novelAbuy Chapter 6 "Brother Chao Gai!"
Chapter 6 "Brother Chao Gai!"
Ruan Xiaowu's fingertips touched the hem of her brother's clothes.
Just then, a hand shot out like lightning and grabbed his wrist tightly.
Ruan Xiaoer opened his eyes; in the darkness, his gaze was like two burning flames.
"Fifth Brother..." His voice was hoarse and filled with pain, "Don't do this."
Ruan Xiaowu froze on the spot as if struck by lightning.
"I...I just wanted to see the money..." he lied, but even he found it ridiculous.
Ruan Xiao'er sat up, but didn't let go: "If you take this money and step out of this door today, you're no longer our brother!"
Ruan Xiaoqi, who was sleeping on the other side, was also awakened.
Seeing this scene, he didn't say anything, but simply covered his mouth with the back of his hand and cried silently.
Ruan Xiaowu's defenses completely crumbled under the sight of his brother's disappointed gaze and his younger brother's suppressed sobs.
He knelt on the ground and pounded his head with his fists.
"I can't control it... Second Brother... I can't control it! It's like a worm, eating my heart, eating my bones..."
He burst into tears, like a helpless child.
Ruan Xiaoer could no longer hold back and stepped forward to hug him tightly. This man, who was fierce like a living Yama outside, was now shedding tears.
"I know... I know it's hard... Fifth brother, I'm here for you. We'll get through this together."
Ruan Xiaoqi also crawled over and hugged her two older brothers from behind.
In this simple thatched hut, the three brothers clung tightly to each other in the darkness.
On the morning of the third day.
Liu Bei and Liu Tang appeared at the village entrance on time.
When they entered the hut, the three Nguyen brothers were already waiting there.
Ruan Xiaowu stood at the front. He looked haggard, but his bloodshot eyes held an unprecedented clarity.
Liu Bei walked to the table and sat down without saying anything.
Ruan Xiaoer stepped forward, took out the key, and opened the wooden box.
He respectfully placed the ten-tael silver ingot on the table.
Next to the silver ingot, he also placed a small string of copper coins.
"Brother," Ruan Xiao'er said, "the silver hasn't been touched."
Liu Bei shifted his gaze from the silver ingot to the string of copper coins.
"What is this?"
Ruan Xiaowu stepped forward; his voice was not loud, but it was very steady.
"Brother, yesterday my brother and I earned some money from fishing, and we went to town to get medicine for our mother."
He took out an oil paper package from his pocket and placed it on the table.
"These are medicinal herbs."
He then pointed to the string of copper coins.
"This is... the change I got back."
Liu Tang looked at Ruan Xiaowu with disbelief in his eyes.
Liu Bei picked up the silver ingot, weighed it in his hand, and then put it back on the table.
He looked at Ruan Xiaowu and slowly nodded.
"it is good."
He pushed the silver ingot back.
"This money is for our business's public account, and it will be temporarily kept by you brothers."
He then pointed to the string of copper coins.
"This is your own money. Put it away."
Liu Bei stood up.
"From this day forward, we are brothers who will share life and death!"
The Ruan brothers were completely stunned, then overjoyed. The three of them clasped their hands in greeting: "Brother Chao Gai!"
……
Meanwhile, Wu Yong parted ways with Liu Bei and Liu Tang at a crossroads.
Instead of going directly to the vicinity of Liangshanbo, he first detoured to Jizhou Prefecture.
After the crowds entered the city, Wu Yong found a secondhand clothing shop in the west of the city.
The shop assistant was dozing off when he saw him come in, and lazily raised his eyelids.
"What would you like to order, sir?"
"Find me a set of clothes," Wu Yong said as he looked around. "They should be made of silk, something that looks decent, but not too new. And a slightly worn hat to go with it."
The shop assistant sized him up and then pulled out a few pieces of clothing from the shelf.
Wu Yong picked out an indigo blue long robe of good quality, then chose a hat, paid for it, and carried his bundle out.
Next, he went to a grocery store.
"Shopkeeper, give me two blank ledgers and weigh out the ink."
Once everything was ready, he found an inconspicuous little inn in the city to stay in.
After closing the door, Wu Yong changed into his newly bought clothes.
The person in the mirror was no longer the schoolteacher of Dongxi Village, but rather a traveling accountant who managed the books for a large business.
He took out the ledger and wrote some words on it.
"In the third month of the second year of Jingyan, I transported grain from Dongxi Village to Jizhou, totaling 300 shi of millet, and received 120 guan of cash..."
"In April, five hundred bolts of hemp cloth were purchased in Caozhou and transported to Daming Prefecture, yielding a profit of thirty strings of cash..."
He wrote very slowly and carefully, even imitating the corrections perfectly.
If he encounters a checkpoint, these details will determine his fate.
After doing all this, he lay down, repeatedly recalling every word Liu Bei had said.
"Be humble and sincere in your words."
"Tell him that the world is about to fall into chaos, that Wang Lun is not a wise ruler, and that Liangshan Marsh is about to face a great calamity."
Wu Yong kept his eyes open until dawn before he finally drifted off to sleep.
The next day, he checked out of the hotel, hired a mule cart, and headed towards Liangshanbo.
The closer one gets to that body of water, the more dilapidated the official road becomes.
The number of pedestrians on the road gradually decreased.
Occasionally, one can see groups of three or five wandering swordsmen carrying knives and swords, their expressions wary.
Some makeshift sentry posts began to appear along the roadside, and several soldiers in military uniforms were dozing off against the wooden railings.
As the mule cart passed by, a soldier stretched out his spear to block its path.
"Who is it? Where are you going?"
Wu Yong leaned out of the carriage window, handed over a small string of copper coins, and smiled broadly.
"Sir, you've worked hard. I'm Li, the accountant for the Zhang family in Fanyang. I'm here on my master's orders to look around the marshland for villages where we can store grain."
The soldier weighed the copper coin in his hand, his wariness turning into laziness.
"Go to the marshland? That place is not safe. A group of bandits live in the mountains, robbing and plundering. You are just an accountant. Be careful not to be taken advantage of and slaughtered."
"Thank you for the reminder, General. Thank you for the reminder," Wu Yong said, bowing repeatedly.
The soldier waved his hand, signaling that they could pass.
The mule cart continued on its way, and Wu Yong lifted the curtain to look into the distance.
A vast expanse of water, a pale blue, spreads out on the horizon.
That is Liangshan Marsh, which stretches for eight hundred miles.
Wu Yong got out of the carriage and walked another two miles when he suddenly heard someone shouting, "Who's there?"
As they were talking, two burly men wielding long spears searched them. Wu Yong hurriedly clasped his hands in greeting and said, "Greetings, gentlemen. I am Li, the accountant of the Zhang family in Fanyang. I heard that Lin Chong, the instructor of the 800,000 Imperial Guards, has taken up arms here. Instructor Lin has done me a favor, so I have come to pay him a visit."