Aftermath
In the house, Zhang Cai and the other people had already cleared the mess, and everyone was sitting on the chairs waiting for their return, the bedridden mother-in-law included. Guo Sufei hurriedly told Zhang Xiaolong to tell his grandmother that he was fine, before the old lady could be willing to go back and rest.
On seeing Zhang Xiaolong’s arm wrapped in the bandage, Zhang Cai knew that there was no serious injury and he finally felt at ease. Only then did he realize that his body was hurting everywhere, and he was tired to the point of death. Hence, he asked Guo Sufei arrange an area for the two ladies. This indeed posed a problem to Guo Sufei, because the house was simply not large enough. Seeing Guo Sufei’s troubled face, Liu Qing said “Auntie, we are comfortable anywhere, there is no need to arrange a place specially for us. Please do not trouble yourself.” Thinking for a while, Guo Sufei offered her bed to the two ladies, while she chased Zhang Cai away to sleep with their sons. Zhang Xiaohua thus had to sleep with his grandmother, and fortunately, everybody had a place to sleep in the end.
Leaving the two ladies go into the room to sleep, Zhang Cai took out the medicine that Wen Wenhua gave him and pa.s.sed it to the three brothers to eat, before letting his three sons go to sleep.
After the children have gone to bed, Guo Sufei pulled Zhang Cai out for an account of what happened in the town. When Zhang Cai finally blurt out the truth, Guo Sufei was so frightened that her face lost its color. Her body was trembling, and she cried softly “the children’s father, I almost could not see you all again. How could something like this happen during such a joyous occasion?”
Zhang Cai cajoled her and said ”It is okay now, children’s mother. Isn’t it all over? You should quickly keep this plaque and the money in a secure place. Tomorrow, while sending those ladies back, we will split half of the money with them.” Guo Sufei said “There is so much silvers, we have never seen that much money in our entire lives. Wouldn’t it be better to return them to their owners?”
Zhang Cai said with a straight face “We do not know who they are. Furthermore, our benefactor said that if we try to return the money, they may ask for our lives instead. Our farmers’ lives are not worth much, so if they do come to collect the money, we can just return it to them.” Guo Sufei nodded in agreement.
After the two finished their discussion, Zhang Cai then took out the medicine in his breast to eat, while allowing Guo Sufei to help him apply the ointments on his external wounds, before he went back to sleep at Zhang Xiaohua’s usual spot. Only after ensuring that her husband and sons are asleep did she return to her room.
The two ladies in her room had experienced a day’s worth of fright and could fell asleep immediately. Thus, they did not notice when Guo Sufei entered the room. Seeing their sleeping faces, Guo Sufei smiled thoughtfully to herself.
During the afternoon of the same day, after Wen Wenhai and his junior sister left, they continuously used their qinggong and covered quite a large distance. “Junior sister, we are about to reach the main road, and can no longer use qinggong. Now that we have saved those people in the afternoon and left our horses in Lu town, what should we do for the remainder of our journey?”
His junior sister said in a soft voice “However senior brother wants.” Even though her voice was melodious, it was also cold and detached.
Wen Wenhai smiled bitterly and rubbed his nose “Junior sister, seeing that you are usually unconcerned about other people’s affairs, and are uninterested in outside affairs, why did you push me in the afternoon to help those people? Furthermore, you left your token behind, what if that farmer used it to commit crimes, what can we do then? You would not be able to face our master.”
His junior sister replied “Many thanks to senior brother’s intervention this afternoon. As for my token, I will explain it to our master when we return, and I believe that he will understand my actions.”
Wen Wenhai said “Fine then, we shall go back and explain to our master together. For the incident this afternoon, I should have lent a helping hand anyway. Standing up for the weak is our duty , and if not for our mission, I would have taken action earlier and not let Zhang Cai and his family get hurt.”
The junior sister smiled “I knew that senior brother is a kind-hearted person who would not stand by idly.”
Wen Wenhua replied “You little rascal, since young, you would have a cold exterior but a warm heart. We grew up together; do you think I would have not known your intentions? However, it is no longer early, and according to the waiter in the restaurant yesterday, we are still pretty far from our destination. Hence, we should avoid any further delay, and find some horses to continue on our trip.”
The junior sister replied with same line “However senior brother wants.”
Wen Wenhua pondered for a while, and said “Junior sister would attract more attention since you are wearing a veil. Wait here while I go up to the stables to find a horse.” Without waiting for a reply, he left not letting her have the last line of “However senior brother wants.”
After an incense stick worth of time, the sounds of a horse gallop could be heard. The junior sister raised her head, and indeed, it was Wen Wenhai who arrived with the horses. He threw the reins over to his junior sister who caught it mid-air and landed on the stirrups, before shooting ahead like an arrow. Wen Wenhao shook his head and smiled, before flicking his rein urging his horse to catch up.
