Chapter 65: The Horse Bandit's Treasure (Part 1)
Xiao Ziyang said, "I saved the three of you once, and you also saved me once, so we're even. The three of you mustn't call me 'Benefactor' again; if you don't mind, just call me 'Brother Xiao'. Oh, right, I still don't know the names of these two young ladies?"
"Alright, Brother Xiao," An Yuxuan smiled. "These two are my second and third sisters. My second sister is named An Yuhuo, and my third sister is named An YuRong."
An Yuhe and An Yurong shouted in unison: "Xiao Gege." Their voices were as melodious as the oriole's.
An Yuhe asked: "Xiao Gege, how do you plan to arrange for the women who have fallen into difficulties in this mountain stronghold?"
Xiao Ziyang pondered, "I haven't thought this through carefully. These women have fallen into the bandits' lair and been humiliated. Although we've killed the horse thieves, these women are no longer acceptable to societal norms. If no one lends a helping hand, I fear..."
An Jia sisters were once trapped in the hands of thieves, Xin Hao Cao Tianhao discovered their identities and intentionally kept them as hostages, so they didn't suffer humiliation. However, after being rescued by Xiao Ziyang, when they returned to their sect, not only did they not receive the comfort they deserved, but they were also insulted because of being trapped in the hands of thieves, and Su Dajie was even jilted and humiliated.
The three of them felt the same way when they heard what Xiao Ziyang said.
Among the three, An Yuhuo was the softest. After Xiao Ziyang finished speaking, she immediately added: "Since Big Brother Xiao has already killed the evil Cao family, our sisters' great revenge is avenged. Our sisters' homes are destroyed and we have no attachment to the sect either. Why don't we just stay here and take care of these women?"
An Yu Rong nodded vigorously after listening: "En, second sister is right, let's stay and take care of them."
An Yuwen also said: "Now that our blood feud has been avenged, rather than wandering aimlessly in the jianghu, it's better to just hide out here."
Xiao Ziyang was overjoyed upon hearing this and said, "Although I have the heart to help, men and women are ultimately different. Now that you sisters are willing to stay, it's naturally for the best."
An Jia and her sister walked towards the largest room in the middle of the left row of wooden houses, which was where the horse thieves had imprisoned the kidnapped women.
Xiao Ziyang naturally couldn't go in with them. He looked at the An sisters standing at the door, frowning, and only entered the room after a while.
He waited for a moment, and suddenly his heart moved, turned around and walked towards the gathering hall. He suddenly remembered Cao Tianjie's mention of thousand-year-old snow ginseng, he knew that this person was probably deceiving him, but not going to take a look would leave him with lingering doubts.
Xiao Ziyang had a general understanding of the prices of medicinal materials recorded in the second half of "Zi Yu Sheng Yan" after dealing with them for over a year. Although he had more than 200,000 taels of silver on him, it was far from enough compared to the large amount of expensive herbs needed for cultivation.
If it were an ordinary bandit, he would not bother to rummage through the boxes and cabinets. This Iron Cavalry has dominated Jin State for nearly ten years, and without a few family assets, no one would believe him. Even if there is no thousand-year-old bloodline, there is no reason to return empty-handed.
Xiao Ziyang walked into the gathering hall, Cao Tianhao was indeed a martial arts enthusiast, and the courtyard where he lived was extremely simple, with most of the houses empty.
He didn't have to work very hard and soon found the entrance to the cellar under a desk.
The desk was in a small room at the back of the assembly hall. As soon as Xiao Ziyang put his hand on this desk, he knew he had found the right place. Because this desk was actually made of cast iron.
He lifted up this heavy iron table weighing over 10,000 catties, and under the table was a cellar.
Xiao Ziyang looked at the underground cellar but did not enter; according to Jianghu rules, he had to wait for the An sisters to go in together.
He came out of the assembly hall and saw An Yuqing standing alone in front of the wooden house, pouting her mouth with an unhappy expression.
"What's wrong?" asked Xiao Ziyang as he stepped forward.
An Yu Rong furrowed her brow and said, "I've already grown up, I've killed several people, but they still treat me like a child... Those women are so pitiful, these horse bandits aren't human, I really want to kill them again..." She said, clenching her teeth in anger, yet not showing any ferocity.
Xiao Ziyang smiled slightly and changed the subject, asking: "Can your sister handle it? Or should I go to town to find a doctor?"
An Yu Rong shook her head and said, "No need, no need, my sister's medical skills are quite good. Our Ma Guan is famous for its medical skills in the northwest martial arts world, even Han Mo Fortress has to give us some face; our master is the most skilled elder in the observatory; let alone the doctors in this small county town, even the so-called famous doctors in the prefectural city may not be better than my sister and me." She said with a proud expression and raised her eyebrows.
Xiao Ziyang secretly laughed to himself, thinking: "You say your elder sister has the level of a famous doctor? Although it's somewhat unreliable, there's also some possibility. But if you say this little girl is also a famous doctor, then that famous doctor is not worth much."
Although he was secretly laughing in his heart, his face showed a deeply convinced expression.
An Yu Rong chatted with An Yu Rong for a while, and then An Yu Wan walked out of the wooden house with a gloomy face.
Xiao Ziyang asked with a thousand questions: "How?"
"This group of beasts! These women are mostly... with swollen bodies, some even have festering wounds... and one woman is pregnant, they've broken her water, if we don't treat her quickly, she's in danger of losing her life. But there's no medicine here in the mountain stronghold, I'm a skilled doctor but can't do anything without any medicine..."
Xiao Ziyang said, "Please ask Su Niang to write out the prescription, I'll go down the mountain to gather and buy what's needed. Oh right, you two please follow me, I found something in the assembly hall."
He brought An Yuxuan and An Yu Rong into the study, pointing to the cellar: "This may be where the Iron Riders hid their money, let's go take a look."
Xiao Ziyang fetched a candle and lit it, and the three of them walked down the stairs to the cellar.
The cellar is not very large, about two zhang square. On the wall opposite the entrance of the cellar, three wooden boxes of different sizes are placed, with the smallest one in the middle and the largest one on the left.
Three wooden chests, except for the largest one on the left which is roughly made, the other two are extremely delicate and exquisite.
On both sides of the cellar, there are two shelves filled with various precious medicinal materials and several piles of scattered silver ingots. The number of medicinal materials on the shelves is extremely large, appearing to be in the hundreds of kilograms.
Xiao Ziyang found the medicinal herbs he needed, and surprisingly, more than half of them were here.
A few piles of silver sycee were estimated to be no more than thirty or forty thousand taels.
An Yuqing quickly opened the wooden boxes one by one. The things inside shocked the four of them, none of them had expected that the three Chen brothers were so wealthy.
The wooden box in the middle was filled with nearly half a box of jewels. Xiao Ziyang didn't understand much about jewelry, but looking at its dazzling brilliance, he could feel that its value was not low.
The wooden box on the right is filled with a whole box of golden ingots, mixed with some purple gold ingots. There are at least two or three hundred of these purple gold ingots.
The largest of those roughly crafted wooden chests contained many small wooden boxes.
