Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Late at night, a few figures shot out of the Xie residence.

Xie Zhiyu, dressed in ordinary clothes, disguised himself to look utterly unremarkable.

By the time he and his men reached a residence in the neighboring county, it was already broad daylight.

The compound was crawling with shadow guards. Xie Zhiyu slipped into a secret tunnel, and the deeper he went, the thicker the stench of blood grew.

"Ow, ow, ow—it hurts, Master!"

Qi Yuanjing's pitiful wails echoed out. Xie Zhiyu could tell from the strength in his voice that he wasn't as hurt as he was letting on, so he slowed his pace.

In the secret chamber, Qi Yuanjing lay there looking pathetic, eyes glued to the young man patching him up, yelling about how much it hurt and pleading for a lighter touch.

Xie Zhiyu had figured Qi Yuanjing's injuries weren't as bad as he made them sound, since his yells sounded plenty strong, not weak at all.

But when he got closer, he saw a bloody arrow hole in his chest, black blood seeping out.

The young man tending to Qi Yuanjing had sharp, handsome features, his face like unmelting frost—cold to the bone.

He knew Xie Zhiyu was there but didn't so much as glance up.

Qi Yuanjing tried to lift his head to look at Xie Zhiyu, but the man shot him a glare, and he didn't dare move again.

Xie Zhiyu waited until Qi Yuanjing's wounds were fully dressed and Yuan Shuang had left with a blank face before he could finally talk to him.

"The shadow guards found out who was behind the attack—my stepmother."

Qi Yuanjing let out a long sigh at that.

He'd heard his master had come down from the snow mountain to hunt for a medicinal herb in Mingqing County.

Figuring that Xie Zhiyu's Gu poison hadn't acted up since he'd drunk Shen Song's blood last time, and since Mingqing County was right next to Yunxi County, and he hadn't seen his master in ages, he missed him something fierce.

So he'd headed over.

But halfway there, assassins started chasing him, herding him and his men toward Mingqing County and blocking any retreat to Yunxi County for backup. It had been one close call after another the whole way.

If his master hadn't happened to be around this time, he'd have been a dead man.

"Xie Ba, does your stepmother really have that kind of pull?"

Qi Yuanjing didn't question the shadow guards' findings, and he sure as hell didn't question Xie Zhiyu.

It was just that these past years, all of it had been too damn strange.

Xie Zhiyu knew that better than anyone.

Sure, his stepmother was a duke's daughter, but Qi Yuanjing, even if his family didn't give a damn about him, was still a prince's son. Even if she'd lost her mind, the duke and duchess would've done everything to hold her back.

Qi Yuanjing had barely escaped with his life—they were after him, but they were after Xie Zhiyu too.

Everyone knew that if Qi Yuanjing died, Xie Zhiyu was as good as dead too.

Qi Yuanjing sighed long and deep, knowing full well why he'd been targeted. He couldn't help but say, "Good thing they went for me. If they'd gone after Shen Song, he wouldn't have stood a chance."

Xie Zhiyu's brow knit tight.

"So what's your plan for the capital?" Qi Yuanjing asked.

Xie Zhiyu was quiet for a beat, then said, "Plans are already in motion. Word from the palace says we move next month."

Qi Yuanjing's face went serious. "You're really gonna kill your own father?"

Xie Zhiyu said flatly, "I don't have a father."

Qi Yuanjing dropped it. His one true brother had a backstory wilder than anything in the plays.

-

Shen Song's first New Year hadn't exactly been a great one.

He ate a ton of good food, went out with the family to make New Year visits, and plenty of folks came by their place too.

But every now and then, he couldn't help thinking about Xie Zhiyu.

He had no idea if Xie Zhiyu was okay.

That hollow feeling in his chest, like his feet were dangling with no solid ground underneath, made Shen Song deeply uneasy.

Even in happy moments, even when he smiled, it wasn't a wholehearted smile.

There was always a dull, suffocating weight in his chest.

Shen Song didn't like this strange, unfamiliar feeling.

But other than wait, there wasn't a damn thing he could do.

The Shen family had a rich, happy New Year this time around.

For the first time in years, the family actually felt what the holiday was supposed to feel like.

