Chapter 8: No Human Rights
The courtyard gate was open, but there was no one at home. Zhao An found it a bit strange. Suddenly, he heard Liu Hu’s voice, “Um, Young Master Zhao, I’ll be going now.”
To hear the end of the story of Nie Xiaoqian, Liu Hu had followed Zhao An all the way to his doorstep. Zhao An turned his head and saw him still wringing his hands, looking very embarrassed.
“Wait a moment,” Zhao An said, coming out of the house to speak to Liu Hu. “Do you know which families in the village Hai Bo is close to? Could you take me to have a look?”
“Of course,” Liu Hu said. Hearing that Zhao An had a request for him, the awkward atmosphere instantly dissipated. He laughed heartily and said, “Your Hai Bo usually trades things with Liu Song and the clan head’s family.”
Zhao An locked the door with his key and went with Liu Hu to the home of the clan head, Liu Huan.
Liu Huan’s house was in the most densely populated part of the village. From a distance, one could see that the roof was tiled, but the walls were just mud. It was better than most of the mud-walled, thatched-roof houses in the village, but it couldn’t compare to the green-brick and tile house Zhao An was currently living in, let alone the two-story, courtyard-style building with brick walls and wooden pavilions that belonged to Zhao Tongming.
Zhao An had taken the ox-cart to the city and back, and it was still early, not yet time for lunch. As Zhao An approached Liu Huan’s house, he saw many people standing in the courtyard, and the unease in his heart grew.
In fact, when he had walked through the village fields and seen no one working, he had already had a very bad premonition. Seeing the people in Liu Huan’s courtyard, Zhao An silently picked up a stick from the firewood pile by the gate before stepping inside.
Liu Hu had followed Zhao An the whole way. He hadn’t noticed that no one was working in the fields, but he clearly saw Zhao An pick up the stick. He finally realized something was wrong, and his heart began to pound.
Before Zhao An could step through the gate, Liu Hu rushed into Liu Huan’s house and shouted, “Have you seen the Zhao family’s Hai Bo?”
This sentence made everyone in the courtyard turn to look at Zhao An, and a commotion instantly rippled through the crowd. Listening closely, Zhao An heard someone say, “I told you we should have done something about Zhao Fuping and his brother. What do we do now?”
Someone else said, “The Zhao family’s business has nothing to do with us Lius.”
Hearing these words, Zhao An’s uneasy premonition had become a reality. He saw Liu Huan walk out from the crowd and look at him. “The two young masters of the Zhao family said that your two servants were disrespectful to them and are taking them to be sold.”
“They’re my servants. What right does he have to take them and sell them?” Zhao An gripped the stick in his hand, filled with an overwhelming rage. Although he held no hope for human rights in this era, the fact that his own people could be casually taken away and sold still made him furious.
Seeing his reaction, Liu Huan didn’t know how to answer. In truth, Zhao An already knew the answer. He and Zhao Tongming were clan brothers. Hai Bo and Qin Tong were servants, their personal rights equivalent to those of livestock. Even if he took the matter to the authorities, Zhao Tongming would at most have to compensate him with some money.
So, in the end, this matter could only be resolved through violence. Zhao An left Liu Huan’s house and started running towards Zhao Tongming’s home.
He was fast. Along the way, he broke off a section of a rose vine from someone’s wall and held it in his hand. If it came down to it, he could use his wood-elemental ability to empower an ordinary vine, and it would have a certain degree of lethality.
Zhao Tongming’s house was much closer to where the Liu family had gathered than Zhao An’s. He ran for less than three minutes before reaching the two-story, courtyard-style building situated on flat ground.
They probably hadn’t expected Zhao An to return so quickly. The main door was wide open, and several women were sitting outside spinning linen thread. These women were Zhao Tongming’s two daughters-in-law and two concubines. Several children were also running around, playing wildly.
Zhao An ran past, nearly bumping into a child. By the time he went around, the youngest daughter-in-law had reacted and shouted, “Zhao An is here!”
At that moment, Zhao Tongming, his old mother, and his wife were in the main hall, shelling a large plate of fresh fava beans to eat with their wine, feeling quite pleased about the day’s events. Hearing the daughter-in-law’s cry of alarm, they all stood up.
But Zhao An ignored the women at the door and rushed straight into the house. Even though Zhao Tongming heard the commotion and tried to dodge, Zhao An had dealt with so many mutated plants and animals in his past life. How could he let him escape? He brought the stick down on the back of Zhao Tongming’s calf. The leg went numb, and Zhao Tongming fell to his knees. Zhao An then kicked him, flipping him over and pinning him to the ground. He immediately knelt down, locked his hands around his neck, and pinned his arms above his head. He spoke fiercely to the people who were closing in. “Stay where you are! Don’t move, or I’ll snap his neck.”
The concubines and daughters-in-law were scared witless. The old woman, though her heart ached for her son, knew that Zhao An wouldn’t dare to act rashly. She quickly tried to placate him. “Don’t be impulsive. If you kill him, you won’t get away with it either.”
The expression on Zhao An’s face showed no sign of softening. He threw away the wooden stick, freeing one hand. He grabbed the plate from the table, smashed it, picked up a shard of porcelain, and pressed it against Zhao Tongming’s throat. “I have no family or relatives now, just those two people. And you want to take them and sell them? Aren’t you just forcing me into a corner? I have nothing to lose now. After I kill him, if I can escape, I’ll run into the mountains. If I can’t, I’ll take one down with me.”
At these words, the people surrounding them all took a step back. The two long-term laborers who had been called over, even with carrying poles in their hands, could only tremble.
The old woman looked at him. He was more ferocious than the government officials who had come to arrest them when their family had been in trouble. She was truly frightened now and no longer dared to look down on this young master from a scholarly family. She stammered, “Your two people were taken to Majie Town. They probably haven’t arrived yet. We’ll send someone to chase after them and bring them back right now.”
“And if you can’t bring them back?” Zhao An gestured with the porcelain shard over Zhao Tongming’s arms and legs, as if considering where to cut.
This time, before Madam Li could speak, Zhao Tongming himself whimpered, “If they can’t be brought back, I’ll use money to buy them back.”
“Then hurry up and send someone!” Zhao An’s fierce expression vanished, replaced by a look of utter coldness. He said to the women at the door, “You, the ones twisting hemp rope outside, toss me a piece.”
In the end, Zhao An used several strands of hemp rope twisted together to securely bind Zhao Tongming’s hands. He then wrapped the rope around his neck and, leading him like a dog, sat down where Zhao Tongming had just been drinking. “I’ve been quite active just now, and I’m hungry. Get me something to eat.”
