Chapter 35: Crisis

Diao Er reacted very quickly. He rolled on the ground, drew his longsword with one hand, and then jumped up. However, when he saw the other person, he became stunned. “Big brother, you…”

The newcomer was a bald man around forty years old. He glared fiercely at Diao Er and then turned to Su Tang, bowing respectfully. “This brother of mine is used to the wild and always lacks a sense of propriety. Mr. Su, I beg you to be generous and not hold it against him.” By the end, the man was practically pleading with Su Tang.

The bald man was Chief Qiao. He had spent a long time mingling in Changshan County and understood the local power structure too well. Offending the Pavilion Master of Miaodao Pavilion would lead to worrying consequences. As long as a little bit of news leaked out, other Wandering Martial Artists would naturally reject and isolate them. Going to other counties would be useless as well, because Miaodao Pavilion frequently exchanged information with neighboring counties. If they found out that he had been forced to leave Changshan County because he offended the Pavilion Master of Miaodao Pavilion, they would find ways to make things difficult for him. The only options were to travel much further away or simply leave the duchy.

Zhao Baoping and the others were stunned. Chief Qiao had two heavy swords hanging at his waist and wore exquisite leather armor. He was tall with a broad back, a thick waist, and a face full of coarse flesh. He looked like a warrior accustomed to fighting and radiated a murderous aura. They could not understand why such a man was speaking to Su Tang in such a humble manner.

“Chief Qiao?” Su Tang also recognized the man, as there were relevant files in Miaodao Pavilion.

“I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare…” Chief Qiao said repeatedly. “Mr. Su can just call me by my real name. I am called Qiao Benchu.”

“Sit down.” Su Tang nodded toward an empty chair.

Chief Qiao hesitated for a moment and slowly sat down. At this moment, his heart was filled with conflict. He had finally made a name for himself in Changshan County; did he have to give it up and flee just like this?

“Give me the gold coins.” Su Tang reached out his hand toward Gu Xizheng.

Gu Xizheng was startled and hurriedly placed the gold coins into Su Tang’s palm.

Su Tang placed the gold coins in front of Chief Qiao. Then, he pointed toward Zhao Baoping and the others and smiled. “They are all my friends. They have several carts of Azure Blue Fruit they want to send to Kaiyuan County. However, it seems there have been bandit troubles on the road recently, and they are afraid to travel. Chief Qiao, do you think… you could help them and escort them to Kaiyuan?”

Chief Qiao looked at Su Tang blankly. It took him a long time to recover his senses, and then he nodded repeatedly. “No problem, no problem. Please rest assured, Mr. Su. I guarantee that they will not lose so much as a single hair, otherwise, I will take full responsibility!”

“Then I will leave it to Chief Qiao,” Su Tang said. He actually wanted to use some of his own money to pay the commission for Zhao Baoping, as a single gold coin was truly too little. But doing so would hurt Zhao Baoping’s pride. It would be better to wait until Chief Qiao and the others returned and let Mo Xiaobai leave a few commissions for them, which would count as returning the favor.

“Mr. Su, you are too kind,” Chief Qiao said with a dry laugh.

“That is all. You can discuss among yourselves when to leave.” Su Tang stood up. “I still have some things to do, so I will not stay and chat with you.”

“Mr. Su, then… this…” Chief Qiao mumbled. He had thought he would have to pay a huge amount of money to avoid disaster and seek forgiveness. He did not expect Su Tang to leave so soon, seemingly without caring about the matter at all, leaving him not knowing what to say.

“Oh…” Su Tang misunderstood and smiled. “After you return, go find Mo Xiaobai and tell him that I sent you.”

Chief Qiao understood the hidden meaning in Su Tang’s words and immediately showed a look of wild joy. Diao Er’s expression, however, was complex, looking as if he wanted to both cry and laugh.

“Baoping, come out with me for a moment,” Su Tang said.

“Yes.” Zhao Baoping, who was still in a dream-like state, hurriedly stood up and ran after Su Tang.

“Baoping, if anyone asks where I came from, do not tell them, regardless of who it is. Do you understand?” Su Tang said. He was leaving a way out for himself. If the world truly became chaotic as Long Qi had said, he needed a place to avoid disaster. Furthermore, after reading enough records, he no longer hoped to be a “good boy” because doing this kind of work would definitely create enemies. He absolutely did not want to implicate the innocent people in Little Forest Castle.

“I understand,” Zhao Baoping said.

“Do many people know your background?” Su Tang asked again.

“Not many. I used to stay in the town and only came to Changshan County a few months ago,” Zhao Baoping said. Then he remembered something. “Right, Young Master, Hua Nuo and Gu Xizheng also know…”

“Tell them as well to be more careful in the future and not to leak our backgrounds,” Su Tang said.

“Yes, Young Master, please rest assured.” Zhao Baoping had a belly full of questions, but he did not dare ask any of them.

“You may go back.”

As Zhao Baoping turned to walk back, Su Tang added, “In the future, if you have any business, find me at Penglai Residence.”

“Yes,” Zhao Baoping replied.

Although he agreed, Zhao Baoping had no idea where Penglai Residence was. He sat back in his chair, thought for a moment, and asked the middle-aged man, “Brother Guan, where is Penglai Residence?”

Chief Qiao and the others also heard the words “Penglai Residence” and all looked solemn. The middle-aged man gave a bitter smile and answered a different question. “Brother Zhao, are you intentionally making a joke out of me?”

“Brother Guan, I’m not!” Zhao Baoping cried out.

“You know such a noble person, yet you didn’t go find him and instead let your big brother run errands… aren’t you doing this on purpose?”

“I really didn’t know the Young Master was also in Changshan County!” Zhao Baoping said. “Brother Guan, you have taken such good care of me, how could I lie to you? Besides, I haven’t seen the Young Master in several years.”

“Where is your Young Master from?” Chief Qiao asked curiously.

“The Young Master is from… Kaiyuan County,” Zhao Baoping said.

Beside them, Hua Nuo and Gu Xizheng felt a bit strange. However, although their resources were small, they were businessmen after all. They were quick-witted and knew there was something fishy. They both kept their heads down and remained silent.

Su Tang strolled through the street, walking and looking around casually. He did not realize that at this very moment, three people were standing in different places, staring at him from different angles with different gazes.

Sitting by the window of a teahouse was Tie Canghai, an Elder of the Tie Family. His eyes were full of schadenfreude.

Diagonally across from the teahouse, peering cautiously through a gap in the window, was a white-haired old man. He looked very nervous and uneasy, constantly shouting, “He’s here, he’s here… is everything arranged? You go and tell them; absolutely do not use heavy hands. Just break one of his legs to let him know the power of our Zhao Family.”

At the end of the long street, a young man waving a feather fan waited silently. His face showed undisguised brutality and hatred. When Long Qi stepped down, he should have become the Pavilion Master of Miaodao Pavilion. Who would have thought that this Su Tang, whom he had never heard of, would suddenly appear and seize his position? Today, he would take back what belonged to him.