Chapter 18 Furious

Chapter 18 Furious

Chapter 18 Furious

Three days later, Leping County.

On an autumn afternoon, the weather is sunny and the sky is high and the air is fresh.

The Tiecang compound of Baibingtang is located behind Xingyefang. A straight loess road leads directly to the entrance of Tiecang, which can accommodate two large carts running side by side.

This is the road that Baibingtang paid for itself. It is solid and better than the road in front of the county government office.

At this time, a convoy of twelve large carts was parked in front of the iron warehouse.

More than twenty apprentices in gray clothes unloaded twenty to thirty kilograms of iron materials from the cart and moved them into the iron warehouse. After weighing them one by one, a dozen apprentices in the yard moved them into the house and put them away.

Two accountants in long gowns stood by, holding registers in their hands, checking the quantity and quality of the iron materials shipped.

Although there were a large number of people unloading the iron materials, the work was carried out in an orderly manner under the command of two apprentices in yellow.

They are disciples of the shopkeeper Sun Guanghe, about twenty-five or twenty-six years old. Although they are only apprentices in yellow robes, they have a high status in the hall, second only to Manager Li and Zhang Jinkui, and are in charge of all affairs of the iron warehouse.

An hour later, the iron materials on the car were almost unloaded, and the two apprentices in yellow stopped talking, stood aside, and chatted and laughed.

One of the tall apprentices said:

"Why hasn't the convoy returned yet? It's been seven days. Logically, it should have returned yesterday."

Another horse-faced apprentice leaned against the wall and said lazily:
"How would I know? I guess the mountain road is difficult to walk on. We are heading deep into the Chimang Mountains. Even if someone leads the way, we may still go the wrong way."

"That's right. Maybe he'll be back tomorrow. But without the guards, we have to lead the night patrol ourselves. It's damn unlucky!"

The apprentice Gao was cursing, but suddenly his eyes fixed on the distance, blinked, and asked in confusion:
"Why do these two beggars look familiar?"

Upon hearing this, the horse-faced apprentice turned around and looked over.

Two beggars came over in a miserable state, wearing tattered clothes that were about to turn into strips of cloth, with their hair as messy as weeds and their faces covered with dirt.

The horse-faced apprentice frowned and said loudly:
"Those two beggars, get out of here! You must be blind to dare to come to Xingyefang..."

"Brother Hu, it's me, Zhao Shan!"

One of the "beggars" shouted hoarsely. The horse-faced apprentice took a closer look and swallowed back the rest of his words. He took two quick steps and rushed forward:
"Hey, Junior Brother Zhao! This is... Junior Brother Chen! How did the two of you become like this?"

Apprentice Gao also rushed over and came to the two "beggars", exclaiming:
"Junior Brother Zhao, Junior Brother Chen! What, what, what's going on?"

These two miserable "beggars" were Chen Yuan and Zhao Shan.

Zhao Shan said in a hoarse voice:
"Something happened to the convoy. The Black Wind Village was ruthless and killed people and robbed goods. My junior brother Chen and I escaped by luck. Quick, take us to see Manager Sun!"

The two yellow-robed apprentices were struck by lightning when they heard this, and their faces changed drastically.

Senior Brother Hu's horse face was squeezed into a ball, looking very funny, and he said in a hurry:
"Master has been waiting for the convoy to return these past two days. I will take you there now!"

"Don't worry yet!"

Apprentice Gao stopped him, turned around and grabbed a gray-robed apprentice, and ordered:
"Go get two glasses of water!"

Senior Brother Hu nodded repeatedly:
"I am negligent. The two junior brothers should drink some water first and take a break before reporting to the master."

Zhao Shan and Chen Yuan drank some water and followed the two men towards the front of Xingyefang.

On the way, the two asked questions here and there. Zhao Shan and Chen Yuan briefly recounted the whole story, and both were shocked.

Soon, the four of them arrived at a large mansion with four courtyards in Xingyefang. There were two majestic stone lions on both sides of the gate, and a huge plaque with the words "Sun Mansion" written in a flamboyant style.

