The vegetables had now entered their peak season, and there was simply no way he could eat them all!
After the administrator left, Wu Youren thought it over and decided to try his luck at the flea market.
They would not sell for much, but he really was short of money.
Besides, those people from the Life and Death Knot knew his circumstances inside out. If he let the vegetables rot in the ground, they would probably grow suspicious again.
Since he was poor, he had to do the things poor people did.
But as it turned out, the flea market really was not friendly to foreign martial practitioners.
Foreign Knights had it all right; they could set up a stall and generally no one would bother them. But foreign Knight Apprentices... had best stick to browsing the market.
The flea market charged a management fee too. Carrying a sack of vegetables, Wu Youren paid the fee, then spread them straight out on the ground to sell.
He did not even have scales, simply gathering them into piles for sale.
Fortunately, the people of Liang all had their own ways. No one actively called out to customers; they just laid out their goods, letting those willing take the bait.
Quite a few sellers would start arguing with buyers at the slightest disagreement. The place brimmed with the bustle of everyday life.
Wu Youren priced his vegetables a little below market rate-any regular buyer would appreciate his sincerity.
But there were hardly any vegetable sellers at the flea market, and most buyers knew nothing about them either.
After a whole day, he had sold only a few piles. He was beginning to feel he should not have wasted his time.
But more miserably still, blessings never came in pairs, while misfortunes never came alone. Near closing time, Shali arrived with several martial practitioners.
The viscount's household had two Great Knights, and his daughter would not keep too low a profile either. She was very active around the flea market.
Most of her needs did not require a visit to a market like this at all. But as a woman, who could resist the temptation of shopping?
Arriving at the vegetable stall, she frowned slightly. "Has poverty driven you mad... huh, it's you?"
"Pick whatever you want." Wu Youren had no interest in entertaining her. Since he was doing as the locals did, he might as well learn their ways thoroughly.
"Why do I feel like I've seen you somewhere?" Shali looked a little puzzled. "Tell me your name."
So she had been trying hard to draw him over just a while ago, and now she could not even... remember his name?
Wu Youren was speechless at such rotten romantic luck.
Still, one less problem was better than one more.
He could only imitate Cynthia's accent. "You're joking, Sister Shali. I'm from the Mirage Sea Alliance. I've only seen you from a distance."
"Come over and say hello next time you see me," Shali declared generously. "How much for all this? I'll take the lot!"
Could you not throw your money around like that? Wu Youren really was a little speechless. Have you never seen a man before?
Selling to her was no good, but refusing was no good either... in the end, he chose to bow his head to money!
The flea market was not particularly small. Shali bought all the vegetables, but in full public view, she could hardly do anything too excessive.
After all, her father was only a viscount, while this was one of Great Liang's eight mid-tier martial academies.
A few steps farther on, someone beside her muttered, "Miss, that seems to be the one from Jin!"
"Which one from Jin?" Shali was a little bewildered before she realized. "The one who wouldn't accept my arrangements?"
"He seems to think you have a bad memory!" The world never lacked people who sowed discord. "Luckily, you didn't spend much."
"Is this about money?" Shali flew into a rage at those words.
In truth, she really did not have all that much money. Her household might have two Great Knights, but she was a woman!
Crucially, someone else twisted the knife. "The Mirage Sea Alliance? He seems to be on good terms with a female martial practitioner."
"Then let's..." Shali glanced back and found that he had already disappeared. "Keep an eye on this place!"
Wu Youren had not expected to be fed by the viscount's daughter today, either. The crucial thing was that she had not recognized him.
That was something to be thankful for, but he had no intention of risking it again-what if she figured it out?
His sense of danger was decent. Unfortunately, danger was not something you could resolve simply by becoming aware of it.
On the morning three days later, he was busy in the backyard when Cynthia arrived. "What are you working on?"
"Preserving vegetables," Wu Youren replied. "They'll rot if I don't."
He called it preserving vegetables, but it actually involved sterilizing them at high temperatures and then storing them, whether by adding salt, sealing them, or air-drying them.
There was no helping it. Great Liang was short of salt, so he could not turn them all into salted vegetables.
Cynthia looked a little puzzled. "The canteen can't take this little bit of produce?"
Don't you know what you did? Wu Youren could not be bothered to say much. "I haven't been supplying the canteen lately."
"I told you, I can help you sell them. If you don't want that, shall we go sell them at the market?"
"Still going to the market?" a voice came. They turned their heads and saw seven or eight martial practitioners approaching, men and women both.
Behind them were Shali and a male martial practitioner. The two stood very close together, murmuring something.
Watching the group approach so aggressively felt rather like a scene of school bullying.
Bullying really was common in martial academies. It happened even in workplaces, let alone among these martial practitioners who loved using their fists.
A male martial practitioner walked up to Wu Youren and asked coldly, "You're the one who swindled Miss Shali out of her money?"
Wu Youren looked to either side, then shook his head. "Anyone who's been swindled should go to the instructor in charge of discipline."
Faced with such a baffling accusation, he did not want to follow the other man's lead.
Once he stepped into the logical trap of proving his innocence, endless trouble would follow. The best response was to fight his own battle while the other side fought theirs.
"If you don't know a disciplinary instructor, I happen to know one."
"A disciplinary instructor?" Sure enough, the male martial practitioner froze for a moment. The answer had caught him off guard.
But immediately afterward, he gave another disdainful smile. "How childish. You're a martial practitioner, not a child!"
"Running to an instructor whenever something happens-will you do that on the battlefield too?"
Sure enough, it's 'no telling the teacher'! Wu Youren nodded slightly. "Of course. I'm not an adult yet!"
"Fuck me..." This time, the male martial practitioner was genuinely stunned. Can you have some fucking shame?
In Great Liang, children of four or five could already herd sheep and cattle, and twelve- or thirteen-year-olds doing heavy labor were everywhere.
In many places, fourteen- or sixteen-year-olds could basically be considered adults. But Liang's laws officially recognized eighteen as adulthood.
"You're a martial practitioner. I get it now. No wonder Jin can't beat Great Liang... you're all cowards as timid as mice!"
There were different levels to provocation too. Faced with such deeply insulting language, Wu Youren could not leave it unanswered.
What martial practitioners valued most was hot blood!
He nodded slightly. "Coming here in a whole pack-you certainly are brave!"
"You fucking..." The male martial practitioner's arm shifted slightly, and he glanced to either side, clearly wanting to attack outright.
Could you not be so childish? Wu Youren truly was speechless.
But most things in this world really were that simple and brutal. The other side was stronger, and that was enough.
"What are you trying to do?" Cynthia could not stand it anymore. She felt the Jin youth's response was a little weak.
But she did not believe Wu Youren was truly cowardly-he had lived through the Suotu Town incident!
It was probably still because he was from Jin and did not want to cause trouble in Liang.
It was not that Cynthia did not love Great Liang, but the other side was clearly inventing accusations and using their power to bully someone. As a martial practitioner, surely she ought to stand up against injustice?
"I'm from the Mirage Sea Alliance, and this is my friend. If there's a problem, talk about it. Don't try anything!"
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