The little girl chewed the rice cake in her mouth for a moment, and with a swallow, it went down her throat.
After licking her lips, she looked at the bean paste cakes on Ye Anping’s table and prepared to reach for them. However, as she took a step forward, her shoulder was firmly grasped by Liang Zhu.
Liang Zhu glared at her and reprimanded, “Ating!!”
“Ah…” The little girl was startled by his voice, her neck retracted, and she quickly lowered her head.
Just as Liang Zhu was about to scold her further, Ye Anping quickly interjected, “Brother Liang, just let her eat some. Do you think I would poison the pastries?”
“…Hard to say,” Liang Zhu glanced at him.
?
Ye Anping was speechless. He sighed and decided to set an example. He picked up a rice cake from the plate, put it in his mouth, chewed it, and then continued, “Brother Liang, if you want to go, I won’t stop you, but there’s no need to be in such a hurry. I won’t eat you.”
Seeing that he had eaten a rice cake himself, Liang Zhu felt a little more at ease.
But only a little…
He ignored Ye Anping and said to the little girl, “Ating, we’ll be leaving soon. We won’t be staying here.”
“Huh?” The little girl was stunned. She looked up at Liang Zhu, pouting, seemingly very reluctant, and asked again, “Godfather, are we leaving again?”
“Mm-hmm…”
“But didn’t you say we could stay in this city for a long time? We’ve only been here for a little over ten days… Ating doesn’t want to travel anymore. There’s no food on the road, and I can’t sleep…”
“…”
Liang Zhu’s face showed helplessness, and he didn’t know what to say.
Hearing the little girl’s words, Ye Anping immediately understood that this father and daughter pair had likely been living on the run for the past few days.
Indeed, the Seven Kill Gate’s main headquarters had been cleared out by the Xuan Xing Sect, and their disciple roster had been exposed. The major sects in the Western Regions were surely hunting down the escaped Seven Kill Gate cultivators everywhere.
Liang Zhu had probably been living in fear for the past few months, not daring to stay in one place for more than two days. Now that they had come to Chi Long Mansion, they thought it was safe, but they hadn’t expected to run into him again.
“Alas—” Ye Anping sighed and said, “Brother Liang, why don’t you stay? Never mind yourself, but she’s young. Following you around like this not only prevents her from cultivating but also means she can’t get proper rest.”
Liang Zhu knew this. He pondered for a moment, looked at Liang Ating, who was looking at him pitifully beside him, and finally shook his head helplessly. He still led her back into the pavilion.
“Ating, eat slowly.”
“Mm.”
The little girl nodded softly, then looked longingly at Ye Anping and Pei Lianxue. Seeing Ye Anping nod, she reached out and took a pastry from the table.
Liang Zhu looked at Ye Anping and said, “Can we speak in private?”
“Mm.”
Ye Anping nodded and asked Pei Lianxue to accompany the little girl, then walked out of the pavilion with him to the pond’s edge.
When they were far enough that their voices could no longer be heard in the pavilion, Liang Zhu stopped and turned around.
“You want to hire me?”
“Mm, but I won’t force you.”
“I can agree,” Liang Zhu paused and held up a finger sternly. “I have one condition: no matter what you want to do, Ating must not be involved.”
“Her name is Ating?”
“Her full name is Liang Ating. She’s been with me for ten years.”
Ye Anping glanced at Liang Ating, who was eating pastries in small bites, and frowned slightly. “You used to work for the Seven Kill Gate, and you still dared to adopt a girl?”
“She has nothing to do with the Seven Kill Gate, and she doesn’t know I was a cultivator of the Seven Kill Gate. Don’t mention my past to her.”
“I see…”
Liang Zhu sighed and brought the conversation back to the main point. “Let’s get down to business. What do you want me to do?”
“Mm, I just want you to help me handle the miscellaneous affairs of the Dragon Slaying Society.”
Liang Zhu was silent for a moment, a little puzzled, and asked, “Miscellaneous affairs? What kind of affairs?”
“The daily operations, accounting books, you’ll review and handle them. If there are any discrepancies, you’ll go and argue with the hall masters. It’s equivalent to being a temporary Young Master.”
“Just this?”
Ye Anping nodded. “Just this. As for the reward, how much did Hua Qinyu pay you before? I’ll give you double, and I’ll cover your room and board.”
If it’s just this… Liang Zhu nodded hesitantly. “Mm, this is a good job…”
“Oh, and there’s something I need to trouble Brother Liang with.”
“Mm, you go ahead and say it.”
