Chapter 276
Chapter 276
The clothes the people from Zhu Family Village had worn on arrival were filthy. After arranging for them to wash and change, Steward Sun had ordered the servants to take the old clothes away.
Normally, when a servant was purchased into the household, their dirty old clothes were burned as soon as they had signed their indenture and changed into the mansion’s new garments.
This also severed their ties with the past. From then on, they were servants of the mansion.
Assuming that the princess had newly purchased these four men, a servant took the stinking pile of clothes to the rear kitchen to burn them.
But he had only just lit the fire when a figure rushed over and snatched one of the dirty garments from the flames.
The action startled everyone there.
Following behind, Ren Fengjue was puzzled at first too.
Then he saw Zhu Peng spread the old, filthy garment against himself and smooth it inch by inch, revealing its closely stitched patches…
He cherished it as though it were a priceless treasure.
Ren Fengjue understood at once. This garment must hold extraordinary meaning for him.
“Brother Zhu, these clothes…?”
Zhu Peng wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes before answering. “My wife… made it with her own hands. It’s the only thing she left me.”
Ren Fengjue paused slightly. Saying no more, he signaled to the servants beside them.
“I see. Fortunately, it hasn’t been burned beyond saving. With careful laundering, it can still be worn.”
Zhu Peng hastily gathered it up. “You must find me ridiculous, Young Master Ren.”
“Not at all. It truly is precious to you.”
The two left the rear kitchen together.
Seeing Ren Fengjue’s distinguished bearing, clearly that of a young nobleman from an eminent family, yet without the slightest airs, Zhu Peng felt more trust and affection toward him.
He volunteered, “Earlier, outside the village, you asked where we came from. It isn’t actually very far. Zhu Family Village is close to Mount Ya…”
“You’ve heard of Mount Ya, haven’t you?”
Even before coming to Liangzhou City, Ren Fengjue had studied the local terrain carefully.
He knew that Mount Ya connected to Mount Yuebei and was a deeper, more treacherous stretch of wooded mountains.
The Northern Border’s Di Slaves were said to have originally lived on Mount Ya.
“The place where the Marquis of Zhenbei discovered the Giant Slaves?”
Zhu Peng nodded. “That’s the place.”
Thinking carefully, Ren Fengjue grew more puzzled. “It is rather remote, but I heard that after the marquis’s Wanting Army captured the Giants, they built a Di Slave Camp nearby to train them…”
“Did something happen?”
Zhu Peng nodded again, tears plainly gathering in his eyes. Only then did he slowly begin telling the story of Zhu Family Village.
The construction of the Di Slave Camp had indeed been good for the village.
First, they no longer had to worry about attacks from Giants deep in the mountains.
Also, after the camp was built, the Marquis of Zhenbei ordered nearby villages to grow large quantities of wheat, fruit, vegetables, and other crops to supply it.
The Di Slaves had enormous appetites. This indirectly gave Zhu Family Village an opportunity.
Every household could earn a good income each year from farming alone.
At the very least, everyone could enjoy a good New Year.
But disaster struck without warning. One night half a year earlier, the Three Holy Sons suddenly visited the Di Slave Camp. No one knew what they did to the slaves, but the Di Slaves grew agitated, howling incessantly every night and leaving all of Zhu Family Village and the neighboring villages afraid.
Unable to withstand the pressure, the village head went to the camp to ask why.
But the soldier guarding it sneered, “They’re just a pack of monsters from the mountains, no different from wild wolves. What’s wrong with a little howling?”
The village head said, “They… weren’t like this before. We’re afraid something might happen if it goes on.”
The soldier frowned in displeasure at once. “Go about your own business. Why concern yourself with so much? Even if something happens, we’ll answer for it!”
At this point, Ren Fengjue could not help asking, “Do you know what the Di Slaves did while confined there before this?”
Zhu Peng said, “Those Giants are immensely strong and have many uses for the Wanting Army. I heard they once selected two young ones to send to the Marquis of Zhenbei’s residence, but one escaped on the way.”
“Escaped…”
For some reason, Ren Fengjue immediately thought of the Giant beneath Qiongying Inn in Ge Town.
He asked, “Do you know when that happened?”
Zhu Peng thought it over. “About three or four years ago…”
Ren Fengjue asked again, “Do you know roughly how tall that young Di Slave was?”
Zhu Peng shook his head. “I never saw him. But the village head said Di Slaves have large bones and grow slowly. When they were sent to the Marquis Mansion, he was about Xiaozai’s age, no more than ten, yet already half a head taller than most people.”
Ren Fengjue was silent for a moment.
If that was true, the timing did fit.
But Ge Town was so far from here that the young Di Slave could not have made his way there alone…
Perhaps someone had helped him, wanting to free him from control so he could return to his old life deep in the mountains.
Zhu Peng was an intelligent man too. Hearing Ren Fengjue’s detailed questions, he asked, “Have you seen a Di Slave as well, Young Master Ren?”
Ren Fengjue did not hide it. “Yes, but not on the Northern Border. It was in a small town north of the capital.”
Zhu Peng nodded and asked no more.
Returning to the strange change Zhu Peng had mentioned, Ren Fengjue continued, “What happened afterward? Did something go wrong?”
“Yes. One night, about a month ago…”
The Di Slaves’ howls grew louder by the day, as though they might burst from their cages at any moment and swallow everyone alive.
That night, it happened by coincidence.
Xiaozai had a persistent high fever and needed to see a physician in the nearby town.
Zhu Peng’s elder brother had difficulty walking and could not go, so Zhu Peng had to take his place.
Even by ox cart, the journey from Zhu Family Village to the town took at least two to four hours.
As it happened, Zhu Er was going into town that night to fetch his elder brother, Zhu Da. They could use the brothers’ donkey cart.
So Zhu Peng climbed aboard with his young nephew in his arms, and they went into town together.
What they never expected was that, upon returning at daybreak, they would find the entire village burned to the ground.
Every person in Zhu Family Village was gone.
Zhu Peng thought he must be dreaming. He ran to the Di Slave Camp and found it burned down too. Even the surrounding villages had been destroyed, without exception.
At this point, Zhu Peng could not hold back his tears again. “I’ve never believed this was an accident. I clearly saw blood on the ground, and Giants’ footprints…”
“All those people surely didn’t die by accident. They were most likely… murdered by those brutal Di Slaves!”