As Li Qingfeng's former partner in mischief, Bai Ziyao knew all too well what that flick of his sleeves meant. "Quit messing around! Don't give me that routine."
Li Qingfeng merely shrugged, looking both innocent and helpless. "I'm really not messing with you. Your senior brother here—"
He shook his utterly empty sleeves. "Has nothing but a clean breeze in his sleeves! No manpower, no money. I'm so broke I'm about to steal oranges from the back mountain!"
Bai Ziyao froze, then instinctively asked, "Didn't Eldest Senior Brother allocate any funds?!"
With a miserable expression, Li Qingfeng counted on his fingers. "Uh... Dragon Tiger Mountain focuses on quiet cultivation. We don't have much in the way of affiliated businesses, and money in the treasury has always gone in but never come out. They're guarding the old reserves for dear life!"
"Right now, all our daily spending money comes out of Master's and Mistress's pockets—Li Yingxue's, that is."
Hearing this, Bai Ziyao instantly understood and nodded. "I get it!"
That very afternoon, Bai Ziyao straightened his clothes, dropped to his knees with a thump outside Li Yingxue's courtyard gate, and knelt ramrod straight as he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Mistress! Qingfeng sent me to ask you for money to build an academy!"
Standing beside him, Li Qingfeng nearly had his eyes pop out of their sockets. Holy crap! Bai Ziyao, you backstabbing bastard! Selling me out right to my face!
Li Yingxue laughed aloud inside the house. Not only did she readily approve the full sum of Gold Soul Coins and transfer several guards from the Li Family, she also slipped Bai Ziyao an extra bottle of healing pills before sending him down the mountain.
Early the next morning, Bai Ziyao shouldered his pack and set off down