“Find five or six people in the nearby village or town who look somewhat scruffy, around sixteen or seventeen years old. Have them impersonate Jiang Yu and send one to the Jiang Mansion every few days, claiming that Jiang Yu was robbed on the way back and his token was stolen. The Dragon Slaying Society’s Young Master who returned earlier was fake; they are the real Jiang Yu.”
?
Liang Zhu was stunned for a long time, completely unable to understand his intentions.
“Why?”
“The negative cancels out the negative,” Ye Anping shrugged slightly and explained, “I’m the fake Young Master of the Dragon Slaying Society. If there’s another fake Young Master, then I’ll be the real one.”
Liang Zhu pondered for a moment before understanding. He asked, “In other words, you captured the real Young Master of the Dragon Slaying Society but didn’t silence him?”
“Mm, that young master was taught by True Master Yun Shi. If I silenced him, that old man would hold a grudge. As the saying goes, ‘Leave a way out in everything, and there will be a way to meet again in the future.'”
“…”
Ye Anping shrugged slightly. “Also, for the second matter, Brother Liang, you should have connections in the black market of Du Chun City. Use the name of the Dragon Slaying Society to purchase as many Soul Shocking Pills as possible from the black market. Then, let the Dragon Slaying Society members set up stalls to sell them after the Chi Long Convention begins.”
“…Soul Shocking Pills?”
Liang Zhu’s brow furrowed, and his expression was filled with doubt. Soul Shocking Pills were not ordinary household items. They were pills used to block mental erosion.
Generally, only cultivators who frequently came into contact with miasma would carry some.
However, because Soul Shocking Pills were not as easy to preserve as Spirit Gathering Pills, they would become ineffective within a month of being stored in a storage bag. Furthermore, the Western Regions were different from the Eastern Regions; there were no demonic cultivators, nor were there demonic miasma areas.
Therefore, from a business perspective, selling Soul Shocking Pills at the Chi Long Convention would be a surefire loss.
But…
Since these were Ye Anping’s words, Liang Zhu dared not stop speculating.
And thinking of the purpose of Soul Shocking Pills, his eyes widened slightly, and he looked at Ye Anping with disbelief, questioning, “Could it be!! That demonic cultivators have infiltrated?”
“I didn’t say that,” Ye Anping raised his eyebrows and retorted with a smile. “Where would demonic cultivators come from in the Western Regions?”
“…”
Liang Zhu felt a pang of sweat. Normally, it was indeed impossible for demonic cultivators to come to the Western Regions, but a Grand Tutor of the Gu Poison Sect had just died.
If the demonic cultivators of the Eastern Regions had already extended their reach to Chi Long Mansion, then his and Ating’s lives would be extremely perilous no matter where they went.
Following his sixth brother was actually safer.
After all, he could rely on the protection of the influential figure behind his sixth brother.
After pondering for a while, Liang Zhu looked at Liang Ating in the pavilion again. Seeing that she was happily playing with Pei Lianxue, he said, “I understand. I’ll go do it now.”
“Huh?” Ye Anping was slightly taken aback. “Now? There’s no rush for these two matters.”
“The sooner I finish, the sooner it’s over. Please look after Ating for me.”
“…”
Before Ye Anping could respond, Liang Zhu turned and walked towards the gate of the Jiang Mansion.
Ye Anping stood stunned for a good while before suddenly realizing what he meant. After Si Xuanji entrusted Xiao Yunluo to him, he was once again entrusted with a little girl.
“Alas—”
With a sigh, Ye Anping walked back to the pavilion.
Liang Ating saw her godfather leaving.
She looked at the pastries on the table, then at her departing godfather. After a moment of hesitation, she chose the pastries and did not follow him. She only asked, “Uncle… where is my godfather going?”
“He’s going out to help Uncle with something and will be back later.”
“Oh…” Liang Ating nodded, then looked at Pei Lianxue beside her and asked weakly, “Uncle, what should I call this sister?”
Ye Anping was stunned for a moment and introduced, “This sister’s surname is Pei. You can call her Sister Pei…”
Before he could finish, Pei Lianxue quickly interrupted, “Call her Aunt.”
“Aunt?” Liang Ating paused and quickly said, “Aunt is very beautiful.”
“Mm…” Pei Lianxue pursed her lips and smiled, quickly feeding her a pastry. “You have a sweet mouth.”
“Hehe…”
Did Liang Zhu teach her to say that?… Ye Anping didn’t know how to react. He looked at his junior sister and felt inexplicably helpless.
Junior sister wanted to play house, and now, the family of three was complete.
Ye Anping sighed deeply. “Alas—fine, Aunt it is.”
…
