Wu Youren did not care about Cynthia's choice of words.
What concerned him was the matter itself. "It wouldn't be strange if I didn't want to take this instructor as my master, would it?"
"A little strange, but... it should be fine," Cynthia answered carefully.
Then she raised her eyebrows again, struck by a new idea.
"I can introduce you to another instructor. Once you become someone else's student, it'll be a matter between the instructors."
"We'll see," Wu Youren answered vaguely. "It's so late. Wait a moment... take some vegetables back with you!"
A dozen minutes later, the female Knight left with light steps.
Wu Youren stood motionless in front of the house, gazing blankly at Cynthia's retreating figure until she disappeared.
Only after a long while did he sigh and go back inside. "Not strange, right?"
The next day, the sky was rather overcast, and it felt as though rain was coming again. Wu Youren hurried to harvest a large batch of vegetables.
Some ripe vegetables would suffer after a bout of rain, so he needed to sell a batch.
The martial academy had a flea market too, and he had browsed it twice.
Few of the vendors sold vegetables, and foreign students in particular were almost never seen running stalls.
Wu Youren planned to give the administrator some first and see whether he had any other channels.
The man's attitude toward him was now somewhat subtle, too.
But he had already explained that he was farming to earn a little money. He could hardly just stop doing it.
In any case, even if the man refused, he would lose nothing.
The administrator accepted the vegetables he brought and said he could ask at the dining hall to see whether they needed anything of the sort.
But the boy from Jin grew far too little and could not guarantee a steady supply, so as for the price... well, he understood.
Wu Youren said that was perfectly normal. Whatever price seemed suitable would do. Also, they would split the proceeds from selling the vegetables fifty-fifty!
He did not care in the slightest how much the man earned. As long as the vegetables did not rot in the ground, he counted it as a gain.
The administrator sold them for less than half the market price, reportedly because the dining hall thought they did not look good enough.
Wu Youren had no way to verify that, but it did not matter. He still gave the man half the proceeds.
The administrator also said that many acquaintances knew someone was growing vegetables on his turf, so they had come asking him for some.
Exchanging favors-I understand that! Wu Youren did not consider it a bad thing, much less wonder whether the man might use it to line his pockets.
Anyone who had grown vegetables knew that when ripe produce would not sell, you had to find ways to give it away. Some people ate yardlong beans until they puked!
Another day passed, and it really did begin to rain. Fortunately, he had already sold most of his vegetables.
"Days of overcast skies and rain," Wu Youren said, sitting in the doorway and looking at the pitch-black night sky. "The income isn't very impressive."
At this rate, he estimated that selling vegetables for a month would earn him only about two silver dollars.
For a total of a little over a hundred square meters, two-tenths of a mu of land, he could be satisfied with that income.
The problem was that he could not grow these vegetables year-round. He estimated he would only earn money for three or four months each year.
Just then, a voice rang out. "Why haven't you gone out lately?"
The burly man from the Life and Death Knot! After a moment of surprise, Wu Youren spoke. "I want to report someone!"
"Report someone?" The burly man was clearly somewhat surprised. Only after two or three seconds did he say, "Let's hear it."
"I'm reporting Instructor Kaili," Wu Youren said in a low voice. "She may be a spy for Jin."
"A spy... for Jin?" The thickset man was dumbfounded. What the fuck? Is something wrong with my ears?
Only seven or eight seconds later did he speak again, his voice a little odd. "Well, there are several people named Kaili at the martial academy."
"Her grandfather is a prince of Xi."
"Oh." The thickset man grunted, clearly knowing who she was, then asked curiously, "You're reporting a spy for Jin?"
"Yes." Wu Youren nodded slightly and answered calmly, "I'm only a hostage prince from Jin. She and I aren't on the same path."
That answer was not very reasonable, yet it really did make sense.
"Oh, tell me more." The thickset man's tone had returned to normal.
Wu Youren recounted their conversation, adding neither embellishment nor any analysis of his own.
As a man of Great Jin reporting a spy for Jin, he should not say too much either.
"She's willing to reduce your tuition. Isn't that a good thing?" The thickset man expressed his incomprehension. "And you repay kindness with enmity!"
"I'm merely doing my duty as a hostage prince," Wu Youren said evenly. "I don't want extra branches growing out of the trunk."
"Quite the cold-blooded one," the man muttered. Even if he worked in this line of business, was he not allowed his own outlook on life?
After a pause, he asked again, "You're so poor, and you still want to cultivate. Have you decided to collect money from us?"
He waited quite a while before speaking again. "Why aren't you answering?"
"Oh, I'm poor?" Only then did Wu Youren react. "Could you stop slapping me in the face like that?"
His momentary daze had come from an unexpected discovery: Holy shit... experience points?
Selling someone out gives experience points too? This... is rather hard to understand.
But Wu Youren could be certain that more experience points had come in. His internal breath had begun swelling again.
It was hard to determine exactly how much he had gained for now, but it felt considerably greater than what he had received for killing the orange Monkey Tiger.
Because they're both Knight-level?
Luo Xi had done the bulk of the work killing the Monkey Tiger, so the experience points Wu Youren received should have been much fewer. It made perfect sense that he had gained a little more now.
"Don't you know perfectly well whether you're poor?" The thickset man snorted. "Are you planning to collect money from me?"
"I have no such intention." Wu Youren shook his head. "I hate getting swept into whirlpools. I just want to be a quiet hostage prince."
"Too late, haha." The thickset man actually laughed. "By reporting a spy, you're making an enemy of Jin. It's betrayal."
"Your family will suffer because of this!"
Wu Youren did not panic. Instead, he asked in a low voice, "Sir, have you ever been a hostage prince?"
"What kind of bullshit is that?" The thickset man flew into a rage at his words.
"Hostage princes have a code of conduct. You can look it up," Wu Youren answered unhurriedly. "What we can do, and what we can't."
"We came to Great Liang to guarantee lasting peace between Jin and Liang, not to create friction!"
"'Avoid being incited by others' is written in the code in black and white!"
That much was only natural. Great Jin would not tolerate its hostage princes being lured into betrayal by people from Liang.
As for cooperating with their own country's spies, that was theoretically a given too, but it was something to be done, not spoken of, much less written into the code.
It was just like the Seventeenth Prince's Hidden Dragon Plan. Did he think the people of Liang could not guess? But it could not be proclaimed aloud!
So was there... anything wrong with his interpretation? Even if Great Jin's Court of Judicial Review came, it would have trouble convicting him.
"This kid is interesting." The thickset man laughed again.
As he laughed, he suddenly spoke. "If you wanted to report her, why hadn't you done anything?"
Three days had passed since Kaili's visit, and he had still been the one to ask out of the blue.
Wu Youren answered calmly, "I don't know where the Life and Death Knot's... office is."
"Fuck." This time, the man was caught somewhat off guard. "So it's our fault? You were clearly hoping to get lucky."
Wu Youren nodded slightly. "It's my first time reporting someone, so it does take a little getting used to mentally. Mainly, I really didn't know where you were."
(Third update is up. Please support the story by continuing to read, voting, and adding it to your favorites.)