Chapter 285: Disregard and Rumors
After Han Li heard all of this, he understood nearly everything.
What these people unexpectedly said had to do with the disappearance of cultivators in the State of Yue during the past recent years.
These several people had probably been captured by the masterminds behind the plot and then let go after being threatened. But from hearing their tone of voice, they were already being controlled and forced to harm others.
All sorts of thoughts quickly churned through Han Li’s mind, but after a short moment, he decided that this matter was better left untouched.
After all, these people were the reason behind the disappearance of many cultivators. Even so, they had been freely acting to this day but still remained unexposed. This by itself explained how exceptionally cunning they were, and how truly out of the ordinary these people must be.
Furthermore, since they could control Foundation Establishment cultivators, they might have Core Formation cultivators behind them!
He himself was but a mere lone Foundation Establishment cultivator. During such troubled times, it would be better to not invite disaster upon himself.
With this decision in mind, Han Li immediately withdrew his spiritual sense and no longer paid attention to this group of cultivators.
Although this group of people was unfortunate and pitiful, he was not one to show kindness for no reason. He also didn’t want to brave this huge danger that had nothing to do with him.
He could only hope they would find better fortune!
Furthermore, the current seven sects were as the dark-faced man had deduced. The entirety of their power was focused on repelling the Devil Dao. They basically had no men to spare. Even if Han Li helped inform them of this matter, they most likely wouldn’t care for something unrelated to themselves.
Han Li could only think this with disregard.
Since he didn’t need to split his attention to hear the whispered conversation, Han Li became focused on eating. From time to time, he would pretend to be curious, pointing to a few novel things out the window and asking Qin Ping about them.
Naturally, Qin Ping continued to give Han Li full and detailed explanations. While he did so, most of the table’s food entered Han Li’s stomach, causing Qin Ping to click his tongue. He inwardly thought that this young master not only had vigorous energy but also a voracious appetite!
At this moment, the cultivators sitting on the table climbed down to the lower floor. Han Li clearly saw them leave with dejected spirits. It seemed that they hadn’t thought of a good solution within this short span of time.
Seeing this, Han Li had Qin Ping settle the bill after eating several more mouthfuls of food.
However, Qin Ping happily smiled. He took out a small Qin Residence medallion and arrogantly walked to the first floor.
Not long after, he went back up and made a report to Han Li, “Young Master, I showed them the pocket medallion. I told the shopkeeper to go to our Residence at the end of the month to settle the bill. As such, we don’t have to bring silver with us to pay our bill. Every month, the young masters of the Qin Residence are given several hundred taels of silver as spending money. I have already logged the meal bill under the Young Master’s name.”
When Han Li heard this he was slightly surprised. Once again he felt the luxury of the Qin Residence!
However, a blank expression appeared on his face as he careless nodded his head several times. Then he brought Qin Ping to the lower floor.
In the afternoon, Han Li didn’t think to continue on foot. Having learned from previous pain, Qin Ping suggested calling for a carriage. They then made a trip to several significant locations in Yuejing.
Although they couldn’t visit many of the sites, Han Li finally felt that he had a general idea on the topography and street layout. It was unlikely that the Qin Residence would’ve met their doom as Han Li was having a look in the capital city.
Night came. Han Li returned to the Qin Residence, fully satisfied.
At this moment, the gatekeeper Qin Gui hastily rushed out of the gatehouse to greatly ingratiate himself to Han Li without even waiting for him to step off the carriage.
He was afraid that this newly appeared Young Master Han would bear a grudge about yesterday’s matter for having not respected him. He needed to have Han Li’s impression of him improve!
But how could Han Li be bothered to remember such a thing from yesterday when he had other things to worry about? He had long forgotten about the matter!
At this moment, his mind was filled with thoughts of how he could protect the Qin Residence. It was truly no good. He had to protect Qin Yan’s life at the very least, else he would have to explain himself to Li Huayuan.
With this thought, Han Li came to a decision and entered the Qin Residence with ease.
At night, Han Li directly went to find his Uncle Qin while avoiding all others.
After a moment of detailed discussion within the secret room, Han Li returned in high spirits.
On the next day, those related to Qin Yan had suddenly discovered that an unfamiliar youth had appeared at his side. Furthermore, he seemed completely unsophisticated, unlike anyone native to Yuejing.
With great enthusiasm, Qin Yan introduced this youth to all familiar with him as a descendant of a senior from his own clan. His close friends then said they would properly support Han Li in the future and other such things!
Qin Yan’s friends weren’t officials or nobles but rather hugely wealthy and influential merchants.
