Chapter 58
Chapter 58
After Tie He left the tent, Baatar, the greatest warrior of the Blackstone Tribe, immediately demanded, “Chieftain, do you really believe that man from the Central Plains? And what about the little girl? Master Zhou offered ten thousand taels for her. Are we really going to send her back?”
“Baatar, keep a close watch on the girl. No mistreating her. Give her the best food and drink. She must have an unusual background, or those people wouldn’t all be so anxious about her. Once I uncover their secret, the girl may well belong to us.”
Only then did Baatar relax. “So the chieftain already has a plan.”
Inside the tent, the Xiao Family immediately gathered after Tie He left.
To make matters more convenient, he had ordered their bonds removed, though the number of guards outside had not decreased.
“Mo’er, do you think Tie He can be trusted?”
Pei Wanqing cared only about Jin Bao’s safety. As long as she could not see her daughter, her heart remained suspended in fear. She had no idea how Jin Bao was doing.
“Mother, don’t worry. I’ll make him believe me.”
Old Madam Xiao looked at her grandson too.
“Mo’er, what do you plan to do next?”
She did not ask about the information he claimed to have learned in Jinzhou. She knew there had been no such information. Her grandson had invented the entire story on the spot.
“Grandmother, what comes next may require the help of the Shadow Guards.”
The men Xiao Jingxing had sent had been protecting them from the shadows all along. But Xiao Che had ordered the Shadow Guards to act only on his command.
Even if every one of them attacked today, they could never wipe out the entire Blackstone Tribe. They would merely suffer pointless casualties.
Besides, these dozen or so Shadow Guards were the family’s hidden trump card. Unless lives were truly at risk, they could not deploy them lightly.
Xiao Che nodded. “After nightfall, I’ll contact them.”
“Husband, why did they take Jin Bao of all people? Were they acting on someone’s orders?”
Pei Wanqing still could not set her mind at ease. Worry filled her eyes.
“Don’t worry, my wife. If those men came for Jin Bao, they won’t leave before obtaining her. Tie He is already suspicious of them, so Jin Bao is safe for now.”
Only then did Pei Wanqing calm slightly.
After nightfall, Xiao Che drew a whistle no larger than a finger from his hair.
Its note was not loud, but it could carry for more than ten miles. Any Shadow Guard who heard it would come at once.
A quarter of an hour later, several muffled thuds sounded outside as bodies struck the ground.
“Master, what are your orders?”
The leader of the Shadow Guards, Ye Qi, knelt on one knee.
Xiao Jingmo stepped forward and raised a hand.
“Rise, Ye Qi. I need you to send men to do something tonight.”
“Give the order, Master.”
Xiao Jingmo whispered several instructions into Ye Qi’s ear. Ye Qi bowed in acknowledgment, then turned and left the tent.
Before long, footsteps sounded outside. Judging by the sound, Tie He was approaching.
“Something’s wrong. Someone was here.”
When Baatar saw the guards lying on the ground, his booming shout immediately drew the tribe’s patrols.
Tie He furiously flung open the tent flap, only to find everyone inside fast asleep and no one missing.
Half his anger vanished.
Baatar stepped forward and woke the entire Xiao Family.
Xiao Jingmo rubbed his drowsy eyes and feigned confusion.
“Chieftain Tie He? Why are you here? What time is it?”
Tie He studied him carefully. Seeing no sign that he was pretending, he finally voiced his suspicion.
“Did you notice anyone suspicious?”
“What kind of suspicious person do you mean, Chieftain? Though one thing was strange. We were sitting here perfectly fine when a wave of drowsiness suddenly overcame us. After that, we knew nothing.”
Baatar was hot-tempered. He clenched his fists at once. “Someone must have come to silence them. They discovered we were approaching and fled in a hurry.”
Tie He agreed.
Xiao Jingmo reacted with shock. “What? Then I must thank Chieftain Tie He for arriving in time. Otherwise, my whole family might have been beheaded without ever knowing why. I’ll take you to see those spies’ true faces right now.”
Tie He and Xiao Jingmo had already agreed on a time.
The chieftain escorted him from the tent while everyone else remained imprisoned inside.
The group silently approached Master Zhou’s tent, only to see him chasing a black-clad man out into the night.
