Chapter 8: No Human Rights

Chapter 8: No Human Rights

The courtyard gate stood ajar, yet the house was empty, a detail Zhao An found peculiar. Suddenly, Liu Hu's voice broke the silence, "Uh, Young Master Zhao, I'll be taking my leave now."

To hear the conclusion of Nie Xiaoqian's tale, Liu Hu had trailed Zhao An all the way to his doorstep. Zhao An turned to see him still nervously rubbing his fingers, looking utterly abashed.

"Wait a moment," Zhao An called out from the house to Liu Hu. "Do you know which families Uncle Hai is particularly close to in the village? Could you take me to them?"

"Of course!" Liu Hu's embarrassment instantly vanished upon hearing Zhao An's request, and he laughed heartily. "Your Uncle Hai usually trades and barters with Liu Song and the clan leader's family."

Zhao An locked his door and set off with Liu Hu toward the home of the clan leader, Liu Huan.

Liu Huan’s house was nestled in the most densely populated part of the village. From a distance, its tiled roof was visible, though its walls were merely packed earth. While a notch above most of the village's mud-walled thatched huts, it paled in comparison to Zhao An's current blue-brick house with a tiled roof, let alone Zhao Tongming's two-story, courtyard-style residence with brick walls and wooden lofts.

Zhao An had made a trip to town by oxcart and returned relatively early, well before lunchtime. As he approached Liu Huan's house, the sight of numerous people gathered in the courtyard intensified his growing unease.

Indeed, a chilling premonition had already settled in when he walked through the village fields and saw no one working. Confronted with the crowd in Liu Huan's courtyard, Zhao An quietly snatched a stick from the woodpile by the door before stepping inside.

Liu Hu, who had been following Zhao An, hadn't noticed the deserted fields, but Zhao An's act of picking up the stick was clear to him. Finally sensing that something was amiss, his heart began to pound.

Before Zhao An could cross the threshold, Liu Hu rushed into Liu Huan's house, shouting, "Has anyone seen the Zhao family's Uncle Hai?"

This question caused everyone in the courtyard to turn and look at Zhao An, and the crowd instantly stirred with agitation. Zhao An listened intently and overheard someone say, "I told you we should have kept a closer eye on Zhao Fuping and the other one. What do we do now?"

Another voice chimed in, "The Zhao family's affairs are none of our business."

Hearing these words, Zhao An's uneasy premonition solidified into reality. Liu Huan emerged from the crowd, facing Zhao An. "Young Masters Zhao Fuping and [other name] claim your two servants disrespected them and are having them taken away to be sold."

"How dare they take my servants to sell them?" Zhao An gripped the stick tighter, his anger now a raging inferno. Though he held no illusions about human rights in this era, the notion that his own people could be casually seized and sold infuriated him.

Liu Huan seemed at a loss for how to respond to Zhao An's outburst. Zhao An, however, already knew the grim truth: he and Zhao Tongming were from the same clan, but Uncle Hai and Qintong were mere servants, their rights akin to those of livestock. Even if he brought the matter before the authorities, Zhao Tongming would, at most, be ordered to pay compensation.

Ultimately, this situation could only be resolved through force. Zhao An stormed out of Liu Huan's house and sprinted toward Zhao Tongming's home.

He ran swiftly, pausing only to snap off a section of wild rose vine from a nearby wall, clutching it in his hand. As a last resort, he knew his Wood Element Supernatural Power could imbue even an ordinary vine with considerable lethality.

Zhao Tongming's house was significantly closer to the Liu family gathering than Zhao An's own home. In less than three minutes, he reached the two-story, courtyard-style building situated on level ground.

They likely hadn't anticipated Zhao An's swift return. The front door was wide open, and several women—Zhao Tongming's two daughters-in-law and two concubines—sat outside, spinning hemp thread, while a few children played wildly nearby.

Zhao An nearly collided with a child as he ran past. As he swerved, the youngest daughter-in-law reacted, shouting, "Zhao An is here!"

At that moment, Zhao Tongming, his mother, and his wife were in the main hall, happily peeling a large plate of fresh fava beans to enjoy with their drinks, celebrating the day's events. Hearing the daughter-in-law's startled cry, they all rose to their feet.

Zhao An, ignoring the women at the door, burst through the entrance. Though Zhao Tongming heard the commotion and tried to dodge, Zhao An, having faced countless mutated plants and animals in the past, would not let him escape. He struck Zhao Tongming's calf with the stick, numbing his leg and forcing him to his knees. Then, with a kick, he flipped Zhao Tongming onto his back, pinning him to the ground. Kneeling, Zhao An seized his throat and pinned his hands above his head, glaring fiercely at the converging onlookers. "Stay where you are, or I'll break his neck!"

The concubines and daughters-in-law were paralyzed with fear. Though the old woman's heart ached for her son, she knew Zhao An was not to be trifled with. She quickly tried to placate him, "Don't be impulsive. If you kill him, it won't end well for you either."

Zhao An's expression remained unyielding. He dropped the wooden stick, freeing one hand, grabbed a plate from the table, smashed it, and picked up a shard of pottery. He pressed it against Zhao Tongming's throat, declaring, "I have no family or friends left. Those two are all I have, and you're trying to sell them off? Aren't you pushing me to the brink? I have nothing left to lose. After I kill him, if I can escape, I'll flee into the mountains. If I can't, I'll take down as many of you as I can."

At these words, everyone surrounding them recoiled a step. The two hired laborers, even armed with carrying poles, could only tremble.

The old woman, seeing his ferocity—more terrifying than the constables who had come to arrest them when their family was in trouble—was genuinely frightened. She no longer dared to underestimate this scholarly young master and stammered, "Your two people were taken to Majie Town. They might not have arrived yet. We'll send someone to bring them back immediately."

"What if they can't be brought back?" Zhao An gestured with the pottery shard against Zhao Tongming's arms and legs, as if contemplating where to strike.

Before Li Shi could speak, Zhao Tongming himself whimpered, "If they can't be brought back, we'll use money to redeem them."

"Then send someone now!" Zhao An's fierce expression vanished, replaced by cold indifference. He addressed the women at the door, "Those spinning hemp rope outside, throw me a length of rope."

Finally, Zhao An used several twisted strands of hemp rope to tightly bind Zhao Tongming's hands and loop it around his neck. He led him around like a dog, then sat imperiously in the spot where Zhao Tongming had been drinking, declaring, "I've exerted myself quite a bit just now, and I'm hungry. Bring me something to eat."