There was no way that would happen in Jin either. Subar was just about to argue with Salinen when he caught on.
Only if this Jin fellow rejected the female martial artist would the two of them have a chance.
He nodded. "Mm, true enough. With Jin, it's hard to say."
"Forget it, then." Cynthia was young, but she had her pride too. "Shall we go to the cafeteria together tomorrow?"
Not celebrating your friend's birthday anymore? Wu Youren was rather speechless.
Still, he did not want to hurt her. Whether he liked her had nothing to do with it; the point was that she really could make a lot of things easier for him.
He glanced at his two roommates. "I've already promised to treat these two to lunch tomorrow."
He was nowhere near that familiar with either of them. They might not even nod to each other if they met outside.
But for now, he should be able to make use of them. Given how broad-minded these two were, he believed they would play along.
Sure enough, Salinen nodded without hesitation. "That's right. He said he'd treat us to sand pupae."
Sand pupae were not only blood food but also delicious. Their price... was equally lovely.
"Then the treat's off," Wu Youren said bluntly. "You'll be lucky to get meat. Sand pupae? You look like a sand pupa to me!"
The cafeteria's free meals contained almost no meat. On the rare occasion a dish had a few flecks of it, its source was highly questionable.
But since he was treating them, there would naturally have to be meat dishes. Who needed him to treat them to free food?
He really could not get along with these two roommates, but they were hardly enemies. There was no need to strain their relationship too far.
More importantly, he could begin putting certain plans into motion, little by little.
Cynthia's eyes lit up. "Count me in, then. Which cafeteria tomorrow?"
Wu Youren rubbed his chin, puzzled. Didn't you say a friend had a birthday coming up?
When Cynthia met the three of them at noon the next day, she was a little dumbfounded.
Subar had a large lump on his forehead, while Salinen had gauze wrapped around his neck and kept coughing.
Wu Youren was worse off. Both his eyes were blackened, and his left arm was in a sling.
"What... happened to you?"
"He attacked me in his sleep!" Salinen pointed at Wu Youren and complained angrily. "Cough, cough! He nearly strangled me!"
"I went to help and got beaten too!" Subar joined in the accusations.
But Wu Youren was unquestionably the worst off. He said weakly, "You two promised not to tell outsiders!"
"Cynthia isn't an outsider... cough, cough." Salinen started coughing again.
As it turned out, Wu Youren had gotten up without a sound in the middle of the night and gone over to strangle Salinen.
Salinen's desperate struggles woke Subar, and the two had joined forces to restrain him.
After waking up, Wu Youren said that he occasionally sleepwalked, but it was nothing too serious.
If he had not promised to treat his two roommates to lunch the night before, this would definitely have been serious. They could never have let it go so easily!
Looked at another way, it was precisely because he had promised to treat them that he could carry out this step of his plan.
But his two roommates from Liang were not so easily fooled either. They insisted on food worth at least one silver dollar each!
That was like someone earning two thousand a month treating two roommates to a buffet costing a hundred per head!
Yet one silver dollar bought far more than a hundred yuan!
Otherwise, wouldn't the guards watching Jin Garden be earning only three thousand a month?
The point was, his monthly pay was two thousand, but he only took home six hundred. That was fucking...
Cynthia, however, did not seem particularly surprised. "Attacking people in your sleep? On a battlefield, that's actually an excellent quality."
Holy shit. Salinen and Subar exchanged glances. She can even whitewash this?
Could a handsome face really let a man do whatever he pleased?
Still, as martial artists, they had heard of such things. Incidents like this really did happen in military camps.
Used properly, soldiers with that potential could indeed be a strong arm for the army.
So although the female martial artist was making excuses for him, they could not say she was wrong.
But the next moment, Cynthia added, "Then I want a silver dollar's worth of food too!"
Three hundred-yuan buffets... no, four, counting me. Wu Youren pursed his lips. "Fine."
He could hardly favor one over another, could he?
After that meal, his wealth shrank drastically. His monthly living allowance was only six silver dollars!
Worse still, Cynthia probably believed he really did have some money-treating people to a meal of that caliber was hardly stingy.
So she clung to him even more tightly.
Wu Youren really found this a little unbearable.
Whether her feelings were genuine or false, he truly could not afford a girlfriend in his circumstances!
Six silver dollars a month-even if he did not cultivate himself, could he cover a girlfriend's expenses?
By contrast, treating his two roommates to one meal could greatly improve their relationship, even if he was not aiming to earn a cry of "godfather."
He had no choice but to start giving Cynthia the cold shoulder.
His relationship with his two roommates still had some way to go, but there were indeed things he could ask them about now.
Friendship between men could sometimes be quite simple.
One day, Cynthia contacted him through his wristwatch, saying she wanted to have a proper talk.
How many "proper talks" have you had already? Wu Youren really did not want to talk, but there was nothing he could do.