Together, warm and loud, they rang out the old year and rang in the new.

After taking it easy until the fifteenth of the first month, the whole family got back to work in a flurry.

To keep himself from having too much time and energy to dwell on Xie Zhiyu, Shen Song threw himself into business ideas.

Before the New Year, the family had reclaimed thirty acres of wasteland to grow more vegetables, and it was about time to start making deliveries to the restaurants in Mingqing County.

Even after supplying those places, there'd still be a pile of vegetables left over.

They needed to find more restaurants and eateries to take the surplus.

However, limited by distance, transportation, and time, Mingqing County—being accessible by water and right next to Yunxi County—could receive vegetables that stayed fresh even in summer.

The other neighboring counties weren't accessible by water, were farther away, and a round trip would take a full day.

But doing business with restaurants and eateries in those other neighboring counties wasn't entirely impossible.

Those counties didn't have as good information as Mingqing County and still didn't know about the Shen family vegetables from Yunxi County.

To do business with them, they'd have to go door-to-door promoting their vegetables, just like when they first started selling to restaurants and taverns.

To find buyers for the remaining vegetables, Shen Song handed over the delivery duties for Yunxi County and Qingyun Town to Chi Jiu. He and his second brother went to the other counties to negotiate business.

Originally, the delivery job was supposed to go to his second brother, but the family didn't feel comfortable with the two of them—both men—traveling so far. In the end, their parents made the final call and had the second brother accompany him.

Shen Bing had finished her month of postpartum confinement, but she hadn't brought the children back to the mountains.

Since Shen Bing's dangerous childbirth this time, Zhao Lu had already been thinking of giving up being a hunter before, and now he was even more reluctant to continue.

Compared to down the mountain, life in the mountains was still too dangerous.

Food, clothing, shelter, and transportation were also less convenient than down below. When he was alone, living in the mountains by himself, one person fed meant the whole family wasn't hungry, which was fine.

Now that he had a wife and children, and his eldest son was growing older, being a hunter was truly dangerous. Zhao Lu didn't want to teach his eldest son to take up hunting.

He had saved up some silver before, and Zhao Lu was thinking of buying farmland and settling down in the foothills.

Shen Bing was a member of the Shen family, and since the Shen family currently held a high status in Shen Family Gully, Zhao Lu wanted to get a plot of land to build a house in Shen Family Gully and buy fields to farm. It would be simpler than in other villages, and they'd settle in more quickly.

The specifics still needed planning, and for now Zhao Lu was staying at the Shen residence. Shen Zhun had gone with Shen Song to other counties on business, so Zhao Lu took over Shen Zhun's usual chores, working hard and not cutting any corners.

To go to other counties to discuss business, Shen Song bought another donkey and had a flatbed cart made.

He loaded several crates of vegetables onto the cart, along with a good number of steamed buns and pickled vegetables. These pickles were made from the vegetables from the field that had been destroyed earlier, and the Shen family had gathered the leafy greens, processed them, and salted them in clay jars.

At least the vegetables hadn't gone to waste.

The weather was still cold now, so when Shen Song and Shen Zhun set out, they still wore padded jackets and padded shoes. They also wore hats with flaps on both sides that covered their ears.

Shen Song was sensitive to the cold, so he cinched the hat's ties under his chin to keep the wind out.

This business trip turned out to be a lot more complicated than Shen Song had expected.

Shen Song thought that as long as they tasted their vegetables, business would be much easier to discuss.

Who would've thought that at the very first place they went, they'd get held there, cart and all.

In the woodshed behind the restaurant, the two brothers, Shen Song and Shen Zhun, woke up freezing. As they came to, both of them looked confused.

They'd originally gone into the restaurant to push their vegetables, and the restaurant owner had invited them into a private room to talk. After one cup of tea, they got dizzy, their vision blurred, and they passed out cold.

Shen Song had a keen sense of smell. If it had been plain water, he could've smelled something wrong or tasted something off.

But with tea, he couldn't pick up on anything by smell or taste.

Not wanting to waste it, once the tea had cooled a bit, he held his breath and downed it in one go.

Shen Song was left in just a thin undershirt and socks—his padded shoes were gone.

