Chapter 6: 6 Crows

6 Crows

Tang Zhao and Sui Feng were both shocked and angry, and Tang Zhao was also filled with astonishment. Sui Feng looked at the large men all over the floor, pulled Tang Zhao back a bit, and said, "What kind of joke is this?! Who... are you people?"

His gaze swept over the chains on the children, and he thought: Are these bandits kidnapping people? I was careless this time. With so many people, wouldn't they chop us into mincemeat if each of them took a swing?

The fat man seemed to see through his thoughts and laughed, "Look at this kid, he thinks you're bandits."

The crowd roared with laughter. Someone stood up and said, "Open your eyes and look, this is Master Bao from the brokerage, a proper Official Broker. Asking you is for your own good. Looking at how poor you are, you must be struggling to make ends meet, so why not sell this brat to Master Bao? Both of you could have a full meal."

Only then did Tang Zhao understand; they were human traffickers.

He looked at the group of children who were like wooden puppets, and a sentence flashed through his mind:

Carriages, boats, inns, porters, and brokers—even if they are innocent, they deserve to be killed!

Sui Feng breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing they weren't bandits. An Official Broker was at least a legal Tooth Broker, even if they did trade in human beings.

He first bowed and said, "Greetings, Master. We... the master and servant are just passing through and wanted to rest our feet. We didn't know this place belonged to you; we will leave now."

He emphasized "master and servant" a bit heavily. Master Bao naturally understood his meaning, squinted his eyes, and said, "What, is this child a little YoungMaster? So you can't sell him. Fine, kid, are you willing to sell yourself to me?"

Tang Zhao found it inconceivable and said, "How could I possibly sell myself to you?"

Master Bao laughed loudly, "Looking at you, you've only been down on your luck for a few days, right?"

Tang Zhao was rendered speechless.

Master Bao said, "I've seen plenty like you. Every time a Yin Calamity strikes, how many families are broken and destroyed? What YoungMaster or young lady—none of it matters. You haven't been poor for long, so you can still afford coarse tea and plain rice, and naturally, you still have a sense of haughtiness. But wait until you can't even afford soup in a few days; then you'll know that having a bite to eat is better than anything."

He casually grabbed a skinny little girl from behind and said, "Look at this girl, she's so thin, but her background might not be worse than yours."

The girl was only about eight or nine years old, sallow and emaciated, wearing only a thin layer of unlined clothing, with only a felt hat on her head covering most of her hair, revealing only a tuft of messy dark hair at the back of her head. Her body was trembling, and the iron chains at her feet clattered.

The fat man used his hand to pry open the girl's mouth, picking at her teeth as if selecting livestock, and said, "Teeth are the surplus of bone, hair is the surplus of blood. Look at this good hair; even if you cut it off to sell, it's worth a few taels of silver. And look at these fine glutinous rice teeth, white and even. Could someone who didn't grow up eating fine grain have such teeth? Don't look at how thin she is; her bones aren't crooked. Feed her a few days of full meals and she'll be a beauty in the making. For a girl like this, the price is just a bag of flour."

Tang Zhao stared at his fingers, which were wearing a jade thumb ring, as they poked at the girl's face and neck, as if the other person were poking his own throat.

The fat man laughed, "Actually, I know I've given a high price. The one who sold her wasn't her family; I don't know which strong person on the road snatched her to sell. It's a business with no capital, so even a handful of rice is profit for him. Who told me to have a kind heart? A bag of flour is nothing; I'll just send this girl into a wealthy house, give her a bite to eat, and that's one life saved. Don't look at how she fears me now; when she understands, she'll even kowtow to thank me."

Tang Zhao didn't say a word, just stared at his hand.

"Actually, she's had great luck meeting me. I am an Official Broker, and my connections are with high-ranking, wealthy families who don't lack food or clothing and don't fear famine. Once she's sent in, she'll have food to eat. Someone like her, or someone like you who is good-looking and sensible, might even have a future. Especially since you're a boy; if you meet a family without heirs, you might just transform and become a young master again. When you're at the end of your rope in the future and don't know where you'll end up, and your servant sells you, I don't know if you'll have someone as kind-hearted as me."

Sui Feng heard him bring the topic to himself, suppressed his anger, went up, and bowed, "Master, this is your place. We aren't fit to stand here, so we shall take our leave." After saying this, he pulled Tang Zhao to leave.

That Master Bao suddenly said, "Wait—kid, why do you keep looking at my hand?"

Tang Zhao's expression had originally been full of anger, sadness, endurance, and conflict, but at some point, it had turned into a blank stare.

He had been staring at the fat man's hand earlier just because he couldn't bear to look at the girl's face and was looking at something to distract himself. The fat man's hand was short and thick, shaking constantly, so it was naturally easy to see. Moreover, it was covered in bright, glittering jewelry, rings, and a jade thumb ring, which made one's eyes dizzy.

