Chapter Twelve: Mentor

  Sorry about this, I felt that the previous name wasn't very integrated, so I changed it! The content remains the same. No need to come in if you've already read it.

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  Ye Feng came out of the hall and arrived at the garden. Breathing in the fresh air, his mind suddenly felt refreshed.

  Unlike the hustle and bustle in the hall, this place is exceptionally quiet. Countless flowers bloom silently all over the garden, a cool breeze blows by, bringing with it a pungent fragrance.

  Looking up at the vast sky, stars twinkling everywhere. A crescent moon hangs on the edge of the sky. Insects in the grass hum a low-pitched call. The sound of waves crashing against the shore comes from afar.

  A winding path in the garden leads to a pavilion not far away.

  A gentle breeze blew in, bringing a melodious flute sound into his ears. Ye Feng was greatly surprised, following the sound, and walked up to the pavilion.

  In the pavilion, a woman in white was playing a flute melody. The sound of the music was gentle and lingering, with a hint of sadness. Under the moonlight, the woman's skin was as pale as snow, her clothes fluttering, like an immortal from heaven.

  When she saw someone coming, the woman hastily stopped. Ye Feng looked at the woman and his mind buzzed with a sudden realization, although he had seen many beauties before, but this time he couldn't help but feel astonished.

  All that can be seen is her bright eyes and white teeth, with eyebrows and eyes like a painting. She wears a simple white dress, looking exceptionally charming and moving. Just standing there faintly, even the moonlight in the sky becomes dimmer because of her.

  It seems that being immersed in the sorrowful melody just now, her almond-shaped eyes were shrouded in a layer of hazy mist, as if there were countless worries hidden in her heart but difficult to express to others.

  The woman was taken aback by his appearance. After a moment's thought, she curtsied elegantly and said: "You must be the Red Blood Knight who charged into the enemy camp alone in broad daylight and fought off a group of bandits single-handedly; I am Afuro, at your service."

  Ye Feng finally came back to his senses, suddenly enlightened. This was the so-called Aphrodite Dance Troupe that Oula had mentioned. It seemed that what he said was not false, this was indeed a beauty. Moreover, it was a rare intellectual beauty in this era. The same words, when spoken from Poseidon's mouth, felt different from when they were spoken from the mouth of the beauty in front of him.

  He wanted to bow and return the courtesy, but he was not used to this set of ancient times. He awkwardly waved his hand and said, "Sorry, I'm disturbing your practice."

  He looked at Aphrodite's flute and curiously asked, "Excuse me, where did you get this instrument and the tune? I seem to have heard it before."

  Aphrodite smiled and handed the flute over, saying: "This was given to me by a wandering singer. He said it was copied from a diagram he found in an ancient cave. He also found several tunes, but unfortunately they were incomplete."

  Ye Feng took the flute, fiddled with it for a while, and found that it was no different from what he had seen before. He felt a bit strange, but nodded slightly without revealing his expression, and handed it back. He said in agreement: "It's really a pity."

  Ou La rushed over panting and exclaimed: "Ye Feng, how did you end up here? You're really hard to find!"

  Ye Feng was taken aback and asked, "Is there something going on?"

  Euryn rolled her eyes and said, "Spare me the chatter. The old man wants to see you, says he needs to have a good talk with you." He turned his head and saw Aphrodite, excitedly exclaiming, "You...you're not the famous Aphrodite, are you?"

  Although Ah Fu had never seen Oola before, he immediately understood the other's identity when he heard him speak, and hastily bowed to say: "Yes, Young Master."

  Oola sidled up to her and asked, "When are you going on? I can hardly wait."

  Afu Luo looked up at the sky and said: "Maybe we still have to wait a while. Welcome, young master, when you arrive, go and cheer."

  Ouyang nodded and said, "Alright, I'll definitely go."

  He took a lingering look at Aphrodite, then pulled Yefeng's hand and hurried out, urging in his mouth: "Hurry up, hurry up. Finish the task early, I can come out to watch the show early."

