Chapter 361: Side Story

Side Story: "A Silver Coin"

North gate of Bingxun Pass.

A short, hunched figure stumbled closer. Several soldiers, who were organizing inspections outside the gate, sneered and muttered to each other about what had just happened.

When the small, thin figure was about to enter the pass from outside the gate, a soldier nearby casually kicked the little guy in the backside.

*Thud*, the little guy fell onto the icy ground.

Although he had fallen, the little guy kept his arms pressed tightly against his torso, looking as strange as a piece of wood. The soldier took a few extra looks, then walked up and gave the little guy's legs a couple more kicks.

"That's enough. He's just a little runt, is it fun to kick him? Why didn't you rush up and stop that person who rode out on a horse earlier? Trying to act tough here, are you?" Nearby, the tax collector walked out from inside the gate and stopped the soldier from kicking the child of the lower-class residents.

The soldier bent down and gave a fawning smile. Although he stopped kicking, he pointed at the little runt on the ground and explained to the tax collector: "Sir, you don't know, don't let this thing's pitiful appearance fool you; they are actually quite rotten. Poultry raised by the commoners, food from the back kitchens of taverns and restaurants, purses from people on the street, vegetables in the market—they steal everything, they loot everything. They are all old repeat offenders."

The tax collector glanced at the dirty little runt, a hint of disgust in his eyes, and waved his hand, saying: "Then don't let them appear before my eyes. And you, kicking him—aren't you afraid he'll steal your things when you're not home?"

The soldier grinned: "They wouldn't dare, I'd skin them alive!" Then, following behind the departing tax collector, the soldier added fawningly: "You don't know, this guy was just out of the city with those town thugs doing something."

"What were they doing?" The tax collector had walked away, but his voice carried back.

The soldier's voice grew quieter as he walked away: "They went to chase a young man who was rumored to be carrying quite a few Gold Coins. I suspect they'll likely intercept and kill that young man outside the pass. Actually, I was kind enough to let that young man leave the city earlier; otherwise, if he were blocked at the gate by those people, he wouldn't be able to get out, and if he tried to hide inside the pass, he would be ambushed by those guys."

"Is that so? So you're actually kind-hearted?"

"Really, that young man even subdued a few Bandits outside the pass earlier, which let the brothers earn a little money, so I couldn't just watch him get attacked by those shameless thugs. Even though we are just ordinary Soldiers, we understand such principles of justice."

Once the two had walked far away, the other soldiers at the gate ignored him too. The little runt opened his eyes, shook his head, and looked around. Merchants and Shop Assistants passing by pointed at him, but he acted as if he didn't see them.

He awkwardly climbed up from the icy ground. Just as he wanted to jump around to warm his body, he remembered something, his body stiffened, and then he lowered his head and trotted staggeringly into Bingxun Pass.

The little runt was not an orphan; he had a home in Bingxun Pass. He avoided the dogs barking at him along the way, dodged the dark, man-eating alleys, and did not make eye contact with anyone he brushed past. He kept both arms pressed tightly against his body the whole way, taking small steps, half-walking and half-running, until he returned to his home.

His home was located in the northwest corner inside Bingxun Pass. After entering from the north gate, one had to walk as close to the city wall as possible, avoiding the large buildings leaning against the wall, until reaching a dilapidated, trash-like area that was a true slum.

And his home was among the worst even within the slums. He and his mother lived on the edge of a room, using the simple mud and Wooden Wall of the adjacent equally broken-down house, and building a low shack with some branches mixed with rotten bricks and stones.

The entrance to the shack was covered only by a torn Linen Cloth to block the cold wind. Fortunately, the little runt's "home" was built against the chimney of his so-called "father's" house, so as long as there was a fire for warmth in the big house, the temperature from the chimney heated by the flames and smoke made his home habitable.

It kept them from freezing to death at night during this cold winter.

The little runt pushed open the broken wooden door of his "father's" house, ignoring the fierce dog tied with a rope that was barking at him.

The old wooden door of the big house opened a crack, and a mean-spirited face poked out. Upon seeing that the person entering was the little runt, she changed her expression and scolded in a shrill voice: "Xiaohaozi! Why are you back so early? It's not even dark yet! Why don't you hurry out to the street and kneel to beg for money? Even a few copper coins are money. Letting you and your mother live in my house is already me being merciful; you have to repay me, understand?"

The little runt named Xiaohaozi didn't dare to make a sound, just scrambled toward the low entrance of his own home. His home was barely larger than the doghouse in the same courtyard.

Fortunately, his mother lifted the tattered Linen Cloth at the entrance of their home, first giving a fawning smile to the mean woman who hadn't left, and then beckoned to her son.

Xiaohaozi quickly slipped into the house.

The mean woman disliked the cold outside, and seeing that her dog was guarding the door well, she quickly closed the old wooden door. Even with the door closed, her cursing could still be heard without any attempt to lower her voice.

