The Young Wanderer: Part 04

Wine Sword Immortal glanced up at Fang Zhiyi, then vanished in an instant, only to reappear moments later in his seat, picking up his wine gourd and taking a carefree swig.

Fang Zhiyi slowly looked down to see a small handful of copper coins placed before him.

Well, he had overestimated him.

"That's still quite admirable! Doing righteous deeds without leaving a name, truly the demeanor of a great hero!" someone praised.

Wine Sword Immortal looked rather pleased with himself.

Fang Zhiyi took a deep breath. "Doing good deeds without leaving a name? Then who the hell will know it was us who did it? Huh?"

Everyone turned their heads in unison to look at Fang Zhiyi, their eyes filled with confusion.

Meanwhile, the youths who had fled Rainmist City were now grumbling and cursing.

"Damn Treasure Pavilion, a bunch of cowards!"

"They actually reported us to the authorities! Aren't they afraid of becoming a laughingstock?"

"Exactly!"

"And those officials are in cahoots with them! Clearly, the Treasure Pavilion was bullying people, yet the constables came to arrest us!"

Only Hua Nongying seemed worried. "When we escaped, we injured those constables... will that..." she trailed off.

Li Wenyan reassured her, "Don't worry, Nongying. If the sky falls, your big brother will hold it up." He was confident in the influence of his family backing him.

Hua Nongying looked at the handsome youth before her and nodded firmly. Watching them chat and laugh, she felt a sense of unreality. Was this what it felt like to have companions?

"What are you spacing out for? Hurry up! I'm starving!" someone yanked her arm roughly.

"Right!"

If only they could stay this carefree forever. She liked them.

"I thought you'd just kill them outright," Little Hei said, arms crossed as he floated beside Fang Zhiyi.

Fang Zhiyi shook his head. "With their family backgrounds—this disciple, that second-generation heir—if I really killed them, wouldn't I be signing my own death warrant too?"

Little Hei nodded. "But what are you doing now?"

Fang Zhiyi was hunched over, drawing diagrams. "Making preparations."

"Preparations?"

Fang Zhiyi paused. "Actually, even without those privileged heirs, the original host's plan to rebel was a dead end from the start. Was he counting on a bunch of desperate outlaws to pull off a rebellion? Or on ordinary civilians who don't even have spiritual energy?"

He picked up the completed diagram on the table, examined it, then put it down to make a few adjustments.

After finishing the revisions, Fang Zhiyi held up the diagram again, muttering to himself, "Hoist the tiger's skin as a banner, borrow the prestige of a mighty name."

Meanwhile, the youths, now in another location, began investigating the local situation. They were now convinced the Treasure Pavilion was a major villain! Sure enough, after Ye Qingzhou, the ninth brother, conducted his inquiries, they found the largest dyeing workshop here was also a Treasure Pavilion enterprise.

"If it's the Treasure Pavilion, then there must be something fishy going on here!" Lin Wanqing stated without hesitation.

Ever since learning the Treasure Pavilion was the actual controller of the Listening Rain Pavilion, the youths had firmly labeled the Treasure Pavilion as evil.

The plot node from the original story remained unchanged. As usual, Lin Wanqing encountered that hurried delivery boy, who accidentally dirtied her clothes but didn't apologize. Furious, with just a thought, the poison from her fingertips transferred onto the boy.

That night, the workshop boy itched all over, a maddening itch that seemed to seep into his very bones.

Fortunately, the workshop manager, the poison-embroiderer Yue'e, returned to the workshop, bringing with her the graduation certificate awarded by that Lord.

Though unsure of its purpose, Yue'e still solemnly found a place to display her Lord's reward before rushing to see the afflicted boy.

With one glance, she confirmed it: the perpetrator was a master of poison.

However, this didn't stump her. The "Poison Immortal Art" Yue'e practiced was known for its insidious nature; her very body carried a seven-part toxicity. Faced with such methods, she merely exerted a slight effort and eradicated the foreign poison from the boy.

Recalling the Lord's words...

"They should find their way to you soon."

She hadn't understood before, but now her admiration for Fang Zhiyi knew no bounds.

The next day, the cloth shop opened for business. Among the usual merchants and scattered customers were two unfamiliar young faces.

Just by getting close, Yue'e felt a flicker of surprise. Though young, these two radiated sharpness. The sturdy boy was at least at the Fourth Rank or above—such talent at his age was rare in the world. As for the girl...

Before Yue'e could speak, the girl suddenly smiled, a sweet smile.

"Shopkeeper, nothing strange has happened here, has it?"

Yue'e understood. Given her usual temperament, a fierce fight today would have been inevitable. Targeting a mere delivery boy? That was just bullying.

As her fingers twitched, she suddenly remembered Lord Fang's instructions and forcefully halted her spiritual energy flow. She smiled and said, "Nothing out of the ordinary. Are you two here to buy cloth?"

Lin Wanqing frowned slightly. Nothing happened? Or was she pretending nothing happened? She stared intently at Yue'e, trying to find a crack in her expression, but ultimately was disappointed, forming her own judgment.

"Truly evil people. Not a flicker of emotion even after a worker dies, treating human life like grass!"

She had come today to pick a fight. Ye Qingzhou had already discovered this workshop had taken in large quantities of hallucinogenic grass; surely they were up to something shady! But without proof, they needed the other party to offend them first, so Big Brother and the others would have a reason to act.

Lin Wanqing began unleashing her specialty, hands on hips, dripping with sarcasm as she criticized the cloth for being poor, the people for being bad, the feng shui for being awful, and the proprietress for being even worse... She talked until her mouth felt dry.

But the other party was strange. Several times she felt sure Yue'e was about to strike, but then she held back at the last moment.

It was just odd.

If pointing at someone's nose and cursing them out wasn't so undignified, she would have tried that.

Out of options, Lin Wanqing shot a disdainful glare at Zhao Jinglei beside her. This idiot didn't even say a word, just stood there like a post!

Watching her storm off, Zhao Jinglei was also bewildered. Why was she angry again?

Seeing the two leave, Yue'e let out a long sigh of relief. That was close; several times she had almost attacked... Then she felt puzzled again. What did those two youngsters want?

Who would have thought they'd return the next day, this time with an extra person. The group looked at the cloth, picking and choosing, the girl still full of cutting remarks. Yue'e was getting used to it and didn't engage, focusing instead on attending to other customers entering the shop.

From start to finish, Lin Wanqing and the other two found nothing wrong with the cloth and had to slink back to their hideout once more.

"No problems... means they've hidden the suspicious cloth," Li Wenyan quickly concluded.

"But that proprietress is like a turtle, she won't even argue with me. There's no way to pick a fight," Lin Wanqing said, feeling somewhat defeated. After all, whether they disliked the other party or wanted to uncover the conspiracy, they still needed a proper pretext.

Li Wenyan smiled. "Second Sister, you're too bound by rules. When dealing with these kinds of people, there's no need to follow the rules." His slender finger traced across the table, dipped into some tea, and wrote a single character on the wooden surface.