Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
âI can handle this small matter for now. You guys should stay behind and help King Rui send the guests off.â Zhou Huaiming then stood up and walked out.
He could not let the two of them get too close to him and King Rui for now. Otherwise, they would also be in danger.
Gu Chengrui and Yang Zepeng looked at each other and got up to get busy.
Zhou Huaiming had found the camp of the patrolling soldiers in the eastern city and the old man and his granddaughter, who had been bullied.
Before he could speak, the girl knelt down and begged, âPlease save us.â
âPlease, get up. Iâm here to deal with this matter.â After Zhou Huaiming finished speaking, he invited the two of them to sit down and asked, âHave you two eaten?â
âYes, the officials here gave us a bowl of flour paste each,â the old man replied. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
âThatâs great. Please, tell me what happened. Who were those people who threatened to sell your granddaughter?â
âThe leader who captured us is called Brother Hu, and heâs someone who is in charge of giving out and collecting back tokens.â
âTokens?â
âYes, tokens. When winter came, my son caught a cold and fell ill. However, all the valuables we had were exchanged for food.
âWe had no choice but to borrow ten taels of silver for three months with a 30% interest rate, represented by those tokens.
âUnfortunately, my son still didnât get well. My son had just passed the seventh day when they came for us.â
âIt hasnât even been three months since winter. Do you know why they are suddenly in a rush to collect the money?â
âIâm not clear about this, but from what they said, it seems that their master is in urgent need of silver. This is why they are in a hurry to recover their capital. They even said that the interest could be reduced by half.
âBut in our family, only the two of us are worth some money, soâ¦â
âShort of silver? Someone who is in the loan shark business is short on silver?â Zhou Huaiming had thought of the Yang family when he said this, as they were the only ones really short of money.
âDo you know who the person behind them is?â
âIâm really not sure about that. We just borrowed the money from Brother Hu.â
âAre you sure what youâve said is true?â
âIâm sure. If I tell a lie, 1â11 be struck by lightning and die a horrible death.â
âMe too. Everything we said is true.â
âAlright, you two wait here for a while. Iâll be right back.â After Zhou Huaiming finished speaking, he went to look for the two people who had been caught earlier.
Ultimately, he was told that the two of them had run away.
After Zhou Huaiming heard this, he stared at the soldier in front of him with a sharp gaze and asked, âAre you sure they ran away on their own and not because you let them go?â
âGeneral Zhou, they really ran away while we were eating.â The soldier replied in fear.
âAre you all good-for-nothings? Itâs fine if you didnât catch them all, but how could you lose the ones we caught? 1 think itâs time for you to remove your uniform.â Zhou Huaiming turned around and walked out immediately after. However, after taking two steps, he stopped and commanded, âWhat are you waiting for? Get your people to spread out and look for those people!â
âYes, yes! 1â11 get right to it!â The soldier saluted and quickly ran off.
Zhou Huaiming sent the two victims back home, and at the same time, he had two subordinates temporarily protect their safety.
He turned around and went to the admiralâs office. He wanted to see who had the guts to dabble in the loan shark business in the capital.
Lord Yan saw Zhou Huaiming coming over in a huff and stood up in a daze.. âNephew Zhou? Arenât you accompanying the Third Prince in hosting the banquet?â