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Master and servant head south encountering bandits.
Within the borders of Henan.
Two little donkeys trotted along on the main road unhurriedly.
The young man in front was dressed as a scholar, he was looking particularly carefree, humming out some off-key tunes from time to time. Fortunately, there was no one around to run out and protest. The pageboy who followed him looked quite weak and unfocused.
“Zhao Ji, what are you doing back there?”
“Shaoye, you said that we are not without money, so why didn’t we hire a carriage?” The pageboy couldn’t help complaining.
“Shaoye, you said that we are not without money, so why didn’t we hire a carriage?” The pageboy couldn’t help complaining.
“To be hardworking and thrifty in running one’s household1, don’t you understand that?” The scholar knocked him on his head. “Furthermore, we are not in a hurry. We can get home within a month. What’s the rush?”
“Well, at any rate, we should buy two horses, riding a donkey is so shameful! …… You are now a fifth-rank Academician Expositor-in-waiting for the Hanlin Academy!”
The scholar answered with an “en” in agreement: “Your Shaoye, I, have never rode a donkey before, we’ve learnt from experience now. When we get to a bigger town, if we see horses, let’s buy two.
Zhao Ji was delighted: “Okay shaoye, let’s go faster!”
“How fast can the donkey go?” The scholar cursed with a smile.
“Shaoye, the clouds are looking a little dark, as if it’s going to rain. I’ve asked around before we set off, there are no staging posts when heading south on this main road. It’s better if we take a shortcut. We have luggage here, I’m afraid when it starts raining they will get wet.”
“Ok.”
The situation proved that the master did not recognize the way, and the pageboy was not particularly bright; they were lost. Zhao Ji looked at the three crooked paths in front of them, completely dumbfounded: “Shaoye, what can we do, which one should we choose?”
They had traveled for dozens of miles, but unexpectedly had not seen a single person pass by. It was a bit weird, but when they came out of Kaifeng, they had asked for directions, and everyone had said that there are many peddlers in this area, so it couldn’t be considered remote.
Zhao Su lifted his chin and signaled: “Let’s go down the middle one.”
Although Zhao Ji was young, he was very loyal to his master. He ushered the donkey to move forward and then trotted to the front: “Shaoye, I will lead the way. If you see something strange, just leave by yourself, no need to care about me. ”
Zhao Su was amused: “Could it be that serious?”
Zhao Ji was young and mischievous: “Shaoye, you can’t not believe me. I heard that the people of Henan are as tough as nails and there are many bandits. Before, when my hometown was in a famine, I also saw many people turning into bandits. Don’t just think everywhere is peaceful like in Zhili2. That’s only because it’s at the feet of the Emperor.”
As the two chatted, Zhao Ji suddenly yelled: “Look, shaoye, there’s smoke! There’s a village ahead!”
Zhao Su was also a little pleased: “Come on, let’s go see.”
The village was very small, it only had a dozen households, so as soon as outsiders came in, the whole village would know immediately.
Zhao Su was blessed with a refined appearance and looked gentle and harmless. He was also accompanied by a young servant so the villagers quickly put down their guard and greeted them enthusiastically, even the village chief came out to personally receive him.
Zhao Su was welcomed into the village chief’s house, only to discover that the majority of the village were made up of women and children.
The village chief was over fifty years old with grey hair. Compared to the wealthy elders living in the Capital, his appearance looked a lot older than his age.
“Could I ask where this esteemed guest is headed off to?” The village chief had seen something of the outside world, and knew how to speak appropriately. Hearing that Zhao Su was a scholar, his words became even more courteous.
Zhao Su got up and accepted the coarse steam buns that the other handed over, and smiled: “My name is Zhao Su. As my elder, please address me by my name directly. We are going down south and just happened to pass by here. We were originally following the main road, but ended up becoming impatient, and decided to take a shortcut through the smaller paths before arriving here.”
The village chief said: “If you are going down south, you have to go the opposite way, you have to go out of the village and go east all the way down.” He hesitated, and said: “You can rest here and then head off again. There are no other houses nearby, so if you travel faster, you can get to the relay station about twenty li3 away before it gets dark.”
Zhao Su hadn’t originally thought about spending the night there. He thought the tone that the village chief was using was rather strange.
“Dare I ask the village chief, why are there so few men in this village?”
