Chapter 25 The Qin Family Mansion (1/2)
Zhou Donghuang could not be bothered to reason with Li Rui, ignorant as she was. If not for the respect he had for Li Yun, he would have slapped Li Rui long ago and shut her up.
Li Rui tried to make conversation during the meal, but seeing Zhou Donghuang focus on helping himself to the food and showing no sign of entertaining her, she slowly fell silent.
However, she looked at Zhou Donghuang with a look of even greater disdain, because she thought that Zhou Donghuang would not answer her due to his guilty conscience.
“Aunty Yun, thank you for your hospitality.”
After they finished their lunch and left the restaurant, Zhou Donghuang sent the two ladies back to the main entrance of Qingyun Guild. After thanking Li Yun, he returned to the carriage.
Li Yun sighed as she watched the carriage grow smaller in the distance as it left a trail of dust behind it.
“Mother, why are you sighing? He’s only a martial invalid, we don’t really need to have any dealings with him,” Li Rui said.
“Rui’er, you are mistaken. Donghuang is a dragon among men, if you cross him, you’ll regret it later.”
“I’ll regret it? Impossible!” Li Rui said disdainfully. “As a man that even Chen Dandan did not want, naturally I, Li Rui, would not want him… The person that I Li Rui should marry should at least be a grandson of the eldest son from one of the preeminent families in the prefecture capital. Otherwise, won’t I have lost out to Chen Dandan? Zhou Donghuang, a martial invalid, is completely unworthy of me!”
…
It was completely unavoidable that the carriage being drawn by the ferghana horse would draw the attention of a group of passers-by as it passed through Ningping Tow. The ferghana horse was simply too eye-catching.
However, the middle-aged man driving the carriage was already accustomed to this because he had had the same experience that morning when he drove the carriage into Ningping Town.
“Young Master, the daughter of Guild Master Li Yun of Qingyun Guild is too short-sighted… why didn’t you demonstrate your abilities in front of her to shut her up?” the middle-aged guard couldn’t help asking Zhou Donghuang as they left Ningping Town.
Even he could not stand the manner in which Li Rui had spoken to Zhou Donghuang.
“Uncle, do you think… if a cat challenged a tiger to a fight, the tiger would entertain the cat?” Zhou Donghuang smiled indifferently.
“Of course not. Young Master, I understand, it was simply beneath you to nit-pick with her.”
As realization dawned on the middle-aged guard, he could not help thinking to himself how his Young Master was simply on a higher level. If he had been in his Young Master’s shoes, he would surely not have been able to suppress his temper.
“Uncle, we’ll do the same thing… if there’s a problem, throw the bell into the cabin. Otherwise, I will not rouse myself.”
After exchanging greetings with the middle-aged guard, Zhou Donghuang crossed his legs and resumed practicing of The Lord of the Four Supremes.
…
The journey back was uneventful, and no one made trouble for them.
The carriage drawn by the ferghana horse that Zhou Donghuang sat in was too eye-catching, and it was what the bandits waiting in ambush by the road assumed to be the carriage of the commander of Green Wolf Bastion.
Although there were many bandit camps between Qingshan Town and Ningping Town, only the Black Tiger Bastion could compare in strength to the Green Wolf Bastion.
The rest of the bandit camps were inferior to the Green Wolf Bastion in strength. Because of this, no one dared to antagonize the commander of the Green Wolf Bastion whom they assumed was in the carriage.
Occasionally, one or two wild beasts showed themselves and were beaten back or killed by the middle-aged guard.
Zhou Donghuang left Ningping Town on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the year 1227 in the Ziyun Era to return to Qingshan Town. He arrived at Qingshan Town and returned to Yunxuan Restaurant on the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth month of the year 1227 in the Ziyun Era.
The entire return journey had taken him only three days and three nights.
If Zhou Donghuang did not have the ferghana horse to draw his carriage, he would only now have reached Ningping Town.
“Young Master, you’re… back so soon?”
Granny Lian was astounded when she saw Zhou Donghuang at the door, evidently not expecting him to have returned so soon.
“Mhm.”
Zhou Donghuang nodded as he handed the fees from delivering the gold bracelets to Qingyun Guild in Ningping Town over to Granny Lian.
“Someone gave me a ferghana horse along the way, and I let the ferghana horse draw the carriage, so there weren’t many delays along the way.
“Gave you a ferghana horse?”
Granny Lian wanted to ask who could have been so generous, but Zhou Donghuang had already turned and left.
Nevertheless, that night, Granny Lian pieced together the events that occurred on the way to Ningping Town from the conversations between some of the guards.
“Hearing it from Old He, our young master met a gang of ten bandits led by the second-in-command of Black Tiger Bastion, Qian Tongtian on his way to Ningping Town… in just one exchange, he managed to snatch Qian Tongtian’s saber and kill him, then he flung the saber out three times and killed the remaining bandits.
“Young Master was able to kill that bloody-handed butcher of the Wang family in just one exchange, and Qian Tongtian’s ability was inferior to the bloody-handed butcher’s. It’s not unexpected that he was killed by Young Master. Nevertheless, I never thought Young Master could fling a saber out and kill people with it.
“Don’t you think this is too far-fetched? Could Old He be exaggerating things?”
“Old He is well known for being straight as an arrow. I’ve known him for many years and understand him well, it’s not possible that he’s lying.”