[Chosen quest completed. Reward: Mind +1]
"Excuse me, Sir! (Excuse me, Sir!) (Excuse me, Sir!)"
Just as the tone from the system prompt ended, the voices of the three Sisters of the Yu family addressing him in unison immediately rang out in Jiang Beiran's ears.
"You may speak first," Jiang Beiran said as he once again pointed to Sister Yu standing in the middle.
Yu Guizhui pointed toward the room, then spread her arms wide and asked, "Aren't inn rooms supposed to be this big? I've never seen a room like this one before."
Jiang Beiran sighed inwardly after hearing this, then looked at the other two Yu Sisters and asked, "What about you two, do you two have the same question in mind?"
The two Yu Sisters immediately shook their heads.
So, Jiang Beiran pointed to Sister Yu on the left again and said, "Then you may ask first."
"Is this your method of punishing us? But we didn't do anything wrong, did we?" she asked.
"What about you?" Jiang Beiran looked at the last Sister Yu.
"What are we supposed to do without a dressing table in the room? Can we ask the attendant serving us just now to bring us one?"
Having understood the three Sisters' concerns, Jiang Beiran nodded and said, "Let's enter the room first. I'll give you a good crash course after we go inside."
The group walked into the room. Jiang Beiran closed the door then looked at the five junior Sisters and said, "From now on you can all speak freely. There's no need to shout 'excuse me' in advance. However, before that, I would like to take the liberty to ask a question. Have you all ever traveled alone?"
After hearing his question, Liu Zijin answered first, saying, "Father doesn't let me go out alone. Usually, he would have my eldest brother accompany me when I go out, and he has Mr. Lu accompany me when my eldest brother is not around."
"And Mr. Lu is?" Jiang Beiran asked curiously.
"He's Father's disciple, and he's very competent," she replied.
"Alright, I see." Then he looked at the three Sisters of the Yu family and asked, "What about you all?"
"We usually travel in the carriage prepared by Housekeeper Zhou, and are accompanied by... about thirty to fifty people, I think, all of whom are hired by Father."
Jiang Beiran really wanted to slap himself on the face after listening to their answers. The reason why he had not asked any of this back in the sect before they left was because too much casual conversation would affect his efforts to establish authority.
At the moment, after having traveled together all this way, the junior Sisters, not counting Fang Qiuyao, had gotten used to obeying orders. So now, Jiang Beiran needed to properly acquire an understanding of how spoiled the rich young ladies in the team he was leading were.
'No wonder Law Protector Yu had to personally pay me a visit to ask me to serve as the Iron Seal for these junior Sisters. The difficulty level of this task is really too outrageous,' he thought to himself.
They were a group of rich, spoiled young ladies who had never experienced the cruelty of society. Furthermore, each of them was beautiful. Had it been another Iron Seal here, they would probably have been chewed down to the bone by those 'starving wolves' down the mountain very soon after leaving the sect.
When the three Yu Sisters had finished answering, Jiang Beiran looked at Fang Qiuyao again. However, she immediately snorted coldly and turned her head, acting like she had nothing to say to him.
Jiang Beiran paid her no mind. He then looked at Liu Zijin again and asked, "Then is it possible that your father would send some skilled warriors to go undercover and protect you from nearby?"
"Probably not." Liu Zijin shook her head. "I didn't tell my father that I would be descending the mountain for my trial today."
"It's the same for us. Father doesn't know that we have descended the mountain for our trial today," Yu Guishui jumped in to answer from beside him.
"Mhmm..." Jiang Beiran nodded. "So, it means that, other than the time you have spent in the Sect of Returning Hearts, people accompany you whenever you go out, right?"
"Yes." The four junior Sisters nodded their heads at the same time.
'Goodness gracious! This Law Protector Yu really trusts me too much, doesn't she!?'
