At those words, Wu Youren's leg paused in midair. Then he turned his head for a glance, said, "Oh," and kept walking.
"How... heartless," He Wenhao sighed softly.
"That woman... Cynthia." Feng Qianjun stared impassively ahead, where two men and a woman stood in the distance.
Wu Youren's foot paused a second time. He had seen the girl too.
One of the two men beside her was also a familiar face: his former roommate, Salinen.
Wu Youren acted as though he had not seen them and strode past the three with his head held high.
Salinen gave a slight nod. When he received no response, he frowned faintly and muttered, "So arrogant."
"Wu Youren, stop right there!" Cynthia erupted. "Can't you see me?"
Wu Youren paused briefly, then continued on without even looking back.
"You!" Cynthia's eyes reddened in an instant, and tears gushed out.
It really happened within those few short seconds, as though a switch inside her had suddenly been flipped.
"Old Wu, you've gone too far!" Salinen could not stand watching anymore. "Cynthia's been worried about you all this time."
The boy kept walking, his words drifting back on the wind. "So what, you want me to move back in?"
Salinen was instantly speechless. How could that possibly happen... so you could suddenly grab my throat in the middle of the night again?
To Wu Youren's surprise, after accepting the leopard cat meat, the caretaker's first question was not about what he had experienced.
"I heard your family's in Jin. You're actually someone important?"
"I'm nobody important," Wu Youren replied mildly.
He had prepared himself mentally. After encountering something so major on this trip, more people would start paying attention to him.
But how long had it been? For the news to have reached the caretaker already, someone really must have taken an interest.
Still, he was not afraid to say it. "My father might just barely have counted as somebody. He died in the war between Liang and Jin."
"Mm." The caretaker nodded calmly, showing no surprise. "A lot of people died in that war."
"Yes." Wu Youren nodded again. "We're all ordinary people... Instructor Hong Yan treats me very well too."
She was said to have lost her entire family at the hands of the people of Jin.
"Anyway, that liquor you gave me was good!" The caretaker smiled and patted his shoulder. "Want to have a bite together at noon?"
"I don't drink." Wu Youren smiled too. "This counts as blood food, after all. It nourishes qi and blood. Keep it and take your time eating it."
"All right." The caretaker did not press him. "Keep growing your vegetables. I'll look after this plot."
He had clearly sensed that something was amiss, but there really was not much he could do.
With his abilities, all he could guarantee was that he himself would not make trouble for the boy's vegetable plot-even if those above questioned him, he could find a few reasons.
"Sure thing." Wu Youren could tell the man had left some things unsaid, but why ask?
He turned to leave. "Still, drink less liquor. It's bad for your health!"
As he walked along, he felt somewhat down.
His haul this time had certainly been good, but now that he had become the focus of so many people's attention, next time... things would be difficult!
He did not want to ask what had happened, because every move he made would be watched.
Here in Liang, he was currently a lone man in every sense of the word. He did not even dare trust his companions. Could his information possibly be better than that of the official guards?
Forget it. Think about something pleasant. At least the martial academy was better than Jin Garden, wasn't it?
His cash haul this time amounted to ten silver dollars, including the share Luo Xi had given him.
Luo Xi had not yet sold all the goods he held, but he had paid Wu Youren his share in advance.
If the man had not been a Knight of Liang, their relationship would certainly have been much better.
In any case, with money in hand, he visited three more shops and bought quite a few goods.
As for whether the Life and Death Knot would take a cut, he no longer cared.
If he had it, he would pay; if not, he would owe them. His experience in his previous life had taught him that the debtor was the real boss.
Back in Jin Garden, he had had no room to maneuver whatsoever, not even a chance to handle money. Even running up a debt had been impossible.
Now it did not matter. He refused to believe they would abduct a hostage like him over a debt of a few silver dollars!
At most, they would use him to extort money from his grandfather, the lord. But it was hardly as though no one had ever heard of small loans before.
But would the lord... even bother with them? At worst, they would kill their hostage!
His grandfather in name sent money every month because he did not want Wu Youren seeking his own death and forcing the family to send someone else.
If he were killed by villains from Great Liang, that would be just perfect. They could even save on his living expenses.
His mother would certainly try to help him, but did that family... have any money?
Some things really should not be dwelled on. That night, while he was sleeping soundly, he suddenly sensed something was wrong somewhere.
After returning this time, he had also set up some mechanisms beside his house-people already knew about them, so sooner or later he would no longer be able to keep them hidden.
But he did not react immediately. Instead, he continued feigning sleep and focused on sensing his surroundings.
"Heh, get up." A cold chuckle sounded. It was the burly man from the Life and Death Knot. "Think your cultivation's made great strides?"
The man should have been at Knight level. A Great Knight... Wu Youren did not think he was that important.
Yet the man could actually detect that he was feigning sleep. If he was not bluffing, his cultivation was formidable indeed.
But Wu Youren was not going to gamble on whether the man was bluffing. He sighed softly. "I've only grown a few vegetables. Take whatever you like."
"Heh, fuck." The burly man laughed in anger. "As if I need you to tell me! If you can't sell them, they'll just rot in the ground!"
Those words... stabbed right in the heart!
Anyone who had grown vegetables knew that this really was the truth. Unless you grew them on a large scale, that was basically how things ended up.
Wu Youren sighed softly. "Looks like we're both unfortunate souls. Why should one farmer make things hard for another?"
"Heh." This time, the burly man really laughed. "Fuck, you've got a way with words, kid. Looks like you pose the greatest potential threat among the hostages!"
"You're joking, sir." Wu Youren slowly sat up to avoid giving the man the wrong impression. "I'm the poorest of the lot."
"You're the least simple of them." The burly man sat on the chair beside the bed, his figure indistinct and his voice icy.
"Think we can't do anything to you now that you've latched onto Instructor Hong Yan?"
Despite the burly man's hostile words, Wu Youren said calmly, "Then just give me a beating."
"Or make me suffer a little first to intimidate me... I'm used to it."
The man chuckled. "Want to be thrown into the lake again?"
"Whatever," Wu Youren replied without a ripple of emotion. "It doesn't matter if you fish me out a little late. It's a lifetime either way. Just spare me the torment."
"So you are afraid of torment." The burly man felt reassured.
In his line of work, the worst opponents were those impervious to every approach. As long as there was something they feared, there was room to negotiate.
He coughed lightly. "I've brought news from your family. Want it?"
Fuck... A chill ran through the boy's heart. There really was a problem with one of the other four hostages!