For the next few days, the same pattern repeated itself: Jing Yi would follow Peng Mu around and watched him work and interact with the others. Finally, he came to the conclusion that this person definitely wasn’t bad and didn’t want to harm anybody. But it also didn’t seem like he was trying to deliberately set up somebody. If the story about the demon was really true, then he was sure that Peng Mu had no idea of it. Now, he only needed to convince Liu Cheng of that. But for that, he would likely need to find out more about the story.

Thinking about it from that direction, it seemed that he could only try to ask Peng Mu again. But then he was afraid that he would really give away what he was after if he asked directly after this one thing.

Jing Yi was currently taking his break, sitting not far from Peng Mu and watching him explain to the servant that had been brought in from outside together with him and that servant from the merchant’s estate.

Peng Mu really cared a lot about the others … Thinking of that, Jing Yi narrowed his eyes. Maybe instead of asking about that woman, it would be better to ask about the other people that had had an accident. While not necessarily a simple topic to breach, it was still much easier to approach than a very personal one. After all, the other day, he had only been able to bring that woman up because they had talked about Qiu Ling before. But nothing had changed on his side about having to wait until he would be able to go and see Qiu Ling so it would be strange to bring it up again.

This matter though … It was something that could be asked at any time. It was just a question of how he framed it. And looking at how he interacted with everybody, that alone might be enough to bring it up.

Peng Mu finished his explanations and waved the other servant goodbye before he came over to Jing Yi. It probably wasn’t deliberately but with Jing Yi always following him around the field, he felt as if he needed to keep him company and help him out a bit. From all the people working in this field, Jing Yi was obviously the youngest. He would probably need some more guidance and might even feel a bit helpless so far from his family and his fiance. That was nothing he found strange so helping him out a bit seemed to be a matter of course to him.

He sat down next to him and gave Jing Yi a smile. "It’s good to see everybody doing so well. By the way, thinking about it now, it’s quite sad that you won’t stay here with us. Do you think there is any chance you’ll come back here after finding your fiance?"

Jing Yi looked at him dumbstruck. This … How come Peng Mu brought up this topic on his own after he just thought that it would be strange to approach it again? Well, whatever it was, it was good to have this opportunity.

"Well, actually, I wouldn’t mind. I don’t think it would work out though. You see, there’s still that business my family is working in. I don’t think they would appreciate it if I came to help out with somebody else’s business and ignored what my family was doing. And as for my fiance …" He sighed. "Well, Qiu Ling also has his responsibilities. I can’t just decide something like this for him. I also don’t think that he would like this very much."

To be completely fair, he himself could indeed imagine doing something like this. Whether it was traveling with a group of merchants or working in a field, he would be able to do both. Maybe he would even be more successful at it than he was right now with trying to become a cultivator.

In any case, if he did indeed decide that becoming a cultivator was just not his path even after everything he had gone through, then the first thing he’d do was still going back to the Long kingdom’s capital city and helping out his mother in the teahouse. After all, she was family. Even though he liked traveling with Si Fen and the others and also liked this work in the fields, it was just not the same. Being with your family still felt much better.

And as for Qiu Ling … Contrary to him, he was already a fully-fledged cultivator. It would be strange to expect him to give up on that life just to follow him around doing something else. So that likely wouldn’t happen. Qiu Ling might not mind but it would be wrong to put him in the position to choose either side.

Peng Mu gave Jing Yi a slightly surprised look. He had also felt that the boy seemed to like it here so he had thought that maybe there was a chance but, well, he could also understand his explanation. "Well, I guess it won’t be an option then. Still, it would be nice to hear from you again in the future. Just so I know that everything went alright with you and your fiance. If you’re ever out traveling again, you can just come by and tell us. I’m sure the others would also like to know even if they don’t show it as much."

Jing Yi laughed, not quite sure if he should believe the latter part. Anyway, it was nice to hear somebody say something like this just to make him happy. It was a lot like what the others said when he left Si Fen’s group. "Well, if there’s a possibility, then I’ll definitely come by again. By then …" He glanced at Peng Mu and tried to seem as casual as he could. "I hope you’ll have already gotten together with that person you like. Then the two of us can visit the two of you."

Peng Mu laughed and reached over, ruffling his hair. "Look at you! I’m really wondering if I should say thank you now or scold you for assuming so much. Didn’t I say she was a widow? That type of thing … It really can’t be rushed."