The Villain's Counterattack Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Stepping out of the room, Zhao Guangming looked up and exchanged a glance with Zhou Qi at the door. Zhou Qi set down the broom in his hand and walked over to stand at the entrance of the main hall.

Inside the room, Xu Gandang also noticed that the guard at the door had been changed. He understood this was Zhao Guangming's arrangement, and a sliver of comfort settled in his heart.

Leaving the marquis's residence through a side gate, Zhao Guangming wove through a maze of narrow alleys. After twisting and turning, he finally slipped into a wine shop, with three large vats out front selling the cheapest watered-down wine.

Inside, there were only two tables and four long benches. The dim setup meant there were hardly any customers. A one-armed old man stood behind the counter, wiping it down. He looked up, saw Zhao Guangming enter, gave a slight nod, and went back to what he was doing.

In those old eyes — cloudier even than Xu Gandang's — there was no hope left. Just days with a visible end, getting through them one by one.

Zhao Guangming entered the back courtyard and saw Xiong Hong, bare-chested, chopping firewood. The crack, crack of the axe rang out without pause. Two neat stacks of roughly equal-sized firewood had already piled up outside the kitchen.

"The Marquis gave a token. We're to go to the estate and mobilize men." Zhao Guangming spoke only after Xiong Hong split the last piece of wood, his voice unhurried.

A black token was placed on the stone table. Xiong Hong grabbed his garment and wiped the sweat off carelessly. When he saw the token, a flicker of hope flashed in his eyes. "How is it? What instructions does the Marquis have? The brothers have been waiting a long time."

Zhao Guangming looked up, his eyes calm and unreadable. He just watched quietly, and slowly, the excitement drained from Xiong Hong's face. "What's wrong? Is that not it?"

The tall, burly man had a face full of thick beard. A heavy frown alone was enough to scare a child into silence. Zhao Guangming showed no fear at all. He tugged at the corner of his mouth and smiled mockingly. "The Marquis's order is to send men to find the Eldest Young Master's whereabouts. He must be made to attend the wedding on time."

"..."

Xiong Hong pressed his lips tightly together, still staring at Zhao Guangming unwillingly, waiting for a second sentence to come.

But after a long while, Zhao Guangming only smiled that mocking smile.

"Don't think about it. The Marquis doesn't mean that."

Xiong Hong's hands, hanging at his sides, clenched into fists. Veins bulged along his forearms from the force. "Does the Marquis even know that we have only twelve hundred brothers left in the valley?!"

Zhao Guangming tugged at his mouth and said nothing, but Xiong Hong understood what he meant. How could the Marquis not know? After all, everyone in the valley had been placed there by the Marquis himself.

The war at Liexi Pass had dragged on for years, claiming countless lives annually. It was only after the Old Marquis and his two sons were stationed there over twenty years ago that things improved. But during a battle that could have expanded their territory and wiped out most of the Dalu captives, Xu Buju fell for a trap too easily — killing not only himself but also his brother, Xu Linran.

At the time, the battle that had already pushed past the checkpoint nearly caused the entire Liexi Pass to fall because of that one battle. Although the Marquis managed to turn the tide using General Xu Linran's final arrangements, the villages thirty li beyond Liexi Pass still suffered.

That time, over a hundred thousand commoners died unjustly.

To cover up that disaster, and to quell the soldiers' fury, Xu Gandang established Wuyou Valley. On the surface, it took in all the survivors from those villages and the wounded old soldiers with nowhere else to go from the war. It was seen as a tremendous act of benevolence at Liexi Pass.

Xiong Hong was different from Zhao Guangming. He hadn't been saved by the Xu family—he was an orphan raised by the old soldiers in Wuyou Valley. When he grew up, he naturally joined the Xu family army. But now that the war had subsided, even Liexi Pass could no longer recruit freely, so most of these talented men favored by the Marquis became the Xu family's private soldiers.

The thousand men on the estate who could be commanded by the Black Flag Token were mostly of similar origin. 

When the Marquis first created the Black Flag token, he clearly said it was to find a way for all the old soldiers in Wuyou Valley to survive, to find a way out for all the soldiers at Liexi Pass. After all, it cost a considerable sum just to support the thousand-plus people in Wuyou Valley.

Last year, the grain allocated to Wuyou Valley had already been cut by thirty percent. This time, Xiong Hong had volunteered to come to the capital because that sense of urgency was pressing down on him, making him want to see with his own eyes what kind of way out the Marquis had found for everyone in this wealthy city.

After one winter snow last year, Wuyou Valley—which had over fifteen hundred people—now had only a little over twelve hundred left.

Xiong Hong sank down to the side in despair, his hands clenched into fists, able only to seethe with helpless rage. Zhao Guangming glanced at him, then looked toward the marquis's residence. "For the Eldest Young Master's wedding, just decorating the residence alone has already cost three thousand taels of silver."

Xiong Hong's angry movements stopped short. Zhao Guangming's voice continued. "Today I only caught a distant glimpse of the First Madam. The clothes she'd wear only once or twice cost five or six hundred taels of silver each."

The marquis household was rich—far richer than Xu Gandang had ever shown. The Xu grandfather and grandson lived and ate alongside the soldiers at Liexi Pass and had no taste for luxury, so most people had never considered just how wealthy the marquis household really was.

