Chapter Eighty-One Trouble

  Yang Yunqiu and his party moved very quickly.

  After all, the vehicle they were riding in was not a horse-drawn carriage, nor did it select terrain, although to save energy, they didn't gallop with full force, but at least it was roughly comparable to a swift horse rushing six hundred miles to the capital.

  They soon arrived at the border of Qingzhou.

  Zhou Dali's face looked ugly as he retreated back into the car, letting Li Da replace him to drive.

  Yang Yunqiu did not speak, looking at the refugees outside who were supporting the elderly and carrying the young, almost numb, nor did she frown - when she was in the capital, she didn't notice it, but as soon as she left the capital, she found that there were more and more refugees and disaster victims.

  In recent years, the Shang Dynasty has been plagued by frequent disasters, with droughts followed by floods, and the weather becoming increasingly abnormal. Although this era is already one of great turmoil, the Shang Dynasty has not yet descended into chaos, and the imperial court still maintains its control. The common people in the capital city and the officials often boast that they are living in a golden age of peace and prosperity, enjoying music and dance, while the situation outside has become so dire, which is quite unexpected for him.

  All the way forward, they have already met several groups of refugees. This is still good. At least it's easier to make a living in groups. In fact, it's not unusual for ordinary people to rely on heaven for food. Which year does the old sky not give a good face? There must be someone who leaves their hometown and leaves the land to make a living. Zhou Dali is also from a refugee background. He has seen this kind of thing before. Now he just recalls his memories, so he feels uncomfortable.

  There's nothing we can do about it now, and maybe things will get even worse in the future.

  For Yang Yunqiu, this chaotic world is actually the easiest place to gain merit. Sometimes he even suspects that there is a powerful backstage manipulator who arbitrarily pulls the strings of fate to let Yang Yunqiu get opportunities.

  Of course, such an inexplicable idea, he would only think about it when he was idle and bored, and would never take it seriously.

  Because they encountered some unpleasant situations, they walked a bit faster and accidentally passed the relay station. As the sky gradually darkened, Yang Yinqu said: "Let's go ahead and find a place to camp."

  In front was a small hill, and the group of people passed by to set up camp. Twenty guards worked together to quickly set up the tents, which were all made by Yang Yunqiu in his spare time, referencing the magical tents from Harry Potter. With just one pole, whether big or small, they were like little houses, very convenient for living inside, and outside was covered with a layer of camouflage fabric that could hide them from view.

  Everyone was very tired, the mountain wind was cool at night, the heat dissipated, and people were arranged to take turns keeping watch at night. The rest of the people gathered around the stove and casually cooked some porridge, throwing in a few pieces of bacon.

  Er Ya and the others cooked, Yang Yunqiu lay flat on the grass, regulating his breathing to calm down, his consciousness spreading out, every flower and blade of grass, every tree and wood, all became exceptionally clear in his mind.

  A pot of porridge cooked with a glossy oil sheen.

  Er Ya scooped up a spoonful and tasted it, very sweet. She waved her hand to beckon the guards who were lying in wait around her to come and eat, but none of them moved.

  Young master.

  Li Da leaned in close to Yang Yunqiu's ear and made a gentle gesture: "There is movement in the southeast, and also..."

  Yang Yunqiu stretched her waist, looked at the southeast direction, and glanced at the shrubs behind the mountain with a slanting eye. She smiled and said: "Send two people to explore the situation, and others have dinner."

  He scooped up his rice and sat down on a rock to eat, when he saw a small figure in the bushes behind him, inching its way towards the stove.

  The other guards also seemed to have seen it, and were unobtrusively in the best position to protect Yang Yunqiu, but they had all received instructions and no one dared to make a move.

  At last, that figure darted out, grabbed the pot on the stove and ran off.

  His body was also very short, thin and bony, but the pot was a large one that could cook meals for twenty or so people, and it was still scalding hot, yet he moved at an astonishing speed.

  The guards couldn't stop him if they didn't open fire. Yang Yunqiu took a big stride and grabbed the boy's collar with one hand, but to his surprise, the boy still refused to let go of the pot with both hands and bit down on Yang Yunqiu's wrist viciously.

  With a crack, his tooth fell out.

  Yang Yunqiu shook her head, this was enough to be ruthless, if it wasn't for the fact that he was biting on the communicator, maybe he would have really bitten off a piece of his arm.

  Li was furious, his face turned iron-green, and he rushed over to grab that little brat down.

  Two more people rushed down from the bushes on the hill behind, shouting loudly: "Don't hit my brother! You're bad guys, bad guys!"

  Yang Yunqiu listened but didn't hear, and with a flick of her wrist, she shook the little boy until his whole body went soft, then put him down on the ground. She took the pot from his hand, and even so, the little boy's eyes were still fixed coldly on the pot, just like a fierce little wolf cub guarding its food.

