Chapter 8: Easy to Deceive

Outside the carriage, after a moment, someone replied, "Replying to Master, this subordinate believes she must be from a wealthy family, and for some reason, ran away from home."

Having said this, Fu Gang paused for a moment before adding, "This subordinate feels she must be a concubine-born daughter." A daughter born of the primary wife would never be raised to act like that.

After being disciplined by his master, he was terrified of speaking carelessly; he figured that if he said less, he would make fewer mistakes, and thus avoid angering his master again.

Furthermore, not having his upper front teeth made speaking truly uncomfortable, but that wasn't the main point. He felt stifled, aggrieved, and depressed, yet there was nothing he could do about it.

Resentment was useless; he didn't even have the chance to sneak back and teach that little wench a lesson.

From now on, not only would he speak less, but if the master didn't explicitly order someone to do something, he felt he should try his best not to be as proactively eager as he had been before.

If he had known this trip would turn out like this, he would rather have stayed at the manor and practiced with the instructors—even if it were dull, it would still be better than this!

"Fan Wu?" The person inside the carriage didn't respond to that, but instead asked about the other one. Why had he suddenly become a mute?

"Replying to Master, this subordinate is dull-witted and cannot discern anything," Fan Wu replied.

Hearing this response, the person in the carriage gave a light huff: "Just a moment ago, I saw you chatting quite happily with that young lady, and when you left, you looked quite reluctant and worried."

"In this subordinate's view, it is clearly the Master himself who is very interested in her," Fan Wu retorted without any pressure.

Fu Gang, listening to their exchange from the side, glanced at his expressionless companion on the horse next to him, feeling even more miserable.

They were both subordinates, so why was the master so tolerant of this kid? And why did he treat him so dismissively?

What exactly was so special about this kid? In terms of martial arts, he wasn't the best among the master's men; he hadn't been by the master's side the longest, nor was he the most skilled at scheming or offering advice.

Why was the master so special to him? Taking him everywhere he went?

However, thinking about Fan Wu's words for a moment, they didn't seem entirely unreasonable.

Wasn't this trip urgent? The master had been rushing the whole way, only stopping briefly when absolutely necessary for fear of exhausting the horses. Just now, when he had failed to negotiate the purchase of the game with that little wench and a dispute arose, it had delayed their journey, yet the master hadn't reacted at all, as if he were tired and sleeping in the carriage.

It was only when he himself was tricked by that little wench and got angry enough to want to go over and hack her to pieces that the master finally spoke up and took action.

The game was bought, yet the master didn't say to clean it, start a fire, and roast it; they just continued on their way? Then what was the point of buying it? To keep in the carriage and look at?

The more Fu Gang thought about it, the more he felt that must be the case. He couldn't help but admire Fan Wu; one really had to stay close to the master to guess what he was thinking.

But, could the master really be interested in that little wench? That couldn't be, right? Would the master like that type?

As long as the master nodded, those dignified young ladies from noble families would break their heads trying to throw themselves at him.

"Master, if you are truly interested in that young lady, shall this subordinate go and investigate her?" Fu Gang suddenly felt he had had a breakthrough, and unable to help himself, he forgot that just a moment ago he had intended to keep his head down and work honestly.

Before the person in the carriage could respond, Fan Wu, at his side, frowned and was about to speak.

"You? You couldn't even handle the small matter of buying game from her, and you want to go investigate her? Do you think losing your front teeth hasn't affected you enough?" After the person in the carriage finished speaking, he sighed helplessly.

How could he have such a foolish person under his command?

Fu Gang, mercilessly despised by his master, really wanted to slap himself a few times. *Let that be a lesson to you for having a loose tongue!*

It was over. After this business was settled and they returned to the manor, he probably wouldn't have another chance to go out with the master for the rest of his life; he would be stuck guarding the gate at the manor.

Fan Wu, standing by, felt not a shred of sympathy for his companion, but he looked back at the carriage and shook his head with some regret.

