A Gentleman Takes Revenge from Dawn till Dusk

Zhao Kui sighed, then continued:

"Actually, I really don't know why we tried to ambush you in the first place. Most of the first group was wiped out, and only a few escaped. Later, I overheard the foreman who had returned let slip some information, and that's how I vaguely learned the inside story."

He paused, then looked up at Shen Jingchuan, his expression somewhat complicated.

"Young Master Shen, I'm telling you this now: even if you let me go, I'll have to flee for my life immediately. The Pan Household will never forgive me."

Shen Jingchuan stood up after hearing this, his tone calm:

"You can rest assured about that. Is there any deep-seated hatred between us?"

Zhao Kui shook his head. "No."

That settles it.

Shen Jingchuan said:

"Even if I wanted to eliminate the entire Pan family, it wouldn't be your turn. If I really wiped out the whole Pan Household, would you avenge them?"

Zhao Kui answered decisively, "No."

"That solves it, doesn't it?"

Zhao Kui gritted his teeth, as if he had made up his mind:

"Alright, I'll trust Young Master Shen this once. To be honest, I really admire you. I've heard about what you've done these past few days—opening the granaries to distribute grain and saving so many disaster victims. You're a man of integrity."

I'm telling you everything now. You can kill me or torture me, I'll accept it all, I won't blame you. I'm just someone else's breadwinner, I have no choice but to bow my head when I'm under someone else's roof.

It was wrong of me to attack you back then. If you really want to settle scores, I have nothing to say.

He took a deep breath and said in a low voice:

"It was the Prince Jing's Heir ordered your assassination."

"The Prince Jing's Heir?" Shen Jingchuan frowned slightly. He recalled that he had indeed met the heir once at the poetry gathering in the Capital. At that time, the two had some disagreements, and the Prince Jing had even stepped in to reprimand the heir, but the situation was not exactly a complete falling out.

Are we really going to send someone to ambush us just for this little argument?

Do you know why?

He asked.

"I really don't know."

Zhao Kui honestly shook his head:

"I'm just someone who follows orders. I do whatever I'm told to do, and I don't know anything about the inside story. If I did know, I would definitely tell you everything."

Seeing that he looked honest and didn't seem to be lying, Shen Jingchuan nodded.

"Alright. I see you're a straightforward guy, no need for you to become a fugitive."

He looked at Zhao Kui:

"How about staying at Azure Cloud Stronghold? Your martial arts skills are quite good; you can teach the soldiers in the village martial arts in your spare time. Of course, if you don't want to, I can let you go now, and you can come back anytime you change your mind."

"This..."

Zhao Kui stood there, hesitant for a moment.

Seeing this, Shen Jingchuan didn't try to persuade him further. He stood up, took out a few silver notes from his pocket, glanced at them—about a hundred taels—and handed them over directly.

"Alright, since you're willing to tell me the truth, let's consider ourselves friends. Keep this money for your journey; it's a long and arduous trip, you can't go empty-handed. If you'd like to come to me for help in the future, then come over."

Having said that, he called out, "Someone come here!"

Two bodyguards immediately entered from outside the door.

"See Instructor Zhao out."

Looking at the silver notes in his hand, Zhao Kui felt a surge of emotion and knelt down with a thud.

"Young Master Shen, I will remember your great kindness! I still have some matters to attend to at home, but once I've settled them, I will certainly return to seek your help!"

Shen Jingchuan waved his hand. "It's alright, you're welcome to come anytime."

Zhao Kui didn't say much. He respectfully kowtowed three times before getting up and turning to leave with his personal guard.

He was just an ordinary martial arts master, posing no threat to him. I was in a good mood today and didn't have much of a grudge against him, so I let him go.

Shen Jingchuan had no interest in getting involved in the rest. Having understood the whole story, he was content with that.

"Prince Jing's Heir..." he murmured to himself, then shook his head self-deprecatingly. "This person is still out of my reach. As the saying goes, a gentleman takes his revenge even after ten years. Humph! I'll be here from morning till night... It definitely won't take ten years, until I return from the market."

Once outside, he mounted his horse and headed down the mountain path. The path was full of people carrying supplies up the mountain. Those who recognized him stopped and respectfully called out "Young Master Shen," some bowing and others kneeling down to kowtow.

Shen Jingchuan couldn't stand this, and waved his hand repeatedly, urging Big Black to walk forward quickly.

As they reached the foot of the mountain and turned onto the official road, they saw a large group of people ahead, and bumped into Hu Tieniu leading several of his personal guards. Hu Tieniu spotted him immediately, strode forward, and said with a smile:

"Young master, aren't you going to continue watching the fun?"

Shen Jingchuan glanced at him, thinking to himself that this kid was getting more and more talkative, but he actually liked the feeling.

He shook his head:

"What's so interesting about this run-down place? Alright, I'm going back. You handle the rest yourself."

"Alright, young master, don't worry!" Hu Tieniu replied loudly.

Shen Jingchuan glanced at the crowd of people carrying sacks of grain up the mountain by the roadside and then instructed them:

"After this trip, will this grain be enough to feed you for a while?"

"Enough! More than enough!" Hu Tieniu grinned from ear to ear. "To be honest, young master, with these 10,000 or 18,000 people on the mountain, this amount of grain is enough for us to eat comfortably for more than half a year."

"That's good, I'm relieved."

Shen Jingchuan nodded:

"If the government troops come again, don't fight to the death, just hold the fortified walls. Also, remember, the strongest fortresses are often breached from within."

Be sure to conduct a thorough internal investigation, and if possible, find a few educated people to help you. A bunch of uneducated, uncultured people won't get anything done. If things really get out of hand, I'll come back to help you. But don't always rely on me; you need to learn to make your own decisions."

Hu Tieniu nodded heavily, his eyes welling up with tears.

"Young master, you've already helped us enough."

Shen Jingchuan waved his hand at him:

"Alright, stop being so girly, get back to what you're doing, I'm going home too."

Shen Jingchuan rode his horse all the way to the south gate of Yuxi Prefecture. Although the city gate was not yet closed, everyone on and off the city walls was on high alert. The guards gripped their weapons tightly and looked tense, conducting extremely strict checks, clearly indicating that only exit was allowed and no entry was permitted.

When he arrived at the city gate, he was indeed stopped.

Shen Jingchuan took out his travel pass, introduced himself, and said that he was the son-in-law of the Lin Residence of the escort agency. The leading soldier had heard of him before—the wedding day was a lively affair, and many people in the city remembered him.

But with bandits causing trouble outside the city and things on high alert, no one dared to take responsibility. They stood there hesitant, unable to make up their minds.

Seeing his expression, Shen Jingchuan didn't say much, but took out a gold melon seed from his pocket and handed it to him.

The soldier took the gold in his hand; it was heavy and real, and although it wasn't large, it was worth a month's salary. He glanced back at the city gate official not far away, and not daring to keep it for himself, he quickly walked over and stuffed the gold melon seed into the city gate official's hand.

The city gatekeeper weighed the item in his hand, then looked over at Shen Jingchuan. Shen Jingchuan knew what was going on, so he took out another gold melon seed and handed it over.

The gatekeeper tucked the two gold seeds into his robes, waved to his subordinate, and said in a deep voice, "Let them pass."