Eighteen, sprout

  Xiao Silang spat out a mouthful of saliva and muttered a curse under his breath.

  "Fourth Brother, still thinking about avenging Tenth Brother?" The pirate next to him handed over a wine gourd.

  "Can I forget? For over ten days, as soon as I close my eyes, Old Ten appears, crying and asking me to avenge him... Xiang'an Yu Family, Xiang'an Yu Family!" Xiao Si Lang gritted his teeth: "After finishing the tasks at hand, I must go to Xiang'an. If I don't wipe out the Yu Family, I won't be able to sleep peacefully at night!"

  "My brothers have also suffered losses, with half of our men gone, but they are all our own flesh and blood!" The pirate's eyes gleamed with a fierce light: "Given the nature of my brothers, we don't need to wait until our current jobs are done before doing another one. Then we can either go work for San Ma Zi or join the Huo Shan bandits - it'll be a carefree life."

  "Ha! Throwing ourselves into the sea or becoming robbers in Huo Mountain, where can we find a life as carefree and happy as ours now? The government is watching us closely!" Xiao Si Lang snorted: "That's why I want to go find Song Bao Yi, get in touch with their line, so that our brothers' future days will be long."

  "That Song Bao Yi is just a salt smuggler, even if he has some face in Yangzhou City, how can he control us here in Nest Lake!"

  "You say you're stupid, and you're stupid to the extreme. Do you think there's no one behind Song Bao Yi?" As he said this, Xiao Si Lang didn't want to talk about it anymore, a sense of anxiety churning in his heart. He stood up, kicked the water thief with one foot: "Go see if Lü Lao Jiu has returned or not, let him go to Xiang'an to gather news, at this time he should have returned!"

  The Song Bao Yi in their mouths is a salt smuggler in the two Huai regions, but others only know that he is a salt smuggler and do not know that behind this Song Bao Yi there is a Wei Suo Tong Zhi. If it weren't for the protection of official soldiers, how could Song Bao Yi be so arrogant?

  In this world, officials and bandits, soldiers and robbers are originally indistinguishable.

  "Fourth brother, fourth brother, Old Ninth is back!" That water thief left not long after, but soon ran back with a thud: "Damn it, Fourth Brother, you're worried about him here, but that guy has drunk a bellyful of yellow wine and horse urine!"

  Known as Lu Lao Jiu, he was Xiao Si Lang's trusted aide. He had a fondness for wine, which Xiao Si Lang knew about, but this wasn't the time to worry about it: "What did you find out?"

  "Fourth brother, Xiang'an has been quiet lately. The Yu family was busy entertaining a scholar named Fang from Tongcheng a few days ago. Now that the scholar is gone, Yu Juren went to Yangzhou and it's said he wants to buy some slaves. Yu Yiqin is busy leading people to clean up the pond, but I don't know what they're doing. That little scoundrel in the third house is still training the family guards every day, only now he's not just training those few kids, but all thirty-four of the Yu family's guards are under his control."

  Although his face was flushed from drinking, the information Lu Laojiu had inquired about was not discounted. Xiao Silang's anxiety eased slightly: "What about Wuwei Prefecture? The tenth and others were sent to Wuwei Prefecture, weren't they?"

  "There was no movement, and I secretly took the head of the tenth brother from the city gate at night and buried it outside the city. The city didn't even react." Lu Laojiu said nonchalantly.

  "You... you've stolen the first prize of my tenth brother!" Xiao Si Lang's face changed, both shocked and delighted.

  "Yes, he's buried outside the city. Once the news dies down, I'll take Fourth Brother to relocate Tenth Brother's grave to a more auspicious location." Lu Laojiu belched and smiled wryly: "Since things went smoothly, your younger brother had a few drinks, please don't blame him, Fourth Brother."

  "No wonder, no wonder, you've already made a great contribution. Since the government doesn't seem to be doing anything, we can proceed according to our agreement with Song Bao Yi." Xiao Si Lang was overjoyed.

  Colluding with the private salt smugglers, he could make a fortune and return to his hometown as a rich man. This was a big deal for Xiao Si Lang's second half of life. As for avenging Xiao Shi Lang, he already had a plan in mind. Among the salt smugglers were some lawless fugitives, and he currently lacked enough manpower. When the time came, he could borrow some men from Song Bao Yi.

  "Lao Jiu has worked hard this time, staying at home to keep watch. Dogzi, go and contact Song Baoyi's people, tell him it can be done!"

  The dog let out a loud bark and proudly ran out, soon driving a small boat to disappear into the lake.

  Xiao Si Lang's hanging heart fell, he invited Lu Lao Jiu to sit down: "Lao Jiu, have you inquired about the details of Shi Di's mishap?"

  All the news Xiao Si Lang had received before was vague, either exaggerating the Yu family's servants as being highly skilled in martial arts or portraying Yu Yi Qian and Yu Guo Zhen as sorcerers who could conjure up soldiers with a handful of beans. However, the information from the government office stated that a patrol officer led archers and constables to kill a group of water bandits. Xiao Si Lang did not believe any of this, but it was certain that Yu Guo Zhen, the young master of the third house of the Yu family, had an intimate connection with this matter.

  Lu Laojiu repeated the news he had heard, which was from the mouths of those young people in Xiang'an Town. Naturally, it was more authentic than what others had heard. Xiao Silang's face changed slightly after listening: That little beast is so cunning!

  "Yu's family's young son is really only fifteen years old?"

  "I'm sixteen by Chinese age reckoning, and I'll be seventeen by the end of the year."

