Shackles

"Sanyue, come here." Ye Fu beckoned to the girl. He gave her a gentle smile, hoping to put her at ease.

Qin Sanyue hesitated for a while before walking over with a frown. The three men spotted her immediately, but because of Ye Fu's copper coin spell, none of them showed any hostility.

The instant Qin Sanyue appeared, they had fallen under the spell, unable to realize that the Qin Sanyue before their eyes was the same Qin Sanyue they wanted to claim for themselves.

Ye Fu bent down slightly, bringing his eyes level with Qin Sanyue's. "It's those three, right?" He pointed at the three men across the street.

Qin Sanyue nodded blankly.

Ye Fu smiled. "All right, then. Let's go over and reason with them."

Qin Sanyue's heart tightened. "Reason with them about what?"

"Tell them never to come near my little housekeeper again." Ye Fu straightened up, called to her, and strode forward.

Ye Fu wore clothes he had altered to give them a slimmer fit. His back did not look particularly broad or imposing, but right now, it was the only one standing between Qin Sanyue and the three men.

For the first time, Qin Sanyue felt courage passed on to her by someone else. She gathered that courage, lifted the barrier in her heart, and followed him.

This was not only so that Qin Sanyue could work for him without worry in the future, but also to relieve the frustration he felt at the sight of the three men.

Chapter 14: Shackles

They saw Ye Fu walking over.

Their beggars' instincts surfaced, and all three put on pitiful expressions, presenting themselves before Ye Fu in the posture of men begging for alms.

Ye Fu merely looked them over with a smile. Behind him, Qin Sanyue's initial fear had eased somewhat, leaving her only a little nervous.

Qin Sanyue was puzzled. Why were the three brothers acting as though they did not recognize her? She never once thought of the copper coin in her hand.

Ye Fu tapped his chin. "Have the three of you eaten? How about I give you some money to buy a meal?"

At his words, the three brothers hurriedly shook their heads, then gave him pitiful looks.

"Sanyue, give me the copper coin in your hand." Ye Fu looked back at Qin Sanyue.

Qin Sanyue handed over the copper coin, which had grown a little warm from being held in her palm the whole time.

The instant the coin left her hand, the three brothers realized that the little girl standing behind Ye Fu was the Qin girl they had been waiting for. Their pitiful expressions all turned to savage annoyance.

The man in the lead stood up, glared, and roared, "You wretched girl, where have you been?" The other two also stood, their eyes vicious.

As he spoke, the eldest of the three reached past Ye Fu's hand to grab Qin Sanyue.

Qin Sanyue panicked at once and stumbled, unable to decide whether to retreat. She pressed close to Ye Fu, her eyes full of terror.

Just as the hand, covered in grease and dirt, was about to land on Qin Sanyue's hand, a copper coin suddenly dropped onto it.

Ye Fu smiled. "This copper coin is worth a lot. Hold on to it."

Before the man who had reached out could recover from his daze, he lost his balance and plunged downward. He felt as though he were holding an entire mountain in his hand. An irresistible pressure slammed him to the ground with a dull thud.

He tried to get back up, but the copper coin lay on his hand, pinning him so firmly that he could not move an inch. The other two were dumbstruck.

"Big brother, what are you doing?"

"Pull me up, quick! Quick! I'm about to be crushed to death!" The man they called their elder turned red in the face. How could he spare a thought for the Qin girl now? He felt as though his hand was about to rot away.

The two hurriedly bent down to help their big brother up, but he felt like a colossal elephant weighing ten thousand jin and would not budge an inch. Instead, when they pulled hard, their big brother let out a howl of pain. "Don't move, don't move! It's going to break, my hand's going to break!"

The two glared at Ye Fu, their eyes red and their eye sockets nearly splitting, and roared, "What did you do to big brother? Let him up, now!"

Ye Fu looked taken aback. "Oh, what's going on? I don't know!" He looked left and right, seemingly caught off guard. "I only gave him a copper coin."

"Bastard, big brother's like this, and you still say you don't know!" The two made to feed Ye Fu their fists.

Ye Fu suddenly took a step forward. Dust stirred gently on the street, and an imperceptible ripple swept swiftly over the three men. Their eyes immediately turned dull, and they froze where they were. Even the eldest on the ground forgot his pain and went still.

"You three must have offended some immortal," Ye Fu said with a smile. "Don't believe me? Look." He pointed into the air.

The three instinctively looked in the direction he pointed. Qin Sanyue looked too, but saw nothing.

In the eyes of the three men, however, a line of golden characters appeared in the air.

"You three are guilty. Your punishment is to be forever forbidden from setting foot in Black Stone City."

The golden characters unleashed a heart-shaking might that crushed every shred of resistance in the three men in an instant.

Their eyes widened, and, overcome with terror, they immediately knelt and kowtowed to the golden characters. "Immortal!" The youngest was nearly in tears, trembling so hard he could barely remain on his knees.

Qin Sanyue's delicate brows shot up, and she stared in disbelief at the three men's comical behavior. The eldest was even more ridiculous: one hand was pinned immovably under the copper coin, yet he still had to twist his arm desperately to kneel and kowtow. It would have been one thing if there really were an immortal, but the point was that she could not see so much as a falling leaf, let alone an immortal.

"Teacher Ye, what's going on?" Qin Sanyue asked cautiously.

Ye Fu raised his brows and let out a breath with a smile. "A passing immortal probably took a dislike to the three of them and decided to punish them a little."

"But that copper coin..." Qin Sanyue was about to ask why the copper coin had crushed the eldest man.

Ye Fu waved a hand, cutting her off. "It's just an ordinary copper coin. Go get it back. People like them don't deserve my money."

"Huh? Me?"

"Do you expect me to go?" Ye Fu raised an eyebrow.