White-Robed Chief
chapter-202

After breakfast the next morning, Xue Ling handed Chu Li two snow chickens.

He had arrived at East Garden early.

Li Yue happily brewed the snow chicken for a stew as the two of them then sat together and started to chat. Until today, Chu Li still had not let go of his duties at East Garden, so he would visit the place occasionally.

It was noon. Chu Li and Li Yue were sat in a gazebo in the garden, savoring the chicken stew. They munched on the chicken and drank some wine while they both chatted happily. By the time they were done with their meal, it was evening time.

After that, both of them went to the garden to finish up some work. When they were done, it was dusk.

Then, when nightfall descended upon the place, Chu Li strolled out of East Garden and he headed towards Leisure Cloud Pub.

The pub was buzzing as usual.

As he lifted the doorway curtain and walked into the pub, he saw Chen Xue and Meng Yan standing next to each other. They looked as pretty as flowers.

When they saw Chu Lu, their eyes widened and they were going to approach him.

Though Chu Li quickly waved his hand as a signal for them not to draw attention to his arrival; he would look for a seat himself. Chen Xue grinned at him as she stayed put.

He walked towards the main lounge only to find that almost all the tables at the sides were fully occupied. The only seats left were the ones right in the middle of the lounge. When he was just about to settle down at an empty table, a sweet sound called out to him, "Master Chu!"

Chu Li raised his head and saw a beautiful girl standing gracefully, not far away from where he was. She wore a pure white gown — it was He Binghua.

Chu Li smiled and waved at her.

He Binghua walked towards him elegantly, smiling. "Master Chu, what a coincidence!"

Chu Li kept his smile. "It really is. Have you found your Master?"

He Binghua smiled sweetly at him. "Yes, my Master is just right over there. Why don't you join our table, Master Chu?"

Chu Li replied, "Your Valley Leader's here as well?"

If the Tai Hua Valley's Leader was there too, it would surely be awkward. He would rather not meet her.

"Yes, our Valley Leader is here too." He Binghua smiled as she said, "Don't worry, she has been wanting to meet you in person as well. Just follow me."

"Alright then," Chu Li said.

He Binghua gracefully led him to one side of the room.

It was a roundtable half-surrounded by three bamboo divider screens, and four people were sat there. When they saw He Binghua entering the room, Sun Lihua and Zhang Feihua stood up in surprise as they stared with their eyes wide open. "Master Chu?"

Chu Li gave them a fist salute and smiled.

Besides Sun Lihua and Zhang Feihua, there were two other women — one middle-aged woman and another gorgeous young woman.

The middle-aged woman still had some charm as she flashed a sweet smile at Chu Li.

The younger woman was exceptionally gorgeous, but she had an ice-cold demeanor. She looked uninterested to talk to other people.

He Binghua smiled as she said, "Valley Leader, Master, I bumped into Master Chu Li!"

She then proceeded to introduce each of them to Chu Li before she took a seat.

The middle-aged woman was an Elder of Tai Hua Valley, Fong Xiaofeng. While the young woman was, in fact, the Valley Leader of Tai Hua Valley, Mei Aoshuang.

Fong Xiaofeng smiled sweetly at Chu Li. "Master Chu, many thanks to you for rescuing my three disciples not once, but twice. I'm not sure how to repay you, so allow me to toast a drink to you!"

She raised her silver cup and gulped down the wine.

"You're too humble, Elder Qin." Chu Li accepted the toast and finished his wine as well.

Fong Xiaofeng put down her silver cup and said, "This time, Valley Leader and I went out of the valley to meet with an old friend. The three of them did not fancy journeying with an old lady like me, so they picked another path. But unfortunately, the young ones were too impulsive and had accidentally wiped out the Solace Hill Faction, drawing unwanted attention from the Green Hill Faction in the process."

Chu Li caressed his chin and said, "The Solace Hill Faction always had a bad reputation. It's just out of my expectations that they would be that evil."

In actuality, the government was partly to blame for their lack of competence. They did nothing about Solace Hill despite knowing what they had done.

Over centuries, since the inception of the Great Ji dynasty, the courthouse officials had lost their integrity. If you pick ten officials and execute all of them, there might be a few who were wrongly accused. Though if you execute one from every two officials, there would not be a single innocent official. Corruption had crept deep into the governing ranks, and many of them often turned a blind eye to state affairs.

Chu Li may be a Rank 2 Scribe of the Public House, but the affairs of the courthouse were far out of his jurisdiction. He could do nothing but watch from the sides.

Criminals like the Solace Hill Faction should have been properly dealt with since the very beginning.