It was just that, separated by a wall, the sound was a bit muffled.

Inside Xiaohaozi's home, his mother saw that he was covered in dirt and quickly started brushing off the dust. Fortunately, it was winter, so this dust, which contained all sorts of things, didn't smell, nor was it as sticky as mud. It was enough to just brush it off.

Only after returning home did Xiaohaozi wince in pain while rubbing the places where he had been kicked. His mother lifted the Linen Cloth clothes Xiaohaozi was wearing, which were stuffed with warm trash, and gently rubbed the bruised areas.

"Didn't I tell you not to provoke people you can't afford to offend?" His mother whispered a scolding while twisting Xiaohaozi's ear.

"I didn't provoke them, they were the ones who hit me." At this point, Xiaohaozi seemed to recall the scene of slaughter he had seen by the river earlier. He began to tremble.

Thinking he was cold, his mother picked up Xiaohaozi and placed him near the big house's chimney, which was part of the wall, letting the heat radiating from the chimney warm her son.

Seeing that Xiaohaozi was still shivering, she quickly wrapped a set of clothes she was mending around him.

"What's wrong, Xiaohaozi? Does it hurt somewhere on your body?" the woman asked worriedly.

"It doesn't hurt, it's just, it's just." Tears flowed from his eyes, and snot ran down: "It's just that they are all dead. They were all killed by a terrifying guy."

His mother's eyes widened. Although people died daily in the slums, most died of illness, cold, hunger, or exhaustion; fewer were beaten or killed.

Residents like them, who had nothing, if they were beaten or killed, it was mostly because they had offended a big shot while out trying to make a living, or were beaten to death for fun by some heartless thugs.

But those were individual deaths; never had so many people died together.

"What happened? Where is your father? Where is he? Is he okay?" The mother became anxious now. After all, although her son Xiaohaozi was mischievous and prone to getting beaten, she had taught him since he was young not to lie.

They were already living like this; if they bent their spiritual spine as well, they would truly never be able to crawl out of here.

Xiaohaozi was terrified. When he was by the river earlier, he had been too shocked to react, but now that he was in the safe and warm home, the cruel scene that had occurred was clearly reflected in his mind.

"Father took us to chase someone, a person on a horse. We kept chasing after leaving the city, and then by the river, they were all killed by that person one by one. Father is dead too. They're all dead, Damao, Hongshou, they're dead, Huimao is dead too, they're all dead. Father begged him for mercy, but was killed. That person wanted to kill me, I begged for mercy, just like you told me to, and that person didn't kill me; he kicked me and told me to leave. So I came back. Oh right, a Soldier also kicked me; I heard him say it was our fault for leaving the city to chase that person, so he kicked me. I pretended to be dead and didn't move, then he talked to someone and walked away. That's when I ran back." Xiaohaozi's words were jumbled, but he made it clear that everyone they usually hung out with had been killed outside the city.

His mother couldn't believe it. Seeing her son in a trance, she quickly patted Xiaohaozi's cheeks to help her son, who had been captured by fear, calm down.

After a long while, Xiaohaozi finally sobered up. He wept timidly, curling up against his mother's lower leg.

After comforting the little guy for a long time, Xiaohaozi's mother finally asked, bit by bit, what exactly had happened.

It turned out that her "man" had gone out that morning as usual, taking Xiaohaozi and other nearby men to find work. Calling it finding work was actually just doing some petty thievery, mostly picking through trash thrown out from the back doors of large hotels and shops, searching for anything with a little value.

Sometimes, if the back door wasn't closed tightly, they would sneak in, grab whatever they could, and run. If they were caught, they would mostly just get a beating and that would be the end of it. It was nothing; anyway, even if they just made eye contact with the thugs from those money-burning dens, it would invite a beating, and they were used to it.

As it turned out, after going out in the morning, they hadn't had any income, only picking up some moldy Bread that the tavern didn't want and some rotten shoes that others didn't want. But just before noon, at the place where they hung out on the street, they heard some news.

A certain young man had sold two highly valuable treasures to the owners of large shops by himself, selling them for a big bag full of Gold Coins that couldn't even be closed. And that young man was not a local resident; he was a lone traveler from out of town.

Lone, young, lots of money.

This was telling the people with crooked minds in Bingxun Pass one thing: I am very valuable, come and rob me!

Xiaohaozi's father, therefore, like some other thugs, had his own ideas.

Seeing others preparing to rob, they also hurried home, borrowed things from others, and roughly gathered some "weapons" that could be used for violent robbery.

They followed those other thugs, chasing all the way from the Simons Chamber of Commerce by the river to an inn protected by the church.

Most of the thugs didn't dare to go in and cause trouble. After all, whoever dared to cause trouble would likely be dragged out by the Soldiers of the pass and thrown into the dungeon until they were carried out as corpses after starving to death.