The village chief was taken aback for a moment, hesitated for a long time, and then said: “Life has been hard here, the men have all left to work elsewhere to make a living, and they only come back during the holidays.”
Zhao Su nodded and asked again: “When I was in Kaifeng, I heard that this area is very lively, have we gone the wrong way?”
The village chief sighed several times: “That was three years ago. In the forty-first year of Jiajing, there was a locust plague and all of the grains were completely destroyed. After that, it didn’t rain, so it became extremely difficult to survive here.”
Zhao Su remembered the desolation he saw when he first entered the village, presumably what the village chief said was true.
But, how did that explain the absence of the men? It couldn’t have all been completely destroyed. The woman and children, plus the elderly were still here.
He was feeling suspicious, and he wanted to leave as soon as possible.
But coincidentally, it started to rain again.
The rain became stronger and stronger, pouring down like buckets, and the earth-shattering noise of the torrent of rain covered all the sounds outside.
They couldn’t leave if they wanted to.
“It seems that you won’t be able to travel today. If you, my esteemed guest do not mind….. just stay here for the night.”
Zhao Su was very helpless, and the village chief seemed even more helpless, and asked them to stay for the night with extreme reluctance.
After an hour, the rain did not get any lighter but instead got heavier and heavier. The outside of the house was blurry and visibility was extremely poor.
Everyone else hid in their houses to avoid the rain. The village chief’s house was much quieter than before. Only two four or five year old children were hiding by the door, sucking their thumbs whilst salivating as they looked at him curiously.
“These are my two grandsons. Their mother died during childbirth so they both lived with me.” The village chief explained whilst beckoning them to come over.
Zhao Su stroked their heads, whilst their little hands soiled Zhao Su’s clothes. He didn’t say anything. Instead, he asked them for their names and even told them a story.
The village chief’s expression softened a bit, and it seemed that he had something that he wanted to say but in the end, he didn’t say a word.
In the evening, when it was time to go to sleep, Zhao Su and Zhao Ji were placed in the village chief’s own bedroom.
It was obvious the village chief was incredibly kind to the two of them, but for some reason, there was still something odd about him.
Zhao Ji insisted that there was a difference between their statuses, so he spread out a straw mat and slept on the ground, but couldn’t help but muttering on the side of the bed, “Shaoye, I think it’s weird here, shall we leave tomorrow morning?”
Zhao Su agreed with an “en” and fell asleep not long after that.
At midnight, in his sleep, Zhao Su awoke with an odd feeling. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the dark shadow moving in front of him. He was shocked and wasn’t sure if he should jump up. He picked up the wooden pillow beside him and threw it.
After all, he was not a weak scholar who didn’t even have the strength to truss a chicken. Years of exercise and training had greatly improved his physical fitness. The pillow hit the target, making that person cry out, which woke up the sleeping Zhao Ji.
“Shaoye!” Zhao Su didn’t even have time to reply to him, he threw his quilt over the intruders, then grabbed Zhao Ji by the collar, and jumped towards the door, trying to flee.
Unexpectedly, there was a person blocking the door, and this person reacted very quickly. Before Zhao Su could react, he had already been hit on the side of his neck.
His eyes darkened, and his entire body collapsed to the floor.
“Shaoye!” Zhao Ji was frightened and angry, but he had only time to shout out once, before he was also hit unconscious by the intruder.
He Zizhong held on to them whilst sweeping a cold glance over to the people who were still in the bedroom.
Those people shuddered under his cold gaze, and Chen Lao-er forced out a laugh: “Er-dangjia4, fortunately you were fast to react, this guy could outrun a b*tch5!”
There was a person in the back who had been hit in the face by Zhao Su when the latter had thrown the wooden pillow, was currently whimpering in the back with a mouth filled with blood.
“This person seems to have some ink in his stomach6. Da-ge said it would be better if we don’t cause them any harm.” He Zizhong said coldly, even his voice did not fluctuate, matching his pale face that was almost ghost-like.
Chen Lao-er wanted to run away under his cold gaze, although he was still holding on, his smile was clearly forced.
“Er-dangjia, the village chief said that this person seems to have some status, he will definitely not go with us obediently, and now……..”
“Let’s go.” He Zizhong interrupted him before he could finish speaking.