This was a different situation than the Raging Tiger Encampment. There were Innate Masters in the encampment, so no doubt, they were targets of the Public House. However, in this case, there were no Innate Masters in Solace Hill Faction. Hence, it was the courthouse's responsibility.

Fong Xiaofeng said, "Green Hill Faction is cold-blooded in their own ways. If not for you, Master Chu, I'm afraid we would've lost these three young lives who are still sitting right here. They were ignorant about the dangers out there in the martial arts world. How foolish!"

Chu Li replied, "It looks like the Green Hill Faction will not stop bothering you any time soon."

"Just let them come!" Fong Xiaofeng laughed gently.

She was a Grandmaster, so she was naturally not afraid of Green Hill faction.

Chu Li had his head full of questions. The Tai Hua Valley was only a second-class faction, but how did they have two Grandmasters?

It was already surprising enough that Fong Xiaofeng was a Grandmaster herself. Not only that, even Mei Aoshuang was one. Although she was about the same age as him, she had already broken through the boundaries of a Grandmaster. No wonder she was so famous in the martial arts world.

Mei Aoshuang's character was exactly like her name; she has a stone-cold persona. When she was introduced by He Binghua earlier, she had only responded with a gentle nod. She did not even utter a single word.

Chu Li did not need to use the Omniscient Mirror to figure out that she was a reserved person, and disliked the noisy atmosphere outside. To make matters worse, Chu Li was a scribe from the Public House.

She spoke softly, "Elder Fong."

Fong Xiaofeng gently slapped her own forehead as she smiled and said, "Sigh, look at me. What they say is true — old people do like to talk much."

She took out a small, emerald-green jade bottle from her sleeves. Shen then put it on the table. "Master Chu, I'm not sure if anything is enough to repay you for your good deeds, but may I present you with this bottle of Taihua Gold Pills. It's a secret recipe of a spirit medicine from our Tai Hua Valley. It could enhance a person's physicality, and transform them into a whole new person. Take it as a token of appreciation from us. We hope you will accept it."

Chu Li gave her a closed fist salute. "Thank you, Elder Fong."

He reached out his hand and picked up the emerald-green jade bottle before he kept it in his sleeves. Although he was not sure what kind of spirit medicine the Taihua Gold Pill was, since they gave it to him as an appreciation for the lives he saved, it must be something rare.

He activated his Omniscient Mirror and he saw how unwilling Fong Xiaofeng was to give him the pills.

These Taihua Gold Pills could alter the physical properties of one's body, allowing someone who did not cultivate to become one as if they did. It could serve a lot of purposes. Considering of how rare the medicine was, Tai Hua Valley could only manage to cultivate and produce two to three pills per year. Now, they had given it all to Chu Li.

On seeing how eager Chu Li had accepted their gift, Fong Xiaofeng's smile broadened. "Master Chu, you've achieved Rank 2 as a Scribe of the Public House at such a young age. That's very impressive indeed."

Chu Li said, "It was pure luck. I just happened to achieve a few merits for the Public House."

After that, he stood up and gave them a fist salute. "Then, I will not bother you ladies anymore for the rest of the night."

Right at that moment, Chen Ying walked in gracefully. She was donned in a pure white gown. When she saw Chu Li, she grinned. "Master, so you're here… You recognize Valley Leader Mei Aoshuang?"

Chu Li smiled. He then turned around and was prepared to leave.

"Hold on!" Mei Aoshuang suddenly shouted.

Chu Li turned around to look at her. It was the first time she had spoken. Her voice was husky but somewhat magnetic; it sounded attractive.

Mei Aoshuang said, "Young Chen Ying, so he's the Master that you speak of?"

"That's right, it's him," Chen Ying smiled as she answered. "I didn't quite expect that you'll recognize Master Chu."

"So, it was him who refused to let me recruit you?"

Chen Ying smiled embarrassingly. "No, Valley Leader Mei Aoshuang. It was me who didn't want to join."

"You think you can fool me?" Aoshuang scoffed as she turned her head towards Chu Li. "Master Chu, I still can't quite believe you're Young Chen Ying's Master."

Chu Li replied, "I thank you for your kindness, Leader Mei Aoshuang."

"Why won't you allow her?" Mei Aoshuang said, "My Tai Hua Valley may not be a first-class faction, but we aren't too bad either. How could we have made Chen Ying suffer?"

Chu Li waved his hand. "I'm afraid that's not quite the case, Valley Leader Mei Aoshuang. I just don't want her to step into this mess."