He was so cold he was shivering and his teeth were chattering, "Second Brother, the people at Jufu Restaurant tied us up and took our padded shoes and clothes."

Shen Song stated this to Shen Zhun, totally baffled. He really didn't understand why the people of Jufu Restaurant would tie them up and take their clothes and shoes.

They'd never met before, so there was no way they could have any grudge.

Shen Zhun was in the same boat as Shen Song. He scooted a little closer to Shen Song, blocking some of the draft coming through the door crack.

Once the two of them started moving and making noise, a bunch of muffled groans soon came from the woodshed. Shen Song and Shen Zhun followed the sound and curiously turned their heads to look, and saw that they weren't the only ones tied up and stripped of their outer clothes and shoes.

There were five others.

Their hands and feet were bound, and their mouths were all gagged.

When they saw Shen Song had spotted them, they widened their eyes and made frantic muffled noises.

Shen Song gnawed at the rope around his wrists with his teeth, and by the time he got it loose, the corners of his mouth were raw.

Shen Zhun did the same, biting through the rope on his own wrists. They both got their hands free almost at the same time.

Once they were free, Shen Song and Shen Zhun pulled the gag out of a middle-aged man's mouth. Shen Song squatted on the ground, hugging himself and shivering as he asked, "Who are you? How did you get tied up here?"

The middle-aged man worked his sore jaw, looking annoyed and scared, his voice shaking from the cold, "I'm Qin Fu, the owner of Jufu Restaurant. The other four are the cook, his apprentice, and two waiters. Last night, a gang of bandits came in disguised as customers. They waited until all the other diners had left, then tied us up."

The more Qin Fu talked, the angrier and more scared he got.

Last night, they waited until all the customers were gone and it was dark outside, then during the patrol guard's shift change, they knocked everyone out one by one.

Once they realized these were the actual Jufu Restaurant staff, Shen Song and Shen Zhun untied them.

Qin Fu rubbed his wrists, which had gone numb, "This crew probably figured leaving town in the middle of the night would draw attention, so they holed up here all night. So what were you two doing at our restaurant this early? You walked right into them and got caught up in it."

Shen Song said they came to sell vegetables.

So now, not only had they failed to sell the vegetables, they'd been stripped of their padded shoes and clothes too.

And their donkey cart was probably gone too.

Shen Song's guess was right. Their donkey cart was gone, and the vegetables were gone too. Jufu Restaurant had been cleaned out. The meat, vegetables, seasonings, pots, pans, and bowls stored in the back kitchen had all been carried off. The cash box that had been full of silver didn't have a single copper coin left in it, and not a single jar of wine remained in the wine cellar.

Qin Fu and the others wandered around the restaurant in their underclothes, letting out a cry of dismay every place they looked.

Shen Song and Shen Zhun were freezing, so they grabbed some firewood, went into the kitchen, lit the stove, and huddled by the fire together.

They didn't have a single coin on them. Everything had been taken, and they didn't even have money to buy clothes and shoes.

Even how to get home was a big problem.

"Xiao Ba, warm up for a while and then go report this to the authorities," Shen Zhun said.

Shen Song was just about to nod when Qin Fu, having finished surveying the restaurant's losses, cried out in alarm that they couldn't report it.

"This group of bandits knows that if we report them, they'll kill people!"

Shen Zhun frowned and asked, "What kind of reasoning is that?"

"You outsiders don't understand. In our Quanshan County, every year after the New Year, this happens. The bandits and robbers in the mountains have been hibernating for several months. They've used up most of their food, supplies, and clothing, so they naturally come down the mountain to rob.

Originally, these bandits and robbers would kill people and then loot everything. Later, the government suppressed them several times but couldn't wipe them out completely. After that, when they came down to rob, they no longer killed people. When people reported lost property to the authorities, although they sent people to investigate, you only ever saw the Blade Constable go out, and never heard of anyone's stolen money being recovered.

But you did hear of families who reported being robbed by bandits meeting with fatal accidents. And those who only reported lost property without mentioning bandits were all still fine."

Qin Fu sighed, "Since then, no one has reported to the authorities that they were robbed by bandits."