Gradually, his attention focused on that jade thumb ring.

The jade was, of course, good jade, green within white, crystalline and moist, especially translucent under the Lamp.

But on such a precious jade thumb ring, there was actually a deep crack.

It was just like the crack on his Longevity Lock.

However, while both were cracks, this one was much more beautiful; it wasn't straight, but curved and folded, connecting head to tail to form a meander pattern.

That was definitely not carving, because it had cracked into the jade, revealing the cross-section of the jade.

Tang Zhao didn't know why he could see it so clearly.

In fact, his eyesight was poor; reading from a young age had gradually made his eyes less useful. At this distance, it was usually not easy for him to distinguish colors, yet he saw it clearly, even seeing the path of the pattern and the texture of the side wall inside the jade crack.

After looking for two more seconds, his vision blurred, and suddenly a large Shadow surged out, as if it were about to crash into his face.

He stepped back almost instinctively, and just at that moment, he heard the fat man ask in his ear, "Kid, why do you keep looking at my hand?"

Tang Zhao was still shaken and said, "What?"

The fat man said word by word, "Is it because you think the ring on my hand is good-looking?"

Tang Zhao felt a chill and said, "There's nothing good to look at."

The fat man said, "Is it because you see it's cracked and think it's not top quality?"

Tang Zhao turned his head away and said, "I wasn't looking at anything, you misunderstood."

Sui Feng saw the other person's expression change, felt anxious, and pulled Tang Zhao back.

The fat man stood up and shouted, "Stop, what did you say you saw?"

Sui Feng didn't say another word, grabbed Tang Zhao, turned around, and ran.

The fat man shouted, "Chase him!"

The men around were all hired by him. They had originally been laughing and watching the fat man tease the child, thinking Master Bao didn't mean to rob anyone by force, so it was none of their business. Who knew the boss would suddenly flip his face? They hurriedly scrambled to get up. But the room was cramped, and they were crowded around the stove drinking, so their movements were uneven and quite sluggish.

The fat man didn't wait for them to get up; he reached the door in a few steps and flicked his thumb.

Suddenly, a large, pitch-black Shadow surged out, starting from his hand and spraying outward, in clusters, like ghosts passing through in the dark night.

It was a flock of crows!

Flap, flap—

The sound of flapping wings was like raindrops. The flock of crows was extremely fast, rolling out like a flood.

If one looked closely, the outlines of those crows were blurred, their edges almost fading into the night, as if they were just a group of shadows. But the shadows rubbed against the night sky, still emitting a harsh flapping sound.

As Tang Zhao was running, he heard a change behind him. He turned his head and saw the sky-covering Shadow crows.

Sui Feng followed suit and looked back. Where had he ever seen such a scene? The red light in the eyes of countless crows in the night, dense and numerous, almost scared him silly.

Tang Zhao's mind also went blank for a moment.

In a flash of lightning, a thought suddenly crossed his mind. He flipped open his Longevity Lock, with the crack facing the opposite side!

A white light flashed—

Bang—

A crow rushed forward at high speed, hitting an invisible wall in mid-air, emitting a loud noise. Its form shook and it disappeared, turning into black smoke.

Immediately after, a continuous clattering sound rang out. Countless crows hit the wall, making a sharp sound like hail hitting the ground. One by one, the crows exploded, turning into thick black smoke, gradually connecting into a single piece, like a dark cloud in the night, blocking all sight.

The burly men chasing from behind were all dumbfounded the moment they emerged; how could they dare to approach?

After a while, the dark clouds dispersed slightly, and the crowd was finally able to see clearly.

The desolate village was completely empty; let alone a shadow of a person, even the parked Donkey cart was gone.

Several burly men looked at each other and asked, "Master Bao, do you think we should still pursue?"

Master Bao's expression was conflicted, filled with both regret and fear, and he sighed, "Pursue what? And what if we caught up? I never expected that I had misjudged him; he really is a YoungMaster from a great family. Even if he is down on his luck for a moment, he naturally has Body Protection treasures, and perhaps even some hidden background; he is not someone I can touch. Let it be, it is a pity about the one thousand taels of silver."

The burly men asked in surprise, "He has one thousand taels of silver on him? I couldn't tell. Could it be gold? This kid ran quite fast while carrying several catties of gold."

Master Bao snorted, "Who said he had one thousand taels of silver? I meant that he himself is worth one thousand taels of silver."

Seeing that the burly men all looked skeptical, Master Bao said, "People are not the same. In this world, even a celestial being is no longer worth much. Why do we work so hard and risk danger to drag people out of the Fire Demon Cave and transport them thousands of miles? Isn't it just to hope they are favored by a noble, where one is worth ten, and we can earn a few dozen taels? But some people are born worth that much, and they will only become more valuable in the future. One thousand taels of silver is an understatement."

"It is a pity, this money was ultimately not meant for me to earn. Let's go back."