Chapter 63: You May Have Someone Behind You, But I Have No One Left Behind Me!

Early the next morning.

At dawn.

The first rays of sunlight crept over the horizon, and the air was still refreshingly cool.

Zhu Gang woke from hunger, rubbing his belly. After years of pampering, he was unaccustomed to hunger; his mouth was filled with a sour taste. In a daze, he climbed out of bed.

He glanced back.

Three lumps under the bedding.

Right, it was the three of them: Second Brother, himself, and Little Ten. No mistake.

He staggered into the kitchen.

He hadn’t eaten properly since noon the day before, and by now, hunger gnawed at him unbearably. He fished out half a yellow cornbread from the iron pot and devoured it, barely taking the edge off his hunger.

A meager meal, but better than nothing.

“Ah!”

“Who—who are you?! Where’s my Third Brother? Second Brother, wake up, wake up! Why has Third Brother turned into an old man?!”

A shrill shout exploded in his ears, making Zhu Gang’s head buzz; rage flared instantly as he cursed, “What sort of nonsense are you screaming at this hour—”

His words choked off.

There was Zhu Jian, sitting up groggily, not quite awake, while Zhu Tan clung fearfully to his second brother’s leg.

In the middle of the bed, an old man lay sleeping, undisturbed and peaceful.

“Hey, who are you?” Zhu Gang frowned and gave the old man a push or two. He wasn’t about to be scared off by an old man.

The old man woke with a start, took a long moment to gather his wits, looked at the three of them, then hurried off the bed. In a slow, deliberate voice, he said, “I’m Zhao Dashan, an old man who wandered into the wrong room. Sorry to trouble you all.”

With that, Old Zhao shuffled out.

But soon enough, he returned, suspicion on his wrinkled face. He stared at the arrangement of the room and mumbled, “Seems it’s you three guests who ended up in the wrong house.”

Zhu Gang finally caught on. “You’re that old fellow who’s been missing for days? How did you get back?”

Old Zhao hesitated, “My ears don’t work well. Haven’t heard a thing for two months now…”

Zhu Jian, now fully awake, shouted fiercely, “Who cares! This place is ours now. He can get lost as far as he likes! If he makes a racket again, I’ll just kill him and be done with it!”

“Second Brother, wait!” Zhu Gang held him back, then grinned at the old man and gestured, “Is there anything to eat? Food!”

Frightened by Zhu Jian and then confronted by Zhu Gang’s smiling but menacing manner, Old Zhao was utterly cowed. He stammered, “Eat? Oh, so you’re hungry. I’ll fetch you some simple fare right away.”

In no time, to Zhu Gang’s astonishment, two plates of steaming stir-fried wild greens and a small dish of pickled vegetables appeared, along with two bowls of thin porridge.

Zhu Gang was baffled—where did these come from? He’d nearly torn the kitchen apart yesterday and found nothing like this!

Still, he reacted quickly and gestured, “No more grain in the house? Why only two bowls of porridge?”

Old Zhao thought for a moment, then replied slowly, “There are only two bowls in the house. Once you finish, the others can help themselves.”

Zhu Gang smacked his lips and, without further ado, picked up a bowl and wolfed it down, filling his belly about a third of the way—enough to take the edge off, though he was still hungry.

“Second Brother, let’s keep this old man here. We’ll need someone to help with meals and chores, especially since we have to work the fields. At his age, he must have a wealth of experience—he’s a real treasure.”

Zhu Gang gave Old Zhao a friendly nod.

But Old Zhao, still bewildered and fearful, could only frown deeper. These two were tall and imposing, clearly not to be trifled with, and he had no thought of resistance at all.

He hadn’t survived this long just on a sturdy body; in his youth, he’d been a clever judge of character too.

Zhu Jian’s expression softened. He waved a hand. “Whatever, do as you like.”

“Alright then, Second Brother, you eat. I’ll take Old Zhao to see about planting the grain,” Zhu Gang called out.

Zhu Jian peered at the food, frowning so deeply it could have pinched Zhu Tan to death, then shook his head. “I’d rather starve than eat this slop. Even a dog wouldn’t touch it!”

Zhu Gang opened his mouth and finally gave up. “Little Ten, eat a little something, then take your clothes and see if you can sell them. Get us some meat for supper.”