"So we just have to let it go like that?" Shen Song asked.

Qin Fu was also helpless, "What other choice is there? The government can't completely wipe out these people. Losing property is better than losing your life, right?"

Shen Song thought that made sense too.

"This time, we also have to thank you two for saving us. Otherwise, my men and I might not have died under the bandits' blades, but we would have frozen to death."

Qin Fu naturally noticed that Shen Song and Shen Zhun's outer clothes had also been stripped by the bandits. He said, "I've already sent someone to the clothing shop and shoe shop to buy padded clothes and padded shoes. Once the clothes and shoes arrive, I'll have someone take you two home. Would that work for you two?"

Shen Zhun nodded first. In this situation, it was better to get home sooner.

At this time, at the Chen residence in the prefectural city.

In the study, Chen Mingshan had been reading the secret letter.

The butler hurried in to announce, "Master, the men sent to tail the Shen family say the two brothers suddenly vanished."

Chen Mingshan set the letter down, frowning in confusion. "Can't even pull off a simple kidnapping. What do you mean, they vanished?"

Butler Chen was just as baffled, sweat beading on his forehead. "The men on the job reported that after tracking them to Quanshan County, they lost sight of the two Shens."

With that, the butler ventured a guess: "Could Lord Xie have caught wind of something and hidden them?"

"Impossible," Chen Mingshan said. "The monk can run, but the temple stays—the rest of the Shen family is still in the village. Besides, that Xie is probably up to his ears in trouble right now. He wouldn't have time to worry about what happens to some vegetable-delivery family."

Chen Mingshan's hand rested on the secret letter, his eyes gleaming with cunning.

A few days earlier, word had come from the capital telling him he no longer needed to tread carefully around Xie Zhiyu—in fact, it would be best to cause him as much trouble as possible.

Over the past two days, he'd noticed activity not only at the prefectural office but also among merchants ranked above the Chen family. Chen Mingshan knew he wasn't the only one to receive a similar letter.

The people backing them weren't the same, but this time their target was remarkably consistent.

Though he didn't know why, Chen Mingshan was certain the capital had joined forces to crush Xie Zhiyu.

He truly wondered who that Xie had offended to warrant such a grand scheme aimed at his downfall.

The moment Chen Mingshan finished reading the letter, an idea had already taken shape.

What Chen Mingshan set his sights on had never slipped through his fingers.

The Shen family had been protected by Xie Zhiyu before, but now Xie couldn't even take care of himself. Chen Mingshan didn't believe the Chen family couldn't get their hands on the Shens this time.

He also had to carry out the orders from above.

Though he wasn't sure exactly what relationship existed between that Xie and the vegetable-delivery boy, the fact that Xie had stuck his neck out for him once—making an example of someone—meant everyone in the upper circles knew about it, and no one dared harbor similar intentions toward the Shens.

With that kind of protective stance, there had to be something going on.

So he'd kidnap the vegetable-delivery boy and send him up as leverage against Xie Zhiyu.

Whether it worked or not, grab him first and sort it out later.

And now they were telling him the man had vanished as soon as he entered Quanshan County?

Wasn't that ridiculous?

How could a living person just vanish?

"Send more men to keep looking, and keep a close watch on Shenjiagou too," Chen Mingshan ordered.

Butler Chen acknowledged immediately. He'd barely stepped outside when he spotted a servant, pale as a ghost, rushing over. The man looked at the butler like he'd found a lifeline, rushed over, and whispered the latest news in his ear.

The butler's face changed just as quickly. He turned and hurried back into the study, his steps even faster than before, nearly tripping over the rug.

Chen Mingshan saw the man return and, noting his grim expression, felt a knot of unease form in his chest. "What is it now?" he asked, puzzled.

Butler Chen spoke with a mixture of panic and dread. "Master, something terrible has happened."

Chen Mingshan's heart lurched at those words. He almost didn't want to hear what came next, but he had no choice but to listen.

"The men we sent to grab Shen Song, and the ones we sent to Shenjiagou—all of them are gone!"

Chen Mingshan slammed the table in a rage. "What do you mean, all gone? How are they gone now? Did they all sprout wings and fly away?"

