Many eyes watched in misery as the little farm boy was taking all of their hard earned money. Some openly cried, while others kept their composure. However, they were all thinking alike. It was just a poor farmer's son. To top it off, he looked no older than ten years old. It would be easy to take back their earned money. They all, through some sort of mutual connection, planned to get their money back.
However, all those evil thoughts dispersed when Bohai opened his mouth.
"Yuan Heng," he called. "Let's go."
The audience watched as the farmer boy reacted to the call, and how he happily followed after the tall teenager. Now, everyone in the crowd cried. They had surely lost their money this time. Even with a group of a hundred, no one was sure they could beat the monster who had defeated the man with a $50k bounty. An instant feeling of regret flowed throughout the tent as everyone watched the two teenagers exit.
"Why are you mad?" Yuan Heng asked his friend. Bohai had been wearing an unpleasant expression ever since Ye Feng had fallen victim to his last hit. "We got so much money this time!" Yuan Heng exclaimed, hoping to distract his friend from his frustrated thoughts. "It'll take all night to count all of it!"
"Ssh! Do you want to get robbed?" Bohai asked seriously. His little friend, although being almost fourteen, was so dumb sometimes! But then, so was he, for using a move that he promised himself he wouldn't use.
But his worries were drowned by laughter when seeing Yuan Heng's scared expression. Bohai could only smack his forehead.
"An He and Bobo are back! An He and Bobo are back!" A little girl squealed. She discarded her telescope, a gift from one of Heng and Bohai's earliest ventures, and quickly climbed down from a small treehouse.
"Jia! The little girl yelled at the sight of her older sister. "An He and Bobo are back!"
Her older sister, Jiaying, smiled instantly. She ran inside and grabbed the small hand of her youngest sister, Zhenzhen. Once the three sisters were together, they headed towards the gate that surrounded their land.
"An He! Bobo!" All three sisters exclaimed once the boys were within hearing distance.
The two boys, Yuan Heng and Bohai, stopped their chattering to greet the three girls. Each boy held a sack, much to the three sister's delight.
"Did you get us any presents?" The one who had spotted them first, Xiaolian, sheepishly asked. Which resulted in a scolding glare from Jiaying.
"Of course!" Yuan Heng said with a smile, as he pulled his sack to the front. While he distracted the sisters, Bohai sneaked passed them towards the two adults behind them.
"We wouldn't be good brothers if we didn't!" Yuan Heng bragged.
He set his sack on the dirt road, and began to pull out some objects. There was more than one present this time, much to the three sister's delight.
The youngest, Zhenzhen, got a box of sweets. As well as a yellow dress. Unlike the only other dress she owned, the one which she wore right now, this dress was shiny and held intricate designs of flowers all over it. It was somewhat tight, and wrapped in a foreign style. It looked expensive.
Xiaolian got a mirror, which she deemed useless - until Bohai later explained that she could possibly make a fire with it. She also, like Zhenzhen, got an expensive looking dress.
Her dress was a dark red, almost a kind of purple. It lacked any intricate designs, and instead had multiple different layers with different types of fabrics. The appearance was different from any other dress anyone in the small town had ever seen. Despite Xiaolian's tomboyish personality, she loved the foreign dress.
The oldest of the three sisters, Jiaying, was gifted three gifts rather than two. Which resulted in jealousy from the other two sisters. She was given two pairs of shoes, and a dress. It wasn't until the gifts were shown that Zhenzhen and Xiaolian's jealousy disputed.
One of the pair of shoes was brown and sturdy, much like the boots that their father wore. They were obviously shoes that could be worn around the estate in which they lived. With one look at the shoes she currently wore, everyone agreed that she needed new shoes.
The other pair, matched the dress in her hands beautifully. They were a stunning light green color, with decorations of never before seen flowers. Just like her dress's intricate designs, the flowers had multiple colors stitched where the flower's petals were.
"Is that it?" Xiaolian asked, ignoring Jiaying's piercing glare.
"Mhm. The rest are for Mum and Pap." Yuan Heng replied.
"Thank you An He." Jiaying initiated, the two younger sisters repeating after her. They turned to thank Bohai, but he had already left. Turning around, they saw him already hugging their parents. The four siblings rushed after him.
In the sack that Bohai had carried, a bunch of food and medical supplies was revealed. He, with the help of Jiaying, and her mother, Meng Zhilan, began to store them in their appropriate places. While they did so, Heng revealed the rest of the gifts. Making Zhilan cry at the beauty of her yellow dress.
"You two," the four sibling's father, Yuan Peng, began. He was about to ask what the two boys had been up to, but he decided against it. He was sure, that if he found out, he would be displeased. "Why would you spend your money on clothing?" Peng asked at the last moment.
"Huh?" The two boys expressed their confusion at the same time. "For the upcoming party." Bohai responded.
A week before, the entirety of the county had received an invitation to celebrate the New Year with the noble whom owns the county, the Marquess of Duan - Long Guangli.
It would be the common folks first time stepping into such a fine manor, and the two boy's hadn't wanted their family to experience humiliation at such an important event. Hence, their spendings on clothing that the family would hardly ever wear.
"You both remembered that?" Meng Zhilan asked.
"Yep." Bohai replied before Heng would have the chance. Yuan Heng was too bad at telling lies, and it would ruin his image of the perfect son if he ousted himself for having forgotten about possibly the biggest aoppurtinital event that would happen in his life. He was praised for being a smart boy after all.
"Thank you." Zhilan said, with once again teary eyes.
"Are you sure you want to go?" Peng asked, staring directly into Bohai's eyes.
"Yes."
Hearing the boy's response, Peng nodded his head resolutely. An image of the first night he met the boy presented itself in his mind, but he forced it away. The upcoming event was supposed to be joyful, and he would do everything in his power to make sure that everyone enjoyed it to the fullest.