  This time, the two little ones who rushed out didn't get close to Yang Yunqiu's side. Instead, they were each held by a guard and pushed forward in front of him.

  Yang Yunqiu smiled and said: "Your brother stole my things and still wants to bite me, I didn't hit anyone, you say, who is the bad person after all?"

  Those two children suddenly stopped talking, but still gritted their teeth and glared at him. Li Da shook his head and said in a low voice, "Young master, they're just a few wild kids who don't know etiquette. We still have to hurry on our journey, we can't bother with them, let's just teach them a lesson and drive them away."

  Li Dà was not a bad person after all, he had good intentions. When he saw the three children, although they were dirty and their entire body was blackened so that you couldn't see their appearance clearly, and they were wearing tattered clothes, but they were very young, the oldest one was only around ten years old, and the youngest one was probably six or seven years old, all of them were just kids. He really didn't have the heart to argue with a few small children.

  Yang Yunqiu took a look at the little kid who had acted first, this child was no more than six years old, with a pair of eyes that were extremely fierce and sunken, his cheekbones were concave, and his eyes bulged out, if it weren't for this, just looking at his facial features, he should be a pretty delicate-looking kid.

  "Alright, first give them a bath with medicated water and shave their heads. Also, change their clothes to ours for now, we'll talk later."

  Li Da was taken aback, but he quickly led his men in bringing the three young ones into the tent to clean them up.

  "Master, are you going to bring these three kids along? They can't do any work and it's a loss to take them in." Children of this age, unless they're at the point where they can't survive without eating human flesh, no one will bother with them. They don't have the strength to do much work, and on top of that, they eat a lot because they're still growing. And even if someone were to take them in, it's unlikely they'd be able to teach them anything good after being out on their own for so long - they might even pick up some bad habits.

  "It's okay, I think that kid is quite spirited."

  Others might worry about bringing wolves into their homes and having these guys steal their belongings, but Yang Yunqiu wasn't worried.

  Before long, a series of miserable cries like killing pigs came from the tent, along with various curses mixed with local accents. However, it didn't take long for these miscellaneous voices to subside.

  Li Da shaved the three guys' hair clean, threw it into a large wooden basin, took a brush and brushed them from head to toe like brushing a horse, brushing off a layer of dead skin, their skin turned red. In this way, the three children only scolded people, but did not cry. After finishing brushing, Li Da applied medicine on them again.

  Three children had many scars and ulcers on their bodies, with toes cut into strips of blood. Especially the child who rushed out first, there was not a single piece of intact skin on his body.

  Li Da also relented and took out his best medicine for them to use.

  These kids are obviously good at reading people's faces. Although Li Da looks fierce, they seem to know he doesn't have any ill intentions and calm down immediately, silently letting Li Da fuss over them.

  After washing the bath, let them wear the long clothes of the guard team temporarily and tie their waists with a belt. Li Da pushed the three of them to the side of his young master and said, "Young Master, it's done."

  Three children looked at each other in dismay, all of them feeling anxious and uneasy, with one of them already having red eyes.

  Yang Yunqiu stared thoughtfully at the southeast, where there was a forest, and after a while, said, "Li Da, let these three children drink some porridge, don't eat too much, be careful not to get indigestion."

  Li Da hurriedly replied and quickly grabbed a bowl.

  These three kids aren't afraid of burning their tongues, they don't even have time to use a spoon, and just stuff things into their mouths with a gurgling sound, even if they're choking to the point of rolling their eyes backwards they won't stop.

  Li Dalian shook his head repeatedly: "Now it's summer, not winter, you live in the mountains and can still starve yourself like this, it's really unreasonable!" He only thought about how he and his team were thrown into the mountains by Young Master to train for wilderness survival, but after living there for a few days or half a month, they didn't even starve themselves to death.

  After a while, flames suddenly appeared in the southeast direction.

  Yang Yunqiu frowned: "Zhou Dali, they've made a move over there. Take a few more people to take a look."

  Something has happened indeed.

  Yining's eyes were blurry, and the only thought was to desperately sprint forward. Behind him came a burst of mocking laughter, with scattered arrows occasionally falling at his heels.

  I am a desperate rat, and those bandits are playful cats.

  He tripped and fell to the ground with a thud, struggling for half a day but unable to get up. The footsteps behind him were getting closer and closer, he hugged his head and wept silently - he didn't want to die, there was still a loving wife and child at home, if he died, how would they survive?

  "Hey, hey, look who's here! Isn't this our clever student?" A foot came down heavily on Yining's face, and the bitter taste of mud filled his nostrils.

  "You're not relying on this face, woman. Even the wife of our house's elder dares to... Let me try today, if you lose this pretty face, will you still have the ability to make the elder believe you? Don't worry, your life won't be lost for now. How could I let you die so easily? At least let you experience Wang Liu's 108 torture devices one by one..." The icy blade cut into his brow, and bright red blood seeped out. Yining gritted her teeth, but still couldn't help trembling, her teeth chattering.