  "This little bastard can't stay, I'll definitely get those salt bandits to help me, kill the whole family of this little bastard, and chop him up into minced meat to feed the dogs..." Xiao Si Lang didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't help agreeing in his heart that Yu Guo Zhen was indeed clever, brave, and good at fighting, most importantly, he was only sixteen years old!

  Yu Guozhen himself, who was being held by Xiao Silang, got up from the mud at this time: "Continue, continue!"

  Since they were preparing to attack the water bandits, it was necessary to strengthen their training in the water. The young men of Xiang'an all grew up by the water's edge and swimming was no problem for them, but knowing how to swim did not mean they knew how to fight in the water. Yu Guo Zhen himself was not very skilled at this either, and could only grope his way through practice.

  He didn't expect these few days of practice to have an effect, it's just that making preparations is better than not making any.

  After half an afternoon of training, the boys were all covered in mud and jumped into the river to wash up. Ye Wuyue smiled and pushed Luo Jiuhe: "Jiuhe, you're not bad today, the young master praised you twice."

  Luo Jiuhe gave him a sideways glance, not knowing whether the man's words were genuine praise or veiled ridicule. His performance during the battle against the bandits that day had been quite pathetic, and he had become a laughingstock afterwards. These past few days, his heart hadn't felt too good.

  Gao Er Zhu looked on from the side, snorted and said: "Not convinced? Jiu He, when Young Master was recruiting people at first, someone said you were soft-tempered, suitable to be a book boy, but not qualified to be a house guard. At that time, I told Young Master that you were clever and intelligent, so he took you in. But look how you've turned out!"

  "Speaking of which, Gao Erzhu also got a bit angry: "I'm telling you, we'll have new tasks to do soon. If you're still like that at the time, don't blame me for not speaking up for you. You'd better go back to town!"

  Luo Jiuhe's body shook slightly, and he lowered his head. Ye Wuyue said that in his heart, he was not convinced, but when Gao Erzhu spoke to him, he didn't dare to retort.

  "Second Brother, surely not? Is Young Master really going to dismiss some people?" Ye Wuyue asked in a low voice, having caught the implication behind Gao Erzhu's words.

  "Haven't you heard? Old Master Wu has gone to Yangzhou, planning to take a boat up the Grand Canal to Shandong to buy a batch of servants. They'll be just like me, with a contract and everything! Not like you lot." Gao Erzhu mentioned his own contract with the Yu family, not only without shame at being a servant, but rather with some pride: "When dozens or hundreds of people arrive, if you don't behave yourselves, you'll have to go back home and eat plain rice!"

  "That's impossible!" Luo Jiuhe and Ye Wuyue chimed in unison.

  What kind of life did they live in the town, where the young and old were at odds, eating spoiled food? In Yu's house, they ate two months' worth of fried fish and pork trotters, braised meat. Let them go back to living a life of thin porridge for one or two meals a day - not on your life!

  What's more, these days they have found a certain dignity. Originally, when the adults in the town saw them, their first reaction was to wonder if they were going to steal chickens or pilfer something, so the most common greeting was with a broom or a shoulder pole. But now it's different. When they occasionally return to the town, acquaintances greet them warmly and think of ways to ask if the Yu family still needs to hire people!

  "Don't want to be eliminated? Then put in more effort! I just said that, recently... but there's something else to do!" Gao Er Zhuo said mysteriously.

  Yu Guozhen smiled as he heard their conversation from a distance, thinking that Gao Erzhu was still quite capable, but Yu Guozhen felt that his current job wasn't the most suitable for him. Once they had more manpower, he would have Erzhu do something even more important.

  After washing off the mud and sand on his body, he climbed ashore and saw Xiaolian rushing up with a dry towel: "Young master, let them splash around, why are you following them!"

  These days, Xiaolian would do this every day. Yu Guozhen opened his arms and the girl slipped under them, carefully wiping away the water stains on his clothes. It was a small thing, but Xiaolian seemed to have taken it as a very important task, focusing intently while wiping, her big eyes not blinking even once, and she didn't notice Yu Guozhen looking at her either.

  "These things, Young Master has to experience personally every time. What's the use of having senior and junior attendants then? Young Master never listens to advice..."

  Wiping the water stains on Yu Guozhen's body clean, Xiaolian finally lifted her face and met Yu Guozhen's gaze. Her complaints stopped abruptly as a flush rose to the young girl's cheeks: "Young Master!"

  "Ah, haha..." Yu Guozhen chuckled and withdrew his gaze from where it shouldn't be, summer had arrived, so even Xiaolian's clothes were a bit less.

  Just saw a breathtaking view, although it still looks very childish on the body of a 12 or 13-year-old girl, but Yu Guozhen's mood is still much happier because of this.

  Just then, he saw Second Uncle riding a mule and hurrying over. Yu Guozhen changed his mind about teasing one of his maidservants and thought that Second Uncle must have come on official business.

  "Guo Zhen, everything is ready. There are 50 mouths and 30 roots in total." Yu Yiqin walked to the front and made a slightly excited gesture.

  The so-called fifty mouths refer to only fifty steel knives, and thirty roots refer to thirty gun heads. Although the government turns a blind eye to civilians holding weapons, this is after all a case of "no report from the people, no investigation by the officials", so Yu Yiqin's words are somewhat cryptic.

  "That's great, now I can start preparing to take action." Yu Guozhen was also excited, with the weapon, he didn't need to bring the young servant carrying a bundle of firewood and a spear gun to kill the enemy!