By the time Yu Renyan and Jia Renda left the brothel, utterly heartbroken, it was already well past midnight. Wang Jingyuan and Lin Pingzhi stood outside, watching them go.
Lin Pingzhi asked anxiously, "Senior Brother, we humiliated those two so badly. Could this bring trouble to our sect?"
Wang Jingyuan replied calmly, "If the trouble falls on the Mount Hua Sect, then the Fuwei Escort Agency won't have any, will it?"
Hearing this, Lin Pingzhi was deeply moved. He felt he had chosen the right sect. But then Wang Jingyuan added, "Touched? If you are, raise the Mount Hua Sect's share of the profits a little."
Lin Pingzhi suddenly didn't feel quite so moved anymore.
Then Wang Jingyuan continued, "I'm only teasing you. What we did doesn't even count as offending the Qingcheng Sect. Even if Yu Canghai comes looking for trouble, it'll be nothing serious."
Lin Pingzhi was puzzled. "We went too far. I'm worried Yu Renyan might never pick up a sword again. Will Sect Leader Yu really let this go so easily?"
Wang Jingyuan nodded with certainty. "He will. Yu Canghai is a father, but Yu Renyan is only a son."
Lin Pingzhi didn't quite understand. "What do you mean?"
Wang Jingyuan recalled the world he had come from, then replied, "These days, there's no such thing as educational psychology or child psychology. It's not that parents don't love their children, but they raise them in a very rough-and-ready way.
"If we'd killed or crippled Yu Renyan today, Yu Canghai would surely have gone mad and done whatever it took to kill us. And he'd have had the moral high ground, with the whole martial world on his side. After all, we'd have killed his son.
"But the blows I dealt Yu Renyan today only caused superficial injuries. He'll probably be mostly healed before he even sees Yu Canghai. Even if I hurt his mind and wounded his pride, he isn't crazy, so Yu Canghai won't care.
"As for him developing a fear of sword practice? If he were a natural genius and I'd ruined him, Yu Canghai would never let it go. But he's a good-for-nothing to begin with. If he stops practicing swordsmanship, Yu Canghai will just think he's making excuses to be lazy."
Wang Jingyuan had seen plenty of parents like that in the news. They didn't realize their children hadn't simply been slacking off until the children actually took their own lives.
"Anyway, after I stirred up so much trouble, Yu Canghai probably understands where Mount Hua stands."
Once they had finished dealing with things there, the two returned to the Fuwei Escort Agency. Lin Pingzhi went to his room to rest. Wang Jingyuan returned to his own quarters, but when he reached the door, he found Yue Lingshan waiting outside.
"Junior Disciple Sister, it's so late, and you're still up waiting outside my room. Did I trigger some kind of event?"
Yue Lingshan glanced at Wang Jingyuan's "luxury outfit" and asked, "You came back so late. Where did you go?"
"To a brothel."
"Hmph! I told you not to go to places like that, and you still went. What were you doing there?!"
"Practicing swordsmanship. I spent the whole night practicing in there."
"Liar!" Yue Lingshan stomped her foot, went back to her own room, and slammed the door shut.
Wang Jingyuan scratched his head. "Since when did people stop trusting each other?"
The next day, Wang Jingyuan called Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi over and told them that things here were settled. It was time to leave Fuzhou City, and Lin Pingzhi would be going with them to Mount Hua.
Lin Pingzhi had no objections. Now that he had joined the Mount Hua Sect, he ought to go practice on Mount Hua. From then on, he would probably only be able to return to Fuzhou City during the holidays.
Just as they were about to leave, Lin Zhennan pulled Wang Jingyuan aside. "Now that the Qingcheng Sect matter is settled, what about the Songshan Sect you mentioned earlier, Young Hero Wang...?"
Wang Jingyuan shook his head. "The Songshan Sect is a much higher-level threat than the Qingcheng Sect. They won't show themselves directly. And you don't need to worry. The Songshan Sect sees the Mount Hua Sect as a thorn in its side. I already announced that you'd given the Bixie Swordplay to Mount Hua, so they're probably focused entirely on our sect now."
Lin Zhennan understood. He saw Wang Jingyuan all the way to the entrance of the Fuwei Escort Agency. Then he clapped his hands, and an escort came over carrying a tray of banknotes for travel expenses.
Yue Lingshan had meant to refuse out of politeness, but Wang Jingyuan accepted the money without even pretending to be modest. This annoyed her greatly, and once they were outside, she complained that he had been rude.
Wang Jingyuan shrugged and said that back when he was in the capital, he'd asked Liu Jinyuan's mother for pocket money three times in a row, thirty thousand each time.
Simply accepting Lin Zhennan's travel money was already quite polite by comparison. At least during the few days he'd stayed at the Fuwei Escort Agency, Wang Jingyuan had restrained himself from rummaging through the cabinets.
Yue Lingshan was puzzled. "Who's Liu Jinyuan?"
"An idiot."
Lin Pingzhi was puzzled too. "Was there something wrong with the cabinets in my house?"
Yue Lingshan rolled her eyes. "It's just one of Junior Brother Wang's odd habits. When he was still on Mount Hua, he went through every cabinet and chest there. No matter what we said, he wouldn't stop."
Wang Jingyuan spread his hands. "When you're in someone else's house, who can resist opening chests and rummaging through cabinets?"
"Hmph! You're the only one with a weird habit like that." Yue Lingshan immediately dug her heels into her horse's flanks and rode out in front.
Wang Jingyuan and Lin Pingzhi could only follow. Although Lin Pingzhi was the young master of the Fuwei Escort Agency, he'd been taken along on escort missions when he was little, so he wasn't pampered.
For this trip, just like Wang Jingyuan and Yue Lingshan, all he had was a bundle and a fast horse. That left Wang Jingyuan disappointed for quite some time; he'd thought they would get to ride in a luxurious carriage.
The three of them rode along, one behind another, and soon left the city. But just as they were about to take the main road, Wang Jingyuan called out to Yue Lingshan. "Junior Disciple Sister, we're going the wrong way."
Yue Lingshan glared at him. "You think I can't remember the way back to Mount Hua? We came this way before."
"Who said we were going back to Mount Hua?"
Yue Lingshan's eyes widened slightly. "If we're not going back to Mount Hua, where are we going?"
Wang Jingyuan pointed toward another road. "We're going to Hengyang City first. Judging by the time, Master and the others should be nearly there. We can meet up with them when we get there."
At his words, Yue Lingshan remembered. "You mean the Golden Basin Hand-Washing Ceremony hosted by Third Master Liu of the Hengshan Sect?"
"That's right."
Yue Lingshan pouted. "If we meet up with them, Mom and Dad will start keeping an eye on us again. Dad never told us to join them after we were done here. Why don't we just enjoy ourselves on the way back to Mount Hua?"
Wang Jingyuan shook his head. "I shouldn't have asked a child for her opinion. Now listen to me. We're going to Hengyang City first."
"I'm the senior sister!"
"You're not as good at martial arts as I am."
"Our seniority in the Mount Hua Sect isn't based on martial arts skill."
"I mean, if you don't come with me, I can drag you there."
"...Junior Brother, you're a big bully!"
"Did you only just figure that out?"
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