The Golden Age - Chapter 85: Competition
Yuwen Chengchao turned his head and waved to Qin Xiao, trying to get him over.
Qin Xiao stepped forward, and Yuwen Chengchao started introducing, “This is Master Pang, my teacher.” Then he looked at Master Peng, “This is the little brother I met outside, Wang Xiao.”
Master Peng looked at Qin Xiao and did not keep asking. Obviously, he was already used to Yuwen Chengchao making friends everywhere outside. He walked forward and grabbed Yuwen Chengchao’s arm, “During these days, don’t anger the Marquess and try to get him to forgive you. Do you understand?”
Yuwen Chengchao didn’t seem to care, “Master, you know, for so many years, I spent every single day of my life trying to make him happy. What I should do, what I shouldn’t do. As long as it makes him happy, I always try my best.” He spread out his hands. “But what’s the result?”
Master Pang frowned and saw that Zhao Yi was still there. He said angrily, “Zhao Yi, do you want to quit? Do as you’re ordered.”
Zhao Yi quickly replied, “Yes, sir. Master Pang, I will go now.” He looked at a few men standing behind Master Pang, “Stop standing there, come and help!”
The people hurriedly came forward as Zhao Yi asked Yuwen Chengchao, “Eldest Son, should I just send them back on horseback?”
“Why can’t you use your brain?” Yuwen Chengchao tried to hold his anger back, “Get two carriages and send them there. Don’t forget what Master Pang said, get the money too.”
Zhao Yi quickly went through the side door to get carriages.
Yuwen Chengchao knew that it wasn’t the best idea to argue outside, so he walked up to the gate. Then he remembered that he forgot about Qin Xiao, so he waved at Qin Xiao, signaling him to come up. After thinking for a bit, he looked at one of the guards and said, “Fei Liang, please bring brother Wang to the back and find a place for him to live.” Then he looked at Qin Xiao. “Brother Wang, you can go with Fei Liang and rest for a bit. I’ll come to find you after I’m done here.”
Qin Xiao quickly bowed. “Thank you.”
“Oh, by the way, I don’t think Brother Wang has eaten much yet. Fei Liang, get the chef to prepare some food.” After that, he quickly went into the manor along with Master Pang.
Fei Liang didn’t like Qin Xiao at first sight due to his ragged clothes. But since the Eldest Son seemed to value the little beggar very much and personally ordered the chef to prepare food, he quickly bowed, “Little brother, please come with me.”
Qin Xiao followed Fei Liang into the manor. The inside of the manor was also very ordinary, it wasn’t very luxurious, but everything looks like antiques that were quite old.
Fei Liang did not bring Qin Xiao directly through the manor. Instead, he led Qin Xiao to the side corridors and quickly arrived at the backyard. There were houses to both the left and right side, and in the middle were racks of weapons. Leaning against the back walls of the yard stood some human-shaped haystacks, obviously used as a target.
There were spears, swords, staffs, and many other weapons on the weapon racks. It seems that this place is usually used for training.
The houses at the left and right make a total of eight rooms. Fei Liang led Qin Xiao into one of the rooms. The setup in the room was very simple. Fei Liang pointed towards one of the two wooden beds and said, “Brother Wang, you can use that bed.”
Qin Xiao smiled and bowed. “Thank you, Brother Fei.”
“You’re welcome. This is what the Eldest Son ordered,” Fei Liang smiled back. “By the way, Brother Wang, how did you meet the Eldest Son?”
“When the Eldest Son was hunting, I happened to meet him in the forest. He was very kind and after seeing that I was homeless, decided to bring me along.” Qin Xiao smiled a bit. “Oh and, Brother Fei, is this the Eldest Son’s manor?”
Fei Liang nodded, “Yes.”
“Excuse me, but shouldn’t this be one of the Marquess’s manors, why is everything…” Qin Xiao asked in a low voice, but before Qin Xiao could finish, Fei Liang had already interrupted.
“Brother Wang, you just came here, there are many things you might not understand. So take your time to watch and learn. Don’t ask what you shouldn’t ask. This is not an ordinary place, do you know what I mean?”
“Sorry,” Qin Xiao had been working at the Jia Prison for many years, he knew what to say. So he immediately tried to fix this awkward situation, “Brother Fei must’ve been here for very long and is entrusted and valued by the Eldest Son as a guard here. I would like to learn as much as I can from you and please help me out in here.”
But he knew in his head that Yuwen Chengchao only trusted and valued Pang Yu and the others. Fei Liang probably doesn’t have a very high position, otherwise, he wouldn’t be here as a guard.
When they first got here, Fei Liang rushed forward to hold the reins of Zhao Yi’s horse. Which meant his position was probably even lower than that of Zhao Yi’s.
But Fei Liang felt very good after hearing the praise from Qin Xiao. He walked around the building, and then went in with Qin Xiao. He stood beside the wooden bed and whispered, “We are all brothers to each other, this is no big deal at all.” He paused for a moment and continued, “The Eldest Son has been moved out of the manor for more than two years. Let me tell you the truth, ever since his mother died, the Marquess started to like Lady Qiong, the mother of the Second Son, who is supported by Granduncle Meng. The Marquess has been disliking the Eldest Son for a while, and now he doesn’t even have much of a say anymore.”