Even Zhao Guangming had only learned how rich the marquis household was after arriving and witnessing Wei Cai'e's extravagance.

One tael of silver could buy nearly four hundred jin of rice. Five hundred taels could buy roughly two hundred thousand jin of rice.

[1 jin (斤) = 0.5 kg]

And that was rice. If converted to coarse grain, it would be even more.

Two hundred thousand jin of grain would be enough for the people in the valley to have a good New Year.

And those two hundred thousand jin of grain were nothing more than a single set of fine clothing on the marquis household's mistress.

The veins at Xiong Hong's temples bulged; he clenched his jaw tightly. He knew full well that the wealth belonged to the marquis household, and how its masters used it was their own business. But when he thought of his friends and family starving through the winter, of the more than three hundred people — some he knew, some he didn't — who had died in just one winter, and of the Marquis's promises to the people of Wuyou Valley and Liexi Pass, fury and unwillingness filled this bear-like man's heart for the first time.

Clearly it would only take a raise of his hand. Clearly the Marquis had the means. Yet the Marquis had watched with his own eyes as over three hundred people died in Wuyou Valley in a single winter.

Could it be that the Marquis...

"Let's go. The Marquis wants the Eldest Young Master found quickly." Zhao Guangming didn't provoke Xiong Hong further. He tapped the token on the table and got up to leave.

For a long time after Zhao Guangming's figure disappeared from the back courtyard, Xiong Hong still didn't move. He just sat quietly, staring at the black token on the table, emotions churning in his eyes that others couldn't understand.

The Black Flag Token was efficient. The very next day, word came back: Xu Kaixuan had been found. Zhao Guangming didn't hide it from Xu Gandang either, reporting everything truthfully.

He also reported that Xu Kaixuan absolutely refused to come back, saying he wanted to travel outside to clear his mind and calm his mood before returning.

Incidentally, he also vaguely mentioned that even when the Black Flag Token's people told the Eldest Young Master that his grandfather was gravely ill in bed and his grandmother had suffered a stroke and couldn't get up, it didn't change the Eldest Young Master's mind in the slightest.

As for the Eldest Young Master's claim that the family had made it all up to trick him into coming back—that was conveniently forgotten as well.

Xu Gandang lay in bed, breathing heavily. His pupils bulged from rage, making him look especially frightening. "That brat! Bring him back to me! Even if you have to tie him up, drag him back!"

"Yes." Zhao Guangming was as respectful as ever. He left Zhou Qi to look after Xu Gandang and once again left Juxian Courtyard. 

But this time, he didn't go straight to Xiong Hong. Instead, he waited outside the marquis household for a while, until he saw the figure stepping through the hazy night, waving a branch he'd picked up from somewhere.

"Second Young Master."

"Whoa!" Xu Kaicheng was startled badly, swinging the branch in front of him defensively. When he saw clearly that it was Zhao Guangming, he laughed awkwardly and lowered his hands. "Hahaha, it's you, hahaha. Um, well, nothing's going on, so I'll just head back now."

Xu Kaicheng laughed dryly a few times and tried to sidestep around him.

"Second Young Master, please wait." Zhao Guangming raised a hand, blocking Xu Kaicheng's path. Amid Xu Kaicheng's helpless and conflicted expression, he pulled him into a more secluded, empty alley.

"W-what is it?" Since they were fairly familiar, Xu Kaicheng wasn't really afraid. But facing Zhao Guangming, he still instinctively shrank his neck and avoided eye contact.

Zhao Guangming's gaze softened, like that of a kind elder. "Second Young Master needn't be like this. Your father saved my life on the battlefield all those years ago."

"My father, huh..." Xu Kaicheng paused, lowering his head to scuff his toe against the ground. "I never even met him. He sounds like he was pretty amazing."

"Yes, he was a very impressive man." Zhao Guangming's voice grew softer. When Xu Kaicheng looked up curiously, he smiled gently. "Let's not talk about that—I don't want to make you sad. I just noticed you've been leaving early and returning late recently. I wanted to ask what you've been busy with. If there's anything I can help with, please give me the chance to repay my debt."

Zhao Guangming's warmth eased much of the tension. Xu Kaicheng scratched his head. "It's not like I'm busy with anything. Just going out to watch plays and listen to music. Uncle Zhao, do you think I'm embarrassing my father by being like this?"

"Why would you think that?" Zhao Guangming sounded surprised. Xu Kaicheng looked up, a trace of longing in his eyes. Zhao Guangming patted his shoulder with an earnest expression. "For parents, there's nothing more comforting than seeing their children grow up safe and sound. Since you call me Uncle Zhao, I'll take the liberty of saying a few things. Your father would never think you're an embarrassment. He was a very open-minded and cheerful man. Even before you were born, he said all his child needed was to live happily."

Xu Kaicheng's nose stung, and tears welled up in his eyes. He hurriedly lowered his head, fumbling to wipe them away. "Ahem, he really said that?"

"Of course. I was your father's personal guard back then. He even joked that he wanted to give you the childhood name Kaixin (happy). Hahaha, he only ever wanted you to be happy every single day."