“Got it!” Zhu Tan glanced at the food, made a show of wiping his mouth, and left. “Third Brother, I’m full.”

“If you’re full, off you go.”

Zhu Gang slung the sack over his shoulder and followed Old Zhao, with Zhu Tan dutifully pushing the sack from behind.

“Little Ten, if you’re not strong enough for labor, just walk properly. Ever since you started pushing, the sack feels twice as heavy. Really, you’re making things difficult for your brother.”

By noon, the sun was blazing.

Zhu Jian lay idly on the bed, stomach gurgling.

He rolled his eyes, walked to the table, and muttered to himself, “I’m just hungry, that’s all. Just hungry!”

Having gone all day without a bite, even thin porridge and wild greens tasted good. He took a mouthful and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Well, that’s surprisingly tasty.”

Bang!

The front door was kicked open!

“Damn it! You’ve taken over my Zhang family’s house and land, and you still have the nerve to eat here?!”

A burly brute stormed in and kicked over Zhu Jian’s table.

“Stealing from the Zhang family, eh? You must have some powerful connections!”

A scholar followed, sternly rebuking, “This land under the Imperial City is managed by our Zhang family. The owner of this house is gone—by rights, the house and land are to be handed over to the authorities. You’ve seized property and fields without permission; do you know you’re breaking the law?”

“Scoundrel!”

Zhu Jian’s eyes reddened with rage as he glared fiercely at the two men, forcing the words out through clenched teeth, “You wretches! Do you know who I am?!”

“Well now, the cub’s got some nerve—calling himself a prince? For those words alone, I could have your entire clan wiped out!” Zhang Sihai sneered.

A prince?

A prince living in a dump like this?

Eating porridge and wild greens with such relish?

Who was he trying to fool?

Zhang Wuhu shook his head. “Trying to pull rank under the Imperial City? You have no idea how high the sky is. Everyone living here outranks you.”

Zhang Sihai grinned. “You might have backing, but the person behind our Zhang family is running things up top—and there are hardly any left above him.”

Zhu Jian pressed down his fury and asked coldly, “Who is it? May I have your name?”

When he regained his title as Prince of Qin, he swore he’d break this man’s backbone!

“What, planning revenge?”

“Fourth Brother!” Zhang Wuhu stepped in, scrutinized Zhu Jian up and down, and said in a low voice near his ear, “To be frank, seventy percent of this deal goes to the Xi’an Prefecture in the fiefdom. I advise you, no matter your background, to stay out of it—it’ll do neither of us any good.”

This man’s confidence suggested he might indeed have powerful backing. Better to invoke the Buddha early and resolve matters before trouble brewed.

“Xi’an Prefecture in the fiefdom? The Prince of Qin?”

Zhu Jian’s fierce expression froze, his rage stuck in his throat.

“As long as you know…” Zhang Sihai sighed in relief.

Zhang Wuhu cut him off. “There’s no point arguing with him about being a prince—does he even understand? You’d best get out now. The house and land belong to the authorities!”

Creak!

“Absurd!”

Muscles bulging, face dark and forbidding, Zhu Jian—once the Prince of Qin, who had swept the battlefield—now, driven by hunger, erupted with a terrifying strength.

“Die!”

Bang! Bang!

“So, you’re backed by the Prince of Qin, are you?”

“Not many people left above you, eh?”

“Kicking over my table, are you?”

With wild fury, Zhu Jian grabbed a stool and swung it with abandon. Taken by surprise, the brothers were left reeling, their heads spinning.

“What—what do you think you’re doing?!”

“Stay away from me!”

Moments later.

Expressionless, Zhu Jian dragged two lifeless bodies out of the house and dumped them in the nearby wilds.

The Zhang family?

Though princes were forbidden from getting too close to court officials, it was no matter to see a few local gentry and landlords. During his months in Yingtian, quite a few of these local lords had tried to curry favor. Of the Zhangs, he only remembered one—Zhang Sanjiang.

Rumor had it the man was quite the tonic—potent indeed!

That left an impression.

Staring at the two corpses, Zhu Jian stood silent for a long time before muttering four words:

“Utterly preposterous!”