Chapter 22: CH 22

Wen Chan had no expression on his face and he honestly said, “There is no way to escape. So we just wanted to give out the silver coins we have in exchange for our lives.”

The leader of the mountain bandits said, “Er Pi, go see how much money is in that package. Is it enough for them to buy back their lives?”

As soon as the voice fell, the man on his1mountian bandit’s left dismounted from his horse and stepped forward. He bent over and picked up one of the packages on the ground while vigilantly staring at Shu Hua. He shook it with his hand and didn’t get to hear the sound of the silver coins colliding. So he threw it onto the ground and picked up another one.

But contrary to what one might expect, he was able to hear sounds from this one. But when he opened it and looked inside, he could only see two silver ingots and a few broken pieces of silver. He showed it to the leader of the mountain bandits. The leader of the mountain bandits asked rhetorically, “Do you know why I am called a mountain bandit?”

Wen Chan：“……”

Ah Fu took two steps forward and picked up the package that the so-called Er Pi had dropped. He untied it, drew out dozens of silver notes2(in former times) banknotes with a value in silver, and handed them to Erpi, “These are all we have.”

Originally Erpi still had a look of disdain, but who would have thought that after receiving it, his eyes would widen. He handed it to the leader of the mountain bandits in a panic and stammered, “Boss, boss, this…”

Only then did the leader of the mountain bandits show a look of satisfaction, “That will do. Get on your horse and follow us.”

“Didn’t you say that these silver coins can buy us our lives?” Shu Hua asked coldly.

“You can buy your life, but the money is not enough to buy your freedom. It just so happens that I lack a few coolies in my stockade. If you don’t want to suffer physically, just follow up obediently.” The leader of the mountain bandit snorted coldly after speaking, rubbing his hand on the handle of the knife hanging on the back of the horse.

Wen Chan thought that as long as his life was safe, there were always ways to escape. So he made a meaningful glance at Shu Hua. He then turned over and got on his horse first.

Seeing that Wen Chan had chosen to compromise, Ah Fu also hurriedly climbed onto the horse’s back.

The leader of the mountain bandits left two people to follow at the end, took the large team to the front, and escorted Wen Chan and the others to the depths of the low hillside.

Along the way, Wen Chan was thinking about how to repay the man who rode an ox and guided him, if he get to see the man again.

The mountain bandits took the four of them back to the stockade. After confiscating the horses, they were locked in a prison that was ventilated on all sides. The iron pillars were as thick as the small arms of a child. Wen Chan pulled them with his hands and felt it to be exceptionally strong.

The prison was quite large and there were only Wen Chan and the other three people inside. There were two guards standing at the door. They were chatting in full swing3in full swing (idiom) / (in a) frenzy/buzzing with activity, and Qin Qi leaned over to collect some information.

Shu Hua stood next to Wen Chan and on seeing that he was about to sit down, he quickly took off his coat and spread it on the ground. Wen Chan squatted down, reached out, and picked up his coat. He said, “You can wear it well. I’m not yet pampered to that degree.”

“Put it on, put it on. I will clean it for the young master at once.” Ah Fu gathered up his sleeves, swept the ground and then blew it several times. He blew the dust aside, and said, “It’s all clean now.”

Wen Chan helplessly sat on the place which was wiped dry and clean by Ah Fu. As soon as he sat down, Ah Fu immediately sat on the ground beside him along with Shu Hua. Ah Fu lowered his voice and said, “Young Master, how are we gonna escape?”

“Earlier the mountain bandit said that there is a shortage of coolies here, and it can be assumed that he will let us go out to work. As long as we can leave this prison, we can always find ways to escape.” He replied in a low voice and turned his head to take a look at the sky’s night curtain that was about to fall.

