The little girl chewed the rice cake in her mouth twice and gobbled it down.
After licking the corner of her mouth, she looked at the bean paste cake on Ye Anping's table and was about to take it, but as soon as she took a step forward, Liang Zhu grabbed her shoulder forcefully.
Liang Zhu glared and rebuked her. "Ating!!"
"Ah..."
Frightened by his voice, the girl shrank her neck and lowered her head.
Just as Liang Zhu wanted to continue reprimanding her, Ye Anping quickly intervened. "Brother Liang, just let her eat some. Do you think I would poison the cakes?"
"... Hard to say." Liang Zhu glanced at him.
?
Ye Anping was speechless. He sighed and simply set an example by picking up a piece of rice cake from the plate and chewing it. Then, he continued, "Brother Liang, if you want to leave, I won't stop you, but there's no need to be in such a hurry. It's not like I'm going to eat you."
Seeing him eat a piece of rice cake himself, Liang Zhu was finally a little relieved.
But just a little...
He ignored Ye Anping and said to the little girl, "Ting, we will leave in a moment and won't stay here anymore."
"Eh?" The girl raised her head and looked at Liang Zhu with a grimace. She asked with reluctance, "Father, are we leaving again?"
"Well..."
"But, didn't you say before that we could stay in this city for a long time? We have only stayed for ten days... I don't want to go. There is no food on the road, and I can't sleep..."
"..."
Liang Zhu's face was full of helplessness, and he didn't know what to say for a moment.
When Ye Anping heard the girl's words, he understood that the father and daughter had been living on the run for some time.
After all, when the Seven Slayers Sect's headquarters had been seized by the Black Star Sect, the disciple roster had been fully exposed. Now, all the major sects in the Western Region were surely still capturing the absconding Seven Slayers Sect cultivators everywhere.
Liang Zhu had probably been on tenterhooks in the past few months and didn't dare to stay in one place for more than two days. Now that he was here at the Dragon Mansion , he thought he would be safe, but he didn't expect to run into Ye Anping again.
"Hey--" Ye Anping sighed and said, "Brother Liang, how about staying? She is too young, and following you around like this will not only make it impossible to practice, but she won't even be able to rest well.
Liang Zhu, of course, knew this. After thinking about it for a moment, he looked at Liang Ating, who was staring pitifully at him, and finally shook his head helplessly before leading her back to the pavilion.
"Ating, eat slowly."
"Mm-hmm."
The girl nodded and looked at Ye Anping and Pei Lianxue eagerly. After seeing Ye Anping nod, she reached out and took a cake from the table.
Liang Zhu looked at Ye Anping. "Let's have a word."
"Okay."
Ye Anping agreed and asked Pei Lianxue to keep the girl company, then followed him from the pavilion to the pond.
After they could no longer hear the conversation in the pavilion, Liang Zhu stopped and turned around.
"You want to hire me?"
"Yeah, but I don't want to force you."
"I can agree." Liang Zhu paused and raised a finger seriously. "But I have one condition. No matter what you want to do, it must not involve Ating."
"Her name is Ating?"
"Liang Ating, by her full name. She has been with me for ten years."
Ye Anping glanced at Liang Ating, who was nibbling on cakes, frowned slightly, and asked, "You were working in the Seven Slayers Sect and still dared to adopt a girl?"
"She has nothing to do with the Seven Slayers Sect, and she doesn't know that I was a member. Don't tell her about my past."
"Alright..."
Liang Zhu sighed and returned to the topic. "Let's get down to business. What do you want me to do?"
"Well, I just want you to help me deal with some chores of the Dragon Slayer Society ."
Liang Zhu was silent for a while, and slightly confused, he asked, "Chores? What chores?"
"You will review and process the account books for daily operations. If there are any discrepancies, you will go to the branch leaders to discuss them. You will act as the young master's substitute."
"That's it?"
Ye Anping nodded. "That's it. As for the reward, how much did Hua Qinyu pay you before? I'll give you double, including food and accommodation."
If that's the case... Liang Zhu nodded hesitantly. "Well, this is a good job..."
"By the way, I have something to do for you."
"Well, tell me."
