Chapter 241 - 240: Treating Him Like His Own Father
Chapter 241: Chapter 240: Treating Him Like His Own Father
Soon, Sun Yuting led the freshly washed little girl out of the house.
The boy had also packed away their valuable clothes.
"Let’s move out!"
At Wu Chen’s command, the five troublemakers mounted their horses and led the way.
But unlike the arrogance they had shown upon arrival, they were now completely dejected, as if they’d been castrated.
Then again, that was to be expected. Anyone with two Blood Coagulation Realm masters on their tail would look the same.
The group rode toward the town thirty *li* away.
Everyone stared straight ahead, except for the two siblings on horseback. They kept looking back at the village where they had lived since birth, only reluctantly turning their red-rimmed eyes away when it finally disappeared from view.
"Don’t worry, Big Brother will take care of everything for you."
Sun Yuting gently comforted the little girl in front of her, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes.
CLIP! CLOP! CLIP! CLOP!
After leaving the village two *li* behind, they reached a much wider dirt road, and the horses picked up their pace.
Amidst the swaying, rocking gait of the horses, a town soon appeared in their line of sight.
"Sir, that’s Water Town up ahead. Master Liu, the one who wants to buy the kids’ snake soup recipe, lives here."
The man in the lead slowed his horse and offered an explanation to Wu Chen.
Wu Chen nodded but said nothing. He didn’t care what this town was, nor was he worried they might be leading him into a trap to kill him.
If they really tried anything funny...
He wouldn’t mind showing them the power of the Armor Forging Realm, First Layer: Meridian-Severing Dragon-Capture—True!
Fortunately, nothing happened along the way.
It was only when they arrived at the gates of a large manor in town that the five guides reined in their horses and dismounted.
Just then, a portly, middle-aged man dressed in smooth, indigo silk emerged from the manor’s main gate, apparently heading out for a stroll.
Hearing the urgent clatter of hooves at his gate, the man craned his thick neck and saw his own Guards, whom he had sent out on an errand that morning.
He asked, "How did today’s business go?"
"Master Liu, it’s... handled..."
The burly man replied, dismounting with his head hung low.
’Not only is it handled,’ he thought, ’but I’ve brought you the original owners, plus two Blood Coagulation Realm masters who appeared out of nowhere!’
Master Liu nodded in satisfaction. "I knew it. Once I raised the price to two hundred silver taels, there was no way the family would refuse."
Two hundred silver taels!
As soon as he said it, the leader of the men felt a gaze as cold as ice pierce him from behind. A shiver ran through him, and his face turned deathly pale.
Master Liu naturally noticed something was off about his Guard’s expression. He had lost his usual swagger, looking as if he’d been gelded.
He was about to say something when he heard a "giddy-up," followed by the ’clip-clop’ of hooves from behind his Guards.
Then, the figure of a man on a tall horse blocked his path and asked in a mildly curious tone:
"Master Liu, you say you’re buying the recipe for two hundred silver taels, but how come I heard it was only twenty?"
Master Liu looked up toward the voice and saw a handsome young man he didn’t recognize on horseback.
His gaze shifted and quickly fell on the boy sitting in front of the young man.
He recognized the boy, who had come to town to sell snake soup before.
Master Liu focused his eyes on his own Guards, who were standing beside him with their heads bowed. A closer look revealed they were covered in bloody marks. It looked like they’d taken a sound beating.
Looking again at the young man and woman who had ridden up, he figured they must be wandering Rangers from the martial world.
Master Liu had not only inherited his family’s business through shrewd means; he was also more perceptive than the average person.
Seeing the situation, he already had a good idea of what had happened.
If his Guards had simply negotiated the sale with the siblings politely, there likely wouldn’t have been any trouble.
He was sure they must have used force on the siblings, and to make matters worse, they were unlucky enough to be caught by these two Rangers. That was how they ended up in this state!
The most crucial point was that these men had dared to embezzle the transaction money!
"I wouldn’t dare deceive you, Sir, or you, Miss! I, of course, arranged for two hundred silver taels for this transaction!"
Master Liu hastily cupped his fists toward the two on horseback. His attitude was extremely polite; despite his great wealth and influence, he adopted a very humble posture.
