NOVGO.NET Chapter 1401: Side Story: Fan Zijin (17)
Chapter 1401: Side Story: Fan Zijin (17)
Editor: Atlas Studios
Satisfied, the two burly men took the silver ingots and left. The old woman kowtowed three times to Fan Zijin and Qi Haoran gratefully. Wiping her tears, she said, “It’s difficult for us to repay the kindness of the two young masters.”
She turned around and grabbed her daughter-in-law and granddaughter. “Hurry up and kowtow to the two benefactors.”
Qi Haoran hurriedly helped her up and rubbed his head honestly. “It’s nothing. It’s just 20 taels of silver. Hehe…”
Among the money they spent to help others, this was the least amount.
Not taking the money to heart, Fan Zijin waved his hand and said, “Madam, you may go back now. This is nothing to us.”
When the old woman saw them sitting under the tree and enjoying the shade, she immediately said, “Benefactors, the sun is too hot. My house is not far from there. If you don’t mind, why don’t you go to my house to rest for a while and let my daughter-in-law pick a watermelon for you to eat?”
Smiling, the old woman said, “It won’t be too late to set off when the weather isn’t too hot.”
Qi Haoran and Fan Zijin hesitated for a moment. It seemed really nice to have watermelons to eat on such a hot day.
The two youths immediately packed their luggage and led their horses to follow them.
The old woman’s house was in a forest behind a bend in the road. If the old woman hadn’t led the way, they really wouldn’t have realized that there was a house here.
The old woman said with a smile, “My husband is a hunter and we’re the only family living within a five-kilometer radius. Few people usually come. Please don’t mind our humble abode.”
It was indeed very simple and crude, without even a decent stool in the room. On the brick bed against the wall was an old and tattered blanket, but the room was very clean. Having eaten and slept in the open all the way, the two youths did not mind. After carrying their two foals over, they sat down.
The old woman immediately asked her daughter-in-law to pick and cut the watermelon. She smiled and said, “Our family has always hunted for a living. It was only after my son fell sick that we started to plant some fruits. We haven’t picked any watermelons this year. Please try them later and see if they’re delicious.”
As the old woman spoke, she went to the kitchen to get some food. Yu Niang quickly brought in the cut watermelon.
Fan Zijin picked up a piece and gave it to the little girl who was standing at the side with her lips pursed.
Yu Niang took it with a smile and placed it in the basin, then said with a smile, “Benefactors, eat up. If my child wants to eat it, I’ll pluck it for her later.”
Fan Zijin raised his eyebrows and smiled. “This watermelon is big enough. Aunt and little sister, do try it too. Otherwise, Cousin and I won’t be able to finish it.”
Yu Niang’s face stiffened and she laughed dryly. She took a piece of watermelon and stuffed it into her daughter’s hand, then nudged her and said, “Aren’t you going to thank our benefactor?”
The little girl thanked him meekly and stood at the side with the watermelon, not daring to eat it.
Yu Niang said, “Benefactors, eat. I’ll go to the kitchen to take a look.”
Fan Zijin nodded. After Yu Niang left, he looked at the little girl and asked with a smile, “Why aren’t you eating? Don’t you like watermelon?”
The little girl lowered her head and started eating carefully. Fan Zijin watched her eat for a while before starting to eat with relief.
Qi Haoran looked at him and then at the little girl, then started burying his head in the watermelon.
The weather was simply too hot.
Everyone ate two to three slices before stopping because they knew that it was not appropriate to eat too much watermelon. The old woman and Yu Niang quickly brought in two bowls of porridge and two plates of pickled vegetables and said apologetically, “We don’t have much. Please make do with this.”
Just as Fan Zijin was about to decline, Yu Niang had already taken her daughter out, leaving only the old woman and them in the room. The old woman looked guilty and looked at them nervously, causing Fan Zijin’s face to turn slightly red. Not good at rejecting people, he nodded and said, “Sorry to trouble you, madam.”
He retrieved an ingot of silver from his pocket and stuffed it into her hand. “Seeing as your family is in a difficult situation, you can use this silver to do some small business.”
The old woman looked at the silver in her hand and opened her mouth. She wiped her eyes and said, “Thank you for your kindness.”
She bowed to the two of them before wiping her tears and retreating.
Qi Haoran was baffled. “Why did she leave us alone?”
Fan Zijin sighed. “Perhaps she’s so touched that she doesn’t know what to say. Staying behind will only make things awkward.” He knocked on Qi Haoran’s bowl with his chopsticks and said, “Hurry up and eat. After eating, we’ll ask them for two watermelons before leaving.”
Qi Haoran nodded when he heard that. He really felt a little hungry. After all, eating dry rations on such a hot day was truly unappetizing. Now that there was plain porridge and pickled vegetables before him, it was simply awesome.
As the bowl was not big, Qi Haoran picked it up and ate it in a few mouthfuls. Then, he picked up the pickled vegetables with his chopsticks and ate them.
Meanwhile, Fan Zijin held the bowl and savored it slowly. Later, he felt a little dizzy, and he was in a daze for a moment. Unable to hold the bowl steadily, it fell from his hand and smashed on the table.
He grabbed Qi Haoran and said as he shook his head. “Haoran, I think I have a heatstroke…”
A moment later, he felt the dizziness worsen. Looking at the overlapping dishes on the table, Fan Zijin’s heart skipped a beat. His expression changed drastically as he said, “No, it’s not heatstroke. It’s… it’s the food on the table!”
Qi Haoran stood up in shock. In the end, his vision turned black and he collapsed on the table. Fan Zijin felt his heart skip a beat and, too, fell to the ground.
When the people outside heard the commotion inside, they immediately rushed in.
Yu Niang kicked the two unconscious people and turned to the old woman. “Get the rope.”
“There’s no need. I’ll tie them up myself.” The two burly men with fierce faces walked in. When they saw Qi Haoran lying on the table, they smiled sinisterly and stepped forward to kick him. Seeing him fall to the ground weakly, he felt the anger in his heart dissipate a little.
“Alright, hurry up and find the money. Chief is still waiting for us to go back. Their identities probably aren’t simple. Don’t expose your tracks.”
“Don’t worry. When the time comes, we’ll cut them up and bury them separately. Not to mention that those people won’t be able to find their heads, even if they find them, they won’t be able to recognize them.”
The two youths had traveled all the way north from Jiangnan and had helped many refugees along the way. Based on the commotion that they had caused, they could tell that these two youths were hiding from people.
Others might not know who they were hiding from, but their base camp was in Xingzhou Prefecture. Two days ago, someone came knocking on their door and offered 1,000 taels to buy the heads of these two people. Their chief had searched many regions, but who knew that these two youths were actually so far behind the people chasing after them?
The reward of 1,000 taels had already tempted them to send out so many people, and, furthermore, these two youths had so much money on them.
Looking at how generous they were in helping the refugees, they must have a lot of money on them.
The person who bribed them actually wanted to deceive them and said that he wanted everything these two youths were carrying. Was he playing them for fools?
The burly man went forward and frisked the two of them. In an instant, he took out an oil paper bag from Qi Haoran’s arms. When he opened it and took a look, everyone in the room was stunned. As they counted with trembling hands, they swallowed their saliva. “This is 10,000 taels…”