Qin Xiao was stunned. Looks like it was a fight between the brothers. It seems that Yuwen Chengchao is losing and lost his position in the family as well. Now he had to live in a separate manor.
“Originally, if the old Marquess died one day, all the property and power would definitely be inherited by the Eldest Son. He would be the new Marquess as well,” Fei Liang sighed. “But from the looks of it, not only would the Eldest Son not be the future Marquess, I don’t think he’ll get any inheritance either.”
Qin Xiao whispered, “And who is this great Master Pang?”
“That’s the Eldest Son’s teacher.” Fei Liang seemed to know the Eldest Son’s situation very well. “As far as I know, Master Pang is a scribe from the capital. He used to be the teacher of an academy in the capital. He was a true talent, but one day, he got in trouble and was wronged by a very powerful family. And then he was sent here to Xiling. After hearing about this, the Marquess himself invited him over himself.”
Qin Xiao nodded. “It seems that the Marquess valued him a lot.”
Fei Liang sighed, “At that time, the Eldest Son’s mother was still alive, and the Marquess loved his Eldest Son more than anything. He invited Master Pang to become the Eldest Son’s private teacher.”
“I see.”
“The Eldest Son is very smart and learns very fast. Master Pang likes him a lot too.” Fei Liang continued, “When the Eldest Son moved out of the manor, Master Pang followed him as well. Most of the time, the Eldest Son is nice and generous, but when he gets angry, it’s pretty scary. Only Master Pang can tell him what to do. I think that other than Master Pang, no one, not even the Marquess, can control the Eldest Son.” At that point, he seemed to have realized that he had talked too much. He took a step forward and said, “You must be tired from all the traveling. Go ahead and rest, I’ll go get you some food.”
Qin Xiao quickly replied, “Thank you, Brother Fei.”
Fei Liang walked to the door, thought of something, looked back, and smiled. “Brother Wang, the Eldest Son took you here, that means from now on, you’re one of his men. You can’t wear this anymore, it’ll make him look bad outside. Wait here, I’ll get you a set of clothes.”
“In that case, thank you so much, Brother Fei.”
“No need to thank me.” Fei Liang took two steps and then stood in a low voice, “The Eldest Son is a person who cares a lot about his appearance outside, and he treats his men very well. Even though he’s not as favored by the Marquess anymore, we still get paid the same. As long as you follow the Eldest Son, you don’t have to worry about food and clothing.” He smiled. “We’re working just for the money. All we care about is the silver, don’t worry about whether the Eldest Son will become the future Marquess or not.”
Qin Xiao repeatedly nodded his head in affirmativeness, and then Fei Liang left the room.
He walked to the wooden bed, laid down, and stretched his body for a while.
Wherever there were people, there will be competition. This was not uncommon to see.
In fact, Qin Xiao felt that this situation might not be a bad thing to him.
If he was in the real Manor of Marquess Yuwen, many people would find him suspicious, and it would be difficult to blend in. Fortunately, the Eldest Son’s manor didn’t have a lot of people in it. It would be safer for him to stay here.
All he needed to do was stay here for a few months, then find a chance to leave.
After walking for a whole day and fighting for a whole night, Qin Xiao hadn’t rested yet. Now that he’s finally on a bed, he immediately felt sleepy. He yawned and slowly fell asleep.
When he woke up, it was already dusk. He saw a set of clothes on the chair by the bed. It seemed that Fei Liang didn’t come again after bringing the clothes.
Qin Xiao knew that in the streets, his ragged clothes wouldn’t bring any suspicion. But now that he was following the Eldest Son, this new pair of clothes would be much more suitable.
He took off his old clothes, leaving only the black soft armor. He was about to toss his old pair of clothes onto the side when he suddenly stopped. He looked at the clothes, suddenly remembering Hong Ye.
After so many months, he wasn’t sure how Hong Ye was doing now. If everything went right, she should still be at her little shop.
How is Meng Zimo? And Mu Yeji? Where is she now?
Qin Xiao was silent for a bit as he thought when he suddenly heard a knock on the door. He quickly asked, “Who?”
“Brother Wang, are you awake?” Fei Liang’s voice came over. “Perfect, the Eldest Son just left and told me to check if you’re awake yet.”
Qin Xiao was worried that he would see his armor so while he was talking, he quickly placed on his new pair of clothes. Fortunately, Fei Liang did not open the door. “The Eldest Son ordered that if you’re awake, go find him at the Moon Gather House on Linquan Street.”
“Moon Gather House?” Qin Xiao pulled his shirt straight, then opened the door.
When Fei Liang saw Qin Xiao, he couldn’t help but look at him from top to bottom. Then he smiled. “I had prepared wine and food. But when I saw you sleeping, I didn’t want to bother you. Oh, Brother Wang, this shirt fits you well. Look at your body type, every shirt out there will look nice on you.” His words were full of flattery.
But Qin Xiao’s clothes were not very fit. They were slightly too big. The material though was very well. This was probably the shirt given to the servants of the manor. Although they weren’t very fancy, it was clean and good enough in Qin Xiao’s mind.
Translated by: UnderTheMoon