Chapter 21: The Noble Young Master

  In the blink of an eye, the two groups were fighting each other. Although Zhao Chu's side had more people, they were all just kids with only wooden sticks in their hands, while the other side had fewer people but were tall and robust men holding weapons, completely not on the same level.

  The young men were like newborn calves unafraid of tigers, short in stature, jumping high with wooden clubs, wildly hitting the air. When they missed, they picked up snowballs and stones to throw randomly. The people on the other side quickly reacted, riding horses and using their bow backs and scabbards to strike back. After two rounds, they suffered greatly, and several of them were knocked to the ground.

  "Stop fighting, run!" Zhao Yi's eyes saw that the fallen Zhao Yi was almost trampled by the horse's hooves, and others were also in danger. A guest named Zhuang, who had been slapped twice, became anxious, drew his knife, and shouted hastily, fearing that someone would be killed if they continued like this.

  The little servants heard Zhao Che's words and immediately turned around, "Run this way, don't squeeze together!" Zhao Che pulled Zhao Xin, who was still stubbornly attacking with mud clods, while shouting and running.

  "Seize that young whippersnapper, he's the ringleader!" The young master, who had been left with a dirty face by a group of children, felt utterly humiliated. He wiped off the dirt on his face and shouted at several servants to let the others go, trying to catch Zhao Chu.

  Zhao Che ran while looking back, and several horses were chasing after him. Fortunately, the horses had just started running and hadn't gained much speed yet, still about 20 meters away from him. He thought to himself, "Follow me closely!" Zhao Che was already panting heavily after a burst of rapid running, but he still pulled along Zhao Xin, who was also drenched in sweat. The sound of horseshoes 'clip-clop' grew louder and closer, and the scattered servants rushed towards the 'enemy', then quickly regrouped and shouted loudly, urging them to run faster.

  "Jump!" Zhao Zhuo yelled as he sprinted a few steps, suddenly shouting to Zhao Xin beside him. Zhao Xin could already feel the hot breath of the horse's nostrils and knew they were about to be caught up. Hearing the shout, he instinctively followed Zhao Zhuo in leaping forward, and they suddenly appeared at the front edge of the thicket where they had set their rabbit trap.

  The moment Zhao and Yu jumped over, a "plop" sound was heard from behind. One person rolled and crawled to fall at his own feet. A horse with its legs tied up lay on one side, whinnying pitifully.

  Chen Zian thought he was about to catch up with the little guy in front, but suddenly his horse slipped and threw him off. He had just thrown away the cloak covering his head and hadn't figured out what was happening when he felt a chill on his neck, and a dagger gleaming with cold light was already pressed against his throat.

  "What are you going to do? My father is the prefect of Gongzhou, how dare you hurt me!" Chen Zian shouted furiously with a knife at his throat.

  "Hah, my dad is still the emperor, what can you do to me if you kill me!" Chen Zian was almost suffocated with rage, seeing this little brat not only unafraid but also teasing him with a grin. But when the dagger scraped his face twice, it was really sharp, scraping off the sweat and a thin layer of frost from his face. Chen Zian didn't dare move, but his lower body tensed up, feeling a sudden urge to urinate.

  Zhao Yi was also depressed, for the sake of two rabbits, it had become like this, he didn't want to, but if he didn't control this kid, a few horses would rush over, and his people would be either dead or injured. At the same time, he also wanted to give this arrogant guy some trouble. As for "arrogance", there were indeed people in this world with more power than him who couldn't be found.

  "Let go of our young master, or I'll have you all beheaded!" The servants who followed behind saw that the young master was about to succeed, but suddenly he was knocked down and subdued. The leader of the servants was startled and jumped off his horse, drawing his bow and aiming an arrow at Zhao Chu.

  "Heh heh, want to try? Is your arrow faster or my knife? Maybe you'll shoot me dead before I can cut off your young master's neck!" The two were only a few meters apart. Zhao Chan was still unsure if he could take down the kid before the arrow hit him, but his expression didn't change, betting that the gamblers wouldn't dare to take this risk.

  "Hou San, put down the bow! Do you want to kill Master?" Before Zhuang Ke could speak, Chen Zi'an shouted out. He felt the blade edge was already touching his skin, and his body tensed up, with an even stronger urge to urinate.

  "Quickly release our young master, our lord is the prefect, otherwise one word will make you exterminate your family!" Hou San put down his bow but continued to threaten.

  "Your father is a magistrate, I'm so scared, but he can't be unreasonable, right?" Zhao Chu still smiled, but in Chen Zi'an's eyes, this child's smile made people feel uncomfortable. "You came to our land, took away our prey, and even injured our people, it seems like you're the ones who are wrong first?"

  "My dad is a provincial governor, I can go wherever I want!" Chen Zian was speechless, thinking that this reason was still somewhat convincing.

  "Damn it, just because your dad is a governor you think you can do whatever you want?!" Zhao Che was amused by this kid and slapped him twice on the face, thinking to himself that as an imperial prince, his mother had taught him to pretend to be stupid, but this kid was just a governor's son and dared to be so arrogant.

  "Second Master, are you all right?" At this time, the young servants all gathered around, asking in a flurry of voices.

  "It's nothing, fortunately the second master is clever and lured him into our trap. We didn't catch a rabbit, but today we caught a person!" Zhao Xin hastily said before Zhao Tie could respond.