Although they found it quite baffling that a youth was following Qin Yan so closely, after they made a few inquiries about Han Li, those wily old foxes naturally looked upon Han Li as kind and friendly seniors.
Han Li also made contact with the upper echelon of Yuejing eventually.
……
In the blink of an eye, two months had passed by!
Han Li appeared to have truly become a young master of the Qin Residence. Not only was his treatment the same as Qin Yan’s own descendants, but up until this day, regardless if it was business, social niceties, or visiting a guest in his residence, Clan Lord Qin always brought Han Li along at his side without exception. It appeared as if he want to cultivate Han Li with great effort.
As such, the rumors that Han Li was Clan Lord Qin’s illegitimate child quickly spread outside of the Qin Residence. Even asristocratic families acquainted with the Qin Residence had long heard of these rumors!
However, Qin Yan completely ignored these rumors and left them to the imagination, causing everyone to tacitly agree and further solidifying the rumor as truth!
As a result, the younger generation of the Qin Clan became impatient. It was unknown whether it was incited by the senior generation, but with clever pettiness and overconfidence, they unexpectedly started to make indirect inquiries on the validity of these rumors.
However, Han Li continued to play the unwitting fool, so naturally those people left without any results.
As time passed, the people of the Qin Residence tacitly understood that Han Li was a young master of the Qin Residence and believed Han Li to be greatly loved by Qin Yan. However, they thought it was a result making up for guilt towards Han Li!
Although several of the young masters and madams of the Qin Clan that had originally been doted on by Qin Yan felt greatly unsatisfied from this, under the great pressure of their lord grandfather, they didn’t dare to make any obvious action against Han Li. They could only pinch their nose and resist for the time being.
However, they cursed Han Li behind his back on more than one occasion, calling him a country bumpkin and the like.
However, these people did not know that at night, when Han Li was refining Qi and cultivating in his room, he would periodically envelope the entire Qin Residence with his spiritual sense. Although he wasn’t able to sustain it for very long, it was more than enough to discover quite a few secrets!
Han Li clearly heard these people’s indignant words.
Although Han Li wouldn’t teach these inexperienced and naive children a lesson, their seniors, who were secretly polishing plans to disgrace him, left Han Li somewhat speechless.
He wouldn’t bother with these mortals, but if the Devil Dao were to suddenly strike, these people would naturally be the last to be protected. That would be Han Li’s minor retaliation!
One day, Qin Yan was unexpectedly invited to a banquet by an extraordinarily important person, a prince!
It was said that this prince’s favored concubine had recovered from great illness, so he was arranging a great banquet in celebration.
Although the Qin Clan weren’t the richest merchants in Yuejing, their power and influence absolutely were in the top three, so they would naturally be given an invitation card.
Furthermore, it wasn’t just Qin Yan who was invited. The invitation mentioned that the prince wished to make friends with the young masters and “talented women” of the Qin Clan. It is said that the Young Prince had particularly wanted them to go!
With no better choice, Qin Yan could only go together with his juniors.
The juniors who learned of this news immediately rejoiced with happiness on the spot!
However, ever since Qin Yan heard that the Qin Clan was in the middle of a crisis, he naturally couldn’t allow his juniors to fool around outside during this time.
If the Devil Dao were actually carefully watching them as Han Li said, then they would be facing certain calamity!
Thus, within these last two months, Lord Qin had been using a variety of excuses to forbid his juniors from leaving the premises. How could this not cause the lazy and spoiled Qin Clan young masters and madams from complaining endlessly?!
What angered them even more was that Han Li wasn’t much different from them in age, yet he had permission to leave early and return late, to indulge in pleasure and forget about duty. This caused these people to loudly cry out with injustice.
Now that there was such an opportunity, these Qin Clan juniors were naturally in high spirits since they would all go together.
“Prince Xin”, the prince who invited them, was one of the younger brothers of the King of the State of Yue.
From what Qin Yan said, although he was a member of the royal family, he was very forthright and made many friends!
Not only did high-ranking officials, nobles, and greatly wealthy merchants all wish to meet him, even common butchers and strange Jiang Hu eccentrics were rather familiar with him.
Of course, in order to prevent arousing ill intentions, he didn’t dare to closely associate with high ranking and greatly influential military officials and bureaucrats.
As such, the prince had a great reputation among the commoners of Yuejing. Furthermore, he had garnered quite a bit of praise.
When Han Li heard this, he had a general impression of this prince. As for the specifics, he would naturally need to lay his eyes on him first!
After all, although his surface reputation was quite good, such great characters were more often shady characters underneath!