Senior Brother Hu went in first to report, and then Zhao Shan and Chen Yuan walked into the house and came to the main hall.

A wealthy old man in his fifties was sitting on the armchair. He was Sun Guanghe, the owner of Baibingtang in Leping County.

When he saw the ragged clothes of the two men, his expression changed and he asked:

"What happened? Tell me quickly!"

Zhao Shan said with a crying voice:
"Manager Sun, the Black Wind Village was too daring. They killed people and robbed goods. Only Junior Brother Chen and I escaped. The others, all... all stayed in the mountains!"

Snapped!
Shopkeeper Sun pinched the armrest of the armchair with his left hand, and it broke into pieces.

Senior Brother Hu, who was standing by, had a look of regret on his face.

This was the sandalwood chair he bought for Shopkeeper Sun at the cost of dozens of taels of silver. It was an antique from two hundred years ago.

Manager Sun usually takes good care of him, but it is a pity that he has suffered such a misfortune today.

Shopkeeper Sun had no time to pay attention to these trivial matters and shouted:

"Tell me! What exactly happened?"

Zhao Shan trembled all over and quickly told the whole story:

"When the convoy entered the valley, the people from the Black Wind Village had already arrived. My junior brother Chen and I followed the convoy, waiting to unload the goods. Then, for some reason, there was chaos in front of us. Master rushed over, shouting that Xie Quan had broken through his inner strength, and that the Black Wind Village was killing people and robbing goods, and asked us to escape quickly."

"What? Internal energy? Impossible!"

Sun Guanghe exclaimed, and then with a "snap", he crushed the armrest on the other side of the armchair. Senior Brother Hu's long face twitched again.

Zhao Shan stopped, Sun Guanghe took a deep breath and waved his hand:

"go on!"

Zhao Shan then said:

"Junior Brother Chen and I followed Master and fled out of the valley. Wu Dong and his men caught up with us and hacked Senior Brother Zheng to death. Jiang Feng followed and shot Senior Brother Wang to death. Master was also hit by an arrow from Jiang Feng, but he also injured Wu Dong's arm with a sleeve arrow and escaped with us. But Wu Dong and three bone-refining bandits chased us relentlessly. Master asked us to run for our lives and stayed behind to cover our retreat. Then we fled into the forest..."

boom!
A delicate and exquisite white porcelain tea bowl was thrown to the ground and shattered.

Shopkeeper Sun said angrily:

"You two are so brave to abandon your master and run for your lives!"

Zhao Shan showed regret on his face and whispered:
"Master's orders cannot be disobeyed..." "How dare you quibble!"

Shopkeeper Sun already had a lot of anger that he had no place to vent, and upon hearing this he became even more furious and angrily scolded Zhao Shan.

Chen Yuan took a step forward and said loudly:
"Master said that if we don't run away, we will die. If we escape, we can bring a message to the shopkeeper. We don't want to run away, but Master has ordered us to do so. We dare not disobey!"

He looked aggrieved, his eyes filled with tears that were about to fall.

Zhao Shan burst into tears:

"I...I feel sorry for Master, but I can't disobey Master's orders!"

Shopkeeper Sun's expression eased a little and he sighed:

"Go on, then what?"

He had long heard of Chen Yuan's reputation for honesty and straightforwardness. Zhao Shan was also known for his honesty and integrity. After hearing what the two said, he believed it about 70% of the time.

Zhao Shan wiped the tears from his face and said:
"Then we fled for our lives and got lost in the middle of the journey. Fortunately, we met a hunter who showed us the way and we were able to get out. However, all our silver and belongings were left behind in the mountains. We could only go to a roadside warehouse and ask for some coarse flour cakes to fill our stomachs. We did not dare to delay and hurried back to report the news to the storekeeper..."

Zhao Shan's voice gradually became lower, and Shopkeeper Sun finally regained his composure. Although his expression was still annoyed, he was no longer furious.

He asked a few more details, and Zhao Shan answered them all fluently, with Chen Yuan also adding a few words from time to time.