Clearly, the master was interested in that young lady. It was likely the same as his own feeling—that the young lady was very special and interesting. But he himself had no other intentions toward her; as for the master? That was uncertain!

The master and his servants said nothing more and continued on their way.

As for Hong Xiaoduo, who had obtained the hundred taels of silver, she weighed the pouch in her hand; it felt like about seven or eight jin.

"Mother, when we reach the town, it would be better to exchange some for smaller pieces of silver," the older boy hesitated for a moment before cautiously reminding her.

Hearing this, Hong Xiaoduo tilted her head to look at him. After thinking for a moment, she understood his meaning: first, a whole ingot of silver was inconvenient for buying small items, and second, it was easy to attract the attention of thieves.

"That makes sense, but now is not the time to talk about this. Have you all eaten your fill? If you're full, we need to continue escaping—no, I mean, continue our journey. See that? The sun hasn't set yet, so we can't rest. Do you understand?" she asked.

With a hundred taels of silver in hand, Hong Xiaoduo felt she had become more steady and rational; she wasn't as irritable as before, and she could speak to these children calmly.

The seven children nodded in unison: "Yes, Mother, we understand."

Regarding the title "Mother," Hong Xiaoduo realized that no matter how gently she discussed it or how fiercely she threatened them, these seven children would not change how they addressed her.

She decided to simply tune out the word.

Having eaten their fill, the children's voices were much louder. Without her needing to remind them, they used dirt to cover the smoldering charcoal fire.

Then, the slightly older ones took the hands of the younger ones, and the big boy carried the youngest child. They followed obediently behind Hong Xiaoduo and continued on their way.

The more obedient they were, the more uncomfortable Hong Xiaoduo felt, especially since the rags they wore were fine for now, but not a single pair of shoes on their feet was intact.

Either their toes were poking out, or half the soles were worn away. When they rested in the morning, Hong Xiaoduo had checked; although the children's shoes were all broken, their feet were wrapped in rags, otherwise, their feet would have been worn raw long ago.

Recalling what the man on horseback had said about a village ahead, she thought that when they reached it, she could ask how much a carriage would cost—an ox cart or a donkey cart would also do.

After traveling for about an hour, Hong Xiaoduo told everyone to stop and rest.

The children thought they had misheard and even looked up toward the sun.

Hong Xiaoduo pretended not to notice and sat down on a fallen log by the side of the road.

The children separated by gender and went into the bushes on either side of the road to relieve themselves, leaving the youngest little girl by Hong Xiaoduo's side.

"Mother, are you hungry? Here, eat this," the little girl said as she handed her something wrapped in a leaf.

Curious, Hong Xiaoduo took it and felt it was still warm. She unwrapped the leaf and recognized it; it must have been the first prey she caught when she entered the forest—that bird.

They had cleaned and roasted the bird, and had given it to this youngest child.

"I'm very full, I'm not hungry. You keep it for when you're hungry. By the way, can you tell me, whose idea was it to call me Mother?" She looked around; the other children hadn't returned yet, so she took the opportunity to ask.

She actually had a guess in her heart, but she wasn't sure.

She thought perhaps one of the very small children had started calling her that randomly, and the others had just followed suit.

The other possibility was that it was the big boy's idea.

The little girl looked at Hong Xiaoduo and didn't make a sound, her little mouth pressed tightly shut, looking a bit nervous.

"Tell me, it's okay. I just want to know who is so clever to have thought of calling me Mother?" Hong Xiaoduo coaxed with a smile.

She didn't dare to scare such a small child; if she started crying, how would she soothe her?

"It was Big Brother, he is very smart," the little girl was young after all and couldn't keep a secret; she opened her mouth and sold her brother out.

She could already see some children walking back. "Then did he say why? Calling me Big Sister would have been fine too," Hong Xiaoduo hurriedly continued to press...

(End of chapter)