Chapter 227 — A Clause Too Many

CHAPTER 227

A Clause Too Many

The door banged open a breath later.

“Junior Brother!” Lin Langtian called, hauling a basket through the doorway with both arms. “Senior Brother has brought dinner! Premium, beyond-grade, extremely expensive dinner!”

A sweet potato rolled out of his sleeve and stopped against the leg of the table. Nobody picked it up.

Shi Feng put down the brush. “I'm in the middle of something.”

“I can see that,” Lin Langtian said, setting the basket down on the cauldron's lid. “A signing! Wonderful. Don't mind me.”

“Clause ten,” Sima Lan said coldly. “Leave.”

“Clause what?” Lin Langtian said.

Before Sima Lan could move the paper, Lin Langtian leaned over her shoulder and read it. His gaze passed from the heading to the wage, then stopped at clause seven. She pulled the sheet away too late.

His eyes lit up like lanterns.

“Terms of Retention,” Lin Langtian read aloud. “Forty spirit stones a month. Chalk billed to the contract. Junior Brother has hired a little maid!”

“Attendant,” Sima Lan said.

“A maid!” Lin Langtian said happily. “A princess maid! Do you know how many sects would pay to see this? Hold on, I'll fetch the elders. Somebody has to witness it.”

“Nobody will witness it,” Sima Lan said. She kept her voice level. Her ears had gone pink anyway.

Shi Feng looked at the basket. The herbs inside were bound in red thread, and the smell coming off them made the moth leave the lamp.

“What grade?” Shi Feng asked.

“Nascent Soul,” Lin Langtian said. “Slightly above. Possibly a little far above. It's a surprise!”

“You're not allowed to bring surprises into this room,” Sima Lan said. “Clause ten.”

“But I'm the chief disciple,” Lin Langtian said. “I'm exempt from clauses. It's in the sect rules.”

“The magistrate may burn down houses while the people may not light a lamp. Which rule?” Sima Lan asked.

Lin Langtian laughed so loudly the lamp flame leaned.

Shi Feng let them argue for a moment. He knew Lin Langtian wouldn’t leave merely because someone told him to. The herbs were already here, and refusing them would only keep his senior brother talking until dawn.

He thought, If I refuse the herbs, he'll sit here until dawn. If I take them, I fail, and I eat the failure. Either way I get fed.

“Put the basket by the cauldron,” Shi Feng said.

“That's my Junior Brother!” Lin Langtian said.

“Clause ten, Shi Feng,” Sima Lan said.

“I've noted it,” Shi Feng said.

“You’ve noted it?” Sima Lan repeated, annoyed. “We haven’t even signed, and you’re helping him bring in the first breach. Look at that basket!”

Lin Langtian looked from one to the other, enjoying himself enormously. Then he spotted the brush lying beside the page and the empty line where Shi Feng's name was supposed to go.

“Not signed yet?” Lin Langtian said. “Careful, Junior Brother. Never sign before reading the small characters. Let Senior Brother read them aloud for you.”

“I've read them,” Shi Feng said.

“Twice, in fact,” Sima Lan said. “While you were in the corridor.”

“Then let me read them a third time,” Lin Langtian said, and reached for the page.

Sima Lan moved before he finished the sentence.

She took the brush, dipped it, and signed before he could grab the sheet. Sima Lan wrote her own name, not a court title. Then she blew the ink dry and pushed the contract across to Shi Feng.

Lin Langtian's hand stopped in mid-air.

“She signed first,” Lin Langtian said, impressed.

“I'd prefer to be counted as the party who offered,” Sima Lan said. “Shi Feng. Your turn.”

Shi Feng picked up the brush. His own name looked small beneath hers. He signed it, set the brush in the rest, and blew on it himself.

“Done,” Shi Feng said.

“Done!” Lin Langtian said. “Congratulations to you both. I'll tell the whole mountain.”

“You won't,” Sima Lan said.

“I absolutely will,” Lin Langtian said.

“Clause eleven,” Sima Lan said. “Anyone who talks about the contract before the contract is stamped owes the other party ten spirit stones.”

Lin Langtian opened his mouth. He closed it again. He looked at Shi Feng.

“Junior Brother, did you read clause eleven?” Lin Langtian said.

“I did,” Shi Feng said. “It's reasonable.”

“When did she write it?” Lin Langtian asked.

“Before you came,” Sima Lan said. “I know you.”

Sima Lan blew on the ink again while Lin Langtian stared. Then he burst out laughing and caught the doorframe to steady himself. A potato rolled from his sleeve. He’d come to tease her and found she’d prepared for him.

“Ten stones!” Lin Langtian wheezed. “Little princess, I'm going to enjoy this.”

“Attendant,” Sima Lan said.

She walked to the door, held it open, and waited.

“Out, Lin Langtian,” Sima Lan said.

He went, still wheezing. At the threshold he turned back and pointed at the paper.

“Morning,” Lin Langtian said. “Stall. First customer. I'll bring the crowd myself.”

The door shut behind him.

Sima Lan stood very still for a breath. Then she folded the contract once, tucked it into her sleeve, and looked at the broom in the corner.

“He'll tell everyone before the first customer,” Shi Feng said.

“I know,” Sima Lan said. “He owes me ten stones for every mouth he tells. I expect to be rich by noon.”