  Aphrodite smiled and watched them walk away, then turned back to the hall. She made her way through the crowded people and came to a corner of the hall where the duke had specially left a resting room for her.

  A maid hastily came forward, took the flute from her hand and placed it on a nearby rack, saying in a low voice: "Miss, there is news from home that someone has been sent from over there, making a scene at the inn demanding to see you. They really have a lot of nerve, daring to chase you all the way here."

  Aphrodite sat down in front of the mirror, smoothed her sleek long hair and said lightly: "They are a group of fugitives themselves, what's there to be surprised about."

  "Shall I help you get rid of him?" The maid raised her hand, and the dagger in her sleeve flashed with a cold light.

  "No, Xiao Ling. There's no need for that. Not yet." Afu's hands paused slightly as she combed her long hair, speaking softly. She gazed at herself in the mirror with a faint smile.

  In the blink of an eye, her eyes sparkled and shone with a hundred different charms.

  Ye Feng followed Oola into the Duke's study.

  A tall and slender middle-aged man sat in the main seat, about fifty years old, with long hair, wearing a casual outfit, pale face, and dark eyes shining with a poet's unique melancholy. He was staring out the window at the crescent moon as if lost in thought. Next to him, Nia was flipping through a document with anxiety and anger, looking like a volcano about to erupt.

  When Yefeng walked in, the two people in the room stood up and came forward to greet him.

  A middle-aged man walked a few steps to Ye Feng's front, first with a deep bow, then holding Ye Feng's hand and saying: "Hello, Ye Feng, I am the Duke of Xiniya - Yuruisi Xisi. Thank you for saving my two children, they are my life. Thank you for your brave and selfless fight for the people of Xiniya, we will remember your help forever."

  Ye Feng had a very good impression of this person, without the usual arrogance and conceit of nobles, nor the vulgarity and cunning of the crowd in the large hall downstairs. At this moment, he seemed to be a gentle and sentimental single father.

  In the accounts of many, he had always thought that this duke was a spendthrift who only knew how to indulge in lavish feasts and drunken revelries. Now it seemed that might be true, but he was by no means detestable.

  Ye Feng said: "I also want to thank Niya and Oula, if it wasn't for them I think I would still be in the Black Forest as a savage."

  Nia, who was standing next to him, remembered the sight of him covered in leaves when they first met and burst out laughing, her anger dissipating instantly, and the atmosphere in the room relaxed.

  The duke brought Ye Feng closer to the table, then pulled a rope behind him. After a moment, the door was pushed open and several servants, led by an old steward, pushed in a dinner cart.

  The duke made a gesture of invitation, smiling and saying: "I think you must not have eaten well downstairs. The navy's gang of bastards was evasive when I asked for help, almost destroying our Siniya to pirates, even here they do nothing, now they want me to host a grand banquet for them, the Yurii house may be out of power, but it's not something that can be bullied at will."

  Nia said with a smirk beside him: "But your tricks are really too childish."

  The duke revealed a mischievous grin of success: "I want my cooks to mess up the dishes at the banquet as much as possible, and also dilute all the wine with water, haha."

  Yefeng finally understood why he couldn't swallow the food, while Oula didn't even touch anything at the banquet. "Oula that kid actually dared to frame me."

  Yefeng thought to himself that this old man was a good rascal, but he liked him. He felt more and more affectionate towards Duke Ulysses, they were both people with a bit of a wicked taste.

  Today, I was starving all day and didn't eat much at the banquet downstairs. Now, I'm devouring food without any manners. The lamb shanks are tender enough and the beef leg is fragrant enough. Although I feel like something is missing in the flavor, this meal is actually not bad.

  The duke and his family seemed to have had a busy day as well, and after sweeping the dinner table clean in a flurry of activity, they raised their glasses and let out contented belches.

  A guard walked in and whispered a few words into the duke's ear. The duke's face changed, and he let out a cold snort. He waved his hand to dismiss the guard, then turned to the crowd and said, "As expected, the pirates we caught also confessed that someone had tipped them off about coming here."

