"No! This cannot be borne! Call for a meeting with Administrator Wei at once!"Qin Feng hid a smile behind his sleeve, as he continued to pretend to sob into the same. The juice from the odorless pepper fruits that he had harvested from the woods was still working, much to his astonishment. He had thought that its effects would be over by the time that he was summoned to the Elders" Court.
Still, it did help to enhance his reputation, as someone who had been so badly downtrodden by the female disciples that he had thrown away all of his pride and cried in public. Lucky for him, he didn"t care the slightest about his own reputation.
Especially when it looked like he was likely to get away with quite a substantial profit, once the girls from the rear mountain were blamed for him losing almost all of his crops. After all, most of them were rather expensive medicinal herbs that could be sold for a huge sum.
And he wouldn"t have to give an account to the Administrators either, for not being able to keep up with the payments this quarter! That should be enough of a bonus, no matter how one looked at it!
"What is going on?"
Qin Feng sneaked a peek over his sleeve when he heard the unfamiliar voice. It was an old man ... Well, older than Elder Ming Guanhe at least! His hair was largely white with some strands of grey, and he had a rather respectable looking beard of the same color. His face, however, was smooth and youthful looking.
A master of the Profound Realm! At least!
That was a bit of a surprise, he had to admit. There were only six Elders who had that level of cultivation, and he had never heard of one that was close to Elder Ming. Who could this person be? And why was he sticking his oar in this particular puddle?
"Elder Xuan. It appears some of the ... female disciples from the rear mountain has ... disrupted the normal flow at the Medicine Fields. This Outer disciple here was ... moderately injured as a result of their ... rampant ways. I was just about to speak to the Administrator of the Medicine Hall about this."
The older man seemed to be rather attentive to the details, and looked over all of the injuries that Qin Feng had received, as he listened to what Ming Guanhe had to say. He nodded when the man finished, but kept his eye on the apparently weeping disciple instead.
But just as he opened his mouth - to ask a question, no doubt! He was interrupted by the sight of a young woman dashing towards the entrance of the Elders" Court, her pale green robes aflutter as she ran.
And it was evident from the way that she jerked to a stop as soon as she saw Qin Feng that he was the reason for her haste!
Fortunately, he was quick to recognize her. And took steps to rea.s.sure her, before she could make a mess of the whole thing!
"Big Sister Lingxi! Big Sister Lingxi!" he called out at once, before the Elders could make a move. And he caught hold of the young woman"s sleeve with his uninjured hand as soon as she got closer.
"Look what your sisters did to me, Big Sister Lingxi!"
"Oh no! What have they done? Who was the one who did this? And why did they do it?"
The girl"s response was more rapid than he had hoped for. And should be enough to give the impression that she was close to him, in a sisterly fashion. Given the way that he had just greeted her, the Elders should believe that their relationship was no more than that!
"Lingyue and her cronies demanded that I hand over the Wormroot that I was growing, and when I tried to warn them about ... They beat me, Big Sister Lingxi! See how they beat me up? Even my finger is broken!"
Elder Xuan frowned at her, but Elder Ming Guanhe merely gestured in her direction, as he introduced the girl. "This one is a disciple from the rear mountain too. But she is ... not part of the group that goes about causing trouble. She has been helping my daughter with her lessons," he explained briefly, in a way that could be seen as shielding the young woman.
Who quickly paid her respects to the pair, even though her left hand continued to clutch at Qin Feng"s uninjured right. He simply tapped the back of the same with his index finger, giving her the signal that everything was well under control. Even if either of the Elders caught sight of that, they wouldn"t know what it meant.
The girl was quick to adapt to the situation too, he had to give her that. But he had known that she would be able to see through the situation, despite her apparent distraught appearance. After all, they had been working together for almost six moons now, and both have been enjoying the profits of their endeavors.
"Lingxi greets Elder Xuan, Elder Ming."
She curtsied in a graceful manner too, as she continued to look as though she was fighting back her tears. Qin Feng was certain that it would be enough to pique the two older men"s curiosity. Besides, wasn"t she a friend of Elder Ming"s daughter? That alone should be enough to keep her out of trouble.
"Since you are here to look for this particular disciple, I can only presume that you are aware of what happened? At the Medicine Fields? What do you know of the matter?"
The older Elder asked his question as soon as she was done with the greeting, as if eager to block Ming Guanhe from speaking to her.
Her answer soon made it clear why he was so interested:
"Elder Xuan. To tell the truth, I was only made aware that some of the disciples from the Rear Gardens had ... upset stomachs after they consumed what was touted to be a pain-reliever for our ... monthly flows. The ones who had sold them the mixture had fled the scene for the Medicine Fields, and some said that they were cursing the boy who was growing the Wormroot plant.
"Naturally, I was worried about little Feng"er here when I heard that. Since he was the one who was supplying me with the Wormroot leaves for the last six months."
"What? He was supplying you with medicines?"
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