  "Let our young master go quickly, or I'll have all of you sent to the authorities!" Although it was cold, Hou San's body was drenched in sweat. Originally, the young master had come to the countryside villa to clear his mind, but now it had turned out like this. He knew that children didn't know their own strength, and if they really hurt the young master, his own head would be on the chopping block. Even if he managed to save the young master and bring him back, a severe scolding was unavoidable.

  "You said let go, we let go in the front, you guys shot an arrow at us from behind, do you think we're stupid?" Zhao Yi coldly hummed and said.

  "If you don't say the second half of the sentence, I'll think you're stupid!" Zhao Yi's legs were numb from squatting, and he sat on the ground, saying, "Where is your hat, Zhao Yi?" He was bareheaded, his face and ears frozen bright red.

  "Just now I had him flogged and thrown to the ground, letting the horse trample him to death!" Zhao Yi said, pointing at Chen Zian on the ground.

  "This is what you owe him, although it's a bit dirty, we won't bother about it!" Zhao Yi took off Chen Zian's fox fur hat and slapped it on his body twice before throwing it to Zhao Yi.

  "Thank you, Second Master!" Zhao Yi took the hat and happily put it on his head, while Chen Zian felt a pang of pain. This hat was one he had spent over 40 taels to buy, enough to buy a whole stack of such hats, but the knife at his throat kept him from speaking up.

  "Little brother, let's talk it over. You release our young master and I'll give you money!" Hou San said with a smile, pulling out a silver ingot from his bosom after seeing that the hard approach didn't work.

  "Zhao Ren, is that silver real or fake? Don't let him cheat you!" Zhao Ze said, not moving his knife, and gave a glance to Zhao Ren.

  "Really, absolutely true!" Hou San said with a smile all over his face, edging forward as he spoke, looking for an opportunity to grab back the young master.

  "Hey, uncle, just stand still over there, don't come any closer. When I get nervous, my hands shake, and if I accidentally cut your young master's face, it'll be bad. Just throw the silver over here!" Zhao Ze was a professional killer and kidnapper in his past life, and now he was using those skills to rescue hostages. As soon as Hou San saw him make a move, he knew what he was up to. The knife tip touched Chen Zi'an's face.

  "Hou San, give him the silver!" Chen Zi'an's body was now numb with cold, but he didn't dare move, and hearing that things were taking a turn for the better, shouted loudly.

  "Second Master, the silver is genuine, and there's even two taels extra!" Zhao Ren said as he accepted the silver.

  "Alright, thank you!"

  "You've checked the silver too, shouldn't you let our young master go now?" said Hou San.

  "Alright, you put down your bow and arrow and take a step back with the people. Otherwise, once I let them go, I'm afraid Lord Hou's hand will get itchy and he'll give us an arrow, which would be unfortunate!" Zhao Yi said with a smile.

  "Don't toast without drinking, or you'll be punished," Hou San didn't expect this kid to be such a sly thief, neither hard nor soft in the heart, wanting to retreat but afraid of offending the young master, not retreating and they wouldn't let them go, temporarily stuck.

  Just as the two sides were at a stalemate, a group of people suddenly rushed over from afar, each carrying guns and sticks. People on both sides felt a surge of tension, unsure whose reinforcements had arrived.

  "Second Master, don't be afraid, we're here!" the person running in front shouted loudly. Zhao Yi let out a sigh of relief as he heard that it was the guards from the mansion who had arrived. It turned out that Zhao Chi had seen that their side was at a disadvantage and had run back home to call for help, and now he was hurrying over with reinforcements!

  The situation suddenly reversed, Zhao and the servants all breathed a sigh of relief, but Hou San was extremely tense. His side was clearly in the wrong, although they had Master's backing, but now it was a case of "distant water can't quench present thirst". They couldn't win a fight, and running away wasn't an option either, since Young Master was still in their hands. At this point, even if they wanted to make amends with the other side, they would have to consider the other side's face.

  "Second Master, we're late, nothing's wrong, is it?" Yang Feng hastily ran a few steps ahead and said.

  "It's not too late, just got a few sticks, let them take a few lashes!" Zhao Ke saw that his men had arrived, put away his knife and tried to stand up, but fell back onto the ground with a twist.

  "Damn it, my legs are numb! It's all because of you, you bastard!" Yang Feng quickly helped him up, and Zhao Che kicked Chen Zi'an on the ground with one foot. Then Meng Tao, who arrived in a hurry, led the guards to surround the four villagers and beat them down with a stick.

  "Grandfather, we were wrong, please let us go!" Chen Zian said, having lain in the snow for half a day, and couldn't bear it any longer than Zhao Che, seeing that they would suffer a loss, sniffled and said.

  "We can't let them go, they robbed us and beat people up. If it wasn't for Second Master holding him back, we would have been in big trouble!" Zhao Yong was always 'charging' forward and got beaten the most.

  "Damn it, what kind of dog are you? You even dare to hit our Second Master!" Yang Feng suddenly lifted Chen Zian up and slapped him twice on the ears. His pale face immediately swelled up like he had taken a strong tonic. He pursed his lips, wanting to cry but not daring to, while several people from his side were already surrounded and being beaten up.

  "Alright, we've beaten them up and scolded them. We're not seriously hurt, so let's just release them!" Zhao didn't want to do anything else to them either. Now that he'd vented his anger, he decided to just drop it!