Chapter 3: Going Home

After trekking through the forest for four days, he finally saw Little Forest Castle and the cooking smoke drifting slowly in the sky at dusk. Su Tang breathed a sigh of relief and felt a small sense of pride in his perfectly accurate sense of direction. Then, he rushed down the hillside and ran toward Little Forest Castle.

While running, Su Tang began to tear at his clothes. After several days of struggle, his clothes were already in tatters; now, he simply made them barely cover his body. Su Tang wanted to scrape himself against the rocks he passed with a moderate amount of force, but he was too dirty. He worried the wounds would get infected, and since new wounds differed from old ones, it would be easy for a careful person to see through the trick if he tried to deceive them.

After a moment, Su Tang got closer and closer to the farmlands outside Little Forest Castle. Some farmers had already noticed him and straightened up to look in his direction.

Su Tang took a deep breath and then screamed at the top of his lungs, “Wolves… so many wolves… Help! Save me…”

Su Tang kept shouting as he fled. When he was still dozens of meters away from the fields, he could no longer hold on and collapsed face-first onto the ground.

Soon, the farmers rushed out of the rice fields in small groups and gathered around where Su Tang had fallen.

“Heavens… isn’t this Young Master Su? How did he end up like this…”

“Didn’t you hear? He ran into a pack of wolves!”

“A pack of wolves? Young Master Su went into the Black Forest?”

“Hehe… Qian Biao is in trouble this time. He didn’t stop Young Master Su from fooling around, nor did he protect him. When he returns, Miss Zhu’er will definitely skin him alive!”

“Come on, everyone lend a hand. We must quickly send Young Master Su into the castle. Miss Zhu’er and Miss Ke’er have been worried sick these past few days.” A power ful voice rang out.

Su Tang felt several pairs of hands lift him up and place him on a broad, thick back. Without opening his eyes, he knew the person carrying him must be Blacksmith Zhao of Little Forest Castle; no one else’s muscles would be this firm.

Before long, Su Tang heard a creaking sound. The old gates of the Inner Castle were pushed open. Following Blacksmith Zhao’s shout, “Young Master Su is back! Young Master Su is back!”, the entire Inner Castle fell into chaos.

The sounds Su Tang heard were very messy, but he found that he had never been so clear-headed. His heart was like a crystal-clear mirror, allowing him to make quick and accurate judgments about every single sound.

Some voices were filled with forced concern, some hid mockery and schadenfreude, some seemed helpless, and some were truly happy and relieved by the return of Young Master Su.

Since he woke up from his coma a few days ago, all the changes in the outside world always felt both familiar and strange, and it was the same now.

Su Tang could call out everyone’s name based on their voices, but he now had entirely new definitions and evaluations of those people.

Those who had appeared honest and kind in the past were not necessarily so, while those who had always annoyed him now showed a trustworthy and warm side.

It turned out he had lived for over ten years in a complete haze! Su Tang sighed in his heart.

Suddenly, a trembling voice came over: “What happened to Young Master? Uncle Zhao, what happened to Young Master?!”

Su Tang felt a warmth in his heart; he knew who that was.

“Miss Ke’er, Young Master Su just ran out of the Black Forest. He was just a bit frightened, but there is nothing seriously wrong,” Blacksmith Zhao replied in a gruff voice.

At that moment, another voice came through. The tone was very high, and as soon as she spoke, the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

“What happened to Young Master? Where is Qian Biao? Where is Qian Biao? Get your ass out here right now!!”

“Miss Zhu’er, Young Master Su is fine.” Blacksmith Zhao had to repeat himself: “I didn’t see Qian Biao. He’s probably still in the forest, or perhaps he got separated from Young Master.”

“What does a blacksmith like you know?!” Miss Zhu’er shouted angrily. “Granny Wu, quick, go invite Physician Sun over!” Actually, Miss Zhu’er usually treated the neighbors very well, but seeing Su Tang unconscious, she was filled with a mix of shock and anger and didn’t care about manners.

“Miss Zhu’er, I saw Physician Sun this morning. He should be in the village. Today is the day Chief Xu’s little wife is giving birth.”

“It’s not like there are no other physicians in the village. Why is he looking for Physician Sun?!”

“Chief Xu’s little wife is having a breech birth and might not make it, so he called physicians from several surrounding castles to the village,” an informed person replied.

“On what basis? His little wife is a human, but our Young Master isn’t?!” Miss Zhu’er became even angrier and barked, “Prepare the carriage! I’m going to find that pockmarked Xu and reason with him!”

“Oh… my dear little lady, please be quieter,” Granny Wu said urgently. “To put it bluntly, forget about you or Young Master, even when the Master was alive, he had to be polite when meeting Chief Xu.”

