Chapter 8 (1/2)
The Chen family seemed to be polite enough to help bring the three thousand liang's to An Zheng’s rustic house. Du ShouShou looked at the chest full of the silver bars, and his eyes revealed a thing which was so familiar with An Zheng which he hated. He came to Du ShouShou, smiled and said:
– “You like them? You can have them all.”
Du ShouShou was surprised:
– “An Zheng, what did you just say?”
An Zheng said:
– “I said that I would give it all to you if you like.”
Du ShouShou was dumbstruck:
– “But these silver bars are for you.”
An Zheng slapped Du ShouShou’s shoulder:
– “Fatty, I hope you will keep in your mind that money is very good, specially good. It can help us get a better life. However, money cannot be compared with people’s friends.h.i.+p. If you like them, just keep them for yourself. You are my friend, so these silver bars are nothing because you did dare risk your life for me, so that is the most valuable thing.”
Du ShouShou was totally shocked and was about to cry:
An Zheng, I really cannot believe that you have such a sense of honor. But I won't take these things because you have truly deserved them.
An Zheng waved his hand and said:
– “Fatty, you must keep in your mind that money is just a tool for us to get a better life. Once being a tool, it can never be compared with friends.h.i.+ps, ever. However, I forgot one thing. With our capacities now, how can we protect these silver bars? If you bring them to your parents, it will not be good but terribly dangerous.”
Du ShouShou turned pale:
– “So, what should we do now?”
An Zheng said:
– “Let me see. Since we have defeated the Tyrants, news of it must have spread out in the whole South Mountain Town, those little ruffians must think about their positions. As you know in such a place like the Illusory Perennial Domicile, three thousand liang's are enough for the deaths of many people. Now, you should go home and take your parents to the school. At night, you must not go out no matter what happens. The school belongs to the Great Nine Bandits. Temporarily, no one will dare to rush into there.”
Du ShouShou pulled An Zhen’s hand in hurry:
– “What about you?”
An Zheng smiled while saying:
– “When we were outside of the tavern, I was thinking of how to live freely later. I wanted not only to have money but also to scare the baddies. Once scaring the baddies, they will not dare to cause anymore troubles. The three thousand liang's is a big hole, and I will wait here to see who will jump into it.”
– “An Zheng, let me help you!”
Du ShouShou seriously said.
An Zheng pushed him at once:
– “Go with haste! If those people know you, they will come to your house and find you. They obviously work without humanity. What if they hurt your parents? Now you should go with haste and bring your parents with you to the school.”
Du ShouShou hesitated for a while, but finally he turned back and ran. While running, he looked back and shouted loudly:
– “An Zheng, you have to wait for me. Once I finish taking care of my parents, I will come to you. We will overcome all dangers and difficulties! We will together, dare all h.e.l.ls!”
An Zheng waved his hand, and then he went back inside. Creeeeak! The door was opened from the inside, and Kou Lu slowly showed up. Kou Lu’s face looked unpleasant. However, An Zheng had known that it was Kou Lu that was there, so he was not surprised at all.
Kou Lu moved forward. He looked at the wooden stick and the wooden body in the yard, and he also saw a knife on the ground. This wooden body had obviously been made by An Zheng, and the body was marked with spots. Kou Lu used to know about these spots. They were accurately marked with no errors. Moreover, the slas.h.i.+ng marks were very clear at the pressure points.
– “You did lie.”
Kou Lu pointed at the wooden body:
– “It is obvious that you always trained yourself. Moreover, it seems that you used the long sword accurately. Tracing the slash marks, I can see that you can precisely aim towards an enemy’s dangerous points whenever you fight. Therefore, I was more curious as of why you had showed up yourself as really weak boy in the school. If you acted as cruelly as you had done with this wooden body, Gao Di’s men would not have dared to cause any troubles with you.”
An Zheng shrugged his shoulder:
– “At school, I used to explain, so I don’t want to explain again. It’s just because I want to be alive.”
Kou Lu moved to the chest full of silver bars, turned down and took a look:
– “I know what you did outside of the tavern.” Those people were the dangerous dogs that were raised by the Chen family so that the little son of the Chen family could have played with them. The Chen family are very strong, and they are so strong that even we have to respect them. Therefore, although your behavior had made me excited, the Chen family are still more powerful.”
An Zheng said:
– “I know that you came here to check if I had told you a lie, and then you will have left.”
Kou Lu nodded:
– “Yes, I will leave. Though I want to train you more, but I don’t want to make any mistakes towards the Chen family. Do you think that the Chen family had given you the three thousand liang's because they had respected you?”
An Zheng stretched his lips:
– “At least within today, I am not as valuable as these three thousand liang's. The Chen family gave me three thousand liang's which means that they will take action towards the Great Nine Bandits. If the Great Nine Bandits protect me, the Chen family will probably have reason to declare war. They will say that you had asked the students of the school to beat their men into serious injury. However, the Chen family is committed to continue their relations.h.i.+p with the Great Nine Bandits, so they refunded the three thousand liang's. In contrast, the Great Nine Bandits did not know what was bad or evil…”
An Zheng had not finished speaking when Kou Lu interrupted:
– “It’s not necessary for you to tell me all. Your thoughts are far beyond my imagination. Therefore, if anyone comes here in a while, I am not going to take any action and I will not show you up. Although the Great Nine Bandits are not that strong within the Illusory Perennial Domicile, they do not bow down to ask for mercy. If you can still live, after tonight, I am going to accept you as my disciple.”