Xiao Jingmo signaled Tie He with a glance.
“If you want to learn his identity, follow him now.”
They pursued Master Zhou for two or three miles, stopping only when voices sounded ahead.
“Our master told me to give you a message. Learn the internal situation of the Blackstone Tribe. If necessary, secretly support the Vulture Tribe in crushing it so our master can reap the benefits while both sides suffer. And hand over the people our master wants as soon as possible. I’ll take them back myself.”
“You claim to serve our master. Where are your credentials?”
Ye Qi casually tossed Master Zhou a token.
Master Zhou examined it closely. Once he confirmed it was indeed a token carried by their Shadow Guards, he handed it back.
“Tie He broke his word and raised the price on the spot. I plan to join forces with the Vulture Tribe and destroy them directly. That will eliminate a thorn in our master’s side and let us take back the people he wants.”
“Handle it as you see fit. I’ve delivered the message. Our master is impatient and has given you only three days.”
With that, Ye Qi quickly disappeared into the night.
Master Zhou returned to his tent.
Tie He and Baatar’s faces had turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
“You heard it yourself, Chieftain Tie He. The information I learned in Jinzhou was that they intend to support the Vulture Tribe and use it to devour the other small tribes.”
“That man’s master is Prince Cheng. He has always harbored treasonous ambitions and wants to expand his power outside the pass for his own use. Every small tribe here will be swallowed. But I can help you defeat the Vulture Tribe. I can even help the Blackstone Tribe become the strongest of them all.”
After hearing Master Zhou’s conspiracy with his own ears, Tie He’s suspicions vanished. Besides, the Blackstone Tribe and Vulture Tribe were already locked in a struggle to the death.
“I accept your conditions. Help me deal with the Vulture Tribe, and I’ll release your family. I’ll also give you horses and provisions and escort you safely out of Kaiyuan.”
Tie He had already investigated the Xiao Family’s identity, but he did not care. In his eyes, anyone who could help him was a friend.
“Baatar, take our friends to the finest tent immediately. Prepare food for them and show them how we treat our guests.”
Tie He waved magnanimously.
Baatar no longer had any doubts. He treated the Xiao Family as the Blackstone Tribe’s most honored guests.
Lu Shuangshuang and her family of three had gone from the clouds to the mud and back to the clouds again in a single day.
The ordeal only strengthened her determination to follow the Xiao Family.
They had traveled more than a thousand miles from the Capital. Of all the exiles who had set out with them, only Lu Shuangshuang’s family and the Marquis’s family remained alive.
Even she had never imagined her family would last this long.
Ordinarily, the three of them should have been among the first to die on the road of exile. Without the Marquis and his family supporting them, their bones would have been scattered long ago.
After everyone washed, they finally saw Jin Bao again.
To ensure Xiao Jingmo would sincerely help him, Tie He had truly sent Jin Bao back.
“My good girl, did they hit you? Did they frighten you?”
Pei Wanqing hugged Jin Bao and kissed her several times, her heart aching terribly.
Jin Bao wrapped her arms around Pei Wanqing’s neck and refused to let go.
In her previous life as the Little Zombie Queen, she had possessed her own thoughts but no attachments and therefore feared nothing. Every day, she had guarded against only one thing: someone digging out her brain.
Now everything was different. She had people she cared about, while many of her former abilities were gone. She could still run fast, but she was no longer as strong as before. When danger came, fleeing was all she could do. Earlier, those men had captured and tied her up, and she had been afraid. She had feared she would never see Mommy or her brothers again.
This was the second time Pei Wanqing had seen Jin Bao so frightened.
“My good girl, were you scared?”
Pei Wanqing soothed her gently, continuously patting her back to calm the little girl.
“Mommy, Baby’s okay. They didn’t hit Baby. Baby was scared she wouldn’t see Mommy again.”
It took Jin Bao a long while to force out those words.
Standing nearby, Xiao Jingmo slowly clenched his fists and made a silent decision. He would never let Jin Bao out of his sight again. It seemed the time had come to change Father’s thinking.
They were being hunted passively, living every day with their heads in a noose. Jin Bao was so young, yet she had to endure constant fear with the rest of them.
He was going to stir up trouble.
He would make sure Prince Cheng had no time left to concern himself with them.