Chapter 15: Acquaintance Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Who wrote the recommendation letter for Han s.h.i.+qi? That person had to be closely a.s.sociated with the ma.s.sacre of the Gu family.
However, Gu Shenwei did not have any clue because he was still a naive young Master at that time and did not care about it. If he had not been in the study when Han s.h.i.+qi met Gu Lun, he would not have remembered the manor servant.
Han s.h.i.+qi must have known the previous “young Master”, as one of his main purposes for working in the manor had to be to recognize their faces.
The first head that they had taken was incorrect, and so was the second. No one could be more certain about it than Han s.h.i.+qi.
What Gu Shenwei had been worried about had come to pa.s.s.
At this critical moment, he could do nothing. He could not rashly leave because it would only arouse the others’ attention, neither could he wait like this because Han s.h.i.+qi would open his eyes sooner or later.
Gu Shenwei could only pray silently and let the Will of the Divine decide his fate.
His complexion slightly exposed his mood. Slave Yao, adept at observing people, curiously glanced at him and opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it.
Over there, Han s.h.i.+qi, who lay on the deck chair, turned over and beckoned Slave Ji to ma.s.sage his waist while drowsily saying, “Less talk. I’m already very lucky to keep this hand. Every time I see the Eighth Young Master, my heart pounds heavily. How dare I speak more? Let’s talk about it later.”
Slave Ji was not satisfied, especially in front of the new servants. He then pushed Han s.h.i.+qi’s waist like a little woman while saying in a seductive tone, “Third Brother, I don’t understand. They killed the wrong kid before letting you double-check. It wasn’t your fault. You deserve a medal for finding the kid. Why are you scared?”
Gu Shenwei also wanted to know what happened to the second child.
Han s.h.i.+qi gave two short laughs and stretched, but did not answer. Turning to face the nine teenagers, he opened his eyes.
Gu Shenwei had his heart in his mouth and almost turned around to escape, as he would rather jump off the cliff than fall into the enemy’s hands.
Han s.h.i.+qi closed his eyes again.
“I’ll be away for about a month. Get some entertainment for me.”
Slave Ji understood tacitly that he had to use various means to win his backer over.
“Slave Qi and Slave Xie, stay. The rest of you, go back to your room.” Then he whispered into Han s.h.i.+qi’s ear, “A pair of brothers…”
The pair of brothers froze up as they knew that he was talking about them.
The elder brother, Slave Qi, had big eyes and bushy eyebrows, but his younger brother, Slave Xie, was delicate with bright eyes and shapely eyebrows. Slave Xie was so timid that he always hid half of his body behind his brother. In Gu Shenwei’s view, Slave Xie always kept silent.
Slave Yao looked bad as if he suffered tremendous grievance. He immediately flew into a rage after going back to the bedroom.
“In what way are they better than me? Just a pair of brothers. Poor taste. I’m certain that they don’t clean up their b.u.t.ts. Hmph, Slave Ji thought I snitched on him to Mama Xue. He should have thought that everyone knows that he had hit Slave Xiao.”
Gu Shenwei roughly guessed what the pair of brothers would suffer.
Although he was only 14, he had indistinctly heard of catamites in the Central Plains. He had not understood the exact meaning of this word, but he knew that it was an extremely sordid evil deed.
He sympathized with the pair of brothers but could do nothing. They had run into trouble while he had escaped it. Han s.h.i.+qi would leave tomorrow and come back a month later. Perhaps during that period, the Will of the Divine would help him find his sister. They could escape together and then seek revenge.
Slave Yao was irritated at losing the chance to flatter Han s.h.i.+qi. As “lucky” Slave Qi and Slave Xie were not here, he started to vent his anger on others.
“Slave Huan, it may be your turn next time. Look at you, with your self-righteous, n.o.ble look. You’ll win the favor of Master Han. Oh, I forgot to remind you. Those men like to be rough to such a little lamb like you. When it happens, you may not be able to walk for a few days. Haha, they…”
Gu Shenwei really wanted to punch Slave Yao in the face. However, he kept his temper in check and repeatedly warned himself not to mess things up. Han s.h.i.+qi was in the opposite room, therefore, Gu Shenwei had better not arouse his attention.
However, he eventually could not control himself anymore and finally rushed at Slave Yao on impulse.
Slave Yao was prepared for it and kept standing behind the other teenagers. The five teenagers who had not learned Central Plains Chinese well could not fully understand his words, so they did not know why Slave Huan suddenly lost his temper and caught hold of him.
With his bit of family-inherited skills, Gu Shenwei could not fight with killers or bandits, but it was possible for him to defeat several peers. While looking at Slave Yao’s proud pointy face, Gu Shenwei suddenly came to his senses, choked back his anger, and stepped aside.
The pair of brothers, Slave Qi and Slave Xie, did not come back until midnight.
The elder brother, Slave Qi, clamped his lips shut and lowered his head so as to not look at anyone while his younger brother, Slave Xie, sobbed behind him.
The two teenagers lay on the brick bed while the others pretended to hear nothing. However, there was one who had not fully vented his anger.
“Hey, your b.u.t.ts must feel pretty good, right? Don’t think you’re higher than me after gaining a killer’s favor. I’m the Miss’s henchman now, and in the future, I’ll be…”
Before Slave Yao could finish his words, Slave Qi had stridden over and punched him in the face. While the two of them fought with each other, the nearby teenagers tried to stop them but ended up joining the battle.
