The pair wasted no time, and quickly arrived at Elder Ming Guanhe"s home, there in the Elders" section of the Main Hall. And was politely invited in by Ming Qingsong, even as she apologized for her father"s absence. Apparently, he had been called away, to check on some Hunters who had been hurt in a recent expedition into the Southern Woods."That is not important. To tell the truth, the reason why we are here is to see you, and not your father. You should be aware that my ... intended, Qin Feng, has recently suffered some setback or other, and has been ... moping in his medicine garden hut ever since?"
Ming Qingsong was clearly surprised to hear that.
"Moping in his medicine garden? Why would he do that?"
Lingxi scowled as soon as she heard the young girl"s question. Could it be that she didn"t know the reason for Qin Feng"s awful mood? Did that mean that it had nothing to do with his strange visit to Elder Ming Guanhe"s home the day before?
Xuan Mei wasn"t about to leave it to chance however, which she made rather clear with her next words to Ming Qingsong:
"We are uncertain. But since he started ... isolating himself this morning, after his last visit here, we were hoping that you might have a clue. And that you might wish to share it with us. We have some ... urgent matters to discuss with Qin Feng and his refusal to meet with us ... hints at a deeper problem."
"Oh?"
Ming Qingsong looked surprised at that, and glanced at Lingxi before she turned back to face Xuan Mei. Which was enough to prompt the Rear Gardens disciple to cut in.
"We would like to know more about ... his mood last night. And how he behaved, when he came here for dinner last night. It is no secret that he visited you and your father, so we were hoping that you might be able to give us a clue with regards to his ... strange mood."
"Ah! But we didn"t ... No, he didn"t have dinner with us last night. It was ... inconvenient for him to remain in the house since ... In any case, he left before we ate, and he seemed perfectly fine. As far as I could tell," the young girl told her visitors.
Lingxi"s frown deepened, and she was gratified to note that Xuan Mei was also scowling at the girl"s words. This was starting to make sense now, although she did not believe it to be so simple. Qin Feng was not the sort of person that would quibble over a simple missed dinner.
Xuan Mei, however, had other ideas. "Perhaps that had annoyed him? That your father didn"t invite him to remain for a meal? Or was he displeased with Qin Feng"s performance in some way?"
"No, no. Father was more than happy that he managed to make the trade ..."
Ming Qingsong slapped both of her hands over her mouth immediately, and the shock in her eyes told Lingxi that she had just revealed something that she should not have spoken about.
A quick glance at Xuan Mei however, told Lingxi that the other girl had no intention of questioning the younger girl about that. So Lingxi pushed on, in another direction:
"And what was Qin Feng"s reaction to your father"s ... praise?"
"Father? Father didn"t ... directly praise him, although he was clearly happy to ... receive what he received from Qin Feng"s hands. We were ... occupied with something else so we simply ... sent him away."
Lingxi was more than a little surprised to hear that. "And did Elder Ming ... promise to ... deal with Qin Feng"s ... to pay for whatever that he had received from Qin Feng, at a later date?" she pushed.
Only to receive a shake of the head from Ming Qingsong. Who was beginning to understand why Qin Feng had been in such a poor mood ever since he left her home.
"Then ... you think this has something to do with my father? I mean, how he dealt with Brother Qin Feng?"
Lingxi nodded back at the girl. It was not a lie, after all. Qin Feng had only shut himself away since his return, and she had always been able to get through to him, regardless of whatever tantrum that he was throwing. This time, things looked a little more dire. Much more dire than a failure to invite him to share a meal.
"We think that it has something to do with ... the sort of remuneration that he had received for his efforts. He has a severe dislike of ... not receiving what he considers ... equitable returns for his efforts, and what he spends. Hence, we have come to find out more about this particular trade that he has made on your father"s behalf."
"Equitable returns? What do you mean?"
Lingxi studied Ming Qingsong, as the young girl scowled at her. It seemed she did not truly have an idea of what was going on. Or she did not truly understand what Qin Feng was doing. Or her father"s role in the same.
To be honest, Lingxi was not quite clear herself. But from what she knew of Qin Feng, it shouldn"t be anything that would disadvantage the young herb-grower. He was never someone who would willingly accept a loss unless he had no choice in the matter. And he would always find a way to take his revenge, if that was so.
"She means ... that Qin Feng should be expecting some sort of reward for ... his services to Elder Ming. Surely ... your father would have prepared some sort of prize for ... his efforts? What I am saying is, that Qin Feng would not have bothered to go through so much trouble to ... deal with your father"s troubles, if he wasn"t due some sort of reward."
Xian Mei explained to the girl almost immediately, while Lingxi was still struggling to decide if she should inform the other two about Qin Feng"s idiosyncrasies.
"But ... my father has never given him anything to trade away. And he never said anything to me about any prize or reward. At least, not that I know of." The young girl scowled, and gave off a puzzled air.
"Hasn"t Qin Feng always handled all of trading himself? That includes ... providing the goods to be traded too, doesn"t it?"
Lingxi drew in a sharp breath before she could stop herself. And quickly asked the questions that popped into her head, when the other two sets of eyes turned towards her. "You mean, your father did not provide him with any herb or medicine to be traded away? Did Qin Feng mention what he had used to ... exchange for the ... medicine that your father received then?"
"Ah. Yes, he did. And I am sure that he didn"t get it from father. Father isn"t very good with herbs and has only read through the Hundred Medicinal Herbs Index so far. Qin Feng mentioned that he traded away ... a Golden-veined Lotus Root? I think that was what he called it."
Lingxi"s eyes widened and she shot up to her feet before she could stop herself. Which was enough to make both girls edge backwards in astonishment. By the time that she caught her breath, and recovered her composure to sit down at the table again, the pair was already waiting for her to explain her unexpected reaction.
"I think I know why Qin Feng has shut himself up in his medicine field house now. And I would even say that it is a very reasonable response. If I had been the one to trade away my personal Third Grade Medicinal Herb, and receive nothing more than a word of thanks for it, I would doubtless do the same."
"What? A Third Grade Medicinal Herb?"
* * *