Tea Money (Seeking Follow-ups, Monthly Votes, Recommendation Tickets)

If not for a stroke of luck, none of them would even be qualified to converse with Young Master Li.

The more they thought about it, the more inferior they felt. The few outer sect disciples exchanged glances, all of them nodding covertly.

"Young Master Li, you are a man of vast experience. Naturally, 'Ten Mile Fragrance' is beneath your notice, but we happen to have two 'Hongze Fish' here."

The lead outer sect disciple gritted his teeth and continued, "These 'Hongze Fish' come from the 'Hongze' ten thousand miles away. They are demonic beasts comparable to the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage. Their meat is tender, juicy, and incomparably delicious—a rare delicacy indeed."

"Since Young Master Li is here today, I shall have the best chef steam them immediately. Please, do us the honor of tasting them."

Although they had all agreed to this, the surrounding outer sect disciples still wore expressions of deep heartache upon hearing this.

That was another ten spirit stones gone.

They had originally pooled their spirit stones together to buy these fine fish for their own enjoyment.

Now, well, they had been handed over to this wicked young master again!

"Hmm! Not bad! Then I shall have a taste."

Li Yunjing felt a surge of joy. Although he did not know what kind of spirit fish the "Hongze Fish" was, the expressions on the outer sect disciples' faces told him it must be extremely precious.

He would be a fool to refuse!

These outer sect disciples had sought him out, so they certainly weren't offering favors for nothing!

Regardless, he would take the benefits first and make promises to them. As for whether he would actually do anything?

Li Yunjing didn't care. Even if he wanted to, he lacked the ability!

Others might not know, but could he not know his own situation?

Others had misunderstood his identity, and he hadn't bothered to explain, simply going with the flow!

In any case, he wasn't the one deceiving them; they were the ones scrambling to offer him benefits!

He could only continue to play the part of the shameless young master, eating and taking everything, only to turn his back on them in the end.

Thinking of this, Li Yunjing felt even more confident.

Every gesture, every word, and every action was filled with such imposing momentum that he truly seemed like a big shot on the same level as Fu Chao and Yu Yunyi!

This only served to fool the group of outer sect disciples into believing him even more!

"Good, good! We shall arrange it at once! Wang Yun, go to the kitchen yourself and give the orders. Also, prepare a table of our finest banquet!"

The lead outer sect disciple continued to give instructions.

"Understood! Senior Brother Liu!"

Wang Yun replied and hurried out of the private room toward the kitchen.

At this moment, only Li Yunjing and Ma Xingyuan remained seated at the eight-immortal table, while the four outer sect disciples stood by their sides, looking cautious and reserved.

"You all should sit as well! By the way, what is your name?"

Li Yunjing commanded, pointing at the one in charge.

"Young Master Li! This humble one is the manager of 'Elegant Fragrance Garden,' Yue Zhouwang."

The lead manager was overjoyed and hurriedly sat to Li Yunjing's right to answer his question.

A manager was not an official position within the Divine Firmament Dao Sect, merely a temporary role.

They had authority, but no benefits.

While they threw their weight around in the "Elegant Fragrance Garden," their status and treatment remained that of outer sect disciples.

Above them were the Deacons at the Foundation Establishment stage.

However, those big shots were focused entirely on cultivation and had no energy to manage specific affairs.

Thus, the unofficial rank of manager had emerged.

Over time, this became the norm across all mountains and peaks of the Divine Firmament Dao Sect; the higher one's cultivation, the less willing they were to manage mundane matters.

Consequently, the number of managers grew, and they existed in this special capacity, tacitly accepted by the entire sect.

As for the seat to Li Yunjing's left, it was naturally occupied by Ma Xingyuan.

The fat man had reacted quickly, following Li Yunjing closely and taking the seat right next to him as soon as they entered the room.

"Hmm! You bring out fine wine and food to entertain two lowly disciples like us; you must have a favor to ask. Speak plainly! If I can, I am willing to help you out."

Li Yunjing said with a smile.

"Hehe! Young Master Li, you saw right through us."

Yue Zhouwang first offered a bit of flattery, then said, "Young Master Li, you are good friends with Young Master Fu! Because we failed to keep an eye on Yang Chun and allowed them to fight in the 'Elegant Fragrance Garden,' Deacon Zhong of the Law Enforcement Hall will likely punish us. We would like to ask Young Master Li to help us smooth things over."

"This matter?"

Li Yunjing had already guessed this possibility before asking.

At this moment, he was in no rush and countered with a question.

"Exactly this matter!"

The other outer sect disciples nodded repeatedly in agreement.

"We'll talk about it later!"

Li Yunjing waved his hand, closed his eyes, and began to ponder with the composure of a veteran.

Seeing this, the group felt a chill in their hearts; it seemed this Young Master Li was still unsatisfied with the price they had offered.

"Young Master Li, please have a seat. We'll go urge the kitchen to serve the dishes! Excuse us! Excuse us!"

With no other choice, Yue Zhouwang sighed helplessly and signaled to the men beside him.

The group understood and spoke up one after another. Only after seeing Li Yunjing nod did they file out of the room.

"Clack!"

The door to the private room closed, leaving only Li Yunjing and Ma Xingyuan inside.

Just as Ma Xingyuan was about to speak, Li Yunjing shot him a look, signaling him to shut up.

This was someone else's territory; loose lips sink ships.

Having just received benefits from Fu Chao, he did not want to be exposed so early.

As for how much more grease he could squeeze out of them, it would depend on how Yue Zhouwang and his group performed later.

Yue Zhouwang and the others were middle-aged, meaning they had clearly been in the sect for a long time. Such people should have some wealth; if he didn't extort them, what were they there for?

As for failing to get things done in the future, he would just tell them to go find Fu Chao. He doubted they had the guts!

Meanwhile, in a quiet, deserted spot outside the door, several outer sect disciples gathered together, their brows furrowed.

"What do we do? This Li Yunjing is too greedy! We already gave him twenty spirit stones, and he's still not satisfied?"

One of the outer sect disciples complained.

"There's no help for it. These young masters from great families have seen the world! I reckon twenty spirit stones didn't move him at all."

Yue Zhouwang sighed and spoke slowly.

"So we just let him extort us like this?"

Another outer sect disciple grumbled; their contribution points and spirit stones didn't exactly fall from the sky.

Aside from their regular income, they could only scrape together some benefits by skimming off the ingredients from the Elegant Fragrance Garden.

After using that income to grease the palms of those above them, there wasn't much left in their own pockets!

"Do the math! If we ask the higher-ups for help, we'd have to bribe two Foundation Establishment experts. Do you think the cost would be any less than what we're giving Li Yunjing?"

Yue Zhouwang shook his head slightly.

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire group fell silent.

The people above them were the type to pluck feathers from a passing goose. Since they had caused such a massive disaster this time, if the higher-ups were to step in and smooth things over, the costs would certainly fall on them.

If they paid that sum, they would likely have worked for nothing for the next year or two!

"No! We have to scrape together more spirit stones and let Li Yunjing find Fu Chao to settle this!"

An outer sect disciple who had remained silent the entire time spoke in a deep voice.