Zhao Quansheng from the fierce tiger sect brought two short fat men, as well as a group of manservants, back in a dejected mood. On the way, more than a few pa.s.sers-by would hide when they saw them from afar, but some noted that they were not as arrogant as usual. These two men were the sons of Lu town wealthy merchant, and also the biggest bullies around. Today, their houses were hosting important guests, which was why these two men could sneak out and roam about. The banquet has ended by then, leaving behind the Fierce tiger chief as well as the wealthy merchant, who say these two left in high spirits but return in low spirits and felt suspicious, thus asking them to come over to ask further. Seeing the two short fat men remaining silent and not daring to speak up, Zhao Quansheng took the initiative and reported the events which recently happened. When Zhao Quansheng mentioned the two men teasing the two village girls, the wealthy merchant glared at the two fatties but remained silent, until he heard about the few village farmers going over to protest, he wrinkled his brow and asked “Where did these mudbags come from, daring to make a scene?”
Zhoa Quansheng did not answer him, but continued his story, until he mentioned the Jianghu couple, merchant Fu’s face changed and the fat on his face tightened, while looking towards the fierce tiger chief who happened to be his relative, which also explains why their relationship is so close. The chief remained silent, but picked up his tea cup for another sip. However, after Zhao Quansheng finished his story, including the part where the scholar in white took out a plaque, his hands froze and he asked “What was written on it?”
Zhao Quansheng replied with a frightened expression “Piaomiao!”
“Dang~” the teacup fell from the sect head hands and shattered on the floor. Merchant Fu did not pay much attention to the cup, but he asked urgently “Third brother Zhao, what is Piaomiao?”
Third brother Zhao did not answer him immediately, but stood up and walked towards the two short fat men, raised his hands and “Piak” slapped them several times until their faces swell and blood dribbled from the corner of their mouths. The two men were too frightened to even move away, and only begged their “third uncle” for forgiveness. Zhao third brother’s anger was through the roof “You two losers, cant you cut your bad habits? Your father already prepared four rooms with female attendants, are you still unsatisfied with that? Was the village girl that pretty?”
The two men did not dare to let out a word, so he persisted “So, was she pretty?”
The two men said “Not very pretty, but they looked demure which made hands itchy~”
Zhao third brother laughed angrily “Not pretty yet you still want to tease, and your hands even got itchy. I should really cut your hands off, do you know how much of a trouble you two have stirred up?”
At this point, the wealthy merchant realized that the matter was serious, so he got up and asked urgently “Third brother, is it a very big deal?”
Third brother Zhao did not answer him immediately again, but he narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment, before asking with curiosity :Then how did the two of you come back unharmed?” The question was unexpected, and the two short fat men were at a loss for words.
Zhao Quansheng continued to speak on their behalf, saying “Hallmaster, it was like so. “ Then, he continued his tale up to the very end leaving no details out. Third brother Zhao went back to sit on his chair, closing his eyes and thought to himself silently. One of the fat men who just got beaten whispered “Even though it should have been only two hundred silvers, I did not count before handing the money over, and ended up giving away the whole amount of five hundred silvers. Since I have nothing on tomorrow, I shall get some men to find out where those mudbags came from, and force them to return the excess silvers to me.”
At this moment, third brother Zhao opened his eyes and slapped the table in fury, shouting “Imbecile, you dare to do so! In the future, don’t even think about getting the money back, those were money to buy your lives.”
The wealthy merchant moved over and asked “Third brother, why are you acting like this, confusing me even further. Five hundred silvers is not a large sum, but shouldn’t you tell me the reason?”
Third brother Zhao laughed bitterly “Big brother, have you heard of Wujian sect?”
The wealthy merchant was confused as he replied “Of course, isn’t that your sect’s important backer? Of course I would have heard of them.”
Third brother Zhao continued “Then you should know about Lotus Escort right.”
The wealthy merchant nodded in affirmation.
“If you compare the Lotus Escort with Wujian Sect, which would be more powerful?” Third brother Zhao asked.
The wealthy merchant smiled “Both are equal in power, neither is above the other.”
Third brother Zhao smiled bitterly in response “Big brother is too kind with his words. Wujian sect is one chip below Lotus Escort, everyone in Jianghu knows this for a fact. You do not have to give us too much credit.”
“However, what does this Lotus Escort have to do with Piaomiao?” the wealthy merchant asked curiously.
“Lotus Escort is merely an outer branch of the Piaomiao sect!” Third brother Zhao’s words were like a large baton striking on the hearts of everyone who was listening; the two short fat men were frightened to a daze. Never could they imagine themselves stepping on the shoes of such a mammoth when they went ahead to tease those two village girls. If not for Zhao Quansheng’s quick wits which ended in them compensating the victims, they did not dare to imagine the consequences of invoking the fury of such a giant.