Gao Yuan said angrily, "You clearly said twenty taels of silver just now! How can you do business without keeping your word?"
The horse dealer chuckled. "Just think of this eunuch's distinguished position! Buying a horse for twenty taels of silver-he couldn't afford to lose face like that."
Gao Yuan rushed forward to argue with him, but Hu Xiaotian reached out and stopped him. There was no need to stoop to the level of a street peddler like this, and the crowd was growing. If this went on, they would attract far too much attention. "Fine!" Hu Xiaotian said. He took a gold ingot from his money pouch and handed it over. "This should be enough!"
Seeing how readily and generously Hu Xiaotian paid, the dealer felt a twinge of regret. Had he known, he would have asked for more.
Gao Yuan glared fiercely at him, stepped forward, and pushed him aside, intending to untie the little horse.
But a booming voice rang out from the crowd. "Wait!"
The voice sounded familiar to Hu Xiaotian. Looking toward it out of the corner of his eye, he saw five men striding over. The man at their head was burly and dark-skinned, as imposing as an iron tower. It was none other than Tang Tiehan, an old enemy of his. Back when Hu Xiaotian was in Capital City, a misunderstanding had led him to carry off Tang Tiehan's younger sister, Tang Qingxuan. That had sparked the farce of the three Tang brothers leading a crowd to storm the Grand Tutor's Residence and demand her return, which had ultimately ended in Hu Xiaotian's victory.
Tang Tiehan was the eldest son of Tang Wenzheng, Director of the Imperial Stables. His father was only a sixth-rank official and dared not oppose Hu Buwei, the third-rank