Chapter 9 – Spiritual Teacher
Tie Chui had been drinking in Crippled Shop until he was half-drunk. Afterwards he rode a boat by himself following the flow of Seille River, in the direction of Dunerk.
As Cripple held a feast for Tie Chui, Lin Qi more or less recounted several of Tie Chui’s glorious past to Enzo. As one of the top ten on Borali Guardian Office’s wanted list, there was always a bounty of a thousand gold coins on Tie Chui’s head whether he was dead or alive. So over the past few years Tie Chui only moved around Dunerk and its surroundings, rarely coming to Borali.
Just like this time Tie Chui came to Borali, he only dared to appear in the extremely chaotic and dangerous dock area. He absolutely didn’t dare to take even half a step outside the dock area. There wasn’t just Borali Guardian Office’s secret police, there were also those useless Dragon Cavalry, if Tie Chui became the center of their attention, it would definitely be very troublesome.
The letter from Lin Qi’s father only urged that he had to go home once during this New Year holidays, nothing else. Tie Chui was Lin Qi’s father’s right-hand man. To make Tie Chui risk himself when delivering a letter to Borali, this already indicated Lin Qi’s father’s att.i.tude – this time Lin Qi had to go home, otherwise the consequences would be very serious.
After burning the letter over a candle, the half-drunk Lin Qi gazed out of the tavern and into the evening sky filled with floating snow. He rubbed his hands together as he bid farewell to Cripple. Lin Qi gave off one last hiccup that reeked of alcohol as he walked out. Enzo patted his protruding belly contently while following behind Lin Qi. Cripple, for the sake of welcoming Tie Chui, made the quality of this feast very high. Fine wine, fine food, fine beauties, moreover there was no need to spend money, so Enzo ate as much as he liked. Now he felt that even breathing was a little difficult.
The two people walked along the road in the direction of University City. Only after walking slowly for a long time did Enzo let out a satisfied hiccup and asked: “Boss, I always find it strange, you haven’t gone home for three years, why is that? There is Seine River; it’s only a two-day journey through the water from Borali to Dunerk, right?”
Lin Qi withdrew both of his hands into his sleeves, mumbled to himself, rolled his eyeb.a.l.l.s, and shot a glance at the bulging purse hanging from the belts of pa.s.ser-by. Based on the clothing of those people, he calculated how much lovely gold and silver treasures they have in their purse. He didn’t answer Enzo’s question, only murmured softly: “Tell Wei Ke to bring some people to watch Crippled Shop, take care not to let that group of easterners find out.”
Smacking his lips, Lin Qi meaningfully said: “A gold bar was the first thing he took out, such generosity, Enzo, they must be very rich! Uncle Cripple is not an honest man, is he thinking about consuming everything himself?”
Cracking his fingers while producing a ‘ka-ka’ sound, Enzo’s attention was drawn by what Lin Qi said. He no longer thought about why Lin Qi hadn’t gone home for three years. He laughed full of enthusiasm and said: “That d.a.m.ned Cripple. Boss, this easy money, we have to think of a way to get it. Oh, that guy called Jiang Yong, chop off his right hand, those several rings are enough for the bothers to enjoy for a very long time!”
Lightly waving his hand, Lin Qi said in a gloomy face: “I know, I know, of course I know this. Tell Wei Ke to keep a tight watch; don’t be discovered, our plan is highly risky, it won’t be easy to make our move. First discover why they came to Borali, then clearly investigate their origin, after that, oh, if the profit is big enough, I don’t mind sharing a bit with my father’s men.”
Enzo didn’t make a single complaint and shouted: “Boss, you said your father ‘is just a miller’!”
Glancing impatiently at Enzo, Lin Qi grinded his teeth: “Of course, he is just a miller. But who said a miller can’t rob others?”
Enzo silently looked up to the sky. He decided, this University City’s New Year holiday, when Lin Qi went home, he must follow Lin Qi to see his house. He was very curious about what Lin QI’s family was like.
When the two people walked into University City area, the feast they just had were more or less digested. Lin Qi sneezed violently. Feeling that his mind relaxed a lot, he warmly greeted every academy student on the road. Those female students avoided him as if seeing a snake or scorpion while the male students carefully returned the greetings as if meeting a fierce beast. There were only extremely few male students who had the courage to unrestrainedly see him face to face.
Especially the students from the Imperial Affairs Academy who wore skin tight uniforms and swords on their waists, they all didn’t care about Lin Qi. However when these valiant imperial officer prospects saw Enzo who was beside Lin Qi, they couldn’t help but show an expression of restrained fear.
Lin Qi showed off like this all the way as he moved forward along the main street; although being the center of attention for everyone, yet not many people dared to look at him head on.
“So boring, these good students!” Lin Qi softly and mockingly said to Enzo: “Everyone is s.h.i.+vering like a freezing quail, don’t tell me the empire has to rely on these weak people in the future? I see the empire doesn’t have any future prospects, the empire’s elites don’t even dare to face a bad student like me squarely, yet the empire still hopes they could have the courage to devote themselves for its’ interests in the future?”
Enzo merely sneered arrogantly. His chin was raised 45 degrees, provocatively looking at those students from the Military Affairs Academy who were walking in formation. His hand was tightly grasping the sword hilt on his waist. There only need to be one student who dared to show a provoking expression against him, then he would propose a duel without the slightest hesitation.
‘Crazy Fencer’ Enzo, this name was gained in exchange for nearly a hundred seriously injured students from the Military Affairs Academy!
Looking at those students’ endless gazes of restrained fear, Enzo couldn’t help but grin and laugh. This was his territory; he enjoyed receiving this sort of reverence from people.
These two people, one following the other, walked up to the front gate of the Fifth University. One kilometer to the right was the side door of the Military Affairs Academy. Lin Qi and Enzo split up here. Enzo was going to inform Wei Ke to dispatch people to monitor Crippled Shop while Lin Qi went to deal with some of his daily tasks.
Just then, a crisp and melodious sound of a little bell could be heard. A priest, wearing an unusual black gown and carrying a copper little bell in his hand, ordered Lin Qi to stay: “Hey, Mister Lin Qi, we haven’t met for several days. You complexion is really not bad!”
Priest Bahrain, a spiritual teacher in Borali Fifth University, the students’ spiritual leader, a teacher of the soul, and Lin Qi’s close friend. Priest Bahrain wasn’t tall, nor was he thin. His fair and clear face was round like a peeled egg. His eyes were twinkling full of a quick-witted and crafty look.
Lin Qi laughed and walked up to Priest Bahrain, took the last 20 copper coins from his purse and gave them to him in exchange for two ‘Redemption Talisman’ produced by the church.
Recklessly stuffing the Redemption Talisman into his sleeves, Priest Bahrain nodded in satisfaction and laughed: “May G.o.d bless you, dear young master Lin Qi. Oh, I just happened to have some good news for you. “
Looking around, Priest Bahrain lowered his voice and muttered: “The new Jisai performing troupe from outside the city, the female lead dancer is not bad. The respected head of administration, Mister Ge Lang, likes her. If you can get Mister Ge Lang to be acquainted with her, Mister Lin Qi’s course credit this year won’t be an issue.”
Lin Qi narrowed his eyes and laughed. He softly patted Priest Bahrain’s shoulders and walked with big strides through the school gate.