"Whoever you are, drop the water and get out. This water source belongs to us."
The person speaking at the front was the leader of the Li family's guards, Li Hutou.
The carriage behind them looked rather dilapidated. Immediately after, two old women helped an old man down from the carriage.
A'jiu's breathing became rapid, and her face was extremely grim. The old man, who was in his fifties, seemed as if his actions had just happened yesterday.
"A'jiu." Meng Shaode clearly noticed something wrong with his daughter's expression, as if she were frozen in fear.
He quickly pulled her behind him to protect her.
"Sister A'jiu, you look so pale. It's nothing, they just want water, they don't want our lives," Tuobayan quickly comforted her.
"Old Master Li?" Meng Shaode finally saw the person alighting from the carriage was the very Master Li who had intended to buy his daughter.
If it were anyone else, Meng Shaode might have felt they were all in the same predicament and wouldn't have minded sharing half the water. After all, this water source wasn't privately owned.
"Well, well, Meng Shaode, so it's you." Old Master Li seemed to have poor eyesight and only recognized the other person after stepping forward upon being identified.
His gaze fell upon A'jiu, and a look of extreme covetousness flashed in his eyes.
A'jiu was so scared she hid behind Tuobayan.
Tuobayan suddenly felt that the person who had arrived was no simple figure. He had never seen Sister A'jiu so terrified on their journey.
She hadn't reacted so strongly even when facing those refugee soldiers.
"Sister A'jiu, don't be scared. Xiao Yanyan will definitely protect you."
Xiao Yanyan patted his chest, hands on his hips, striking a heroic pose.
"So what if it's me? Don't think you can bully me just because you have more people. Back in the day, I killed people on the streets."
Meng Shaode even took the bow from his shoulder to boost his morale.
"What do you mean, 'what do you mean'? And you, Madam Wang, you took my money and didn't send your granddaughter to my manor as promised, yet you ask me what I mean? Today, I want the water, and I want the person. If you know what's good for you, I'll spare your lives, you desperate lot."
Old Master Li was fuming. If it weren't for the fact that this girl wasn't delivered to his manor on time,
Steward Hong wouldn't have personally gone to look for her. And he wouldn't have encountered not officials he had bribed, but refugee bandits.
His home would not have been robbed, forcing him to flee overnight. Especially that scoundrel Zheng Sangou, who had even pulled a surprise attack and intercepted him on the road.
His gold... thinking about it made his heart ache.
Tuobayan's pupils contracted. He glanced back at Sister A'jiu hiding behind him.
Did her own family sell her?
Her past was truly tragic.
"Here, take it." Madam Wang knew full well, but she didn't want to be bothered by these mundane matters.
As the saying goes, the Great Dao is unfeeling. Everything is a manifestation of cause and effect. What is good, and what is bad? In her eyes, existence itself held its own rationale.
Saying this, she waved her hand, her eyes half-closed. She reached into her trousers and fumbled for a while, then threw out the lumpy things her physical body had been hiding.
The silk handkerchief, upon hitting the ground, opened its mouth, revealing money inside.
Meng Shaode stared in disbelief.
"Mother, you... you hid so much pin money?" Meng Shaode's legs went weak with shock, and he snatched it before Li Hutou could:
"Mother, you don't need this much. This..."
Meng Shaode wanted to curse his mother. This money was enough to buy a horse. Was his mother a rat, hoarding so much private money, and in such a place? Didn't she fear it would get rotten?
He lowered his head to sniff. There was a peculiar smell, but the money inside was more fragrant than the odor.
As for Madam Wang, she closed her eyes and sat there like a Buddha statue, appearing to regard money as dirt. Her face was so dirty, and her lips were swollen, she wasn't as pleasing to the eye as Ji Gong.
Meng Shaode picked a piece of silver and pressed it into Li Hutou's hand:
"It was fifteen coins back then. Now I'll give you one tael of broken silver, a bargain for you."
"Master." Li Hutou cupped the broken silver and presented it to Old Master Li.
"Heh heh." Old Master Li chuckled lewdly. He didn't even look at the broken silver. He took two steps forward, revealing his perpetually stained, blackened gold teeth from years of smoking water pipes:
"This old man is not accepting refunds today. I want the Meng family to uphold their promise and hand over the Ninth Miss to this old man. Otherwise, we'll meet at the yamen."
With that, he pulled out a slave contract from his chest: "It's written clearly in black and white."