25 A visit to the Southern Army 1

Both the Deputy Hall Manager and the Second Ducal Prince made sympathetic noises as soon as they heard that. But it was a rather common tale, and not merely confined to Heaven Sword School either.

And if they should go through the trouble of checking with the School itself, they would certainly hear all those rumors about him and his close relationship with several female disciples. Repeat customers of his, to tell the truth, who had been relying on him to supply ... somewhat restricted herbs to prevent pregnancies.

That should be enough to give him a less pristine reputation, and a reasonable excuse to leave Heaven Sword School. Qin Feng hid a smile as soon as he thought about it. After all, he didn't really care about leaving a good reputation behind him.

After all, what was a reputation worth?

"Now that you have left the Heaven Sword School, what do you intend to do? Do you intend to joining another Martial Arts School? There are quite a few, further East, inside the Kingdom that you could consider. If you have need of a recommendation from someone, I could always speak to my grandfather, the Marquis."

Oh? That was more than a little friendly, wasn't it? Qin Feng could barely contain himself, and was glad that he was pretending to look sad, and not facing the richly dressed Ducal Prince. Then he reminded himself that it would be only be polite to answer the question:

"No, no. I have no intention of heading to the East. At least, not at the moment. I have decided to wander the Kingdom a little, before I make my decision. Unfortunately, it is the middle of Winter, so I am constrained to stay here for a while."

"Ah. I see."

The Second Ducal Prince's reply was polite as well, but Qin Feng was more concerned about what he was doing in the meantime. He was holding the list in his left hand moments ago, and now it had all but vanished before Qin Feng's eyes! And he thought he saw the ring on his finger give off a mild flash too!

Did that mean that he had one of those storage rings that Qin Feng had been lusting for, all this time? Perhaps this Ducal Prince might even know where he could get his hands on one of them? He decided not to hesitate, and to make his interest known at once:

"Oh, is that one of those rings that can open up a small dimensional space? What they call a storage ring or spatial ring? I have heard about them at the School but I have never seen one," Qin Feng asked, pointing at the white-gold signet on the Second Ducal Prince's finger.

Li Sanlang did not try to hide it either, and held out his hand towards the younger man, so that he could have a closer look. "You have a good eye," he chuckled, as he did so, "This was a present from my father, so it is a little unusual. Most would craft these rings with Bright Silver or Dark Gold, but my parents decided those didn't really suit me. So I ended up with this."

"Ah, it is a beautiful thing. And I suppose it is very convenient to have something like that on you. It would make it much easier for you to carry things around, after all. Unfortunately, the best that the Heavenly Sword School has to offer us Outer Circle disciples is a Thousand Catty Pouch! Those things are far too small!"

This Li Changhai fellow seemed to understand his pain, and nodded in sympathy. "They are more useful for merchants to carry their coin about, since it would take roughly a hundred and sixty thousand silver coins to fill up one of those Thousand Catty Pouches completely. It would certainly not be enough for any major buying and selling."

"Exactly! I had not thought that the Second Ducal Prince would be so well-versed with regards to the trading practices hereabouts, down to such details. Qin Feng is greatly impressed."

"Oh? If that is so, perhaps Second Ducal Prince Li could enlighten our Young Master Qin here, and advise him on where he could get hold of one? Your grandfather has a small cache of these useful things, doesn't he?"

Luo Junyuan's interruption had come as a bit of surprise to Qin Feng. But he could only grin his thanks at the Deputy Hall Manager. This was exactly what he had wanted!

Then he turned back to look expectantly at the Second Ducal Prince.

*

"Well, there is a way that you might be able to get your hands on one of those rings," the Second Ducal Prince began, in a soft voice that hinted at how much of a secret this was. Hopefully, it would be enough to make Qin Feng more inclined to help out the Marquis' Manor. Which would allow the same to feed some information to the Heaven Sword School.

"Oh?"

"My uncle - the New Marquis, that is. Well, he has instituted a recruitment plan for would-be suppliers of his army camps. And is issuing such storage rings to those who manage to handle the larger volumes that are needed to run the same. Needless to say, if you are intending to go into trade, and are in need of such storage rings ..."

Qin Feng seemed to understand immediately. Or he had been waiting for just such an opportunity! "Ah! I think I understand! If I were to ... apply for such a task, and succeed in carrying out the same, I would be paid in kind? With a storage ring of my own?"

He was hooked!

The Second Ducal Prince who had been wondering how he was going to arrange things, was more than pleased to see that. Now, he could toss this problem into the hands of those who knew how to handle such matters! Let his grandfather's people make the arrangements, so that they could keep an eye on him themselves!

"That was my understanding of how they intended to do this. But I am not that certain, if you are asking for the details. Why don't I bring you to my uncles Adjutant General? He should be in Changqing City now, dealing with the Winter supplies for his training camps.

"Let me arrange matters for tomorrow? I should be able to bring you into the camp then, so that you can ask him all of the questions," Li Sanlang laughed amicably.

"In that case, Qin Feng thanks the Second Ducal Prince for this favor!"

* * *