Departure

Chapter 680: Departure

“Big Sister, can you come out here for a moment? There’s something I want to ask you.”

Standing on the platform that jutted out over the sea, Yang Xiaohai called out to the wooden boat tied to the dock. When he saw his eldest sister emerge from the cabin, he led her a little further away, pretended to hesitate, and then asked, “Big Sister… is your crew still taking people?”

“What? Had a falling out with your dad, and now you want to come with me?” She gave him a long, appraising look. “You’re not a kid anymore. Don’t act like one.”

Yang Xiaohai fell silent, watching the monkey-children carry a few stones into the boat’s awning to exchange for silver. He could tell they were practiced at this—quick, silent, efficient.

His sister, playing the role of the stern elder sibling, gave him a brief scolding before continuing. “You can come along if you really want to. But first, go kowtow to your father and apologize. I know you’re angry, but no matter how harsh his words are, he’s still your father.”

“Once his anger has cooled, I’ll take you with me. You’re my little brother. Even if you can’t be an official right away, I can find you some other post to fill in the meantime. Don’t turn your nose up at it. The Li Kingdom is at war with the Later Shu right now, and anyone can see that Shu is on its last legs. When the victory is won, you’ll have a share of the credit.”

Once the monkey-child emerged with the silver, Yang Xiaohai put on a look of obedient agreement, nodded, and walked back toward his own boat.

The moment he was inside the cabin, seeing the silver in the monkey-child’s arms, Yang Xiaohai let out a huge breath of relief. “Good! Pack up! We’re leaving now!”

There wasn’t much to pack. Chi Baishui had already sold off everything else.

Under cover of night, Yang Xiaohai led the other four, each carrying some silver, as they crept stealthily toward the shore. The journey wasn’t entirely smooth. Every time someone was startled awake, the Rod of Deadwood in his hand would quiet them. By the time they came to their senses, Yang Xiaohai was long gone, and they dismissed it as a trick of their imagination, a passing dream.

After a tense but uneventful escape from the wooden houses that stood on the sea, Yang Xiaohai and his group followed a small path, sprinting inland. He was exhausted, and the night air was cold, but he felt as though he had come back to life. He was going home. To his real home.

“Husband! Let’s rest a bit. The monkey-child can’t keep up.”

Hearing the call from behind, Yang Xiaohai turned to see the monkey-child, clutching the silver, panting heavily. There were no carts, and the silver was heavy. Running with it was exhausting. Glancing at the desolate dirt road, Yang Xiaohai reached over and stacked the monkey-child’s silver on top of his own. “Fine. Let’s rest for a bit. But we can’t sleep. Bashu and whatever Li Kingdom are fighting, and we need to get back to Qingqiu as fast as we can.”

As Yang Xiaohai and the others sat by the roadside, gasping for breath, he suddenly noticed torches lighting up along the coastal path, stretching out like a long, writhing line of flame.

“Shit! They woke up!” Yang Xiaohai scooped up the silver, ready to bolt, but then he saw torches on the road ahead as well. They were surrounded.

With nowhere to run, Yang Xiaohai soon saw the faces beneath the torches. They were his Dan-min relatives, led by his own father. That alone was bad, but then Yang Xiaohai saw his own mother standing beside his father, her eyes darting away from his own. It felt like a sledgehammer had slammed into his skull.

Being caught trying to escape wasn’t the worst part. It was that his own mother had betrayed him. The very woman who had been so good to him. His own mother had told on him.

“Fine! Just goddamn fine! Trying to run, are you? Trying to take my silver, too!” Chi Baishui was furious, his face beet-red and the veins on his forehead bulging.

His eldest sister, standing in the crowd, was also pale with anger. She now understood that when Yang Xiaohai had called her out earlier, it was only to trick her into getting the silver back.

“Fuck it! Beat him! Don’t hold back! If he dies, I’ll take the blame!” As Chi Baishui gave the order, Yang Xiaohai watched his eldest and second brothers roll up their sleeves and lead a group of young men toward him.

“Get away from me!” Enraged, Yang Xiaohai swung the Rod of Deadwood with all his might. Instantly, the group of men froze, their faces blank with confusion.

The sight made the surrounding Dan-min relatives stumble back several steps in fright, staring in shock at the object in his hand.

“What the hell is that?”

“Is he stealing souls? Is that what he’s doing?”

Amidst the murmuring, his eldest sister’s face suddenly lit up with excitement. “That’s a ritual artifact! A real soul-snatching ritual artifact! That’s a treasure!”

“The county magistrate said that if you hand something like that over, you can get a rank-eight official post at the very least! And the better the item, the better the post you can get!”

Her words set everyone’s eyes ablaze with greed, and the murmuring grew louder.

Yang Xiaohai realized with a sinking feeling that he hadn’t scared them off. He’d only made them more eager.

“Stick with me! We’re going into the woods! Once we’re in, scatter! Every man for himself!” He swung the Rod toward the crowd on his left, and their eyes went blank. “Go!”

Yang Xiaohai led his group through the dazed crowd, pushing toward the gap. He swung the rod again and again, sending large swaths of Dan-min into a stupor. They were almost out of the encirclement when a cold glint of steel flashed from the left.

A barbed harpoon shot through the air and slammed directly into the back of the hand holding the Rod of Deadwood. A searing bolt of pain shot through him, and the Rod flew from his grasp, landing a short distance away.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Yang Xiaohai lurched toward it. Another harpoon flew, pinning his left foot to the ground.

Chi Baishui picked up the Rod of Deadwood with a triumphant sneer and walked over to Yang Xiaohai. Seeing the look of pure rage on his son’s face, he backhanded him across the cheek. “You had a treasure like this and you were hiding it from us!”

“Husband!” Zhao Xiumei threw herself in front of Yang Xiaohai, her face a mask of despair as she looked up at Chi Baishui. “Father, he’s family! It doesn’t have to be like this!”

“Family? Who the hell is family with you?” Chi Baishui slapped her across the face.

Yang Xiaohai, grimacing in agony, pulled Zhao Xiumei behind him to shield her. Chi Baishui let out a cold laugh. “Fifth Boy, this wife of yours really is something. She’ll probably fetch a good price. A little wife like this sells a lot better than a kid.”

“What the hell are you going to do?!” Yang Xiaohai glared at him, his eyes murderous.

“Oh, don’t act so wronged! Look at what you did! You lied to your mother! You lied to your father! You stole the family silver! And you hid a good treasure from your own kin! Are you even human?!”

“Kid?”

The unfamiliar voice cut through the confrontation. Everyone turned to look. They saw a Taoist priest in a red robe, three swords strapped to his back, pushing his way in from the outside of the crowd.

Li Huowang walked up to Yang Xiaohai’s side. He took in the blood on the boy’s hand and foot, the Rod of Deadwood in Chi Baishui’s grasp, and the black cloth draped over his eldest sister’s shoulder. In an instant, he understood the situation.

“You’re his friend?” Chi Baishui asked with a contemptuous sneer, and then rudely shoved Li Huowang aside. “A grown man like you, hanging out with a kid! Aren’t you ashamed? Get lost! This is our family business. What business is it of an outsider?”

Li Huowang looked him up and down, then reached back and grasped the hilt of the Purple-Tasseled Sword. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

With a flash of cold steel, Chi Baishui’s stunned head flew up into the air.

(End of Chapter)