Their group squatted in a corner of the street, saw the target ride out of the inn on a horse, and then followed the others to chase after him.

However, most people gave up after seeing that the other party had a horse. But Xiaohaozi's "father" felt that the other party didn't look like an expert rider; he could ride a little on the main road of the pass, but once out of the town, he likely wouldn't get far.

Sure enough, after everyone else gave up, their group chased out and discovered that the person was riding slower and slower, and it seemed like he had fallen off the horse, with coins scattered all over the ground.

The bag holding the coins probably had a hole in it, scattering them all along the route the person was fleeing.

Everyone else was thinking about bags full of Gold Coins, so they heartlessly abandoned the copper and Iron Coins that fell; only the small Xiaohaozi, who had no weapon and dared not cause trouble, had to lag behind to pick up the coins dropped on the ground.

It was a result.

That was a trap.

Everyone else Xiaohaozi knew was killed, on the cold river beach.

As for the scene of the slaughter, Xiaohaozi could not describe it, and could only dryly say that so-and-so was killed by that young man in a few moves, and so-and-so was toyed with and killed by that young man.

These dry words also frightened Xiaohaozi's mother terribly.

Speaking to the end, a luster suddenly appeared in Xiaohaozi's eyes; he reached under the armpits of his two thin arms to search, and took out an Empire Silver Coin that was bright as a silver moon and clear as the sun, even in their dim home.

Although it was called an Empire Silver Coin, it was only consistent with the Empire Silver Coin in its manufacturing process and silver content; the two sides of the silver coin were the Regent of the Kingdom and the name of the Kingdom, respectively, as well as the Kingdom's so-and-so mint that cast this silver coin.

The mother widened her eyes; how long, how many years had it been since she had seen a coin of this denomination? She didn't even care that it had been hidden under her son's armpit, grabbing it directly and biting it with her canine teeth.

The place where the silver coin was bitten was slightly dented; it was a real silver coin.

"Where did this coin come from?" the mother asked urgently.

Xiaohaozi shook his head and said timidly, "The first coin that person dropped was this silver coin. After Father saw it, I took it and he never asked for it back. After that, they all died."

"Is that so, that guy, sigh." The mother let out a heavy sigh, but her eyes remained fixed tightly on the silver coin. The two of them huddled by the 'wall' of their home—the chimney of the big house next door—without speaking.

After a good while, Xiaohaozi's mother picked up the silver coin, then used her hand to clear away the dirt beneath some scattered wood chips in a corner of the room; inside were twelve copper coins.

She hesitated for another while, looking at her son's thin and cowering appearance, and seemed to have made some kind of decision in her eyes.

She had Xiaohaozi pack up everything in the house with rope, while she herself went out to return the clothes she was to mend to the tailor shop, and after receiving a small amount of labor money, she went to the bakery and bought a bag of Bread.

Returning home, she had Xiaohaozi carry the Bread, while she carried all the wealth of the family: some tattered clothes, old Boots they had picked up, and the fur of an old dog.

Without saying goodbye to the people in the big house, the mother pulled Xiaohaozi, and the two of them, carrying their full load, walked toward the south gate of the pass.

"Mother, where are we going?"

"We can't stay here anymore, we are going home."

"But isn't home behind us?"

Xiaohaozi pointed to the low house next to the big house they had walked away from.

"That is not home."

"Is it there?"

Xiaohaozi pointed in another direction; that was also a place in Bingxun Pass, but it was still dilapidated, just slightly better than their previous place.

"Pah, that isn't it either." The mother spat in that direction; she had once thought that place could be a home to live in, but it turned out that man was a gambler, and when he ran out of money, he actually wanted to use her and Xiaohaozi as collateral on the gambling table.

Xiaohaozi scratched his head and finally pointed in another direction.

The mother looked in the direction Xiaohaozi pointed, her eyes filled with tears: "It once was, but after your father died, it wasn't anymore."

Xiaohaozi lowered his head, feeling a bit sad and a bit confused.

The mother reached out and touched her son's cheeks, which were reddened by the cold, and pulled Xiaohaozi forward.

After a while, she stopped, pointed to the south of Bingxun Pass, and said to her son: "There is no home here, not since your father died. However, that direction."

She paused.

"That direction is your mother's—my—home. It once was, and now, it might still be. Sigh, I hope your grandfather still recognizes me as his daughter." Speaking to the end, she lacked some confidence.

Xiaohaozi squeezed his mother's cold hand, giving her some warmth and encouragement.

"Although one silver coin isn't much, added to the coins we saved at home before, it should be enough, but it seems we still need to join a Caravan heading south. It doesn't matter, they will definitely need someone who can cook and mend clothes."

"I can work too!"

"Good! Let's go home."