Chapter 10: Are You Staying the Night?
Zhao Tongming’s family had been plotting to take Hai Bo and Qin Tong away to be sold for over ten days, which was why they had been sending people to monitor Zhao An’s family’s movements.
Discovering an opportunity today, they had immediately seized the two and sent them off to Majie Town in the neighboring Jiaozhou without a moment’s delay. They were determined that even if Zhao An went to the Changxi County authorities to file a complaint, by the time the official documents were exchanged between the two jurisdictions, the people would have long been sold, never to be found again.
At that point, with Zhao An left all alone, they could send people to harass him day and night—prevent him from sleeping, tear the tiles off his roof when it rained. Just a few small tricks would be enough to make his life a living hell, or even cause him to fall ill and die.
In terms of ruthlessness, Zhao An was certainly no match for Zhao Tongming. But brute force overcomes all tricks. Zhao An was not a timid or cowardly person. The moment he discovered the problem, he immediately charged into Zhao Tongming’s house to retaliate, leaving no room for Zhao Tongming’s insidious plots to be carried out.
After dark, Zhao Tongming was still tied to the table leg. To alleviate the pain of bending over, he had no choice but to disregard his image and sit directly on the floor. But with exhaustion piling up, he couldn’t help but feel sleepy. As he dozed off and fell backward, the rope around his neck would tighten and wake him. After this happened twice, the skin on Zhao Tongming’s neck was broken by the rope, and bloody marks appeared.
When Zhao Tongming was jolted awake by the strangling rope for the third time, feeling an immense thirst once again but unable to get any water, Zhao Fukang and Ah Wu ran back with crestfallen faces.
“Hai Bo and Qin Tong have already been bought,” Zhao Fukang said. Seeing his father’s miserable state, he didn’t dare to hide anything and told Zhao An the entire situation.
Hearing this, Zhao An turned to stare at Zhao Tongming, gritting his teeth and tightening his grip on the stick in his hand. He wanted to kill him on the spot.
Ever since he had transmigrated into this world, he had been injured. For over a month, Hai Bo and Qin Tong had been the ones taking care of him. If no one had been there to care for him, given his injuries at the time and the hostile attitude of the soldiers escorting him, he might have died a second time. After all, the current emperor probably wanted him dead.
If he died again, he couldn’t guarantee that something as fortunate as transmigration would happen again.
Zhao An clutched his throbbing head, took a deep breath, and began to consider the current situation.
He had originally thought that even if Hai Bo and Qin Tong, an old man and a young boy, were sold to a human trafficker, they probably wouldn’t suffer too much for a short while. He hadn’t expected them to be bought away in less than an hour’s time.
“Do you know who bought them?” Zhao An asked after calming down for a few minutes.
There were no major figures in this area where the two provinces met. Even if they were sold, perhaps he could use his status as Consort Li’s younger brother to get them back. Even if doing so might incur the emperor’s wrath, the heavens were high and the emperor was far away. At worst, he could just take them and flee past Jiaozhou to live in the Nanyue Kingdom.
When the three of them had first returned to Zhaojia Village, they had nothing. As long as he still had his wood-elemental ability, he could live well no matter where he was.
But then he heard Zhao Fukang reply, “I heard the person who bought them is very special. He’s a young man with blue eyes and Hu blood.”
In an instant, the image of the man he had met in front of the bookstore appeared in Zhao An’s mind. Although he wasn’t one hundred percent certain, it was unlikely that a second young, blue-eyed man would appear in such a small place.
For some reason, Zhao An’s heart actually relaxed. Even though he had never spoken a word to that man, he still felt that Hai Bo and Qin Tong wouldn’t suffer under his care.
While feeling relieved, Zhao An still decided to hurry to Majie Town to ask the human trafficker there if the blue-eyed man was the one he had seen.
If it was, he could go to Changxi County and ask Manager Feng, because he had once seen the brocade-clad man with martial arts skills walking with the blue-eyed man. And the brocade-clad man had used qinggong in front of Ruyi House. With such a high-profile display, Manager Feng would surely know him.
Thinking of this, Zhao An’s confidence was rekindled. Just as he was about to order the people in Zhao Tongming’s house to hitch up the donkey cart and take him to Majie Town, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind the crowd of onlookers who were still there even at night.
“Young Master, we’re back.” As he spoke, he had already parted the crowd, looking tearfully at Zhao An, who was sitting in the main hall of Zhao Tongming’s house.
Zhao An saw that half of his face was highly swollen and he was limping. He knew he had suffered a great deal. He thought to himself that he had been too lenient with Zhao Tongming’s family.
Looking past Qin Tong, he saw the man in black walking side by side with Hai Bo. In the dim firelight of the night, the color of the man’s pupils became incredibly deep. It was indeed the handsome, blue-eyed man Zhao An had seen outside the bookstore.
Zhao An lowered his head, a little embarrassed. His gaze fell on Zhao Tongming, who was sitting on the floor with his hands and neck bound, then on the wooden stick in his own hand, and the section of rose vine at his waist. He suddenly realized that his current image might not be very good.
Given the current situation, it was clearly not the time to be thinking about matters of the heart. Zhao An quickly pushed the distracting thoughts from his mind, raised his head again, and looked calmly at the blue-eyed man. “Thank you, Young Master, for bringing my servants back. May I ask your esteemed name? I truly don’t know how I can thank you.”
The other man seemed not to see Zhao Tongming behind Zhao An, nor the crowd that had surrounded the courtyard. He smiled with refined grace. “My name is Hu Sheng. I very much like the strawberries you grow. If you wish to thank me, a basket of strawberries will suffice.”
It seemed the other party knew Manager Feng; otherwise, he wouldn’t have known that he was the one who grew the strawberries.
“There are too many people here, and it’s not a good place to talk. Would Young Master Hu like to come to my home for a cup of tea?” Zhao An dropped the stick in his hand, stepped forward to support Qin Tong, and started to walk out.
Seeing Zhao An leave, Zhao Tongming quickly called for someone to give him water and untie his ropes. But Zhao Fuxiang, who had been knocked to the ground by Zhao An’s stick, saw the stick on the floor. His eyes darted around, and he was tempted to pick it up and hit Zhao An from behind.
But as he looked up, his gaze met a pair of deep eyes, like encountering a bloodthirsty wolf in the dark of night. Zhao Fuxiang shivered and no longer dared to think about ambushing Zhao An.
It seemed this Hu Sheng must know Zhao An. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone out of his way to rescue Hai Bo and Qin Tong, nor would he have looked at him with such a gaze.
Walking along a dark, unlit road, Zhao An couldn’t help but keep looking back to see if Hu Sheng was following. After he returned home and lit the lamp, he finally remembered to ask, “Young Master Hu, how much did it cost to buy back my two servants?”
“It didn’t cost much. Young Master Zhao need not worry about it,” Hu Sheng said, sitting properly on the chair. His voice was full and resonant, a very rich baritone.
Zhao An’s gaze fell on the other man’s Adam’s apple. He quickly realized and looked away. “It’s not that I want to repay you, but I must get the money from the family that sold my two servants.”
Hu Sheng nodded solemnly. “On the way back, I already heard about it from your two servants. This kind of local tyrant must not be let off easily. I will go find them now and get back the silver I spent.”
As he spoke, Hu Sheng started to walk towards the door. Zhao An quickly went to pull him back, grabbing a hard, firm arm. He immediately let go and said, “It’s already late. Let’s wait until tomorrow.”
So, are you staying the night?