“I don’t care! If I tell you to prepare the carriage, then prepare it! If anything happens, I will take the blame alone!” Miss Zhu’er shouted.

Su Tang knew that if this continued, things might go badly. Based on his knowledge of Zhu’er’s personality, there was a high chance she would actually run to Chief Xu’s house to argue.

“Water… water…” Su Tang let out a moan.

Miss Zhu’er’s attention was immediately drawn to him: “Quick, carry Young Master inside. Granny Wu, go help Young Master make some thin porridge. Young Master has lost a whole size; he probably hasn’t eaten properly for days…” By the end, Miss Zhu’er’s tone became somewhat choked, but she kept trying to control herself. As for the reason, Su Tang knew it very well and couldn’t help but sigh again in his heart.

He was placed on a soft bed, and then a spoon was brought to his lips. There was warm water in the spoon. Su Tang did not resist and took several sips, letting out comfortable hums. His tightly knit brows relaxed. He wanted to use body language to give Miss Zhu’er a psychological hint that he was fine and that she shouldn’t offend the village chief.

Sure enough, Miss Zhu’er stopped mentioning the carriage. She chased everyone else out, leaving only Ke’er, and the two of them began to undress Su Tang.

Su Tang remained unconscious and could not cooperate, but his clothes were torn to the extreme. Zhu’er and Ke’er didn’t have to use much effort to strip Su Tang completely naked.

Su Tang was only a bit dirty but had no wounds. Only then did Zhu’er breathe a sigh of relief. Ke’er brought back a bucket of warm water from outside, soaked a towel, and carefully wiped Su Tang’s body.

“Ke’er, why are our lives as sisters so miserable…” Zhu’er said softly while sitting to the side. Her eyes grew moist. She had to restrain herself in front of others, but in this relatively closed space, she didn’t need to hide anything. “In another half year, Young Master will become the castle lord, but he still won’t settle down and only knows how to fool around. If something happens to him in the future, we… we…” As she spoke, Zhu’er could not go on, and tears slowly filled her eyes.

“Sister Zhu’er, don’t think like that,” Ke’er said softly. “Isn’t Young Master back? It’s enough that he could return.”

“Bah! I almost wished he hadn’t come back and had died in that forest!” Zhu’er said hatefully. “That way, I would be free too. At worst, I’d find a rope in the room to hang myself and go see the Madame. I’d tell her I was incompetent and failed to take care of Young Master, letting her down. No matter how she blamed me, I would…”

“Sister Zhu’er, don’t curse Young Master, don’t…” Hearing Zhu’er say such harsh words, Ke’er’s face turned pale with fright.

Zhu’er froze for a moment and suddenly burst into loud sobbing: “I didn’t mean to curse him… boo hoo… it’s because he’s not ambitious… boo hoo…”

Ke’er was affected by her, and thinking about the days of fear and anxiety, her tears also began to fall. She hugged Zhu’er and spoke through her sobs: “Sister Zhu’er… don’t cry… Young Master is back, we should be happy, don’t cry…”

Women are so troublesome… Su Tang’s eyelid flickered. Crying was fine, but couldn’t they tidy me up first? To be left exposed and naked like this, what a disgrace!

However, the things Zhu’er said made Su Tang feel very guilty.

Su Tang’s father was named Su Xiang. He had been ordered to go to war and unfortunately died on the battlefield. Upon hearing this tragic news, Su Tang’s mother fell ill immediately and could not get up. There were no close relatives around, and the capable steward had traveled far for trade. Before her death, she could only call the two maids who had grown up with Su Tang, Zhu’er and Ke’er, to her bedside.

Zhu’er and Ke’er were at a loss. They didn’t expect the Madame to place such a heavy burden on their shoulders. On that day, Zhu’er and Ke’er swore a solemn oath that even if they were cut into a thousand pieces or crushed to powder, they would take good care of Young Master.

To put it nicely, Su Tang was very kind-hearted; to put it bluntly, Su Tang was always foolish and could not control the people living in Little Forest Castle. Zhu’er was one year older than Su Tang and three years older than Ke’er. It seemed that because the Madame had gripped her hand tightly before dying, she had received a huge shock, causing her to grow up overnight. Her nature became increasingly sharp and shrewd. Zhu’er knew that kind horses were ridden and kind people were bullied. Su Tang could be a thoughtless young master, but she could not.

In the following years, Zhu’er ran about every day, managing all the practical affairs within the castle and creating a quiet sky for the foolish Su Tang.

In the eyes of the farmers in Little Forest Castle, Miss Zhu’er’s status was equal to that of Steward Old Chang. Without Steward Old Chang’s hard work in trading, the Su Family would have collapsed long ago. But without Miss Zhu’er, no matter how much money Steward Old Chang earned, it would be useless; it would all be cheated away, stolen, or squandered by Su Tang.