Butler Chen's forehead was slick with cold sweat.

He said nervously, "Shen Song's disappearance probably isn't connected to our men. The report says one of the men sent to grab him was dumped in the back courtyard, covered in blood. I think this is Lord Xie's warning."

A warning to stop their little games.

Chen Mingshan heard about the man being dumped in the courtyard and thought back to the day the Chen residence got trashed.

At the mere thought of Xie Zhiyu, an uncontrollable dread welled up in him. He gritted his teeth and said, "If he's protecting them that fiercely, doesn't it prove the Shens can be used to control him? For me to back off, he'd have to come to my door in person and apologize—apologize to the Chen family!"

Chen Mingshan let out two cold laughs, then suddenly remembered something and told the butler, "Keep sending men to the Shens, but make sure no one sees what we're really up to. We just want the secret to the Shens' abundant harvests and better-tasting crops—we want to make it our own."

That was certainly one of the things the Chen family wanted.

The idea of using people as leverage couldn't have occurred only to the Chen family.

But so far, only the Chens had thought of going after the Shens.

Until the Chens had the people under control, they needed to keep it under wraps as long as possible—they couldn't tip anyone else off.

At the same time Shen Song and Shen Zhun returned home in the carriage Qin Fu had rented from the horse market, the Chen residence in the prefectural city suddenly caught fire in broad daylight.

That fire burned Chen Mingshan badly enough that he didn't dare make any rash moves.

But in his heart, tremendous joy surged.

He seemed to have found Xie's Achilles heel.

Shen Song and Shen Zhun had gone to Quanshan County and come back with new cotton clothes and shoes, but no donkey cart.

The two told their family what had happened: upon entering Quanshan County, they'd gone to the first restaurant to sell their vegetables, only to be tricked by robbers posing as the owners, who robbed them.

Shen Zhun put it succinctly: "We got robbed by bandits in Quanshan County."

Shen Song was in charge of expanding those nine words into a full, detailed account.

After hearing the whole story, the Shen family all breathed a sigh of relief—at least it had ended without serious harm.

Liu Chunxia patted both boys on the shoulder. "Lost possessions are just possessions. The important thing is you both came back in one piece."

She thought for a moment, then said, "It's too chaotic this time of year. Let's hold off on expanding business elsewhere for now."

Zhou Gu reminded them, "The melons and vegetables are seasonal. If we don't expand to other counties, what do we do with all the produce still in the fields? Pickle the whole lot? That's a bit much..."

That was indeed a problem—they couldn't just let the remaining crops rot in the fields.

Shen Song thought for a moment, then said, "Then let's open a shop in the county."

Zhou Gu was quick-tongued, asking almost before Shen Song finished speaking, "What kind of shop?"

"A shop that sells all our family's vegetables."

Shen Song had considered this before. The restaurants needed his produce, but when he'd set up a stall before, he'd also had plenty of regular customers.

Once word got out that the family no longer sold vegetables from a stall, Shushu's Grandpa and Old Chen the malt-sugar seller had stopped coming to buy from him.

Shen Song continued with his idea: "When I had my stall, I sold well. If the price is right, the vegetables left in our fields should be able to sell."

But he wasn't too keen on keeping up the stall to sell produce.

There had been unpleasant incidents with the stall before, and Shen Song hated that kind of feeling. Although he no longer cared about the person from back then, he didn't want that feeling to come back to him.

Having a storefront would also be more convenient.

The old Shen couple nodded, and Shen Dashu said, "In the county seat, it's also closer to the dock. When the time comes, shipping the produce by water from Mingqing County will be easier, and we can pick it up right from the store."

That evening, when Shen Chong came back from the private school, the family told him about the plan to open a shop.

After thinking it over, Shen Chong also found it feasible.

You shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket; having more ways to sell the family's produce would be a good thing.

Having decided to look at shops, Shen Song went to the broker's agency the next day after delivering vegetables to the county town to find Xu Xiaoshan.

There was currently no shop in Yunxi County that sold produce.

Xu Xiaoshan couldn't find Shen Song a shop that had been in the same trade before, so he just picked out shops in good spots from his listings and had Shen Song check them out one by one.