"Find five or six slovenly-looking people in the next village or town, aged sixteen or seventeen. Let those people pretend to be Jiang Yu and send one to Jiang Mansion every few days, claiming that Jiang Yu met a robber on his way back and his token was stolen. The young master of the Dragon Slayer Society who came back before was a fake, and they are the real Jiang Yu."
?
Liang Zhu was taken aback, not understanding his intention at all.
"Why?"
"A negative makes a positive." Ye Anping shrugged slightly and explained. "I am the fake young master of the Dragon Slayer Society . If other fake young masters appear, then I will be the real one."
Liang Zhu thought for a while, then he understood and asked, "You mean, you robbed the real Young Master of the Dragon Slayer Society , but you didn't kill him?"
"Well, the young master studied under Master Yun Shi. If I had killed him, I would offend the old man, and the matter wouldn't end well. As the saying goes, always leave a way out in case we meet again in the future."
"..."
Ye Anping shrugged again. "By the way, there is a second thing. Brother Liang, you should have connections in the black market of Duchun City . In the name of the Dragon Slayer Society , buy as many Shocking pills as you can from the black market. Once the Dragons' Convention opens, ask the people from the Dragon Slayer Society to set up stalls to sell them."
"... Shocking pills?"
Liang Zhu frowned deeply, with a puzzled look on his face. Shocking pills were not something that was always available at home. It was a pill used to block the erosion of the mind.
Generally, only the cultivators frequently exposed to poisonous qi would have some on them.
However, the Shocking pills were not as easy to store as the Spirit Gathering pills and would become ineffective after being left in the storage bag for more than a month. Moreover, the Western Region was different from the Eastern Region in that there were no demonic cultivators and no places with demonic qi.
Therefore, in terms of doing business, selling Shocking pills at the Dragons' Convention would definitely result in a loss of money.
But...
After all, it was Ye Anping who said this, so Liang Zhu didn't dare to speculate further.
Thinking of the purpose of the Shocking pills, he suddenly widened his eyes, looked at Ye Anping in disbelief, and asked, "Could it be?! Will a demonic cultivator infiltrate the Convention?"
"I didn't say that." Ye Anping raised his eyebrows and smiled as he asked, "Where would a demonic cultivator in the Western Region come from?"
"..."
Liang Zhu felt embarrassed. Generally speaking, it was indeed impossible for a demonic cultivator to be found in the Western Region . However, a Grand Master of the Magical Poison Sect had died here before.
If a demonic cultivator from the Eastern Region had reached the Dragon House , it would be extremely dangerous no matter where he went with Ating.
In this case, it was actually safer to follow his sixth brother.
After all, he could profit from the protective umbrella provided by the big shot behind his sixth brother.
After thinking for a while, Liang Zhu looked at Liang Ating, who was having fun playing with Pei Lianxue in the pavilion, and he said, "Alright, I'll do it right away."
"Huh?" Ye Anping was slightly stunned. "Now? There's no need to rush these two things."
"I'll finish as soon as possible. Take care of Ating for me."
"..."
Without waiting for Ye Anping to answer, Liang Zhu turned and walked toward the gate of the Jiang Mansion .
Ye Anping was stunned before he suddenly realized what had happened-- after Si Xuanji entrusted Xiao Yunluo to him, he was now entrusted with a little girl by someone else.
"Sigh..."
After sighing, Ye Anping walked back to the pavilion.
At this time, Liang Ating saw her adoptive father walking out.
She looked at the cakes on the table and then at her father, who was walking away. She hesitated for a while but finally chose the cakes. She did not follow him but asked, "Uncle... where is my father going?"
"He went to run some errands for me and will be back later."
"Oh..." Liang Ating nodded, then looked at Pei Lianxue and asked, "Uncle, how should I call this sister?"
Ye Anping paused for a moment and introduced, "Her surname is Pei, you call her Sister Pei..."
Before he finished speaking, Pei Lianxue quickly interrupted. "Call me aunt."
"Aunt?" Liang Ating paused and said, "Auntie is so beautiful."
"Hmm..." Pei Lianxue smiled and fed her some cakes. "What a sweet talker."
"Hee hee..."
Did Liang Zhu teach her to talk like that? Ye Anping didn't know what to make of this and looked at his sister again, feeling helpless for no reason.
Sister wants to play house, and now we have a family of three.
Ye Anping sighed. "Ah-- okay, aunt it is."