Outside the alley, Shen Fei and Xiao Ning'er walked side by side along a yellow dirt road, with sparse vegetable patches and low fences on either side. The sunlight overhead shone brilliantly on the dry road, and their footsteps stirred up fine dust.
After walking for a while, Xiao Ning'er finally asked, "Are you building up your own forces?"
Shen Fei smiled without slowing his steps. "No, I'm building up Glory City's forces."
He said it casually, in much the same tone as someone remarking on the nice weather.
Yet Xiao Ning'er instinctively slowed down and turned to look at him. His face showed little emotion, as though he had merely stated something obvious, but she could hear the weight behind his words-he was doing all this not for himself, but to defend this city.
She suddenly felt that she had understood far too little about him before. He usually said little and never made a show of what he did, yet every step he took led in the same direction. Not one thing he did was to gain something for himself; all of it was paving the way for this city.
"If there's anything you need our Winged Dragon Family to do, just say the word." Xiao Ning'er quickened her steps to catch up, her tone earnest.
Shen Fei's steps faltered slightly, and he glanced sideways at her, a hint of surprise in his eyes. He had not expected Xiao Ning'er to offer on her own. After all, relations between the Winged Dragon Family and the Sacred Family had always been delicate, and she herself was especially opposed to this marriage arrangement.
Her willingness to promise help in the Winged Dragon Family's name meant that she had already begun viewing Shen Fei separately from the rest of the Sacred Family.
Shen Fei knew he could not let this opportunity go to waste.
"There actually is something." He dispensed with pleasantries and went straight to the point. "The Winged Dragon Family mainly deals in Inscription Armor and Inscription Scrolls, doesn't it? I've seen your family's trading house price list. Those prices... could you give me a discount?"
As he spoke, he turned to look at her, his expression frank. "I've been preparing some things lately, and I need a large amount of inscription materials. I don't have enough money to buy them at market price."
Xiao Ning'er froze for a moment, then could not help smiling. She had not expected Shen Fei to make such a practical request. Buying Inscription Equipment at a discount sounded a little mercenary, but she knew he was not someone who chased petty bargains.
He must have been buying these things to defend the city.
"I thought you were going to ask for something major." Her tone lightened. "I'll give you a price list you can use at all our shops. You'll pay our internal purchase prices, forty percent below market price. However much you need, just send someone to place an order at a shop and give them my name."
Shen Fei raised his eyebrows. "Forty percent? That's no small discount."
"I wouldn't claim the Winged Dragon Family's inscription art is the best in the city, but we can still set the prices for our own people." Xiao Ning'er glanced at him. "Besides, what you're doing deserves that much of a discount."
Shen Fei smiled at her words and said no more. They continued along the dirt road, a breeze blowing over from the fields with the scent of grass and earth, utterly different from the city's wind with its mingled smells of cooking fires.
Walking beside Shen Fei, Xiao Ning'er suddenly felt that he no longer seemed quite so distant.
"There's one more thing." After walking a little farther, Shen Fei spoke again. "I'll need quite a lot of Inscription Scrolls. If Nie Li needs core materials to restore those two Legendary Fragments, give him priority. Restoring those will mean more to the city's defenses than what I'm doing."
Xiao Ning'er nodded. Her opinion of Shen Fei rose another notch-he could distinguish what mattered most and what needed doing first, without letting personal interests hold back the greater cause. Among the children of the great families, you could search through ten and not find even half a person like him.
By the time they returned to the city, the sun had already slanted westward. There were more pedestrians and vendors on the streets than at noon, and hawkers' cries mingled with the sounds of bargaining. Shen Fei and Xiao Ning'er stopped at a fork in the road.
"I'm going this way." Xiao Ning'er pointed toward the alley on the left. "About the Mercenary Association tomorrow-would you like me to send someone to put in a word?"
"No need. I've already made arrangements there." Shen Fei shook his head. "Just get me the price list."
"All right. I'll have someone deliver it to the Sacred Family tomorrow." Xiao Ning'er paused, then added, "Be careful yourself. You saw it at today's banquet too-Ye Han is no one to trifle with. Relations between the Sacred Family and the Winged Dragon Family are delicate. I don't want people in your own family targeting you because you're helping the Xiao Family."
Her words stirred something faintly in Shen Fei's heart, though he showed nothing on his face. He nodded, his tone unchanged. "I know. I've got it under control."
Xiao Ning'er said no more and turned into the alley. Shen Fei remained where he was, watching until her figure disappeared into its entrance, then turned toward the Sacred Family.
The setting sun stretched his shadow long across the bluestone paving.
Early the next morning, just after Shen Fei finished breakfast, the steward brought him an unsigned letter.
He opened it and found a notice from the Mercenary Association stating that the newly recruited squad leader, Su Ming, had reported for duty, passed his physical examination, and met the cultivation requirements. Effective immediately, he had been assigned to the outer patrol unit.
Shen Fei folded the letter and put it in his desk drawer, leaving no written trace.
That afternoon, he visited the Winged Dragon Family's inscription shop. The shopkeeper examined the price list he handed over and checked the signature on it, then supplied the goods at the internal prices without another word.
Shen Fei bought fifty sheets of Basic Defense Talisman Paper and ten sets of Portable Inscription Armor, spending less than half the market price in total. He even received two bottles of Inscription Repair Fluid as an extra gift.
"Miss Xiao has already given instructions. Anything you need, Young Master Shen, is to be sold at our best price. If you need more stock, let us know anytime, and we'll hurry production along."
Shen Fei thanked the shopkeeper, packed everything into a cloth sack, and carried it back to the residence over his shoulder.
As he passed through the front courtyard, Shen Yue was chatting beneath the covered walkway with several younger members of the family's side branches. Seeing him enter with a bulging cloth sack over his shoulder, Shen Yue gave him a sidelong look and laughed. "Oh? Where did you go to stock up, big brother? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were going into business."
Shen Fei did not stop. He merely replied, "I bought a few things for cultivation," and walked past them. Shen Yue muttered a couple of remarks behind his back, nothing more than accusations of putting on airs and the like. Shen Fei acted as though he had heard none of it.
After returning to his courtyard and shutting the door, Shen Fei took the items from the cloth sack one by one, checked them, and arranged them neatly. He stacked the defense talisman paper in a hidden compartment, hung the Inscription Armor on the wall, then picked up the two bottles of repair fluid, examined them, and placed them at the back of his desk.
These things were still nowhere near enough, but at least he had made a start.
He sat back down at the desk, opened the Basic Inscription Manual, and used an engraving knife to try carving the simplest Defense Pattern onto a blank sheet of Talisman Paper. The blade's tip traced fine lines across the paper. Though they were not yet smooth enough, the pattern was already taking the right course.
The road is long. Take it slowly. Gather a little at a time, build a little at a time. When the day comes to use them, I need to have at least a few usable bricks in hand.
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