The three families Zhao Shizhu had brought back all spoke Chinese. Even the five-year-olds could communicate with them in Chinese.
Zhao Shizhu and Hu Ning had taught them.
Zhao Shizhu said, "At the beginning, we truly harbored ill intentions and wanted to cultivate our own people. But after living with them for so long, we came to feel that learning Chinese would be of great use to them too. If merchants from the Ming Dynasty came here, they could work as interpreters and earn money."
Children learned languages quickly. They had spoken Chinese with Zhao Shizhu and the others since they were young, so even if they could not read, communication was not a problem.
When Hu Ning brought them back, he told them that Pan Yun was a relative from their hometown who worked for a trading firm. In the future, the firm's caravans would come in an endless stream and need them to work. Not only would they sell goods here, but they would also sell them to the tribes on the grasslands, even to the neighboring Chahar Khanate.
At those words, the three young men all heaved a huge sigh of relief and patted their chests as they agreed.
That was what they were saying—how could pies possibly fall from the sky?
So they were to sneak across the border and do business. They knew that trade well.
They were not afraid that Pan Yun would lay down conditions. They were afraid she would not.
The three young men were very close to Zhao Shizhu and Hu Ning. They called them adoptive fathers and trusted them deeply. After all, they had been raised by their adoptive fathers.
Thus, Zhao Shizhu and Hu Ning went out in the daytime to search for their former adopted sons and daughters,