  Blood flowed down, blurring his eyes, and his mind was somewhat dazed. However, a few light sounds suddenly came from beside his ear, and Wang Si let out a painful cry, holding his arm and stumbling backward. Even the large knife he had been wielding broke off, its blade falling to the ground.

  "What a person!"

  A dozen or so men dressed as bandits were all tense, looking around in all directions, but they didn't see anyone. As a result, these dozen or so people almost instantly fell to the ground, groaning and crying out in pain.

  Only Wang Si was still able to stand with difficulty, but if Yining could see his eyes, he would definitely notice that his pupils were shrinking.

  It was already night, the tree shadows were mottled, and the mountain forest under the moonlight became even more eerie. Wang Si shouted: "Come out, you... are you human or ghost?"

  The whole person fell to the ground with a thud and was hung upside down.

  Yining struggled to sit up and saw two figures jumping down from the tree, both wearing green and yellow striped clothes, resembling wild men, moving with light and silent footsteps.

  "...Thank you both, I owe you a great debt of gratitude." Even as a savage, Irene was still filled with gratitude.

  Those two had not spoken yet, when three more people came running from a distance and said: "Is it settled? The young master is waiting, hurry back to report." Then Yining let the two men hold her arms and flew away like a cloud.

  Before he had time to indulge in any more idle thoughts, a cluster of flames came into view. By the time he was sitting comfortably on the grass, wrapped in a woolen blanket and devouring a steaming hot bowl of porridge, his impression of the smiling young man before him was very favorable.

  Yang Yunqiu blinked, and after everyone finished eating, he didn't rush to ask Yining why she was being pursued. He just said: "It's been a busy day, everyone is tired, arrange the night watch, and let others rest."

  Because there was no spare when preparing the tent at first, fortunately the tent is big enough, squeezing a bit still separated one for tonight's unexpected guest.

  Yining and the three children were all sent to the same tent to rest.

  This high-end, foreign-style, and upscale campaign tent, even if it's not as luxurious as the one Yang Yunqiu lives in, is fully equipped with all kinds of furniture and appliances, except for only having one bed, one sofa, and one desk, which would still make Yining and her three children feel like they don't know where to put their hands and feet.

  Second Aunt feared the night wind was cold, and gave them two duck down quilts, light and comfortable warmth, smooth as silk to the skin. The three children didn't understand, but Yining knew at a glance that this thing was in Jingcheng's Zhenbao Pavilion's second store, one piece cost five taels of silver.

  As for Qingzhou, it's even more expensive, and it's simply priceless.

  The four of them lay there, restless and anxious, thinking they would be awake all night, but before long, they fell into a deep sleep, not knowing how many days it had been since they last slept so soundly.

  On the second day, Izumi had the best breakfast she'd had in three years.

  Yang Yunqiu invited them to a meal together, and after they finished eating, he asked: "I don't know if you have anywhere to go. If you do, why not let me send each of you on your way?"

  The eldest of the three children, pulling the other two smaller ones, suddenly knelt down and stuttered: "Young master, you are a good person, our father and mother have both died, we have no home and cannot return, please take us in."

  Yang Yunqiu smiled: "Listening to your words is elegant and polite, you must be a young master of a wealthy family."

  The child didn't respond, and just kept kowtowing. He didn't think much of it: "Forget it, since you want to stay, Li Da, take them to sign the contract, let them do some trivial chores, and give them half their monthly pay."

  Even so, the three children were very happy. In these times, poor people could sell themselves to a good master's house, which was also a very good way out. Otherwise, why would most of the slaves and servants from those wealthy families who had their contracts cancelled and gained freedom still be like mourning for their deceased parents? Wasn't it because life was too difficult?

  Yining's eyes flashed, and he said straightforwardly: "I see that you are not an ordinary person. My surname is Liu, my name is Xing, and my courtesy name is Tianchen. I was originally a scholar from Qingzhou Prefecture, with a loving wife and children. However, three years ago, I was kidnapped by the bandit Fang Laoda and had no choice but to become their military advisor. A few days ago, I received news that my wife had been taken in by the wealthy Wang family of Qingzhou as a concubine. I had no choice but to risk my life to escape. If it weren't for meeting you, I would probably have lost my life already. I hope you can send me back home so I can see my wife and children again. In this lifetime, I will be unable to repay your great kindness, but in the next life, I will certainly repay your kindness with gratitude."

  Yang Yunqiu raised an eyebrow: "Fang Lao Da?"

  He thought for a moment and felt that this bookworm seemed quite useful.

  "How's this: you tell me in detail about Lao Fang's situation, and I'll ensure your family is reunited."

  Liu Xing may look like a bookworm, but he is also a decisive and ruthless person. He didn't even let Yang Yunqiu finish his second sentence before agreeing to it in one breath.