  The duke feared that Ye Feng did not understand the situation, so he specially explained: "This time the pirates came a bit suspiciously. To be honest, the location of Xiniya is a bit remote, and the pirates have to pass through a very long section of the naval patrol area."

  Nia continued: "Including the robbers ambushing me and Oola halfway, I think someone is behind it."

  "The Duke shook his head and said, 'Not only that, I even suspect that Poseidon or others in the naval fleet are in cahoots with them. Poseidon took the fleet to the north for exercises, and the pirates just happened to arrive at the right time. When I went to ask the fleet for help, Poseidon made excuses, and even after setting sail, they only circled around outside the harbor. But when they saw the fire on this side, they rushed over directly, making it clear that they didn't care about Xinya's life or death, but just wanted to take advantage of the situation.'"

  Ye Feng simply nodded, without any surprised expression. As a lieutenant colonel staff officer, the clumsy performance of the Poseidon fleet was something he couldn't see through, then he might as well not mix in.

  "I've already fled here, yet they still won't let me go. Now they even want to harm my child." The duke clenched his fists and said in anger.

  Nia said: "At first you shouldn't have slunk away back to Xinya. In Norman they wouldn't even dare to be reckless."

  The duke seemed very afraid of Nia, murmuring a few words in his mouth, but nothing came out, and finally only a helpless shrug.

  Nia slapped the account book on the table and said, "Now isn't this great, after this banquet, we'll be almost bankrupt."

  "The Duke argued strongly: 'If I don't give the naval officers some money, they won't finish their exercises until who knows when.'"

  "Nia accused: 'Not only that, but you also had too many banquets in the past.' As she spoke, she rubbed her temples in distress."

  The duke cleared his throat and hastily changed the subject, asking Ye Feng: "What are your plans for now? I hope you can stay here first. Let me do my best as a host."

  Niya immediately closed her mouth and looked at Ye Feng with Oola, both of them full of expectation.

  "There's nothing in particular. It's just that I'm not very familiar with this place, so I want to get used to it and then find a job to make a living." Ye Feng shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly.

  Nia showed a relieved smile when Ye Feng said that, and Oola even let out a loud "Oh yeah".

  The duke smiled and said to Ye Feng, "It seems that my children all like you." Then the duke's expression turned serious, saying: "I know your martial arts skills are exceptional and your courage is beyond ordinary people, so I'd like to ask a favor of you?"

  "Oh?" Ye Feng put down his wine cup.

  "I hope you can instruct Eola, the House of Julius is currently in a precarious situation, to be honest it's all because of me, I'm not a qualified father and don't want Eola to end up like me. Nia has to be busy with territorial matters, rather than having Eola follow other nobles to learn, it would be better if you were the one to instruct him. Your abilities surpass theirs."

  Yefeng did not know that in the Roman custom, nobles would send their 11- or 12-year-old sons to other noble families with whom they had a good relationship, and have them educated by other nobles. This not only prevented their children from being spoiled but also strengthened the relationships between the two noble families. The mentorship between nobles was also a reliable political alliance.

  The mentor of a noble child is different from a home tutor hired by a noble family and can only be held by someone with dignity.

  The Duke of Sis requests that Yefeng instruct Eula, which is equivalent to acknowledging that Yefeng is also a person of noble status and a trusted friend of the Urial family.

  Niya stared at Ye Feng with wide eyes, while Oola jumped to his side and shook his arm, shouting: "Quickly agree, quickly agree."

  Ye Feng was taken aback at first, then smiled and said: "Of course, I like Oola very much, and I also like Xiniya." He looked at Nia, who was charming under the lamp light, and added in his heart: I also like your beautiful daughter, and can eat and drink for free.

  The duke stood up and bowed to Ye Feng: "Then, I'll have to trouble you."

  Euler jumped up with excitement.

  A warm applause broke out in the hall, followed by the melodious music and singing voices, Ava's song and dance troupe has begun to perform.

  A light click, warming the author's entire coding life. This book has been signed, feel free to collect.