Jiang Beiran thought to himself that no matter which one of the five rich young ladies landed in trouble, the Sect of Returning Hearts would probably inevitably be held accountable. To be fair, the Sect of Returning Hearts was not very afraid of such incidents as it had plenty of assets and human capital. After all, when taking disciples in, it had all been laid out in black and white that if one was worried that one's child might be endangered, one should not send them to the Sect.
However, having said that, if the family really was to kick up a fuss, it would certainly still stir up a considerable storm. As their mentor, Yu Manwen would also naturally be blamed, and she would inevitably be punished by the Sect.
However, he had already accepted the task, so thinking about all of this wouldn't help anything. After getting the answers he needed, Jiang Beiran took out the lotus leaf packet from the storage ring. He put it on the table and said, "Let's eat the buns first."
The three Sisters of the Yu family, who had been anticipating this moment for a long time, cheered simultaneously. As soon as Jiang Beiran unwrapped the lotus leaf, they all walked up to the table and picked out the pea buns they each liked.
Meanwhile, Liu Zijin pulled out a pink purse and asked, "Brother, how much was the bun? I'll pay you."
Jiang Beiran was a little surprised to hear that, as he hadn't expected this spoiled young lady to still have such social awareness. Then, he waved his hand and said, "It's just a few buns. I'll treat you all."
"In that case, thank you very much, Brother." Only then did Liu Zijin walk forward and take a pea bun.
The three Sisters of the Yu family also shouted in unison after coming to a slow realization, "Many thanks, Brother."
"No problem." Jiang Beiran picked up a pea bun as well and took a bite after he finished speaking.
'Mhm! It's pleasantly soft and sweet. The taste is sweeter and more unique than bean paste. It seems that osmanthus has been added as well? Nice seasoning. I'll try it next time, too.'
The three Sisters of the Yu family, who were standing next to him, didn't think about it much. They just kept saying that it was delicious.
Liu Zijin opened her mouth slightly and took a small bite. Her face immediately showed an expression of pleasant surprise, then she looked at Fang Qiuyao and said, "Qiuyao, this is really delicious. Quick, have a bite."
But Fang Qiuyao stubbornly shifted her gaze away and muttered, "I'm not going to eat any buns purchased by this wimpy senior Brother."
"Qiuyao!" Liu Zijin yelled and tugged at Fang Qiuyao's sleeves.
At this time, Jiang Beiran, who had already consumed the whole pea bun, said, "Sister Fang, it's true that we should be chivalrous and uphold righteousness. However, doing so is not as simple as you pulling out your sword and chasing those scoundrels away."
"Hmph! Isn't upholding righteousness and being chivalrous just unsheathing your weapon to help defend the abused when you see injustice?" Fang Qiuyao said in defiance.
"Then let me ask you; do you know why the incident happened and who the three scoundrels were operating under? And then there's the question of how you could leave unscathed after injuring or killing them on someone else's turf? Furthermore, there is..."
"You are just talking nonsense! Actually, you are just afraid of trouble, are you not!? If I had killed them, I would naturally have been the one to bear the consequences. So, if others were to seek retribution, they are free to come at me, Fang Qiuyao!"
Jiang Beiran smiled faintly after hearing this and continued, saying, "Among the practitioners of cultivation, there are chivalrous people with benevolent hearts like you, Sister Fang. However, there has also never been a shortage of evil individuals who oppress the people and act as accomplices to the bigger powers behind the scene. If the scoundrels go back and seek out a Mystic or even a Mystic Master to exact revenge, what would you do then?"
"I... At worst, I will fight with them with my life!" As she said this, Fang Qiuyao was obviously already somewhat sheepish.
"Then have you ever thought about properly investigating who the boss behind those three scoundrels is before you act, or taking this town's..."
"I won't hear of it! I won't hear of it! I won't hear of it!" Fang Qiuyao covered her ears and shook her head vehemently.
Seeing her reaction, all Jiang Beiran could do was shrug. He knew that Fang Qiuyao had actually begun to somewhat understand the issue already, but she couldn't bring herself to admit her mistake. So, at the moment, it was best to give her some time to slowly digest it.