Eventually, all nine teenagers in the room either willingly joined or were forced into the fight, but no one knew whom he fought with because of the darkness. Though Gu Shenwei knew Kung Fu, he still received a lot of hits.
No one noticed that someone had come in with a lantern due to the fight still being in full swing.
Slave Ji said with a sneer, “Third Brother, they are fighting for you.”
.
While resting in Slave Ji’s room, Han s.h.i.+qi heard the teenagers fighting fiercely. At midnight, such a fight would arouse the night watchmen’s attention. Han s.h.i.+qi felt irritated but amused, and shouted, “Stop,” while rus.h.i.+ng to separate the crowd.
Gu Shenwei had completely lost control. The indignation that he had been repressing for several days flowed out. Every punch he gave was with all his strength. Suddenly, he felt someone pinch his right arm. Without hesitation, he took the chance to turn around, his head crossing under the arm and his left fist punching toward the other’s face.
Han s.h.i.+qi was surprised that a little master hid among the group of children. He did not show his move to block it but grabbed the teenager’s right arm with more strength to push outward. The fearless teenager was instantly thrown into a corner.
A red circular print was left where Gu Shenwei’s new name was branded. His bones felt like they were broken. It was true that there was a large gap between him and a killer of Golden Roc Fort.
The two people stared at each other.
One was once a spy who had entered the manor of the Gu family and was now a faithful killer serving the Eighth Young Master, Shangguan Nu; the other was once the young Master of the Gu family, but was now a slave, with a humiliating brand on his arm.
At this moment, Gu Shenwei was quite calm for there was no way to escape. He would rather die gloriously in a fight than beg for mercy, disgracing the Gu family of the Central Plains.
The nine teenagers scattered throughout the room. All of them kept silent as they knew that they had caused trouble. Slave Yao turned his head to face the other way as if it had nothing to do with him.
Han s.h.i.+qi swung his hands with a surprised smile.
Gu Shenwei knew he had been recognized. With the idea of fighting to the death in his mind, he glared back.
“Slave Ji, you hide a treasure here.”
“Don’t talk rubbish. Show your moves!”
Gu Shenwei slowly stood up. His body was full of the first level of Yang Strength, like an overflowing brook. Facing the well-known killer of Golden Roc Fort, he was determined to fight to the death, neither s.h.i.+vering nor flinching.
All the teenagers were surprised that Slave Huan, who looked well-behaved, abruptly dared to fight with such reckless abandon. It was also an unexpected surprise for Slave Ji, who trained this servant. If the servant behaved like this in front of the masters, Slave Ji would be blamed for negligence.
“You brat! Do you want to die? How dare you speak to the boss like this! What have I taught you?”
Immediately, he took out the rosewood stick on his waist and was ready to enforce the “family law”.
Han s.h.i.+qi, unexpectedly, raised his arm to stop Slave Ji with the same smile.
“No, keep his wildness. Don’t let anyone touch him. Wait for my return.”
Han s.h.i.+qi and Slave Ji left with a lantern, leaving the nine teenagers in the darkness. All of them breathed heavily and then successively got into the brick bed. No one won this fight and no one benefited.
Gu Shenwei also crawled into bed. He was exhausted and it felt as if his skeleton collapsed, too weak to hold up his whole body.
“What did Han s.h.i.+qi mean? Didn’t he recognize me?
“But how is that possible? One of Han s.h.i.+qi’s main purposes for getting into the Gu’s manor was to recognize us. Or maybe that was not Han s.h.i.+qi, but just someone who looked like him.”
Slave Ji always called him “Third Brother”, but never mentioned his real name.
“One more b.u.t.t is going to bloom…” Slave Yao muttered before falling asleep. He was indignant about why he was not the lucky one.
Gu Shenwei did not know why he was not recognized until he washed his face the next morning. His face was black and blue and swelled up to the point that no one could recognize it.
He had been so absorbed in his worries that he did not feel any pain. The moment he touched the cold water, he felt unbearable aches and pains.
The others were all seriously injured and some of them limped in pain.
When they paid their respects to the Miss as usual, Mama Xue saw the pathetic teenagers and just snorted without saying a word.
After they returned to Firewood Yard, Slave Ji used his rosewood stick to tell the teenagers that he was the master of this yard and only he was qualified to hit others.
However, Slave Yao, who started that fight, escaped the overseer’s torture because he received individual training at Mama Xue’s place after they paid their respects to the Miss. To be a killer in Golden Roc Fort, it was not enough to only win the master’s favor; one should have a little martial arts foundation.
But Slave Yao suffered a lot at Mama Xue’s place. While the other teenagers recovered, only he continued to suffer injuries to his face. Before going to sleep, he still imagined what would happen if he became a killer, but at the moment, he was not full of confidence.
Gu Shenwei believed that it would not take more than a few months for Slave Yao to die by Mama Xue’s hand.
The 11th day after he entered Golden Roc Fort, Gu Shenwei was still annoyed that he had not heard any news about his sister, and was also upset about how to deal with Han s.h.i.+qi’s return. Slave Yao, who had not learned Kung Fu very well, came to find him.
Gu Shenwei was surprised to see him, as the two of them did not speak with each other over the past few days. While he was mopping the floor in Slave Ji’s room, Slave Yao walked in, returning earlier than usual.
“You know Kung Fu?”
Gu Shenwei did not answer and kept cleaning the floor.
“Teach me.”
“Dream on,” Gu Shenwei secretly said, still ignoring him.
“Teach me Yin and Yang Strength and I’ll give the cloth back to you.”
Gu Shenwei suddenly stood up.