At the end, Shopkeeper Sun sighed, stood up and walked in front of the two men. He brushed Zhao Shan's shoulders, ignoring the dirt on his body, and said gently:
"Manager Li has been with me for many years. I am very saddened by his misfortune. If he is still alive, I will do my best to save him. If he is unfortunate... I will avenge him, Manager Zhang, and the guards."

As he spoke, he came to Chen Yuan again, looked him up and down, and said:
"I've heard that you two are loyal and hardworking. Go back and rest for a few days. After this incident, the hall is short of manpower. After this matter is settled, I will still have important uses for you... By the way, don't tell anyone about the caravan."

After hearing this, Zhao Shan and Chen Yuan both burst into tears of gratitude.

Shopkeeper Sun consoled them with gentle words for a while before letting Senior Brother Hu take the two of them away.

Senior Brother Hu sent the two to the door and sighed:

"This world is becoming more and more chaotic..."

Zhao Shan looked gloomy:

"Brother Hu, my junior brother and I still have to go to Master's residence, so let's say goodbye now."

Afterwards, the two of them said goodbye to Senior Brother Hu and walked towards Li’s residence.

Zhao Shan looked around and saw no one on the road. He whispered:
"Junior Brother Chen, thanks to your thoughtfulness and thinking of these excuses in advance, there were no flaws."

Chen Yuan looked ahead and said calmly:

"It's just to be prepared. Shopkeeper Sun is very careful and will definitely not believe everything. But you and I have a reputation for being honest and upright, so he shouldn't be too suspicious."

Zhao Shan smiled bitterly and said:
"Being honest and dutiful? Haha..."

There was no conversation along the way. The two men arrived at Li's Mansion. The appearance of the two men as miserable beggars frightened the doorman, who hurried into the mansion to report.

After a while, the doorman came out and led the two people into the mansion and into the main hall.

Sitting in the hall was a plump and beautiful woman in her forties. She was the wife of Manager Li, Li Zhang, also known as Madam Zhang.

Seeing the two people's embarrassed appearance, Mrs. Zhang's face changed drastically and she said in a trembling voice:
"How did you become like this? Where is your master? Where is he?"

Zhao Shan hesitated for a moment and whispered:
"The convoy encountered an accident and we escaped, but Master...he did not come back."

Mrs. Zhang exclaimed:

"What did you say? My husband is a skilled martial artist, how could anything go wrong?"

Zhao Shan told the whole story. Mrs. Zhang's beautiful eyes were filled with tears and she shed two lines of clear tears. She said:

"Did your husband ask you to bring back a message?"

Zhao Shan said sadly:
"Master said..."

"Where's my dad? I want my dad! Dad, where are you? Dad!"

At this moment, a cry was heard outside the main hall, and then Li Ying'er rushed in, followed by the doorman of the Li Mansion.

Mrs. Zhang wiped her tears twice and scolded:
"Who told you to alarm the young lady?"

Menzi hesitated and said:
"The young lady told me to inform the young lady if I saw the master or his disciples returning home..."

"Tell me quickly! Where is my father? Where is my father?"

Before Menzi could finish his words, Li Ying'er rushed to Zhao Shan and grabbed him by the collar, ignoring the dirt on his body.

Zhao Shan took a step back and turned to look at Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan turned a blind eye and just stood aside with a look of grief on his face, with no intention of helping him out.

Zhao Shan could only bite the bullet and say:

"Junior sister, Master was covering for us, and he must have fallen into the hands of the bandits..."

"nonsense!"

Li Ying'er said sharply:

"My father is a skilled martial artist. Nothing can happen to him. Impossible!"

Zhao Shan had no choice but to tell the whole story.

Mrs. Zhang had already been heartbroken, and after hearing the bad news again, she couldn't help but burst into tears and sobbed.

Li Ying'er became even more angry after hearing this. She grabbed Zhao Shan's collar with her left hand, slapped his chest with her right hand, and shouted at the top of her lungs:

"Why didn't you stay behind to cover our retreat? How could my father risk his life for two of you peasants? You must be afraid of death, so you left my father behind and ran away. Why don't you give my father his life?"

(End of this chapter)