Chapter 528: 482 Hatred

"Gray hair..." the white-haired person beside him suddenly repeated, lost in thought.

But when that YoungMaster turned his head to look at him, he waved his hand, signaling that it was nothing.

By the campfire, Baorenwu recounted everything in detail: "Actually, I was carrying ten or so slaves at the time, which was already quite a lot. Although that woman was of good quality, she was older and could no longer serve as a sword-slave. To sell her off, I would have to return to the Central Plains; the cost of the round trip was not small, and it wasn't very convenient. Who would have known that the woman claimed to be from Yunzhou, surnamed Chi, trapped in Liangzhou with no one to rely on, and was forced to sell herself. She said as long as I could get her back to Liangzhou and provide food and clothing, she would ask for almost no money and could even work. I saw she was pitiful and, for once, let my kindness get the better of me, so I took her in. Sigh, one really shouldn't be too kind-hearted."

At this moment, opposite the white-haired person, a young man who had been silent and appeared to be a Guest Minister of some sort sneered: "It was greed for a bargain, wasn't it?"

Baorenwu said awkwardly: "It was indeed that this one was greedy for a bargain. This merchandise was so good, and she didn't want money; just looking at her aptitude, she was not inferior to those 'thin horses' specifically trained for sale. Bringing her back to Yunzhou to sell on a whim would have been worth dozens of taels of silver. Especially since she was willing, there was no need to restrain her much, and she could even help with the work. This slave who practically paid to be taken in was truly..."

When things happen contrary to the norm, there must be a demon at play. Reasonably speaking, he was also an old hand in the world; he shouldn't have let such greed arise. He had simply been dazzled by a momentary bargain.

"After we left the border market, she followed us the whole way, obediently, and worked diligently. She even cooked a good meal; she was simply perfect. I valued her, so I let her look after the other slaves, and she made no mistakes. Because I was satisfied with her, I improved her treatment, ensuring she had enough food and clothing, and even said: 'When we reach Yunzhou, I will introduce you to a good family. You won't be a slave; you'll enter the door directly as a concubine, living in luxury. If you serve well and give birth to a son or daughter in the future, you'll have even more hope of turning your life around.'"

"She thanked me repeatedly and said: 'The moment I saw the boss, I felt a sense of kinship. You are Boss Bao of Yunzhou; although I am surnamed Chi, I also have relatives surnamed Bao, and they are also from Yunzhou. Perhaps we are even related...'"

"I was unhappy at the time and immediately felt I had misjudged her. I had initially thought she was sensible, but I didn't expect that after only two days, she would lose all sense of propriety and try to claim kinship with me. I scolded her: 'My Bao family is a great clan of Yan Prefecture, specializing in the human trade in Yunzhou for two or three generations. Who would dare sell a relative of my family? Four years ago, when we returned to Yan Prefecture, we brought all our clansmen back to Yan Prefecture; where would you come from as a relative? Look in the mirror—do you have that kind of fortune? You have no sense of your place; if it were my brother, this remark would have had you beaten into a low-class servant. I am not beating you for now, but if you enter a household with such a lack of discernment, you are destined to be beaten to death by the mistress.'"

"Thinking about it afterward, this remark might have stirred up her ferocity."

"She listened and left without a word. I didn't pay any attention and went to sleep. In the middle of the night, I was woken up by noises; I heard crying and screaming outside, a chaotic racket. I thought bandits had come, so I quickly grabbed my self-defense sword and snuck out from behind the tent. I saw... I saw that it was like a slaughterhouse outside; the ground was covered in blood, and people had been hacked into pieces—arms, feet, everywhere."

As he recalled the scene, the fat on his face trembled, and his voice shook.

By the campfire, however, not a single person felt afraid upon hearing this bloody description; they were divided only into those who were interested and those who were not. Even the two children roasting meat seemed completely indifferent, their movements as steady as if he were telling a story about kittens and puppies.

"I was scared silly at the time and wanted to find my two guards, when suddenly a white shadow appeared—it was that evil woman blocking my path! She was holding a sword, covered in blood, with no expression on her face at all."

"I really thought I had seen a ghost and shouted, asking her: 'Who are you?' She didn't answer me, but stared at me and said: 'Those who deserve to die...'"

He paused here, unable to continue. At this moment, two voices spoke up simultaneously:

"Those who deserve to die, human traffickers."

These two voices—one came from the white-haired person above, and the other actually came from the plain-looking child servant beside him.

Baorenwu froze, not knowing who to look at.

The white-haired person had already said: "What, isn't that the line?"

Baorenwu laughed dryly: "That is what she said, and then she... she raised her sword and chopped off my leg. This madwoman, she definitely wanted to cut me into pieces, that bastard! Disgusting, brutal, damn her to death!"

He howled twice, but no one paid him any mind. He stopped himself and said: "Fortunately, fortunately I was prepared. Ever since my brother was ambushed in the middle of the night years ago and had an arm chopped off, only narrowly escaping with his life, we knew that walking the path of the world is a dangerous business. So, our family always carries a Life-Saving Talisman that is worth more than a thousand pieces of gold when we go out to do business. If she had killed me with one sword strike, that would have been that, but she insisted on torturing me, which gave me my chance. I activated the Life-Saving Talisman and instantly escaped over a hundred miles, landing in a sand dune. It's a pity it's so desolate here; I didn't land in a town. It was truly a case of calling to heaven with no response and calling to earth with no answer. If the YoungMaster hadn't passed by, I would surely have died."