Qin Qi came back after scouting out some information and sat down on the ground, “I couldn’t get much information. They only said that someone broke into the stockade a few days ago and had set fire to the room of the dear concubine of the mountain bandit’s leader. The weather was dry. So, the fire spread to a wide expanse of area. When the fire was extinguished, most of the stockade was destroyed. So these days the mountain bandits have been grabbing coolies from everywhere. ”

“Then where are those people he caught? Could it be that only the four of us were caught?” Wen Chan thought about whether they were the only ones who were so unlucky?

“They have gone out to work. Since it is almost nightfall now, perhaps they will be back in a while.” Qin Qi pondered for a moment, and said, “Young Master, you must not do bitter work here. Tomorrow if they call us, we will go out to work. You just feign illness. I and Shu Hua will be outside to figure out the terrain here.”

Once these words came out, Shu Hua and Ah Fu immediately expressed their approval. In their eyes, even if all the notes were taken away and they were locked up in the dirty prison, Wen Chan was still the honorable Ninth Highness, a noble prince who should be padded with cushions even when sitting on the ground.

Wen Chan said, “Don’t worry. Let’s do it step by step.”

The four of them were relatively silent, and their emotions were a little downcast.

After nightfall, the mountain bandits hung up lights outside the prison and their vision was very dim. After a while, a loud noise came from far and it reached near. The prison’s door opened, and those who were forced to do hard work during the day were driven into the prison. The place that was originally spacious unexpectedly became crowded in an instant.

Wen Chen and the others repeatedly retreated into the corner, and many people noticed these newcomers. But they seemed to be accustomed to it. After taking a few glances, no one wanted to come forward to talk to them.

The mountain bandits brought a large basket of steamed buns. As soon as the people in the prison saw the steamed buns, they all gathered together and stretched out their hands in succession to ask for them. They were probably very hungry.

Everybody was given two buns each. Many of them started to gobble up4to wolf down one’s food (idiom); to devour ravenously / to gorge oneself the steamed buns right after they got them. They choked without water. They became extremely angry as they choked after just two mouthfuls. Ah Fu sighed softly after seeing this, “Young master, let’s escape tomorrow. This is really terrible.”

“Young master, I will go get two steamed buns for you.” He remembered that Wen Chen hadn’t eaten anything after having his lunch and that he should be hungry by now. He stood up with Qin Qi and passed over the crowd to walk to the front and get steamed buns.

As soon as they left, a dispute arose near Wen Chan.

Only to hear a man screaming angrily, “Oh my! Someone is snatching steamed buns! Someone snatched my steamed buns!!”

This sound startled Wen Chan into a jump. He turned his head to look and saw a man who looked very thin and weak beating another person. The man was stuffing the steamed bun into his mouth while facing the corner. After two or three mouthfuls, he stuffed the entire steamed bun into his mouth, and his cheeks bulged like sacks.

After stuffing a steamed bun into his mouth, he held another one, and all of a sudden, he turned around and swung his hands to knock down the thin and weak man who was hitting him. With the steamed bun still in his mouth, he shouted in an unclear voice, “Fuck off. I will kill you if you touch me again.”

The man who was overturned fell to the ground and started to wail, “Is there any Heaven’s law and Earth’s principle5lit. heaven’s law and earth’s principle (idiom); fig. right and proper/right and unalterable / a matter of course——”

Everyone retreated silently, and no one came out to stand up bravely for the truth. All just gnawed on their steamed buns to watch the excitement. The man who was still grabbing the steamed buns seemed to have not seen them and chewed the food in his mouth with peace of mind.

The thin and weak man’s tumbling and rolling attracted the attention of the mountain bandits. With the wooden stick in his hand, he6mountain bandit knocked on the iron pillar making a “bang bang” sound, “What’s the noise! Still being disobedient even after getting food!”

The man got up from the ground and complained. But the mountain bandit ignored this and ridiculed him cold-bloodedly, “Don’t complain if you don’t have abilities.” After saying this, he left with the empty basket.