He knew that people who dared to venture out at such a young age, and who could effortlessly defeat five of his own Guards, must have frighteningly powerful backgrounds, to say nothing of their skills.
To prove his innocence, he bellowed toward the manor:
"Men! Break the legs of these bastards! Get the silver banknotes off them and bring them to me!"
Master Liu’s voice was deep and powerful, his fat jiggling as he shouted. It seemed he had also been a martial artist in his youth, but he had grown lax with age, his body going to seed from a life of pleasure.
As his voice fell, a flurry of hurried footsteps sounded from within the house, and more than ten Guards rushed out at once.
Seeing the dark, menacing crowd, the five men at the gate instantly turned pale. They knew Master Liu was serious, but they didn’t dare think of running.
They knew that even if they could escape Master Liu’s men, they could never escape these two from the Blood Coagulation Realm!
"You’re looking at the wrong people! Break *these five’s* legs! Search them for the silver banknotes and throw them out of town!"
In front of the two Rangers, Master Liu didn’t dare protect these men.
He had anticipated they might skim a significant amount of the silver—perhaps half, or even fifty taels—but he never imagined they would be audacious enough to take so much!
The thought that his rare act of kindness had nearly brought disaster upon himself made him wish he could kill the men on the spot!
Just breaking their legs was already an act of great mercy.
Following their master’s pointing finger, the dozen or so Guards who had rushed out were momentarily stunned. Their gazes shifted from Wu Chen on his tall horse to the Guards standing at their side, men of their own rank.
Though they didn’t know why they were to attack their own people, they knew they couldn’t defy their master. The group of Guards drew their blades and closed in.
"Have mercy, you two young heroes!"
"Master Liu, spare us!"
"I’ll never dare to do it again!"
"..."
Faced with the dark figures surrounding them, the men began to wail and beg for their lives.
Wu Chen listened to the agonized, shrill screams, watching the scene unfold in silence.
’"Never again"? They only say that because they’re facing death!’
The two siblings also watched. Hearing the miserable cries, the little girl shrank into Sun Yuting’s arms, trembling.
The boy, however, stared intently at the scene, a look of yearning in his eyes.
’So you can punish bad people without having to do it yourself!’
CRACK! SNAP!
After a brief but violent struggle, a few sharp cracks echoed from the crowd, followed by agonizing screams, wails, and faint groans.
"Master, your silver banknotes!"
A Guard deftly retrieved two hundred-tael silver banknotes and handed them to Master Liu.
How could Master Liu dare to take this hot potato? He immediately held them up with both hands, offering them to the young man on horseback.
Wu Chen shook his head and did not accept them.
Master Liu wiped the sweat from his brow and turned to the Guard beside him. "Go get another two hundred taels in silver banknotes for this gentleman! Quickly!"
"Master Liu, there’s no need for such trouble."
Wu Chen shook his head. "Even if you gave these few hundred taels to the boy, in his situation, he wouldn’t be able to protect it. It would only bring him a fatal disaster."
"He couldn’t protect it? A fatal disaster?"
Master Liu was confused.
"Their parents are dead, leaving the two of them to fend for themselves. Didn’t you know that?"
Sun Yuting shot him a cold look and chided him sharply.
A shiver ran through Master Liu’s fleshy frame. He bowed and scraped, saying:
"You two, I truly didn’t know. I was just strolling through the market when I tasted the snake soup these siblings made. I thought it was delicious and got the idea to buy the recipe."
"I just assumed their parents had made it and sent the two children out to sell it..."
"There’s no point in saying all this."
Wu Chen waved his hand, cutting off Master Liu’s explanation.
He looked up at the large manor and smiled. "This estate of yours looks quite large. I imagine housing two children wouldn’t be a problem, would it?"
"No problem! Of course, it’s no problem at all!"
Being the shrewd man he was, Master Liu understood the young man’s meaning in an instant.
He thumped his fleshy chest, producing a dull THUD:
"You two can rest assured leaving the children here. I will definitely treat these two little ones like my own sons—ah, no, like my own father!"
Wu Chen: "...That won’t be necessary."