They agreed to meet in a small grove where people rarely went.
The female martial artist was already waiting for him-being handsome really did have its advantages.
When she saw him, Cynthia wore a somewhat complicated expression. "What organization have you joined?"
Red Pine Martial Academy was not a college. It had organizations rather than clubs, some backed by major powers and others formed spontaneously.
Liang's military, for instance, had established more than one organization, while the martial artists from Jin had their own hometown association.
"I haven't joined any." Wu Youren shook his head. The Hostage Prince Corps was already an organization in itself, so joining another would be inconvenient.
Cynthia visibly hesitated, then finally summoned the courage to ask, "Would you be willing to join the Mirage Sea Alliance?"
"Sorry, I'm not interested." Wu Youren shook his head. He had no idea what kind of organization it was.
Even if he knew about this organization and thought highly of it, he probably would not be able to join.
"You can leave now," a voice said. It was quiet, but carried a commanding presence. "We'll talk to him!"
As the voice sounded, three figures appeared around them.
"That's... not very fair," Cynthia muttered, but she still backed away. "You can consider joining Mirage Sea."
"What a piddling little organization." A burly man strolled forward. "Letting you ask him was already giving you face."
Then he looked at Wu Youren. "From now on, you're under our protection. Remember to pay your protection money!"
"Huh?" Wu Youren was a little stunned. What the fuck kind of plot twist is this? "Protection money... at Red Pine?"
Does Instructor Hong Yan know you're this badass?
"Yes. I hear you're not short of money." The burly man gave a slight nod. "You don't have an organization anyway. Five silver dollars a month!"
"I have no money," Wu Youren said flatly. "Why don't you just beat me up instead?"
As long as the other party dared to strike, he would have plenty of room to work with.
"Do I need to hit you?" The burly man gave a mirthless snort. "The lake at Red Pine Martial Academy... runs very deep!"
Wu Youren froze and said nothing for a long time.
Cynthia grew anxious at the sight. "Your Life and Death Knot can't be completely unreasonable... tell him what protection you can offer first!"
"Idiot!" The man snorted disdainfully. "You can't be polite to foreign scum like this."
Cynthia's expression changed. "Are you looking down on my Mirage Sea Alliance?"
"You already know we're the Life and Death Knot!" the burly man said unhurriedly. "Can't you see he's already scared stupid?"
The Life and Death Knot was not particularly famous at Red Pine Martial Academy, mainly because few people mentioned it.
But supposedly, the organization ranked highly in the academy's mission completion standings.
Collecting protection money, however, was indeed rather rare. No wonder even Cynthia found it a little unbelievable.
"All right, Cynthia. You should leave first," Wu Youren finally came back to himself.
Only after the female martial artist had left did he say slowly, "I really don't have any money. I'm poor."
"Don't you have fifty silver dollars in startup funds?" The burly man chuckled. "You haven't spent much of it."
Wu Youren's expression darkened completely-when they left Jin Garden, every hostage prince had indeed received fifty silver dollars.
It was funding for the Hidden Dragon Plan. His Seventeenth Highness had been generous for once.
But Wu Youren felt no gratitude, because His Highness's monthly expenses ran into the tens of thousands.
Thirty hostage princes only came to fifteen hundred. Was that a lot?
He had handed over twelve every month for eight years. Fifty silver dollars was not even five months' worth of payments.
But now that they had entered the Martial Academy, they would certainly need money to open doors. Without money, they would have a perfectly legitimate excuse to lie flat.
His Seventeenth Highness was lying flat too, but at a time like this, spending a little money was still necessary... what if?
In any case, to His Highness, it was less than five percent of his monthly expenses. Even throwing it away would not matter.
The problem was, the other party knew about those fifty silver dollars. This was no shot in the dark; they had a clear target.
Had the Hostage Prince Corps rotted to this extent?
Even news like this had reached Liang's intelligence services. It really was...
But regardless, the other party had made things clear. He could no longer play dumb.
There were things, however, that he absolutely could not admit. "There are no startup funds. His Highness's reward is for advancing in rank!"
Jin Garden had existed for eight years. No wall was proof against the wind; Liang probably knew about the Hidden Dragon Plan too.
But their knowing was one thing. Openly admitting it was another matter entirely.
The burly man snorted. "You don't seem to understand exactly who we are."
"I keep to myself and practice martial arts. Do I need to understand?" Wu Youren asked expressionlessly, but his heart sank.
He had originally thought they might have happened to hear about him and come to shake him down.
He knew plenty about school bullying, but bullying at the Martial Academy... Do you really think I'm a student who wouldn't dare tell a teacher?
But now, it sounded as though that was not the case.
The burly man gave a savage grin. "Do we need to show you our uniforms to clear your head?"
"No need," Wu Youren refused flatly. What do you think this is, uniform seduction?