Fong Xiaofeng smiled and interrupted them, "Master Chu, come here. Sit down and have a talk with us… I can't believe this coincidence. Our Valley Leader saw something in Young Chen Ying, so she felt that it would be a waste if she remains in this pub. She wishes to sharpen her potentials, and hence the recruitment proposal."

Chu Li replied, "The people in the martial arts world won't stop killing each other. That's not suitable for Chen Ying."

"Chen Ying has great potential. She'll be able to outperform me in the future," Aoshuang said. "It's almost certain that she'll become a Grandmaster. How can you bear keeping her locked up in this place, serving customers forever?"

Chu Li laughed. "I know precisely how hard it is to become a Grandmaster — an ocean of suffering awaits! Forget about it."

Mei Aoshuang narrowed her eyes, and said coldly, "You're just afraid that she might outperform you, am I right?"

Chu Li was taken aback by the statement. He then quickly managed a smile and said, "Let's just say you're right."

"A narrow-minded freak, how disgusting!" Mei Aoshuang smirked.

"Valley Leader!" Fong Xiaofeng hurriedly waved her hand, she smiled at Chu Li apologizingly. "Master Chu, please don't take her words for real. Our Valley Leader has a bad temper. What she really meant is that she can't bear letting a good talent waste herself away here."

Chu Li replied, "Elder Fong, I feel that Chen Ying's doing very well here. It may only be a lowly job of serving customers, but there aren't any trouble-makers here. She doesn't need to go through all those nonsensical killings or precarious situations. It's good that she'll be able to lead a peaceful life."

"You have no ambitions!" Mei Aoshuang slighted him.

Chu Li ignored her and gave a Fong Xiaofeng a fist salute. "I'll be on my way now; farewell."

"Halt!" Mei Aoshuang scoffed.

Chu Li twisted his head around and glanced at her. "Valley Leader Mei Aoshuang, what seems to be the problem?"

Mei Aoshuang said coldly, "Young Chen Ying has all the rights to make life decisions by herself. Who are you to stop her?"

Chu Li waved his hand. "Then let her decide for herself."

"You know she'll still listen to what you say!" Mei Aoshuang scoffed.

Chu Li grinned. "Then there's nothing I can do."

Aoshuang was extremely furious at him, as she gave him a fierce stare.

It was hard to scout for a great talent like Chen Ying. Once she had learned the heart techniques of Tai Hua Valley, she would make stunning improvements before she would break through the Grandmaster's boundary in no time.

Such a gifted person she was, but she could only continue to serve dishes to customers. What a waste!

She knew that overreacting about this issue would only pull Chen Ying further away from her. So, she could only persevere and contain her anger. Though no matter how much she tried, fury piled up quick inside her.

She took in a huge breath while her arrogant chest raised slightly. She oppressed the towering inferno of hatred inside her chest, and then said in a low voice, "Tell me, what can I do to change your mind?"

Chu Li shook his head. "I'm afraid I'll have to burst your bubble. Farewell."

A reddish shadow flashed across the room, and a sweet aroma filled the air. Mei Aoshuang had dashed to the doorway and blocked Chu Li in his path as she stared coldly at him.

Chu Li smiled as he looked at her. He looked calm.

Fong Xiaofeng hurriedly went in front and pulled Mei Aoshuang away. She smiled and interrupted, "There must be a way to talk through this. Valley Leader, calm down for a bit. Let me negotiate with Master Chu."

Chu Li said, "Elder Fong, there's nothing else to talk about. Things will remain as I said. Goodbye."

After he was done speaking, he stepped out of the room. Then, he proceeded to make his way to the exit of the pub in large strides.

Chen Ying and Li Yue hurriedly went up to Chu Li.

Chen Ying called out to him guiltily, "Master…"

Chu Li smiled and said, "It seems like Valley Leader Mei Aoshuang indeed admires you a lot. She was about to start a big quarrel with me."

Chen Ying said apologizing, "I promise I'll explain myself to Valley Leader Mei Aoshuang."

Chu Li said, "No use saying anything to her. She has made up her mind that she must take you in… By the way, I want you to stay inside the Public House for a few days, so she will not cause you any trouble!"

Due to the fact that Mei Aoshuang had broken through the boundaries of a Grandmaster at such a young age, she was naturally arrogant. Moreover, she was a Valley Leader. So all her life, she had obtained everything that she wanted with ease. It would also explain why she found it hard to come to terms with rejection. She could do all sorts of crazy things to achieve what she wanted, even if it meant forcefully kidnapping Chen Ying.

Chen Ying said, "Valley Leader Mei Aoshuang's not that kind of person."

"I really hope not," Chu Li said. He waved his hand and exited Leisure Cloud Pub.