. "If it wasn't you stirring up trouble, who else could it be?"
"Even when you buy liquor from me, you pay for it," Wu Youren slapped his forehead, replying helplessly. "Would I ever think like that?"
In theory, he truly had no motive to do such a thing.
Still, he could guess who was responsible—was the third whirlpool arriving already?
Sure enough, the administrator had come stomping over in a fury, fully prepared to flip the table.
*A mere foreigner! I tacitly let you farm, and this is how you repay me?*
Yet hearing the boy mention the strong liquor, he found it rather awkward to fly off the handle right away.
This cheap yet potent strong liquor had already become his primary social tool.
To most Liang martial artists, a couple more or fewer bites of vegetables didn't matter in the least, but good liquor was something they truly could not do without.
The administrator was no longer young and harbored few personal ambitions; skipping social gatherings wouldn't have been a big deal.
Yet the trouble was, he still had a family to feed, which meant he had to earn more money and build solid rapport with his colleagues and superiors!
Even so, this matter couldn't simply be let slide!
He gave a huff. "I won't help you sell vegetables for now. Those folks in the cafeteria are running their mouths—might just be trying to drive down the price.
"Cutting off their supply for a while will make them realize how good your produce is... Can you bear parting with the income?"
"No problem," Wu Youren nodded readily. "I wouldn't care even if we never sold to them again."
He wasn't sure whether the man wanted to discipline the cafeteria or knock him down a peg—probably a bit of both.
Yet when he had chosen to farm in the first place, making money was only a secondary consideration.
His primary goal was to project harmlessness, creating an impression of idling about with trivial pursuits to keep scrutiny low.
In any case, at a time like this, saying the right, pleasing words was essential.
"I didn't mean that either," the administrator said, his attitude softening noticeably, just as expected. "It's just to teach them a lesson.
"Besides, going a few days without selling won't amount to much money anyway. I don't care."
"Fair enough." Wu Youren nodded. *Right, you certainly don't care. The problem is... I do!*
Chapter 39