On seeing that no one was gonna help him, that man ran to kneel again and knelt on the ground. He hugged the man who had earlier robbed his steamed buns and cried, “This young master, please give me something to eat. Please leave me a steamed bun. I don’t want to starve to death! ”

The crying was so miserable and sad that Ah Fu couldn’t help being emotionally moved. He complained in a low voice, “This person is too vile! Even stealing such a poor man’s steamed buns.”

“Fuck off! Don’t think that Laozi7 father/daddy / “I, your father” (in anger, or out of contempt) / I (used arrogantly or jocularly) will be fooled by you!” The man kicked the man away again with a ruthless look.

Qin Qi and Shu Hua took the steamed buns and returned to Wen Chan. They handed him the steamed buns, “Young master, please have it.”

Wen Chan was looking at the scene earnestly and felt it to be both funny and miserable in his heart. The man who had robbed someone else’s steamed buns was very arrogant. He sat back on the ground. He snorted coldly, swallowed what was in his mouth, and began to chew on the other one in his hand.

Wen Chan noticed that his side profile looked very handsome. Although his vision was dim, he could barely see his dark eyebrows and his tall nose clearly. There was a lot of dust on his face, but his eyes were big and beautiful.

And it was inexplicably familiar.

He refused the steamed buns handed over by Shu Hua. He got up and went in the direction of the man. When Ah Fu and the others saw him, they quickly followed.

The closer he got, the more familiar he felt. After Wen Chan had a good look at him, he almost thought that there was something wrong with his eyes. He said in amazement, “Zhong Wenjin?! Why is it you?”

Shouldn’t this young master, the beloved son from the first wife of the Zhong family, be far away in the capital eating delicious food, falling asleep in the soft fur with embroidery work, and chasing his future wife Ding Ziyun? How did he appear in the prison of the Wuyue Island’s mountain bandits?！

When Zhong Wenjin heard someone calling his name, he let go of the half-bitten steamed bun and looked up. And then he had a more shocked expression on his face than Wen Chen. He jumped up from the ground, “Ninth! Wen! You… why are you here? ”

He didn’t even know what to call Wen Chan for a while.

Zhong Wenjin’s appearance cut an extremely sorry figure. He was wearing a dark-colored burlap shirt, with an unkempt waist rope, and a pair of black cloth shoes on his feet. The edges of the shoes were worn out. If Wen Yuan hadn’t seen his face, he would definitely not recognize this person as Zhong Wenjin.

Everyone around him was watching the excitement here. So he pointed to the place where he was sitting and said to Zhong Wenjin, “Let’s go over there and talk.”

Zhong Wenjin still looked as if he had been thunderstruck. He followed Wen Chan to the corner and sat down in a daze. He forgot to eat the remaining half of the steamed bun in his hand. He glanced at Wen Chan and the people around Wen Chan several times, “What’s the matter with you? Why are you on Wuyue Island?”

“I also want to ask you this question.” Wen Chan was more curious than him, “Shouldn’t you be in the capital?”

Zhong Wenjin said, “It is natural that I came for a reason.”

“Oh.” Wen Chan was expressionless, “I came here mainly to get caught by the bandits to be a coolie. There is no other reason.”

He could hear the hidden sarcasm in Wen Chan’s words. After pondering for a moment, his expression became extremely serious, “It’s a long story this time and it is not easy to express it succinctly. So it’s not convenient to talk about it here.”

“Then how did you get arrested in the mountain bandit’s prison?” Wen Chen asked another question.

Even before he finished speaking, Zhong Wenjin became extremely angry. His nose breathed extreme anger. He gnashed his teeth and said, “All the blame goes to that brat who rides an ox. If I see him again, I will beat him till he cries to see his parents.”

“Coincidentally, he pointed out the direction for me too.” Wen Chan said in surprise, “Could it be that he rides an ox and blocks the intersection all day, just to show people the wrong way?”

“Can’t be wrong! He must be with these mountain bandits!” Zhong Wenjin furiously stated it with surety. He didn’t know that the half steamed bun was crushed to pieces by him, and he couldn’t eat it at all.

Translator’s corner

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