He Zizhong turned around and dragged Zhao Su out with him. He walked very fast, and in a short while he had already walked quite far away. His body was so upright and rigid that he did not look like a living person from a distance.
Zombie7! Messenger of death8! Chen Lao-er secretly cursed, whilst thinking about how da-dangjia9 let such a person stay and even name him as his second in command back then.
This place could be called a mountain stronghold, but in fact it was just a mountain adjacent to the village. Due to years of natural disasters in the nearby villages, the villagers were struggling to survive. It just so happened that one day a man named Li Zi-De arrived, not only providing them food, but setting up camp upon the mountain, telling the villagers that those who were willing to follow him, would have food every month and even some money.
Such a deity-like person who descended from the heavens, those ordinary villages who were struggling to survive, naturally went to take refuge. With the sudden help of a few hundred people, Li Zi-De started to plan his operation. Every time a merchant passed by here, they would be robbed. It’s just that Li Zi-De did not want to take anyone’s life. As long as the money was given, he would let them go, and would still leave them some travel expenses. Compared with other murderous robbers in this world, he was extremely benevolent. Over time, the reputation of benevolent thieves grew, and for some reason, even if someone reported it to the government, in the end, the matter was still left unsettled.
When Zhao Su first arrived, he didn’t know that all the men in this village had gone up to Li Zi-De’s mountain stronghold, and only the women and children in the village were left behind.
But he only brought Zhao Ji with him, and he didn’t look like a wealthy man. The reason he was spotted was because Li Zi-De heard from the village chief that Zhao Su was a scholar, so he came up with another idea.
He Zizhong settled the person in his house, turned around and went to the backyard to take a shower.
During this cold winter weather, he took off his clothes, scooped up the cold well water and poured it on his body, without even blinking. The drops of water flowed down his muscular frame, and then he took a cloth to dry off and put on his clothes, before finally heading over to find Li Zi-De.
Li Zi-De was in his forties, he had a pale face and a short beard. It was said that he had achieved the title of ‘Xiucai’. When he saw He Zizhong, there was a smile on his face, which was very friendly.
Zizhong, how is that person?”
“He hasn’t woken up yet.” He Zizhong replied, still with a wooden face.
Li Zi-De didn’t take much notice of this: “When he wakes up, bring him over to see me. He’s useful to me, don’t hurt him.”
He was afraid that He Zizhong did not know his own strength, and could make the other vomit blood if he ended up having to use force. Not to mention a weak scholar, not even a sturdy man would be able to withstand it. Li Zi-De didn’t know where He Zizhong had learnt this skill. He was very mysterious, and he also refused to talk about it, so it was hard for him to ask any more questions.
He Zizhong didn’t speak, and when he saw that the other had nothing else to say, he turned and left without even uttering a word.
Li Zi-De had long been accustomed to his manner, but frowned without saying anything either.
He had met this man a year ago. At that time, he had run into a landslide. He Zizhong pulled him out, otherwise he would have been buried under the rubble. Later Li Zi-De asked him if he wanted to travel with him. He Zizhong didn’t say anything or objected. Li Zi-De took his silence as acquiescence, and brought him here and gave him the title of Er-dangjia10. Li Zi-De felt that he had done his best to show benevolence to He Zizhong.
Just as He Zizhong left Li Zi-De, he ran into a young maiden, who had her hair tied up in red ribbons and was wearing floral robes. She was surprised and timid when she saw He Zizhong.
“He…… He da-ge!” Tao-niang whispered. She was a young lady from a nearby village. Her eldest brother went up the mountain to follow Li Zi-De. She also came up every now and then to deliver some goods. She had already begun to fall for He Zizhong when she met him a year ago, it was just a pity that the other party was exactly like a stone devoid of emotion, whether it was a man or a woman, she had never seen him close to anyone.
He Zizhong stopped walking, glanced at her, nodded, and left.
It was like he was greeting a passerby who he didn’t know.
Tao-niang suddenly lost her smile, bit her lower lip but said nothing.
He Zizhong had already gone far away.
He returned to his house. Zhao Su was not awake yet, his hands had been bound and he was propped up against the bed. Due to his posture, he looked very uncomfortable and even had a frown on his face.
He Zizhong stared at him for a long while, as if he suddenly remembered something, a trace of doubt and confusion appeared on his face.
At this moment, Zhao Su groaned and then slowly woke up.