He said this and bowed repeatedly, saying: "My life was saved entirely by the YoungMaster; I will repay you even if I have to work like an ox or a horse. My family still has a vast fortune, and I will prepare a thousand pieces of gold as a reward."

He said this, stealing a glance at the YoungMaster, and seeing the other party unmoved, he grew anxious and hurriedly said: "If the YoungMaster thinks money comes too slowly, there is an oasis fifty miles ahead where there is a black market, and among it are businesses belonging to my relatives. As long as I can get there, I can immediately write a note and pay a hundred pieces of gold in cash on the spot! When I return home, there will be other benefits to offer. My family has been wealthy for generations, and our assets are not insignificant; I will never break my word!"

The YoungMaster finally reacted, turning his head to look at the white-haired person, and said: "What do you think?"

Baorenwu found it very strange: clearly the YoungMaster was the master, so why did he ask that middle-aged man who looked like a bodyguard when making a decision?

Immediately after, he figured it out: perhaps that old man was the YoungMaster's teacher or something; such wealthy young masters had upbringing and gave extra respect to these elders.

The white-haired person glanced at Baorenwu and said: "So that's how it is. You, a big-time human trafficker, were beaten by a female Knight-Errant who was ridding the people of a scourge?"

Baorenwu was startled, but then he noticed the white-haired person's tone was quite mocking and that he didn't truly believe the madwoman was a Knight-Errant, so he hurriedly said: "No, that woman is no Knight-Errant; she wasn't ridding the people of a scourge, she... she must have a personal vendetta against me!"

The white-haired person said: "Oh? How so?"

Baorenwu said: "That woman sold herself, made up stories, and racked her brains to infiltrate my team, working honestly for several days as if she intended to stay for the long haul. I fear her motives were not small; she certainly didn't just want to kill me. Our team stayed outside for several days in the wilderness; if she had wanted to act, she would have done so earlier. Why didn't I see her make a move?"

"Moreover, if she couldn't stand human traffickers, I told her to look after those slaves, yet I didn't see her show any sympathy or provide extra care. Never mind not giving them more food, she didn't even say a word to them. My eyes are quite sharp at judging people; she didn't care about those children. The more I think about it, the more I feel she was playing a long game. At first, she intended to follow us to a certain place, for example... the Deep Shadow Society!"

"But yesterday, she suddenly changed her face and struck with lethal intent. It was absolutely unusual; most likely she suddenly changed her plans because of something. I've thought it over and over, and it must be that when she asked me those questions, mentioning Yunzhou and the surname Bao, she was actually probing my family background. She teased out my family origins from my words, remembered she had a personal vendetta against me, and only then did she act."

He said with a bitter face: "But I can't figure out which of my enemies she is?"

He was silent for a moment, and suddenly, the handsome child servant beside him let out a snort of laughter and said: "As a human trafficker, isn't it natural for your enemies to be all over the world? Stop thinking about it; it's just retribution for your evil deeds."

Baorenwu was furious and glanced at the YoungMaster again, his gaze full of questions, meaning: This YoungMaster, your servant says I am a human trafficker who commits evil deeds, but aren't you one too? He is scolding me on the surface, but he is actually scolding you! If it were me, I wouldn't be able to tolerate this.

But he dared not speak to sow discord; relying on his eyes alone, of course, had no effect.

At this time, the white-haired person said: "That's right, you have too many enemies; one could say they are everywhere. For instance, right here and now, there is one of your enemies. Can you guess who it is?"

Baorenwu had arrived here and received various shocks, but no words had made his hair stand on end like these; in an instant, he felt his heart turn to ice.

This... did this even need guessing?

Since you asked it like that, then it must be—you!

If Baorenwu had legs, he would have crawled away long ago, but he was missing a leg and couldn't run. His face turned ashen, and he said: "I... how have I offended you?"

The white-haired person said: "Perhaps it's not you, but your brother? Your brother is also surnamed Bao, right? Back in the day, he trafficked people in Yunzhou, snatching whoever he found suitable. If he succeeded, the child's life was ruined, and they couldn't take revenge on him, but there would always be some who slipped through the net and harbored hatred after escaping, wouldn't there? No wonder you look somewhat familiar to me. Your face is exactly the same as that Fatty Bao."

Baorenwu's teeth chattered, and he said: "He... my brother... that dog! He is my enemy; I couldn't stand him for a long time! You have a vendetta against him, that's great. That old bastard is still alive even though he lost an arm. I will lead the way for you right now, and you can chop him into pieces yourself."

The white-haired person ignored him and instead looked at the child servant who had just scolded the human trafficker, saying: "Weise, do you have a similar experience?"

Weise said calmly: "When I was six, I was snatched by a child trafficker and was sold back and forth. When I was seven, I was sold into that place. Now I have forgotten where my hometown is and who my parents were; even if I wanted to go home, I couldn't. It's not just me..."

He pointed to the two boys roasting meat: "They all have similar experiences. Who wasn't born of parents? Who wouldn't want to be the apple of their parents' eye? Even if it were just coarse tea and plain rice, they would be happy. I just didn't expect you to have such an experience; I thought you were someone protected by the heavens, immune to all evil."

The white-haired person shook his head, looked at the two children, and asked: "Do you still hate?"

The two children's facial control was clearly not as good as Weise's; they tried to feign calmness, but failed. One of them couldn't help but nod.

The white-haired person said: "I fear I do not hate as much as you do. I suppose it is because, in the end, I did not experience the kind of torment you did. It is only right and proper that you hate human traffickers. Human traffickers do not deserve to live. How about this: you all take a sword, and whoever hates him, stab him once."